There's still no way to tell because of the shadow, showing he could bbe white or tan, and his eyes are showed, meaning he could be chinese or something else. This still doesncea upthe issue.

So I was wrong about his human form not being revealed... But with the way the head is positioned, the shadows all over the body, and the random bits that have him look a bit cybernetic in his human form, it's hard to even identify him as any nationality. He could be dark skinned, but fairer than Cyrax, or with a tan, or just looking darker because of the way the picture is. It's possible that they even made his skin tone this kind of blend an made the picture dark to avoid having him be identified as a specific nationality/person, which caused a fuck-up with regards to Sub-Zero (MK2 had his face as clear as day in his ending, and MK3 has him looking completely different unmasked).

Some of you most probably missed the substance of my post. Fortunately, some of you didn't.

The topic felt unfinished to me, so I thought I'll provide some material related to the discussion, to liven it up a bit. And if had been able to tell his nationality basing on that posted picture, I would have already told his race myself. I wasn't asking about his nationality judging by the screenshot, but I was asking you guys IF maybe you have any ideas on the matter when you look at the pic.

BTW, if you tell me that the picture is poor or a joke, I'll tell you that's the best there is. Try finding a better one or any other as a matter of fact. Except this one of course:

*sigh* But...

Uhm... You may want to read that previous post again... But nevermind.

the cartoon isn't canon. Cyrax was white in that show.

I'm pretty he and everyone else here knows that the cartoon is WAY off from being cannon. Half of the ninjas shown on that show were maskless at a point and I highly doubt that Ermac seriously has red hair and a gay ass strip beard.

Seriously, did you even bother reading the post or at least that few words above the pic? Not to mention the emoticon next to it.

I have to say that I loathe the fact that Smoke is such a flat character. I really wish the MK Team built him up to be more than a bitch for other characters (Lin Kuei, Shao Kahn, Noob Saibot).

Although I agree that it would be nice to see a more developed Smoke character (in terms of personality, charisma and storyline), I think that for the sake of diversity there just have to be somebody to play the role of the supporting actor. Someone to serve other characters (Reptile is another example). So eventually I don't have a problem with his depiction. But like I said, a bit of development on the character definitely wouldn't hurt.

There are much better examples of supporting, flat characters (Kai, Hsu Hao, Meat, Reiko) but I see your point. At least Reptile interacted with more characters, and has a de-evolution story that is pretty unique. Plus, he became Onaga, literally rags to riches right there (he was no longer Reptile in that case, but hey, that's what happens when you get more money and power ).

I deliberately didn't use the word flat with reference to Smoke, because to me he's not. Quite the contrary, he's rather intriguing: a secret character a few times, story from the pic in first post, unexpected tag team, etc. And I feel we'll see more of him.

Moreover, what I meant was that I don't have a problem with a character not being independent. The fact that they always serve someone doesn't bother me if their story is somewhat interesting (Reptile being an example). Hsu Hao is definitely more flat of a servant and Kai isn't that engaging even as a freelancer, so go figure.

With the following pics, we can narrow it down to being caucasian or just plain asian, because in MK2 and UMK3/MKT he was white, and I suppose that his versus screen pose still shadows his eyes to the extent that we can't anrrow it down to one or the other.







So either white american/english or of asian descent. No way of telling at this point.

I don't think these two sprites above are much of a help in telling Smoke's nationality, because they present John Turk and Daniel Pesina, who played like a dozen or so other characters. It's like saying that Cyrax is Caucasian (which we know that he's not), because he was portrayed by Sal Divita.

Therefore I don't suppose we'll know Smoke's race until we see his face designed by a graphic artist in one of the future games. Or until it's revealed in Smoke's biography/ending

Not true. Jade was balck and had was played by the same actor as Kitana and Mileena, Noob had black skin (more than a sillouhette in MKT) they can cahnge the skin color.

Of course they can, digitally. But now go and check if human Smoke has a different skin tone than other ninja clones. The only diverging ones are Noob Saibot (obviously) and Ermac.

Moreover, Jade was digitally darkened in MK2, but the skin of the actor who played Smoke back then wasn't altered. So he was white in the second game and both of the characters have kept their skin colours ever since.

Along with Smoke, the best thing to come out of Prague (their beer).

Could see Smoke drinking this one, but not on the level of Bo' Rai Cho. I call it Pravha Vrbada.