I'm wondering if Onaga only had those powers as Damashi or if he still has them as Onaga. If it's the latter, I'm wondering why he doesn't use it on himself to have the powers of other characters and use it to his advantage.

I think that had Sub-Zero's MKD bio been given more content, especially by giving him a goal other than finding a way back to Earthrealm, it could've been more interesting. Maybe Frost could've been in MKD and sided with Onaga as a means of taking down Sub-Zero.

Agreed on Noob Saibot. Since he had nothing on his personal backstory, making him the older Sub-Zero makes it more effective, especially since older Sub-Zero dies in MK1.

I agree about Darrius' alt costume. He doesn't need to have the homage to Jim Kelly, and perhaps it would've just been better if they went with the story concept of having him be a Red Dragon leader of high-up member or something. That would've further added to the Red Dragon story. At least they didn't go with the "no B.S. ghetto" type character. I was thinking of an idea to redo MKs story, but it would take a hell of a lot of time and effort.

I think that even though their characters speak for themselves, what is lacking in Hotaru's and Havik's bios are backstories on them. Do you know what I mean?

See, it would've been cool if we had gotten that sense of strict order with Onaga's rule. Another thing that's strange is the bit in Sindel's ending, namely about the hieroglyphs in Onaga's tomb being in a language similar to that one of the ancient Edenian languages. I wonder what they were trying to get at.

Just one question- how in the world are you going to analyze Armageddon's story with less than half the bios available and most all of the endings being non-canon? Midway has more or less said they're done with MKA bios and they've all moved on to MK8. Do you just take what they've given us and call it good?

Anyway, love your analysis as always. I have to admit that when I first watched the intro movie I was freaking out exstatic. I was still thinking that the Dragon King was a super bad Reptile, so to see him stomp in and mess up everyone without even breaking a sweat put a smile on my face. The shock factor definitely played into it. Too bad Reptile was just getting worked over again.

Agreed on the Chaos and Order realms. While I especially like the look of the Order realm, I don't ever play as any of the characters from those realms. I just don't care. Nothing against them. I don't hate them. They just seem frivolous and unnecessary to the story overall. For their level of importance, they could all be classified with the likes of Johnny Cage's ex-wife or the water element from MK Mythologies.

Problem you seem to skip is that not everything has to be relevant to the main plot. If everything would culminate in one solution the credibility would be lost.

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Very good deception analysis, I enjoyed reading it the whole way through.

Overall I really liked the direction deception was heading, it had a more darker and desperate feeling. The main heroes had perished and the good side needed all the help they could get, and they ended up getting it from some unlikely sources.

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Maybe I'm a crazy person, but I've always chosen to believe that Kabal is middle-eastern himself. He dresses like he lives in the desert. Hell, early concept art even referred to him as "sandman".

I mean this is what I've thought since MK3. Screw that awful Elvis or whatever accent they gave him in Shaolin Monks. Didn't even look like him, anyway. Looked like Jarek wearing his clothes.

LOL!! Oh man, I had completely forgotten about that part.

I can just picture Reptile hanging out in his lair, just relaxing on the couch or something, channel surfing. What's on today? Outworld news hosted by an anchor-woman in skimpy Outworld style clothing. OMG! Kung Lao and Liu Kang bust into his living room and kick the TV across the room!
Yeah, you like pets, huh?
*SMASH!* They kick over the glass aquarium that had his little pet snake in it.
"Larry, Noooooo!"

To RazorsEdge701: lol, I don't know...As for looking like Jarek, well, maybe they are really brothers. Either way, it still is kind of weird that Kabal would be going to Afghanistan and just happen to track down Kira.


To XiahouDun84: About Havik and Hotaru, I think they can be prevented from falling into Baraka's trap as there are certain factors that could be worked off of them to have different characters from their race. This was a challenge for me and Paragon when coming up with Takako and Kaosu, who are from Orderrealm and Chaosrealm respectively.

Good point about the Kamidogu. I hope they do explore something into Edenia without dumbing it down to constant attack/defend stuff. Maybe I'll tie that into a certain story element that we have.

Now about your Shaolin Monks analysis, it was a very long read. But as always, it's worth it. At least the two main heroes and main villains could've been done well, but instead, the exact opposite happened. This is especially disappointing for Liu Kang, who didn't get the proper exploration that he needed to make his character at least a bit wholesome.

Aside from the grouping of Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Kano into one of the two sides, I didn't like how anti-climatic things felt at the end of the intro. I wish they would've made the battle between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung a little bit more detailed.

