I thought for sure if anyone could redeem or justify MK4 or just make sense out of it, it'd be you, Xiahoudun. It was a valiant effort, and I know now what exactly it is about MK4 that just doesn't work for me. Almost all of the new characters are under-developed, flat, boring, blank slates.

Kai, Jarek, Tanya, Fujin, Reiko; there's just not much of anything happening with these characters. Jarek's a Kano clone, Reiko was supposed to be Noob Saibot at first, Tanya was supposed to be Kitana, and Kai is just another shaolin monk so there's no need to develop his personality. Right? They seem tacked on as though they're just happy to be standing in the shadow of Liu Kang or the other MK regulars.

That, and the payoff of the Netherealm plot that had been stewing in the background for several games wasn't near as good as the build-up to it. Flimsy story is right.

I agree. MK4 has the most vague flimsy story of all the Mortal Kombats.

Questions and comments I got -

CYRAX
OK, so obviously the strategy guide bio is canon. So with that said, I am completely ignoring the in-game bio.
Cyrax mentions in his ending (which IS canon) that he recovered his memories "after the battle with Shinnok." From that, I am assuming that when Jax followed Sonya into Edenia, he took a little toy with him. Cyrax, however, was still a cyborg during the entire war. He was just going through a spiritual crisis. In the end, of course, his soul wins out and we all know how it ends.

MILEENA
The games really make a big deal about how scared she is of Shinnok. So she's actually finding a way to leave him in the dust and kill Kitana. What I'm confused on is how her story ends with this game. What, she just waits until Kitana gets to the top again? I'd like to think that maybe Mileena had a change of strategy - she maybe played protector to Kitana to help wipe Shinnok out. Then she takes Kitana off and rules Edenia. But, of course, that plot fails and she ends up in a dungeon.

BARAKA
Baraka goes through Edenia and finds Quan Chi, where he makes a deal with him. He helps him in his betrayal of Shinnok (although according to his bio, it seems he was planning on taking Quan Chi out as well), but it turns out to come to naught. So he decides to go back to Outworld.
I actually like to think that Quan Chi hired Baraka to off Tanya. Cut off any loose ends leading back to him. It adds a sense of dread to Tanya's fear of Tarkata, like in Jade's MKD ending.

SONYA / JAX / JAREK angle
Sonya was chasing Jarek, and then she radioes Jax to follow her into Edenia in the comics. While in Edenia, she meets up with Jarek again. Only this time, she teams up with him and Jax. I think the two of them were planning to nail Jarek even while they were allies. I also think Jax's MK4 ending is canon......except Sonya didn't die. That's it. Shit, maybe she fell further down from where Jarek did and grabbed onto a tree. Neither knew the other was still alive. Jax found her. It's one of those things where if the game doesn't confirm it DIDN'T happen, we can assume it happened.
In Jarek's MKA bio, he makes a big deal of someone ratting him out. I wonder if MKA will add anything to that. I like Jarek for some reason. The fact that he's not as low as Kano intrigues me.

TANYA
I like to believe Tanya was acting like a good guy luring them into a trap. What I think was that Tanya was separating the good guys one by one until Liu Kang was all alone (Tanya's ending seems to support that). That was the little strategy of Quan Chi and Shinnok - divide and conquer.
The strategy was that Tanya would reel the good guys into specific places where the generals and assassins would attack and after each invasion, she would make sure one of them got lost until she lured Liu Kang to the big bosses themselves.
And like I said, in order to help bring Shinnok down, I think Quan Chi sent Baraka after Tanya to bring about some pain on Shinnok on the low.

SCORPION
The reason he's after Subz? Once again another "we never actually said it DIDN'T happen" situation.
Quan Chi could tell Scorps "Dude, look, it turns out the younger brother whacked your family and clan. I THOUGHT it was the older brother, but what can I say? I guess I got confused since they dress the same. Looks like you got more work for you."

REPTILE
With Khameleon's newly released bio, it turns out Reptile DOES know about Kahn wiping his race out and that by serving Shinnok, he actually wishes to go back. I guess this means as he de-evolved, he would forget. To truly get closure on his thoughts in this game, we need his MKA bio.

SEKTOR
straight up, man, since Cyrax's confused bios mix the situation up - I'm just gonna say that Sektor came after Cyrax since the Lin Kuei can't afford anyone out of their reach. I'm just taking it straight from the ending. Nothing else to go by, really.

gone

*anxiously awaiting the next installment*

gone

YEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!

*huff huff*

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm going to go clear the schedule and I'll give this a read. :D

Beautiful, simply beautiful. Again, I'm sorry for not posting here as much as I'd like to. You put in another excellent analysis and one for what I currently feel is the best of the MK stories. It's really solid overall and has some nice layers to it. Yes, there are definitely little tidbits in some characters' stories that do indeed tick me off a bit (e.g. Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, also being the founder of the Black Dragon clan; seriously...WTF?!), but the overall story of MKDA itself holds well together.

lol @ the Johnny Cage part; It's so sad, yet true as to just how shallow and boring Johnny Cage's story is until MKA. Sure, it can be kind of speculated that he is a skilled and noble fighter underneath that silly, egotistical exterior, but without showing much or any exploration and insight into that, his story will fall apart.

Interesting stuff for Kung Lao and how he seems more about revenge as opposed to saving Earthrealm. It's too bad his character got raped in a similar fashion as Scorpion's.

You make some interesting points on Kitana. I guess her being a bit of a workaholic and perhaps even a bit of a perfectionist reflect her trying to get into the role of being diplomatic and being the Princess of a realm, trying to restore it to its former glory before Shao Kahn basically raped it. And going into the Princess thing, I think she's trying to live up to her people and to herself, trying to do the best she can to make up for her past deeds under Shao Kahn's name.

About Sub-Zero and his relationship with Frost, I actually feel that they had more of a father/daughter type relationship, especially given the estimated and assumed age difference. There is of course the fact that Sub-Zero is trying to train her, almost like raising a child. I like the point you brought up with Sub-Zero possibly seeing a parallel between Frost and his brother. If we got an insight like that, it would add even more to Sub-Zero's character.

One thing I'm surprised you didn't bring up was the fact that for a Lin Kuei Grandmaster to go on such a dangerous mission like that was kind of rare or something along those lines. I think Sub-Zero really wanted to prove to the world that the Lin Kuei has changed for the better, but also, I think Sub-Zero is trying to prove that he's worthy of being a Lin Kuei Grandmaster, not unlike how Kitana is likely trying to prove her worth as a leader.

You know, this is actually another interesting comparison between the two. Not only have they been assassins in the past and have had death in their close family, but they both changed their ways and eventually developed into leaders.

It is a bit strange for Sonya to be particularly protective of Sub-Zero. I personally kind of think of their relationship in a similar fashion to their relationship in MK: DOTR as two people who trust each other enough and have somewhat of a respect for each other but generally keep a good distance. I guess it's that Sonya had grown to realize that Sub-Zero is noble and trustworthy, so maybe she did warm up to him a bit, only if enough to trust him and all that.

You know, the whole Sareena/Sub-Zero thing still strikes me as being odd. I mean, the older Sub-Zero seemed to have that "me or the other person" type mentality, especially when going up against Scorpion. However, he actually spares Sareena, and with that music, it does hint at some kind of attraction, which I still find strange and kind of forced actually. I would love a nice, detailed explanation that can kind of make more sense out of it.

I like the comparison between Sareena and Frost. It would have been nice to have had some sort of rivalry between them, perhaps more so than the one between Frost and Sonya. However, given the stories and all that, it's not really needed unless they plan on bringing back Frost.

Now we're onto more of the Special Forces side of the story.

Honestly, the whole Sonya and Jax thing wasn't particularly too interesting, kind of like their overall stories. At least they get new enemies in the form of the Red Dragon. I just wished as characters themselves that they would've got some depth and insight. I mean, yeah, there's Sonya's disliking for Frost and Jax's rage towards Hsu Hao, but I felt that wasn't enough, not that I was exactly expecting much from them anyway. Cyrax joining the Special Forces is kind of cool, I guess. I love the introduction of Kenshi and how he's using the Special Forces to find his way to Shang Tsung.

About his heritage, I think they are trying to imply that his ethnicity is one or more of the minority groups in China, namely the more Turkic kinds as opposed to the Han ethnicity, which makes the majority of the ethnic groups in China. This explanation could've been used for characters like Sub-Zero and Smoke, but for Sub-Zero, they instead went with the whole American mother explanation to make sense out of his more Caucasian appearance. I hope they can at least use a similar explanation as Kenshi's for Smoke's ethnicity. I just think it would more plausible and less of a mess. *shrugs*

You know, it's strange that Kenshi's ethnicity is a Central Asian yet the sword of his ancestors is a type of Daito (long sword) Katana. Again, I'm going to shrug on this one. I mean, given his name, Kenshi, which is Japanese for "Sword Saint", I guess he grew up in more Japanese settings.

Now were onto Scorpion...*sighs and shudders*

Um, yeah, the whole "assuming Sub-Zero for killing his family and clan for years" thing is very confusing and makes him out to be rather ignorant. In MKM: SZ and the statement in Sub-Zero's Konquest mission, Scorpion was angry at the olderSub-Zero, believing the Lin Kuei assassin as the one who killed his family and clan.

I think that one particular aspect that may have changed Scorpion would be the dark powers of the Netherrealm enhancing his rage and hatred. It's not exactly an implausible explanation, but at the same time, it doesn't do much to save his uh...less than stellar storyline.

I'm still pissed off about him. I mean, yeah, I know I mention some things in relation to historical Ninja and historical Ninjutsu texts, the Bansenshukai in particular mentioning things like anger and cultivating Seishin (correct mind/heart). I'm definitely aware that the Ninja characters in MK are obviously based off of stereotypes of Ninja, especially those from the cheesy Ninja flicks of the 80s. However, at least the stereotypical Ninja character has some semblance of discipline yet "post-retcon Scorpion" doesn't, which is rather sad and detrimental.

But yeah, Scorpion's MKDA story is pretty linear and 1-dimensional. It all basically boils down to him constantly going after Quan Chi while having sidetracks in the form of Drahmin and Moloch.

Li Mei's tournament involvement was really strange. I'm wondering just who the hell she went up against and how the tournament was set up.

I love Nitara's introduction, as much as Kenshi's. She's this very cunning, manipulative, and calculating character who has particularly studied races such as the Saurians/Raptors. We get insight into another race as well as another realm.

Reptile's overall story to me still has that ambiguity to it. I mean, before MKDA, it just seemed like he was a humanoid lizard creature in the disguise of a human. But yet in MKDA, it seems more like they are taking inspiration from MK: Conquest with Reptile really having a human form. But of course, later on, such as MK4, he de-evolves into more of a reptilian creature. There is also MKSM, which makes things even more confusing but kind of go back to the MK1-MKT disguise type story.

There's also the ambiguity of his knowledge of his race and Shao Kahn's involvement in their almost complete annihilation, and the fact that Reptile had committed acts of genocide himself is rather ironic and hypocritical.

I'm left a bit wondering about Nitara's vampiric nature being able to soothe Reptile. Is it supposed to be some form of hypnotism or is it just Nitara's seductive appeal?

I love the way MKDA's story ends. Usually, the bad guys lose and the good guys win, with peace lasting for a certain amount of time. But yet, with MKDA, the bad guys won, proving to be qutie a formidable team. Unfortunately for them, Onaga returns, fucking things up for both of them, but that kind of discussion will be saved for later, of course.

Regarding Hsu Hao, he does get killed, but either it's going to be retconned or he'll be resurrected like other characters.

One thing I didn't like was the inclusion of Baraka and the Tarkatan army aiding the Deadly Alliance as that kind of gave less importance to Onaga's mummified army, which I think should've been used against the heroes in that battle.

I'm kind of surprised that Shang Tsung did not take the souls of the heroes unless Raiden quickly intervened or something.

You are right about Onaga's return pissing on the impact of the Deadly Alliance's victory. However, we had to have seen his return coming, and I guess it was to give a sense that things are going to get even worse, which they do in MK: Deception.

Overall, nice analysis and interesting points being brought up; I can't wait for more!

Excellent analysis Xiaho, as always.

Regarding Scorpion, for what it's worth I've always been of the view that the whole idea of his "vow" storyline being retconned was a load of horseshit from the fans. Like you mentioned I think back in your MK4 breakdown, I never read anything more into the "for years" line in his Deadly Alliance bio other than, as you put it best "an extraneous statement". And as far as MK4 goes, its totally within reason and within character for Quan Chi to have simply lied to Scorpion.

This whole feud between the fans over whether or not the vow was retconned always struck me (for the most part, due to the nature of most of the posts I've read regarding the issue) as little more than overzealous fanboys digging for something, anything, to complain about as well as an excuse to engage in typical internet message board grandstanding.

Maybe I'm putting it more bluntly than I should, but I simply have little to no patience or tolerance for online melodrama in general.

I'm hoping Scorpion's MKA bio lays this issue to rest once and for all. If the vow remains intact, all this fuming over Scorpion's story supposedly getting the shaft will be revealed as the non-issue it always was, and will mercifully end while I giggle at how inane the whole argument was in the first place.

If it comes out that it really WAS retconned (which I find highly unlikely), then I can understand the outrage, and I will certainly join in as Scorpion's story was always a favorite of mine. Again I think this outcome is very much unlikely, but I'm perfectly willing to admit I was wrong should that be the case.

However if it's still left murky, then I will pop another Advil as the unsubstantiated bitching continues unabated.

You know, Scorpion's, and I guess even Sub-Zero's endings in MK4 seem to kind of make it out that Quan Chi lied to Scorpion, making him believe that the younger Sub-Zero is either the real killer of Scorpion's family and clan or that the younger Sub-Zero aided the older Sub-Zero and the other Lin Kuei in killing his family and clan. However, if you read Scorpion's MK4 bio, it states that he agreed to Quan Chi's offer but has ulterior motives, namely to get at Sub-Zero.

You may think that the "for many years" thing might be an "extraneous statement", but it clearly states in his MKDA bio that he had assumed for many years that Sub-Zero had killed his family and clan and that learning of Quan Chi's revelation came later. So before even MK4, Scorpion had assumed that Sub-Zero killed his family and clan, which is strange considering that references have been made to only the older Sub-Zero being framed. So why the hell would Scorpion be after the younger Sub-Zero for something that he accuses the older Sub-Zero for doing? At first, in MK2, he thinks Sub-Zero survived or was resurrected or something. Whether he learned that the Sub-Zero taking part in Shao Kahn's tournament was a different Sub-Zero or not is a big issue.



