What if Cyrax could swap out his chassis for different looks, like Raiden does in Metal Gear Rising? Or is that more of a Sektor thing, where he goes so far down the automation rabbit hole that at some point he's really just a brain and spinal cord with ability to swap out different bodies depending on the situation?

Cyrax can change out pieces of outer armor to have different costume designs.

Whole body though? Naw. He'd have to lose his fleshy parts to pull that off, the internal workings are permanently bonded to the organic tissues.

Sektor, though, I could see removing all of his human parts except the brain and being a head/spine that detatches from and connects to bodies like the Borg Queen, or even more likely, evolving into an actual AI program and leaving his fleshy brain behind, becoming an actual robot instead of a cyborg.

Is there a background story for Solomon Rhodes on why he joined the Black Dragon (possibly mistaken it for a touring band group given his supposedly naïve and Homer Simpson-like attitude). I have a small idea: Rhodes can get sent by the Black Dragon to kill Johnny Cage, the leader of the Forces of Light because if another Armageddon happens, hell cross off the guy before it happens. Of course Rhodes gets conflicted and fails to kill Johnny in his apartment, both of them make a verbal comedic scene since Rhodes and Johnny kind of met years ago on a movie set and Rhodes got turned down in favor of fucking Mokap. So Rhodes fails, Black Dragon thugs surround the apartment and shoot the place, both Rhodes and Johnny escape and go on the two guy run (kind of like Due Date starring Zach Galifiannakis and Robert Downey Jr.) to the Outworld Agency to find Sonya (who supposedly left HQ to help Cyrax). So that's my

I'm imagining Solo as a street criminal who joined up expecting it to be the Kano version of the Black Dragons, and as the ideology he was expected to follow became more and more about Kabal/Kira-style strictly regimented terrorism, he's gotten disenfranchised with the whole thing.

Personality-wise, he's not that dumb or naive, I'd just describe him more like if Johnny Cage were more crude and assholish instead of a lovable jerk. And the musician theme is more like he's a metalhead and it's part of his boisterous personality, than that he's a professional or anything.

The idea I'm working towards at present is, as the various different factions travel to Outworld, and circumstances or different missions split them up, Lodestone, Girl-Hydro ("Cascade" is growing on me, but still leaving it open for now), Solo, and the White Lotus girl all repeatedly cross paths until the point where they sort of become a party of allies, like a next generation version of the relationship between Johnny, Sonya, and Liu in MK1, with Solo being sort of the equivalent of Sub or Kabal in MK2 or 3, the guy from the wrong side of the tracks who converts.

I can see Taven and his relationship between the Edenian royals' gradually developing especially with Kitana and Jade. Isn't Taven going along to the tournament accompanying Jade or does he have to stay behind doing his duty to protect Edenia? If he goes, I can see Jade being playfully sarcastic with him on the way especially mentioning Taven's constant monologues like in MKA and his naivety/clumsiness in Edenian women (given that he's been sleeping for thousands of years) and doing his duty as a god. However Jade somewhat later develops a deep respect for Taven for having a noble heart and just being himself not being driven insane or being snobbish by his new godhood (that says for a lot of beings turned to gods). Taven, in return can always bounce back with his snarky sarcasm and his clear head especially when Jade is faced with her old rival Tanya. They both can talk about traditions and loyalties causally especially Jade who reveals that she isn't just Kitana's blind girly sidekick, but a two-dimensional character who understands Kitana is as mortal as she is and that she needs Jade to run things smoothly back home and if Kitana does something wrong, Jade won't be hesitant to correct her

For Kitana, the path seems a little slower. Kitana, at first can be kind of suspicious of Taven at first for several reasons. First of all, Taven reminds her of her old fiancée Rain who ironically turned out to be Argus's bastard son and betrayed Edenia to suck Shao Kahn's dick. How does Kitana know that Taven won't betray her realm to Outworld like Rain did? Also, having the reputation of a adulterous father who is also a god might not make Taven seem forgiving in the face of Edenian public not to mention he has an evil brother who ALSO seeks to become Edenia's protector god. Finally, Kitana no matter what is LOYAL to Liu Kang even unto death. The last thing she wants to is marry another boring male from her own race and rule side-by-side with him so I can picture her as strictly celibate for her own reasons and she needs to be in order not to be distracted while defending her realm as queen with or without Taven's help.