What they should've done with Shang Tsung's disguise is simply not to have that bit with him turning into Johnny Cage while sneaking through the forest. There's also the hint that "Raiden" is really Shang Tsung in disguise through the way he teleports out. The whole "Do you trust me?" line is absolutely stupid, and it's even worse when Liu Kang and Kung Lao nod their heads like idiots. Like you said, Shang Tsung's plan is pointless if none of those deaths took place. Some will try to actually defend it by saying that maybe Liu Kang and Kung Lao killed a lot of henchmen. However, that explanation would be rather lousy and still wouldn't salvage the story.

The tournament really doesn't make any sense, especially since the format seems to be different from the way it was in MK2's story. MKSM actually contradicts established stories of MKDA and MKD as well with the contradictions regarding Raiden's powers and Noob Saibot's revelation. You would think that if Shao Kahn had the real amulet, he would've known of its abilities and used it to invade Earthrealm. His plan for Sindel would be pointless, and he could've easily taken down Liu Kang and Kung Lao with ease, maybe even Raiden. Also, this whole "ancient mystery" regarding the rivalry between Liu Kang's and Kung Lao's ancestors is silly and doesn't do anything for the story. I guess the only thing I kind of like about MKSM's story is that they give Liu Kang and Kung Lao their own ancestors instead of making them both descended from the Original Kung Lao as Goro's MK4 bio seems to suggest.

Kung Lao

Kung Lao's change of character was one of the things that pissed me off the most about the story and character depictions. While I'm not a huge huge fan of him, I do like him quite a bit. They could've easily stuck to his brooding, reluctant hero self and explored that. Instead, they just made him a whiny jackass who doesn't seem to act very Shaolin-like at all. If they were going to have a rivalry between him and Liu Kang, it should be based on Kung Lao's feelings about Liu Kang's victory and Liu Kang's feelings about Kung Lao not being there when the Shaolin needed him the most. Not only do I hate the retcon involving his appearance at Shang Tsung's Island, but I also don't like how they made Kung Lao the "younger brother" type character and Liu Kang the "older brother". They both seem childish to me, especially how they handle themselves after the attack on the Shaolin Temple.

Kitana

I guess they figured that since the name of the game is Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, they would give such a focus on Liu Kang and Kung Lao. This is problematic as it kind of dumbs down characters like Kitana. It's even worse when the two main characters are done terribly as is in the case of this game. You make some very interesting observations that I haven't made myself. It's almost as if her story was completely altered, even to the bit with Mileena. We don't see her kill Mileena, and some assume that she killed her sometime after being taken. Not only is the "damsel in distress" thing awful, but the whole "romance" between her and Liu Kang is STILL shallow. It's even worse here, because the way it's done made it seem so forced and illogical that I don't give a damn about it.

Liu Kang

Then we have turkey boy himself, who could've been more interesting had he actually been explored as a character. Unfortunately for him, not only is he still bland, we're shown that he's completely naive. This makes me wonder how he could've made his way up to becoming Champion of Mortal Kombat, and it makes me wonder why I should care about him as a character, especially if he's supposed to be the "main hero". The thing here is that his story should've been about him handling the responsibility of being the Champion and its consequences. If done right, it could've made for a pretty good story.

Sub-Zero

Although he didn't quite suffer as much as some of the other characters, even my favorite character got kicked in the nuts thanks to Shaolin Monks. The main gripe for me is the whole Noob Saibot thing. Not only does it contradict the backstory given in Noob-Smoke's MKD ending, it also weakens his overall story. There also seems to be the indication that his clan has turned against him already or something like that. Of course there is the problem with him being rather paranoid for a warrior assassin. Oh yeah, there's also the scar! Right...*rolls eyes on that one* I think they just wanted to throw in any old explanation for that one, but it still doesn't work. Not only is the thing easily tossed aside when he joins with Liu Kang and Kung Lao, you'd think that part of his hood and mask would be sliced as well. I mean, he probably could've easily lost his right eye by that slice. So yeah, they did a horrible job with his story and character, but Liu Kang and the others are far worse than he is.

Shang Tsung

The retconning of MK2's intro was one thing I really hated. That was something I kind of liked about him as he came up with a backup plan to save his ass. But there in Shaolin Monks, he's just going around trying to trick the heroes into killing Shao Kahn's minions, which of course fails since they don't really get killed...



