I actually sort of like it.

PROS:
Explains how he survived. No resurections!
Uh, Uhm....WHOOSH!

Cons:
Quan Chi is in ANOTHER BIO!
FATALITY!, FATALITY!, FATALITY! I mean, Did Jax teach him the arm rip?(Jarek's ending) And did Subby teach him the Spine Rip?, Grrrr.

Well, I;m glad that they at least explained what happened to Jarek since MK4.

But, yeah, this bio is lackluster to tell the truth. Like queve said, I wish that his allegiance with the good guys in MK4 would've been taken into account. Alot of the Black Dragon are underdeveloped so I was hoping Jarek would help fill in the blanks of where they're at - get him more involved in that. What we got right here.....is lame.

But I can't bash the MK Team because not ALL the bios suck, ya know? I can see that they really are trying to make it all make sense. Some characters just take priority over the others. I'm sure the MK1-MK3 characters will have the best bios, since they have been building up for years whereas guys like Jarek and Rain.....this is the first game they've been in for a long time, so obviously the Team doesn't know what to do with them.

A shame, really. Given that Jarek finally got some individuality in his gameplay, I find it sad they couldn't give him a great storyline to boot. He really came out onto his own in MKA. And from the looks of things, Jarek seems to be more neutral than evil. At least from my POV.

His storyline revolves around perfecting... fatalities? Worst. Bio. Yet.

Period.

Given that fatalities were, for the most part, non-canon, I'd say it is pretty bad.

That's definately the biggest piece of shit I've ever red. Seems as if its an entire joke...

Anyways, I wasn't expecting much, afterall, Jarek has always been a dump character who never had anything going for him to begin with.

I'm usually a pretty lenient person and an easy-to-please MK fan,but...

What a fucking piece of shit bio.

The fact that Jarek has adopted the rope-based fighting technique,which is exclusive to the Red Dragon clan.
The fact that one of his combos is named "Red Dragon Thug."
The fact that he has a fucking Red Dragon symbol on his back.
I was eagerly anticipating some elaboration on these facts. I thought that there was hope yet for Jarek.

And this is the shit we get instead? WHAT?

I can only hope that none of the other bios will turn out to be like this.

There's at least two Black Dragon symbols, and one is exactly like the Red Dragon one, except, as you guessed it, in black.

The Good:



The bad



The ugly:

Fascinating... I thought the official Black Dragon regalia was this one:
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/scaifsal/mk/blackdragon.jpg

...It's such a damn shame that Special Forces turned out to be what it is. -_- It could've explained so much...

I was hoping for Jarek to be some sort of double agent, or even triple agent and just wipe out all the Special Forces/BD/RD nonsense while still carrying something from the past into the future, with him surviving. Obviously all the hints that Jarek was a secret Red Dragon member is someone's idea of a bad joke, or maybe the MK team is so out of touch with the storyline they actually thought he was in the Red Dragon.

Either way, obviously fatalities on the "good citizens of the realms" are more interesting and offer closure...

While thats a nice idea, it would be wasted on a clean-faced Kano wannabe. Even in MK4 there was nothing original about Jarek. Please explain what is this "potential" you see in him. He's like Tanya, a sub-par version of an original character that they decided to invent instead of just expanding the original character to begin with.

Hurm. I'm of mixed feelings on this one.

I myself was waiting for Jarek's bio eagerly. Not that I particularly like the character (storywise) THAT much. I mean I never disliked him either mind you, but let's be frank; he was always sort of a throwaway, a placeholder for Kano in MK4 if you will. However his radically 180 of a character design in MK Armageddon left me intrigued. One of my own theories (that many others seemed to share evidently) prior to Armageddon's release was that he might have possibly defected to the Red Dragon clan.

Then when the game was released and I'd beaten Konquest, I thought that perhaps Shinnok could be behind the return of most of the "dead" characters (a theory again shared by others I'd find out later), Jarek included.

Now we got the scoop on what his character has been up to since MK4 until MKA. Now I'll talk about what I liked before I rip into what I didn't.

