Marvel and DC retcon their comics all the time, I wouldn't be surprised if Netherrealm simply did the same thing. Otherwise Mileena wouldn't be just born during MK2 and 2/3rds of the Trilogy cast wouldn't be at the MK1 tournament.
......They seriously should have just rebooted without time shenanigans.
Again, I agree. I also dislike how they keep injecting completely new 'races' into the Mortal Kombat world; Outworld specifically. What's Ferra/Torr? It's a race that never existed in Outworld, but suddenly becomes part of it. D'Vorah's another example. You could say that the reason why we hadn't seen these two races before, is because they were facing extinction, and these characters are among the last survivors of their race. We already have characters like that: Reptile and Nitara, for example. The other option would be to make these characters uniquely created individuals; through magic and genetic manipulations, which is a valid alternative since Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn (and the Shadow Priests) could create constructs (Ermac, Mileena, Skarlet). In the case of Kotal Kahn, the Osh Tekk are in fact part of the Outworld history/reality. They're not nearly extinct, but have many members still running around: another indication that the MKX world has its own distinct history, and isn't just a different timeline.
I would like to see a serious rewriting of the entire story, with attention to the worlds, their histories, and how things work in the MKU. Time travel can still be used, but as a means to explore these Realms and characters.
Never shake hands with a man who wears his heart on his sleeve.
They've been back-writing characters and races into the previous canon at least as far back as MK4, when Reiko was supposed to be a general for Shao Kahn whom we'd never heard of before for some reason, oh and Earthrealm really has (or had) lots of gods besides Raiden. Deadly Alliance wrote vampires into Outworld, and cryomancers. Hell, MK2 introduced us to Shao Kahn, a pretty important guy, and Tarkatans, and we were expected to pretend that they were hiding in the background of the first game all along. (By the way, Raiden is the protector of Earth now, and not a malevolent god who takes over the tournament and destroys the world.)
They have to do things this way because Mortal Kombat is a series that did not have a continuity and worldbuilding bible for 20 years of games meticulously plotted out in advance. Of course they're making it up as they go along. What else could they possibly have done all this time? How else can you expand on the world so it contains more than ten characters, if not to say, "You know who else was there that you just didn't see before? This dude!"
MK9 was a reboot that reset some of the continuity, since the existing canon was already a bit of a mess. We're supposed to be paying attention to that one as the jump-off for MKX and so on going forward -- looking back at previous games for general guidance, but acknowledging that what we're seeing now is what is happening. Sure, they could have done MK9 as a hard reboot without the time-bending connection to Armageddon and other previous storylines... but then we'd be sitting here complaining that they just left the whole other story dangling.
It's just like you said, XaeeD: A bunch of writers have been making up the canon as they went along, adding things here and there like they had existed the whole time, inevitably making some mistakes along the way. MK9 was an attempt to start over again in the best way they could have managed, saying to fans, "Here's what happened in Armageddon. Raiden reset the world, and here's what we're doing now." MK9 and all games going forward are fundamentally separate from the previous games in the meta, and the number and severity of plot holes you find are directly connected to how much you decide to ignore the meta, take the slapdash continuity of the previous games at face value even though they could not have had a solid plan from the start, and blame them now for the inconsisencies they made a decade ago while refusing to let them take back those mistakes and establish a fresh take on the story going forward.
For the record: I would not complain if they rebooted the franchise. I wouldn't be wondering what could've or should've happened in the Armageddon storyline, or in the MK9-MKX storyline. I wouldn't care. If the reboot was well written, well executed, engaging and fun, then I'd be fine with that.
Never shake hands with a man who wears his heart on his sleeve.
Maybe you'd be fine with that. For the most part I would too. But I don't think it's a stretch to say that a significant segment of the fanbase would be just as disappointed in a turn like that, as they currently are now in seeing a handful of missed characters not make the roster for a game or two. It'd be like, "Wait wait, so you're not even going to try?"
Well, in my opinion, it would probably be better to ignore the whims and opinions of the masses. I think that in some cases it's better to have one intelligent enemy than to have 10 stupid friends. I think that serves as a somewhat valid analogy for the MK fanbase as a whole. There's a lot of people out there with all kinds of opinions that really should be ignored if you ask me. Many of them, however, are extremely vocal on social media. Just look at the Shaggy petition. If it were up to me, I wouldn't give a damn about disappointing a large portion of the fanbase. Produce an excellent game, and they'll come around. If they don't, then it is what it is, but I think devs should focus on people who actually have good ideas and a fairly decent insight, for when it comes to certain aspects of their game. Just like I wouldn't want the devs to be influenced by the opinions of extremely low level players for when it comes to gameplay and balancing. They listen to the opinions of mediocre to expert players for that, while ignoring the desires/complaints of low level players. Similarly, when it comes to story, characters and designs, you don't just cater to the vocal majority, but you specifically listen to a smaller group that can actually help the franchise, because difficult things do not come easy. You can't master something that's inherently difficult to grasp without putting in serious effort. Most players are not high level for the same reason, and most fans wouldn't really have a firm grasp of art and design or story writing. I don't know, this might be an unpopular opinion, and I don't wanna rub anyone the wrong way, but in my opinion, the masses should probably be ignored for the most part. It's tricky, because they have to sell the game, but with a franchise like this, it's gonna sell regardless. Sorry, I tend to type a lot...
For the record, putting myself in my own shoes in a world Post-Armageddon, and Pre-MK9, yes, I absolutely hated the idea of a reboot, did not want one, and was pretty pissed that by all indication MK9 sounded like it was going to be one, even though they were pretending it wasn't. (And it kinda was a reboot, even though it was born out of the conclusion of Armageddon.)
And I know I wasn't the only one. Many of us were invested in the 7 game story up to that point, and didn't want to see it thrown in the garbage for the sake of starting over.
Then MK9 came out, and was actually a very fun, well made and successful game, which quieted a lot of the nerd rage.
Now that MK11 seems to be weaving back to the source to address inconsistencies and perhaps weave the old timeline into the new... I'm perfectly fine with it, because it feels like we could potentially be getting some unity to the continuity again. As I said at some point earlier, I really don't care if they have to deus ex machina the piss out of the ending, and weld the timelines together, I just want to feel like this is still the same story I've been invested in for 20+ years, and not an entirely new one. So yeah, I'm not onboard with a hard reboot, and never was.
And frankly, now that we're beginning to see more and more indication of the concept of Mortal Kombat as a multiverse... even if they did do a hard reboot, I'd just tend to think of it as another Alternate reality, and wait for the day they gave us that tease of a crossover back to the golden age universe.
Bioshock Infinite was touted as a completely independent story too, but all anyone wanted to see was that friggin' Rapture cameo. It's frankly too late for MK to do a hard reboot, because if they did, I'd just wait for the day Classic Quan Chi tore down the walls between reality, and the classics came spilling into the reboot.
Which... is... kinda what it sounds like MK11 might be doing right now. Though there's also this whole third timeline where Kitana is Kahn that's confusing matters.
ANYWAY... moving on: Regarding the idea there's only one timeline... from a narrative perspective, that may have been what they were going for, but from the perspective of picking apart the details, that's absolutely not what they achieved. I agree with the ascertain that the only way it works (logically) is that the old timeline and the new timeline are two entirely seperate, yet similar realities. They CAN'T be the same reality when one examines the details. That said... yes, the reason for this is simply a product of multiple writers doing a half-assed job, so I don't think it's something they'll ever address in the games, or acknowledge. It simply is at this point. It's something nerds like us realize when examining the details... but not something that will every strongly effect the games, or that the general public will ever realize or give a damn about.