Overall, Shaolin Monks failed miserably on multiple levels that it's absolutely disgusting. The main problems lie within the premise of not sticking to the source material and trying to focus it on two particular characters instead of just having an expanded version of MK2's story by playing as other characters. It's almost as if this was some sort of parody of the MK story, which would probably mean that it's a parody of a parody. The story and the character portrayals are so cliché that there's not really any reason to give a shit. The sad thing is that Johnny Cage was the most accurately portrayed out of all the characters. Shao Kahn didn't even seem like much of a villain as he seemed to be sitting on his throne, licking his lollypop. And what's with him trying to dare Liu Kang and Kung Lao to enter the arena, only to tell them that they are unwelcome and uninvited?

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Yeah, it's definitely better to have villains who can't stand other villains. Digressing for a little bit, while Armageddon's intro had villains against other villains (e.g. Shao Kahn vs. Shang Tsung), there was still the beginning with the "Forces of Light" vs. the "Forces of Darkness".

Going back to Shaolin Monks, it can almost been seen that Liu Kang and Kung Lao are really the main villains of the game instead of the main heroes. They aren't really distinguishable in terms of acting their age, which is apparently around the early-mid 20s. Maybe I shouldn't have used the term "rivalry" when mentioning the other idea.

Even though Shaolin Monks is a video game and not everyone cares about the stories in video games, one big thing about this game is that it was supposed to have expanded on MK2's story and to be consistent with it. They hired John Krueger to write the story and only give him guidelines as he's never played MK2 and isn't familiar with MK's storyline. They should've just had John Vogel work on Shaolin Monks' story, regardless if the MK team were busy with Armageddon. I don't really want to take Shaolin Monks as canon either.

I almost feel as if MK's storyline needs to be revamped in many different aspects. Not only did Shaolin Monks alter so much to the established story, it left so many questions and even failed to answer questions such as the imprisonment of Kano and Sonya.

Now that I have a bit more free time, I can write a more in-depth response.

I really liked reading your previous thread in the 2002-2006 forum about Shaolin Monks. That thread was dedicated more to showing the blatant contradictions in the story between MKSM and MK2. This time you've also shown that even taken on its own merits without comparing it to anything, MKSM's story still falls apart.

I got to thinking about the scene where Shang Tsung, disguised as Raiden, tells Liu and Lao not to kill Kitana, and I thought I had a good explanation as to why he would say that. He just didn't want Shao Kahn to kill him for letting his daughter get horribly butchered. But then I realized that Shang was doing all this on the sly and didn't think that Shao Kahn knew what he was up to. Furthermore, he's telling the monks all this while in the guise of Raiden. What possible reason would he have to NOT want Kitana dead? He's already planning to overthrow and kill Shao Kahn, so why not hurt him first by killing his beloved daughter? It just doesn't work.

Why was Sonya kidnapped? To give the monks added motivation for running into Outworld to save her? Except... wait- weren't they off in the woods training and playing around after that big event? So Sonya's gone missing and they don't seem to have noticed or cared. But even if they didn't notice, Johnny Cage is right there; he didn't notice either? The guy that has an eagle eye for anything with boobs?
(I still like that part at the end where he's checking out Kitana and wonders if her sister is available. Silly bit of comedy :D )

I still think the throwaway line about how Mileena and Reptile are inseperable could've been fleshed out into something. I pointed out in your previous thread how back in the old MK2 strategy guides this particular pairing was mentioned. It got me to thinking that perhaps they had some sort of professional working relationship as fellow ninjas and that they were actually aware of each other. It also gives Mileena someone else to play off of aside from Kitana and Baraka, both of who are on a personal, even intimate level with her. But instead we learn that by "Inseparable" they meant "Never once seen together in this game."

And what's with Mileena constantly running to everyone for help??? First Reptile, then Goro. And they never show her actually contacting either of them. Lame.



I recall reading a big interview with Ed Boon in an issue of Game Informer where he stated that one of the main reasons they were using the story of MK2 for this game instead of MK3 or something else was to flesh out the story and fill in all those blanks that people always wondered about. If their main goals were to make a fun game and rake in the cash, then sure- mission accomplished. But when they explicitly state that they want to show what actually happened during MK2 only to throw out everything and write something completely different from the ground up and destroy the fundamental qualities that made these characters appealing in the first place, then it's just a sad, pathetic mess.

To be honest, Shaolin monks is like a movie adaptation of MK2 without having MK1. Have to make cuts.

Understandable as a movie. Not at all as a video game with established 6 prequels in the chronological sense.

