I know i am not the only one to notice this, but i am probally the first to say this because LIU was my theme character. It's like they killed him off only to divide his pieces(moves, techniques) amomg some of the other characters since they were not as balanced as he was.(He had both speed and power) For instance, Bo Rai Cho's flip kick,the first thing I thought about was Liu's fatality from MK1 how would it look as a regular move versus being a fatality. Johnny Cage!?!?!, what the fuck is he doing with nunchakus?????I would almost rather he had a 3 section staff than nunchakus. And another thing why does he have Liu's rainbow kick???? LIU used it against Shao Kahn in the movie just like Bruce used it against HAN's bodyguard, O'Hara, in ENTER THE DRAGON, so why does CAGE of all fighters have it?????. Kano isn't a theme character but he is one of my favorites but neverthelessssssss!!!!!he has the biggest piece or should i say the one that matters the most!!!!!(Soul Caliber) Kung Lao, Shangtsung, Cyrax, Drahmin, Hsu Hao, Nitara and Kenshi have their own shit so its okay. LIE MEI has what should have been LIU's bicycle kick. I think i understand why the let her use her hands and not her feet!!!!(still the same concept though) Mavado, has what would be LIU's quick sidestep ability in the form of a special move. In BRUCE LEE's game of death, one of the fighters I think he used aikido, or jujitsu or something for his technique, he did a combo or something and Bruce was on the ground on his back and i can't remember how the other fighter was on the ground too, Bruce sat up a little and so did the other fighter, and while the were staring at each other on the ground Bruce suddenly sent a barrage of kick to the man's head. Now i know that Quan Chi's rising star move is nothing like a combo but this is what i though about when i first saw it. Scorpion has multiple sweeps. Sonya has what appers to be LIU's flying kick . Subzero and Reptile have the titles of DRAGON.(though it makes more sense with reptile because of him being the last of his race and becoming the dragon king and all) Blaze-fire ball(they should have given him morphing fire) Mokrap-once again the rainbow kick. By now, if you're reading all this you're probally wondering where am i going with all of this??? This is just a advance way of saying that they should never have taken Liu out if they didn't want him to be the champion of MK5, then they should have made up something like Raiden sends him to the neatherrealm to observe the potential threat of the vampire people so LIU could better train his young shaolin. (something anything except killing him off)