The problem is that him not making the vow kind of takes away something from his character. Then there's the problem with the way Scorpion is being so hasty and even more blinded by rage, making him into an idiot, which can be seen in MKSM and MKA.



I really doubt his MKA bio will cover it as it'll pretty much cover about the stuff brought up in his appearance in Konquest, which means his bio will be about revenge, which is something extremely redundant for Scorpion's story and a bad change of pace from his MKD story, which is the only game that doesn't involve him trying to get his revenge on someone.

It's been awhile since I looked at Scorpion's DA bio, so I just re-read it. Here's what the part in question states:

"The ninja spectre Scorpion had assumed for many years that Sub-Zero had killed his family and clan, only to later discover that the true murderer was Quan Chi."

Now one may call bullshit on what I'm about to say, but it's entirely possible that the sentence in question is simply referring to the original Sub-Zero Is there anything in the bio that specifies strictly the younger Sub-Zero? No there isn't. At the same time one also has to think of expediency.

What I mean is, the bio in question has to get straight to the heart of Scorpion's story as it applies to DA. It only has a paragraph or two to do this. Bearing this in mind, which would make more sense; specifying that Scorpion was only pissed off at one Sub-Zero, while being cool with the other whilst going into the whole vow thing, or just summing the gist of it up with the single sentence that they used?

Admittedly, by this rationale, it would have made far more sense to simply use the sentence as was written but replace "Sub-Zero" with "the Lin Kuei."

"The ninja spectre Scorpion had assumed for many years that the Lin Kuei had killed his family and clan, only to later discover that the true murderer was Quan Chi."

See how one word can alter the entire meaning of the sentence?

So to sum up, I simply think that Vogel, or whoever wrote the bio, was just trying to cram the gist of Scorpion's motivation into one set-up sentence, and the fans read waaaaay too deep into it. And coming from me that's saying something, because I myself have followed this storyline far more closely than the average gamer, to the point where the series lore became something of a hobby of mine, and even I didn't read that deep into the bio until I started haunting message boards like this one.



I'm well aware of the ramifications for Scorpion's character arc if the vow has indeed been "officially retconned". That's why I made a point to note that were that indeed the case, I'd be as pissed off about it as the rest of you. I simply just don't think it is the case.



Eh, don't be too sure. Other MKA bios have mentioned long past events in the character's history. Granted mainly in character's like Khameleon and Jarek who have been MIA since several games back, but still it's not impossible or even a stretch. It may come up, it may not is all I'm saying.

Considering the following lines from one of Sub-Zero's MKDA Konquest missions, I'm pretty sure that Scorpion's MKDA bio was indeed referring more towards the younger Sub-Zero.

Scorpion has hunted Sub-Zero for years. He believed that Sub-Zero murdered his family and clan. Now he believes Quan Chi to be the true murderer, and will not harm Sub-Zero.

It pretty much reiterates what has been said in Scorpion's MKDA bio and makes a strong enough implication that the Sub-Zero being mentioned is the younger Sub-Zero. Then there's the bit about the older Sub-Zero being referred to as "Sub-Zero's brother", which I suppose is some kind of attempt at distinguishing the two brothers.

Many years ago, Sub-Zero's brother was manipulated by the sorcerer Quan Chi to retrieve for him an amulet from it's hiding place in Earthrealm. The sorcerer later framed Sub-Zero's brother for the death of Scorpion's family and clan, which led to his demise at the hands of the enraged ninja spectre, Scorpion.

These lines support what was revealed in MKM: SZ. And this comes not too much before the other lines I quoted.

This really leads me to feeling that Scorpion has never learned that the Sub-Zero he's been chasing from MK2-MK4 is not the same Sub-Zero he killed in MK1. So basically, I get the impression that Scorpion thought that he's been after the same guy who killed him in the Shaolin Temple those years ago.

If that isn't the case, the only other conclusion I can think of is that he blames all of the Lin Kuei and possibly even those allied with him, which could be why he wanted to kill Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Yes, I'm talking as if MKSM's (horrible) story were canon, but that discussion in itself will be saved for another time.

Going back to Scorpion, I think the problem was that with John Tobias having left Midway and the MK team back around 2000 and John Vogel taking his place as the lead storywriter for the MK games, writing Scorpion's MKDA bio most likely had to have been an attempt to follow up on his MK4 story. This makes sense considering that Scorpion's MK4 ending is made canon and the Deadly Alliance story eventually follows after it. And since Scorpion had been after Sub-Zero in MK4, believing him to be responsible for the death of his family and clan, that had to have had influence on what was written in his MKDA bio and probably even how it was written.

There is the myspace account from Midway that has blog entries of Scorpion, each one of them having been summaries of the stories in the games he was in. The ones for MK2 and MK3 support the vow taking place yet we get to the MK4 related blog entry, which makes things confusing.

Either way, I hope this issue, as well as certain others, (e.g. Shinnok's Amulet) will be cleared up someday real soon. If Scorpion's story is much more like the way it's being described in those blog entries, I'll be quite relieved yet still concerned, considering the way he is in MKA and MKSM.

Anyway, considering the interesting new characters in MKDA, along with nice buildups with some returning characters, it's a bit disappointing that some characters like Johnny Cage and Jax did not get the same treatment. Maybe they could've been more worthwhile had they gotten some good development earlier on. However, one main aspect that makes Deadly Alliance work well is the Deadly Alliance itself. Shang Tsung, who gets a nice makeover and a great gameplay boost, really steps up to become a more menacing villain. Quan Chi, well, I suppose with him, we get more of an unfolding as to just how vile and crafty he is.

gone

How did I ever came to miss this wonderful and beautifully analyzed thread is a mystery to me. Im guessing it just happened (coincidentally) to be active when I was on duties and didn’t have the time to visit/post on MKO.

I have gone through reading all pages (and it was such a long read!) and there have been some pretty interesting details described in each analysis, while almost all of the content of the thread we already knew because it’s the general storyline of each game/character, it is very well organized and elaborated, and it goes to explore the deeper sides of MK, it covers a lot of points with vast depth! Another very large part is conformed of assumptions and opinions, some well thoughts, others rather off, and some just over the top wicked cool and interesting!

Before continuing: Congrats XiahouDun84 for such an awesome thread! Since I find everything written here interesting, I will be posting my opinions on every single aspect of your analysis, and I hope to hear your views on my views. I encourage people to read my posts and tell me what they think as well. Congrats again for elaborating such an excellent thread.

Now, I all add a lot more ideas and a deep analysis on every aspect of your thread.

First things first:

The Main Protagonists

Liu Kang and Kung Lao (I have to mention him here even though he is secondary)

Theres nothing really farther to elaborate, though besides the listed points, I feel another of Liu Kangs main problems was that he always seemed to be the one who won. Its not necessary a reason to hate a character, but for some reason it worked against Kang, and fans started to hate him because of it. Im guessing we were sick of the typical good-boy pure-soul hero giving us the happy ending. I believe it would had been possible for Liu Kang to play the “main hero” role without necessarily wining, and if they would had gone with that after Mk3, then there would had been a chance to see farther development in his archetypical role, something we (Thank God!) got in MK:Deception.

At first I hated the idea (for very little time) of having Zombie-Liu Kang back, not because of the zombie bit (I found that interesting), but because they erased a very strong and crucial part of the story MKDA had established. Maybe they could had waited for MKA, it would had been a better and much interesting impact, nevertheless, his return as a zombie was well received, for it marked a new “life” for Liu Kang, finally getting strong development.

On a side note, Kung Lao has always been considered to be the most obvious choice for being the next “hero successor”, after Liu Kang...thank God that seemed to be dropped with MKD. MKDA was the game that hinted the most of Kung Laos future development as the “main hero”, but MKD was the one to officially mark that the possibilities were closer to zero, and that, IMO, was a very good thing.

While I do understand your likes for Kung Lao (and many fans in general actually), I think the days were he could had done something to achieve that position are gone (at least until we read his MKA bio). I for one love what they did to him (despite how incredibly cheesy and corny it was done) in MKSM, because supported also by his awful MKA ending, Kung Lao most definitely seems to have gone far from the main hero line. Before I liked the idea of him being the successor, like all, I viewed him as the most obvious choice of all characters, but after MKDA...well, Kung Lao has faced some tough competition, and I honestly see more promising heroes that are not even among the classics that could disserve the title...Kenshi comes to mind.

Kung Lao, for me, has lost in this area, and I seriously hope they don’t carry him on as the “next Liu Kang”, besides being a flat rather redundant idea, it just doesn’t appeal as much as others like Kenshi would. Kung Lao is just a mirror image of Liu Kang with better attributes and equally small development (not counting Lius role in MKD+).

BUT, if they actually do this horrible story, then I would very happily greet the development of Kung Laos arrogant personality. If he is to step as the hero, make him less like Liu Kang and more like something new. Despite his originality, Kung Lao is not that much different from Liu Kang, that’s why I hope Kung Lao never takes to spot...I fear another round of cliché dancing around.

Liu Kangs ending was written rather plainly but its actually one of the deepest and most intriguing of the few that are good. If there was a chance to finally see him go, that would be the most dramatic and disserving of all. He facing his old time ally and mentor, Rayden, and killing him would be super dramatic, sad, but a good way to see the story move forward. With both characters taking a step back, and maybe for the possibility of one to return, the story could progress. Rayden could be vanished and not killed. I see potential here. I feel Liu Kangs role has been great in the last 2 games, sure he has potential to be developed more brightly, but the real question is: will they focus enough on his new development or in his past (but still very present) archetypical role?

Im more then willing to accept Kang back if his zombie tragedy is still explored, but Im not sure if that could be pulled off nicely. Besides, having him go is a big step, but I mean (as sad as it is to say good-bye): go for good, to the peace he disserves.

As for Kung Laos ending...Im just going to pretend that was never written. Besides being very silly and one of the worst, its very unlikely as well.

Sub-Zero and his Lin Kuei

Sub-Zero has, no doubt, one of the best story developments. He is one of the few lucky characters to have been given such improvement during the games. But all this was thanks to MKDA, which seemed to be the game that started to take some of the stars into brighter development. Sub-Zero had been plain and simple, specially during Mk2 and Mk4, sure there was a story to fallow, but it was nothing special, at all. I felt his involvement was just thrown there, forced to be there just because he had to be there. Mk3 did give some very refreshing development that was sadly forgotten during Mk4, but like I said, with and after MKDA, he just seemed to grow, so much in so little time.

Thats why its easy to assume the same could be done for other characters. From being a decent developed character, he came to be, in one instant, a star, a very good one. For the first time (not counting Mk3), I finally started to pay him attention, and defended him with claws and jaws after the harsh critics of his improved MKD costume, that eventually came to be a fan fave. He just used to be another generic pallet-swap boring ninja, but hey, he got his disserved improvement.

His ending in MKA tells us about him becoming a god of ice and having the other elders chasing him for doing such thing. It’s horrible and a disappointing ending for a character who seemed to be growing to be more interesting, so I hope they don’t plan on fallowing that idea.

One thing I would like to note, is that for some reason in your posts, you seem to believe that being in the spot-light (but maybe I misunderstood your posts ideas on this), hand by hand with the main plot is important for a character to be established as either a protagonist or overall significant. I disagree with this bit. One of the reasons you said it yourself, characters like Sub-Zero have the chance to grow incredibly in their own sub-plots, which later on happen to be crucial for the plot itself, adding depth, and this type of guys could easily be more developed because of their roles. IMO, the ones that don’t seem to be directly involved with the main plot (despite being involved heavily anyways) bring more to the story then credited for. Big examples in MKA are Nitara with her new revealed realm/story, Sonya and her assault on the Tekunin, Sareena and whatever the hell they are doing to her, etc.

As for now, Sub-Zero is doing great. He has moved on nicely, cant wait to see whats in store for him in Mk8.

Kitana and Edenia

Not really much to add since I agree with most of your views on the princess. I really like her sub-plot (Edenia has brought a lot to the storyline), the only thing it needs is desperate closure. If Kitana were to return (and I think she will), theres loads they can expand with creativity. I honestly cant think of anything right now because it seems she is way too stuck in that structure of the Edenian plot, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In some way, I think Edenia will always be there, but perhaps its time to bring other new realms to take into consideration and avoid having them as replacements of Edenias storyline, which has been the same for some time.

Her ending in MKA, well, it was horrible. Im a huge fan of seeing the ladies kick ass, but the problem is that it was written rather plainly and silly. I see no indications of this ever happening, but if it actually did, it would be interesting to see how they could develop the “’power-puff girls” idea into something more serious, like some sort of King Arthur type of thing, something serious with leader ladies that don’t necessary remain inside the queen-princess-guardians categories. Kitana or Sindel obviously being the heads because of their status in their own realm (but one of them might need to return to Edenia for obvious reasons and stay a bit away from the story), but this would be a sub-plot that would develop outside the Edenian territory. Something that expands a bit more, that cold become the reunion of these selected ladies to fulfilled certain quest, etc. Many interesting ideas are popping in my head but that’s the general thing.

I love Kitanas involvement in the series and I forgot to add that she, like Sub-Zero, has gotten great development over the years. Unlike him though, hers hasn’t truly expanded to all her potential just yet, and for that, I think we need to see 2 things:

1.- Edenia go (as sad as it sounds, and this includes a separation of the Edenian females as well) .
2.- And some real personality for Kitana.

That makes me wonder, could the team had possibly seen this important story-points?, reason why the battle in MKA took place in Edenia? Most endings suggest Edenias final downfall/doom. It could be possible that Edenia could be destroyed for good in MKA, leaving it worse then the isolated realms, and that could be the kick to put characters like Kitana and Jade into much more important things, into development.

Not some time ago I suggested that Kitana, for all we know, could had been a spoiled-brat when under Shao Kahns care and protection (giving Mileena more reason to hate her). If we leave MKSM out for a moment, and believe that she was very aware of her evil actions, then that could mean Kitana could have enjoyed her macabre life (until she discovered the truth). That could be a good way of moving her character into something more authentic and unpredictable.

