Shantae

Shantae is the titular main protagonist of the game series of the same name from WayForward. 
She is a magical pirate who lived in a town called Scuttle Town where she received her magic powers from her mother (who is a genie), and she protects her friends and hometown from other marauding pirates, particularly her arch-nemesis, Risky Boots.
She is voiced by , who also voices 5-Volt, Ladybug, Bennett, Xingqiu, Homura Akemi, Velvet Crowe, Killua Zoldyck, Rei Hino/Sailor Mars, and her archenemy, Risky Boots.
==Appearance==
Shantae is an olive/tan-skinned young girl with blue eyes and pointy ears of which hang some gold earrings. Her hair is long growing purple hair tied back in a ponytail stem stalk, which also serves as a whip. Her clothes are simple for every dancer. She wears a red bra on her torso, which reveals her midriff with belly button. Shantae also wears harem pants of the same tone, she also has golden wristbands, a tiara on her forehead and a purple collar on her neck.
==History==
===Shantae===
The story of the game focuses on a half-genie named Shantae. Her job is being the Guardian Genie of a small fishing town known as Scuttle Town, and her life is quite quiet. This changes at the beginning of the game when a group of pirates, led by the sinister Risky Boots, attacks the town and steals a prototype steam engine in the Mimic Treasure Hunter Workshop. Shantae quickly finds herself travelling through Sequin Land, determined to recover the steam engine and thwart Risky's evil plans.
===Shantae: Risky's Revenge===
Things are calm in Scuttle Town since the clash between Shantae and the pirate Risky Boots. Though Shantae's work as Half-Genie has been hard since all the creatures from Sequin Land want to battle her. Later at the Relic Hunter's Expo, Risky crashes in just when Mimic was going to present the lamp to the audience and makes off with that Mimic had just dug up. When asked by Shantae why she is causing trouble again, Risky says that Mimic's object is of great importance for her, but Shantae comments it is just a worthless lamp to which Risky replies it is actually something Shantae doesn't even know the problem what's in store and makes her escape. After walking to the east with no trace of her, Shantae fears Risky has escaped but in that moment the pirate appears behind her protected by her new invention, the Steam-Powered Tinkertub, which has to fight. Shantae only needs to hit the mouth of the ship when the barrel is exposed, doing this three times will defeat the steamboat. Risky admits Shantae has improved since their last battle, but claims that as long as she has the lamp she'll have the means to crush Sequin Land, and launches a last cannonball at Shantae, knocking her out in order to make sure she doesn't follow her and the Tinkerbats.
As Shantae collects the needed to prevent the lamp from activating, Risky frequently appears to taunt and belittle the half-genie's progress. Once the third Seal is found, Risky has Mimic kidnapped thanks to Rottytops and her siblings who wanted in exchange a supply of coffee and in Rotty's case, Shantae's brains. However, Risky changed the offer to her benefit and leaves the trio with nothing they expected in exchange but some cash and a heartbroken Rottytops. In that moment, Shantae arrives and Risky blackmails Shantae to give the Seals to her in exchange of her uncle. With no other option, Shantae surrenders the Seals and is forced to fight Risky's steam-powered steamboat/robot.
In order to hurt Risky, Shantae must hit the mouth when it exposes a barrel and if she does not attack quickly, Risky will start throwing barrels at her. After Shantae hits the barrel, Risky will jump into the background to launch cannonballs, some of which contain Tinkerbats. Sometimes the mouth will open to hurl an anchor and she will also shoot cannonballs. At this point being in monkey form its pretty necessary. Whether she does this move from the far right end or from the left corner, Shantae can dodge it as a monkey by walking closest to the ship without actually touching it. Shantae needs to hit the barrel four times to defeat Risky. After destroying the robot, however, Shantae is promptly stripped of her genie powers when Risky suddenly activates the lamp. Risky then commands the stolen powers to destroy its former master, which it does by manifesting as Nega-Shantae, Shantae's evil counterpart.
Shantae defeats Nega-Shantae, but Risky taunts Shantae regarding how pointless was to give up her powers for the sake of the people of Sequin Land and threatens to have the last laugh the next time. Risky then escapes with the lamp and leaves the heroine with nothing but a hollow victory to show for her sacrifice, thus marking the first time Risky has succesfully won against Shantae.
===Shantae and the Pirate's Curse===
After the events of Shantae: Risky's revenge, during which Shantae had to destroy the personification of her powers, she had to adapt to a life without her genie's powers. But one day, the city of Scuttle town is attacked by the new mayor of the city, Ammo Baron, Shantae has no other choice than fight depending on her long hair as her only main weapon of defense. On the same day after the battle, Shantae is visited by her nemesis, Risky Boots who traps her to ask where her weapons and her crew went which Shantae does not know and is forcibly dragged by Risky into the Mimic Workshop. In front of her, Shantae sees a Tinkerbat, one of the servants of Risky, and she did not know why her uncle had locked him in a capsule, at that very moment a black cloud seizes the Tinkerbat transforming it into a monster and releasing itself breaking the glass, Shantae fights it and then Risky gives her a magical lamp to her to suck the Dark Magic, then risky realizes the situation and informs her that her genie magic was broken in twenty fragments. These fragments have merged with the Tinkerbats and now they want to resurrect Risky's old mentor, the Pirate Master, which would mean the end of Sequin Land.
