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Alright everyone:
I spent the whole day today looking through every KoF game and faq and article i could find. i played all the kof games in the orochi saga and got the whole translated faq of KoFkyo.
my find is:
-kusanagi flames are normal ki flames without any gimick. there is not even a single fact pointing to otherwise and if it is, i'm dying to know from all of you.
-the flames aren't kryptonite to orochi either
-the kusanagi clan specially deviced techniques (along with yasakani) to seal off the orochi menace. to do this they formed a special fighting style that incorporated chinese martial arts and pyrotechniques. both yagami and yasakani mastered and varied their techniques accordingly.
-yasakani neutralizes, kusanagi defeats and yatta seals.

however,
-many years later the yasakani's became the weakest of the three clans with the kusanagi's the strongest, socially as well as in terms of power.
-jealous, the yasakani clan made a bloodpact with Orochi clan to turn the favor for themselves
-the Orochi gave the yasakani GODLY powers but since the human body cannot contain such power, they have short life spans as their body withers away slowly.
-the yasakani flames became purple OROCHI flames
-what they didn't know was that the orochi could control them at any given time. any full blooded orochi can control the yagami's. probably the kof96 outburst of Iori that killed vice and mature was Goenitz's "going away present" since he did say "you'll see" before dying.
-but what seems to contradict is Iori's own quote: "i will never teach the yagami flame techniques to anyone but a yagami" in Kof:Kyo. werent it for this quote everything would make sense. to add to this is the fact that Shermie is one who taught Kyo's cousin, Aoi, the way of weilding purple flames. the term used for them, again, was Orochi flames, and even iori refers to his flames as Orochi flames. so so much for your theory of yagami magatama, darko.
-to me it seems that the orochi power makes Iori's flames hotter and stronger but then why the hell can anyone master it if yagami's could only do it after a bloodpact?! it seems that all orochi's know how to weild purple flames (Shermie being one who taught Aoi Kusanagi) and Orochi Chris weilding them himself. either this or the power is more internal for the orochi blooded people. it goes to explain yamazaki and leona's super human capabilites (leona could chop a tree down at the age of 6!) and would then make more sense. the purple flames, hence, are merely a sign of the corruption. since Iori's powers are his flames, his flames wind up becoming godly in terms of strength as was the promise of the blood pact: godly powers.

and so, i yeild--yagami is not a mere human. seems you were right brain
iori aint a regular human. the yagami's get extra boosts of strength since orochi power is godly but unable to be contained in a human body without effecting it. hence the tell tale coughing of blood and the early age dying.

but the flames of yasakani are orochi flames now. in-game evidence points to it with the fact that Orochi chris and iori's flames are the same. the kusanagi and yasakani both had the same flames, crimson. they weren't unique and it seems to me that this points against the much loved jobbing scenario since both the yasakani and kusanagi flames are one and the same. yasakani merely neutralized orochi while kusanagi's defeated it....but the flames are both the same thing, that is, the pyrotechniques the clans mastered togethered. the orochi blood then combined with the yasakani's to make the flames purple. they became orochi flames from then on. period. there is no proof or evidence to anythign that contradicts this.

but thus far i was right about two things:
-Iori is godtier
-the flames aren't kryptonite

***
Riot of Blood
this is the most complex and weird concept. even now after all the research i'm still confused about it. would appreciate any help from you people.

the low down is this:
in-game Iori in this form gets a mega boost in power and speed. the original description of this is when Iori's orochi blood awakens fully (evidence is Goenitz's comments to both Iori and Leona in KoF96 and KoF97). also in-game we see that it can only be triggered by a fullblooded orochi or an orochi himself as seen in KoF96 and KoF97 kyo/iori/kagura ending when orochi controls him. however, iori did show that he can, infact, fight it as well with great will power (this guy rocks!).

but then there are contradictory bits like kusanagi's also entering riot of blood (Souji Kusanagi entered riot of blood prior to KoF97 as seen in KoF:Kyo and Kyo himself enters it when he does his HDSM in KoF2001 onwards as is evident with his facial expressions, grinning and eyes darkened).
so that much is obvious: it hasn't got to do that much with blood as is normally believed since why else do the kusanagi's, a clan clean off the orochi blood, enter this state.

as far as power is concerned, riot form is seems to be more powerful due to the Orochi blood being fully awake. that explains the increase in speed too. i can't say for sure but Orochi blood awakening is a vague term because what does it mean exactly: that orochi blood is normally dormant in Iori and only awakes in this mode...but it doesnt' make sense as otherwise the Yasakani's wouldn't have made such a pact.
to me since Orochi Iori is Iori in berserker rage, he is stronger in the same sense as a person suffering from such a rage becomes stronger because he no longer restrains himself (guts for instance becomes faster and stronger when he goes berserk). berserk infact means just this.

also "power" and "strong" are terms used in japanese videogames for "fighting power"pretty often. to be more specific, saying a person is stronger than the other doesn't necessarily mean physically stronger but that the person is a better fighter. best example, Ryu's words to Apocolypse in MvsSF: "let only the stronger one survive!"

