I think Mileena has become enough of her own character.

Kenshi is cool on his own. Quan Chi and Kung Lao are also individual enough...and IMO, they own Shang Tsung & Liu Kang anyway.

smoke as a human again would be nice to see...

The copy ninjas are pretty much original now... both male and female human and cyborg... Reiko is original, it's not as if he's the exact copy of Kahn... Jarek has his own moves now so he's kind of original but I would rather he be forgotten... Fujin is the wind god, Raiden is thunder god... Sheeva is a nimble Shokan which is original... Kintaro is basically another Goro but he could still have much more originality... I don't remember Kai that well... Kenshi was taught by Ermac so that makes sense to have his moves... and I'd consider Shinnok more of a copy of Tsung than Quan Chi being the copy... but in the end...

Kira, Kobra, and Jarek are the ones that need to be forgotten imo...

Korbra needs to die...what a waste he was

I don't really consider Reptile a paddle swap rip-off.

This is why:

Though he wasn't playable, he's been around since the release of the first ever MK game. So he's one of the original characters.

Reptile is the first secret character to be featured in a versus fighting game. Again, an original.

He's still has the slide move that he's had since MK1, though it's been developed into 4 different moves (Power Slide, Running Serpent, Dash Punch, Super Craw). Yet another original.

To be honest I agree with this list. Yes some peoples favorites are getting bashed on but, they really are just palette swaps or carbon copy characters.

learn to read i said except reptile

There is truth in that...but also a lot of bullshit. Some of these claims of characters being copies are based on nonsensical and broad logic.

Kung Lao is a copy of Liu Kang...merely because they are both Shaolin monks? So despite Kung Lao having a completely different...and more original....look and moveset, different personality, more developed backstory and being a more original & thought-out concept.....he's just a "carbon copy" of Liu Kang? If anything, Kung Lao is proof that just because a character came first, it doesn't make him/her best.

Same with Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Quan Chi is a copy of Tsung just because he's a sorceror? You realize by saying that, you're actually insulting Shang Tsung's character. What you're implying by saying that is Shang Tsung is so shallow, flat, and broad a character that the ONLY thing defining about him is he's a sorcerer...and therefore, ANY character with sorcery powers is automatically a copy of him. Even though I'm no Shang Tsung fan, I give him a little more credit than that.

Yeah, Kenshi and Ermac both share telekinetic moves. THAT alone makes Kenshi a mere copy character? So despite having a completely different look, completely different & more defined backstory, different personality, and different conception....Kenshi is just a copy of Ermac.

By this logic, Kitana is a copy of Sonya Blade because they're both female characters. And Shao Kahn is just a copy of Shang Tsung because they're both final bosses. And Baraka's a copy of Reptile because they're both inhuman henchman.


BTW, Kobra was created as a homage to Karate Kid and maybe a parody of Ken. Nothing to do with Johnny Cage.

I can see where you get the ninjas, Cyborgs and assassins but reallly, aren't those characters the characters we are all attracted to?
I mean I see more Sub-zero fans than I see Raiden or Kano fans.
The Liu Kang/Kung Lao thing though is pretty cheap. They have almost the same name and are both monks. But just by those two thing you call them clones? You can't see that one has a blade trimmed hat and the other one can do something that everyone of us want to do?(Flying Bicycle Kick) They are so very different I would've never thought they were actually related. (They are probably cousins).
You can't just knock on a character becasue of the same concept. I mean Kenshi/Ermac, they are both telekentic but do you really want just want character that can own everyone in a heart beat? No, you want somebody to counter that and you don't want to be called cheap by chooosing the same character, am I right?
So that is why you have clones. You need clones to help the underdogs get an upperhand by using their opponent's strentghh against them without having to use the same character. That is whyu we have lovable clones.

I like the one time clone characters as long as they develop or it makes sense they look similar (Frost).


For example:

Noob Saibot
- As his storyline got more interesting, his look and moves became less.

For Noob Saibot just to be another ninja throwing shrunken seems uninspiring.

Movewise, I think it should be more supernatural and less human. I still like his teleport grab and new black hole move, but he needs his other badass moves like the Shadow Toss and Dark Fireball Cloud.

Lookwise, this death like figure coming out of the mirror here and his movements here at (1:20) are what I think Noob Saibot should be more like.

i do see where you are going and it does seem interesting.

They have clones because they cant come up with new ideas !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like with some of the characters from mk4 he admits he need new characters so he just swaped out afew and add some that are the same like in Kitana's place he put Tanya, Kano's place Jarek, Noob Saibot place before they put him as a serect character he was part of the game they switched him with Reiko, and Kai was his black Shaolin monk like liu kang. They did the same with the new games as well why create new characters the same as the ones you have,when you could just expand on the ones you got.If you make a new character it should be new not a character thats just the same, althought tanya isnt the same as kitana so people want complain tanya different which she is but she was really created so they would have to use kitana but in her case she was a good addition .

bunch of bull i can own ermac or kenshi with sonya one of my fav's in less then 30 sec their weakness is close range fighting so sonya and liu kang one other fight can take him out no problem that makes no sense to have the same character type to fight the same character type you take anyone with anyone if you are skilled enough.bs come up witha good reason lol there is none its just lazy to create the same characters.

Fantastic. What does that have to do with the topic?

This is why we cannot have good things.

Its true ermac sucks that bad all you have to do is fight close up. your right but your right too this has nothing to do with this form

Uhh...Kung Lao is more developed than Liu Kang?

I wouldn't call him a clone, but I'd definitely call him the sidekick, and a less important character in the MK universe.

Yes. True, Kung Lao is a sidekick and less important character...but he's still more developed than Liu Kang.

With Kung Lao, you have the last dencendent of the Great Kung Lao who was expected the fight in Mortal Kombat and defend Earth. However, he wanted nothing to do with being Champion of Mortal Kombat and only fights when he feels he must. He's a reluctant warrior.

Liu Kang is a Shaolin monk who may be somewhat related to the Great Kung Lao who entered the Mortal Kombat tournament to save the world because....saving the world is a good thing. And he has a vague relationship to Kitana which has made him not so into being the MK Champ anymore. Liu Kang is a "hero."

Kung Lao may not be the most developed or fleshed out of characters...but what is there is more than we've ever seen from Liu Kang.

Ermac is waaaaay better than Kenshi.

True, Liu Kang is defined mostly by those around him.