You also can analyse the differences between MK2 and MKSM like that:
(BTW, many thanks to psychochronic who wrote that guide on gamefaqs.)

-Kung Lao's story told in Mortal Kombat II is was said that
he did not want to be the Champion of Mortal Kombat and
was more of a quiet, brooding, reluctant hero who only
fought when he had to. Instead in Shaolin Monks, Kung
Lao is depicted as being arrogant and shows resentment
towards Liu Kang for winning the Mortal Kombat
tournament and desires to be Champion himself.

-Kung Lao was not present in the original tournament
(Mortal Kombat), explaining that he didn't want to be
the Champion of Mortal Kombat. But in Shaolin Monks'
story, he sneaks into Shang Tsung's island and poses as
a guard of his troops which obviously never happened.

-Liu Kang was not present when the Tarkatas attacked
the Shaolin Temple as it is clearly stated in his Mortal
Kombat II biography. In Shaolin Monks, he is present
and helps fight off the Tarkata around the premises of
the Wu Shi Academy.

-The Mortal Kombat II comic in its entirety is contradicted
by the story as presented in Shaolin Monks. While the
fundamental basics remain the same (Shang Tsung's island
crumbles, the Shaolin temples are destroyed, Shang Tsung
regains his youth, the Earthrealm warriors are lured into
Outworld etc...), the details and order of many events and
whom fought whom are largely different between the two.
They are two wildly different versions of the same basic
story.

-The Elder Sub-Zero (seen in Mortal Kombat) was
originally killed by Scorpion at the end of the first
Mortal Kombat tournament. In Shaolin Monks, they
both survive the tournament itself, and Scorpion
doesn't kill him until the tournament's aftermath.

-In Shaolin Monks, Kitana is shown having had full
knowledge of what Shao Kahn did to her family for
quite a while (and, thus, have been fighting against
his rule during that time), and is put under a holding
spell by Mileena and Jade (herself under the same spell)
by Shao Kahn to gain her loyalty. In Mortal Kombat
II, it is only recently that she learned the truth, having
grown up completely loyal to Kahn and ignorant of her
past, and only feigns loyalty to the Emperor during the
tournament, with absolutely no spell or magic involved.

-Kitana hints at a relation between Mileena and Reptile,
saying that if Mileena is around so is Reptile. This is
most probably taken from the non-canon Malibu Comic
series, where both characters are portrayed sharing a
love-hate sort of relation but in the actual storyline,
it's really Baraka that has a love-hart sort of relation
with Mileena.

-There is no mention of Sub-Zero's mission to complete
his brother's failed assignment to assassinate Shang
Tsung, though it could be argued that just because it
isn't mentioned doesn't mean it's been invalidated as
it's never contradicted, just noticeably not brought
up. More of an oddity than a difference.

-Originally, Goro was supposed to have been thought
killed in the original Mortal Kombat tournament. In
Shaolin Monks, he survives the first tournament as
seen in the opening FMV, but is "killed" shortly there-
after in Outworld. The Canon plot points out that Liu
Kang defeat's Goro, and the Prince is 'lost', only to
return during the events of Mortal Kombat Gold.
There's a bit more story beyond that. Johnny Cage,
Sonya and Kano all fought Goro on the pit's bridge
right as Liu Kang was about to defeat Shang Tsung.
When Shang Tsung escaped and the island started
to crumble, the bridge fell apart and Goro fell down
off the bridge and was never seen until his return
in Mortal Kombat Gold. The reason why he waited
so long was that he was embarrassed that he lost
to a human.

-When the player meets Reptile for the first time on
Shang Tsung's island, Reptile states that he doesn't
serve the sorcerer, but his Mortal Kombat II biography
states that he served as a bodyguard to Shang Tsung
during the first game, and only came into Shao Kahn's
service fully after the second game.

-In the game's mythology, Sub-Zero does not know
about his brother's whereabouts and believes that he
has "mysteriously disappeared", until he finally meets
his brother as an undead wraith in Noob-Smoke's Mortal
Kombat: Deception ending. However, in Shaolin Monks,
Sub-Zero knows that Noob Saibot is his brother, and
warns Liu Kang and Kung Lao that he will kill them
should they try to harm his brother.

-In Shaolin Monks, Kitana reveals that Mileena is
created by Shao Kahn. In Mileena's Mortal Kombat
II ending, it's known that she was created by Shang
Tsung.