She did come off as crude and annoying in MKDA when being assisted by Bo Rai Cho, maybe theres still some sort of spoiled attitude in Kitana that could be farther developed to make her shine into different plot twists. The princess that seems to be nice isn’t that nice at all. Now that I would love to see. Not only does it give her personality, it makes her more real.

The idea of Kitana feeling superior to other people or something like a very small version of “Mean girls” from that Lindsey film (“The plastics” chicks) was also given in a chapter in MK: Defenders of the realm (though un-canon), I think it was the Kabal episode, were everyone (except Sonya who gave him warmth and kindness) felt disgusted about his looks and Kitana made sure to stay as far as possible from him. And also in Shaolin Monks, were that could had been viewed as cool but she came off like a very bad girl (assuming she was not under a silly spell).

I think its not a bad thing, its actually interesting that Kitana conserves some sort of arrogance given her position like revealed in MKDA, but she is still as loyal and fierce as her friends, searching for redemption and still with incredible high perseverance to save her people and induce justice all around Edenia.

On another note, I personally would love to see Shao Kahn having some sort of positive emotion towards Kitana. Despite all his cruelty, and despite being often blinded by his goals, he could still preserve some sort of love towards his “daughter”. The idea of Kahn still caring for Kitana despite their positions is very interesting and would add some drama to Shao Kahn as well. It was revealed that Shao Kahn did have real feelings for Sindel, and unlike believed, he did love her (an interview done to Ed and Tobias during Mk3), so, it could be possible to see Kahn in this awkward and strange position. The problem is, I think its too late.

My favorite moment for Kitana is definitely her final assaults against Shao Kahn during MKDA. She really plays her cards well, and its deep because, for me, it goes beyond the “I give orders you fallow” type of role, she is experimenting stress as you suggested, and its desperate to free her realm, and its personal, because Kahn is still there, and as long as he is alive, she will never know peace. This scenario was greatly built.

Kitana is an excellent character, with so much explored and unexplored potential, she has been beautifully built, she is truly an emblem of emotions, and she hasnt reached her top, with creativity they can make her go higher. That’s all she needs.

Sonya Blade and her Special Forces

Again, I pretty much agree with all you said. Theres not really much to add. Sonya is a very well developed character, she has a good amount of positive aspects to keep her fresh and kicking, but the problem is what I like to call: “superficial depth”.

Its almost like they give her “superficial” depth. One can see its there and where is the idea taking her character to, but because of this rather quick development, she is not precisely deeply developed. Excellent examples are her MK4 story and her MKDA and MKA storyline...hell, even MK2 where she wasn’t even playable! In all this games they gave Sonya loads of potential and possibilities, very well selected details to elaborate farther on her, but never truly elaborated deep enough to make them feel Sonya any different. Just a few examples:

- Shao Kahn capturing her and mysteriously not killing Sonya during Mk2.
- Kano and Sonya forming a quick alliance to survive during Mk2.
- Kabal as a good guy and ex-black dragon member during Mk3.
- Jarek and his alliance with Sonya during Mk4.
- Sonyas quest demolishing portals during MkDA.
- The destruction of her SF base on earth during MkDA.
- Mavado as a deadlier adversary then Kano in MkDA.
- No sign of discovering Kano is still alive in MkDA.
- Frost the arrogant, Sonya being the only one of the heroes to smell her evil plots in MkDA.
- Onagas enslavement during MKD.
- Sektor as a dangerous threat in MkA (active, but MK8 will let us know).
- Sonya investigating deeply about the outside-help the Tekunin were receiving in MkA. (active, but MK8 will let us know)
- Tavens awesome confrontation in MkA.
- Jaxs sudden disappearance and future in MkA. (very active, but MK8 will let us know)
- etc etc etc

Some like to say Sonya has offered little to the crucial role of the story, this is (no fan-boy speaking I promise ) ultimately false. Like said, despite her being involved directly with the main plot, her own sub-plot is so large that it adds its own very deep part to the story, which honestly, wouldn’t be complete without her. Plus, Sonya gave the SF a very active role in this game. For the first time, it felt incredibly alive, powerful and I dare to say: cool.

The picture is clear: Sonya is a very well developed character, just not as developed as she SHOULD be because of the reasons listed above (superficial depth) and below (pureness). I don’t know (but I do suspect why, read below) what keeps them off from elaborating more, its very weird and stupid. Unlike some said, MKA did give her the breath of fresh air she needed, but they could had done better.

Its like they are heavily centered of viewing Sonya as the “pure hero”, that the depth she is given comes off as superficial because she has an already established agenda/personality.

Sonya is overall viewed as one of the very few “pure heroes/characters in general”, this factor is very very good, but its also bad. Very good because it makes Sonya feel authentic and human, whether some see it or not, Sonya is probably one of a very small group of characters that actually feel genuine, authentic, and serious. That is brightly developed in her characters attitude (tough, but caring, strong, but vulnerable, etc). In that aspect, very few characters have been as greatly developed as Sonya.

But why is it bad then? Because it seems, that given the “superficial depth” she has, she is stuck in that selected position of being THE one to defend her realm. Though many have served to protect Earth, in all honestly (mostly thanks to MKDA and MKA), few seem to feel as genuine as Sonya, who seems to be the one who takes that role very very seriously. Rayden for example is in that position, but unlike Sonya, he is not doing it nicely, he is not “pure”, he was stuck before, but MKD helped him expand. He is not stuck. Sonya has remained the loyal-caring but tough bitch since day 1, gives her personality, attitude, but takes away possibilities of deeper development.

Her being in the SF doesn’t even feel like the main problem to me. The main problem is that Sonya is, in some way, “too nice” (lol, as ironic as that sounds). She could still develop deeply into her sub-plot, without being “trapped” there. That could had been done ages ago with all those points I listed in that big list above.

Given the basics, I do think its necessary for Sonya to leave the Special Forces plot to take matters from a different perspective, but the SF is not the main problem at all.

She has loads of potential, her MKA bio and Konquest proves that, and thank God for the selected details they gave to make her feel even more human and authentic, as well as the possibilities of seeing her more deeply developed. Some say MKA could had offered more, the truth is, it offered, perfectly, all that was enough for her to grow, but again (and the blame goes specially to the endings), it was “superficial depth”. Im hoping to see another bio which adds more power to her development (since we cant relay on the endings), but as for now, I think its quite valid to assume they all see the potential this leader has and her predominant role.

This game was, after all, everything but closure. If anything, it seems they selected certain characters for future proper development (Sonya, Nitara, Kenshi, Johnny Cage, Rain...), and others to just be there to say good bye (Khameleon, Jarek....).

As for her ending, I was very happy because, even though it sounds unlikely, is actually one of the few that gave some sort of closure, one of the few that was well written and not stupid. The power of killing with a mere glare was well developed, and the hint of Kano and criminal societies being vaporized is a good thing. Though I feel Kano will still be around, like Sonya, Sareena and Cage, MKA seems to be giving him his earned development. Slowly, but its getting there.

As for her special forces members, I see great things for Cyrax, Jax, and even Kenshi (who left at the end of MKDA). It might be possible that this organization will eventually dissolve, and that can help them all. Jax will most likely (we all hope for at least) join the Tekunin, Kenshi already left but could still serve a role, and Cyrax will eventually have to deal with Sub-Zero, Sektor and Smoke, in a final epic showdown...but Im hoping more for Cyrax, a lot more.

Sonya has loads of potential like pointed above. If they actually elaborate on her superficial depth...there, you’ve got your super power star. She is after all, despite her flaws (like all characters have), considered to be the a flagship female of the game. Not to say others like Li Mei and Kitana cant be, because in their right and personal plots, they already are.

But if Sonya retires, who would take her spot as the “female flagship”? Kitana is a top candidate, but Mileena and Nitara (despite being so new) are both very tough competition.

Scorpion

Scorpion is like a carnival. You’ve got a lot of awesome things to explore, but some of those things will make your stomach ache after you taste them.

What I mean is plainly simple, Scorpion is an excellent character, built perfectly to fit MK and with a story that is very promising and holds potential to expand. The problem is...he just seems to be there because he is, well, a favorite.

Not much can be said about his character, not because he sucks (not at all, he is excellent), but because his negative aspects are already very clear, and what needs to be done is simple:

A twist.

Not just any random twist like his rather painful MKD story, no,...something big enough to separate him from Quan Chi and Sub-Zero. Big enough to make him feel like a new Scorpion, like someone different but still retaining the characteristics that make him a fave.

Scorpion is in need of new deep development, just like Sonya, Kitana, Shao Kahn, Goro, Kung Lao, etc...all of them and more are stuck in the same whole.

His MKA ending was very good and very bad. The idea of his family being back (wife and son, but hopefully NOT from the death but a more creative idea) has potential, but what kills this is the possibility of his entire clan being resurrected, and that of stupid Quan Chi getting involved personally with the ninja....yet again.

Scorpion needs a twist. Hopefully he is fully developed into that along side the others.

Reptile???

I disagree with this one. He isn’t really that developed.

His role has been rather linear and simple (Mk1, Mk2, Mk3...), though its content has helped to give him a personality. Mk4 is the strongest of the classics imo, but its with MkDA that you truly feel Reptiles craziness, frustration and motivation. One actually feels sorry for the cute genocide-fanatic lizard.

With MKDA the depth started, and developed nicely. The MKD thing of the egg and all was great but since no real indication (so far) of Reptiles feelings towards that situation has been given, very little can be said. In all, his role has been practically serve any master he can, and focus on the return of his beloved race.

I don’t see him as a protagonist, at all. I love him though, and I do see him as one of the main characters, just not that important (just yet) so far, although the given info about his race and mind are very good, its just kind of 1-dimensional at the moment. Onaga possessing him could be something important, but MKA will tell.

His ending in MKA was horrible as well.

The Main Antagonists

Same characters I would had listed, but I disagree with some of your views which I will later go on to develop.

Shao Kahn

Obviously. Considered like the “big bad whore” of Mk. He has practically screwed many with his evil, even his own allies with recent revelations of that “bond” or “pact” they made once they agreed to serve him. If he died...they all died. It’s a rather drastic, dramatic and at the same time sort of silly story, but it works well for some reason, despite its obvious intentions outside the story.

But Kahns era has come to an end. He has received very little development in the latest games, and despite interesting revelations about his character (served and poisoned Onaga, etc), he just seems to be there because, well, he has to be there. He is like Scorpion in that aspect, and in others, like Kitana and Jade, trapped in constant circle of redundant stories.

I love Shao Kahn, he is one of my faves, his story is vast, and although much is unknown he has so much potential, the problem is...if he doesn’t go, we can most certainly expect the same thing from him in Mk8+. He has been the same Shao Kahn of Mk2. The only thing that seems to have changed is that he (although already revealed in MK3) loathes or feels disgusted by the Edenians who play their fair role in his defeat. He is shown as careless and indifferent towards the possibility of Kitana being killed in MkU (Jade/Reptile story) and in Goros MKU ending, which might be a good thing.

Shao Kahn will always have his name in our wall of honor, but for the story to continue, he has to definitely go. He can still be involved in the story (giving us revelations of the Emperor), but not as a character or threat anymore. And God forbid we ever have to face the horrible day of seeing him battle alongside the protagonists or good guys....now that would be horrible and completely ruin him (Goro is living proof).

His ending in MKA was horrible. Though I liked the madness bit. As for who should eliminate him, Kitana is obviously a great choice, but a better character imo, more suiting then Kitana, is Sindel. If anything, Im sure Sindel suffered more then her daughter.

Two other candidates besides Sindel are Rayden and Onaga himself, which would be very interesting.

Kahn has potential, but I just don’t think he has a future.

Quan Chi

Another obvious choice.

Not much can I add. He is truly an amazing character, I love everything about this goth clown of evil. Intelligent, cruel, a traitor...his story has been perfectly elaborated, and it was great until MKA.

At least I hope his bio is great, because, as of now, Quan Chi has become boring and redundant with his mention in the other bios. Serving Shinnok....again....being the toy of supreme evil....Quan Chi feels boring in MKA. Sure I cant judge just yet because we haven’t seen his bio, but from where we are standing, it seems like his potential has been reduced, much like Shang Tsungs.

Quan Chi will hopefully play a decent role in this game, and with luck, as much as I hate to say it because I love his character....die. If they cant manage to keep Scorpion and him apart...well, I would pick Quan Chi over Scorpion any day, but Scorpion disserves his happy ending. He is the one who needs to succeed.

Quan Chi has received more development then Shao Kahn, but like him, I think its time to say good bye.

Shang Tsung

The amazing and full of potential sorcerer. An excellent character with a very powerful storyline and great design. Shang Tsung is no doubt one of the best.

Sadly...MKA should be his end. Same reasons I mentioned for Kahn and Quan Chi. The story needs to move on, but, (and this is quite interesting), out of those 3, Tsung is the one who seems to be the most notable selected character to continue and progress. Kahn and Quan Chi are inevitably stuck in their role unless drastic changes are made, but Shang Tsung doesn’t require anything drastic.

Big problem is his awful bio in MKA...he is back under Kahns command, like Quan Chi is back under Shinnoks. See the pattern? It just feels so uninspired for all 4 characters. The difference is, Shang Tsung actually has what it takes to step out as a solitary character that can easily be involved with anyone. He doesn’t necessarily require any sort of forced involvement, not even Liu Kang. Quan Chi requires Scorpion, Shao Kahn requires the main heroes, but Shang Tsung, despite being considered the most evil character ever, can do fine alone.

Still, I think its time for our favorite and original sorcerer to go. I love him, but I think his era has come to an end. New evil is required.

Shinnok

Most definitely another obvious choice.

He is the one I feel must continue, specially thanks to his role in MKA. Not much I can add, only that this villain has been improved, and even though he was very underrated, he has proven to be that huge twist of evil he promised to be in Mk4, and showed in MKM:SB.

I think he needs to stay for future plots and twists. Much is still unknown about him, and because he hasn’t been overused like Kahn, he can be the toy of a much greater new evil.

His ending in MKA was horrible. One of the worst.

Onaga

Onaga is excellent. Only problem is that, well, despite being much more complex then Shao Kahn, his impact is very small when compared to the others mentioned above.

Onaga served his role nicely and perfectly. He is another character who must go. His bio was great in MKA, sadly not as developed as it could had been. From being the supreme evil guy, he went to being a cute puppet, despite his intelligence and all.

