*ducks*

Got dang it, those better not be machine gun titties you're throwing!

For those who don't know... I advise you all to look at why @gorostilllives would post a topic like this and check out some of his best selling Girl Fight Books, where girls mud wrestle to the death.

I'm not making this stuff up.

That being said...The new designs are great, keep making them. I could care less about the scantily clad women in my blood and gore fest.

Why can't we have both?

At the end of the day, I believe in the artist’s vision. Let them decide what they want in their game and if you don’t like it, then vote with your wallet. It’s really as simple as it gets. People out here with their pitch forks and “where’s muh bewbs!?” signs don’t seem to understand that money talks and bullshit walks. Though I suspect, despite their bluster, a lot of them already have their preorders paid off. The internet’s never happy unless there’s something to complain about.

I can’t wait for this game.

I am DEAD. *Giggles*

You have just won 2019.

Ditto. Less than a month now...

The real issue with how the female fighters are designed isn't the amount of skin they are showing, but with how they pretty much have two kinds of outfits: full body suit with an elongated loincloth or a full body suit that came hot off the set of Injustice. When you look at all the male characters, there's a great degree of variation across all of them. Even with the three ninjas, they all look different enough that you can better differentiate them as opposed to certain costume variations of Skarlet, Jade, and Jacqui, or Jacqui and Cassie. One of Sonya's costumes was lifted straight from MKX, that's just fucking lazy.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have an issue with scantily clad chicks in video games but I can understand why NRS' design team wanted to move away from that, especially after MK9. MKX had the right idea, the female characters (except D'vorah and Ferra) still retained their sex appeal but their designs made more sense. Kitana was still sexy, but had a more elegant design, she really embodied that sense of regality. It really comes down to the characters. Sonya's outfit in MK9 was hard to take seriously as a military officer, but she looks the part in MKX. Mileena is the kind of character who uses her sexuality to hide her Tarkatan features, so on some level it makes sense for her to be scantily clad, either way I never really took issue with her design in MK9 and MKX.

That being said, its time NRS quits being pretentious and self-righteous about their design philosophy towards female characters and just be honest about the whole deal. This entire thing is about NRS and WB covering their asses. We live in a world where the opinions of blue check verified Twitter accounts are taken as gospel, aka YAAASSS WOKE QUEEN CULTURE. It's unfortunate, but that shit matters for their bottom line. MK is a legacy franchise, and considering how much money is spent developing and marketing every new game, they want to ensure their profit margins are as big as possible. So Beran's statement just comes off as disingenuous to me, honestly.

Just be up front about not wanting to upset people and causing unnecessary controversy, and maybe try to put some more creativity in designing the female fighters next time. Just my two cents on the matter.

Pretty much this. If we're really getting a dozen or so outfits per character, there's zero reason why we should get a handful of sets that generally look the same with a small variety of colors for each. I wouldn't have much of a problem with their stance on showing skin in a game that's the gold standard for over-the-top gore (and not too shabby in fan service either) in its genre if they were:

A- Honest about why they were doing it, and

B- Putting any imagination whatsoever into some of these costumes.

Just admit that you're pandering to the very people who would've seen your franchise wiped from existence in the 1990s so we can all move on with our lives.

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Scorpion1813 says:

This whole T&A thing is ridiculous... if that's what you're after; it's one of the biggest selling points of Dead or Alive. Or like others have mentioned specific websites dedicated to such content.

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You didn't hear? DoA scaled back their sex appeal too, in the form of forcing players to unlock the more revealing outfits. As for your horrifically out of touch notion that people who want a little skin in MK value it over all of the other qualities that make a good fighting game, well, I'm just gonna let that be. I don't need to point out how bad of an opinion that is.

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ProfesserAhnka says:

This is all nothing but one big rambling generalization.

"SJWs blah, blah, blah blah"

How about you read and actually pay attention to those who disagree with you with VALID and LOGICAL reasonings as to why they disagree with your stance instead of painting everyone as "SJWs".