First off I like that this bio went as far back as where we left off with him in his last appearance, something that should've been done with Rain IMO. And I like how simple and non-convoluted the explanation for his survival was. No fancy resurrection BS here, just a simple "I stuck my blade into the side of the mountain to break my fall". But what's more I also like that the fall still messed him up afterwards. He didn't walk away without a scratch; he was seriously wounded, possibly for years afterward. Again a far cry from Kano's "Shao Kahn resurrected him JUST so he could punish him for failing" back in MK3/MKDA.

Now I'm not at all surprised that he's no longer affiliated with the Black Dragon like a few people here apparently where. Hell I full on expected it and would have been surprised had he stuck with them. First of all the obvious; just LOOK at the guy! Secondly, I think some fans still forget that the Black Dragon we have now is a completely reinvented incarnation; The Black Dragon that Jarek was a part of has long been dead. It's only logical that he'd move on to other things (those things being total derangement apparently).

As for Quan Chi popping up in someone else's bio yet again; I'll hold off final word on that until his bio crops up. Ya never know what to expect from that guy.

And finally I like that Jarek has more or less officially gone completely batshit. It's different enough from the "typical thug" he was in MK4.

Now for the negative; honestly the main point of contention here (like most have pointed out) is that Jarek was more or less a blank slate. Literally ANYTHING could've been done with him. Instead they took a generic filler character and.... kept him a generic filler character. Disappointing to say the least.

At first blush it seems like you've got any number of directions for the character already laid out; you could take him further down the "redemptive" path set up by his temporary truce with the Earthrealmers in MK4. You don't even have to make him ally with or even LIKE the core good guys; just not be a total evil scumbag. Or you could make him a new recruit for the Red Dragon. Or have his deceased soul owned by Shinnok.

Then again on second thought, the first option might make him too similar to Kabal circa the end of MK3, or possibly even Kenshi. MK has had it's fair share of lone wolves already (hell even Kai's been there and done that). And lord know we don't need another member of the "Superfriends" as XiahouDun84 is so fond of calling the core good guys. The Shinnok lackey thing could've potentially been just as generic as well. After all, all that makes him is just what he was to begin with; a regular henchman. The only thing that's interesting and hasn't been done to death yet would be to have him go with the Red Dragon (lord knows we could stand to have a few more members of that clan in the MK roster). Or hell something even further off the beaten path that no one's thought of.... like what they actually did with his bio right here. Hmmmm. Maybe Jarek didn't have all that many good plot options after all.

Like I said; I'm mixed on this one. On the one hand you've got a very "blah" character who could be taken down any number of interesting paths. On the other hand, they're all interesting paths that regardless have been well traveled by other characters, so anything else you try and do to differentiate the character could only be seen as "more blah". It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. Like I said, the only other way out I could see would be the Red Dragon scenario. The hints are there (I completely forgot about the words "Red Dragon" appearing in his move list, thanks for reminding me), it's interesting, and it's not a worn out idea yet. IMO the Red Dragon are such a fresh and novel idea for the MK universe. I mean think about it; have we seen an Illuminati-like secret society in MK before? Nope. Even tying their origin to Edenia via Daegon hasn’t eroded the concept yet IMO, should Vogel decide to explore it more (and I hope he does).

I'm not gonna bellyache over this bio too much though. I mean seriously guys and gals; it's just one character out of 60+, and he ain't a prominent or even important one. Little perspective people. I completely disagree with the notion that Jarek as a character was "ruined" for the simple reason that there really wasn't much to ruin to begin with. A missed opportunity definitely, but ruined? Hardly.

I also completely disagree that having him be a vengeance driven character makes him ANYTHING remotely like Scorpion. I know that might elicit a "huh?" out of some people, but seriously think about it; the nature of Scorpion's revenge wasn’t just completely different than what we're reading here, it's on the far opposite end of the spectrum in character motivation.

Scorpion was a warrior of great integrity who died what he perceived to be an unjust and dishonorable death. What's more his death also led to the deaths of his family who were totally innocent. He sought vengeance as an attempt at getting some form of justice for his tragedy. This? This is a complete lunatic driven to a deranged and random bloodlust because he's either too psychotic or too stupid (possibly both) to understand that the only person to blame for his near death experience was himself. Scorpion's an unlikely combination of ninja and honor bound warrior. Jarek's just a simple common thug. He may have had the foresight to help against Shinnok back in MK4, but that was then. This is now.

