Michelle Chang (Tekken)

Michelle Chang (ミシェール・チャン) is a fictional character in the Tekken fighting game series. She is the adoptive mother of Julia Chang and an unwilling target of Ganryu's affections.

In video games
Michelle Chang is a Chinese-Native American woman (her father Bernard Chang was from Hong Kong and her mother is a Native American from Arizona) and the foster mother of Julia Chang. Her father was killed along with the rest of the tribe by Heihachi Mishima's forces, who were searching for a treasure, a pendant that allegedly could control and subdue great powers and spirits. When the Mishima Zaibatsu forces had left, Michelle's father gave Michelle the pendant before dying. Michelle entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament to seek vengeance on Heihachi for the murder of her father and tribe. Michelle also encountered Kunimitsu, a female ninja treasure hunter that was seeking the pendant. Michelle defeated Kunimitsu and secured the amulet. She promptly withdrew from the tournament; as she had achieved what she then realised should have been her main goal, and although she did not win the tournament, Michelle was still satisfied that another fighter (Kazuya Mishima) defeated Heihachi.

In Tekken 2, Michelle's mother had been kidnapped by Ganryu, who was working for Kazuya, who desired the amulet. She had entered the tournament to rescue her mother. Michelle meets Ganryu and battles him. After defeating Ganryu, she rescues her mother and returns home. However, unknown to her, Ganryu had fallen in love with her. Upon returning home, Michelle casts the amulet into the ocean so that it can no longer cause any trouble.

A couple of years later, Michelle discovers an abandoned baby girl nearby her village. She adopts the infant, names her Julia, and loves her as if she were her own daughter. When Julia grows into a teenager, Michelle teaches her Chinese martial arts such as xingyiquan. Later, Michelle is kidnapped by Heihachi Mishima for her amulet, which had the power to awaken Ogre with its great power and spirits. Julia had entered the tournament to defeat Heihachi and save her mother. She appears in Julia's ending, being reunited with her adopted daughter. Her further fate has never been canonically resolved within the games.

She also appears as a playable character in Tekken Tag Tournament and is one of the console-exclusive returning characters via free downloadable content (DLC) in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (first introduced as pre-order bonus from GameStop ). In her TTT2 ending movie, Michelle dons a mask to team-up with Jaycee (Julia) in lucha libre professional wrestling.

Design and gameplay
During an early development of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, some of Michelle's motion capture was done by the producer Katsuhiro Harada. On Twitter, Harada complained about the "spam" from fans demanding to bring back Michelle and Jun Kazama, even after they were both confirmed to return in this game.

Gameplay-wise, Michelle is very similar to her stepdaughter and substitute in the series, Julia. However, Michelle gains a more unique moveset in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. According to Prima Games' guide to the original Tekken, "though she does not have the awesome power of the heavy hitters, Michelle can tear through her enemies with fast counters and spectacular juggles. Michelle is next to unbeatable once you have mastered her ability to evade attacks and counter with lingering juggles."

In other media
Michelle appears in the anime film Tekken: The Motion Picture with a bigger role than most of the other contenders. Before the tournament, she attempts to kill Heihachi with an axe, but Heihachi breaks the axe with his teeth and welcomes Michelle's challenge if she makes it to the tower. Michelle encounters and defeats Ganryu, but is beaten by Kazuya to the point that she begs him to let her face Heihachi and take revenge for Heihachi burning down her village and inadvertently killing both her parents, but Kazuya refuses and almost kills her when she attacks him relentlessly but for Jun Kazama's timely intervention. She is later found and rescued from the crumbling island by Paul Phoenix.

Michelle also appears in the comics Tekken Saga, Tekken 2, Tekken: Tatakai no Kanatani and Tekken Forever.

Reception
According to Computer Game Graphics (1999), "Michelle Chan, a 'superbabe' who cuts a nice line in denim hot-pants in Tekken epitomizes the racially diverse characters that populate the modern [video] games." Joystick Nation claimed that Michelle, having an Asian name but ambigous features, is "such a confused mixture of signs" that she "represents a perfect metaphor of video games themselves."

In 2008, FHM listed Michelle as one of the "female vixens that are equally tough and certainly hot", representing Tekken along with Nina Williams and Christie Monteiro. Complex featured Michelle among the 50 "hottest women in video games" in 2010, and ranked her as the 13th "best looking sideline chick in games" in 2011. Her breasts placed 23rd on GameFront's 2011 list of the "greatest boobs in video game history".

Dorkly listed her as one of the most stereotypical Native American characters in fighting game history, ranking her at seventh place, tying with Julia Chang. Complex compared her to the Street Fighter series character T. Hawk. In the official poll by Namco, Michelle is currently the 26th most requested Tekken character to be added to the roster of Tekken X Street Fighter.