Before we talk about Jon Talbain, it's impossible to think about October without first thinking about chilly Autumn evenings, early sunsets, fallen leaves, and of course the pumpkin spice if you're into that sort of thing. However, none of that matters when it comes to October 31st. Halloween. The one day when adults can tap into their inner child and have costume parties for no reason other than to have fun. Of course, the children get their candy treats as well. One thing that has always been synonymous with the "spooky month" is horror, especially within video games from established franchises to movie tie-ins.
One such fighting game that was a homage to classic horror and regional mythologies was the Vampire series, best known out west as Darkstalkers. Heavily inspired by folklore, Vampire was a unique game in that it took fighting games beyond the realm of "fighting in the streets." Up until now, the belief was that most fictional fighting games had to indulge in realistic violence. Mortal Kombat was one of the first fighting games to feature a fictional setting but it wasn't what I would say a "Halloween" or a "horror" game. Strip away the blood and gore, it's not that much different from Street Fighter.
Utilizing the success and experience from Street Fighter, Vampire featured a host of characters, including the titular vampire, a Scottish succubus, an American catgirl, Frankenstein's monster, and even children's stories such as The Little Red Riding Hood. What made the Vampire series such a coveted series aside from the fast-paced gameplay that led to what would become the Versus series was the diversity amongst the roster. Aside from simply being "vampire" and "succubus," Demitri and Morrigan are both established characters with lores that expand throughout all three games. It was one of the first Capcom fighting games aside from Cyberbots that featured a crafted storyline.
Coincidentally, both the Vampire series and Cyberbots would be a part of the Capcom Fighting Collection for the first time in decades. While the future of the Vampire series remains in limbo despite Capcom swearing to us that "Darkstlkers Is Not Dead," there is one character from Darkstalkers that I feel doesn't get enough credit. If you were to ask for my thoughts on Jon Talbain, Vampire's resident werewolf, I'd say he's the coolest fighting game character nobody knows.
"Nobody" is a stretch, of course. Depending on who you ask, some may even consider him overrated and a nuisance. Since this is more of a case of there being the "werewolf in the room," I'll get this out of the way immediately. Collectively, the Vampire fighting game community uses Vampire Savior as the default tournament standard. It was the final game in the trilogy, making it the "most recent," released all the way back in 1997. It's also the game that is considered the most balanced as the first Darkstalkers was notoriously comical and Vampire Hunter was already considered an "older version."
In Vampire Savior, the wolf remains king as he's one of the most viable characters in the game competitively. I'm not too versed in competing in VS but what I've noticed is that characters who have an answer for everything are those that are considered great. Talbain is an extremely aggressive character who can control the space as he sees fit, making him incredibly annoying with "beast cannons" flying everywhere. However, his usefulness competitive-wise isn't what made me a fan as I was always a fan of the character since middle school. What stood out to me was his design. I'm not sure who in Capcom decided to make a werewolf a "kung-fu master" but whoever approved the final design deserves a raise.
Before I begin talking about the werewolf black belt, I want to stress that I will use his Western name over his Japanese name, Gallon. Capcom loved changing the names of characters for their Western releases in the 90s so much that they changed nearly the entire roster's names.
Jon debuted in the original Darkstalkers as mentioned earlier, fulfilling the role of the classic mythological werewolf. Originally a human martial artist, Jon struggled with his humanity as he lacked the ability to keep his werewolf lineage under control. Try as he might to blend in with other humans, this curse of his ends up becoming a mental block to overcome. In the beginning, he wanted to find a cure for his curse and at one point he found a way to maintain it. Unfortunately, there's another side to Talbain. The inner wolf in him wants him to reject whatever humanity he has left and embrace the darkness within him so he can attain his idea of ultimate power.
Aside from the many Bruce Lee references, Jon is the closest thing that Vampire has to Street Fighter's Ryu. There are many parallels between them, from their quest to seek pure power and the enticing call of their inner darkness encouraging them to reach their potential through other unethical means.
Dark Gallon, or Image Talbain, is the "Evil Ryu" or "Satsui no Hadou" that exists within him. In his Vampire Savior story, Image Talbain is the last fight, different from others, as Talbain's story deals with overcoming his limitations. Upon defeating him, it's hinted that he takes some time away to find his humanity in his own way despite there not being a cure for his curse.
In the UDON comics, Talbain's story is expanded past the events of Vampire Savior as he finds a mutual ally in Felicia. Felicia is the game's catgirl, raised by humans and actively performs for their entertainment. She helps him realize that there are some humans who are kind and treat monsters as equals. At first, he finds this abrasive, but he eventually warms up to her and befriends others instead of being a lone wolf.
No pun intended, but I think that's the best way to explain Jon Talbain as a character. At first glance, he's a werewolf. Werewolves are "scary" but he's more dejected from humans than the other way around. After years of feeling alone, he finds an inner circle and familiar people with whom he can be himself.
Jon Talbain is the epitome of cool for an archetype that's been run into the ground. Capcom was always good at creating interesting characters and the Vampire series plays host to an entire world. I could have easily chosen Demitri or Morrigan, but Jon Talbain remains one of the most underrated fighting game characters outside of face value.