Lisa Hamilton

Lisa (リサ, Risa), also known by her wrestling persona La Mariposa (ラマリポサ, Ra Mariposa), is an African-American luchadora from the Dead or Alive series. She made her first official appearance in Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, and made her fighter debut in Dead or Alive 4. Although she is relatively new to the series, Lisa is closely related to the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee and others involved with it.

History
Not much is known about Lisa's life before DOATEC, although it is well-known that she was high school friends with follow wrestler, Tina Armstrong and was a member of her school's volleyball team, which explains her great volleyball skills. At some point during her life, Lisa became the head scientist for DOATEC, specifically on Project Epsilon and possibly Project ALPHA-152. For unknown reasons, it was Lisa who released Project Epsilon's test subject, Hayate; whether she did this out of contempt for the company's increasingly shady experiments, or because she grew emotionally attached to him is unknown.

She eventually left the company, supposedly becoming a stockbroker in her home country of America. However, it has been stated that she still held on to her job as the head scientist for DOATEC, becoming involved with Project ALPHA-152, until just prior to its destruction during the fourth tournament.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
Before the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament, Lisa was hired by Zack as Zack Island's holiday representative. As part of her job, she personally greeted each of the island’s guests and gave the initial tour of the island’s facilities. Aside from that she, like the other girls, spent her time playing beach volleyball, shopping and leisurely walking the island up until its destruction.



Dead or Alive 4
Lisa appeared in the fourth tournament as the mysterious masked fighter "La Mariposa", in order to engage Tina Armstrong in a no-holds-barred wrestling match. She also confrontd Hayate and told him that she was the one who manipulated him and the other ninja into attacking DOATEC. He "thanks" her with a fight. She also revealed this to Helena Douglas during the tournament. Lisa most likely did all of this in an attempt to destroy ALPHA-152.

After the tournament, she went onto fight in a team wrestling match alongside Tina, during which Lisa's true identity was revealed after her mask was removed.

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
Keeping busy with her subsidiary business after the destruction of DOATEC, Lisa once again returned to public relations for New Zack Island. Performing much the same duties as she did on the previous island, Lisa greeted guests, gave tours and played volleyball up until the islands’ second destruction.

Appearance
Also see: Lisa's Outfit Catalogues

Lisa is a dark-skinned, slender woman, with dark brown eyes, full lips and brunette hair, which is cut short to the base of her skull and styled into a side parting on her left-hand side. Her luchadora costumes are very flamboyant and flashy, with added details such as shiny studs and colorful feathers. Her masks are all based around shape of a butterfly, to match her persona as "The Butterfly". Her default costume a white one-piece that shows off her waist and back, with added strips of material that act as a "skirt". She also wears lace-up boots, leopard-print stockings, verious armbands and a mask with a cap, so only her eyes and the lower half of her face are visible.

Personality
It would seem that Lisa is, at the very least, a nice and very intelligent woman. She appears to be able to connect with most of the women during their island holidays, being able to draw up conversation even with the likes of the taciturn Christie and the normally indifferent Ayane.

Lisa also seems to be a bit of a "workaholic", evident by her multiple jobs, and the fact that she is almost always seen doing some form of work - Her multiple careers and job-changing is a trait she shares with Tina. She is possibly one of, if not the most intelligent woman in Dead or Alive, as shown by her previous job as a head scientist for DOATEC and her refined speech patterns.

Working with DOATEC, the main antagonistic force in Dead or Alive, however, doesn’t mean that Lisa is immoral; in fact, she is quite the opposite, showing friendly and sometimes compassionate behaviour: It was she who released Hayate from his capture during Project Epsilon, and it was also her that started the attack by the Mugen Tenshin Clan as a way to stop ALPHA-152; the then latest creation by DOATEC.

Etymology
Lisa's name is a short form of Elizabeth, from the word Ελισαβετ, Elisabet, the Greek form of the Hebrew name אֱלִישֶׁבַע', Elisheva, which means "my God is an oath" or "my God is abundance".

Lisa's lucadora name "La Mariposa" means "the butterfly" in Spanish. Butterflies have many layers of symbolism to them; for example, some old cultures see butterfiles as a symbol of rebirth, which could relate to Lisa taking on a new persona, and becoming a diffirent people altogether as La Mariposa, as luchadors often do with their wrestling personas.

Butterflies also have a clash of symbolism in terms of luck; while in western cultures it's believed that having a butterfly land on you means good luck, in Japan large numbers of butterflies are viewed as bad omens, a portent of coming evil. This clash could link to Lisa's role in the series, as she was one of the people to bring an end to DOATEC, bringing chaos and badness, but helped the Mugen Tenshin Clan defeat the Committee, which gave them peace and happiness.

Tina Armstrong
Friends since their school days, Tina and Lisa seem to have kept in touch to the point that Tina was the only girl, aside from Lisa, who knew that Zack’s "Dead or Alive Tournament Invite" was a hoax. Re-acquainted on Zack Island, Lisa decided to enter the fourth tournament to match her wrestling skills against Tina’s, resulting in the two teaming up to defeat a rival wrestling team.

Dead or Alive
Lisa can be considered a mixture between Tina and Zack due to her powerful throws and quickly executed kicks. Her kicks are very effective, being especially adept at low and mid-position tracking, and her counters nearly match those of Bayman in power percentage.

Additionally, Lisa is unpredictable, making her difficult to counter and defend against. However, this unpredictability also makes her a very difficult character to learn and master, and thus is very unsuited for beginning players.

Dead or Alive Xtreme
If the player takes the tour of the island at the beginning of the game, Lisa is their partner automatically. Even without the tour, Lisa is nice and friendly enough to become friends with everyone, and vice versa. She will easily become friends with Tina, as both of them were already childhood friends.

In beach volleyball Lisa is a very well-rounded player. Since she used to represent her school in competitive volleyball tournaments, she has a good jumping skill, and great technique, as well as average power, speed, and defense. She is one of the best characters for beginners. By far, she would make an ideal team with other balanced players especially Helena and Christie.

Dead or Alive Paradise
Lisa is also a playable character in the Dead or Alive Xtreme spin-off, Dead or Alive Paradise. Like other Xtreme titles before it, the game features the girls enjoying a two-week vacation on a tropical island, playing volleyball and exchanging gifts with one another. Once again, Lisa acts as the island's tour guide in Paradise, showing the player around the area.

Dead or Alive: Dimensions
Lisa is set to appear in the up-and-coming Dead or Alive game, Dead or Alive: Dimensions, in development for the. Her role in the game is currently unclear.

Musical Themes

 * Tribal Beats - Dead or Alive 4
 * Dance Of The Angel - Dead or Alive 4 Ending Theme.

Trivia

 * Lisa's Lucha Libre moves are based on pro-wrestler.
 * Lisa is the first African-American female of the series, but the second African-American character of the whole series, with the first being Zack.
 * All of Lisa's costumes bear masks as default, except for her cat-like costume which is unmasked. Selecting this costume with 360 Y Button.png will give it its butterfly mask.
 * Lisa's main tag partner is Tina Armstrong in Dead or Alive 4.
 * Lisa's voice is used for Final Fantasy VII character Tifa Lockhart in Monty Oum's Dead Fantasy.
 * IGN featured Lisa in their "Videogame Babe of the Day" series in 2006.