Who do you think would be the best 3D Era MK characters for MK 11?? (or MK 12 if 11 is done). The influences could be based on story line potential, character design(both aesthetic and personality/motive) and move set. Out of MK 4, 5, 6 & 7 here's my choices for who I would like to see appear in MK11, and who I wouldn't(in no particular order).

TOP PICKS:

NITARA - Would love to see what they can do with her backstory and realm as well as aesthetic designs in 2021, the bat wings that were cartoony in 2002 could really evolve into something awesome in 2021. As for her motives and back story the slate is mostly open for something fresh.

KIRA - Her vague Black Dragon back story would make for an interesting character arc. She could align with Kano(maybe Kano needs a girlfriend?) or she could have turned her back on the Black Dragon by returning the favor from MK7 and killing Kobra and aligning herself with good.

SAREENA - Probably one of the most wasted potential from the 3D era. Her connections to Sub Zero and Noob have so much potential. For one she's a demon who chose to be good rather than stay in darkness, that alone is an attractive story to tell. They could put her in a loyalty(or love dynamic) between Kuai Liang and Bi-Han as Sub Zero calls her to light and what's right, Noob will pull at her to return to darkness. So much potential here.

TANYA - The only female edenian missing from MK 11. She has beef with Rain which is interesting and before D'vorah showed up, she was the biggest backstabber on the roster. Her new love interest with Mileena would be a really interesting story to tell as well, especially if they kill her off and Mileena goes even crazier.

LI MEI - Her issues with Kano, Shao Kahn and Onaga are interesting. A basic story to tell but as a protector of her village and people she has solid motive to be in the game. A mostly fresh and clean slate that can be taken in any direction.

ASHRAH - She has an interesting aesthetic and presence for a demon. Outside of that her slate is clean to align with whomever and her motives can be whatever the writers want. There's so little development from the 3D era that the character is waiting for more attention to actualize potential.

KENSHI - Just give us more of what we had in MKX and I'm in. Kenshi is one of the coolest, if not the coolest from the 3D era.

QUAN CHI - Give us more of MKX Quan Chi and I'm all in. He's more devious than Shinnok and a better boss overall.

SHINNOK - Solid boss. Again, give us more MKX.

HAVIK - With how influential he was in the MKX comics I welcome him. He would need an aesthetic refresh but outside of that he's pretty cool. I find him to be bookends with Hotaru. One of chaos, one of order. Havik in MK 11/12 could be a character who doesn't align with good or evil fellow kombatants and just causes chaos whenever something is running smoothly, despite him clearly being evil.

HOTARU - See Havik description. Hotaru without Havik is still interesting because he has a stereotypical military/cop type energy in his rigidness and that he doesn't question anything or think for himself, a total lapdog of the establishment. The jail sentence he gave to Shujinko for curfew was a brilliant move in the Deception story and if he brings that overly clean orderly self righteous arrogance to MK 11/12 he will be easily hated, especially since he thinks hes virtuous. Add Havik in, and it's all the better for another Scorpion/Sub Zero or Kitana/Mileena type rivalry, only to a lesser degree of importance.

MODERATE INTEREST IN RETURNING TO MK11/12:

BO RAI CHO - I understand we just had him in MKX, but he's interesting and goofy. He's not the greatest character but he's effective and developed enough to be included.

TAVEN - I'm not a fan of Taven too much personally, I feel he's really generic. However, with a little bit of effort he could be somewhat interesting, especially with Rain in the game and if they bring in Daegon it could be interesting.

DAEGON - See Taven description. From a story and general character standpoint I prefer Taven simply because I stand with the side of good over evil, but from a character development and impact standpoint Daegon is a bit more interesting bad guy than Taven is a good guy. Would also like to see him interact with Rain.

DARRIUS - The aesthetic on Darrius from the 3D era is awful. However, with some reworking of the visuals and a bit more back story he could be a moderately interesting lower level character. I like his rebel style against Hotaru and the order realm. We could mix him in with Havik and Hotaru to a lesser degree for some fun story telling. He doesn't have to align with either side.

MAVADO - Mavado is about one step away from making the shit list, but admittedly with a little bit of reworking and giving him a better position in things, he could be a more interesting character. They could give him the title of being the leader of the Red Dragon, joining up with the Black Dragon or just going at it alone. There's potential but he isn't essential either.

SHUJINKO - I don't feel like there's much more to do with old man Shujinko after Deception, but given MK 11's time line merger he can be brought back as a young man and learn of his fate wasting his time running around for Onaga looking for Kamidogu. He can finally compete in the MK tournament, repeat the same stupidity he did in Deception or turn dark and buy into Kronika's fears of his 'bound to a wasted life' fate. In Deception he was billed as a Liu Kang successor, but in MK 11/12 if he isn't considered the centerpiece, he won't seem so obnoxious or like a let down as he did in MK6.

CHARACTERS I DON'T EVER NEED TO SEE AGAIN, BUT IF I DO IT'S OK:

With good writing and attention to detail these are characters that NRS could do something with, even if they're not the most interesting or relevant. The characters on this list I'd rather NOT see, but if they showed up with the right aesthetics, motive, moves or plot dynamics I could learn to accept them, but would pass on giving them any consideration if I were making the decision at NRS:

DAIROU - There wasn't much to him in the 3D era other than freeing Shujinko. There isn't anything aesthetically special or particularly interesting about him. He would need a lot of work and remodeling in every category. Better off to leave him out.

