Kumatora

Kumatora (クマトラ) is a major character in the Earthbound series, making her debut as one of the main characters in Mother 3. She is the only playable character and permanent member of Lucas's party who is female. She can use many powerful PSI abilities. She is a tomboy, in contrast with previous games female party members (Paula and Ana) who were stereotypically feminine characters. This is most likely due to the fact that the extremely feminine Ionia, a Magypsy, raised her.
Kumatora is called the princess of Osohe Castle, although she doesn't actually have any royal blood. In fact, Kumatora was only named princess by the Magypsies after they were asked to care for her by the people on board the White Ship as she was dropped off.
==Personality==
True to her tomboyish nature, Kumatora is wild, to the point where she refuses to cry until the game's ending (this could be a reference to a sentence in MOTHER's commercial, saying in Japanese, "There's no crying until the end.") She is also rude, calling Wess by the term, "old geezer", quickly commenting on Duster's bad breath and calling Fassad a "cheap bastard". She can also be rather impulsive - while trapped in Osohe Castle, she seriously considers cutting off her leg while it was caught in a bear trap and took the Egg of Light before Wess could warn her about the traps attached to it. However, during rough situations, Kumatora does prove to be nice and caring in regards to the rest of the party, and also to others- as she went on to help Salsa escape from Fassad's abuse. She also has a resourceful streak, using her waitress disguise to remain undercover after the Pigmasks take over Nowhere Islands (though she expresses a firm distaste for them).
==Appearance==
Kumatora is portrayed as a teenager but can be slightly older. She is a magenta haired girl with a yet somewhat feminine appearence, wearing a turquoise full sleeved hoodie with baby blue collars and wrists, which reaches slightly above her knees like a short dress would. She wears bright magenta boots and has her hair styled in pixie cut which has a spiked back and front side bang. She is shown to wear winged eyeliner and magenta lipstick in her clay figure. During her in-game appearance, she is shown to have a pendant and ribbon equipped, which she apparently wears- unless the player changes it.
During her disguise as a waitress, she wears her hair in a girlish manner, tied with a golden band. She also wears a white and pink dress, which she reveals to hate. She wears white shoes and violet eyeshadow.
Her height also increases after the timeskip.
==Story==
Kumatora was a young infant when she arrived at Nowhere Island in the White Ship, having no parents to take care of her, the Magypsies decided to take care of her, which resulted in Kumatora gaining the knowledge of various PSI moves. She was decided to be made the Princess of the Osohe Castle, although, in haste, not much backstory was provided for her. Kumatora first appears in Chapter 2; while Duster makes his way through Osohe Castle in search of the Noble Spitoon, she drops from a ceiling, landing and dashing through the nearby door. She drops her pendant in the process, which Duster takes. Kumatora is seen again when Duster later returns with Wess; as they enter a room, they find her with her leg caught in a bear trap. She fires a blast of PK Freeze at them, but suddenly recognizes Wess and apologizes, instead musing on whether or not to cut her leg off somehow. Wess and Duster free her and return her pendant, and she joins them out of gratitude, at which point the player can name her.
The trio continues through the castle and eventually find the Egg of Light; unfortunately, the Pigmasks pursue them and attempt to barge into the room, prompting her to grab the egg and tripping a trapdoor that sends them plummeting into the room below. Upon meeting and defeating the Oh-So-Snake, a drain opens (later revealed to be pulled by Salsa in Chapter 3), and all three of them are sucked out.
Wess and Kumatora end up on a shore in Tazmily Village and are nursed back to health at Lighter and Fuel's house. They head out to the town square in search of Duster and the Egg of Light, who are both nowhere to be found, and discover that Butch and the other villagers suspect him of stealing a bag of money from the well; the bag of money was given to Butch (and revealed to be stolen from him) by Fassad. As Wess and Kumatora defend Duster's reputation (with Kumatora threatening to beat the snot out of Butch), Fassad shows up and takes advantages of the situation by using Salsa to sell Happy Boxes to the villagers. As he tries to sell one to Kumatora, she reads Salsa's mind and senses his plight, promising to rescue him.
Kumatora and Wess later free Salsa from his bonds, and are forced to escape with him from Fassad and a group of Pigmask Soldiers. They run into Sunshine Forest, where she and the others are forced to fight off a Pork Tank. Despite defeating the colossal machine, Kumatora's group ends up surrounded by Pigmasks, but they are bailed out in the nick of time by Lucas and a duo of Dragos (one adult and the baby), who drive off the Pigmasks for the time being, ending Chapter 3.
Three years later, Kumatora is revealed to have become a waitress at Club Titiboo, where she goes by the name of Violet (Yoshikoshi in the Japanese version). After Duster (who goes by the name 'Lucky' at that point) joins the party, Kumatora joins the party as well, as they go out to search for the Egg of Light. At this point, she goes out and beats up the guards of the Club- once again showing her feisty nature. At this point, Chapter 4 ends.