Onaga for me, lost credibility with his appearance in MKD. It was MKDA that made him such an awesome villain.

His ending was decent, not among the worst or best imo.

Mileena

I wont go into much detail, but she is clearly a prominent antagonist. Unlike Shao Kahn, she is more new in this area, but just like Onaga, her impact has been great despite being so recent, good enough to cause conflict not only with Kitana, but with the entire realm of Edenia, its people and future realms as well!

Mileena got this title thanks to MKD. Kitana is a protagonist for her involvement with Edenia, defending her realm. Mileena is a clear and potential antagonist, for not only ruling the realm, but also manipulating the very life of it. By posing as Kitana, she is in just as much power as the real princess, a cool thing about Mileena, is that she is either set to destroy all Kitana constructed, or steal all of what Kitana did.

Her bio was excellent in MKA, though, sadly, despite the many positive points, we have her back under Kahns rule, but luckily, we have a new Mileena in that position. Unlike before, she has tasted the power of being a ruler, and now, she will do anything to regain her status once more. She might not challenge Kahn, but will play fairly well to dominate Edenia or any other realms outside of Outworld.

Mileena has grown to become a huge threat, bigger then one would expect. Very few seem to be aware that Mileena is in fact, posing as Kitana, and when the truth is revealed, little will be done, for she will have the Emperor at her side.

Mileena fits the role nicely, and is one of those classics that must return for future MKs. Loads of power and potential, Mileena has what it takes to continue in any form she desires. That’s why Mileena suits the role of Antagonist very well. She goes beyond being just an antithesis. One could even say its Mileena the one who contributes to Kitanas story (instead of vice versa), despite the two not really being in connection for quite some time.

Her MKA ending is good, and bad. Its tragic for Kitana and happy for Mileena. Kitana going mad was very cruel, its perfect. The only bad thing is the bit of Mileena looking beautiful. Maybe if that was done for some temporary time it could work, because, after all, Mileena is not Mileena without her teeth. Being the ugly clone is what sets her apart, and makes her such a unique creation for MK.

Kano

Oh yes, the big bad coward cheater traitor sadistic bitch. Kano has more potential then some give him credit for. His role has been rather prominent even without him being in the spotlight like in Mk2 and Mk4. Kano is mostly viewed as the fatherly image of crime, ruthlessly, cruelty and treachery.

For me, Kanos biggest moments were Mk3 and MkDA. He, a human, made the choice to betray his entire world in favor of Shao Kahn, to save his disgusting butt. He helped the Outworld warriors learn about Earths powerful technology (weapons). He becomes a leader in the chaotic realm of beasts, a force that threatened not only Edenia, but also Outworld during MKDA, another game were he shines for his treachery and ability to lie, and we discover him to be an excellent general, defeating Kitanas constant attacks. Later his troops take a step back to Kitanas disbelief, for word is spread that the Emperor had died.

MKA has given us some pretty awesome light about his future, I see loads of development for Kano if done correctly. I honestly want him to die, despite him being one of the faves, but I also feel they have just started with Kano. He moved from being just one dangerous feared criminal, to a sadistic un-human traitor, to a (apparently) potentially monstrous hybrid...and what will his emotions be? MKA hints that this experiment went rather well, extremely well for Kano.

Antithesis Characters

Kitana and Mileena

You said all I would had said. I agree with all your views on this rivalry. The only thing I hope is that it comes to an end. It hasn’t really been expanded beyond what we already know, so, unless they decide to work together for interest, not much can be exploited.

For me, this is one of Mks best rivalries ever!

Sub-Zero and Noob Saibot...maybe Frost?

Sektor, I view as a dangerous nemesis. But Noob Saibot, he suits the role better. It seems they are even guiding us to accept this with last revelations and all. I even picture Frost as an antithesis for Sub-Zero. Sure she is not as prominent as the first two, but she was given a lot of evil development, enough to assume she is more then just a “I want to take the Lin Kuei for me and be a happy ice queen!” doll. She really seems corrupted, she wants to take things into her own hands, like Sektor, but unlike him, she has used much more diplomatic and hypocrite tactics.

Both Frost and Noob Saibout focus more on Sub-Zero then Sektor.

Scorpion and Quan Chi

As much as we hate it, or as much as we hope for it to end, of all characters, Quan Chi seems to be suited as the biggest antithesis for Scorpion. I cant think of any other for him. Though Noob Saibot suits the role, that feels more like a classic rivalry coming out of the dusk. More has been lived with Quan Chi, despite any lack of real conection in this matter, he seems to be the one.

Quan Chis ending in MKA is horrible.

Liu Kang and Shang Tsung....or maybe Rayden?

Classic, and real. My thoughts are almost the same as yours. But I feel this is a thing from the past.

Now, it seems that Rayden, his bellowed mentor and god, suits the role better then anyone. Better then an adversary who always wanted your soul, for he is a former ally, now relaying on cruel nature and errors to make justice. Raydens corruption has more harmony with Liu Kangs current corruption as well.

Shang Tsungs ending is horrible in MKA.

Sonya, before: Kano...now:....Jax

With Kano is a lot deeper then some give it credit for. I wont go into much detail either, but the fact that Kano has been the one to push Sonya to limits she KNEW she must control, gives you that vive that he could be the dark image of her. Considering her role as a Special Forces agent, Sonya was forced to bring Kano back, to justice. Kano managed to make Sonya go off limits, and eventually, she killed him (he survived though, thanks to Motaro). Sonya could had defeated Kano and brought him to justice, she was feinting defeat after all, Kano assumes she got lucky. But this rivalry, for her, grew to be even more personal, and instead of defeating him, she went on with the kill. It was epic. They are strong opposites of one another, Kano representing all Sonya despises and Sonya representing Kanos greatest threat. Biggest point is maybe that both made a choice. Kano decided to betray his world, serve evil to save his butt, while Sonya is still fiercely fighting to protect her realm.

Mavado, Sektor, Frost, and even Kira are all great choices as well, though like stated above, thanks to the “superficial depth” they have been given in Sonyas story, its uncertain until something more is developed.

I would have to say Jax is the best choice, even more then Kano. If Jax happens to turn evil and return (along side Sonya)...wow, once can expect an even bigger and more epic showdown then the one she had with Kano. Once best friends...now enemies. Its deep.

Jax, if we take his ending as canon (and thanks to Sonyas bio we can assume it will be canon if they don’t end up killing everyone), would be Sonyas greatest antithesis.

Kira is a great choice because of reasons posted above, but she, like Jax, needs to be explored. I prefer they focus more on Jax, potential not only for him and Sonya, but also for the entire SF team.

Kanos ending in MKA hints for a LOT of potential. Cant wait to see what happens to him in future Mks. I honestly want him to go, to progress, Sonya needs to either leg grab him apart, or send him a sweet kiss, but I cant deny that he seems to be very interesting in MKA...not that he hasn’t been interesting before. His role has been rather big.

Other Roles

Rayden

The general idea has been discussed. One thing we can assume is that Rayden does feel a strong bond and affection towards his mortals. MK3, MKSM, MKDA, all hint that he really cares for them, its evolved into something more like a friendship towards his earth heroes Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya, Johnny Cage and Jax. Even MKD, despite his now corrupted and insane brain.

Rayden is one character I absolutely adore, and I want him to return because I feel he still has a lot to do, finally he was given the twists he disserved, Rayden can do much. But at the same time, Liu Kangs MKA ending really suggest an interesting and dramatic story element.

His ending in MKA was horrible, so I like to think of it as a nostalgic classic reference to his Mk1 ending. But aside from that, even though it wont happen, it still shows the potential this wicked character conceals.

Bo Rai Cho

Hmmm. I really like Bo Rai Cho. But I think he has served his purpose. I have always thought of having him get his happy ending along side Li Mei. A strange yet very romantic couple.

Bo Rai Cho strikes me as pure, humble and very kind. That’s why I liked his ending in MKA despite it being wasted, because either way, it was well written. I don’t see much more for him, he can still play a role as a back-story character, involved only in text. Not as an actual participant of the coming wars.

Taven and Daegon

Great characters with loads of potential. Im not sure how they will continue, but if Daegon still remains leader of the RD then I hope to see all those weird experiments and stuff. Taven played an excellent role, I too hope to see more of him.

Fujin

I love his character, but if he is to return to be anything like Rayden....he is going to be ruined. What Fujin needs serious development. His MKA bio was more about his hair makeover then about his importance to the plot.

Fujin needs to grow and become less Rayden like. There are many ways to teach, he can be a very strange mentor, very much different from Bo and Ray.

Ashrah

Super ultra high potential. So far, I don’t see her going anywhere near the protagonists side, or the antagonists side. She seems to be a wild card for now, but if in the future, her involvement with Nitara and Sareena is more deep, same with Quan Chi, then we can expect even better things from her.

Shokans

Sadly, I feel they have played their role. IMO, Goro was destroyed with the horrible story of him being noble to Kitana and joining the side of good...even the truce between him and Kung Lao felt slightly, well,...it just ruined Goro. Specially because it seemed kind of obvious he was born to be evil, and they had to change him back to Kahns side again. How very silly.

Kintaro and Sheeva, well, I will speak of them after we read their bios in MKA. As for now, I can only keep hating Kintaros horrible and ugly new look and admires Sheevas weird yet cool costume.

I think the Shokans have potential, if the story of their rivalry with the centaurs is still explored then that’s very good, but at some point, we are going to have to see some major showdown.

Shujinko

Cool character. Excellent bio in MKA, but I think that he has come to an end. Shujinko played his role very well, IMO, he should die an either dramatic death, or just sleep...forever.

Future Protagonists

Johnny Cage

Finally...MKA was THE game for Mr. Cage. He received one of the best bios so far, he has a pretty cool established personality, and to top it all, he received one of the best endings. Fairly simple, fairly short, but huge in depth and hope.

Johnny Cage has always been considered a central character despite his super lack of development (being iconic and all), though MKA truly gave him the spark. Even team creators have been hoping for this change as its been established in interviews and character game cards, even during MKSM (where you can read his serious profile in the official website).

The thing is, despite his lack of development, like it or not, MKA gave Johnny Cage the twist he needed to evolve, to grow, to be developed. It seems it was never too late for Johnny, and if they are planning on giving Johnny Cage a more active and twisted role, then I cant wait for MK8, where he will continue to grow. Psychic powers, defeated Shinnoks doppelganger, is reuniting the heroes, he is leading the forces of lights, interacts with more characters, etc....what more could we ask for? Vogel has listened to our screams and complains, Johnny Cage has earned the respect he has always disserved, and finally, he is starting to look like the hero he has always been, but sadly, always underestimated.

He has had a horrible storyline in the past, but given MKAs perfect twist for Cage, I think theres potential for him in the future. I can see him retiring after doing a bit more, even though he is already doing a lot.

Kung Lao

Protagonist? Yeah, why not, he has grown enough to achieve that goal...but next main hero? Hell no.

I have already stated my reasons above, and while you do bring up some interesting points, I feel that none are really strong enough (for me at least) to push Kung Lao to that status. Mainly because, I fear his role will be redundant, and we will have in our hands another Liu Kang...unless his arrogant nature is exploited. That could be interesting.

Ermac

What a fantastic and brilliant character. No doubt, he has the deepest story of all the ninjas imo.

To put it all short, Ermac has all the potential in the world to become a main hero. It would be amazing to see some revelations about his past and interesting development for the future. One thing I pray for is that they never, EVER decide to go by something that resembles his horrible and very disgusting MKA ending...that would ruin him.

I have plenty of ideas for Ermac, some involving a dangerous conflict between the souls he was created from. I think that Ermac, with his very important role in MKD, has established himself as an important character, very powerful, very capable of doing many things.

I say yes for the red ninja.

Jade

Hmmm....the thing with Jade is: she doesn’t strike as a protagonist, but she does have a lot of potential to evolve and become a more liberal and free character, by that I mean, she has the chance to evolve to be more like Kitanas equal and not her shadow.

Jade lacks development, but that can easily be fixed. But so far, I cant see her anywhere near the protagonists. Sure as an important figure to help defeat evil, but she has a long road to travel before getting to that status.

Sareena

Yep, she has what it takes. Your views on her are accurate, and I have posted a lot of positive factors about her. What I feel she lacks though, is more presence, more...how to say it, more personality. Maybe that’s just because she is practically new, so its no big deal.

Hopefully she stays away from the Quan Chi torment plot and expands with other characters, because she has a decent storyline and potential to continue. Not so much as a main hero just yet, she is still far and needs loads of development before even getting there, but I do feel she has already established herself as a primary character in the Netherrealm plot, maybe not central, but among the important ones.

Kenshi

Amazing Kenshi.

He is simply perfect, and he is the one I think of when someone speaks about “mks next main hero”. Kenshi really has LOADS of potential. Despite being new, he has already been given primary roles in mk. Important, central. Kenshi has all that it takes.

Nitara

No doubt, specially after reading her excellent bio in MKA. She is my favorite new character from MKDA, and instantly became a general favorite of mine. There were many that were very uncertain about vampires in Mk, but I knew the story would work well, and I was right. She became a fan fave after her first new released pic.

She is one of those characters you just KNOW has so much potential to develop twists and unpredictable situations. Proof of this is her fantastic MKA bio which is one of the best.

Nitara is an excellent character that disserves to return for future installments; she has all and more to be given a new chance for Mk8+.

Mileena

I already view her as a central character in the plot. My views about her are already written above.

Li Mei

Hmmmm....Li Mei is an excellent character, I love the sweet deadly warrior. Her story really took a huge jump from MKDA to MKD, playing a more prominent role. IMO, she has a very solid and well establish storyline, with enough potential to grow and become a protagonist, but as for now, I like her the way she is best.

Mortal Kombat 1

Quite enough was discussed about each MK game, so I will just highlight some bits of the discussion that I found interesting, etc.

For starters, its safe to assume that Rayden saw great potential in the “hero trio” as I like to call it, seeking the three chosen warriors that would help prevent the destruction of the world. And with MKT adopting movie factors that helped for inspiration to the games by giving it more depth and drama, its also pretty safe to say other factors were taken into consideration (in particular Rayden suddenly being mentor, Kano having a new nationality, etc). I like it because it gives some sort of depth to the characters, and that’s even supported by the honor ceremony that took place after the battle in MKSM, a *very canon* game, though more of that later.

