| Ling Xiaoyu | |
|---|---|
Ling Xiaoyu in Tekken 6 |
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| Series | Tekken |
| First game | Tekken 3 (1997) |
| Voiced by (English) | Carrie Keranen (Blood Vengeance (English)) |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Yumi Tōma (3-6)[1] Maaya Sakamoto (TT2-onward) |
| Fictional profile | |
| Birthplace | China |
| Fighting style | Hakke Sho (Baguazhang), Hikka Ken (Pi Qua Quan) and various Chinese martial arts |
| Occupation | Student and Panda caretaker |
Ling Xiaoyu (Chinese: 凌 曉雨 Pinyin: Líng Xiǎoyǔ, Japanese: リン・シャオユウ Rin Shaoyū) is a fictional Chinese character from the Tekken video game series since her debut in Tekken 3 in 1997.
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Ling attends the Mishima Polytechnical School with Jin Kazama and her friend Miharu Hirano. Her life’s ambition is to build an amusement park for all of China to enjoy.
Even at a very young age, Ling Xiaoyu loved amusement parks. Also she was tutored in martial arts by Wang Jinrei from a young age. He believed that if she were more serious, she could achieve true greatness, but became frustrated by her careless attitude. While vacationing in Hong Kong with her family, she noticed a yacht bearing the name: “Mishima Zaibatsu”. Knowing that the Mishima Zaibatsu was rich and powerful, she decided to seek out Heihachi Mishima and make her dream a reality. Abandoning her family, Xiaoyu stowed away on the ship. The ship’s security soon discovered her and informed Heihachi of her presence. By the time that Heihachi arrived on the scene, all of the Tekkenshu—Heihachi’s personal security force—that were aboard the ship had been beaten into unconsciousness and strewn about the deck. It looked as if the ship had been hit by a hurricane. Amidst the chaos, Heihachi found Xiaoyu. She threatened to beat him up if he did not accept her challenge. Amused by her juvenile antics, Heihachi roared with laughter and promised to build her theme park if she won his tournament. She enrolls at the Mishima Polytechnical School, and this is where she first meets both Jin Kazama and Miharu Hirano. Bringing along her old school's trained panda (aptly named "Panda"), Heihachi teaches her to fight, much like he had taught Kuma, so that Xiaoyu would have a bodyguard. This inspired Xiaoyu to see Heihachi as something of a grandfather toward her.
After the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Xiaoyu continued to live, study, and train as a ward of the Mishima Zaibatsu, but her life became boring and mundane, lacking any particular goals. Two years later, Xiaoyu was delivered an anonymous e-mail admonishing her not to trust Heihachi. The anonymous individual warned her that Heihachi posed an immediate danger to her life. At this time, Xiaoyu was a junior at the Mishima Polytechnical School and had become sick of her daily routines, but receiving this mysterious e-mail rejuvenated Xiaoyu’s passionate spirit. Xiaoyu replied to the e-mail dozens of times. Although the sender never contacted her again, Xiaoyu became convinced that Jin, who had been missing since the previous Tekken tournament, had sent it to her. Around this same time, Heihachi announced the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 4. Hoping to reconnect with Jin and unmask the Mishima Zaibatsu’s evil deeds, Xiaoyu decided to enter the tournament.[2] At the end of the previous tournament, Xiaoyu is rescued from the evil plans of Heihachi Mishima by Yoshimitsu, who then tells her about the tragic history of the Mishima family. Xiaoyu starts to believe that the root of all misfortune surrounding Jin and the Mishima family was Heihachi pitching Kazuya off the edge of a cliff when he was five years old.
At this point, Xiaoyu believes it is her personal mission to save the tragic Mishima family. She wished that there were some way to turn back time and fix the past. Her prayers were answered when she heard an unnamed scientist boast that if he had the money, he could build a time machine. To obtain the money to fund the invention, Xiaoyu enters The King of the Iron Fist Tournament 5 to win the prize money.[3]
Ling Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Heihachi had not truly died. However, as head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, Jin Kazama aims to take Heihachi’s life. Xiaoyu was going to try and stop Jin herself, but the Zaibatsu pushed towards militarization, making it difficult to approach Jin. The Mishima Zaibatsu’s declaration of war drew hostility from around the globe. When the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 is announced, Ling Xiaoyu enters in the hope that she can save Jin’s soul from evil.
