Continuing with unpopular MK4 characters, what about Meat? Will he even be in the MK4 portion since being just one of Shang Tsung's unfinished creations wouldn't give him any need to be part of the story. If he is in, will he still be just a bloody skeleton like in MK4 and have his muscles added later or will he be beefy like in MKA from the start?

All that comes to mind for me is that Shang started work in him just before he fled to the Acid Bath after the events of MK3 which is why he is incomplete. Can't imagine how he would end up involved in MK4's plot at all since Outworld isn't involved in that game. Unless he escaped the Flesh Pits during the events of MK3 and wound up in Earthrealm during the merger but got left behind when Outworld was kicked back out of Earth.

Meat'll be there. I'll draw him more bony than he was in MKA.

Storywise, I don't know for sure yet, I'll figure it out when I get there.

Glad to see you have gone back to making these. Skarlet looks awesome. ^^

Yeah Skarlet looks good. I really hope they flesh out her character somehow so she's not so one-dimensional (if she even comes back). Mileena looks pretty awesome too.

I don't know if you caught it when it was fresh, or arrived to the thread too late and haven't gone back through all the various discussions, but back on page 9, I detailed my own ideas to make Skarlet a more interesting character, which I will be using in my MK script outlines.

And that's probably at least 10 x better than whatever shit Vogel and co. slop together.

When you get to MKDA, are you gonna do Tanya and Baraka also? MKD mentioned they served the Deadly Alliance.

That's a good question, though I kinda doubt it. Thought that reminds me, where specifically was it stated that Kitana lost to Quan and Kung to Shang during the end of MKDA?

Their Konquests in DA end with Kitana fighting Quan and Kung Lao fighting Shang.

I'm sure Tanya and the Tarkatans will show up as NPCs in Deadly Alliance, but she and Baraka won't have a spot on the roster, since they didn't have any important fights.



Y'know, I never really knew. XiahouDun used to say it with the confidence of someone who was dead-certain it was canon, but It's not mentioned in any of the Deceptiom bios or by Konquest NPCs as far as I know, so unless it's in the text of a piece of Krypt art, I always assumed it was something people guessed based on where the bodies are laying during the opening cinematic (which is hard to tell, because you can only make out the bodies during the brief flashes of lightning).

That's not entirely true. They actually both end in mirror matches, and though Kitana's second-to-last opponent is indeed Quan Chi, Kung Lao's isn't Shang. Although, the story of his Konquest Mode is about his training in preparation to fight Shang, to avenge Liu's death, so he should fight him...

Yeah, I meant beside mirror matches because all Konquests end with one and there's no story behind them. I am definitely mistaken with Kung Lao though. Didn't Kitana's Konquest say Kung Lao was fighting Shang at the same time? That may be where my confusion's coming from, otherwise it was most likely XiahouDun's story analysis.

Yeah I hadn't gone back enough previous pages and you're right, Skarlet as a sort of blood golem based on Kahn's daughter is a pretty cool angle. Man, I'm looking forward to the MK 2 script.

I didn'T read the whole thread.... most of it.
From what I understand razor's continuing his awesome work.
People ask about characters from MK4 and up.

But what about MK3 ?? I'm waiting to see Queen Sindel, Kabal and Nightwolf with anticipation now. Can'T wait to see how they'll look... And there alternate (I know I know, it'll take time...)

Anyway's, keep up the good work Razor.

So it does.

Mystery solved, then.

Well...whether it actually happened that way, as XD always presumed, is another story, since Deception never actually confirms it, it just shows that they all lay dead on the steps while Raiden is fighting the DA and says "Tarkatans did it".

Still, it doesn't outright contradict it either, and it doesn't really hurt nothin' to say Kung Lao and Kitana made it through the crowd and got killed by the bosses.

Actually, that brings an important question to my mind. In your MKDA storyline, the 5 brainwashed heroes aren't gonna die IIRC, but then how do they survive? They just kill all the Tarkatans they face and just all get their butts royally curb stomped by Beardy and Baldy before Onaga gets a hold of them?

