Dallying with the Dolls: A Shadoloo Dolls FAQ for: Blossoms in the Spring. Street Fighter and all related are the property of Capcom. Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP Blossoms in the Spring started by the Eternal Lost Lurker. Most of this information gathered from cammyfan.com, created by Stephen99 _-=^=-_ Part 1: So, who are these Dolls? Okay, the first thing most of you are thinking is: Shadoloo Dolls? Never heard of them. This wasn't played up much in Street Fighter Alpha 3 - where the Dolls appeared for the first, and so far only time. There were twelve in total, although only two (Juli and Juni) were playable. The others appeared in vs. Juli & Juni dramatic battle introduction (where you fight both at once.) But what's the deal with them? Here is the basic story: After the success of the first enhanced soldier, Bison expanded the project. He had girls that matched his physical and mental qualifications kidnapped from all over the world. These girls were given genetic treatments to make them stronger, faster, and tougher than normal. They were brainwashed and conditioned to love and serve Bison as their master and god. They would kill for him or die for him without a second thought. Each has been specially trained in combat techniques, as well as given their own specialties. They were renamed, on a whim, after the months of the year. These twelve girls are Bison's personal squad... and woe be it to whomever gets into their way. _-=^=-_ Part 2: Okay, but who are these girls? As said, there are twelve dolls, each named for a month of the year, in the language of the county they were kidnapped in... (more on that, later.) Here is a list of them: 1) Enero (Spain) - January 2) Fevrier (France) - February 3) Marz (Germany) - March 4) Aprile (Italy) - April 5) Satsuki (Japan) - May 6) Juni (Germany) - June 7) Juli (Germany) - July 8) Santum (Vietnam) - August 9) Xiayu (China) - September 10) Yanyu (China) - October 11) Noembelu (Latin) - November 12) Decapre (Russia) - December There should be a pic of these girls available on the main site. Now, if you just want a general description, here we go: All Dolls wear the same uniform - a skintight black/navy blue jumpsuit that leaves the back exposed, and has what appears to be an orange necktie (?) that falls between the Dolls' breasts. Black boots, Red gloves, and a beret. Erero: Pink hair done up in two elaborate ponytails. Pink eyes. Insufferably cute - almost looks like someone kidnapped Chibi-usa and turned her into this. She is pictured with - of all things - a Karaoke mike. Fevrier: Short pink hair in a boyish cut. Brownish/red eyes. She is shown holding a handgun, probably the munitions expert of the bunch. Marz: Purple hair in a bowl cut... except for two tassels that fall over her ears and reach her shoulders. Brown eyes. She has a laptop... most likely the hacker of the group. Aprile: Red, curly hair done in a helmet cut. Black eyes. She carries the medical supplies, obviously a field doctor. Satsuki: Short black hair and black eyes. She wields a Katana. Juni: Very short orange hair, and brown eyes. She is unarmed. Juli: Brown hair that has been pulled into a bun, but with some really long bangs in front. Brown eyes. Also unarmed. Santum: Dark skin, and curly black hair. Black eyes. She wields a spear, and apparently has a pet monkey. (?) Xiayu: Short black hair, with a small blue ornament over her left ear. Black eyes. She wields a nunchaku, and wears a blue sash at her waist. Yanyu: Long black hair that is pulled into two pigtails that reach her mid-back, and have red ribbons tied up in them. Black eyes. She uses a staff. Noembelu: She has reddish skin with short back hair. She has black eyes, and wears a headband with a red- tipped feather in it. She wears a rawhide vest, and wields two small axes that have ropes leading from them to her arms. Decapre: Blond hair with a rather pronounced bang in front, and pulled into two pigtails that reach around the small of her back. She is unarmed, but wears a featureless black mask over her face, one with red eyes. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Cammy. As an interesting note, several things just don't match up between the characters and the listed country of their origin. For example, Santum, listed as coming from Vietnam, physically looks more like she should be African. Noembelu is obviously a Native American... yet her country is listed as 'Latin' of all things. And, of course, most telling is that Juli, although kidnapped from Germany, was obviously known by the massive Thunder Hawk, and he was even there to 'take her home'... which for him is Mexico. It is rather apparent that these girls were not necessarily native to the country they were kidnapped from. _-=^=-_ Part 3: Umm... Okay... but that still doesn't tell us much about them... Well, that's because there isn't much to tell about them personally. Heck, they don't have much of a personality - Bison destroyed most of their individuality to make them his Dolls. Heck, even the two that were playable - Juli and Juni - remain mostly a mystery. Other than Juli's real name is Julia, and that Thunder Hawk was friends with her before she was kidnapped, we don't KNOW anything about the pasts of ANY of the Dolls. _-=^=-_ Part 4: Then why would I want to put such obscure, unknown, uninteresting characters in my episode of Blossoms in the Spring?! Well, here are some good reasons: 1 - time appropriate: Blossoms in the Spring is, essentially, replacing the Street Fighter Alpha 3 storyline (what there was of it.) Which means the Dolls are all present. 2 - ease: Bison is going for the Cards. Why should he bother waiting for whatever card he finds to take a host, kidnap and brainwash them... when he has a good selection of perfect hosts available. Especially since, as set up, the Dolls retain their fanatical loyalty even after being possessed. 3 - no back story: You wouldn't need to deal with any other effects of them being possessed - you can focus exclusively on the card, not on the host. _-=^=-_ Part 5: By the way... what IS up between these Dolls and Cammy? Cammy is the prototype for the Dolls. She was the first enhanced soldier, and probably the most powerful of them. There is also a question of if Cammy might be the failed result of an attempt to clone Bison himself... which cannot really be confirmed (I'd doubt it, but she WAS able to use devises that were supposed to be keyed to Bison only...) Nonetheless, Cammy - or, as she is known during her Shadoloo Days, the Killer Bee - is NOT one of the Dolls. She is the Shadoloo top assassin (a position that would be held by Vega in the Street Fighter II games.) Thus, she technically has a degree of authority within Shadoloo... however, since at this point she has about as much personality as any of the Dolls, this doesn't mean much in practical terms. What it does mean is that Cammy is used to working on her own, and won't mesh well if forced to work with the Dolls - although she would, no questions asked, if Bison orders it. Similarly, the Dolls probably resent Cammy. Cammy gets special attention from Bison, as well as the choice assignments. What little personality is left to them is probably very jealous of Cammy. _-=^=-_ Part 6: Okay, now tell me, how do they fight? Let's face it, Blossoms in the Spring is a fusion with Street Fighter, there is going to be fighting. But, as I mentioned before, only two of the Dolls and Cammy were playable... However, figuring out how they generally play like isn't too hard. Just go and find ANY version of Cammy - and you will get the general gist of their fighting style. Naturally, the ones with actual weapons probably have some additional/altered attacks dealing with their weapons, but the basics will doubtless be the same. As for some specifics, here are moves that have been seen in versions of Cammy or the Dolls Juli or Juni: All have the same throws: Suplex, Thigh Press, Air Thow, and Frankensteiner (Air Thigh Press.) Spiral Arrow - a low, spinning drop-kick. Up close, it hits twice. Some can perform this in air. Cannon Spike - A rising kick, like a dragon punch. Cannon Strike - A diving kick, used mid-air. Cannon Revenge - a counter move. Axle Spin Knuckle - a twirling step forward, followed by a hit from the elbow, then backhand. The user can sidestep missile attacks during the 'twirl' portion. Hooligan Combination - the user will leap toward her opponent, curling into a tight ball. From this point, she can - Fake out, canceling before she hits; Razor Edge Slicer, a sliding kick; Fatal Leg Twister, a frankensteiner-like throw; Cross Scissors Pressure, where she grabs her