JAREK - Only memorable thing about Jarek is his ending with Sonya and Jax in MK4 because it was humorous. Jarek is as lame as it comes and can't be taken serious as a supposed successor to Kano. Kabal is a much better right hand man or 'second in command'/successor for the Black Dragon. Jarek is about as generic as it comes.

REIKO - Easily the lamest 'boss' level character in MK. His ambitions to rise to Shao Kahn glory isn't interesting or captivating at all. I do feel Reiko would fit in with the story a little better than most of the characters on this part of the list, but only if he's not taken seriously and is placed in such a way where he's there to show a failed rebellion against Shao or any other serious level boss character. Reiko is a jobber, and if there was a 'JOB Squad' organization in MK, he would be the leader.

HSU HAO - He is another lame ass buster character but does have a unique look that makes him stand out(albeit not exactly a good thing though), which could be used for something...I just don't know what? I think he's best left as a cameo in Erron Black's intro.

KOBRA - Lame lame lame lame. I hated Street Fighter in the 1990's and that's all I think about when I see Kobra. Ed Boon's desire to copy a character from a franchise that is far worse than the one he created himself. Putting the Ken Masters comparison aside, Kobra is still directionless and can't be taken seriously. He's lame as a Black Dragon member and his aesthetics are crap. Although I would pass on him as a playable character I would like to see him appear in a story line scene where he's killed by Kira preferably after what he did to her in MK 7, or possibly even Kano or Erron Black. Still, if he was reworked correctly, I'd be open to see what they could make of him in 2021.

CHARACTERS I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE IN ANOTHER MORTAL KOMBAT GAME:

The characters on this list are here because to me they are either poorly designed, joke/spoof/broken types or they've already served their purpose in a way they can't ever really be useful again. These are one's that if NRS added them to MK11/12 I wouldn't be open to the idea, and I'm not sure they can save them. But yes, I'd still take them over ANY more guest characters!

KHAMELEON/CHAMELEON - Both male and female are spoof characters that wouldn't fit into lore really well. The female one is slightly better, and if I was just playing in a tournament play with no story it'd be cool if they could make a model where all the female(or male as well)characters moves could be used while the palette changes on an MK1 or MK2 style costume, but outside of fan service or tournament play, it wouldn't be essential.

MOKAP - It was funny and cute in 2006, no need to see him again. Joke/spoof character.

KAI - Quite possibly the biggest buster on the list, at least from a lame broken character stand point. As Liu Kang's proposed successor and in lore student Kai was as lame and directionless as it comes. He's the generic store brand Cola trying to become Coca Cola, he's the fake Diesel/fake Razor Ramon in WWF in the 90's, he's a $20 flip phone in 2021...you get the picture. Kai isn't a joke or spoof character, but he certainly feels that way. Ed Boon apparently said that he was told by the studio he had to create another Liu Kang style character within certain parameters, so anytime you force the visionary or creator to do something for business reasons, it doesn't turn out right. If Kai came up organically from Boon he may have worked, but it didn't and he doesn't. He's so bad I don't even want to see him mentioned in the lore in any way.

DRAHMIN - a cluster of bad ideas makes a cluster fuck. Drahmin reminds me of the 3D eras version of Ferra/Torr. Ferra Torr is easily the worst character from the current trilogy, but at least with Ferra/Torr the dynamics of the two characters make the character tolerable, even if we could have done without. Drahmin serves no purpose, he looks aesthetically worse than any other character that wasn't designed as a spoof/joke. One thing I will say is that unlike Kai, at least Drahmin was an interesting concept and they gave it a try, he just doesn't work on any level whatsoever.

MOLOCH - Moloch isn't as bad as Drahmin, but he also isn't memorable at all. He's more generic, less intimidating and looks less intelligent than the hordes of minions being killed in the beginning of MK11 story and at the end during the final battle. He was a pre-boss replacement for Goro/Kitaro/Motaro and doesn't even have a tenth of the charisma or personality that those three characters do.

MEAT - Another Mokap and Khameleon style joke character/ If Kai is the worst story line/serious character in the 3D era, Meat is by far the worst one and worst creation of the 3D Era overall.

ONAGA - Onaga is probably the one on this part of the list that I'd say is the most tolerable. He was OK as the boss in MK6, and in the lore of MK's past as the Dragon King he was interesting enough. The reason I put him here is because I do not want to see us go back in the time line to when Onaga was ruling things, I have no desire to see this with MK 11 or 12 for that matter. If they were going to bring him back I feel they could do something with him, and he does have potential. He looks awful, truly awful for a character in the 3D era, it reminds me of True Orge from Tekken 3 and Tekken's character creation is mostly piss poor and joke(even though there's some solid characters and the fighting mechanics are enjoyable). If they gave Onaga a more realistic 'Dragon King' look I could live with him, but I don't need to see his story again, perhaps just in a flashback if they needed to tell it again for some reason. I don't regret Onaga being in the lore, or being the big fish of MK6, but I don't want to see him return.

BLAZE - The lamest boss of any of the games. Blaze has no direction, he aesthetics and creation style has no real purpose. I feel like by the time Armageddon came out they were running out of ideas for this kind of stuff and perhaps due to the technology limitations they just decided to give us another cartoony boss character. Blaze is whatever.

What are your thoughts on my commentary?? Who would you put on your list and why??