@King Kindred See the main question that this raises is: If she's REALLY one of the original 16, then why would they be accepting of her now having a big demon mask and going off on her own? I mean, Perdita is a very protective mother who doesn't want to let a single one of them out of her site. Also, i would like to take her back to 101 Dalmatian Street at some point, interacting with her siblings there. I also have built her with that sort of chaotic energy that the puppies in that series have, as opposed to the far more wholesome and lawful behaviour that Pongo and Perdita have instilled in their own. If anything, i think that keeping her as from a different time would make her play off Pongo and Perdita even better with the pair questioning what the heck happened to kids in the time difference. Like, she's got the family smell on her, so they trust her for that reason, but are still worried that that chaotic attitude will somehow spread through the rest of the puppies.
Point is, i just don't buy that a pair as wholesome as them could raise such an agent of chaos. Whereas 101DS portrays the house as controlled chaos with Delilah and Doug being the only ones with any kind of real control over the pups, her attitude feels a lot more in line with that kind of upbringing. As opposed to the pups in the movie who have prim, proper attitudes. Even in the 96 cartoon, they mostly felt adventurous, but still fitting within this mold that Pongo and Perdita have raised for them.
It's also character acting wise. As i said before, if this was before i had started writing her, before i had properly gotten into the stride of her characterization and foibles i could have easily made her a lot more prim and proper, changed her fictional love to be more eccentric than obsessive. Designed her attitude around that sort of medium that those original 99 had. Changing her now kinda feels like you're pulling the rug out from under me just as i get into the real stride of the matter.
And also... I mean, 101DS Cruella is probably the absolute best version of her
A descecated, practically zombified creature who lives entirely driven by purest hatred for those dogs and went Absolutely coo coo cachoo pants on head banana's just a smidgen off the rails after her defeat. Definitely playing up the "She's like a spider waiting for the kill" line with how she moves and acts.
I will say, i do like the idea you posted of Pongo and Perdita's London being the catalyst that breaks her. Seeing that house that she knows all too well broken and destroyed. Being forced to come to terms with her own mortality as she see's the world that she grew up in but at the same time, a place she never was even given chance she could exist. The thought that THIS world would never even have Dylon or Dolly or Diesel or Delgado or any of the others. Not even Doug and Delilah were given a chance to exist here. Giving her a crisis of confidence as she worries about her own house at 101 Dalmatian Street, how these Heartless might destroy that as well unless she gets the power to stop them, leading her down a darker path.
The alternate idea for now, might be to refrain from giving a definitive answer until such time as we have a better idea for where this story is progressing. I stop making references to 101DS (Except the Poodlewolf stuff) and other specifically named puppies and we retcon the other puppies name-dropped out and keep her exact origin up for determination until later when we have a better idea for where the story and characters are going at which point we can commit and go for it then. Who knows, you may find yourself watching 101DS and decide you'd rather go with that as well at some point, at which time, i'll have pivotted hard and it'll be too late to change it back.
