Kula Diamond

Kula Diamond (クーラ・ダイアモンド, Kūra Daiamondo) is a character who first appeared as the sub-boss in The King of Fighters 2000. She enters as a normal participant in subsequent appearances.

Her original hair color is strawberry blonde (confirmed after the game's release), but changes to a light blue when she activates her powers. She's often seen with her companions, Diana, Foxy and Candy Diamond. Her official nickname is Ice Doll (アイス ドール, Aisu dōru).

At Vigamus, a museum of videogames sponsored by the municipality of Rome, a special illustration lists Kula as the mascot of the new millennium era of Neo Geo.

Development
She was designed to be the antagonistic foil to K', in an attempt to better develop characteristics of the NESTS cartel. She was specially made with attempts to depict a 14-year-old girl with "appropriately girlish" gestures with help from the newly hired female staff. Her actual design was left to the veteran supervising designer.

Story
Kula Diamond is a being created with the codename Anti-K by NESTS to exterminate the cartel's traitor, K'. She possesses the same design as K', and her clothes are almost identical to K's, with DNA altered to use ice powers instead. As a side effect of her surgery, her mental state has been turned back to that of a child. 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 and prevent any sort of betrayal by Kula.

She is often ordered by either Diana or Foxy to exterminate other traitors to NESTS -such as Zero or Igniz- but has been known to disobey her orders for the sake of others, such as the destruction of the Zero Cannon. After NESTS's destruction, she allies herself on friendly terms with her target, K' and his companions, understanding that both their lives were ruined by NESTS. Whip affectionately refers to her as the "little sister" of the group. Prior to the KOF XIII tournament, she was staying with K' and Maxima at their apartment. She became cellphone buddies with Chin Gentsai, who promised that she would get a lot of ice cream if she entered the tournament with her comrades. With Whip asking her to do the same, she entered herself and her teammates in the KOF XIII tournament.

In the Maximum Impact series, Kula accepts to enter in the tournament to search for Dr. Makishima under the orders of Heidern, as the doctor is needed to repair Maxima's failing nuclear core. During the tournament, she finds a rival in the form of Nagase, and defeats her, with the latter swearing revenge for the humiliation she suffered. Kula eventually discovers that the doctor had been taken elsewhere, and leaves the tournament.

Personality
Before being a killer, Kula is a child. While working for NESTS or for Diana and Foxy, she would not fail to kill anyone she finds unworthy. During her time with NESTS, her feelings were repressed, as she was portrayed as a cold girl executing her mission. She has since been defrosted into being more childish as of late.

Kula is trying hard to establish herself as a humane person, so people don't look at her as if she is some kind of weapon, she doesn't use her powers to full extent so she doesn't kill anyone by accident, because she fears that it would make her go back to her previous ways, so she prefers close combat instead; Kula is usually worried about her foes upon defeating them at times.

Despite being this sweet innocent girl, she tends to have some anger management issues. They are mostly the results of people either talking down to her, underestimating her, or reminding her of her origins and calling her a weapon. She also gets angry whenever she sees flames.

Powers

 * Cryokinesis - Kula has an impressive control over ice. When using her powers, Kula's hair becomes blue and her eyes turn magenta. When not in use of her powers her hair is strawberry-blonde and eyes are blue. Also, when her powers are active, she is surrounded by an aura of cold air that constantly swirls around her. Her ice powers are strong enough to freeze and shatter a space station (Zero Cannon) made of steel, which means she can lower down the temperature around her as low as minus 200 °F, though the limits of her cryokinesis are still unknown.
 * Create ice - Kula can create ice out of thin air.
 * Ice breath - Kula can blow freezing cold air out of her mouth.
 * Crystals - Kula can create crystals of ice in her hand that could momentarily freeze her opponent, but its main use is to absorb incoming projectiles.
 * Ice strikes - Kula can create ice spikes around her hands and freeze her hair, making it become dangerous pointed spikes. She can also embed her attacks with freezing cold air instead of ice, which she uses for her anti-air attack.
 * Slippery floor - Kula can freeze the floor, using it to slide and possibly trip her opponents.
 * Ice shield - Kula can create a shield of ice. The shield is hard enough to withstand superhuman strength.
 * Ice projectile - Kula can fire a projectile made of ice with a kick.
 * Snowflake Projectile - Aside from her ice projectile, Kula can fire snowflake-shaped projectiles that are larger in size than her normal ice projectiles.
 * Body of ice - Kula can transform her entire body into ice. This is shown during her intro.
 * Freeze - Kula can completely but temporarily encase her opponent in ice.
 * Ice Spikes - Kula can create large, dangerous, pointed spikes made of ice.
 * Freeze air - Kula can transform the air around her into ice, damaging anyone except herself, in range. This power is shown to full extent when she first appeared in KOF 2000, when she was able to freeze the entire stage (either the docks, or the factory, depending on when you fight her).
 * Snowman - Kula can create a snowman and drop it on her enemy.
 * Ice control - Kula has control over her ice even when she has already used it on her opponent. She can completely freeze her opponent from quite a distance by encasing him/her in huge crystal of ice then shatters her ice crystal from a distance, dealing huge amount of damage to her opponent. It's best shown in her new Climax Desperation Move in KOF XIV.