With start of Chapter 5, Kumatora, along with the rest the party members, continue the search for Egg of Light- after finding which, they head over to Thunder Tower- and realize the reason for the erratic lightning across Tazmily Village, they go on the shut off the tower, which, after they are successful in, end in a cutscene where they encounter Fassad. He mocks them and attempts to leave via a helicopter- while leaving the team on the crumbling tower, but slips on the banana peel he threw, falling off the tower. The team then clings onto the helicopter's ladder using Rope Snake and flies off a distance, until The Masked Man notices them and attempts to shake them off by shaking the helicopter. He succeeds and the team ends up falling in different places, ending Chapter 5.
Kumatora has no appearance in Chapter 6.
Kumatora is found in Doria's house later during Chapter 7, who saved her after she fell, and joins the team later on. The rest of Chapter 7 is spent finding the Needles, and Kumatora remains in the party at all times. Near the end, after defeating Masked Man for the first time and pulling the Needle, Ionia teaches Kumatora PK Starstorm, one of the strongest attacks in the game.
In Chapter 8, Kumatora, along with the party members, explores the New Pork city- but as a silent party member. Until the pulling off the last Needle, she doesn't have any extra role to play. After the game ends, she is notably crying in the "END?" ending, as said by one of the characters.
==In Battle==
Kumatora primarily uses Gloves as weapons. Compared to other members of the party, Kumatora's normal attacks are weaker. However, Kumatora can use many powerful PSI attacks as her stats are designed to support her role as the party's main PK user; she can use PK Fire, PK Freeze, PK Thunder, PK Starstorm, and PK Ground. She also learns Healing, Lifeup, and PSI Magnet, and Assist PSI like Offense Down, Defense Down, Brainshock, Hypnosis, and Paralysis.
==In Super Smash Bros.==
=== Super Smash Bros. Brawl ===
 Kumatora appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a sticker. Attaching this sticker to Ness or Lucas's trophies in The Subspace Emissary increases their PK attack by 11.
=== Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ===
Kumatora appears with Boney when Lucas uses PK Starstorm, his Final Smash. This marks the first she's ever been officially modeled in 3D.
She appears as an Attack type advanced level primary Spirit in the new Spirits mode, and Spirit has two support slots. She can also be a profile picture for a players online tag.
==Trivia==
*Kumatora's name comes from the japanese words "くま" (kuma) and "とら" (tora), meaning literally "Bear tiger".
**Her leg getting caught in a bear trap in Osohe Castle might be in reference to the "Kuma" part of her name.
**"Bearcat" is an antiquated term for a hot-blooded and fierce person. Kumatora's name may be a pun off this slang, suggesting she is more than just a "Bearcat," but a "Beartiger," as tigers are related to cats.
*Unlike Ana and Paula, Kumatora does not use Frying Pans as her main weapon; rather, she uses Gloves. In matter of fact, the only Frying Pan she can equip is the Fake Frying Pan. 
*In EarthBound 64, Kumatora wore black clothing with purple hair. Her Pre-Timeskip design bares resemblance to Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series. 
*Hackers had found unused sprites of Kumatora revealing that she might have been planned to be a Magypsy apprentice. The sprites gave some distinct similarities to the sprites of Kumatora with a more fantastical outfit, possibly used as her post Timeskip design.
*Kumatora cries for the first time at the end of the game during the "END?" ending, which is a reference to the slogan of EarthBound Beginnings, which is "No crying until the end".
*If the party is defeated when Kumatora is the lead hero, there will be a placeholder doll in the top-left corner of the 'Try Again?' screen instead of the usual defeated figure in the center of the screen. This error does not occur with anyone else leading the party since Kumatora being the leader can only be configured in the Debug Room. She is the leader briefly near the end of Chapter 2, but has no enemies encountered at this time.
*When Kumatora first joins Duster's party after firing a blast of PSI at him, her PP is not full in a reference to the cutscene before.
*If "Violet" is used as her name, she is called "Kumatora" while posing as Violet in Club Titiboo. This is similar to how if "Lucky" is used as Duster's name, his band name will instead be "Gorgeous".
*In Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s Korean version, she was renamed to "쿠마트라"(Kumatra). Originally, "쿠마토라" was the right expression.
== Gallery ==
File:LucasEB64.jpg|EarthBound 64 screenshot featuring Kumatora and Lucas' post-time-skip designs.
File:Waitress.png|Violet's design in EarthBound 64.
File:Violet64head.png|EarthBound 64 Violet's face.
File:Concept Art DCMC Playing at Club Titiboo.jpg|Concept art of Club Titiboo, Violet can be seen on the right.
File:KumatoraSprite2002.png|Early sprite of Kumatora from 2002.
Kumatora SSBU.png
== References ==
* https://mother4ever.net/release-brownies-interview/ (Early GBA sprite)
Category:Characters
Category:Mother 3 Characters
Category:Female Characters
Category:Playable party members in Mother 3
Category:Spirits in Super Smash Bros Ultimate