I don't feel like "they get knocked out instead of stabbed or whatever" is really that far a leap. I know they're fighting evil monsters with Wolverine-claws, but that doesn't mean it's impossible for them to lose and still survive.
I mean, nobody seemed to question the logic of it when they knocked Jax out but didn't bother to finish him off during MK9's version of the Tarkatan raid on the Shaolin Temple.

I have two things to ask about your fan-fiction series as it progresses.

The first thing is the relationship between Liu Kang and Kitana. Is King's attraction to her just at first sight or does it develop as they learn more about each other's back stories? Plus will Kang refusing Kitana's proposal to rule Edenia alongside with her in MK4 be included in your story? I know it's probably ambiguous, but it seems that if Liu Kang didn't refuse it, maybe it would have prevented him getting killed by Shang Tsung in Deadly Alliance and not further strain his relationship with Kitana, but that again even good guys have to die. Is there some hostile cultural bias between Edenians and Earthlings that make Liu Kang and Kitana's relationship appear irreconcilable?

Finally, what about Nitara's role in the story. I know she only wants to free her realm from Outworld, but is she the only one left of her kind? Does she have a mate? Can Reptile's conflict with his realm being enslaved be relate-able to Nitara and make both of them partners instead of Reptile being a mindless pawn? And what about Cyrax? I think the "being stranded in Netherrealm and helping Nitara find orb to restore realm" plotline seems to be irrelevant to the DA plotline. Finally will Nitara's background and her past life in Vaterrenus before Kahn's conquest be explored in the series?

Kitana approaches Liu shortly after the tournament has started, to tell him she wants to defect and help him defeat her "father". The way I'm hoping it comes across when I write it is that Kang is initially suspicious of her (albeit much less so than his allies are since he's the nice, naive, trusting one), but as she tells him what Kahn did to her real family, and takes him and Kung Lao around Outworld showing them stuff like the Flesh Pits and the remains of the Edenian castle Jerrod and Sindel used to rule from, in a style sort of similar to the exploration plot of MKSM, to prove she's telling the truth, they start falling for each other.
I never liked the way the games keep showing their relationship being all like "Liu sees her for the first time and goes "wow, she's hot, suddenly I'm in love" or "here comes a cute girl to beat me up, time to flirt!" He's a monk, it wouldn't normally occur to him to think about a woman that way, they spend their whole lives learning to ignore shallow physical urges. The reason I've always liked the idea of LiuxKitana is their PERSONALITIES fit together well.
She's spent her whole life killing people and doing evil things but wants to change. The only kind of person she could be with is someone who could support her and raise her self-esteem rather than treating her like a killer, someone who forgives easily, doesn't judge people harshly, and sees the potential best in everyone. He's ALSO the only person in the universe who can defeat Kahn, the cause of all her misery.
And to Liu, her most attractive feature wouldn't be her appearance, it'd be her devotion to saving/restoring her realm, and the fact that she ages super-slow, at a time when he's dealing with the fact that, as the MK champion, he doesn't age anymore so he's going to tragically watch all his human friends grow old and die while he stays the same Highlander-style if he doesn't die in battle first.



Yep. I prefer to never erase something from canon or contradict it, only add to it.



It's not anything like that. If you listen to the reason WHY Liu Kang turns down her proposal, his reason is pretty clear.

He literally felt like he wasn't ABLE to say yes because as the still-reigning MK champion, he HAS to live on Earth and defend it in future Mortal Kombat tournaments if there are any. He can't be moving to Edenia and ruling as their prince or king.

And by the same token, Kitana wouldn't have given up her crown and moved to Earthrealm to be with him. Their responsibilities to their own separate realms is what prevented them from being together.



No, she's not the last of her kind. In Armageddon there's plenty of vampires populating Vaeternus after Nitara freed it from Outworld, so they must have all been alive in Outworld before then, because freeing a realm doesn't raise the dead or anything like that.

The only reason everybody on Earth came back to life at the end of MK3 is because their souls were literally beaten out of Kahn, that's why green lasers shoot out of his body when you win at the end of the arcade ladder. (Also, Kahn doesn't usually wipe out every soul in a realm at once like he did when he invaded Earth.) When Edenia was freed, it wasn't suddenly filled with resurrected Edenians who had died ten thousand years ago, it was filled with the Edenians who had been living as refugees and rebels in Outworld after the merger.



