I can't believe so many people think this is an intentional easter egg... it boggles my mind...
It IS a glitch. Granted, it's a slightly more amusing glitch than most, given Noob-Smoke's history, but it IS a glitch...
The classic costumes, at their base, are all grey. The versions we see in Story mode. Both the male and female versions. When you select any given character in a klassic costume (other than smoke) the game applies a color overlay to the grey base model to create said character's proper pallete.
That said, there are, and always have been, numerous occasions in this game where the color overlay glitches, and drops off, or is removed, giving klassic costumes a "Smoke"-like appearance. These glitches usually seem to happen in situations involving more than one of the same classic costume in a given fight (Which in Noob's particular case, is always) or situations that cause the character's model to "transform" be it to a charred corpse, a skeleton or even a baby...
When you do Scorpion's toasty fatality on any MK1 ninja, they turn grey.
When you perform a deadpool fatality on any MK1 ninja, they turn grey.
When you perform Smoke's 1st fatality on any klassic ninja, the tint is partially removed and they turn a greyish tint of their real color.
When you perform babalities on Klassic costumes, they've been known to sometimes turn grey. (I can't seem to encounter this one personally, but I've seen others report it.)
When you fight the hidden MK1 Smoke in the Living Forest, with another MK1 Ninja, it has been reported that NPC Smoke will frequently take on the color pallete of the Ninja you're using. This is an example of the OPPOSITE problem, wherin the game is incorrectly applying the color to both models.
When you fight MK2 Smoke with MK2 Noob (In Player 1 or Player 2 colors) The clone turns grey. This also happens when MK2 Smoke is your tag-team partner.
And yes, it appears the glitch happens with Noob's alt colors all the time.
What's notable, in identifying this is a glitch, is that when you compare MK2 Smoke side-by-side with Noob's "Clone Smoke", they are NOT identical. The clone still has lots of effects and shaders that are exclusive to Noob, but clearly (Not to mention many of Noob's powers/animations) but merely doesn't have Noob's color pallette applied. The "Clone Smoke" has blue "oily" patches all over his darker parts (pants mostly) and in general, has a darker skintone and shade of grey than MK2 Smoke NORMALLY would. This is because he maintains lots of Noob's "blue glow" effects... but not his actual skin pallette. Presumably... because it's not supposed to happen IE. It's a glitch
This is most easily noticed when fighting MK2 Smoke with MK2 Noob and taking note of each "Smoke" side by side. The real Smoke and the "Noob-Smoke" look different. Try using Noob's X-Ray or doing his wishbone fatality. They give you a good long look at both him and the clone.
These "grey model" glitches are NOT just exclusive to the male Ninja's but to the females and cyborgs as well. Try knocking them into the deadpool. Watch. They turn grey.
As I said early on, they seem to happen more frequently when More than one of the same classic costume model appears in a single fight. The game seems to become confused as to which pallette does or doesn't belong on which character. Frankly I'm eager to see Scorpion, Reptile and Sub-Zero's MK2 outfits released, because I'd say there's a 50/50 chance we might be able to get Noob's clone to turn Yellow, Green and Blue using those in a tag match.
In any event... I'm like... 100% sure this is a glitch. Not an easter egg. I will grant you that given the characters' pasts... it's a somewhat coincidental and amusing glitch...
But it IS a glitch. And it's NOT the first example of similar glitches in this game, by a LONG shot.
But this IS the internet... so... I expect someone will mosey into this thread and tell me I'm stupid and wrong before too long...
EDIT: Check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFD7qzZuujg&feature;=related Note how much more blue and shadowy (Read, Noob-Like) The clone is, compared to the natural Smoke. This is because he's a glitched Noob... not Smoke.
