In the games, when Noob teleports/turns himself into a shadow and back, his intermediate form is an oily black liquid. So what's going on with his feet there is they're half-unmorphed.



Despite the names of his moves in MK9 suggesting that he is "Noob" and his shadow is "Saibot", there's no ACTUAL evidence in the games to suggest that the shadow is a living creature or has a mind or identity of its own. As far as I am concerned, the man's full name is Noob Saibot, and he simply has the power to turn his shadow into a clone and back.

In fact, at some point in the script-writing side of this project, I'll probably explain his name by saying that "Noob Saibot" means "Grim Reaper" in the language of the Netherealm or something like that.



At some point in time, yes, I'm sure I will draw him w/o the shades. Probably for one of his MK3 or 4 costumes.

As for Deadly Alliance, I figure he dyed his hair blonde in the game. It's a thing people do, especially famous people in California who are about to turn 40 and trying to look younger (he's 29 in MK1 and DA is 10 years later). It'll be there when I draw those costumes.

One thing I noticed about Jade is that you removed that symbol that indicates the first character of her name in Outworld-ish language,on her knee armor. I remember you had it for her,but removed it now. Any reason?

I realized it looked too much like the design on Tanya's boots in the games, which doesn't work since it was meant to be an Outworld letter J. I couldn't think of a different design so I decided instead that Jade shouldn't have monogrammed kneepads like Kitana and Mileena do, she's not a princess, she's a slave, and a stealth/spy character whose identity should be a mystery to her targets anyway..

It would seem I've got a little Thanksgiving gift for you guys...

In a word, superb.

What sorcery is this? 2 updates in the same year?

Amazing work as always man, absolutely love every character you design, can't wait to see what's next.

Awesome. I see she has the same fuzzy texture as Kitana's garb... that a vague reference of how Skarlet originated from the red-Kitana glitch or does it mean she's on the same assassin level in Kahn's eyes or is it a pure design reason? Although her right heel looks slightly longer than her left. Even at the angle her left foot is at, it still looks a bit uneven. Not sure how to feel about the hair at the moment, I do see she has that kind of texture in the games...

Outside of design, what do you have in mind for Skarlet's personality? And considering Kahn created her himself, is Skarlet a "newer" creation, or is she along the ages of Mileena and/or Ermac (based on their original time-line ages, of course. Although has it ever been implied how old Ermac is?)

I don't think Ermac's "age" has ever been revealed, though I think Razor said he felt Ermac was probably a recent creation.

Skarlet is the closest thing Shao Kahn has to a real daughter...on several levels.

The first is that, obviously, Kahn himself created her...which is something he can't say about either of his actual "daughters", Kitana or Mileena. Kitana's father is Jerrod and Mileena's father is technically Shang Tsung.

The second is something I'm adding to the Razorverse version of the character to make her and Kahn both quite a bit deeper, as opposed to her small, underdeveloped backstory from MK9:

In my version of events, Shao Kahn had a mortal wife and biological daughter of his own back when he was Protector-God of Outworld. They died while daddy was away from home, innocent casualties of the chaotic Outworld lifestyle, perhaps caught in the crossfire of some war, or murdered by a band of brigands, or something like that, which is what inspired Kahn to overthrow Onaga and take a personal role in how Outworld is run.

Skarlet was his first experiment creating a living being with black magic, an attempt to recreate his dead daughter from the original's blood. What he ended up with, however, because it obviously didn't have the original's soul which had passed on to the afterlife, was a near-mindless golem that just happens to LOOK like his daughter, a constant, bitter reminder that she was truly gone. So he locked her away out of sight and devoted himself instead to attempting to rebuild his family in less literal ways, hence why he marries Sindel and adopts Kitana, and why he later asks for Mileena's creation, just a long string of painfully empty attempts to recapture the magic.

(Note the irony in that his mind is so far gone by the time of the games, that when he finally gains the ability to ask Shinnok to resurrect someone for him in MK3, he doesn't even remember to ask for his real family back, he asks for Sindel instead.)

So...anyway, given that Skarlet is the first ninja-daughter and Kitana is the second, I thought it appropriate that her costume look a lot like Kitana's, but a bit less smooth and streamlined, more of a prototype. That's also why I made the details on her armor look a bit more like a samurai's. (It also made sense that a second ninja girl have the velvet texture since Mileena and Jade both have the shiny texture.)



I'm not entirely certain the stripes came out how I intended them to, but I definitely wanted to have the black streaks from MK9 in there because they make her look unique. I also wanted her hair to look more like a natural Ginger shade of orangeish-red instead of the wine-red hair dye color she has in MK9.

As for the heels...well, you're right, one does look longer than the other. All I can say is, feet are the hardest part of the body to draw.



Well as I said, she's nearly a mindless robot that just follows her creator's orders, not unlike Ermac pre-Deception. At least, that's how she starts out. I do intend for her to develop a mind of her own, but that won't be until the sequels, so it hinges on whether or not I have Skarlet appear in future rosters. I know I want her to come back in Armageddon and be a relatively important character in my fan fiction set afterward, but I don't think there's a place for her in the plot of MK3, DA, or Deception (...though I think I've got a spot for her as an NPC in 4.)