However as the story progresses, Taven does perform his new job and makes Kitana realize that Taven is not like his father, Daegon or Rain and that he wants to preserve Edenia as much as she does. Also, unlike Liu Kang, both Taven and Kitana share their race's tragic past with Taven's story in Armageddon and Kitana's entire MK canon background so they can relate to each other. Even Taven can understand Kitana's strong love for Liu Kang and admires her infinite loyalty to an Earthrealmer who helped Edenia rise back as a realm so he does have a respect for the dead Shaolin monk. Kitana can help Taven practice being the new Protector God as part of her duty as Queen while Taven when suoernatural threats threaten Edenia, he'll always be the first line of defense for that realm and assist Kitana in battle.

Now with her mom and dad dead along with Liu Kang, Taven might be the brother/sibling figure for Kitana that was absent from her when she was living under Shao Kahn, one that WASN'T manufactured to replace her like Mileena. Plus Kitana can be a big sister figure in return. Same thing could be said for Jade, but I might see a little hint of romantic spark between Taven and Jade given both of their personalities.

Y'know, I hadn't considered a Taven x Jade angle. It could work.

What about the Taven and Kitana sibling-ish outlook?

Sure, in that respect it's more or less what I already had planned.

I'm thinking of original names for our ethnic kung fu gal. Durga or Kali if she turns out Indian. If she turns out Middle Eastern maybe something like Anahita, Roxanna, or Azara (latinized crumble-up of the Farsi word azar meaning fire)

I was actually thinking,Razor. What if after Scorpion is no longer Champion of Elder Gods since now the specter has the other responsibility, they appoint Kenshi a new Champion. It kind of suits Kenshi given he is a loner and seeks a new purpose after getting his revenge on Shang Tsung in MKA. Plus this way you will have an excusable reason to send him anywhere you want depending where he is needed story wise. I still say send him to Outworld for him to mainly interact with Li Mei and Ermac and help them in their war against Reiko and Mileena. I am still working on the reason WHY there, given Champion of Elder Gods interferes ONLY in times of global danger... Lemme know if you like this angle of story.

Continuing the storyline of Kenshi as Elder God's Champion...you remember MKA ending of Sub-Zero becoming Ice God and Champion is dispatched to deal with him? What if the whole Sub-Zero moving his clan to Outworld,specifically to his ancestors caves will have some impact on amplifying Subbie's powers,which ultimately will transform him to Ice God? And part of the reason he wants to move back to Earth after the whole ordeal is because not only he considers Earth his home,but he does not want to live forever? Thoughts? I just think it would be cool to ultimately make Kenshi and Sub-Zero fight given their shared history in MK Deception.

The Elder Gods only interact with mortals who find their way into the Void. Kenshi would have to go to them to become their champion, and he doesn't have the means.

Also, the Champion of the Elder Gods position only existed because the Elder Gods wanted the Kamidogus back and needed someone to go get them. That was the ONLY task.

They're letting Scorpion keep the title and giving him a new task to do because they're too lazy to take back the powers they gave him, or they might not even be able to do so (otherwise, why didn't they do it in Armageddon when he turned on them?), and because if the possibility of One Being waking up isn't the biggest threat anymore, then villains constantly escaping from Hell is the new top of the list, so guarding the gates and hunting afterlife-escapees really is the best thing for the Champion to be doing.

It also might be that the Elder Gods prefer their champions to be dead guys for some reason. Monster was clearly some kind of skeleton-man.



1) It's more logical for Kuai Liang to die young from the Dragon Medallion than to achieve any kind of godhood. I think between the medallion and the Cryo Armor, he doesn't need to gain any more buff items or power boosts, constantly letting characters get more and more powerful turns your story into Dragonball Z. Dude can already kill an entire camp of Tarkatans by himself.

2) I've never liked his MKA ending. I fundamentally disagree with the idea that if a mortal found a way to turn theirself into a god, and this mortal was not a villain, it would for no good reason offend the other gods or Elder Gods and make them enemies.

Could one of the females characters (hidden or revealed) in the future series actually be pregnant and has to deal with protecting her brood while trying to survive the conflict with no male to look over her?

Eeeh...that seems like a bad idea considering how brutal and violent the fighting in MK is. Like, that fetus would last all of five seconds and then the pregnant character looks careless and irresponsible for willingly going to war in that state.

