Any information on this character

[attagirl]

Does anyone have information on this character? Is he liked at all? what is he like? Who is the actor playing this character? anything at all.

[Zangief]

Balrog is played to delicious idiocy by handsome Brazilian actor Raw Le'Jba. Prior to his portrayal, I'd always figured Balrog to have only two or three IQ points higher than Zangief but, upon completing a take of one of his scenes, TJ Glenn shouted, "Finally, a character who makes Zangief look like Sherlock Holmes!"

In his earliest Japanese produced incarnation, Balrog was named Mike Bison and was the spitting image of Mike Tyson. His backstory was that of a former mugger and street thug who turned his abilities into fame and money as a prize fighter and made it all the way to Las Vegas. Capcom's American affiliates were concerned about the possibility of a lawsuit from Mr. Tyson's camp so they changed his name to Balrog. Since Balrog was the name of their claw wielding, mask wearing former bullfighter from Spain, they had to change his name to Vega. However, since Vega was the name of their top boss character and ultimate bad guy who heads the sinister Shadowlaw organization, they simply gave the M. Bison tag to him. This only happened in America, of course, but the names remained as is in Japan which, to this day, still causes confusion when American and Japanese fans discuss anything Street Fighter together.

That said, Balrog is not a nice guy. He cares nothing for concepts such as right or wrong and appears to have no moral compass. His only apparent concern is, "What's in it for me?"

He was banned by the Federal Boxing Commission for killing a man in the ring so he found a new outlet for his rage by joining the Street Fighter circuit. He made an enemy of Dhalsim when he killed one of the Indian Yoga master's elephants with a single gigaton punch for no reason at all except to demonstrate that he could do it. Eventually, when General M. Bison was finally killed by Akuma, Balrog took over the Shadowlaw operation and promptly mismanaged it right into the ground, ending up destitute and a bum on the streets again.

Raw Le'Jba plays him as if he's sustained a few too many blows to the head during his career. So much so that it's all any of us can do to keep straight faces during his scenes with us.

[cheqm8]

all i know is that whoever plays balrog, should be as big as the one in Street fighter II animated movie 

stupid american version and their lawsuits - all real street fighter enthusiasts still know that "M.Bison" is the true character's name and origin.. it also matches so much better

[Zangief]

It's also rather startling to realize just how many big companies are unaware of the way in which copyright laws work.

As long as it's a parody (and it is) our punch-happy fighter could have retained his name and sustained no legal damage. As far as a libel or slander suit, there, too, Capcom would have been in the clear. Mike Tyson's background is a fully documented and thoroughly publicized part of his history and career and he is fully aware of that and has even spoken about it himself. That he's a public figure also means that all bets are off where defamation of character is concerned.

Balrog, in the second feature film, was magnificently presented and, although I don't know what beef he and Zangief had between them (okay, when you've finished making your own joke here, I'll continue), I love the scene at the Las Vegas exhibition bout between Zangief and Blanka where the Russian sees Balrog up in the stands and points some kind of threatening finger gesture to him causing Balrog to expand his chest and burst the buttons off his shirt. Cheap sex ploy, maybe, but still a great scene.

I get the feeling you'll be quite satisfied with Mr. Le'Jba's appearance as well as with his portrayal.

[Deco Bryl]

How do I pronounce Mr. Le'Jba's name?

[Zangief]

I've only addressed him personally as Raw but I believe it's pronounced Lezh BAH. He'll be receiving an invitation to join this site soon so I'm sure he'll inform us personally.

By the way, I spoke to TJ Glenn (Vega) yesterday and invited him as well. I'll also have some news on him posted any day now.

Stay tuned...

[CaptainSawada]

Brazilian huh?, that's a pretty good American accent.

[Zangief]

Yeah, even off camera he sounds exactly like that.

Our other castmate from Brazil is Claudio Mascarenhas who plays Sagat. He was born in Brazil but spent a great deal of time in Holland and other places around the world, amalgamizing his natural accent into something very Austrian-sounding. That's why he's known as The Brazillian Arnold Schwarzeneggar around the set.

Oh, and, by the way, Raw tells me that his last name is pronounced Lie-EE-bah. I never would have gotten that on my own.

Most of the rest of us have North American accents off camera including Sean (Dhalsim) who hails from Toronto.

[Sakenomi]

Bout those names.. Yeah.. it was really confusing.. Especially here. Since i live in the middle of Europe we were getting both - Japanese AND American versions of the game.. well even those that they said were released only in Japan.. i don't know, perhaps pirates or something... Anyways there was a situation when i got Street Fighter Alpha 2 and was showing off to all of my friends.. They all asked: "Dude, dude, dude, can you play as Vega there?" I said: "Of course, he is one of playable chars.." They came to my house and were all excited, apparently Vega was their favorite character.. I showed them Vega... yeah.. they got really mad and it wasn't a really happy day of my life.. "M. Bison! M. Bison! Are you dumb? it's M. Bison!!!! :/

[Zangief]

LOL! That's funny!

Yeah, I don't really know if it was a clever move or just a coincidental one on Capcom's part to give the head boss' name to the Spanish guy but it kinda works. The name, Vega, is not only a recognized Spanish name (thereby making a comfortable switch for our soap opera starring psychopath) but is also a recognized Russian name. The head Boss Character who is the sinister leader of Shadowlaw is said to have probably come from Russia before making his home base in Thailand, although, officially, his exact point of national or geographical origin is unknown. By the way, that's why so many people think M. Bison is Thai, much like people who presume that Blanka is Brazilian simply because his plane crashed there when he was a baby and so he grew up in its jungles.

In fact, I've seen more arguments break out over Alex Finch's Mexican sounding portrayal of Blanka than over just about anything else relating to our series. Many insist he would not say, "Si", since that's Spanish and Brazilians speak Portuguese. One fan finally settled it (at least for me) by pointing out that Blanks grew up with no human contact until he was discovered years later. The humans who found him taught him his first human language which, as it turns out, was Japanese!

To this day, we're not really sure from exactly what country the former little Jimmy hails.

[Sakenomi]

yeah that's just crazy.. And if you don't know that name changing history it also causes maximum confusion when you watch some subbed street fighter Anime..

For example SFII the animated movie...