Another bit is your suggestion of Kano defeating Sonya in the first tournament. Its not impossible, but very unlikely. Especially considering that Kano, as ruthless as he is, would had killed her, with more reasons to do so then Scorpion or Sub-Zero. If anyone defeated the blond, my guess would be on either of the two first ninjas, because they seem to be more capable of letting her live for either being a female, or being impressed by her power, etc. Anyway, nothing really supports the idea that Kano defeated her either, while we have seen plenty of evidence of Sonya being capable of doing it. Kano would had killed her at the moment. Doesn’t sound much like Kano to let her live, all the rest is pure assumptions I guess. Besides, its been proven before that Kano has to rely on cowardly tactics to win, and specially to defeat his nemesis. His ending in MKDA highly implies that, despite being a capable warrior, he isn’t capable enough to defeat the blond. He ambushed her with the entire army of the DK. Its all debatable I guess.

Back to Rayden again (I just love spelling Rayden with an “Y”), I think its more the safe to assume that Rayden didn’t participate in the tournament, just like his role in the movies. MK3 gave the fact about this possibility seeing how he couldn’t play a role because of his status, same story was fallowed with MK4 and MKDA. And with MKSM, you can clearly see Rayden, the mentor of the hero trio and Kung Lao, not interfering despite the battle taking a new direction.

While you and a few others might not like all this or buy it, its still there. I actually love this role for Rayden, and I don’t find it neither stupid nor boring. So what if he wasn’t involved in the original tournament after all? The progression of his character was much more interesting then as first introduced. I liked the “evil” in him, but entering the tournament just to prove he can and his bored, is a much worse line to fallow then becoming a watcher and mentor of his chosen heroes.

Psychofight had a good say on this, I actually lean more to his theory since it sounds more logical, though like you, I too believe that initially there might had been some sort of structure, that in the end, was twisted into something bigge, badder and more epic and dramatic.

Mortal Kombat 2

Hmm, very few to add. For starters, it’s a pity Scorpions vow and kind human emotions were sort of forgotten to be later transformed into a redundant plot for the rest of the games.

There are many many interesting things that somehow get ignored in the story and one forgets, like this vow, or Mileenas ability to read Kitanas thoughts, Sonyas team being killed and the big list of things I wrote on her character up there, etc.

One interesting bit is Sonyas and Kanos capture, but in particular Sonya, she was one of the heroes who helped defeat Shang Tsung and stop Kahn from conquering our world. So she was found, brought to Shao Kang, and held prisoner for what? I can think of many interesting plot twists that would even serve amazingly for future installments, but like stated, the team tends to forget this interesting small yet potentially strong story bits. If his intention was to lure the heroes to save her, well, it did work as implied in Mk2, but he could had easily killed Sonya, and they wouldn’t even know. Big plot whole there.

As for Reptile, well, I still don’t see him as a protagonist.

As for Kung Lao, if he had won Mk3, there would had been some positive things and negative things about it.

Positive: Would give him more development and (for those who want him to be) would increase his possibilities of being a main hero in the future games. Also, Liu Kang might had move on from his “hero.period” role earlier.

Negative: Too soon. I can see Kung Lao actually wining around the era of 4 and forward because that would had made more sense, then to immediately forget the potential of Liu Kang as hero. Making Kung Lao win Mk2 or Mk3 would had taken credibility from Liu Kang. Its quite interesting they intended to make him be the next champion after Mk2, but I guess they saw how bad this move could had worked and decided not to, and waited for the right time, which was MkDA, but they dropped it again for other new comers.

I too think Mk2 didn’t have a conclusive/fight ending. In Sonyas bio it states that after returning to Earth, she and Jax try to warn the government. My guess is that the heroes discovered Shao Kahns plot at some climatic event, before even getting to fight him. So when the truth was out, and probably Rayden discovering way too late about Earth sudden miss function, they all escaped through the portal and Kahn couldn’t do much nor didn’t care, because he would met them there anyways. The idea of someone defeating Kahn in Mk2 takes credibility from him.

An important element is that MKSM might contradict this assumption or theory. But we do know that all deaths in that game are officially not canon. So maybe, just like the fighting games, the ending of MKSM was just as “what if”. For all we know, maybe Liu Kang did face Kahn, but all that show was just an act, Kahn could had pretended to be defeated, but later in the end the truth is revealed and they escape to earth as soon as possible.

Either way, I like the first assumption better. Its best to think no one go to face Kahn. He allowed their escape because it was a surprise to him that they discovered the truth (therefore he couldn’t stop them from going into a portal), or because he just didn’t care anymore. He already had earth at his feet and was too happy to think of anything else.

OR maybe, since Liu Kang has been officially confirmed to win the 4 tournaments, Shao Kahn didn’t compete. He was more like a watcher and his main warriors were Kintaro, and once again, Shang Tsung. So Liu Kang won, Kahn lied and congratulated the warriors, but someone suddenly reveals Kahns plot. Kitana (or maybe Rayden, who might had discovered something before the very end) could be this character, after killing Mileena she goes on to tell the real final truth which alarms everyone, etc.

Makes sense since it would had been a bit stupid for Liu Kang to stay fighting and not warn Rayden or any of his allies, knowing a resurrection was taking place on earth, and that the best thing to do was run there, prevent it, or warn their people.

Jax canon ending suggest something urgent is taking place when he and Sonya escape through the portal arena of Mk2. Though it might not mean much since Mk3 story wasn’t planed just yet, but it could play a factor though, because some endings serve as inspiration for the next game.

Mortal Kombat 3

I love how Mk3 was built so nicely and in such an apocalyptic way, serving great to Mk2 potential. The story of this game is fantastic. Lets see some important factors.

John Vogel did hint the fact that Johnny Cage didn’t die in Mk3, which would have been a good thing if the retcon was done and written nicely (WHY VOGEL??? Anyone could had come up with something better then that!). But seeing as no mention of this has been done, and as it highly affects his story in Mk3 and Mk4, most fans make sure to think its just Johnny Cage joking around about his own death, which makes more sense, because he gets to keep his interesting roles of Mk3 and Mk4.

The way I see it, Johnny Cage was never supposed to die, but he did, so he keeps his stories...But since Vogel hinted that he didn’t, it gets confusing, then theres a possibility. He even said no one wanted to see Johnny go, but because of some whatever reasons (we know the reasons), they did it for Mk3.

In conclusion, John Vogel hasn’t said anything about the matter, his confirmed hint about Cage never dying is still out there in the fog, because he hasn’t explained to us what Cage did during those epic battles if alive and not dead. As far as we know, maybe Vogel decided to contradict his own retcon, meaning Johnny Cage died during Mk3, and was brought back to life in the same game.

As for Rain, apparently, his bio was retconed and no part of his ending ever happened. Sadly we learned nothing of what he had been doing after the war of Mk3 and the events of Mk4, MkDA and MKD, but we do learn some back story in MKA, quite interesting in fact. His bio in MKA discards his story in Mk3. It seems he never had any interaction with Kitana.

It does seem Baraka and Kung Lao faced eachother, there was even some mention of Barakas torn stomach in MKDAs krypt if Im not mistaking. Kung lao defeated the mutant, but he managed to survive.

As for your whole theory of Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sindel and Kitana, I disagree with most elements. First, I find the idea Shao Kahn getting weaker because of Sindels freedom rather silly, it takes away credibility from his character and the story, because either way, earth was already invaded, and Sindel, knowing the truth or not, was his queen, and he was in “his right” to proclaim her. I don’t see how he could had gotten weaker because of the revelations. She was, after all, “his” to proclaim. I also doubt both monks fought side by side against Shao Kahn. It is stated they fought together Shao Kahns forces, but not the emperor himself. I guess that bit is possible, but it does sound like it was Kung Laos defeat under Kahns warriors that pushed Liu Kang to all his force, battle his way through, and defeat Shao Kahn.

Mortal Kombat 4

Very interesting details here, and yes, MKM:SB does give a lot of depth to this story. Despite some of the negative, I still feel Mk4 has a very well built and interesting storyline, much better then other games at least. Too bad it lacked what one would call proper conclusion of its elements.

As for Cyrax, you made a mistake since the robot was found by both, Sonya and Jax, from his Konquest:

“Cyrax was eventually reprogrammed by Sub-Zero to defeat Shao Kahn. Once the Emperor's attack on Earth was foiled, Cyrax had no further instructions and shut down in a barren desert. He was recovered by Special Forces agents Sonya Blade and Jackson Briggs who restored his soul through a dangerous technical procedure. He has since joined forces with them to protect Earthrealm from otherworldly threats.”

One thing I find very interesting is the way Shinnok managed to escape from hell, with that strange orb Quan Chi gave Sindel as a gift, with the help of Tanya. What was that orb exactly? And why was it necessary to give it to Sindel? Was it done on purpose to quickly weaken the queen and allow his return to be easier?

Sure one can view it as just a simple orb that had the purpose to create a portal at an specific time, but still, its interesting to wonder more.

The Mk4 comic book really helps to elaborate the plot of Mk4. We also learn that the hero trio gathers in the place Fujin falls from the sky, and that Kai and Sub come to join them while Sonyas special forces team creates a portal that leads them to Quan Chi. Jax arrives sometime later because he isn’t with them at the moment. We also see details of Goros return, Kitanas work with the Shokan and the Centaurs, Johnny Cages sudden appearance that probably hints his MK3 bio and ending never came to be, etc.

*Question:* Why did you say Sektors bio in MKG is not canon? That’s got me a bit confused. Does it contradict his bio in another game?

On Reptile, one must remember he was originally vanished by Sindel to the Cobolt Mines of Shokan, now if that’s located in the Netherrealm then its all good. He was sentenced by the queen to a life of hard labor, being accused of genocide.

With the Shokan...I honestly hated the inclusion of Goro because it’s the beginning, imo, of his true downfall. Kitanas job of working peace between the Shokan and Centaurs was a nice touch, but Goro ultimately becoming good and fighting at her side only made him loose some real credibility imo, and it was even worst when he got back to Kahn during MKD. One might say it gave him development, and it did, but for me, it wasn’t good enough to make up for his lost of credibility. Where the hell is Goro going? Why does he keep changing sides? Is he mentally ill and retarded? The once intimidating monster, turned into some sort of joke. I hope his MKA bio really takes him out of that misery, because that ending of his was just plain horrible.

Another interesting bit is Jaxs brutality, which was explored in the MK Unchained game. His bio and ending hint theres something really brutal about Jax we might had not known all this time. And with Jareks recent MKA bio (horrible, but not as bad as his ending), more hints serve as proof that Jax isn’t the nice humorous guy we thought he was. And more importantly, Sonyas bio and his ending in MKA...something big is in order (that’s if he continues for the next gen games).

I like the idea of Rayden fighting Shinnok and getting defeated this time around, but I don’t think it ever happened, chances are low. Hopefully Shinnoks bio explains a lot more of what happened to him during Mk4, and his rest during the MKDA and MKD events.

Mortal Kombat 5: Deadly Alliance

My favorite Mk game, best story development, deepest creations, perfectly built, beautifully designed, fun new game play, etc...how not to love it?

In all honesty, I really don’t have anything to add. This IS my favorite game, but it does seem all important elements of the story were told and discussed, but I guess I can point out a few shinning points:

* Death of Liu Kang.
* Shao Kahns final “defeat”.
* Kanos military power and effectives.
* Rayden personally gathering his heroes, and their reunion in the nostalgic island.
* The Red Dragons unpredictable story origins and development.
* The Deadly Alliance force and the amulet.
* Johnny Cages spectacular arrival at Shang Tsungs island and his awesome ending that hints a possible relation with Sonya.
* Sheevas death at the hands of Kahn because of Kano.
* Motaros death at Sheevas hands.
* Kanos rather perturbed reasons for having Sonyas hair as a necklace.
* Sonyas high loyalty, and her extreme care for her allies/friends.
* Nitara and her goal, plus the fact that she contributed to the death of Kahn.
* Sub-Zero as leader of his clan, and his dragon mediallion.
* Frost the capable ice warrior, egocentric and filled with cockiness, a traitor.
* Hsu Haos destruction of the OIA base.
* Kung Laos shinning role.
* Rayden loosing his elder-god status and taking more direct actions.
* Cyraxs very important role in Nitaras story and his encounter with Reptile.
* Jax has a new rival and steps out of Sonyas shadow.
* Sonyas small yet still interesting rivalry with Frost.
* Reptiles de-evolution, craziness and dramatic end.
* Rayden as a fatherly figure for the heroes.
* Kitanas losing Goro (killed by Noob Saibot) and Liu Kang.
* The story behind Liu Kangs fly kick attack
* Li Meis enslaved people building up a palace.
* The Soulnado.
* The undefeatable army of the Dragon King.
* Sub-Zeros defeat of Sektor.
* Blaze, the background character from MK2, and his very important mission.
* Bo Rai Cho the noble mentor.
* Nitaras collar/necklace that allows for her to live during day.
* Kung Laos sadness and feelings of revenge.
* Cyrax fights for the OIA.
* Kitanas apparent stress.
* Li Mei winning the deadly alliances private tournament but being tricked.
* Kenshi and his goal, great back story and sword.
* Scorpion tormenting Quan Chi.
* Sareenas involvement.
* Nitaras manipulation, suspicious kindness, and giving Reptile his weapon.
* Kitanas constant assaults against Kano, his troops and Shao Kahn.
* Mavados effectiveness and dangerous clan.
* The Oni, the netherrealm and their involvement.
* Sektor working hard on Japan, and those are very bad news for Earth.
* The Vampire realm introduction.
* Drahmin with his interesting backstory and his ties with the deadly alliance.
* Moloch and his fairly well developed story.
* Khameleon being mentioned as being a great warrior with Kamas.
* Mokap and his eccentric balls.

Im sure I missed a few interesting points, but those are the ones that come to my mind at the moment. MKDA was a brilliant game in all aspects, specially the storyline. Beautiful, beautiful game.

Im eager to explore more of MKs excellent storyline. Cant wait for future posts on this thread. We still have MKD, MKA and MKSM to cover.

I do hope someone actually takes the time to read my gigantic biblical post, took me a very long time, but I strictly analyzed everything and shared my views, and gave all the necessary needed extra information. In conclusion, a deep post that’s worth to read.