In the post-Armageddon series I can picture Scorpion showing somewhat of a slightly different caricature given he's no longer haunted by Quan Chi or the Netherrealm anymore. Stories 1 and 2 might be good stories where Scorpion can take a break after sealing all possible escape portals from the Netherrealm and just interact with conventional characters. Some of his interactions with the new generation fighters (maybe that Hydro girl) could bring out the father figure (giving advice and training her with his moves) in him that we never get to see in the previous installments.

I can also see Scorpion reuniting with his MK3 veterans (Kuai Liang, Kung Lao, Jade, Johnny, Sonya, etc.) before a few major battles in Stories 2 and 3. He may also spit out some snarky remarks. If Batman can be awesome for his badass and witty remarks in JL and JLU, so can Scorpion. His only purpose back in MK3 with aligning with them was to protect Kuai Liang, but maybe somewhat near the end of MK3 (though he never admits it at the time) he might have greatly admired and respected the heroes' perseverance in defending Earthrealm, the realm that WAS his home in the past as a great act of honor. I think it would be appropriate to say that Scorpion finds kinship in the veterans and the rest of the heroes (especially Sareena and Taven) as the Shirai Ryu clan that he never got to enjoy interacting with once he retired from his former ninja lifestyle (his plan failed however). Maybe even during his time there, he also reveals his former strategy intuition skills when he was a ninja, by showing numerous infiltrations into enemy bases and the Netherrealm so he could be a valuable ally. So in both cases Scorpion will become more of a human character than the previous stories would show. In his mind it can somewhat remind Scorpion his regret of what he should have become: the protector figure back in MK3 instead of being a constant pawn of vengeance and betrayal.

I dunno, I'm sort of seeing future-Scorpion as someone who feels cursed/burdened.

The mission he spent his whole afterlife trying to complete finally ends...but he STILL doesn't get to rest in peace, now he's stuck guarding Hell, the one place he hates being the most, until he atones for his sins.

So he's probably got a bitter, pessimistic attitude. Plus he's more comfortable as a loner, so I think he'd treat potential allies, at least the ones who haven't already earned his respect in past games, like the newbie characters, in more of a "go away and leave me alone" or "get out of my way, I don't have time for you, I'm trying to do my job" fashion...

...Perhaps that's one of those "character flaws" that a guy needs to get over by learning and growing over the course of a story.

Could Ermac's forehead gem be somewhat destroyed in some circumstance (like say Dark Raiden to delay the allies while he flies to destroy a world) to make Ermac unstable causing the entity to go on a rampage, attacking everyone even his allies until Kenshi has to put a stop to him because he's the only one with psychic abilities to counter his attacks?

By amulet, do you mean the forehead gem?

I don't think it's necessary, I think it just helps him focus his psychic powers and target them with more precision, it's like a physical representation of the "third eye".

Scorpion is guarding Hell to keep demons from escaping through portals. If he's the Champion of the Elder Gods why doesn't he have the power to close the portals? His new power does originate from the Nexus which he travels from and to with portals. Shouldn't he be able to control them?

Also I'm sure the souls of MK baddies such as Shao Kahn, Shinnok, Shang Tsung, and Onaga are enclosed deep in the ninth plane of the Netherrealm after dying in Armageddon so there's a very low chance of escaping through a portal if one were imprisoned on the first plane. But I remember Quan Chi got out in DA because he just happened by luck to find a rare portal of the Netherrealm. So will the enemies Scorpion be facing off be hundreds of undead NPC minions like Kahn Palace guards, Tarkartans, Black Dragon thugs etc and will there be a surprise cameo of one of the old baddies mentioned above?

It's not so much a problem of having the power to close portals, it's that the Champion can't see everything all at once, so if someone finds a way to sneak out, he might not become aware of it until after it's happened, in which case, his job is to hunt them down and drag them back to Hell.

All the old bosses are no longer a threat after Armageddon, the two main players who will be competing to take the throne now that Shinnok's gone, or looking for a way to escape, who Scorpion will have to prevent the schemes of, are Drahmin and Daegon.

But Noob Saibot eventually comes out as the unexpected winner and lets one of them become his second-in-command doesn't he?

Noob will have conflict with Scorpion, I don't want to spoil anything more than that.

A word from Razor at his Deviantart page.