target, flips them over, and drives them into the ground with her legs. Some can do a Cannon Strike from this as well. Sniping Arrow - a more typical flying kick, it flies farther than a Spiral Arrow, but does less damage. Falling Arc - an axe-kick overhead attack. Mach Slide - the user will blur momentarily, and reappear elsewhere. Not truly a teleport, just moving too fast to follow. Psycho Shield - An aura that thrusts an attacker away after the user blocks an attack. Earth Direct - Just like the Cross Scissors Pressure, but without needing the Hooligan combination. And then there are the Super Techniques: Spin Dive Smasher - a combination of the Spiral Arrow and the Cannon Spike. Decent damage. Reverse Shaft Breaker - A Spiral Arrow that goes completely vertically. Like Ken's Shinryuken attack. Psycho Streak - An Image of Bison manifests and performs a Psycho Crusher. Not very damaging, but not much of a recovery time if the attack misses or is blocked. (BISON DOES NOT SHOW UP!! IT IS SIMPLY AN IMAGE OF HIM!!) Killer Bee Assault - Shadoloo Cammy's special finishing move. She leaps to a wall (or ceiling), then homes in on her target with a kick. If that connects, she continues to go between walls and strike with kicks... then finishes her opponent off with a Cross Scissors Pressure. Does about the same damage as a full Spin Dive Smasher. There are also some Team up techniques. (Cammy never used these, and I doubt would know them.) Psycho Charge - this ability allows a pair of Dolls to heal, or restore their Super Bar. In story terms, that would be gathering their Psycho Energy. Psycho Rolling - During this, each Doll grabs the other's ankles, and then the roll into the opponent, for several hits. It should do better damage than it did in the game. Death Cross Dancing - One doll slides forward and strikes with an elbow. If she connects, her partner appears behind the opponent, and they both proceed to assault him, finishing him off with a paired flying kicks. Again, this did absolutely PATHETIC damage in the game (it did AS MUCH as a SINGLE Heavy Punch...) but should probably be... more damaging in the story. _-=^=-_ Part 7: Umm... so who uses what? Sigh. Okay, at some point or another, Cammy has used ALL of the listed techniques EXCEPT: Sniping Arrow; Falling Arc; Mach Slide; Earth Direct; and the pair techniques. Juli uses: Cannon Spike; Sniping Arrow; Axle Spin Knuckle; Falling Arc; Reverse Shaft Breaker; Spin Dive Smasher, and the Pair Techniques. Juni uses: Cannon Spike; Spiral Arrow (in air, too); Hooligan Combination; Cannon Strike; Mach Slide; Earth Direct; Psycho Shield; Falling Arc; Psycho Streak; Spin Dive Smasher; and, of course, the Pair Techniques. Now, in chapter 11, Decapre was shown using: Sniping Arrow, Cannon Strike, and the Hooligan Combination. As more is defined, it will be put here. _-=^=-_ Part 8: Any suggestions? Ah... not really. But: The characters with specific weapons probably have at LEAST one special move that uses those weapons (Probably one Super Move, too.) Since nothing in the existing Doll's library of moves could match, you'll need to come up with them on your own. However, there have been plenty of weapons users throughout gamedom... just find an appropriate one, if you can't think of anything original. The Dolls with long weapons, (Satsuki, Santum, and Yanyu) probably don't use the Spiral Arrow, as their weapons would get in the way. The Sniping Arrow would work, though. And so far, all Dolls (or rather, both Dolls and Cammy) have known the Spin Dive Smasher. Finally, don't be afraid to use different techniques! If you can come up with a good new one, or a reason why to use a different one, go ahead. (Example - perhaps one of the Dolls emulates Bison's fighting style? Scissor Kick and Head Stomp?) _-=^=-_ Part 9: Anything else? Well, I guess I should give thanks to Capcom for making Cammy and the Dolls, Stefan99 for his Cammy Fan site (http://cammyfan.com) and the Eternal Lost Lurker for starting Blossoms in the Spring. Also, I am (slowly) working on two more FAQs for Blossoms in the Spring: "Win at Everything: A Karin Kanzuki FAQ" And The Street Fighter World FAQ _-=^=-_ Part 10: Will they manage to be more seriously done than this one? Probably not. I can't seem to remain serious while writing a FAQ. Deal. And that is FINALLY... all. _-=^=^=-_