I'll be the first to admit, I've done my share of whining and bitch-ranting. OH BOY have I done my share of bitch-ranting. I don't need to tell anyone here whom I've gotten into an argument with that I'm a wordy son-of-a-bitch...

But the "I'm going to whine about all the whining people are doing" conundrum is a timeless internet Catch-22 that has always baffled me. Not just in this instance, but many times in the past. Often times it seems there are more people bitching about people bitching than there are actual people bitching.

So I DUNNO, it's just my nature to take the piss out of people when they whine about people whining too much. I've done it before, I imagine I will again.

If I had a dollar for every person I've seen chew out the stupid Mileena fans for all their whining since January, I'd have like... at least $45. Meanwhile I'm over here, a stupid Mileena fan, thinking, "I don't remember bitching once. Nor have I noted anyone bitching. In fact I'm pretty sure most of us expected her to sit out MK11 before the game was even announced, considering how deliberate they were in killing her off in MKX. Why does everyone hate Mileena fans all of a sudden? I've done nothing! WHAT DID I DO TO WARRANT THIS!?"

If anyone is bitching, it's those damned Smoke & Rain fans! (lol)

Mileena is actually more iconic than tons of of the characters being requested. You cant group her with Fujin,Reiko and the like. The fact that Skrlet didn't get any of her moves ( you would thought that if Mileena is destined to skip this game) gives me hope she is around.

And nah haters, she isn't boring, she has a good story, great moves and I would love to see her eat the crap outta D'Vorah

So what to make it this? Bs or ?

https://youtu.be/z79_XToi4js

Looks like the Predator and Blaze had an even uglier motherfucker of a baby

I think someone said the lava predator onaga had been proven fake too, but I honestly have no idea. That said, since it came out around the same time as Shinnok & Cary Shang Tsung, and both those have been proven fake... Ehhhhhhhhh... I'm not putting too much faith in it.

I remember when Mortal Kombat came ou at the arcades,, and it was groundbreaking & beautiful. Then sequels began coming out through the years, and we would anxiously skip to the Arcades to play-- and I remember how excited everyone was to wait in line, put their quarter to play- and every single Character was amazing to see-- then it's when we all judged (in a good way) to choose the best fighters and the not so good. And we all got along, no matter if we lost or won a game. Things have changed now, people rant on one another.

Now, people seem to hate, dislike, diss characters, the rosters, the stories, etc way before the game even comes out. I agree, we all have the freedom to Express however we want, but we also have that same freedom to like what is offered to us by NRS.

I personally like Mortal Kombat 1 to MKX. I am loving what I'm seeing for MK 11. Every character has been astonishing, juicy, and deadly. Sure, I would love my favorites: Rain, Smoke, Fujin, Sektor, Ashrah, Reiko, Havik, Sindel, and many from MKDA-MKA-- to give them another chance, and perfect them, but if it's not this time, or DLC, I'm sure next game will be welcomed.

As for this Roster, I FREAKING LOVE IT. I did care for the MK Kids in MKX, and happy to see Jacqui return(hoping she's reinvented) Erron, Kotal D'Vorah- glad they're returning. For the Classic and Fave returnee are kick ass. And for the new Fighters, I can't wait to play them-- and witness the amazing MK 11 story roll out-- One thing I love Mortal Kombat, it's unique story it brings in every game.

Byproduct of the internet.

You don't remember people bitching about Mortal Kombat 1-4 in the arcades, because you only had to deal with the face-to-face cordially discussed opinions of a small handful of people (probably friends) you dealt with directly. Even if someone had a complaint, it was probably addressed casually, and all in good fun. Easily shrugged off.

For the post-internet games (and this applies to not just Mortal Kombat, but every field of life) this day in age, you now get input from tens of thousands of many and varied people who are quite anonymously NOT dealing with one another face to face, can be completely unfiltered, and give you whatever positive or negative opinion they feel like. Not only is there a bigger sampling of opinions for you to look at, but no one has any obligation to be cordial or polite about them.

This is more or less why everyone says the present-day millennial world is full of too much whining and complaining, I think. It's not that the whines and complaints weren't there in the past... it's just with the rise of the internet, we now have to hear about them. Every last one of them. In a nonstop barrage.

Some people like Mileena. Some people hate Mileena. But 20 years ago, every person who hates Mileena didn't have a platform to tell you so.

