That's fine.

Except Kitana is,y'know,a princess. There's a certain dress code to uphold. Can you imagine queen Elizabeth in her better years wearing a bikini with her tits hanging out all over the place?

Royalty does not work that way.

Maybe in our boring ass realm.

But that's how they roll in Edenia. Kitana and Sindel make that shit work......and they don't look like Queen Elizabeth either.

Kitana was raised from childhood to be a hitman by an evil warlord, and has spent all her princessing years leading military campaigns. I don't think she often stops to consider what the ladylike thing to do would be.

By the same token though, there's no good reason for her to ever have her tits hanging out like Mileena.

In fact, that's the difference between the two. Kitana has modesty and self-respect, Mileena uses her nearly naked body to distract you from her hideous, shameful face.

exactly

Alright, a little bit of elaboration from me on a few things.

Kitana - Kitana was my favorite girl in MK back in the day. She's not anymore and she SHOULD be. She went from an incredibly compelling, highly original character to an incredible bore. During MK2, she was a confused, complex woman, one who was a remorseless killer most of her natural life, living a lie, and who eventually discovered the truth and defected to the side of good to slay her foster father. She had the strange and compelling mixture of being a high-profile assassin and royalty, being both evil, neutral, and good. Now she's a clean-cut, highly sophisticated and proper princess... and I've never liked that type. I like a bit of fire in my girls, perhaps some haughtiness. Regardless of if you believe MK: Shaolin Monk's spell BS, she spent the vast majority of her life on the wrong side of right and wrong, and I'm very disappointed that life of bloodshed and murder has just disappeared from her life like a bad dream. I'd imagine she's got plenty of guilt, regrets, and grudges held against her. Ironically, she's now so pious and righteous, she's not relatable. She's got no inner demons, no inner conflicts really, and she's a completely different, and far less interesting, woman then the one with the odds stacked against her and her world a fabricated truth born of deception and lies.

The render - I know I keep complaining about the renders, but, I swear, I don't want to. I want to look at a render and go "perfect. They nailed it." This render isn't it. Besides the pose (which is awkward and awful), she just looks... dim. Blank. Vacant. And uninteresting. She's like a cookie-cutter "ninja girl" now with a dash of royalty to give her some flair. Regardless of whether you like the one-piece assassin garb best (I do) or the regal look (it's okay), the combination just doesn't work. As cool as that flowery texture is, it doesn't work for an assassin, and that outfit doesn't work for a princess. Beyond that, her face just looks... awkward. Hard to explain. She looks nothing like the Kitana from any of the games previous, like they completely restructured her entire face. I just don't know. I still see renders of Sub-Zero from MK:DA and MK:D and I honestly don't seen anything WRONG with those at all. Not a single rendering blemish. Why then does this current batch of renders seem so underwhelming, rushed, and oddly structured?

Sexuality - Look, I'm a guy. I like a girl in scantily clad outfits as much as any other red-blooded male. But I do have my limits, and I personally don't find it attractive. Ivy in Soul Calibur IV is not an "empowered female". She's gratuitous fan-service and makes me feel rotten for looking at her massive melons held together by purple floss. Sonya is a military girl, and yet she's running around showing off her navel and nipples like a drunken college girl and Catwoman's apparently not sexy enough in her past 70 years of uniforms so they gave her arguably the most revealing outfit in her entire closet (besides the awful Halle Berry version). Kitana, thankfully, is a tad more conservative. But for my personal opinion, I like a woman best who is conservative AND sexy. For example: Chun-li, Samus Aran, Claire Redfield, Hilde from Soul Caibur, and several others. The MK team seems to have a hard time understanding that "sexy" does not mean T&A. A really sexy girl could be fully clothed, but if she carries herself with self-respect, strength, and allure, then she's just as irresistable, if no more so, than nearly-naked sluts who seem to think that showing more boobs makes them more "of a woman". BS. You want an "empowered woman"? Try the ones who have enough confidence in their body that they DON'T expose cleavage, nipples, and asses. We've got imaginations. Leave a little to them.

Apologies if that sounded majorly self-righteous, but it is bugging me.

Excellent post Garlador. Once again, excellent post.

I understand your views, but I disagree on some things. I agree, Kitana's first story arc was an exciting one. It was a time when we weren't really sure about her and she was shifting from a somewhat mysterious neutral character trying to prove herself as a heroic person. The whole world was seemingly against her and she had to adjust on the fly...and it ended with a grand triumph as she, against all odds, emerged as the heroic Princess of Edenia.
It's compelling, it's archetypical, it's a Hero's Journey.

