I don't see why it's such a big deal that Cassie Cage was able to defeat Shinnok. She did it using the same powers that Johnny did at the beginning of the story which it was established he had because he descends from warriors bread to fight for the gods, and it can run in the family. So being his daughter, it makes sense that Cassie would be able to harness it.

As for bosses, it seems like they like making most of them like Shao Kahn; big, heavy, muscular guys. Not that there hasn't been some muscular female characters in MK as wee (Sheeva).

I kinda like the idea that you don't need to be huge to be a boss either though. I like Shang Tsung, Shinnok (before MKX), the deadly alliance; relatively small, skinny fighters that use cunning and sorcery instead of brute strength. It's pretty threatening and can allow for great creative possibilities (it's magic, there's no limit to what it can do!), and suitable for male or female characters!

When I saw Mileena in the early trailers for MKX I was wondering if she was actually gonna harness the power of the amulet for herself and use it to give herself some awesome powers. I think that would have been a pretty neat idea (probably neater that corrupted Shinnok).

However, I wouldn't necessarily call it sexist that all the boss characters have been male (or masculine looking, in Blaze's case). I think they should do what they think works best and not feel like they HAVE to make a character a certain gender just for the sake of making them another gender.

I'm sorry...I couldn't stop myself.

I just wish they'd stop using the same overall concept for boss design.







Brown monster with visible orange innards. We get the idea.

Story, and intro dialogues seem to indicate Sonya was pretty relentless with Cassie`s training...



Ka-Tra

Quiet you! Stop acting like there's proof Cassie knows how to fight!

My bad. Privlidged Legacy, with plenty of Green to spend...



Ka-Tra

It comes down to NRS favoring big hulking bosses over regular characters as bosses. Which I 'm personally not a fan of. It may have worked in the 90's, but I'm tired of the "big guy who spams a few moves" gimmick.

Tekken has had 2 female bosses now. Unknown in the Tag series, and Kazumi in Tekken 7. Both times they have done a really great job with it. And they weren't big hulking brute monsters either.

Huh, I really never noticed that until you pointed it out.

Interesting.

First of all, let me address the Cassie thing. This is not a feminist issue. The canon "winner" of the Deadly Alliance's tournament was Li Mei, and i remember no such outcry about her. Although i will admit that whatever "success" she had was immediately undercut by her tragic ending, and the impact of her victory was lessened by the fact that we didn't fully know that those events were canon until the next game. But still, you can't deny that Cassie is not the only female fighter to score the winning touchdown of a game's storyline.

The reason i see for everyone going apeshit over Cassie winning is the "green glow". It's a lazy plot device at best, and having her best Corrupted Shinnok alone when whole armies could not stop him before defies willing suspension of disbelief - as do many aspects of MKX. That's why it feels so incongruous. (There is also a portion of the fanbase that just dislike Cassie, but that is all down to opinions and has no effect on the storyline. I'm only mentioning it because it's what i've seen.)

As for a female boss, well, NRS has always been a follower of the trend rather than a leader when it comes to female character representation. A shame since the team started out so strong with MK, MKII and MK3. I wouldn't want a female boss shoved in for the sake of diversity. I want to see a boss that's fully fleshed out, doesn't have cheap tactics, and if that character happens to be a woman, so be it. It's like Kung Jin. I don't want to see a gay character just for the sake of having one. That's tacky and patronising. I want to see one if the character's personality and development allows for it, if it's handled in the right way, if it's not the only aspect of that character - i.e. doesn't define him. Thankfully they got that right here. In fact, considering Sub-Zero's dialogue in his chapter repeatedly hitting us over the head with the facts of who is related to whom, the Kung Jin being gay subtle hint completely flew over my head and my at-the-time-boyfriend's.

So far i'm loving the evil goddess idea people have come up with. Sounds like she's got a cruel beauty to her.

She could look like Medusa.

There isn't a kitchen arena.

Kitana didn`t need one in MKII...



Ka-Tra

What about the Woman/Goddess who possessed Jade in her MK9 ending? I think that might turn into something in MK11.

The woman in Jade's ending seems like she could be the key to linking both timelines.

The fact that Raiden's stopping of Shao Kahn is something she wanted to change, and that Jade (or her) gave Kitana visions of the other timeline are good proof.

Imagine if there was a riff open between both timelines.

I can already imagine the hilarity of klassic Sonya finding out her counterpart had a kid with Johnny Cage or the intensity of Klassic Liu Kang facing himself as King of the Netherrealm.