Some people like Cassie. Some people hate Cassie. The difference now is, EVERYONE who hates Cassie has a means of telling you so.

They don't make the game exclusively for you. And yes, there have been people asking for those four characters.

I asked for 2 of those characters! :D

The other two I could take or leave.

If true, not a bad roster. I really did not care for MKX, so can only go uphill (I far preferred MK9). We do not know anything about most of the new characters, so should maybe wait before declaring it the worst roster ever, etc, but to each their own. Shinnok seems a very odd choice if Shang really is in the game. The 2 Special Forces chicks, Jacqui and Cassie, are wastes of roster space, especially Jacqui. Do we really need more generic Special Forces characters? If we have Sonya, do we need Cassie? Jacqui and Cassie belong in the trash bin with the likes of Kobra, Darrius, Hsu Hao, and Jarek. Aside from that, I am either curious or pleased with everyone else. So, I guess I cant focus too much on the 2 roster trash characters.

One person's trash, another person's treasure

This must be the proudest moment in your life. Rather sad you get so much joy out of someone else's disappointment. So what? You were right, and? The whole fun is the SPECULATION and the wondering and the debate. The fact you feel the need to boast your hard-on over being "right" shows how little you really are.

You win, your precious Mileena looks to be in. Once again the fans of outcast characters lose out.

Congratulations.

See! This is what I'm talking about.

I LOVE Cassie! I mained Cassie! My friends knew I enjoyed Cassie, and accepted and enjoyed her presence in the game through the exposure of playing with me. 20 years ago, it would have ended there, and my friends and I could have been happy. But now thanks to the stupid internet, I have to read stuff like this!

*Shakes fist*

I'm a pretty strongly Pro-Mortal Kombat person at the end of the day. I have favorites, and I have characters I don't particularly love, but ultimately I accept them all as members of the MK family, and I'm fine with whoever does or doesn't come to this year's reunion. Throw in Cassie. Throw in Frost. Throw in Meat or Hsu Hao for all I friggin' care. Still happier to have all of them than even the greatest of guest characters. I'm an MK fan. I roll with the punches. I'll buy the game, enjoy it, and hope to see the people who didn't make it this time again in the next one.

Oh boy do I wish they did. I'd have an actual well-balanced diverse and unique roster. <3

Someone with inside knowledge, please just confirm or deny Reiko.

I just want to point out the fact that when Ahnka posted this yesterday, having had a few dramatic and pointless arguments with him in the past, I immediately wanted to respond, "THE HELL YOU DON'T" but I bit my tongue because in this instance, he wasn't addressing me, and I didn't want to stir up a needless back and forth with him I knew would go nowhere, just for the sake of taking the piss out of him.

Now I'd like all of you to scroll up 2 or 3 posts and take note of that response he just gave me, to a post that similarly wasn't directed at him. A post from 17 hours and 5 pages ago, which everyone else was happy to ignore.

We all moved on. But you and I have had bitch-fights in the past, so you just HAD to stir my pot didn't you. No dramatics from you!

And Verbal Kombat begins anew.

I love you Spider

I didn't see your post 17 hours ago- I just got back online and simply thought you gloating over a character not being in was quite tacky and seemed like dickhead behavior- And I simply wanted to state that. Which I did. Mileena will always have a seat at the Kombat table, so I don't see the joy in teasing those who's faves are not as lucky.

The past is the past as you say- So carry on.

Absolutely. I wonder sometimes, whether the internet has more pros or cons regarding its effect on people. Or if the pros and cons are equal.

I want to rant regarding the MK community as a whole here, but I'll keep it short. I just... okay, I've read some people say "Character X isn't in the game, I'm not buying it" and I'm like man... I can't relate to some of these guys at all. I can't imagine being so loyal to one single character that I would quit playing new MK over said characters exclusion. That's crazy to me. Roster complains in general get crazy to me, I mean, overall I like every single MK roster ever, pretty much.

Basically, being here since the first game, I'm grateful Ed Boon and friends are still in Chicago pumping out new Mortal Kombat after all these years.

I thought the same thing about Fujin and Bo' Rai Cho being involved in this game's plot. But if you look back at what happened for MKX... there was a disconnect between the story we thought they were going to tell based on the ending of MK9 (a straightforward revision of the events of MK4, but with bigger stakes as both Earth and Outworld are in the crosshairs), and the story they wanted to tell in the end (a new crop of heroes and villains steps into the vacuums left behind after the events of MK9, disrupting the events of MK4).