-In Shaolin Monks, Shao Khan does his upward rush
attack and fireball moves. Those moves were intro-
duced in Mortal Kombat 3 as his projectile in Mortal
Kombat II was an arrow throw and only had a ground
rush attack.

-Quan Chi getting the amulet at the end of the game
spurred a huge controversy among fans of the series.
It is believed that Quan Chi had it since the end of
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero as Sub-Zero
snatches it from Shinnok. Here, it is rather strange
that Shao Kahn has it and Quan Chi gets it from him.
This would've been assumed that Shao Kahn stole
it or defeated Shinnok for it which obviously never
happened in the timeline since Shao Kahn was first
introduced in the events slightly before Mortal Kombat
II and that Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
took place before the first Mortal Kombat tournament.

-Shaolin Monks shows in a FMV in the Soul Tombs as
Shang Tsung restoring his own youth with a combination
of fresh souls and powerful magic, however in Mortal
Kombat II, Shang Tsung's biography and the Mortal
Kombat II comic clearly state that Shao Kahn restores
Shang Tsung's youth and strength when he convinces
Shao Kahn to grant him a second chance instead of
facing execution for his failures and apparent death of
Goro.
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Controversial/Questionable:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The reasons behind Scorpion's boss battle has been
highly criticized by fans, who felt it was out of character
for Scorpion to just go after Liu Kang and Kung Lao all
of a sudden. This made it look like Scorpion had an evil
alignment, even though Scorpion is meant to be a neutral
character throughout the course of the Mortal Kombat
timeline. It's noted that in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
that Scorpion's alignment is neutral and throughout the
timeline, has had feuds with Drahmin, Moloch, Sub-Zero
and Quan Chi.

-The location of the Warrior Shrine has been changed.
Originally, the shrine was found on Shang Tsung's island,
but now it's located near the Shaolin Temples which
clearly doesn't make any sense.

-It's known in the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat
Trilogy that uppercutting the opponent from Goro's Lair
leads to The Armory and from there, leads to the Kombat
Tomb. The locations are different in Shaolin Monks as
Goro's Lair is in Shang Tsung's island, The Armory is
in The Foundry and the Kombat Tomb is near the Soul
Tombs.

-Jax's ability to open portals to Earthrealm, contradicting
the whole reason why the Outworld Investigation Agency
was created. If Shaolin Monks takes place during the time-
frame in between the first and second Mortal Kombat
tournament, then Jax was a member of the Special Forces
and the Outworld Investigation Agency did not exist until
Mortal Kombat 4 (hinted in Sonya's Mortal Kombat 3 ending).
The technology to create portals from one realm to another
didn't even exist, during that time, and Jax only entered
Outworld through his accepting of the invitation to Shao
Kahn's tournament and through Raiden (who opened a
portal from Earthrealm to Outworld) in order to find Sonya
who was missing during the events of Mortal Kombat II.
True story (based on Special Forces) is that Jax was able
to enter Outworld through the portal in the city of Sian
Kiang. It was the portal that Kano used once before to
escape the Special Forces before but he failed and the
portal was never destroyed. It wasn't said how the
portal appeared in that city.

-The ability to create portals is also something that is
never seen by Mortals, only Gods, sorcerers, deities and
through use of other magic.

-Reptile appearing like a lizard even before starting his de-
evolution in Mortal Kombat 4. This is more of an oddity
than a real change. It clearly looks like the middle of it
seen as his Mortal Kombat 4 character. His de-evolution
is that he is in human disguise (Mortal Kombat II), he
has a human structure with near-half amphibian features
(Mortal Kombat 4) then becomes it with full amphibian
features (Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance).

-Sub-Zero gets the scar on his face when Kung Lao slices
his hat in Shaolin Monks. Sub-Zero's scar is one of the
most falsely explained things out in the Mortal Kombat
story but the 100% proven truth as said by Tobias and
Boon. Sub-Zero and Scorpion finally found each other
during the Mortal Kombat II storyline, however, Scorpion
was the victor but couldn't kill Sub-Zero. During the battle
between the two, Sub-Zero got the scar by Scorpion's
spear when it grazed his head. Scorpion decided to grant
him mercy and leave him alone. Sub-Zero's bio for Mortal
Kombat 3 was completely misinterpreted. It did indeed
say that he was marked for death but the actual term
for Sub-Zero being 'marked for death' isn't true. Its more
or less... He's now the target for the Lin Kuei's cyborg
assassins.