Fighting Style
As the Anti-K', her fighting style is primarily based on K's (with her sharing his One-inch punch being a prime example), but adapted to her ice-based powers. She also fights using her ice skates, which are able to cut easily through flesh. She has high flexibility, which allows her to kick high and with ease, so she can use her skates to their full extent. Kula is very acrobatic and agile, mostly relying on her speed and ice powers rather than brutal strength, though she still can concentrate her strength on a single hit. Some of her moves (such as One Inch Punch) can send characters as big as Chang Koehan flying across the stage. Some of her moves also resemble ice dancing. She also employs the help of her friends, Foxy, Candy and Diana, primarily the latter.

Music

 * Ice Place - The King of Fighters 2000
 * NESTS - Ruler of the Dark - The King of Fighters 2001
 * Deserted Town - The King of Fighters 2002
 * KDD-0075 - The King of Fighters XI, The King of Fighters XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only)
 * KDD-0063 - The King of Fighters XIII
 * KD-SR - The King of Fighters XIV
 * Ice Place -KOF XIV ver.- - The King of Fighters XIV (as Angel's opponent)
 * Diamond Dust - The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match
 * Kula Roulette - The King of Fighters 2
 * Candy Rain - Days of Memories (Boku to Kanojo to Koto no Koi)
 * Ice Place ~SNK Heroines Edit~ - SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy
 * Icicle - Dead or Alive 6

Voice Actors

 * Yumi Kakazu - The King of Fighters 2000~Present
 * Kat Cassteneda - The King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2 (English voice)

Game Appearances

 * The King of Fighters 2000 - hidden boss and playable character
 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match
 * The King of Fighters Neowave
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * KOF Maximum Impact Regulation A
 * KOF Sky Stage
 * Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting
 * The King of Fighters XIII
 * The King of Fighters XIV (also in Sundress DLC costume)
 * The King of Fighters 2 - roulette character
 * SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy
 * Dead or Alive 6 - DLC Guest Character

Mobile Appearances

 * Days of Memories (first, fourth, and seventh titles) - unplayable
 * Moeyo! KOF Daiundokai
 * SNK Gals Island Dokidoki Puzzle Shock!
 * Moeyo! SNK Gals Osuin Katoukai
 * SNK Gals Island Candy Puzzle Hajimemashita
 * SNK Gals Island Jintori Puzzle Miseteagemasu
 * SNK Gals Island Senkan Battle Gekichinshichaouzo!
 * SNK Gals Island Beauty Dungeon Mimi to Kimashita!
 * SNK Girls Island Beauty Dungeon Bibitto kimashita!
 * SNK Dream Battle
 * SNK High School Collection
 * Dai Shingeki RPG! Sister Quest - collaboration event
 * Brave Frontier
 * World Cross Saga
 * Ultimate Heroes
 * Venus Eleven Vivid
 * Valkyrie Connect
 * Tower of Saviors
 * Kimi wa Hero
 * The King of Fighters: World
 * Mobile Legends: Bang Bang as Aurora's skin
 * Clash of Kings
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * The King of Fighters M: Fighting Stars Assembly

Cameo Appearances

 * The King of Fighters 2003 - during the K' Team's ending; also in the Egypt stage, PS2 and Xbox versions only
 * The King of Fighters '94: Rebout - background cameo in the Art of Fighting Team and Korea Justice Team stages
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum - in K's ending
 * Athena On Stage

Anime Appearances

 * The King of Fighters: Another Day

Trivia

 * Kula's Super Move, entitled "La*Cachora", is a reference to Japanese women's pro wrestling team "Las Cachorras Orientales", who acted as heels and had a move where they would pose over an injured opponent, showing off to the crowd. Kula's move involves several women posing over a prone opponent.
 * Kula bears a resemblance to Nameless' love interest, Isolde, who perished during routine experiments in NESTS. The resemblance is striking that even Nameless mistakes her for Isolde. In KOFXIV, Kula has an outfit (a sundress) that makes her look exactly like Isolde.
 * On the back of her old jacket there's an image of heart with 2 swords crossed through it, with "Pussy Cat" written above it.
 * Kula's current outfit has the phrase "Coeur de Diamant" written on its back. The phrase means Diamond Heart in French.