Christie Monteiro

Christie Monteiro (Japanese: クリスティ・モンテイロ, Hepburn: Kurisuti Monteiro) is a fictional character in the Tekken video game series of Brazilian nationality. Christie is the granddaughter of a legendary capoeira master who taught Eddy Gordo the art of capoeira in prison. After Eddy Gordo's release, Eddy swears an oath to his master to teach his granddaughter, Christie, the art of capoeira. Becoming a prodigy in only two years, Christie mainly involves herself in The King of Iron Fist Tournaments in search for a cure for her grandfather, who has become sick during his incarceration.

Christie was the original design that was supposed to be released into the game to introduce the Afro Brazilian martial art, but developers decided to go with a male version of her instead, releasing Eddy Gordo. There were plans not to use the female version, but after some time, the original female design was released into the game. Originally she was an effective palette swap (in reality a costume and gender swap) of Eddy in playability, but successive games have given her subtly different timing and a few moves of her own, making her feel like a different character.

Appearances

In video games

In the Tekken series, Christie is the granddaughter of a legendary capoeira master who is incarcerated in the same prison cell as Eddy Gordo. Eddy is taught the art of capoeira and after his release, his master requests that he seek and teach his granddaughter capoeira. Finding her soon after his return from The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Eddy manages to teach Christie to become a capoeira prodigy in only two years. But soon thereafter, Eddy abruptly vanishes, leaving Christie only with the words, "Those responsible for my father's death must pay." Troubled by his sudden and mysterious disappearance, Christie goes looking for him, her only lead being The King of Iron Fist Tournament 4.

Christie is able to reunite with Eddy during or after the tournament, as the two are together to see Christie's grandfather being released from prison. Because of his incarceration, Christie's grandfather has become a frail old man and is diagnosed with a terminal illness that leaves him only six months to live, although a cure might be possible with technology from the Mishima Zaibatsu. Several days later, Christie learns of The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5. She sees it as a chance to save her grandfather, believing that she may be able to find a cure for him if she possessed the advanced technology from the Mishima Zaibatsu. Christie enters the tournament, but she is defeated and goes home to Brazil. Upon her arrival, she finds out that both her grandfather and Eddy are missing. She learns that her grandfather was transferred to the Mishima Zaibatsu's medical facility. In order to find the exact location of her grandfather, Christie enters The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6. In her and Eddy's epilogues, Christie finds that her grandfather is dead. She breaks down in tears over his grave, and Eddy, who was the one responsible for transferring her grandfather so he could be cured from funds he received by working with Mishima Zaibatsu, drops his Mishima Zaibatsu emblem to the ground, breaking it slightly.

Christie also makes appearances as a playable character in the non-canon Tekken games Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Tekken Revolution, as well as Street Fighter X Tekken via DLC released in July 2012, with her official tag partner, Lei Wulong.

In other media and merchandise

In the 2010 film Tekken, Christie is portrayed by American actress Kelly Overton.^[1] This version of Christie is a mixed martial artist instead of a capoeira fighter, has no relationship with Eddy Gordo, and is a love interest of Jin Kazama. In the 2011 CGI-animated film Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Christie's dossier is briefly seen when Anna Williams opens a file containing dossiers on various persons of interest.

A model portrayed Christie in the "Tekken Maxim Photoshoot" gallery in Maxim.^[2] Kotobukiya released a 1/7 scale (9.8 inches tall) Christie action figure in January 2012 as part of their Tekken Tag Tournament 2 storyline; she is seen in a dance-like posture and in her usual Tekken costume, except her pants are turned into chaps with her panties clearly visible.^[3]

Reception

Adrianne Curry dressed as Christie Monteiro at Wizard World Chicago 2012

Christie has been featured in several lists of the "hottest girls" of video games. For instance, GameDaily listed her in their "Babes of Tekken" article, stating "When it comes to Tekken, no character moves as gracefully as Christie."^[4] She additionally appeared in their "Babes We're Thankful For" article, stating while attractive, "she can break a guy's arms and legs in seconds. We love a girl that stands up for herself."^[5] GameDaily also listed her on the "Top 25 Hottest Game Babes" list, ranking her second behind Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series.^[6] Heavy.com listed her at #20 on their list of "The 20 Hottest Video Game Girls".^[7] UGO Networks placed Christie at #14 on their list of "Fighting Games' Finest Female Fighters", commenting that she's "totally foxy".^[8] In 2010, Christie and Michelle Chang tied at #13/#12 on Complex's list of "The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games" and listed out the similarities between them.^[9] In 2012, Complex did a revised list of "The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games", where she ranked at #12.^[10] Complex also ranked Christie as "The 17th Best "Tekken" Video Game Character of All Time", commenting "With big eyes and an even bigger... um... smile, Christie has our immediate attention."^[11] Christie ranked at #7 at PopCrunch.com's list of "10 Hottest Video Game Babes Ever", called "Tekken’s hottest babe by far."^[12] Christie was featured in a "Today's Girl" article by Maxim, where they called her a "barefoot babe" and a "pixilated princess".^[13] MSN listed Christie among the "20 hottest women in video game history", calling her an improvement upon Eddy.^[14] Joystiq list Christie at #9 on their list of "The top ten girls of PSP", complimenting her dance-like moves.^[15] GameFront ranked Christie's breasts as the 22nd best in gaming history.^[16] Complex listed her as the 17th best Tekken character, adding "Christie allows any person of any age to play Tekken – just rock the joystick and mash the kick buttons, and she's bound to do something cool."^[17]

GamesRadar, on the other hand, has criticized Christie for having nearly exactly the same moveset as Eddy, even though they thought she looked promising.^[18] In GamesRadar article for Street Fighter X Tekken, they stated "Supplanting Eddy Gordo as Tekken's featured capoeria expert, Christie brought her J Lo looks to the series in Tekken 4."^[19] IGN has criticized Christie for being a button masher character in Tekken 4, but was happy they toned her down in Tekken 5.^[20] She was featured in a "Gaming's Most Inappropriate Outfits Ever" by NowGamer, who commented, "Cheapness aside, we can’t get our head around how Christie’s top manages to stay on as she spins and rolls about like Sonic the Hedgehog on speed."^[21] In 2012, she was listed as one of the most "ridiculous" Tekken characters by Writtin King of Game Informer, who stated, "I don't know why Christie thought joining (and inevitably losing) a fighting tournament would save her sick grandpa, but the fact that everyone in her life disappears tells us something about her. Mainly, that she's insufferable."^[22]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christie Monteiro.