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You mean like you did in your reply here? That was a pretty detailed and thought out post by FROST, with numerous good points, but you saw those magic three letters that fit like a glove and did what you do, which is post awful takes while shouting YAS QUEEN like that means anything. Allow me to clue you in on something important - without the people who do care about balancing sensibility with the amount of sex appeal that a character's story (male or female) lends itself to, this franchise would've been dead in the water 20 years ago. Which brings me back to my original point: there is zero reason, none whatsoever, that we can't have a mix of both worlds if characters are getting a dozen costumes each, especially when literally nobody is asking for the MK9 style back.

Covering up the women. But having shirtless guys and show smashed testicles?

I thought the MK9 girls looked great. Sex is a weapon and can cause distraction in-game.

I like the sex. Is that so bad?

If Liu Kang can flash some tiddy, then so can Kitana.

The only reason I bitched about the MK9 female costumes wasn't because of the amount of skin they were all showing. It's because they were all lazily designed samey costumes.

And really what sense does it make for fighters to be wearing such constricting hard to move in costumes in this new game? Look up how limited the actors from the first X-Men films mobility was in those tight leather body suits then tell me just how well Sonya would be fighting in hers.

They're fighters, just like the male characters why wouldn't they be showing off their physicality? Especially in fighting games which are all about over exaggeration.

Artist don't decide it. Lead character designer does.

I remember the was even case in injustice 2 where lead character designer made artist massively reduce breast tissies of catwoman.

Yeah, Catwoman was once upon time made to be big chested in injustice 2

So pretty much what Nemesis316 said.

The answer Steve Beran is providing is just kind of a cop-out. I have done fighting for 10 years or so and what you can miss is cloth flowing around you. So if they they want clothing to be appropriate for fighting, they should remove mantels and cloacks. And let's not forget the heels some of them are wearing. Jacqui's third outfit, although nice looking, doens't make any sense, unless she's going to be on Kronika's side down the line.

It is funny that this time around, the male fighters seem to be more divers in clothing than the females.

It is obvious that NRS have let the political climate we live in now influence their decisions on the female attire..as someone else pointed out..why can`t we have both?...it`s sad to behold..but i have hopes of some more revealing outfits hidden in the krypt or in DLC dow the line..fingers crossed!

Was using the term "artist" as a blanket term. This is game development and it is very much a team effort

I’m just going to say, the main thing I didn’t like about MK9 was that it was so cartoony. Instead of a modern retelling of MK1-3, we got a caricature version. The stages, the characters all look like caricatures.

The female’s designs in that game just look like fan art caricatures to me. Their tits were just blown up, their bodie’s looked like freakin Chyna. Kitana and Sindel’s costumes were okay. But Jade and Mileena’s showed a ridiculous amount of cleavage. Jade’s top was open so much there would definitely be nipple showing. Sonya’s also was pretty ridiculous. She didn’t need heels and that vest with nothing underneath just looked stupid. That costume would have been good if she had a T-shirt or tank top under the vest and regular boots and not heels.

I have no problem with characters having sex appeal, as long as it’s done in a way that looks good. MK9 did not look good. Like someone mentioned before, Kitana looks great in MKX, those are her best costumes ever.

First of all, We live in a toxic environment now where people love to throw the "SJW" term around at everyone who disagrees with them and that's all FROST was doing. I can't have a mature or adult discussion with someone who just labels everyone who disagrees with them as an SJW- I can, but it seriously wouldn't amount to much of anything- he seems dead-set on his opinion and there's no changing it- so why bother?

As for you- You're arguing under the assumption that NO ONE finds the MKX AND MK11 female designs sexy and that's absolutely not true. Several people, some in this very thread, have stated they find the female designs way sexier than they have in the past. Sexuality means different things to different people and it's not for you to say your opinion is superior and should be catered too.