Ash could very well have been talking about Iori's overall fighting powers. normal iori is a fighting genius who mentally dominates a fight and unnerves his opponent throught taunting and bantering with the opponent. Orochi Iori however is a mindless machine that knows only outright attacks. if we take it from this point of view, Ash IS correct: if Riot Iori is fighting someone more powerful than himself then he is in for a sure defeat because he'll be doing an outright attack. if we look at it this way then it makes the most sense in the world. do you all agree?

so seems i was right and wrong: phsycially Iori may be weaker than Riot Iori but as an overall fighter, Iori is still "stronger". i'm sure everyone agrees to this.

as for what Darko pointed out: from what level was Riot Iori's powers declining from? to me, if we take power literally, then i guess Riot Iori's powers were declining from Iori's normal powerlevel. i'll stick to this opinion until someone has a better opinion.

~Sado
P.S. i expect some kudos for all the work and typing here

*claps* that was a fun read... but in my personal opinion blood-riot is stronger than normal because his power and speed match up to his insanity

I'm not sure what you mean by normal being "stronger" though...

but its interesting to know that those stupid flames arent anything special

Originally posted by Charlotte DeBel
As for me, I don't see anything contradictory in Sado's sayings about Kusanagi and Yagami bloodline.
There's nothing THAT special about them in terms of strength, speed, stamina etc.

Genes are responsible for the ability to wield powers (sacred flames if we talk about Yasakani and Kusanagi) but that's just about the ability to channel hereditary power.
The other part which is a great one is special training to use them. One component isn't too valid without another one, but it's safe to say that if someone without proper bloodline studies one of that "supporting" martial arts (i.e. Shingo stydying Kusanagi martial art), he can use his own chi to emulate "proper" effect to some extent, though significantly weaker that true heir of a bloodline.

The thing is valid also in another way. For example, K' has never studied Kusanagi MA style, his technique is really different from Kyo, so there are alternate ways to master those powers.
Also there's Kula. She posseses "reversed" version of Kusanagi gene, though her martial art moves set is a mirror of the one K' posesses.

Genes of bloodline is directly related to ability to use power. Rugal did quite nice for a not-bloodline member. Those "special genes" are only related to the ability to channel power, especially sacred\cursed one like Orochi or Kusanagi\Yasakani. Regular humans are incapable to do that. Even gene transfusion isn't a pancure sometimes. The best people like Shingo can hope on is imitate some tricks with their own chi via studuing martial arts related to particular power (and invented to control and utilise power to its best in combat).

I'm completely agree, though, on the analysis of Orochi bloodline. And "flame genes" and techniques related to them aren't the same thing. Shingo studied Kusanagi MA style, yet he's not a bloodline member and the best he can hope is imitate some stuff via his own chi. Flames are no cryptonite, either...and mean nothing against Orochi without proper techniques. That's already no news. But...there comes a bit of contradiction in KOF 2003 when Chin Gentsai asks for a help against awakening Orochi a person who wields Kusanagi flames but has nothing to do with Kusanagi MA style- K'.
Orochi blood gives wielders superhuman capabililities as a part of "godly" pact- that fact is proven. Also Riot of Blood state was compared in games to werevof transformation (in case of Leona and Iori). It can be triggered by Orochi power wielder\avatar (what has been done to Leona in her childhood- as a child she was able to kill all peole in her villadge in RoB state- though all the villagemen were also "of Orochi blood" and she was just 6years old girl, though in RoB state).
KOF:Kyo points too much contradictory stuff. In fact, they show that the difference between Kusanagi and Yagami\Yasakani is thin. Triggering Riot of Blood in person who never belonged to Orochi bloodline looks weird...at least.

K' got Kusanagi power transfused into him and yet his fighting style is completely different from what Kusanagi clan practice. Also the whole transfusion thing means that flames and supporting techniques are different from each other. Also the transfusion itself went not without problems...
Neither K' nor Krizalid used Kusanagi techniques in terms of MA style, yet they wield their flames. There was almost nothing in common- unlike Rock Howard case, where he used "inherited" moveset along with moves he learnt from his legal guardian, Terry Bogard.
Also it was possible to create "counter-gene" to Kusanagi flames in form of Kula icy powers. And the MA style of Kula mirrored K's one.