Well I don't have any plans to introduce any male vampires at the moment. I suppose the possibility exists that years from now, once I've finished MK2, 3, 4, DA, Deception, and Armageddon and get to making fanfics about what happens afterward, I might have an idea for more citizens of Vaeternus.

Nitara strikes me as the independent type, though. I doubt I'd go the love interest route with a character so cold and...the phrase that comes to mind is "career-minded".



The problem with trying to make more of DA-era Reptile is he's supposed to be kind of a retard in that story, his brain has literally devolved to a point somewhere between a domesticated dog and a hallucinating schizophrenic.

That said, I wouldn't say he was completely a pawn. I mean, Nitara did have to actually converse with and befriend him to get him to follow her. And after she abandoned him, he did get pissed and try to hunt and kill her.

Also of note, Vogel hinted once or twice that Reptile's devolution might NOT really be because of the whole "separated from his dead race/matriarch" thing like we were told. Vogel's suggestion was that it was actually part of his "destiny", that it was an in-between step on the path to becoming the Dragon King.
So it's possible that he was actually being deliberately manipulated and mutated by Onaga's spirit during MKDA, to physically become the perfect host body, and mentally become dumber and thus be in the right place at the right time to get possessed.


I wouldn't say it's irrelevant. It seems that way because Nitara herself is so underdeveloped and none of them fight a boss or anything, sure, but Nitara's story is actually a very subtle chain of causes-and-effects that end up being the most important shit in the game.

The only reason Kahn is beaten by the Deadly Alliance is because his bodyguard Reptile wasn't there - because Nitara distracted him.

The only reason the OIA sends Kenshi to Outworld is because Cyrax is missing - because Nitara had Reptile break his control panel. And the only reason Sonya joins Raiden's DA-fighting team is out of hope of finding Kenshi and Cyrax while in Outworld.

The only reason Deception happened is because Onaga came back from the dead, because Reptile was in the egg chamber, because he was following Nitara and Cyrax. (Even if Shujinko had collected all six Kamidogu, Onaga couldn't have taken and used them until he had a body)

The only reason Armageddon happens is because Blaze is freed and the only reason Blaze is freed is because the egg hatched - because Onaga's spirit broke out of it and possessed Reptile.

So in a way, Nitara, Cyrax, and Reptile are the cause of MK6 and 7.

...But y'know, if you want something with more "personal" repercussions, I always wondered if they originally intended there to be something more to the way that story ends, but abandoned that plan since neither Nitara nor Cyrax was in Deception and they didn't have time to give Cyrax a story in Armageddon.

What I mean is, in Cyrax's MKDA ending, note how it never actually says WHERE the portal Nitara makes for him sends him. It doesn't say she keeps her end of the deal and sends him back home to Earth, it leaves it ambiguous. She could have tricked him and teleported him to any other realm.

I MIGHT do something with that in my version of Armageddon, if I can think of a good story for Cyrax. I don't have one at the moment, though.



I don't know how much of Nitara's personal history could be plot-relevant since she's really not that complicated a person, but the history of Vaeternus and the Vampire race will definitely be explored a bit in DA when she introduces herself to her "allies", and much moreso in Armageddon when I get to the "Ashrah's sword is actually a cursed vampire-slaying weapon that once mind controlled a vamp into killing his own kind until it was sent to Hell in an attempt to get rid of it" stuff.

Your Work is awesome!!!! I can tell that on the second "season" (the MKII new characters), the poses are incredibly better than the ones from the first game.

Great work!!

I dunno, pose-wise, my favorites are Liu and Johnny. Smoke and Noob's Shadow are giving them a run for their money though.
By the way, is the color of Kintaro's belt working for everybody? I'm not sure I'm satisfied with it, should I go back to red, or perhaps add some kind of pattern or texture to the material? I'm open to suggestions.

I've tried catching up on the previous posts, but I'll probably still miss a few topics... Anyway, I'm liking your ideas for Kahn and Skarlet, especially the irony of how it came to the point that Shao Kahn is so far gone that he doesn't even ask Shinnok to rez his actual family. Just summarizing about it gives a better impact of his character than the games have done.