Outside of the main series, Ling Xiaoyu has appeared in Tekken Card Challenge, Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken Advance and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and is set to appear in Street Fighter X Tekken. She also appears in Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 as an unlockable character.
Xiaoyu is a Chinese teenager with black hair. Her signature hairstyle is two pigtails. She also wears a modified version of a qipao, or a cheongsam, as her primary outfit in Tekken 5 and later. Her secondary outfit consists of pants and a sleeveless jacket with bunny ears hood. Her bonus outfits are the Gothic Lolita costume, the colorful fur costume also with one costume more than other characters; is her school uniform. Within Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken 5, Xiaoyu has more selectable costumes than any other character.
Since Xiaoyu has been voiced by Japanese voice actress Yumi Tōma since Tekken 3, later replaced by Maaya Sakamoto in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Xiaoyu speaks only Japanese due to staying in Japan to accomplished her school activities on Mishima Polytechnical School, even to Wang Jinrei, a fellow Chinese character, as shown in an interlude in Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection.
In Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and Tekken: DR, her hair can be customized with different colors, and her secondary hair colors are pink, brown, and blonde. Her hairstyle can also be customized into short bobs, braided and rainbow afro.
Ling Xiaoyu practices Hakke Sho and Hikka Ken, which is Baguazhang and Piguaquan in Chinese, respectively. Xiaoyu's style is flowing and smooth; many of her attacks move in a windmill-like formation. Typical of a person of her size and build, Ling Xiaoyu is not strong in regards to the damage inflicted by her moves. Xiaoyu emphasizes speed, as her moves have a relatively higher priority. The high priority of her attacks lead to lots of poking. In addition, she also has a quick roll and cartwheel that can be used evasively along with stances which keep an opponent confused.
Ling Xiaoyu appears in Tekken: Blood Vengeance as one of the two main characters, the other being Alisa Bosconovitch. She is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto. Xiaoyu was forced by Anna Williams to act as a spy to gain more information on Shin Kamiya a former student from Mishima Polytechnic now studying in Kyoto International School. She befriends Alisa Bosconovitch in the process who assumes that Ling has feeling for Shin. The end of the film states that Jin Kazama wishes that someday she will be the one to defeat him.
Her comic book appearances includes Tekken Forever and Tekken: Tatakai no Kanatani. She also appeared in the "Tekken Maxim Photoshoot" for Maxim magazine,[4] portrayed by a model named Krystle.
In 2003, Epoch Co. released a Ling Xiaoyu action figure, based on her appearance from Tekken 3. Xiaoyu's pet, Panda, also comes from the action figure.[5] In January 2006, a Xiaoyu action figure based on her appearance from Tekken 5 was released.[6]
Ling Xiaoyu was one of five characters nominated in G4's 2005 "Video Game Vixens" awards show under the category of "Baddest Good Girl",[7] but lost to Final Fantasy X's Rikku.[8] GameDaily noted "It's impossible to dislike Ling Xiaoyu", describing her as both an attractive and a strong character.[9] In a later article they named her one of their favorite female Asian video game characters, calling her "a joy to behold".[10] Dave Cook from Now Gamer listed a fight between Sakura Kasugano and Ling Xiaoyu as one of the fights he wished to see in Street Fighter X Tekken as while the two shared unsuitable outfits, the two are entertaining in terms of gameplay.[11] Neidel Crison from 1UP listed Xiaoyu as one of the characters he's hoping to see in Street Fighter X Tekken stating "She would be able to use her Art of Phoenix to avoid projectiles and, just like in Tekken, have numerous attack follow ups from the stance."[12] Model Tara Babcock listed Xiaoyu as the 19th hottest video game character, stating that her flexible moves and kind mannerism got her attention and that she's her favorite Tekken character.[13] IGN praised Xiaoyu, saying "everyone loves a schoolgirl that can kick some booty" and that she's a fun character to use.[14] MSN Technology ranked Xiaoyu as the 20th hottest video game character, commenting "Xiaoyu made the cheongsam fashionable again, and reminded the world that girls in tight clothing can still pull off some amazing fighting moves".[15]
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