-Scorpion is seen in the opening FMV doing his backflip
kick to Sub-Zero. He didn't get that move in his movelist
until Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Just thought I'd
point that out.

-Kano's death but at the wrong time of events and the
only character of the list of boss deaths compared to
the others. Although it's believed Kano was thrown
off a building by Sonya, though this occurred during
the events of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the real story is
Kano did not die from the fall off the building during
the Trilogy story. Motaro found his body clinging to
life and had Shao Kahn revive him.

-Jade's death didn't make sense. Nowhere in the Mortal
Kombat II storyline says that any earthrealm warrior got
Mileena's sais by stabbed it through Jade's eyesockets
while she was under the spell seen in Shaolin Monks.
The storyline indicates that she works undercover
(most likely it's Shinnok) and sides with Kitana and
Sindel to save Edenia from Shao Kahn's wrath.

-Reptile's death. He didn't die by bashes to the face and
a strangling. Remember that Reptile's timeline is to go
back into his reptile homeworld before it was destroyed
by the hands of Shao Kahn (Mortal Kombat II ending)
and that he became Onaga due to the Dragon Egg
(Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance ending).

-Baraka's death. He didn't die by explosion from skull
fireballs. After Mortal Kombat II, Mileena was killed
and Baraka was sent away to the low-life sections
(possibly Wastelands) of Outworld as he comes back
during Mileena's resurrection during the events of
Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

-Goro being killed by Johnny Cage (much like in the
first Mortal Kombat movie). Everyone expected that
to happen so my guess is it's a reference for kicks-
and-giggles by Midway.

-Quan Chi already bearing his tattoos - he gained them
during Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. However, Quan
Chi's tattoos (which were gained when Quan Chi magically
burned them into his skin before the discovery of Onaga's
grave) could be an indirect reference to the Dragon King's
existence.

It doesn't even make sense why they would put the Netherealm in Shaolin Monks. MK2 took place entirely in Outworld. There is no Netherealm stage. Scorpion traveled to Outworld in pursuit of Sub-Zero, not the other way around. So I don't know. It's just lame. Why didn't they just set the Scorpion fight somewhere in Outworld like it was supposed to be originally?

FUN, FUN game.
LAME, LAME story.

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Hey there X. It's good to see an update to this thread. I skimmed through your post, and I'll try to keep in mind of the Hero's Journey. I look forward to the various character analyses.

Looking forward to it, Xia. :D

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It's great that you started off the character analysis with Sub-Zero. It was a long read, but it was well worth it. The analysis is brilliantly done.

Sub-Zero has definitely come a very long way, especially for a character that's based off of a stereotype. Your analysis made me appreciate his MK4 story a bit more, and I can understand you tying Nyx into the Cryomancer history. Although he's my favorite character, I'm finding it difficult to take him in the right direction while tying up loose ends. Whatever is in store for Sub-Zero in the future, I think it should be big and should have a more long-term significance.

When it comes to his relationships, I really doubt we'll see any kind of romance between him and Sareena or with anyone. I personally picture Sub-Zero as a rather asexual character, not being attracted to anyone. Given Cyrax's affiliation with the Special Forces and Sektor's beef with them and Sub-Zero, it would be interesting to see Cyrax and Sub-Zero team up to take him down. Then again, it might also be interesting (and surprising) to see Sub-Zero and Sonya team up.

One thing that disappointed me was the fact that the Red Dragon clan didn't have the proper development it should have had, especially with Mavado's MKDA ending, setting up for a potential Lin Kuei-Red Dragon conflict. This could have also involved an unexpected Sub-Zero/Sonya team up to see what kind of team they'd make as well as a bit of an insight into their relationship.

Given Sub-Zero's relatively distant nature in regards to his relationship with most other heroes in MK, I sort of see him as having some parallels with Batman.

Overall, Sub-Zero has proven to be a very solid and well-developed character. That's a big part of why I'm such a fan of him. Another thing that I really like is that he's the one that particularly displays the attributes of a real Ninja, namely patience, perseverance, and endurance. In tough situations, he stays calm and patient and perseveres through his hardships to become a better warrior and person. I hope they'll bring this Sub-Zero back and do justice with his character and story.

Btw, love the sig.

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You know, your story and character analysis are the main reasons I keep checking back with these forums. Not to dump on the site or anyone here. Far from it. But seriously, this is the most in-depth and entertaining read I've ever seen pertaining to Mortal Kombat.

Besides, how many times can we vote on who the sexiest girl is or what fatality we'd like to see?

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