On a final plus side; you gotta admit if nothing else, when coupled with his ending (easily one of the most generic and non-descript endings out of all the MKs) this bio DOES make it suck EVER SO SLIGHTLY less. At least now it has some degree of context, and is much less of a non-sequitter because of it. Wonder if they'll do the same with the other "out there" endings like Kintaro's? If so then hopefully they'll be less generic about it but without going further over the top to do so. Kind of a tricky writing challenge actually.

Overall though, still my least favorite of the bios so far. It's just a letdown considering how attention grabbing his Armageddon character design was. Oh well can't win em all I guess.

Damn, for a character I was never all that into to begin with, this sure came out long.

Pingpong......

oh, im sorry, i just thought I'd like to talk about something more interesting :P
lol but really i actually didnt mind this bio... yeah, it was pretty crappy but still good enough... kind of......... i like jarek........ and i was waiting for this bio.......

You know, for as many fatalities that Jarek has talked about in his bios, we never even got to see one of them in this game.

I guess Jax's ending happened in MK4 followed by Jarek's ending with him climbing up the cliff.

To be quite honest, the bios of the characters that haven't really appeared since MK4 seem to be like the endings of this game. They just seem to be thrown together really quick involving Quan Chi and don't really make you that excited.

But then again, as the endings came out long before the bios and this game obviously isn't anything special, what reason do the MK team have to post spectacular bios?

What would be really funny is if Quan Chi's own bio doesn't talk about anybody but himself.

Quan Chi's bio will probably be 3 pages long since he wont stop appearing in everyone's bios.Seriously,his bio will probably just be about everyone but himself.


Also,did anyone else notice that Jarek has became a lot like Kobra? Kobra wants to perfect his martial arts so he can kill more people,Jarek wants to perfect his fatalities so he can kill more people.

Am I the only one who thinks this bio makes sense?

The other Black Dragon members in the past couple MK games (Kano, Kabal, Kira, Kobra) plus the Red Dragon members never made any mention of Jarek; he's been very far removed from them. The Special Forces aren't even interested in tracking him down really as they are focused on bigger threats. And Quan Chi (and Shinnok) are obviously working on getting ALL the Kombatants involved in the past games to this one spot with the Edenian Crater. Of course you will see people who seemingly have no reason to fight anymore be lured to this spot by the likes of Quan Chi and Shinnok (either through direct influence or through trickery) because this is what they want to have happen. This is what Quan Chi is manipulating the other bad guys (Shang Tsung, Onaga, Shao Kahn) into doing by having them all appear to ally with each other.

Yeah...I wish they would've looked into the Red Dragon spy thing like Crow mentioned. His new look and moves in MKA make him look better, smarter, more skilled, etc.

I just can't help but think he feels like another copy of Scorpion/Kobra somewhat...obsessed with revenge and killing.

At least we know he survived though yes, I was thinking he would somehow, or that that ending just never happened.

I think the bio is pretty poorly written, but its not all that bad really.

It shows what happened to Jarek after the events of MK4/MKG, explains his absence, and shows that he is now obsessed with killing (ie his hunt to find the perfect fatality, doing research into it etc). Its the overuse of the word 'fatality' which makes it sound a lot worse than it is, IMO, and that comes back to poor writing, but the main issue can be found.

Although revenge is greatly overused in the MK world, I actually like the fact that his thirst for revenge has made Jarek obsessed with killing (giving the boring revenge aspect some expansion). He seems like one of these serial-killers/ mass-murderers you see in films/ tv shows/ books, who become obsessed with 'the perefect murder' and the likes. It also shows how much he wants his revenge. He doesnt merely want to kill his enemy, he wasnts to do it with style, a worthy revenge, and the worst possible death for his victim.

