am i the only person that thinks that the merdged boss looks nothing like shao khan but looks mostly like dark seid merdged with blaze!

Seems like a midway employee behind the cam pointed a gun at Tobias.

Sure MK5-7 introduced a heap of new characters.
But were those new characters really original and compelling (let alone favored)? The only characters whose stories really looked interesting to me were Ashra, Frost and Shujinko (and I take my hat off for Vogel for these stories).
This is in contrast to MK1-4 where almost every character really had interesting backstories/endings and almost every character was a favorite, even the pallete swaps. Also pallete swap were a technical choice and not an art choice, since back in those days you didn't have enough programming space to include a wide variety of characters and so a subset had to be pallete swaps. Though this also shows a special creative ability, since these pallete swaps were made distinguishable and original by a creative backstory (Sub Zero/Scorpion/Reptile as the most well known example, but Kitana/Mileena/Jade as another).

To me the characters and their stories from the MK1-4 series are still hugely more popular/original/compelling than the MK5-7 characters. That any non-MK fan exactly knows most of the MK1-4 characters, but almost none of the MK5-7 characters is a testimony on its own.
Note that I'm not even going into the fact that the MK mythologies have grown highly inconsistent over the time of MK5-7 (although this has mostly been the fault of the side-games).
So that's why I want Tobias to stick around with Vogel.

Pretty sure that isn't Mileena.

Notice there are two purple ninjas.

You do know they signed for a two game contract right?

Let's stop and really think about that.

For instance, let's look at...say Dairou:
Dairou was once a member ofthe Seidan Guard and diligently believed in preserving the order his realm structured it's society around. However, this came to an end when he found his family murdered by an assassin and in a blind rage, killed said assassin. Despite his murder being justified, he was put in jail for his outburst...leaving him embittered and cynical about Seido's ways and beliefs in order. Eventually escaping prison, he now acts as a mercenary holding no regard for either side of the conflict.

We know who he is, why he is, and how he became that way.


Now compare that with...say Liu Kang:
A young Shaolin monk who's parents died some time ago. His brother (we don't know if he was older or younger) disappeared....no idea what happened to him or what Liu's feelings on the matter are. He enters the Mortal Kombat tournament hoping to free it from Shang Tsung and save the Earth because...well, not doing so would be bad. Liu also may or may not be somehow related to the Great Kung Lao who was killed by Goro 500 years ago....so that may too may be a motivating factor for him.

A very broad origin, vaguely defined motivation, and all-around simplistic objectives.


How about this....Drahmin:
A long time ago, Drahmin was a great warlord who was so evil and despised that when he died, he was damned to the worst part of the Netherealm for his crimes. There, he was subjected to the worst and most terrible tortures imaginable. Over time, he became so consumed with rage and madness he transformed into an Oni and become on the realm's torturors himself. He is barely able to hold his bloodlust in check with the help of a strange mystical mask of some sort.

Compare with Baraka:
Baraka is part of a nomadic race of savage creatures that roam Outworld. He is the most savage of them all and thus he is often employed by Shao Kahn as his minion because of his feared bloodlust. He also on occasion shows vague ambition to rule Outworld for himself and seems to have a romatic relationship with Mileena.


Drahmin may be simply a bloodthirsty monster and lower level antagonist, but once again, we know who he is, why, and how. Baraka is....an orc. Aside from being designated the "most savage of them all" and a thinly developed relationship with Mileena, there's nothing to set him apart from the rest of his kind.


Not to say Tobias came up with no good backstories or that every Vogel creation is genius....but Tobias came gave us a lot of cardboard cut-outs and cookie cutter concepts.
The reason a lot of fans still favor them is a lot of fans are terminally addicted to the rosy colored glow of nostalgia.

^^And yet these newer characters cannot generate the same fanbase that the older characters have. Why? Because they're forgettable. Specificity does not equal inspiration. Just because they have a fleshed out story does not make them a better character. The MK team should have spent time fleshing out the bread and butter in their roster rather than bringing in these new, uninspired, non compelling characters that no one will ever care about.

No we don't

But how are they supposed to do that? Are you speaking of design and moves? In that case, I might be tempted to agree on certain characters. The MK team has a major problem with recycling and sharing old moves.

But that's not a question of story. Far as I know, Vogel doesn't oversee character design or what moves they get. I'm sure he has imput, but I think that's primarily up to others.

If that's not what you're talking about, then I think we might be veering into the subjective. Personally, I'd take Drahmin and Dairou over Liu Kang or Baraka anyday.

I don't think anyone can deny that Tobias was a strong influence for the early MKs, but the information available seems to be completely disconnected from the mythologly that some people have built up.

He seems himself pretty comfortable with downplaying his role as a writer, which strikes me as somewhat refreshing for a penciller who's crossed over into other roles. It's certainly difficult to look at his limited CV and interpret any kind of creative saviour.

The comic's looking good, though!
He's definitely bringing his A-game and whoever's inking and colouring is doing a great job to avoid the dated look of a lot of previous MK art. It's a shame we've never seen a solid MK series!

Also; for what it's worth:


http://secretearths.blogspot.com/2008/09/mortal-kombatdc-universe-hans-lo.html

Exactly! You said exactly what was on my mind.

"Dairou who? Drahmin what?"

That's the overall response you will getting compared to "the great champion Lui Kang who represented the Order of Light, but also fought for vengeance of his brother and the survival of earth...only to fall in love with the princess of Edenia".
Or "Baraka who was somewhat the leader/rebel of a misused/oppressed mutantslaverace and secretly wanted to overthrow Shao Kahn for the better of his people...and ofcourse for his own lust for power and violence".
Or "Kung Lao who somewhat lived in shame for not living up to his ancestors destiny and not being the representant of the Order of Light, but was able to make peace with Goro, the opponent that defeated the original Kung Lao".

The pallete swap "Jade who together with Reptile was ordered to find and kill Kitana...her longtime friend..and now has to chose between betraying her emperor or her friend".

Somehow these characters live up more to my imagination than the heap of new ones from MK5-7 (with few exeptions there in Ashrah, Shujinko etc).

I have to disagree with this "In MK1-4, almost every character had interesting backstories" business. Tobias came up with plenty of duds.

I've never liked Baraka, Jax, Nightwolf, Sindel, Stryker, Kai, or Jarek, and I don't think Kano, Mileena, Sektor, Cyrax, Ermac, or Noob Saibot were interesting until Vogel got his hands on them.