Excellent thread once again XiahouDun84.

Im eager to explore more of MKs excellent storyline. Cant wait for future posts on this thread. We still have MKD, MKA and MKSM to cover.

I do hope someone actually takes the time to read my gigantic biblical post, took me a very long time, but I strictly analyzed everything and shared my views, and gave all the necessary needed extra information. In conclusion, a deep post that’s worth to read.

Excellent thread once again XiahouDun84.




I agree. They were all going to be defeated anyways, but Im guessing different factors could had played a role in Kitanas and Kung Laos failure.

Maybe it was more then just stress, maybe it was Kitanas arrogance and perhaps, little patience with Bo Rai Cho that lead her to be defeated. Im not implying she is a naive warrior, but perhaps theres more to her personality then we know. And on the other side, Kung Laos desire for blood and revenge made him fail were Liu succeeded. He was way to blinded by his objective. And this could be interesting, since almost all characters in MK, who seem to be blinded by revenge, succeed, but Kung Lao seemed to fail. Perhaps the pain and hate was just too much for him?



I too remember reading that ages ago!!!! I discarded it as not-canon, but after you mentioned MKSM, it does make more sense and it is very intriguing. MKSM is after all, a canon game, despite some horrible story elements, and that bit about Mileena and Reptile IS very interesting.

It was even used in the Malibu comics, were Reptile and Mileena worked together and she was even sick of having him around.

First off, I have to say in the words of Sergeant Hartman, "HOLY DOG SHIT!!!" =-o Talk about a series of lengthy posts. Oh well, at least it keeps the topic alive and the posts themselves are nice and constructive and all that good stuff as always.

Regarding Liu Kang, I think what worked against him was that we didn't get enough insight into his character and didn't see much development of him as a character until later on.

I have to disagree with Kung Lao. The thing about pre-MKSM Kung Lao is that he was trying NOT to be the main hero, not wanting to be the Champion of Mortal Kombat. His MKSM self is the very cliched hot head, who WANTS to be the Champion of Mortal Kombat. That's why I feel that his MKSM self is the horrible version. As for Kung Lao's originality, in actuality, he isn't really that original of a character, but at least he's more compelling than Liu Kang as we get a better insight into Kung Lao's character, and the concept of this skilled and noble warrior being a reluctant hero has more appeal to me.

The thing with Liu Kang's ending is that it would set him up to take Raiden's place, which in turn fucks Fujin over big time. Given the way Liu Kang's story has been, I personally feel that it's much better to see him defeat his corporeal form and ascend to the Heavens, otherwise, his story will keep dragging.

About Sub-Zero, I disagree. He started off rather simple in MK2, but MK3 was one of his big turning points and he is forced to work alongside the heroes to ensure his survival. This leads to him becoming something of a hero himself, which leads to him beginning to forge his own destiny, which really shines when we get to MKDA. I agree that they shouldn't follow up on the concept of his MKA ending.

Regarding Kitana, what do you mean by real personality? I'm not understanding that.

The reason why the battle is taking place in Edenia is due to Argus' Pyramid being in Edenia and the fact that Argus is/was Edenia's Protector God, with Delia, an Edenian sorceress, as his wife.

About her interaction with Bo' Rai Cho, the thing is that he comes off as this very silly and ill-mannered buffoon, hence Kitana's displeasured reaction to him.

For her story, Sonya's is pretty well developed. As a character, the development is rather stagnant, maybe even nonexistent. I do think that she does have some importance to the story, especially considering the OIA. I don't think I'd consider her a "pure hero", but she's noble overall.

I do have to disagree about her MKA bio. To me, all I saw was only a story development, with her having yet another new enemy, this time in the form of Sektor and the Tekunin. But as a character, she's pretty much the same "tough, aggressive bitch" that everyone knows and fans love. I would've liked to have gotten a bit of insight to the time in which she was enslaved by Onaga and how that would affect her personality and maybe even view on some things. But the fact that she has never really grown as a character is one of the things that holds me back from liking her more than I would like to.

I think you're going rather easy on Scorpion. He's a lot worse than that. He was a character that once had potential for excellence. That pretty much went down the drain thanks to MK4, MKDA, MKSM, and MKA.

I see his MKA ending is very bad, nothing good in it. Why? For his family and clan to be brought back to life and for him to be reunited with them is very sugarcoated, just as sugarcoated as the concept of Liu Kang returning to his human self and living with Kitana happily ever after. But it doesn't stop there! Oh no! It doesn't! Quan Chi has to appear out of nowhere and kidnap Scorpion's son, taking him to the Netherrealm. Guess what that leads to? REVENGE! Sure, Scorpion is on a mission to save his son, but revenge is still going to be involved in that type of story direction.

Not only has Scorpion's story been bad, but his character has been tampered with greatly. He went from someone that had some semblance of discipline and nobility to an idiotic jackass that's blinded by anger, hatred, and incompetence.

About Reptile, I somewhat see what you're saying, but I don't completely agree with you.

I have to disagree about the Goro bit. If anything, Goro returning to Shao Kahn's side was horrible, even if there is some logic to it.

Sure, Quan Chi has been mentioned in various MKA bios so far, but to call him boring and redundant is going a little extreme, imo. Yes, he's working with Shinnok again, but since we both know how Quan Chi is, there is something that's cooking, especially sincce he has Shinnok's Amulet again.

I disagree about his potential being reduced, especially with his ending possibly implying that HE is the true source of disruption in the realms.

Regarding Scorpion and Quan Chi, it must be brought up that Scorpion will continue on to the next-gen MK games. And considering how fucked up Scorpion's story and personality are, it is best that he kills Quan Chi, despite me liking the character so much.

The Quan Chi/Scorpion bit is something I completely disagree with. Since when has Quan Chi's story been dependant on Scorpion being involved in it? He can hold his own as a character, especially given his origins and how he works. But yes, I agree that Shao Kahn, Quan Chi, and Shang Tsung should go.

I'm going to have to go with X about Shinnok and Onaga. The reason why he didn't consider them to be main antagonists is because of how they haven't been in many games and haven't quite had the development that other villains have had. Maybe if Shinnok were to continue on, he could be considered a main antagonist down the line. The same can be said about Mileena.

I disagree about Kano being a main antagonist. He simply does not have as much impact as other antagonists do. He's not even really that close. I mean, if you're going to consider him a main antagonist, I'm surprised you didn't mention Tanya as one.

Now, onto the Antithesis characters...

Kitana and Mileena: nothing to say here

Sub-Zero and Noob Saibot or Frost: I can kind of see what you're saying about this...

Scorpion and Quan Chi: lol, this one, I very much disagree with. I'm not even sure how you got this idea. I don't feel like they are two sides of the same coin.

Liu Kang and Shang Tsung: yeah...As for Liu Kang and Raiden...maybe

Sonya: Considering how relatively shallow the rivalry between Sonya and Kano is, I don't know if there's enough to say that they are each other's antithesis. Jax COULD become Sonya's antithesis if they brought them back and developed the story path Jax's is taking.

As for Kano's ending, it was very horrible, imo. I would think it had to do something regarding Sonya or even Mavado, but nope. We get some garbage about him turning into a half-man/half-black dragon hybrid. I can't believe you actually like that.

I think that Raiden's MKA ending is hardly a reference to his MK1 ending. They are different for different reasons. Pre-retcon MK1 Raiden was simply a prideful deity who wanted to display his superiority over mortals. Post-MKDA Raiden is a deity who uses radical and extremist methods to ensure peace and order for Earthrealm.

I kind of like Bo' Rai Cho as well. I don't think a romantic relationship with Li Mei is a good idea. I see their relationship as more father/daughter.

I too think the Shokan have played their role. I never really had all that much interest in them, especially Sheeva, who, imo, has been a total waste of a character since her debut in MK3. At least her gameplay is better in MKA than it was in MK3-MKT.

I know you're a big fan of Johnny Cage, but despite me liking the character and story development they gave him for MKA, I personally feel it's a bit too late, and I would actually like that part of his MKA ending to happen in which he goes away from his superficial life. That would be a much better ending to his story than marrying Sonya and living happily ever after, imo. I know you're a Cage/Sonya shipper, but because of the nature of their relationship not really being shown in the games, it kind of doesn't work well at this point and time.

I think you're reading more into Johnny Cage's MKA bio than it's supposed to. Johnny Cage is being fooled by Shinnok to leading the heroes to their doom. I hope you have realized and understood this by now. He was supposed to defeat Shinnok's doppelganger. It was all part of Shinnok's twisted and ingenious plan to get rid of all his enemies. As for the psychic powers thing, again, I think you're reading more into it than it's supposed to. This is another part of Shinnok's deceptive plan.

For Kung Lao, again, I disagree. His arrogant self is the Kung Lao that wants to be in the spotlight and be the Mortal Kombat Champion. The Kung Lao that I like is the one that doesn't want to be the main hero and would rather live his life in peace.

I hope you're joking about Ermac having the deepest story of all the Ninja-type characters. Sub-Zero has far more depth to his story than Ermac's. I really can't believe you said that. But yeah, I hope his MKA ending won't happen.

I would love to have Jade continue on and develop into something more. However, if they aren't going to do anything bigger with her, perhaps it is best if she were to die. I love the character, but I wouldn't want her to keep being in Kitana's shadow.

Sareena is somewhat of a new character. I think she has a pretty good personality as this conflicted character who wants to be good but has to battle the demonic instincts that makes up her nature.

I like Kenshi as well, and I hope to see him return. However, I kind of disagree with you about the main hero thing, namely because of the simple fact that he does not like to be involved in the affairs of "good" and "evil". He is much more of a neutral character, and I hope you can keep that in mind about him.

I actually think Kano could've beaten Sonya in MK1 and taking sadistic pleasure in seeing her comrades be killed. That could easily explain how they don't survive anyway. And also, Kano defeating Sonya in MK1 makes Sonya's victory against Kano in MK3 more valuable as that little story plot comes full circle, even it is a rather smaller circle.

I could possibly see Scorpion spare Sonya, but it would because he only cares about going after Sub-Zero. As for Sub-Zero against Sonya, he would have definitely killed her. Why? It's simply because the older Sub-Zero has that "only one of us can make it out alive" type mentality, hence why he killed Scorpion 2 years prior to MK1's timeline.

Well, MKSM's story does seem to imply that Raiden didn't take part in the tournament, it retcons Raiden's already retconned MK1 storyline. Btw, regarding the spelling of his name, Rayden does sound more fitting from a pronounciation standpoint. However, from a spelling standpoint, it's completely erroneous. You have to understand that Raiden is a Japanese term for "thunder and lightning" and the actual pronouncation is different from how it's pronounced in the MK games. I'm not knocking on you for spelling his name as "Rayden". I'm just pointing out things like that to you, that's all.

I didn't see a problem with his involvement in MK4. I'm not quite sure what you're talking about, especially given the way MK4's story is.

Considering Liu Kang's 4 Mortal Kombat victories (note that I didn't use the word "tournament" in it), and also given Liu Kang's and Shao Kahn's MK3-MKT bios, it seems pretty damn clear to me that there was a fight between Liu Kang and Shao Kahn, in which Liu Kang was victorious.

About MKSM's ending, considering what is likely to have been implied in Quan Chi's MKA ending, I have a feeling that some part of MKSM's ending, namely the part with Quan Chi, did in fact happen.

Whether his MK3 story had truly been retconned or not, it doesn't change the craptacular quality of Johnny Cage's overall storyline. The only thing he has going for his story is his MKA story, and even then, he's being deceived by Shinnok into leading the heroes to their ultimate doom.

Nothing was ever said of Rain's bio being retconned, just his ending never being made canon, that's all. Yes, I too was very disappointed as to how much his MKA bio was lacking. Rain may have had a bit of interaction with Kitana in MK3, but it doesn't really matter much anyway.

I think what X may have meant with Shao Kahn getting weaker with Sindel regaining her memories and turning on him was that Shao Kahn had to have fed off of the power of Earthrealm and if he were to have that access closed to him, he wouldn't be as powerful.

Regarding Kung Lao and Liu Kang, no, I think that Shao Kahn did fight Kung Lao and defeated him, making Liu Kang's determination to take down the Outworld Emperor even stronger.

MK4's comic is non canon as it's not written by John Tobias, and there are little bits that conflict with what was established in the games. So there's no orb that affected Sindel. Basically, Tanya invited Shinnok, Quan Chi, and their warriors from a portal, which Sindel allows, only to find that the portal leads to the Netherrealm.

Sektor's bio in MKG is non canon as the retcon in Cyrax's storyline makes Sektor's story null and void. In MKG, the Lin Kuei rescue Cyrax. However, MKDA retcons this by having Sonya and Jax rescue him and eventually restoring some of his humanity.

About Reptile, like I said, the MK4 comic is non canon. The Cobalt Mines are not in the MK games' storyline but something taken from MK: Conquest.

I completely disagree with Goro. Despite the MK4 bio being non canon, it does Goro's character justice as we get an insight into his character and see actual development in him. He's not some typical brute warrior with no brains but is instead a powerful warrior who cares about the safety and well being of his people and has his own sense of honor and duty. Why did he keep changing sides like that? It's simple. He's someone who has a sense of duty about ensuring the safety of his people and will aid those who give him the best deal.

Shinnok's bio better explain a hell of A LOT more than the things you mentioned. The whole stuff regarding the Amulet is very fucking confusing and almost pisses me off greatly.

Now about MKDA, I know you love it and it's your favorite. I like it myself, but the gameplay, while somewhat fun, is extremely fucked up due to just how horrible its designed. But still, it's better than the crap that's MKD's and MKA's gameplays, though that's not saying much of anything.

Ew, I would hardly call Johnny Cage's arrival at Shang Tsung's island or his ending to be shining moments. If anything, they enforce his shallowness as a character, despite whatever goodness and nobility may be in him.

I don't really see what you said about Sonya to be a shining moment. It's not like it was really all that different from something in her previous appearances.

Yeah, Jax has a new rival, not that it was interesting or anything.

I don't see what's so fairly well developed about Moloch's story. He and Drahmin basically served as obstacles to Scorpion, only to find themselves being betrayed by Quan Chi. Then when in Outworld, they basically go around eating people. What separates Drahmin from Moloch is his backstory and complexity. Moloch is a pretty 1-dimensional oaf.
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To X: Interesting thing you said about Johnny Cage's relevance suffering from the loss of Liu Kang.