Also I agree with Kombat, Quan and Shinnok are gonna whatever it takes to get rid of their threats, even if that threat has not been involved in the stoyline for a while, so it makes sense that they're recruiting people. Most likely their bios will have a line saying 'we are calling on all previous allies,' or 'all who will fight in our name' rather than mention each recruited person by name.
Quan Chi and Shinnok seem to be in charge of the 'Baddies', and in every great fight, the 'pawns' go in first. Thats all that Jarek (and others) is to them. Quan and Shinnok obviously think they are going to be the victors of MKA, therefore they wont want any powerful enemies coming out of the woodwork a few years down the line. Get everyone involved at the same time, and let them take each other out.

Overall I think the bio is ok. Certainly not as bad as people are making out. For me, its certainly not the worst either.

He expects too much from everything MK lol. This is what leads him to great disappointment.

As for the bio, its sounds alright to me. I have no complaints.

Damn... It's Jarek you know, you couldn't have expacted a really great bio.

And it's not a "fucking piece o shit" like most of you are implying. I never liked Jarek, but the reactions I've read here are not all the truth. To start with the fact it's logical he's no longer a member of the Black Dragon anymore. This clan is now under the control of Kabal, Kira and Kobra.... no longer Kano or Jarek, who I never considered a part of this clan since MKD.

I did like him being injured from his fall in the ravine. Of course it's lame how he survivend, but at least he isn't resurrected in some way. Tha Jarek became a Fatality Grand Mster is highly unlikeable, but hey, he at least became something.

Im actually finding this excusevery lame from everyone who said it.

Just because he was an underrated character with no real explored or expanded development (because he was just in one game and made to be a clone of a veteran character) doesn’t mean we have to settle for crap and expect the worst.

Thats mediocre.

In the end, its not the fault of the character, because fan favorite or not, potential is there and can be explored. Sadly this was not the case.



Expecting some good and decent quality work is not the same as expecting perfection or "too much". ....please, as if the game couldnt had given more then it gave.

That too is mediocre.

Theres a huge difference.

The "Bitching about MK" cycle continues to circulate. First, people complained that someone like Rain's bio didn't tell what happened between their last appearance and MK:A. Now, Jarek's bio appears and does just that, so we just HAVE to whine about something else.

I'll go ahead and say it: I liked this bio. For a character like Jarek, this is a DAMN good bio. After all, Jarek is arguably the most unoriginal character introduced in MK history. He's (previously) only appearance in MK4 was a shoddy attempt at a Kano clone, down to the laser eye and cannonball moves. He had absolutely no good backstory then, and it seemed he had no clear purpose later.

I think this changes it.

People keep complaining of a bio about "some guy trying to perfect fatalities" and saying that's so "lame". But there are killers and assassins out there (some real, the majority in fiction and other mediums) who do just that. I even remember an episode of Batman: The Animated Series where a martial artists sought only to learn killing techniques and wanted to test them on Batman.

Point being, Jarek was a mediocre character. This is hardly the best bio, but for the respective character, it's bonifide gold, giving him, what eluded him before, depth, perspective, and purpose. It may not be deep, but for a character like Jarek, this is more than he deserves and its a bio I truly like. My compliments to the MK team.

damn,Mk it's avideogame,stop taking it too sriously.
Ok nonsensed things are very bad,but this bio isn't that unsensed.
I agree on the fatality thing,the word FATALITY is too used.
Just like he was training in Ryu or ken's hadou-ken.
However i agree also with crow:making him one of the Red Dragon members it's a good solution:excluding kano that have a feud with Sonya,the three black dragon members have a feud against two black dragon members(mavado and hsu hao,excluding Daegon that have a feud with taven).
A poor bio

I didnt think Jarek's bio was that bad. Wasnt great either, but I didnt have a problem with the "fatality" references. I see that kind of a nod to the fans about Jarek, if you remember Jax's ending, Jax says to Jarek before he is dropped, "wrong Jarek, this is not brutality, this is a fatality".

So yeah, Im think the devlopers are taking that quote into account and attributing it to Jarek's character. I dont know about anyone else, but when I first saw that ending for the first time I couldnt help but chuckle a little.

Im wondering though how much of Jax's ending should we take into account, since in his ending Jarek threw Sonya off the cliff first before being dropped. Though I guess they could have just retconned that part of the ending.