Onto designs, after looking at things on a different screen, I'm fine with Skarlet's hair (and I see you've fixed the heel). I wasn't sure how to feel about Kintaro at first, just because his face was so different, but I've adjusted and I'm enjoying what he looks like now. I like how you've placed him in the center of his row and how giant he really is when lined up next to everyone. As for your question, while I'm no artist, I'm fine with the blue-colored belt. It was actually one of the first things I was going to compliment until I saw your question about it.

If we're continuing to talk about poses, I'd say for MK1 my favorites are Ermac, Sonya, and Old Tsung. If we're talking designs, it's Old Tsung, Bi Han, and Sonya. MK2, though, is tougher to decide, since everyone looks bigger and badder. Poses-wise, Skarlet, Smoke, Subs, and Kitana pop out to me the quickest. Design wise, everyone is pretty much equally good. Are you planning to keep all the poses the same throughout the series, or will one or two characters change if you see it fit for any character development they go through?

A few more questions

I like your backstory around Shao Kahn and Skarlet and he makes me feel that he's a disillusioned mad ruler that thinks he's doing things best for Outworld than just for the sake of being an evil asshole. When Armageddon comes and Kahn does get resurrected eventually, will he somehow get a little redemption near the end once he figures out what evil he's done and how his selfish and pointless quest of bringing his "daughter" Skarlet to his expectations brought more chaos to Outworld and eventually turns on whoever resurrected him (Shinnok or the Deadly Alliance?) to make things right for Skarlet and the people he's hurt? I know it seems far-fetched, but sometimes the villain could get a little sympathy.

Also, when I look at the whole canon storyline, it seems the females in this series don't really fight much, but get captured, manipulated, and all of that damsel in distress bullshit. It seems to downplay the entire tough female fighter motif and make them seem easy pawns to kill and control. In your story, is it possible to downplay some of that and make them tough warriors who can take care of themselves? Take Kitana for instance. Her main goal basically is to restore her realm by any means and get redemption from her crimes with Kahn and I'd think a character like that can beat the shit out any character regardless of their powers and be determined to fight for Edenia. But sadly she gets captured and later killed by the DA and mind-controlled by Onaga in the MK canon...not really tough eh?

Finally, I have alot of questions and thoughts on what I think is the greatest character in Mortal Kombat of all time: SCORPION. Yes I know he's brutal, he has that kunai he throws at people and yells that famous catchphrase, but I don't want to focus on that. In the MK canon, he eventually finds out that Quan Chi killed his family, not Sub-Zero. But he had many opportunities to kill him at the end of MK4 through Deadly Alliance I mean for a specter like Scorpion who's so dedicated to revenge, he's not really good at even trying to kill Quan Chi. He, in fact has assisted help from Shujinko yet he just chases Quan Chi, he doesn't just throw his kunai at his head or shoot a jet of flame to burn him into ashes like he did with Bi-Han. Doesn't he want to kill him? In fact does killing Quan Chi actually give him redemption and finally lets him into Heaven to meet his dead brethren? And finally in your story series, will we finally see Scorpion kill Quan Chi and move on to some bigger roles than just some undead guy that wants revenge continuously?

Another thing that ticked me off was his ending in DA. He gets his ass kicked not by Shang Tsung or Quan Chi, but by two Netherrealm demons who just chuck him into a Soulnado that tears him apart...WHY? What makes them powerful than Scorpion? They're not in the Netherrealm where they're most powerful unlike Scorpion who has no power limits when he travels between realms due to his Earthrealm origins. To me, this ending is pointless, it does nothing to help Scorpion in his quest for revenge, and it basically screws him entirely. I don't think it should be included in your series in my opinion.

Finally, one beef I have with the canon is what happens to Scorpion after Deception. He serves the Elder Gods, Onaga is dead (so is Quan Chi I think? In fact why didn't Scorpion kill Quan Chi before Onaga made his entrance if Scorpion's ending never happened? It would have fulfilled his quest for vengeance), and he makes a stupid wish: bring his clan back to life. Then he gets so mad that they're undead like him (common sense: if you bring someone back from the dead yea they'll be UNDEAD) that he takes his anger out on the Elder Gods and their "champion" (turns out unfortunately to be Taven). Honestly I really liked Scorpion being developed in Deception as this unbound servant to the Elder Gods who really wants to do something good like kill Onaga (though the whole serving the Elder Gods thing is really unnecessary for Scorpion who already got out of servitude, there's NO need to him for him to be anyone's bitch) , but Armageddon screwed that up by making Scorpion into a selfish, no-good asshole again. I think you can give more dignity to Scorpion's character than the original creators could by making a completely different path for him.

