I'm totally on the "he's not and never has been a human" side of that whole thing...

But you can't say "no more ninjas" in reference to Reptile. He already is one and always has been. He was even still dressed in ninja clothes in Deadly Alliance. MK4 was the only time he wasn't wearing a ninja outfit as his primary costume (and it was still there as his alt), and what they dressed him in instead looked spectacularly bad.

And he's already a ninja still in MK9. He's just wearing a goofy looking breastplate instead of a V-shaped shirt. By preferring this fan art over the MK9 design, all you're really saying is "I'd rather have the V than the breastplate."

i love that pic that he made, but i still like the new one too so its not a big deal to me regardless

Fucking signed.

He should look like a bunny

Reptile looks great in this game and should remain untouched. I find this a cool looking Reptile after a long time. His MK:SM looks was OK, but his MK:DA... I can't even describe how disgusted I was with his looks in that game. Everything about him looked horrible!

I prefer his current look over the ninja look so I am satisfied.

Meh. As that evil, vile, sarcastic man said, it's a ninja costume...pretty boring. I really do not like that facemask, to be honest.

I happen to like "ninja" costumes. MK was built on the backs of ninjas of every color of the rainbow, and Reptile was one of the FIRST. I'd be upset if they pulled generic barbarian Reptile like they did in MK:DA and showed us a Reptile that just neglects his ninja-aesthetic origins.

I do like this concept. Reminds me of the Defenders of the Realm cartoon, for some reason.

I still prefer his Shaolin Monks/Armageddon costume the best though:

SM Reptile is the best.

although, and I'm not biased, I've always enjoyed my version of Reptile that cobbled together a ninja outfit from shreds of clothing from the people he was fed while he was in the pit, had no mask, but a tattered black ninja hood.

Yes, why progress when you can remake the same costume over and over in a higher resolution every few years!

I have no problem with the new costume, I don't like his mask and cowl though
everything else is groovypants.

It's working just fine for some people.

JAPAN!

Argument Invalid!

Those characters weren't hindered by anything BUT resolution.

Remember, Mortal Kombat had actors. They could not really do exactly what they wanted with the characters.

And you'll notice that all those characters are corny, besides Wario. And he's the only one who changed up his outfit...

So because some characters never change their attires that makes it okay for everyone? Mario, Kirby and Link are hardly comparable to Mortal Kombat anyway. I find Street Fighter partially boring because I never feel like I'm playing an actual new game. They can tweak the fighting engine, but the designs never seem to change at all, and I'm simply not a fan of that.

I like different.

Fine. I give you Character Design, the Western Edition!








We rock.

What did you say about Western character design?

What about Western character design? I love Western character design.

But people in general, East and West, tend to stick with the same "look" for a character. Not always, of course, but most memorable characters, including Nathan Drake, look pretty much the same now as they did then.



But that doesn't mean things don't change from time to time... sometimes to the whining and moaning of fans.

God the new Dante sucks. So do the new Bomberman and Max Payne but...Dante...I cannot wrap my head around the fact that the art director took a multiple "Most Badass Character" winner and made him look like that...which, coincidentally, LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE ART DIRECTOR. God that pisses me off.

Snake & Drake tho, be pimpin' constantly.

Anyway since this is off-topic to the nth degree...

Change isn't always necessary, but when you have a storyline like Mortal Kombat's in which supernatural characters are constantly changing and evolving over the course of 15 years, they HAVE to change. It's just not reasonable to not expect change. And when the technology that originally housed these characters is twenty years old, it is outright ridiculous to expect even a similar redesign of that 20 year old design for Reptile, a character that has since been fleshed out much beyond pallet swap, and a character that BENEFITS from this technology that can give him scales, teeth, and claws, NOW.

iam diggin the new look in mk9 and cant wait to see his alt costume.

additionally, i think SF series is boring coz characters have the same look since 15 years ago. i like change BUT for the better (MKSM design ) and not the worse ( MKDA )


i know sometimes characters tend to change entirley according to the storyline but heck at least put some classic costumes as alt at least for the hardcore fans. whats the problem with that ?

people say no more ninjas and talk like if there were 100 pallet swaps in MK. its only scorpion and subzero now.

Reptile hasn't been the main character of the entire MK series so comparing his potential redesign to most of those iconic characters is a pretty lame argument. Reptile is one out of fifty-two characters in the MK universe. He can afford to change. But that picture is very nice; it could maybe be an alt or something.

And what happened to Bomberman?

yeah... that little hair flip up is kind of killing his credibility.


Anyway! Back to reptile, I am one of the ppl who arent a huge fan of his maskless face... otherwise i think he looks good!

He IS a ninja... hes one of the original 3 so he should remain a ninja.

Anyway, his face could look better... but its not that big a deal

Actually, Scorpion's the only ninja.

Those examples of characters maintaining a timeless design would be a fantastic comparison if MK started anywhere nearly as well as those other characters, and if they were part of a line-up of cloned dummies who have no reason to dress alike.

Throw Ken, Akuma, Dan and whoever else into the mix all you like, but those are all characters who've had their own strong nuances from the start, and have a very strong and logical reason to dress similarly. They've also been joined by less respectable versions, who've been successfully culled. All qualities MK lacked in it's (apparent) formative years and beyond.

Cut the apron strings, get some common sense, let the thing mature beyond the constraints of cheap costumes and dodgy tech. Maybe then MK actually will return to prominance. As it is, the thing's gone from front page headlines, to barely-mentioned after thoughts and web filler, and I can't help but think that's the logical lifespan of this return to the world of the early nineties. The differences between characters as they are might not be aesthetically or conceptually impressive, but I guess this thread teaches those likeminded among us to count the small blessings.

I just think the breastplate looks dumb and awkward, especially since it leaves his mask connected to nothing and Outworld having balaclavas is stupid to me. I would greatly prefer a V shirt with a hood. It's that simple.

He's still dressed like a ninja either fucking way, so this "don't dress him like a ninja" argument is retarded because it's too late for that.

Looking like a ninja vs. not looking like a ninja wasn't what this topic is even about and whoever first brought it up, it came right the fuck out of nowhere and isn't related to the discussion of this fan art vs. the MK9 costume.

I'll say it again: HE'S A NINJA IN BOTH.

I agree with RazorRamon. It's one, or the other.
But it doesn't matter, because the other is already chosen. Close the entire forum, there's no reason to discuss anything.

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT x25: I also agree that the original drawing in this thread, of a somewhat uniform ninja-suited Reptile, had no reason to solicit any extrapolated discussion about MK design habits, or the progression beyond swapping colours.