As far as ages go, for the record, Ermac was indeed created shortly before the tenth tournament ( I believe this is also true in the games' canon, given what Shang Tsung says when introducing him in MK9).

Mileena, in my version, is somewhere between 500 and 1,000 years old.

Thus, Skarlet is the oldest by a wide margin, having been created even before he conquered Edenia. But most of the time, Kahn keeps her in a kind of stasis-sleep and only wakes her for brief periods when he needs super-special I-can't-trust-this-to-anybody-else missions done, kinda like the Winter Soldier in Marvel, partially to keep her existence a secret and partially to assure she never grows too powerful and out of control, what with the whole "absorbs the blood of her enemies and gains their strength" thing.

Really nice backstory and all, I like it. Given how Kahn has been seen without the helmet though, Skarlet must get her good looks from her momma's side of the family, lol

True dat,I am SHOCKED lol!

As always,amazing job man! Couple of nice things I noticed:

- Wow,you weren't kidding when you said she would look like Dead or Alive character (I forgot her name,the chick with red clothes and red hair,lol). That's the first thing that jumped at me when I first saw the overall design. But I love how you still kept her MK9 costume elements.nicely done. It definitely makes her less slutty rather than her MK9 costume.

- She is the only ninja girl that doesn't have that circle rings on her stomach. Any reason for that?

- I LOVE the hoodie,I guess she puts it on whenever she is doing the mission for Kahn,so this way she stays SUPER secret (she is RUMORED character,so she needs to be in the shadows EVEN more than Jade,because she is seen RARELY than any other combatant,she is Kahn's up in the sleeve card)

The only thing that bugs me is her hair color,but it is not your fault,I guess I am still used to MK9's Skarlet and her blood red hair. Making Skarlet somewhat ginger is nice touch and makes her first with that hair color. Plus we need to tell the difference between her and Kira,so again,nice touch!

Sooo,I assume Kintaro is the next one in the line? If yes,I would suggest put Shao Kahn and Kintaro in the line below (starting under Smoke) instead of putting them next to Skarlet. Put Blaze and Hornbuckle next to her later,because it will make each row having 6 characters. Having hidden and rumored characters on the same row is neat IMHO. But it is up to you of course sir...

Kan't wait for MOAAAR!

Yes!!! I knew you did your updates in two's. Glorious, f'ing glorious

Just to add, I noticed that a few people aren't sure on Skarlet's hair, I think it's fantastic. The odd streaky colours are a LOT better than the shitty blood red colour of MK9.

Only things I personally would change about your art is breast size and ninja shoes. I mean I love breasts just as much as the next guy but the fact that every female character in the MK universe has triple F's always annoyed me and since your basically doing a reboot of your own, I would take the chance to change that. My personal opinion of course. :)
The ninja shoes also annoy me for some reason, even though I know they exist in real life and are in previous MK games, they always make me think the character only has two toes.

Who's the next character you're working on?

Well, you are looking at 2 Edenians, a clone of an Edenian, and a clone of a Half-God. Supernatural beauty is in their genetics.

That said, it is something I think about and intend to take into account with some future characters. Sareena is usually smaller-chested, even in 3D (compared to others, anyway. She's probably roughly a C-cup), and I'll probably make Frost and Li Mei less well-endowed as well, since they're supposed to be young, so I'm thinking of interpreting that as "late teens" rather than "early 20's" when I draw them.
Anyway, yeah, Kintaro and Kahn will be next. To be honest, I really don't have a plan for Blaze and Hornbuckle, I'm just gonna put 'em off till the very end and then wing it when I get there.

I really like your ideas and design for Skarlet. I just wasn't interested in her character in MK9, and you came up with an interesting backstory for her. Noob Saibot's design is awesome too. I like the idea of Shao Kahn having somewhat of a sympathetic backstory, showing that parallel with the likes of villains like Darth Vader.

Noob & Skarlet are great so far.

Hope you can finish the bosses along with the alternate costumes.

Don't expect them any time soon, man has to deal with the horror that is Black Friday.

Don't forget that her Fashion Model picture from Deadly Alliance has her as being pretty busty.

Well...let's just say I wouldn't count on seeing Shang selling shoe inserts, Goro and Quan Chi jamming on drums and sax, or Sonya as a Baywatch lifeguard either.

At least the stuff about Scorpion being a chef is true......right?

A man's gotta have a hobby.

Have you figured out yet what item Kahn will be holding in his pose?

I'm thinking a Green Javelin and the Scepter from Kahn's Arena in his primary, Wrath Hammer and Scepter in his alt.

And definitely one of his poses in MK3 will be holding a "Soul Cage", those floating green lamp things from the Pit III background, because that's what he kept Sindel's soul in before her resurrection.

Ah, the Soul Cage. I remember that thing was a bitch to break in Test Your Strike mode. And failure meant certain death, lol.