We thought Fujin would be important in a story with Shinnok in it. But honestly, there was extremely little room in the story they actually told for Fujin to have a bigger role than he had. Shinnok is locked away in the opening sequence, waiting for a whole new set of heroes to have to deal with him later. The core story of the game is watching the Kombat Kids come into their time. Throw Fujin into the mix, and he would draw focus away from that story -- especially if he got his own chapter. And if he didn't get his own chapter, then they would have had to make up an excuse for a POV character to fight him just so he gets some exposure. Who do you want to see fighting and getting the best of Fujin in story mode? Scorpion, casually blowing past him on the Special Forces base while hunting Quan Chi? Lame. (That's why you need a handful of jobbers like Revenant Lao and Ferra-Torr on the roster, evening they're not too important to the story. Gotta have some asses to kick, and I don't think casting Fujin this way would have played well to his base.)

I realize I'm making an argument here that would just make people hate the Kombat Kids more for stealing the spotlight from established characters who could have had more to do if the kids weren't around. And that's fair if you're a big fan of those characters. My point, though, is that the team seems to be attempting to do something fresh and unpredictable with their stories from MK9 forward. And that means avoiding treading over the old timeline too closely (we'd probably have some gripes if MKX was just an MK4 clone with small twists, making no effort to try something a little different). It also means that the writers may not necessarily follow the exact breadcrumb trail they appear to be laying down from game to game.

MK9 teased a sequel that leaned heavily on MK4. The follow-up turned out rather different, using Shinnok's invasion as a background framing for a completely new story that had little to do with some of MK4's main players. The tease at the close of MK9 was not unimportant, but it mainly served to misdirect the audience about what the real story was going to be.

I think we're seeing something similar play out here. The close of MKX teased a sequel centered on Raiden turning aggressor, and yeah, Fujin and Bo' certainly ought to play pivotal roles in a story like that. But now there are indications that the Raiden-Outworld-Netherrealm conflict might just be a frame in which the story with Kronika and time bending shenanigans play out, in which case those characters might once again be relegated to small roles.

I'm not saying anyone should be obligated to like or appreciate this approach. There's an argument to be made in favor of more straightforward storytelling, and avoiding forced curveballs to make the story unpredictable (or more likely, keeping the writers on task so they're not constantly changing their minds about where they want the story to go in midstream). You don't have to like it. I'm just saying that it's not total nonsense, if you understand what the team is trying to accomplish.

I agree about Rain being sorely mishandled in MKX though. It's pretty clear that the story writers really wanted him involved, but the roster masters cut him off.

I'm one of those people who will not be buying MK11. It's not over a single character- but the entire roster as a whole is predictable, safe, bland, and just not interesting enough FOR ME. MKX had a bland and weak roster, I brought it, but rarely ever played it. Different things are important to different people- the roster is vital to me and if I can't enjoy it- then that's that. Doesn't make me or anyone else any less of fan. Been a fan since '92.

Just giving you a little insight on the other side.

It was less about gloating that Rain wasn't in, and more about gloating that the menu picture wasn't undeniable proof he was in.

When the menu picture surfaced, I viewed it with a skeptical eye. I wasn't even sure it was Rain, and I said as much. A point which was hotly debated at the absolute most cordial, and a point which I was mocked for at the absolute least cordial. I said "purple lighting" a month ago and people called me crazy. Now "purple lighting" is the prevailing theory for that image.

Regardless of what was or wasn't said in those past threads, I told those guys at the time that if a day did come when Rain didn't look to be in, I owed them an "I told you so" and I'd come to collect on it. As I said in the post, rather than necro some old threads, I just figured I'd toss it out here. I did. Everyone moved on. I was happy to let everyone move on. Because as I said a few posts up this very page, ultimately I like all MK characters. It was less about Rain, and more about the fact they wouldn't let me have a skeptical eye for that "Rain" picture a month ago... so I absolutely couldn't let them live it down now that Rain's odds look very very grim.

These are the ways of the internet!

The internet can be such a cutthroat place

Oh I see. This is all VERY serious business for you. Funny, I remember the days when people could simply let things ago rather than holding E-Grudges, but it's a different generation now. *Shrug*

Don't let me get in your way, dear. ;)