Joining Zangief's Fabulous Fifties Club

The year I was cast by Sam Reich in the role of Zangief, 2006, Zangief had just turned 50. That's a milestone for anybody but perhaps more a wake-up call for Zangief than for most others since that portentous birthday came at such a bleak and depressing point in his life. Turning 50 is, for many, a time not only to reflect upon one's most important accomplishments throughout one's life thus far but it's also a time at which many men really begin to come into their own and start to enjoy the more material fruits of their years of labor.

For Zangief, unfortunately, it was the lowest point of his career. First was the fall of his beloved Soviet Union. Then, with no more government to sponsor him, he got continued support for his training and a place to live in Thailand from M. Bison in exchange for which Zangief worked as Bison' personal bodyguard. Then Zangief discovered that the sinister organization, Shadowlaw, to which he had long been opposed, and from which Zangief fiercely protected his Motherland, was not only the place at which he was living and working but was run by Bison himself. Zangief had no choice but to leave Shadowlaw headquarters and return to a Russia he no longer recognized and at which he no longer had any future as a fighter. Being a fighter is not only what Zangief most loved to be, it was something he believed he was born to be. Now that it was taken away from him, he wasn't certain of what else he really knew how to do. Economic times in the new Russia were poor and Zangief had little in the way of career prospects there anymore so he reluctantly came to America to resuscitate his brand and fight in the United States.

However, since the death of M. Bison at the hands of Akuma, there was no more Street Fighter circuit. Turns out it was money from Shadowlaw, acquired by everything from illegal weapons sales and the black market to gambling, prostitution and drug trafficking, that M. Bison had been using to finance and promote the World Warrior Tournaments and the SF circuit. Being a simple man whose greatest skills lay more in his brute physical strength and prowess than in his intellect, Zangief fell the rest of the way from his former glory and became a sad footnote to the history of his sport, a washed up and humiliated has-been and, to the kids to whom he was once a hero, now only a pathetic joke. His feelings of shame at the end of his career were almost too much for him to bear.

Yet, in that same year and at the age of 50 with no apparent future and now no job, a chance meeting with a former Street Fighter buddy, Dhalsim, inspired Zangief to begin again to restore not only his career but the Street Fighter tournament itself. With a cantankerous M. Bison, now alive again through the efforts of the highly psychic powered Italian Street Fighter Rose, and trying hard to reform himself, the Street Fighter tournament, under Bison's training and guidance, re-established itself on the world stage.

"Street Fighter: The Later Years" ended with Zangief, his comeback a success, fully restored to the career and the life that he loved the most, even becoming a hero once again by saving the life of fellow Street Fighter legend Ryu. "Street Fighter Reunion", then, takes this happy ending and transforms it into a new beginning with the re-established Street Fighters out of retirement and back again for all manner of brand new exciting and action packed adventures.

I retell all of this because, on February 1st, I turned 50, finally joining the quinquagenarian club to which my furry, lovable Russian alter ego already belongs. My relationship with Zangief is very much analogous to that of Adam West's with Batman. Here are a few facts:

1965: Due to diminished sales and a drop in popularity since the 1950s, National Periodicals contemplates discontinuing the Batman comic book series and removing the once popular character from Detective Comics. Frantic to keep their jobs, the creative team behind Batman desperately try to sell the rights to one of the three television networks

Actor Adam West, although doing some of his best TV and movie work to date, is still not a "buzz" name either in Hollywood or to the public at large. He needs a bigger break and is slated to begin a series of low budget "spaghetti westerns" overseas in Italy.

2005: Due to diminished interest and a drop in popularity since the end of the 1990s, Capcom phases out Street Fighter II's Zangief character from all things Street Fighter. Long considered by many to be the worst character in the game, owing to his sluggishness and the fact that, to win with him, one must have to master his difficult Spinning Piledriver 360 maneuver on the joystick with the punch button combo, Zangief had been replaced by bigger wrestlers (Hugo), faster wrestlers (Zangief's biggest fan, R. Mika) and fighters whose sex appeal was more universal than that of a bear (the brothers Gil and Urien). Zangief's only remaining presence up until now is in the Udon comic books until, finally, he disappears from them as well.

Professional drummer Mike Fass, whose function as a musician had long ago been replaced by a succession of drum machines, programmers, chips and software, finds new international popularity as a nude bear model which leads him back into the acting career he'd never pursued as actively as he had his music. Now he is beginning to get more important supporting roles in award winning films and television shows. His Mike Fass name is still not as recognizable as his bear model persona, Drummer Bear, so he needs a bigger break.

1966: "Batman" premieres on ABC-TV and is an instant smash, renewing the popularity of the Caped Crusader and, in turn, associating Adam West with Batman worldwide. By summer, no TV series is bigger than "Batman" and exaggerated versions of "cat's eye" glasses become popular with women as frames for sunglasses thanks to the mask worn by arch villianess Catwoman as portrayed by Julie Newmar.

2006: "Street Fighter: The Later Years" premieres on CHTV and is an instant smash, renewing the popularity of the Red Cyclone and, in turn, associating Mike Fass with Zangief worldwide. By the end of November, no web series is bigger than "Later Years" and Mohawks become more popular among the general public than ever before, even the 1950s and 80s.

So, much like Zangief's outlook when he turned 50, I start out the year sad that my biggest hit series had ended but excited that I'm reuniting this year with my fellow Street Fighters in the new TV spin-off, "Street Fighter Reunion". Zangief and I have helped each other's careers immensely so this has been a marriage made in heaven. Now I get to enjoy working every day with a bunch of my favorite people and I get to have super powers just like when I was running around the streets in a cape forty years ago (don't ask).

Who knew 50 was gonna be this much fun?