Determined to stop the Pirate Master, Shantae and Risky willingly team up to destroy the dens of evil giving him power, recover Risky's lost pirate items, and retrieve the Dark Magic inhabiting the Cacklebats. Along the way, Shantae's friend Rottytops reconciles with her for her unwitting role in Shantae losing her magic, and Risky reveals that the Dark Magic is actually Shantae's genie magic, which was corrupted and scattered across Sequin Land rather than destroyed.
After Shantae destroys all of the evil dens, Risky attempts to destroy the Pirate Master's grave, but is kidnapped by the revived Pirate Master. Shantae gives chase back to Scuttle Town, and confronts the Pirate Master in the Sequin Land palace. If Shantae does not collect all the Dark Magic before confronting the Pirate Master, he escapes and Risky retakes her equipment from Shantae, revealing the items' curse which will eventually overtake her. Risky leaves to confront the Pirate Master alone, while Shantae vows to retrieve all of her missing magic.
If Shantae collected all the Dark Magic, the Pirate Master steals the pirate items and forces Shantae to give up the Dark Magic she had collected in order to save Risky. To her surprise, she discovers that the magic has turned back into Light Magic, allowing Shantae to once again become a half-genie and defeat the Pirate Master with Risky's help, releasing his curse from Risky's Tinkerbats and weapons. With peace returned to Sequin Land, Shantae and Risky develop a mutual respect and understanding of one another, though Risky admits that she will never be one of the good guys. Later, Shantae uses her powers to return Scuttle Town's ownership and drive the Ammo Baron out of town, while Risky returns to her life of piracy, preparing for when their paths cross again.
===Shantae: Half-Genie Hero===
Sometime later, Shantae is awoken by the sound of a voice. Following it outside, she discovers a secret cave, where a messenger from the Genie Realm warns her of an impending evil that only she can defeat, but disappears before it can elaborate further. Shantae suddenly awakens, revealing the experience to have been a dream. She goes to visit her Uncle Mimic, who is working on a new invention, the Dynamo, which will keep Scuttle Town constantly powered and safe from attack. However, the pirate Risky Boots begins a siege on Scuttle Town, with one of her Tinkerbat minions stealing Mimic's blueprints. Shantae gives chase and defeats Risky, retrieving the blueprints, but Mayor Scuttlebutt once again fires her from her position as the town's guardian genie due to Risky's escape and the damage incurred. Mimic reveals that several components are still needed to complete the Dynamo, so Shantae begins searching across Sequin Land for the remaining components, helping those she finds in need of assistance along the way.
With help from her friends Sky, Bolo and Rottytops, Shantae retrieves all of the components needed to finish the Dynamo. Mimic switches the device on, but the Dynamo goes haywire and blasts Shantae with dark magic, turning her to her Nega-Shantae form. Risky appears and reveals she had swapped Mimic's blueprints with her own, and that she plans to power up the machine and use it to invert the magical polarity of the entire Genie Realm, turning them evil. Shantae attacks the group while Risky escapes with the Dynamo in tow, but Shantae's friends manage to snap her out of her trance, returning her to normal. To prevent Risky's plan, Mimic creates a Magical Polarizer to reverse the Dynamo's effects, and Shantae sets out for Risky's hideout. Upon arrival, Shantae defeats Risky and the Dynamo-powered Tinkerbrain, but the messenger from her dream pulls her into the Genie Realm and reveals their magic has already been corrupted. With no choice left, Shantae decides she must destroy the Genie Realm to keep the world safe and destroys the repowered Tinkerbrain, returning to the real world and escaping the exploding hideout as Risky swears vengeance.
Shantae reunites with her friends at her lighthouse, where Mayor Scuttlebutt announces Shantae is rehired as Scuttle Town's guardian genie. As the others depart, Shantae expresses regret for having to destroy the Genie Realm, but the messenger appears and reveals that Mimic's Magical Polarizer worked, purifying their magic and saving the Realm. The messenger also explains that Shantae's mother is alive and well in the Genie Realm, having given up Shantae as a child to keep her safe while devoting her own life to protecting the real world from greater threats. Finally understanding her mother's sacrifice, Shantae leaves to celebrate with her friends as the messenger returns to the Genie Realm.
===Shantae and the Seven Sirens===
Shantae and her friends visit Paradise Island for a vacation and meets other Half-Genies. During the festival, they were kidnapped and Shantae must discover the reason for the kidnappings. Shantae begins exploring the Sunken City beneath the island in search of the other half-genies. While searching, she once again encounters Risky Boots, initially accusing her of the kidnapping, Shantae learns from Risky that she only came here to claim a mysterious treasure said to reside beneath the island, and that the others were taken by the true rulers of the island, the Seven Sirens. Shantae continues to explore beneath the island, entering four of the sirens' lairs and defeating the sirens within. She manages to rescue four of the missing half-genies, each of which transfers their magical ability to Shantae to help strengthen her against the sirens.