The problem with Kung Lao is that his ending mentions something that has already been established, so you know what that means, right?

I see what you mean regarding Kitana. One thing I didn't like is that with the big involvement Kitana had in both diplomatic and militaristic affairs, it kind of pisses on Sindel's potential to have impact in affairs like that.

I don't think we're going to get much of an exploration into the relationship between Sonya and Sub-Zero. It would be kind of interesting, and if they were to do it, I'd expect to see it in an adventure game.

About Nitara, so that was what you were referring to. I had thought it was hypnotism (or maybe just Nitara being sexy ).

About the Dragon King thing, as well as his so-called "undefeatable army", I see what you're saying. MKD did mess some things up, but some of those things could've been salvaged if given exploration.

Considering the combination of Scorpion's MK4 and MKDA bios, as well as the bits mentioned in Sub-Zero's MKDA Konquest mission, it seems clear to me that Scorpion has indeed chased the younger Sub-Zero for many years, ever since MK2, believing him to be responsible for killing his family and clan, either because he blames all of the Lin Kuei, began to think that the younger Sub-Zero, not the older Sub-Zero was the true killer, or simply that Scorpion thinks the Sub-Zero he's been after since MK2 is the same Sub-Zero who killed him. Either way, it's a huge mess that may never be fixed.

But yes, even if he did vow to protect Sub-Zero, Scorpion has still lost his way.

*pops in, looks at Titanic posts*

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*calmly walks over to the calendar and tears off all sticky notes and messages for the next week*

To Sub-Zero7th:

First off, I have to say in the words of Sergeant Hartman, "HOLY DOG SHIT!!!" =-o Talk about a series of lengthy posts. Oh well, at least it keeps the topic alive and the posts themselves are nice and constructive and all that good stuff as always.

LOL. Thanks! Took me a long time.

Who is in charge of D.P. btw? Not that Im begging for any but honestly, I would say I got some well disserved points for the bible written up there and down here.

Regarding Liu Kang, I think what worked against him was that we didn't get enough insight into his character and didn't see much development of him as a character until later on.

Very true.

I have to disagree with Kung Lao. The thing about pre-MKSM Kung Lao is that he was trying NOT to be the main hero, not wanting to be the Champion of Mortal Kombat. His MKSM self is the very cliched hot head, who WANTS to be the Champion of Mortal Kombat. That's why I feel that his MKSM self is the horrible version. As for Kung Lao's originality, in actuality, he isn't really that original of a character, but at least he's more compelling than Liu Kang as we get a better insight into Kung Lao's character, and the concept of this skilled and noble warrior being a reluctant hero has more appeal to me.

As stated ages ago and numerous times, no character is, overall, original, but when talking about Mk, you can see there are some that stand out as more original then others, despite their “versions” being already used in other games.

On Kung Lao, I still prefer his egotistical annoying personality of MKSM and his kind of tense moments with Liu Kang, but I forgot to add in my previous posts that I DO agree that I hate the version of him wanting to be Mks champion. I like his established way of thinking of the games, not desiring to be the hero, but MKSM made him interesting with that addition of rudeness, though he was fucked up entirely with the “I want to be Liu Kang!!!” crap, but well, all the characters in that game except Kahn, Mileena, Jade, Jax, and Johnny Cage (and a few others) were ruined.

The thing with Liu Kang's ending is that it would set him up to take Raiden's place, which in turn fucks Fujin over big time. Given the way Liu Kang's story has been, I personally feel that it's much better to see him defeat his corporeal form and ascend to the Heavens, otherwise, his story will keep dragging.

I see your point, but if they manage to make Kang ascend for good, I don’t want to see Fujin stuck as a new version of Rayden. I rather see Fujin take a different direction then the one they established for him during MK4 and MKDA.

About Sub-Zero, I disagree. He started off rather simple in MK2, but MK3 was one of his big turning points and he is forced to work alongside the heroes to ensure his survival. This leads to him becoming something of a hero himself, which leads to him beginning to forge his own destiny, which really shines when we get to MKDA. I agree that they shouldn't follow up on the concept of his MKA ending.

In what you disagree? Your views are exactly the same as mine in the post you just did. For me, Mk3 and MkDA and forward are great moments for Sub-Zero (specially MKDA). Now, Mk2 and Mk4 Sub-Zero are nothing close to special or interesting. I almost forgot the character existed in those games, it seemed like he was there...because he just happened to be there (almost, because his fatalities were wicked ).

Regarding Kitana, what do you mean by real personality? I'm not understanding that.

What pretty much is being said around. Theres no real sense of authenticity in her persona. Her diplomatic role and leader princess appeal should be expanded to feel more charismatic.

The reason why the battle is taking place in Edenia is due to Argus' Pyramid being in Edenia and the fact that Argus is/was Edenia's Protector God, with Delia, an Edenian sorceress, as his wife.

Lol, yeah, I know that , but what I was wondering is, if that was done on purpose. With lack, even if its sad, Edenia might be lost in this catastrophic war, and that will be enough to push the Edenian ladies into a different scenario (potential).

About her interaction with Bo' Rai Cho, the thing is that he comes off as this very silly and ill-mannered buffoon, hence Kitana's displeasured reaction to him.

But that’s when you see personality and integrity. Being able to overlook the things that might annoy us to see that inside lies a powerful and noble soul gives you humbleness.

For her story, Sonya's is pretty well developed. As a character, the development is rather stagnant, maybe even nonexistent. I do think that she does have some importance to the story, especially considering the OIA. I don't think I'd consider her a "pure hero", but she's noble overall.

A pure hero bitch, that’s what she is!

I do have to disagree about her MKA bio. To me, all I saw was only a story development, with her having yet another new enemy, this time in the form of Sektor and the Tekunin. But as a character, she's pretty much the same "tough, aggressive bitch" that everyone knows and fans love. I would've liked to have gotten a bit of insight to the time in which she was enslaved by Onaga and how that would affect her personality and maybe even view on some things. But the fact that she has never really grown as a character is one of the things that holds me back from liking her more than I would like to.

I too would had loved more insight on the Onaga disastrous bit of storyline, like I have stated a zillion of times. All seem to have been fucked up with that, because despite their deaths and resurrection being lame, they seem to have forgotten all about it. Its like it never even happened. That part of the story, for me, screwed MKD big time. As for Sonya the tough bitch, I guess we will agree to disagree. I have said many times that I agree that I would had loved to see more development then the one that was given, but sadly, they seem to establish her an specific role and because of her importance, her role is vast and can explore and tie with many others, making them forget to explore more deeply into Sonyas soul. Sonya is extremely active in all games, that might had affected her soul development part.

I think you're going rather easy on Scorpion. He's a lot worse than that. He was a character that once had potential for excellence. That pretty much went down the drain thanks to MK4, MKDA, MKSM, and MKA.

LOL. You have seen my posts about the ninja before, and I even made a very controversial thread ages ago. If I remember correctly, it was during the time were everyone seemed to be in love with him for reasons unknown to me, so I was one of the few to come out and start contradicting the fanboys etc and managed to get some positive reaction from many, a thing I didn’t expect. It was like, the “beginning of a noble movement”, lol, great days. So, I didn’t feel the need to explore more because, well, all was basically said.

I see his MKA ending is very bad, nothing good in it. Why? For his family and clan to be brought back to life and for him to be reunited with them is very sugarcoated, just as sugarcoated as the concept of Liu Kang returning to his human self and living with Kitana happily ever after. But it doesn't stop there! Oh no! It doesn't! Quan Chi has to appear out of nowhere and kidnap Scorpion's son, taking him to the Netherrealm. Guess what that leads to? REVENGE! Sure, Scorpion is on a mission to save his son, but revenge is still going to be involved in that type of story direction.

That’s why I said, it works well WITHOUT the stupid involvement of Quan Chi, and without the stupid resurrection bit. The idea of his wife and son being involved is great, and has potential, as long as its fallowed very differently then hinted in his ending. My vies in the matter above are the same as yours.

I have to disagree about the Goro bit. If anything, Goro returning to Shao Kahn's side was horrible, even if there is some logic to it.

But, that’s exactly what I said! For me, that destroyed Goro even more.

Sure, Quan Chi has been mentioned in various MKA bios so far, but to call him boring and redundant is going a little extreme, imo. Yes, he's working with Shinnok again, but since we both know how Quan Chi is, there is something that's cooking, especially sincce he has Shinnok's Amulet again.

But we have gotten that boring plot of him “cooking something” in the past already, theres nothing exciting about it anymore. And working with Shinnok IS a big let down to his character, just like its sad to see Goro and Shang Tsung under Shao Kahns command once more. And I don’t think its extreme; honestly, with the way things have been working in the past, its not looking that good for Quan Chi. I DO hope Im wrong, and hey, they can pull a “Johnny Cage” with him and surprise us as all, but as of now, he feels redundant. I repeat though, I CAN and hope to be wrong.

The Quan Chi/Scorpion bit is something I completely disagree with. Since when has Quan Chi's story been dependant on Scorpion being involved in it? He can hold his own as a character, especially given his origins and how he works. But yes, I agree that Shao Kahn, Quan Chi, and Shang Tsung should go.

I never said or implied Quan Chi cant do his own thing, he is one of those characters with huge potential! But the sad truth is that his development, whether one likes it or not, seems to depend on Scorpion (a big parto fit anyways). Why? Just look at Scorpions MKA ending. And since it seems Scorpion will be around forever, and if they don’t make him progress, well, what can you expect from Quan Chi, who is forced to be tied with the ninja until closure is finally seen? THAT’S my point.

I'm going to have to go with X about Shinnok and Onaga. The reason why he didn't consider them to be main antagonists is because of how they haven't been in many games and haven't quite had the development that other villains have had. Maybe if Shinnok were to continue on, he could be considered a main antagonist down the line. The same can be said about Mileena.

I disagree about Kano being a main antagonist. He simply does not have as much impact as other antagonists do. He's not even really that close. I mean, if you're going to consider him a main antagonist, I'm surprised you didn't mention Tanya as one.

Being new isn’t a good enough reason not to consider them the potential threats they are. And Kano is not as far as you make it sound, sure he is not the big evil King, but he fits well with them, a lot more then Tanya (a character I have loved since Mk4), a lot more.

Scorpion and Quan Chi: lol, this one, I very much disagree with. I'm not even sure how you got this idea. I don't feel like they are two sides of the same coin.

That’s why I said I could only think of Quan Chi. I did express my doubt about this partner ship, but if we take into account Scorpions post-retcon bit, Quan Chi suits there nicely. I like it more then the Noob choice anyways.

Liu Kang and Shang Tsung: yeah...As for Liu Kang and Raiden...maybe

Liu and dark Rayden are full of potential for this!

Sonya: Considering how relatively shallow the rivalry between Sonya and Kano is, I don't know if there's enough to say that they are each other's antithesis. Jax COULD become Sonya's antithesis if they brought them back and developed the story path Jax's is taking.

For reasons I stated above, I think its good. And yes, Jax would be great! I think John heard us the fans. I wrote many elaborated theories in the past about Sonya having to deal with her best friend and even getting to the point of killing him because of evil being involved in the way, and best of all, it would rock if it was a natural evil, not some sort of forced corruption, though that still works just as nicely.

As for Kano's ending, it was very horrible, imo. I would think it had to do something regarding Sonya or even Mavado, but nope. We get some garbage about him turning into a half-man/half-black dragon hybrid. I can't believe you actually like that.

I disagree.

Remember that the endings don’t necessarily mean they will be 100% like they are told. The way I see it, Kano was screwed, and at the moment, that’s good news for him. I don’t picture him as a silly half human half beast thing, I see more, theres depth in terms of his development. The effectiveness of the experiments done on him can kick off some interesting twists in his mind and soul.

But yes, I DO agree I wanted to see some mention of Sonya and Mavado in his ending, but oh well, MKA didn’t give any finality or closure as it promised so, no big news.

I think that Raiden's MKA ending is hardly a reference to his MK1 ending. They are different for different reasons. Pre-retcon MK1 Raiden was simply a prideful deity who wanted to display his superiority over mortals. Post-MKDA Raiden is a deity who uses radical and extremist methods to ensure peace and order for Earthrealm.

Yeah, I know that, but I prefer to see it that way because his ending in MKA is horrible. It does make sense with his current crazy temper, but making sense doesn’t stop it from being awful.

I kind of like Bo' Rai Cho as well. I don't think a romantic relationship with Li Mei is a good idea. I see their relationship as more father/daughter.

Awwww, , I LOVE the possible romance Bo and Li Mei could have...its so, well, imo it can be very deep. But yeah, a sort of father/daughter thing could work as well.

I too think the Shokan have played their role. I never really had all that much interest in them, especially Sheeva, who, imo, has been a total waste of a character since her debut in MK3. At least her gameplay is better in MKA than it was in MK3-MKT.

Aw come one, the SHOKANS ROCK! I cant think of Mk without them, but like you said...I think they played their role. Unless they take the Shokan-Centaur conflict into something more serious and develop a new role for the beasts instead of just being big army soldiers. And I disagree, Sheeva was anything but a waste in Mk3, she pretty much established (with the help of Motaro) the races rivalry, and like Goro, played her part decently well as protector of Sindel, and her personality was well elaborated with her suspicious feelings toward Kahn and her being forced to work along side Motaro, he being in a superior status. Her ending was pretty cool too. But I do hope MKA gives us more, if they pull a “Jarek” with her....as much as I hate to say it...bye bye sexy Sheeva.

I know you're a big fan of Johnny Cage, but despite me liking the character and story development they gave him for MKA, I personally feel it's a bit too late,

This, in essence, is fully contradictory to various posts I have seen around (not talking specifically only about you). Because some feel its too late, they deny Cage the chance, but despite others being as late as him, like Scorpion, Smoke, Jade, and many more Im too lazy to name (even if some their development has been better), they are granted the opportunity.

If MKA is the end of Cage, its all well because they did justice to him. But its better if its not, because he still has a kick or two to deliver before the good bye song.

and I would actually like that part of his MKA ending to happen in which he goes away from his superficial life. That would be a much better ending to his story than marrying Sonya and living happily ever after, imo. I know you're a Cage/Sonya shipper, but because of the nature of their relationship not really being shown in the games, it kind of doesn't work well at this point and time.

