The Book of Blanka

[IAmBatman]

Wasn't really involved in this one, but index confirms that unlike Metahuman, we haven't used Mutate as a publisher-exclusive term. So if it fits, it fits.

[toyhandle]

He'd gain some Carnage (II) synergy!

[Lord Pyre]

There's some discussion early in the thread on how his past isn't really known, so Johnny and the other heroes at the time decided on Human since the extent of his transformation isn't known.

[toyhandle]

Personally, I feel like it's the same as if Peter Parker fell into the jungle and came out with Spider-Powers, but we were never explicitly told he was bitten by a raidioactive spider.

From this Brazillian interview:
https://translate.google.com/transla...entrevista.htm

Nowadays, nobody is surprised that Blanka, the first Brazilian fighter in the "Street Fighter" series, is a green monster with electric powers. In fact, the charisma of the series and the character have won gamers so much that there are even those who are proud of their distinctive look.

However, Blanka was not always a monster: "at the beginning of the development of 'Street Fighter II', he was a human", reveals Yoshinori Ono, producer of the series, "But we thought the game would be boring with only human characters... we took the Brazilian character and, likewise, we made changes", he explains.

From this Capcom Developer interview,
https://game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/column/132595
Erichan says

One day, Akiman-san brought us the rough sketches of a pro wrestler, sumo wrestler, and a beast, and said "decide who does what."

So we see Capcom themselves refer to him as not human, and a "beast."

We see them toying with the idea in Hulk's interaction with him, as well as these cameos of Blanka in the SF vs X-Men/Marvel games.

Enjoying a campfire with Beast


In one of Apocalypse's test tubes.

I would say Capcom doesn't consider him a human.

Wiki articles all say pretty much the same backstory,

Blanka's most prominent physical characteristic is his green color, initially attributed to his consumption of chlorophyll from plants to blend into his jungle environment.[6][7] However, when Street Fighter was brought to the U.S., Blanka's coloring was attributed to his being struck by lightning during the electrical storm in which his plane crashed.[8][9][

but following their citations just leads to IGN, Gamespot and Gameinformer articles that as far as I could tell, made claims without citation.

The wikis all also say that in the Udon comics, Blanka's features come from Shadaloo experimentation, "same as the movie."
However, all I can find based on the dialogue is that Shadaloo "brainwashed" him. Doesn't mean Shadaloo necessarily changed him in any other way. Dee Jay was also an experiment of theirs, but he's completely human.


Udon also released their Street Fighter World Warrior encyclopedia.
I had to snag these shots of Blanka's page off a video of someone flipping through, so sorry they are small.

Here it says, "His green skin, long claws and super human speed are all attributes he acquired to help him endure in his new surroundings. His unique electric [???] are said to have been gained through a tussle with an electric eel."

So, perhaps the whole "chlorophyll aquired green skin" theory is part of his story. Argyria from colloidal silver doesn't make someone a mutate.

However, it does say super human speed and goes on to elaborate on the electric powers.

"His time spent swimming among deadly electric eels has turned his body into a powerful electrically-charged conductor..."

This ties into his SSF2 Turbo Game Manual bio:


Therefore, I believe he's as much a mutate as Electro.

[japes]

That purple blue guy if freaky. never heard of that condition before.

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Wasn't really involved in this one, but index confirms that unlike Metahuman, we haven't used Mutate as a publisher-exclusive term. So if it fits, it fits.

It's always bugged me that we got that backwards. Metahuman is more broadly-used and even Marvel uses it sometimes, whereas "Mutate" is pretty much unheard-of outside of a Marvel context.

[Yodaking]

That's not been my experience. I've only ever seen Metahuman used in the DC universe. Mutate is something I've seen outside of comics even, it's a pretty generic term IMO.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Ronin

It's always bugged me that we got that backwards. Metahuman is more broadly-used and even Marvel uses it sometimes, whereas "Mutate" is pretty much unheard-of outside of a Marvel context.

I definitely like Metahuman being DC exclusive. I wouldn't mind Mutate being that way for Marvel. Oddly enough, Mutant is the one that's been exclusive for them, even as we have things like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

[toyhandle]

Mutate, Metahuman, Posthuman, whatever the word is, Blanka shouldn't have the human class.

[toyhandle]

I should add, that Marvel synergies, at this point in time, make much more sense for Blanka than DC synergies, due to the games.

[redstang]

Originally Posted by toyhandle

Mutate, Metahuman, Posthuman, whatever the word is, Blanka shouldn't have the human class.

Agreed.

[IAmBatman]

Maybe @johnny139 will weigh in.