@Charlotte
that's why...riot of blood is a state of mind rather than his blood "waking up" (damn japanese people and their love for clouded metaphors!). that's what we see in Iori's SvsC ending as well. seems that the orochi blood somehow retains Orochi's consciousness which then tampers with Iori's mind making him berserk. i've already adressed that. otherwise there is literally no explanation for Riot of blood in Kusanagi's.

as for the flame gene, like i said for some reason techniques pass on via genetic framework. its not unlike Kazuya's devil powers that passed on to jin as "devil gene". its the same with the kusanagi's and yagami's. apparently techniques become a part of the genetic framework. AGAIN, to give examples: kaphwans, howards, bernstiens etc all have their father's ki's (rock's purple flames etc) while some even have the same moves.
as to what you pointed out with K' and Krizalid NOT doing kusanagi ryu moves is explainable. for one kusanagi ryu is a mix of chinese martial arts and their own pyrotechniques. so its likely that the pyrotechniques are what actually pass on and not the martial arts. this makes perfect sense when we look at the fact that the kusanagi's were expert flame weilders before they even incorporated the chinese martial arts to take on Orochi. the other explanation for K and Krizalid not knowing kusanagi ryu is the fact that k' is not actually a full clone of kyo but merely a child infused with his flame gene, i.e. his pyrotechnique knowledge that has been passed on in the kusanagi family for centuries. notice how Kyo's clones perform pyrotechniques AND his moves. K' only performs the pyroctechniques. and finally, NESTS weren't tyring to make an ULTIMATE Kyo clone in the case of k' and krizalid. him not doing kusanagi ryu could very well be their tampering with him.

@Styletime
dude i already said riot iori is stronger than iori as far as physical strength is concenred. however, over all "fighting capabilities" (technique, priority, tactic, mind games and overall balance as a fighter) is in Iori's favor since he isn't a brainless monster whose strings are being pulled by someone else. get my meaning. like i said, "strong" is sometimes simply used to refer to overall "fighting valor".
regular iori is a sharp ffighting genius but riot iori is just a brainless @$$ who knows how to do an outright attack. oh and i was reading that Ash used Yata's mirror powers to seal off Iori's powers and then beat him up. if it were regular Iori he would stood a better chance since regular iori doesn't attack that much (videos are good example) but riot iori didn't stand a chance against a shrewd bastard like Ash cuz he attacks like a moron without any game plan.
it all makes sense now.

*pats himself in the back*
Damn i'm good!

~Sado

Originally posted by Sado22
@Styletime
dude i already said riot iori is stronger than iori as far as physical strength is concenred. however, over all "fighting capabilities" (technique, priority, tactic, mind games and overall balance as a fighter) is in Iori's favor since he isn't a brainless monster whose strings are being pulled by someone else. get my meaning. like i said, "strong" is sometimes simply used to refer to overall "fighting valor".
regular iori is a sharp ffighting genius but riot iori is just a brainless @$$ who knows how to do an outright attack. oh and i was reading that Ash used Yata's mirror powers to seal off Iori's powers and then beat him up. if it were regular Iori he would stood a better chance since regular iori doesn't attack that much (videos are good example) but riot iori didn't stand a chance against a shrewd bastard like Ash cuz he attacks like a moron without any game plan.
it all makes sense now.

*pats himself in the back*
Damn i'm good!

~Sado

Last I checked, I'm not Styletime, or whoever thats supposed to be
and all I asked is what you meant by "stronger"... no need to pitch a ridiculous fit over nothing

do you have anything that shows riot attacking like a brainless-ass?
in the KoF - Another Day animations, regular iori seemed to be the thoughtless attacking fool

dude...who is throwing a fit?
sorry about the name confusion, no need to get bent about it though.


KoF97 is all about Iori attacking wildly. evne in the offical ending of KoF97 (kyo iori and kagura ending) iori just jumps Orochi even though orochi is more powerful. then we have the fact that he literally killed Vice and Mature even though they were his parteners and had sworn loyalty to him. then also is the fact that Iori attacked and severely wounded his own teammates in KoFXI.
and finally....orochi iori is a mindless version of him. why would you expect him to be a fighting genius if all he does is howl and slash at anything in his way?
its one of those things that you don't really need proof for. but i think the above should suffice.


regular iori was thoughtless?
first of all he just had his powers robbed from that kniving fagtard Ash. he was pretty pissedoff at the time. even then Soiree was the one looking for a fight and Iori wasn't one to EVER back away from one (he's an aries, lol). then he found Ash and tried to get his powers back. how is either of these brainless?
and finally if he was brainless, why did he stop kyo and alba's fight and point out to those idiots that ash is gone and so are the flames....if anyone was brianless it was Kyo...and alba in a way too. of all them he proved to be the most focused and smart one.

~Sado

Originally posted by Sado22
first of all he just had his powers robbed from that kniving fagtard Ash. he was pretty pissedoff at the time.
~Sado

well.. you figure Ash had the flames.. and Iori kept charging him... pissed off or not, it not a very wise choice, as Ash seems strangely proficient at using them

true but that's the kind of guy iori is. he still has his pyshical strength, martial arts and his claws to his credit. at least he had something going. and then there is also the part where Iori knew that the orochi were around and it was VERY important that he get his flames back so as to stop him like last time. it was probably more desperation than anything.

~Sado