Yeah, I agree with both Mick and Ezunu.

For me, the cyborgs just remind me of a video game magazine that I bought that had a preview of MK3 back before it hit arcades. I can't remember which magazine it was, but it was purple, and it had a real picture of the guy dressed up as Sektor and he was posing in a fight stance and to the left it said:

Johnny Cage is dead.
Scorpion is missing.
The cyber ninjas live.

Or something along those lines. Mind you I was pretty young when I got this magazine but I was still just dumbfounded. Even at that young age I knew that the series was taking a turn for the worse. Cyber ninjas? What... robots?

I think that for alot of people, the cyber ninjas kinda represent that first point in which MK really didn't "get it right." It was kinda the point for me at least where the series lost it's luster a little bit. MK1 was the most amazing video game I'd ever seen up until that point, and MK2, to me at least, was so much bigger and better and cooler in every single way possible.

But MK3? I dunno, with the exception of Kabal, none of the other new characters resonated with me. My first reactions were: A woman who looks like the bride of frankenstein and screams at people, a goro wannabe, a guy that looks like he just walked off the street into the mocap studio who doesn't wear anything approaching riot gear for being a "riot cop," a bad native american stereotype (feathers? really?), and three robots. All of this with a weaker looking sub boss and the exact same boss from the last game.

Again, those were my first reactions. But some of that stuff has still kinda stayed with me and I gotta say that alot of those characters, and the backgrounds etc... Well, it was a step down for a series that had started off so well and seemed to taking big steps upward.

Characters from that game kinda symbolize that faltering of the series to me on some level. So in all honesty, I think it's great that the MK team is wiping the slate clean and starting over. Bring back a few of the must have characters and leave the rest to the past. A clean break from the last few games coupled with a new graphics engine and new ideas will hopefully return this series to prominence.

I just hope that the MK team is working hard on making the gameplay great and next gen quality, and not soaking up a ton of time on extranious things that don't really add anything to the core of the game.

I loved Sektor and Cyrax in MK3, while not really being too big on Smoke. I think the latter has run its course, and can safely be retired.

I don't get the whole "they ruined the mythology" argument. OK, well, I guess I see where people are coming from, but personally, I thought they were perfectly justified with the context of the Mortal Kombat universe. The Lin Kuei are a band of assassins, and the only thing they could do to make their ninjas more lethal, is to use modern technology to advance their physical capabilities. It was an evil group dabbing into a field that made them even more horrific, and I felt it worked as a story.

Sektor and Cyrax returning get my full support. I'd leave Sektor out of MK8, and instead had him return in MK9 or even MK10. Just have him mentioned in people's stories as being in control of the Tekunin who control a large part of Earthrealm.

I'd have Cyrax be a major reason for the Forces of Light surviving Armageddon, and he returns to Earthrealm and gets updated. Give him some new weapons, special moves, Fatalities, etc. Basically just updating the character for the new generation. Instead of the yellow cybernetic ninja design, I'd replace the yellow with khaki camouflage, or something. It would highlight his alliance with Earthrealm's Special Forces. I'd then have Cyrax explore the realms for Earthrealm survivors, only to get captured and reprogrammed by an incapacitated Nitara to find her help.

I'd like to see a new cybernetic ninja in MK8, as well. I'm thinking a female who is programmed by Sektor and allowed to retain her humanity (which is what sets her apart from the rest of the Tekunin). Her story is the struggle between serving Sektor and fighting against him (she believes that he would have planted some sort of device in her which gives him some measure of control over her if she turns against him), discovering why Sektor has allowed her to retain her soul, and basically being Sektor's guinea pig for the study of human behaviour.

Give her a black cybernetic ninja design, maybe, and as a special gimmick (something that serves characters well in the MK universe), maybe give her a cybernetic snake that comes out of compartments on her body that she can use for throws, special moves, Fatalities, etc. Codename her Viper, or something.

Maybe Jax can be a cyborg. If his ending in MKA is canon, with him being a cyborg, taking over the Tekunin, leaving the Special Forces, blah blah, maybe we'll see a whole new Jax in the next game, that is if he survive Armageddon.