The Street Fighter fans are… well, literally losing their minds again as Capcom revealed some merch inspired by two of the most classic femme fatales of the series: Rose and Poison. The Yetee just opened pre-orders for some shirts under the Street Fighter banner. But the real drama is not in the fabric. The players are practically screaming for Capcom to bring these fan-favorite fighters back for Street Fighter 6. Chaos, honestly, is just beauty.
To begin with, the shirts deserve to be complimented. Poison is definitely looking snappy in his classic outfit, while Rose is ever so mystic. Among the sea of comments were bring Rose to SF6, Poison in Season 3 would be legendary, and ADD ROSE TO THE GAME RN. One of the fans really took it to heart and said: “Bold of you to make merch of characters you won’t even put in your game.” Ouch.
And then the whole Poison debate gets underway. Of course: “Is Poison a girl or a dude?” Someone in complete confusion admitted to having been out of the Poison-loop for the last 30-odd years. To put this in some sort of context, questioning Poison’s gender happened as soon as her very first debut in Final Fight, but Street Fighter lore has long since established that she is a trans woman. That, however, did not shy away many voices from the discourse, much like a rather badly timed Hadouken.
The real scandal? The fans are convinced that this merch drop is a hint. An optimist even tweeted, “Guys this is a Poison teaser for S3 trust,” while another joked, “Is this a preview that they will return in S3? But I hope to have more new original characters.” Somehow, this deafening silence coming from Capcom is louder than a Critical Art finish.
Outside of that, there are the international-level indignations; one French guy cried out in despair, “Doesn’t ship to France 🥲,” proving that the regional drama even makes its way into the merch. Meanwhile, others are just begging Menat (Rose’s disciple) to return soon. The demand is real, and Capcom is sitting on an immense nostalgia gold mine.
And what do you know? Who in their right mind can tell? Unless these fighters make at least a DLC option on Street Fighter 6, a riot is bound to start. For now, fans can pre-order these tees and keep the dream alive. Or spam the replies until someone at Capcom caves. Either way, the streets are loud.
And if nothing else, this whole shenanigan has birthed some prime memes. “SF4 render of Poison means she ain’t coming back,” said someone, only to be hit with the retort, “Let me be delusional 💔💔.” The mood, guys. Absolute mood.
So yeah, buy the shirts if you want. More importantly, keep up the pressure. It’s not over yet.