From all of these points made me ultimately think: Is it possible that Scorpion's destiny was never to fulfill being with his clan in Heaven just for a short time? Does this long timespan actually make him into a more developed and relatable character who just wants to find peace, but this dream ends up slipping through his fingers everytime he comes near it. Surprsingly he actually reminds me of Samurai Jack from the Cartoon Network series (not so sure if you watched it). So Jack is sent back into the past by Aku and tries to get back to his present time in many episodes to finish his enemy, but every time he gets near this opportunity, he either has to sacrifice this to save someone, the portal might turn out to be a trick by Aku, or a strong warrior blocks his way and stops Jack from entering that portal. Despite his hopeless situation, Jack seems to have this amor fati or this love to fate in which he accepts his sufferings and events that prevent them from going back to his time and remains patient for that moment until fate destines him otherwise. In one episode, he actually sees himself in the future as an old man happy in his time, but learns that from where he's viewing and the vision he sees, it will take a long time for him and Jack accepts this. To me, I think Scorpion can be the "Samurai Jack" of the Mortal Kombat universe though some of his actions aren't noble and selfless as his counterpart in that Scorpion kind accepts that he's not going to get reunited with his dead family in a very short time and he accepts this fate, knowing that whatever will happen, it will be. (though it doesn't give him an excuse to forget his family and have relations with some chick. I mean who would want to make out with an UNDEAD ninja?...I guess no one). Who knows maybe there can be a plot device that lets Scorpion see into the future (not that fucking amulet from MK9 that's total bullshit) and see himself reunited, but from where he's standing he won't be in a VERY long time. This can be set AFTER he gets his revenge or Quan Chi happens to die finally and Scorpion is just this wandering warrior ready to make some difference like save some realms instead of his whole revenge sentiment that defined him earlier in the MK series. This opportunity gives Scorpion a lot of time to develop from being this simple anti-hero to possibly a more human and good guy that is why I think Scorpion is the most "human" MK character. He's the one who through a long time will be ultimately redeemed while his victim Noob Saibot will be the most damned of the MK characters. I'd like to see how Scorpion will develop after Armageddon.

As far as I can recall, I don't plan on changing any poses. The only one I had planned was Sub-Zero because since it changes from Bi-Han to Kuai Liang, Noob has MK1 Sub's pose and MK2 Sub has a new one.
Oh yeah, and Sektor and Cyrax will actually BE posed next time I draw them. The NPCs set is meant to be a little more rough and rushed than the main roster so I just sorta traced Bi-Han when I did those two, and anyone else I add to it will probably be standing straight up too..



I can't really think of any way he could. I suppose I could write in a moment where just before he dies, he has a moment of clarity and says something clichéd like "What have I done?" but I can't think of any way for him to do something heroic before the end, since I more or less already have a rough idea of how the other villains are gonna die. For example, Shujinko is going to try absorbing everyone's powers again but there's too many and he overloads with energy, so as he blows himself up, he makes sure to take Onaga with him.



I think that there are going to be moments where the girls come across as more badass simply because their best moments will actually be portrayed, rather than tiny blurbs in a bio or Konquest mode.

For example, Sonya gets to wrap up her rivalry with Kano by fighting him alone and kicking him off the Rooftop to his near-death in MK3. Kitana gets to kill Mileena and do pretty much all the important stuff in MK2. And fight Sindel and free her mind, then set Edenia free from Outworld in MK3. In MK4, she breaks herself out of Shinnok's prison. Then in MKDA she leads an army of Edenians and Shokan in a war against Shao Kahn that I'm pretty sure Kahn didn't start this time. She just wanted to finish him off once and for all.