Now sure, Kitana's second story & character arc may not be as viscerally exciting as her first one, but personally I think people don't give it enough credit. You're right, Kitana has built herself as this clean-cut sophisticated princess...but there is more to it than that. For instance, she's struggling to maintain this new life she's built for herself...and despite all her efforts, can't seem to find the peace she's looking for. If we follow Kitana's path through her second story arc, we would find a pattern of loss, defeat, and frustration. And maybe...this is the point.

Her war on Shao Kahn's forces, despite much initial success...hits a stalemate. This stalemate frustrates her and leads to Goro's "death." Just when she thinks her fight is over with Shao Kahn's "death," here comes news of the Deadly Alliance and Liu Kang's death. Despite these two losses, she rushes off to get trained by Bo' Rai Cho....which she doesn't complete and ends up fighting Quan Chi anyway. She loses, dies, and is enslaved by Onaga...and when that's over, here comes Blaze telling her Armageddon is coming right in her back yard. In addtion to all that, Goro's betrayed her, Shao Kahn is still alive, Liu Kang is a zombie, and Mileena is usurping her identity.

If I'm right, there is a pattern here. If Kitana's first story arc was her rise to Princess of Edenia....this second arc might be her fall. If her first arc was her Star Wars...this might be her Empire Strikes Back; where everything goes wrong. The stress is getting to her. She's struggling to hold onto this life she's built for herself even though it's steadily slipping through her fingers. You bring up a valid point about how Kitana is seemingly the very opposite of what she was when she served Shao Kahn. That's polarization....if she wasn't happy being "evil," perhaps becoming the exact opposite isn't fulfilling either. What that would mean is, she needs balance.

Point is, I think Kitana's second story arc is underrated. It works better, IMO, when it's put into context...the trick is figuring out what context. Now maybe I'm wrong and the MK team is just pulling shite out of their ass and they don't really know what they're doing with her. But if I'm right....I think what we're watching here is Kitana's fall from grace, where everything she's built for herself slips away. If I'm right, all Kitana's second arc is missing is pay-off. One final crushing blow that sets up her third arc, where we could see her have to rebuild her life for a third time. This time, finding a balance between the "assassin" and the "princess." Finally finding the redemption she's long looked for.

Course, this won't be much a factor until MK9.
EDIT:
Actually, I'm not sure if I hit my point as clear I'd like to here, I might have to sleep on this and get back to you later.




Fair enough, but I respectfully disagree. As pointed out earlier in the thread, I think she has a weary, saddened look in her eyes. Like a woman who's been through a lot, doesn't really want to anymore, but will keep fighting because she must.

But to each their own.

XiahouDun84 ~ Nicely said i really enjoy reading your views on Kitana.







To mods ~ i know DP's means shit, however since garlador got dps for his post Xdun84 deserves it as well for his equally good post.

Dude, when you write about Kitana....wow. lol

Excellent post man, excellent.

Remeber the IRC chat....

Remember, remember.

I also agree with the rest about XiahouDun84's posts. They are always a good read, and aren't biased as others tend to be.

Still,it wouldn't hurt to occasionally see them wear something a bit more regal.

Even something like this,for instance:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/7915/02fd9.jpg

That's...just Sindel's MK3 outfit, with a robe so long she could never wear it in battle over top.

Aww, thank you very much ^-^

I'M DEFINITLEY GOING OUT TO GET THIS GAME. BIG 'FAN' OF KITANA'S SINCE 1994 WHEN I WOULD SEE HER IN THE COMICS AND LATER IN MK2. NICE IMPROVEMENTS, THE SOONER THEY BRING OUT HER FIGHTING STYLE THE BETTER! THEY SHOULD THROW MILEENA IN FOR FUN AND CONTRAST TO THIS BEAUTY.

LOOK AT ME I CAN SHOUT IN CAPS TOO!

;P

I hve never really been a fan of kitana, actually she has been one of my LEAST favorite characters...but i do actually like this costume. I thought she used to look to much like a dominatrix and her hair was always to long. now she looks more like an assasian and a princess put together in thhis interesring ninja outfit.


Oh and GO MILEENA :)

My mistake.

Shame shame on some fans for worrying about trivial bs....who cares about the damn rainbow? lol....because we all know that defines "the whole game" right? right....

100% true. I think some guys like Rain can look hot and they don't show any skin like Kahn or Cage.

I wish they did, Rain is a hottie

LOL! Agreed, but he still looks hot fully clothed, imo.