What I find funny is that many of you who are arguing for more traditional female sexuality in the series, are the same people who damn near had a stroke at Erron Black having a sexy costume in MKX and are now frothing at the mouth over Kano's good looks in MK11. Now you all want to talk about unfairness and double-standards, but it was perfectly fine for two decades prior when there was no man-candy?

Not so fun when the rabbit has the gun, eh?

Know what you gotta do? Deal with it. Just like we had to.

Focus on how COOL and BADASS these women look rather than how hard they make your tiny pecker.

You're saying this to a bunch of hardcore MK fans on an MK fan site for people who are big enough fans of MK to waste their precious, finite number of minutes on this Earth gabbing on an MK fan site. If fans don't really want it, then who are you arguing with right now? Passers by?

Are you not familiar with the fantasy of the little wiry guy who takes down Captain Manpower with his quickness and wit? What about the sorcerer archetype? The wise old master? The stealthy, nimble thief? Those guys ain't buff, and plenty of folks want to be like them.

The fantasy is about empowerment... whatever that means to you.

This planet is chock full of females who have no problem getting the man of their choosing without showing off their bodies -- typically because they're really interesting people with enough personality and creativity and heart to offer that they don't even need to flaunt their sexuality to make you want it. You probably just never paid enough attention to them yourself. That's fine, though. More for the rest of us.

You came so close to putting the pieces together here.

Shirtless men in a fighting context isn't about being sexy. It's about showing off your physique to intimidate your opponent. When dudes rip off their shirts in in action movie, it usually isn't to make a pass at each other.

"But men get to go without shirts!" Is such a bogus argument because you're not comparing the same thing. If female fighters wore less for the same reasons men do...

... then somehow I get the feeling that sexuality is going to be the farthest thing from your mind.

... Does it really have to be, though?

@umbrascitor EXPERTLY done, sir.

it is on case from case basis

How about this?

Composition and proportions making big difference.

Take Zarya for example

I'm sorry but correlating these two things is total nonsense. People who dislike female characters in games being designed primarily or even exclusively for the male gaze are NOT the same anti-sex, religious conservative Parent's Television Council types who got all up in arms about violence in this franchise back in the 90's. I'm not seeing modern feminists out here campaigning against gore in video games. They aren't even anti-sex, either. What bothers them about stuff like the OG Laura Croft or the way the women in MK9 were designed isn't being sexual but obviously being designed as a ridiculous fantasy primarily for male fans.

I thought overly sexualized "oh wow look the hot chick is a badass!" type characters in video games were cool...when I was like 10-14 years old. Jesus, talk about arrested development. This whole thing reminds me of the neckbeards who got bent out of shape about Claire Redfield not sporting short shorts in the Resident Evil 2 remake.

Exactly.

When Sonya and Sindel started looking like strippers, it became a problem. Sindel having breasts that large on top of them being revealing bothered me quite a bit, and I like women! It just doesn't fit the character. Same with Sonya.

Kitana should be well covered as well in human form. She is a regal princess; she should look like one. Jade can maybe have some skin showing, not certainly not a lot. Mileena? Sure, go for the gut. Just don't overdo it.

MKX has provided the BEST costumes Kitana has ever had since her creation in 1993- that's a remarkable feat and MK11 looks to continue it. There's something wrong when a person looks at these sick costumes and instead of going "HOLY SHIT SHE LOOKS AWESOME!" they go "NOT ENOUGH SKIN! WHY IS SHE SO COVERED UP?! WHERE'S IS HER BOOBS AND ASS?"

There's something terribly wrong with that picture.

I LOVE Skarlet's Russian skin and hope it becomes available to but buy for everyone because it looks AWESOME- yes, it's also sexy, but that's a PLUS, not a requirement. Character's looks has to be pleasing to my eyes- not my dick.

Are there any Lesbian or Bi-Sexual FEMALE MK fans out there? If so I would love to hear you guys speak on this issue rather than the same group of hetero males.

A new perspective would be nice. I'm curious to know what you guys think.