Kula Diamond
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kula Diamond | |
|---|---|
 Official KOF: Maximum Impact 2 character artwork for Kula Diamond. |
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| Game series | The King of Fighters |
| First game | The King of Fighters 2000 |
| Voice actor(s) | Yumi Kakazu |
| In-Universe Information | |
| Fighting style | Anti K' |
Kula Diamond is a video game character in The King of Fighters series. She first appeared in The King of Fighters 2000 as the Anti-K project by NESTS. Her original hair color is strawberry blonde, but changes during fighting. She's often seen with her companions, Diana, Foxy and Candy Diamond.
[edit] History
Kula Diamond's origins (birthplace, parents, early life, etc.) are shrouded in obscurity. What is known, however, is that she was taken in by the NESTS cartel at a very young age, as one of the primary subjects of the Kyo Kusanagi cloning process, which started with K' and Krizalid.
During the Krizalid project, NESTS aimed to create a perfect Kyo Kusanagi clone. K' was the project's imperfect prototype; he needed a red gauntlet in order to control the Kusanagi flames inside his body. Krizalid was a near-perfect clone. NESTS was taken aback when K' rebelled and defeated Krizalid, so the group targeted K' for extermination. To this end, NESTS worked to complete the Anti-K' subject, which turned out to be Kula Diamond. This Anti-K' possessed the same design as K', with DNA altered so that its wielder used ice powers instead.
Despite the fact that their subject was a mindless puppet with no sign of emotions (aside from being an innocent young girl), the NESTS cartel was not willing to repeat the same mistake they made with K'. Therefore, NESTS created an android called Candy Diamond, who would monitor Kula's behavior and assure that Kula would accomplish her missions, providing assistance in battle if she was needed. NESTS also assigned two of their top agents (Diana and Foxy) to supervise Kula from the sidelines, and to prevent any sort of betrayal by Kula herself. As time passed by, however, Kula slowly developed a feeling of friendship towards Candy, Diana, and Foxy, contrary to the purpose she was created for.
Even though Kula's mission was to originally eliminate K', NESTS could not allow clone Zero to gain control of Zero Cannon, and was forced to change Kula's directives into stopping the clone Zero instead. Kula was sent into the stratosphere to destroy the Zero Cannon, while Diana and Foxy went to Southtown to stop Zero. After K' defeated Zero, Kula was given the signal to manually fire the Zero Cannon onto Zero's hideout in Southtown. Kula's actions triggered not only one shot but several shots towards Southtown (thus, putting the scenario for the several endings that occurred in KOF 2000 when prior shots were also fired once the original shot was fired).
The original shot not only leveled the Zero clone's hideout, but also took the rest of the city of Southtown with it (this was actually considered to be NESTS' original purpose, in order to eliminate all possible evidence that may incriminate the NESTS cartel). However, Kula still had to destroy the Zero Cannon herself, in order to avoid it being used for the wrong purpose again. Kula succeeded in destroying the Zero Cannon, but by doing so, it prompted her to plummet down to the Earth in a free fall to her inevitable death. However, Candy Diamond, in an unusual display of courage and self-sacrifice (especially for an android), embraced Kula during her re-entry into the atmosphere.
When Kula regained consciousness, she found herself in the ruins of Southtown along with Diana and Foxy. She also found the remains of what used to be Candy, who suffered extensive damage in order to save Kula from burning up during the re-entry, and the subsequent crash into the ground. Candy's last word was "friend". Kula finally understood the true meaning of friendship as she embraced Candy's discarded head. The rest of the Zero Cannons were deactivated shortly after.
One year after the events in Southtown, NESTS once again retook their original purpose to eliminate K', who had now been very active in raiding several NESTS hideouts and destroying them. The NESTS cartel deemed that K's extermination was long overdue, and thus assigned Kula to fulfill her original mission. This time, however, she would have more company. Foxy was comisssioned to enter the tournament with her, along with two new agents: the 'femme fatale' Angel, and the newest Kyo Kusanagi clone, K9999.
During the tournament, Kula and her cohorts received orders from NESTS to lead K' and his companions into a blimp that would take them directly to NESTS' main headquarters in outer space. They succeeded, as Foxy and Kula watched the blimp being blasted into space from a cliff overlooking the ocean. However, Kula was taken aback when K9999 stabbed Foxy in the back with his morphing arm, severely injuring her. K9999 and Angel apparently had a side mission to take care of Kula and her closer relatives to prevent them from ever rising against NESTS. Kula, in utter sadness and despair, had to fight off both K9999 and Angel.
Meanwhile, after the fight with Igniz, NESTS space station with K' and his companions on board began to plummet through Earth's atmosphere. The building heat seemed to guarantee death, but Kula released all of her ice powers, allowing them to endure the passage through the atmosphere. The severe effort caused her to nearly faint, but as she was sinking into the ocean K' saw her and saved her. Kula then finally made her peace with K', as well as gaining some new friends (more importantly, Whip).
After she was saved and NESTS fell, Diana and Foxy took Kula into custody and hid her to avoid any possible legal action from the world governments due to her involvement with NESTS. In the K' Team ending of KOF 2003, she made a small cameo when Whip spoke to Diana on the phone, hinting on her possible comeback in The King of Fighters XI, which eventually did occur when she teamed up along with K' and Maxima.
[edit] Trivia
- On the back of Kula's jacket there is a heart image with 2 swords piercing it. The 2 letters read Pussy Cat.
- In the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of The King of Fighters 2003, Kula makes a cameo appearance in the desert stage, alongside K9999.
- Kula's original hair color is actually a strawberry blonde. This is shown in her pre-fight cinemas in The King of Fighters 2000, her in-game intros, and the K' Team's ending in KOFXI.When fighting or using her powers ,her hair changes to a light sky blue/cyan color.
- In KOF: Maximum Impact 2, Kula has alternative outfits that resemble Ash Crimson, Candy Diamond and K'.
- Instead of dashing, Kula actually skates towards her opponents.