I also have already mentioned that when I get to Deception, Jax, Johnny, Kung Lao, Sonya, and Kitana will NOT be killed and resurrected. They'll only be knocked out. Onaga will still use mind control to make them his bodyguards because I actually like some of the things that came out of that, like Mileena getting to briefly take over the Edenian army by pretending to be her sister, and Ermac and Liu's Ghost teaming up to save them, but at the very least it'll ease some of the problem where people die and come back too often in MK.



Quan Chi rules Hell, so death is hardly a punishment for him. He'd just show up in the Prison of Souls, order the guards to let him out, and walk back to wherever he wants to go unimpeded.

I think dragging him down to Scorpion's specific layer of Hell where his magic is drained and beating and torturing him is kind of a better, more satisfying revenge because it's long and drawn out. It just doesn't seem like he did much because the games only ever show Quan Chi successfully running away from him, but you have to take into account that there's TWO YEARS between the end of MK4 and the beginning of MKDA. That's a lot of time to torture a guy.

Also, I'm not sure I'm going to consider the part where Shujinko trains with and helps Scorpion to be canon. It's part of a section of Konquest that has huge timeline plotholes I need to fix.



Well besides the fact that he was outnumbered, you're forgetting that Moloch was the subboss in that game. He's super-strong and tough like Goro, Kintaro, Motaro, etc.

Anyway, that ending is necessary in order to send Scorpion to the Elder Gods to become their Champion, which in my opinion is the best thing for Scorpion's story because it gives him something to do in sequels. See, if Scorp ever gets his revenge and kills Quan, that's it, his story is over, he loses his Spectre powers and becomes permanently dead.

And Quan Chi can't last forever, villains have shorter shelf lives than heroes because their plots eventually have to be foiled and they have to be finished off. And this revenge story can't last forever. A lot of people are ALREADY bored of Scorpion doing the same thing over and over in every game. So giving Scorp a new source of powers and mission prevents him from leaving the franchise when Quan dies. Which is good since Quan DID die when Raiden blew himself up trying to kill Onaga. (But like I said, killing Quan just sends him back to Hell, so there he was in Armageddon, hanging out with Shinnok again.)

Being Champion of the Elder Gods assures that Scorpion can continue to appear in Mortal Kombat games after Quan Chi is gone. Because the realms will always have threats that the Elders want taken care of. Plus, Scorpion's REAL goal has always been to find some way to be with his family again.

He's always said that what he really wants is for his "soul to rest in peace", and Hell gives him no rest, he always wants out.

First he thought revenge would restore the honor he lost when he died on his knees, and THAT would get him into Heaven...which was probably wrong. Then he thought that teaming up with Sub-Zero would redeem his sins and THAT would get him into Heaven, but he didn't stick with it and went back to the revenge thing when he found out Quan had used him, because Scorp often lets his anger override his logic. As Champion of the Elder Gods, he can be a hero and REALLY get that redemption and go to Heaven when his time's up.

Of course, his Armageddon story is a bit of a roadblock there, as you pointed out. But like I said, Scorp is prone to fits of rage. That's actually part of his Spectre thing, anger makes him stronger, so he's allowed himself to be ruled by it in the past, it's a character flaw...which can be good, flawed characters are better than ones that seem "perfect". But it did make him look completely stupid in Armageddon.

Thing is, anger is temporary. Way I see it, I can write those scenes in a way that makes it seem much more spur of the moment, like he JUST realized his clan came back wrong, threw a tantrum, and after fighting Taven, Scorpion can calm down, realize what's really going on around him, and get back to work - because he never actually STOPPED being Champion of the Elder Gods. He still has the job during Armageddon, and still WILL be in my fan fictions that take place after Armageddon.

And of course, having his clan around as an army of zombies isn't what he wanted, it's disgracing their memories, they want to rest...but you've got to consider that the Elder Gods, they're not human, they don't know the difference. They THOUGHT they were giving him what he wanted. It's his fault for not being more clear, and for asking for the WRONG thing. He shouldn't have tried to bring them back, he should've asked to go to Heaven and be with them. I'm going to have him realize all this stuff, and since he controls them, he can order them to return to their graves and be dead again.



I think you're not far off. That said, no character can last forever, everything ends sometime. My Post-Armageddon fanfic series will be a trilogy and at the end of it, a lot of characters are going to have real endings, some of them will be happy. I'm not sure if Scorpion's going to get his yet or not.