Where's Cammy?

Back in 1988, Street Fighter was primarily about Ryu and Ken but Ryu more specifically. Sagat was there, of course, as was future Mayor of Metro City, professional wrestler Mike Haggar. Mike was, as we all later learned, merely a design prototype for a more fully developed token grappling style character whom we'd all come to know and love (or loathe) as Zangief.

Then in 1991 came Street Fighter II and its worldwide popularity left its predecessor out cold on the gaming community mat. More characters and they all were uniquely distinguishable from one another. They also had international appeal as they represented, albeit sometimes in clumsy ways, the diverse nations of the world. Their individual traits were so interesting that they were given rich and fascinating character backstories and profiles. No video game characters before or perhaps since have been so well roundedly designed that they could take on lives of their own in pop culture as could the "Big 12" from Street Fighter II. It was so popular that the gay bear Russian wrestler Zangief has been etched in history as the first ever grappling character in fighting video games. Is it any wonder that Capcom turned this historical inaccuracy into the impetus for a professional rivalry between the Red Cyclone and Mayor Mike that would last their entire careers even though the two men would never meet in person? As George Carlin once said, "The caterpillar builds the cocoon and the butterfly gets all the reviews".

But it was Ryu Hoshi's relentless quest to become the greatest fighter ever that remained central to his character and gave him the need for some solid character backing in the form of his childhood best friend, Ken Masters. The two now became inseparable and, for a good long run, their enduring friendship would comprise the very fulcrum of the Street Fighter universe in all its forms both in and out of the game itself.

As the early Generation Xers grew up and their younger siblings inherited the new world of Street Fighter II and all its newer versions including Alpha, Super, Turbo, EX, Hyper Fighting, Versus series and so on, its newer and younger fans came to see SF as a world that revolved around the friendship of Cammy and Sakura, neither of whom were ever part of SFII's Big 12. Other later characters like Dee Jay, T-Hawk and Akuma held not only a place of prominence in all things Street Fighter but their stories would retroactively be interwoven into the fabric of the origins of all the previous characters as well.

One of the questions I've read and been asked the most these days is, "Where's Cammy?"

Seems a whole later generation of fans find it difficult to believe that we could be running any Street Fighter series without Cammy White and her young friend, schoolgirl Sakura, the two characters around whom they say the Street Fighter universe revolves. I. along with many people who have written and posted on this subject, always point out that "Street Fighter: The Later Years" focuses exclusively on the Big 12 from Street Fighter II and that that's the reason for Cammy's absence here. Also, just as Ken and Ryu were the central characters before Cammy and Sakura, it's Dhalsim and Zangief who are SFII's current Frick & Frack.

Aside from the fact that she's physically hot I've always been somewhat mystified by her overt popularity when you consider that, in most circumstances in which she's presented, she's not very likable; she's a professional assassin albeit for the good guys and, like Blanka, when was the last time you ever saw her smile? Being a hardass is an appealing feature in any fighting game or story but only her most ardent fans claim to be able to see the other layers beneath. Sakura, of course, is a no-brainer; she's the embodiment of a huge slice of Japanese hentai and other porn that focuses squarely upon the sexual appeal of underage schoolgirls (a gigantic market in the world of porn) and, frankly, that she's a real cute kid and genuinely likable. Her presence, like Robin for Batman and Action Boy for Captain Action (am I going back too far for you kids?), is necessary to take the edge off her otherwise constantly grim and attitude hardened cohort. This became really evident in the last of the most popular incarnations of Street Fighter, the splendid comic book series from Udon.

Today, of course, with Street Fighter: TLY, it's Zangief and Dhalsim whose reestablished friendship has become the catalyst for the very possibility of any future Street Fighter tournaments at all. This is especially true now that Capcom has officially canceled the release of Street Fighter IV in favor of Sengoku Basara X fighting games (known as Devil Kings in the U.S.). But even with the spiritual taxi driving yoga master and his hairy, clueless, mop pushing Russian pal at the helm of the latest incarnation of Street Fighter, expect to see plenty of centerstage action from Ken and Ryu.

I guess what I'm asking here are two things:

Why has the appeal of Cammy and Sakura so overshadowed that of Ken and Ryu?

AND

Should future seasons of SF:TLY eventually begin to branch out beyond the Big 12 of SFII?

Just for clarity, the Big 12 are:

Ken
Ryu
Chun Li
Guile
Blanka
E. Honda
Dhalsim
Zangief
Balrog
Vega
Sagat
M. Bison