Someone at Ubisoft really has a thing for female POC fighters who have been traumatized by failing to make it into the Olympics. What a weirdly specific thing.

OK! Jokes aside here's some sincere criticism. These backstories gave me a bit of whiplash and I just realized why... Failing to make it into the Olympics is the most unique, standout aspect of their backstory, but it's not reflected in their designs at all.

This character failed to make it into the Olympics due to an injury. If that's the case, her injury could be visually reflected. For instance Sagat has a glowing scar as a result of his traumatic loss to Ryu (who sucker punched him like a dirty rat!) in the distant past.

Now, showing scars would require a change to that uniform. While some characters do have short sleeve clothes, let's say you don't want to do that with this particular character ...

How about a prosthetic limb? That would make the character immediately more visually interesting and distinct while implying the backstory. Too extreme? It's possible to do this in a subtle and tasteful way. Execution is all that matters!

As for Van, her backstory is a bit more obtuse. It was her mom that got popped for steroids and couldn't make it to the Olympics. Nevermind that America and China are far more notorious than Vietnam IRL for this ... how can this backstory be reflected in this character design?

Well, the most important part of that backstory is that she's got a real chip on her shoulder. So SHOW that! For instance, here's Adon from Street Fighter. He's COCKY AS HELL. But it's because he's clearly got something to prove!

Adon was the former top student of Sagat, the "God of Muay Thai." Here they are from Street Fighter 1. Notice Sagat has no scar yet, and he's the one with the crazy cocky grin. Sagat would eventually lose to Ryu in SF1.

Obviously Sagat's loss was traumatic to Sagat. But it was also traumatic to his student Adon. He thought his master was invincible. He thought he would be the one to finally beat him, but some nobody named Ryu (not even a Nak Muay) did it first!

And the thing is, you can SEE all this in Adon's design. He isn't externally scarred like Sagat. But with his cockiness and arrogance, you can see he's pushing it too far. He's incredibly driven and capable, but he's still overcompensating a bit too.

You can tell right away ... Adon is an asshole! But it's charming! It makes him even more compelling and likable! Maybe it's off-putting to some, but that's fine! In a game with a large roster, characters need to project strong emotions.

A player only needs to love a single character out of the entire cast to get into that game. If they hate some of the other ones, their experience is actually all the better for it. As @daborsk likes to say, "opinionated design" is more engaging!

Capcom are absolute MASTERS at telling a story through character design. Here are the in-game portraits of Adon and Sagat from the very first Street Fighter. Sagat is the one with the confident grin. Adon's eyes are brimming with quiet confidence, but he lacks his signature grin.

Now lets compare their SF1 portraits to Street Fighter Alpha, which was made years down the road. After his shameful defeat to Ryu, Sagat no longer has that happy grin. Instead, Adon has appropriated it. He's trying to be the invincible, untouchable warrior that Sagat used to be!