While rescuing Harmony, Shantae discovers that Fillin is actually her friend Rottytops. Shantae enters an underground bunker to find her, but inadvertently activates a control panel, realizing that the sunken city is both a giant airship and the treasure that Risky Boots was after. She ventures further inside and rescues Rottytops, who admits she hid in Shantae's luggage and disguised herself after Shantae didn't invite her along, while Shantae explains she only left her out because Rottytops was already hidden and she couldn't find her. As Shantae defeats the fifth siren and they escape, Risky activates the ship and takes off, preparing to activate the ship's weapons and destroy the island.
Shantae is teleported aboard the ship by the friendly sixth siren, Lobster Siren, but is imprisoned by the Mayor, revealed to have been Risky all along. The sirens' elderly leader, Empress Siren, appears and explains she was defeated by Harmony's mother years ago, who placed a spell on her so she could only feed on the life force of genies and not mortals, causing her to starve. The Empress made a deal with Risky, offering the ship in exchange for bringing her five half-genies whose life force she could use to break the spell, restoring her and allowing her to absorb mortal life force again. However, she betrays Risky and steals her life force, restoring her youth, and announces her plan to drain the life force from all creatures to make herself immortal. Shantae frees herself and defeats the Empress, who realizes her restoration was incomplete due to Rottytops not being an actual half-genie. Shantae restores the other half-genies' magic as they take back their stolen life force, destroying the Empress.
As the ship begins to crash from the damage sustained, the others evacuate while Shantae remains behind to rescue Risky Boots, carrying her back to shore. Risky admits she told the Empress Siren Shantae's magic was tainted so she wouldn't be drained, allowing her to defeat the Empress if she tried to betray Risky. As Risky departs, Shantae and the other half-genies decide to resume the festival, and Lobster Siren offers to help rebuild the island. As Shantae and her friends prepare to depart after the festival, Harmony gives her a scrapbook made by the Guardian Genies filled with messages left for their half-genie daughters, including some written by Shantae's mother.
==Other Media==
===Watch Quest===
Shantae appears as a playable character where players can play as those who get to choose their adventurer's path, fight enemies, and embark on numerous quests
===Super Smash Bros.===
Shantae appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a ace primary grab spirit that increases the user's magic attack. Her spirit battle is on the Pirate Ship stage against Zero Suit Samus who starts with a killing edge and have increased power on battering items. Later, Shantae's Mii costume for the Mii Brawler was added on the wave ten.
==Powers and Abilities==
Shantae's half-genie nature gives her several magic abilities such as:
*Hair Whip: (aka Ponytail Whip) movement of the mark of Shantae. Shantae can wear long hair and purple ponytail like a gun, cracks like a whip shaking her head. It was revealed in Shantae: The Revenge of risky that this skill is not a product of her half-genie side, since she is able to use this skill when Risky took away her powers. It is possible that this ability is product of her own magic not tied to her genie side, or it may come from her father.
*Belly Dances: Shantae can use her Bellydance ability to cause various kinds of magic effects, more notably teleport and transformation. Although her style of dance is without doubt her most notable ability, the similarities have been observed with the turkish style Oryantal Dans of the belly dance.
*Transformation: Shantae can transform into many forms, such as a monkey, elephant, spider, harpy, mermaid and even a Tinkerbat once you have learned the right dance from a Guardian Genie, magic Fountain or in the case of Tinkerbat dance by purchasing the sequence of a man in Bandit Town. Each one gives her some abilities of her forms.
*Magic Objects and Spells: Shantae can use various types of magic spells and items purchased in stores. The magical properties of these elements seem not to be linked to the powers of Shantae's genie side, while maintaining the ability to use them, even after her powers were taken away in Risky's Revenge.
*Combat Movements: after receiving Bolo's training and through store upgrades, Shantae can perform various martial arts techniques such as Backdashes, Recoveries and various types of kick attacks (Kick Power, Kick Drill, Uppercut Kick).
*Costumes: Shantae has different outfits that she can use to change her stats and skills.
==Trivia==
*Shantae, Risky Boots, and Harmony are all voiced by Cristina Vee.
*Her age statement confirmed 16.https://twitter.com/MrBozon/status/620411784512442368
*Shantae shares many similarities with Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug from Miraculous Ladybug, another character Cristina Vee voices:
**Both are heroines that use magic to call upon animal-like powers.
**Both are considered "klutzes" and are often late to events.
**Both possess abilities that let them undo large amounts of collateral damage at once - Shantae with her wish-granting and Marinette with her Magical Ladybug technique.
*Shantae using her long ponytail like a whip to fight bears a certain resemblance to Jeannie, the genie girl who uses her smaller red ponytail while using her magic to move her head, where the distinctive crackle of the whip is heard.
==External Links==
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