Sonya+Cage--------Bombastic Orgasmic Platonic Fanboy classic hilarious love!!!! Yes, Im a crazy shipper for this two because they fit perfectly for each other, and hey, that was BEFORE the movies gave it more depth. To each his own I guess. And I agree, his ending in MKA is perfect, but who says they couldn’t tie Sonya in it anyways? I know you dont think like me on this subject, but like I said, to each his own, lol.

I think you're reading more into Johnny Cage's MKA bio than it's supposed to. Johnny Cage is being fooled by Shinnok to leading the heroes to their doom. I hope you have realized and understood this by now. He was supposed to defeat Shinnok's doppelganger. It was all part of Shinnok's twisted and ingenious plan to get rid of all his enemies. As for the psychic powers thing, again, I think you're reading more into it than it's supposed to. This is another part of Shinnok's deceptive plan.

Im not.

Im well aware Johnny Cage is being fooled by Shinnok, and that’s exactly what adds more depth to his character then before.

And even if he is being tricked, all warriors were going to eventually gather and fight, one way or the other, an specific situation was going to take place and lead them to war during that precise time (Nitara and Ashrah are big examples, guided there by pure coincidence? I doubt it, it just had to be like that, obviously for story purposes but the hint is clear).

Tricked or not, he is fulfilling a very prominent and high role (probably even THE role), and I wouldn’t say he is guiding them to their doom, as we have seen or can guess, Shinnoks plan will eventually backfire, and thanks to Johnny Cage and a few others, for he will lead the heroes to prevent this. If they all sat and waited, it would be a war of all the bad guys, and well, that wouldn’t have a happy ending for anyone but the victor, unless they go mad or something.

Shinnoks needs them to kill each other, but Shinnok is clearly underestimating their powers despite his defeat. With them there, he is in graver danger to loose then without them.

For Kung Lao, again, I disagree. His arrogant self is the Kung Lao that wants to be in the spotlight and be the Mortal Kombat Champion. The Kung Lao that I like is the one that doesn't want to be the main hero and would rather live his life in peace.

Agreed. I like the Kung Lao who doesn’t want to be the hero, but I also like the annoying bitchy Kung Lao (just take out the part of him dying to be future champion) who plays a great contrast to Liu Kang. If he stays as we know him...he is just, well, a frustrated Liu Kang, and we have already seen/felt that.

I hope you're joking about Ermac having the deepest story of all the Ninja-type characters. Sub-Zero has far more depth to his story than Ermac's. I really can't believe you said that. But yeah, I hope his MKA ending won't happen.

Why would I be joking about this? Honestly, while I LOVE Sub-Zero and (like I have said a zillion times lol) I am fascinated with his great improvement in the latest games, Ermac, despite having been around for much lesser time, doing less, and taking into account that he started as a mistake, feels supreme. Both have potential, but the key point to Ermac is that he, from where he is standing, can easily go everywhere and anywhere he wants. Sub-Zero cant do much, he is still stuck in his role, and his sub-plot still needs closure or development (theres still things that need to be covered), and its going to take sometime unless drastic changes are made. Sub-Zero, for me, takes the honor of being No2 on my list.

I would love to have Jade continue on and develop into something more. However, if they aren't going to do anything bigger with her, perhaps it is best if she were to die. I love the character, but I wouldn't want her to keep being in Kitana's shadow.

I agree. And Jade is pretty much in Johnn Cages position. Sure she was lucky to get more development, but it wasn’t that strong, pretty much equal to Cages by a hair. Both disserve a chance, hopefully her bio gives us a new light of Jade this time around.

Sareena is somewhat of a new character. I think she has a pretty good personality as this conflicted character who wants to be good but has to battle the demonic instincts that makes up her nature.

I have always liked Sareenas presence, but I don’t consider her to be as jaw-dropping as other fans. Sure she has potential, and with her excellent bio in MKA, Im sure we can expect more great things from her.

I like Kenshi as well, and I hope to see him return. However, I kind of disagree with you about the main hero thing, namely because of the simple fact that he does not like to be involved in the affairs of "good" and "evil". He is much more of a neutral character, and I hope you can keep that in mind about him.

Exactly.

That’s an excellent contrast to the “heroes” we are used to having or hope to have in MK. That’s what makes him so suitable and perfect for the role.

I actually think Kano could've beaten Sonya in MK1 and taking sadistic pleasure in seeing her comrades be killed.

Assumptions I guess.

I wont lie for I do agree the idea is nice, but it feels just as weird as thinking Shao Kahn could had been badly defeated during Mk2. Takes a lot of character away from him for his future games, in contrast to saying it “adds depth” to their final showdown in the rooftops of the bank, in their epic battle.

That could easily explain how they don't survive anyway.

Easy thing since:

A.- Shang Tsung doesn’t strike as someone who will honor his promises.
B.- She didn’t win the tournament anyway so they were going to die, and...
C.- Shang Tsung was planning to kill them all anyways.

I do like the idea of Sonya having faced horrible pain after knowing she lost against someone, during a key moment were her failure would immediately determinate the death of his friends. Her fault. But Kano? Nah...he, as proven, is a very capable warrior and general, but this rivalry is so damn personal Sonya would just not allow him to win, at all. Just my opinion.

And also, Kano defeating Sonya in MK1 makes Sonya's victory against Kano in MK3 more valuable as that little story plot comes full circle, even it is a rather smaller circle.

No, not really that much. That’s just hyped up because of the analysis. And the story plot isn’t as little as you make it sound, for it’s a crucial moment for both characters, for the general SF/OIA plot and for the classic sense of nostalgia in the game (they pretty much made a big deal of this qualities by referring to it with ostentatious words). After having escaped her so much, after failing to get him to justice making Kanos path easier for the most horrifying criminal actions then any other human terrorist has done in the world, her victory against the coward that helped and allowed the almost ultimate destruction of Earth is pretty valuable and high.

I could possibly see Scorpion spare Sonya, but it would because he only cares about going after Sub-Zero. As for Sub-Zero against Sonya, he would have definitely killed her. Why? It's simply because the older Sub-Zero has that "only one of us can make it out alive" type mentality, hence why he killed Scorpion 2 years prior to MK1's timeline.

Sure, but if he saw her on the ground, plainly defeated, his primary care is going after Scorpion as well. He might had even sense that she, like him, had a score to settle, just as personal as his with Scorpion, so he could understand that and allowed her to continue. Maybe, he did not consider her worthy enough for the “honor” of dying at his hands, or simply, he was impressed, and just like with Sareena, he might had had some soft spot for an specific type of woman and let her live.

It would be interesting imo. Either Scorpion or Sub-Zero if we are to assume Sonya lost to someone, because she didn’t necessary have the need to loose for her team to be killed. That could had happened during the very end or medium beginning.

Well, MKSM's story does seem to imply that Raiden didn't take part in the tournament, it retcons Raiden's already retconned MK1 storyline. Btw, regarding the spelling of his name, Rayden does sound more fitting from a pronounciation standpoint. However, from a spelling standpoint, it's completely erroneous. You have to understand that Raiden is a Japanese term for "thunder and lightning" and the actual pronouncation is different from how it's pronounced in the MK games. I'm not knocking on you for spelling his name as "Rayden". I'm just pointing out things like that to you, that's all.

No worries and thanks for the info! I knew all that already, but the thing is, I, for some weird reason, feel obligated or, a better word maybe, I feel USED to writing Rayden with an “Y”, why? Because that’s how it was originally. I guess, since it doesn’t really change much of him, I allow myself to keep calling him Rayden as I first knew him like, and not Raiden, which to me, looks weird. Lol.

I didn't see a problem with his involvement in MK4. I'm not quite sure what you're talking about, especially given the way MK4's story is.

Im not quite sure what you are talking about either, lol. What do you mean by this?

Considering Liu Kang's 4 Mortal Kombat victories (note that I didn't use the word "tournament" in it), and also given Liu Kang's and Shao Kahn's MK3-MKT bios, it seems pretty damn clear to me that there was a fight between Liu Kang and Shao Kahn, in which Liu Kang was victorious.

Er, yes, I don’t remember saying the opposite. Again, our same views. OR are you referring to Mk2? If so, then that can easily be explained, as I and others pointed out in previous points. Maybe he didn’t even get to Shao Kahn, but still won fighting the second main bad guy (mostlikely Shang Tsung). Is this what you are talking about?

About MKSM's ending, considering what is likely to have been implied in Quan Chi's MKA ending, I have a feeling that some part of MKSM's ending, namely the part with Quan Chi, did in fact happen.

Agreed. Again, exactly my views.

Whether his MK3 story had truly been retconned or not, it doesn't change the craptacular quality of Johnny Cage's overall storyline. The only thing he has going for his story is his MKA story, and even then, he's being deceived by Shinnok into leading the heroes to their ultimate doom.

I agree about his “craptacular” quality, but that’s mostly due to the possibility of a retcon and the fact that he didn’t get more development, despite just being loyal and noble, always ready to fight. But I insist, no matter what way you look at it, Shinnoks deception doesn’t take away any points from Cage, it adds power to his development, and in finality, he might be leading the heroes to Shinnoks doom, and not vice versa. The fight was going to take place anyways, there wasn’t much to do against the prophesy.

Nothing was ever said of Rain's bio being retconned, just his ending never being made canon, that's all. Yes, I too was very disappointed as to how much his MKA bio was lacking. Rain may have had a bit of interaction with Kitana in MK3, but it doesn't really matter much anyway.

Agreed, Im just glad they didn’t make him a good guy. He actually got a very glowing role in MKA, a role that needs to expand if he is to return, into more then just being the angry brother who seeks power. HE can do much. For me, MkU Rain is nothing compared to MKA Rain, in all possible aspects.

I think what X may have meant with Shao Kahn getting weaker with Sindel regaining her memories and turning on him was that Shao Kahn had to have fed off of the power of Earthrealm and if he were to have that access closed to him, he wouldn't be as powerful.

Hmm, I see. But the access would still be legitimate since, whether she likes it or not, she is his Queen (forced of course). And if she decides to break ties, they are still on a world that, by the unholy act of his nature, belongs to both unless Shao Kahn is defeated. Loosing the queen doesn’t stop him from loosing the realm, that will be settled with his ultimate defeat. Its like in a war, it only seems to be lost when the real leader bites the dust, and theres no one to take his spot.

Regarding Kung Lao and Liu Kang, no, I think that Shao Kahn did fight Kung Lao and defeated him, making Liu Kang's determination to take down the Outworld Emperor even stronger.

Hmmm, its possible of course, but by the sounds of the endings, I prefer to think both stormed through Kahns minions, and Kung Lao was gravely defeated, this allowed Liu Kang to explode and place the right kick into the Emperors demonic soul. Doing it alone gives Kang more value as the immortal champion of Mk.

MK4's comic is non canon as it's not written by John Tobias, and there are little bits that conflict with what was established in the games. So there's no orb that affected Sindel. Basically, Tanya invited Shinnok, Quan Chi, and their warriors from a portal, which Sindel allows, only to find that the portal leads to the Netherrealm.

I don’t remember the number, but there were two magazines: Gamepro (Im very sure of this one) and if Im not mistaking, either Gameinformer or Nintendo Power (don’t remember), that both had exclusive interviews with both Ed and John, and while promoting and talking about the new era of Mk and new elements that Mk4 was going to bring, they referred to the comic book (adding that it was a special collectors item for the PC buyers only) as a an “official guide” that related the events after Mk3 and previews of the main war in Mk4 before the kombat, giving “backstory of each character and Mks mythology”.

It was pretty hyped up and they did use the word official rather a lot, moving on, they clearly implied the comic as canon. I haven’t seen anything afterwards that reveals the comic isn’t canon. As for now, we have 3 canon comics (Mk1, Mk2, Mk4) and some that were cancelled (MKD). In the interview they even said they regretted not doing a canon comic for Mk3, for they would had loved to give more insight to the story, and that was one of the reasons they focused on Mk4s comic.

As far as I know, its canon, unless recent interviews cancel that fact.

Sektor's bio in MKG is non canon as the retcon in Cyrax's storyline makes Sektor's story null and void. In MKG, the Lin Kuei rescue Cyrax. However, MKDA retcons this by having Sonya and Jax rescue him and eventually restoring some of his humanity.

Damn, I still kind of don’t understand. Can you elaborate a bit more please?

I completely disagree with Goro. Despite the MK4 bio being non canon, it does Goro's character justice as we get an insight into his character and see actual development in him. He's not some typical brute warrior with no brains but is instead a powerful warrior who cares about the safety and well being of his people and has his own sense of honor and duty. Why did he keep changing sides like that? It's simple. He's someone who has a sense of duty about ensuring the safety of his people and will aid those who give him the best deal.

But that was perfectly established in his role with Kahn in MKD. There was no real need to make him good if he was going to change sides yet again. I never really found Goro to be only a brute beast btw, we knew there was more then just that, but with him being good in Mk4-MkDA...agh. I dislike it.

Shinnok's bio better explain a hell of A LOT more than the things you mentioned. The whole stuff regarding the Amulet is very fucking confusing and almost pisses me off greatly.

Lol. I 100% agree.

Now about MKDA, I know you love it and it's your favorite. I like it myself, but the gameplay, while somewhat fun, is extremely fucked up due to just how horrible its designed. But still, it's better than the crap that's MKD's and MKA's gameplays, though that's not saying much of anything.

MKDA is the best orgasm I have ever had.......oh God, *looks around and walks away slowly*.

Ew, I would hardly call Johnny Cage's arrival at Shang Tsung's island or his ending to be shining moments. If anything, they enforce his shallowness as a character, despite whatever goodness and nobility may be in him.

LMAO!!! No no no. You got me wrong. I didn’t put that in for someone to take seriously or as some intriguing factor that could reveal a secret that would save the world. Its something like my add of “Mokaps eccentric balls” in the end.

But at the same time, its nothing like that. Because even though that adds absolutely nothing to his crappy story during that time, its still a very cool touch. I loved that thing about Cage, more then seeing him as shallow, I see it as a funny drama-queen eccentric pretty boy. Again, it adds nothing to the story, but it’s a nice touch and it suits Cages easy-going “lets calm a bit and think before getting our panties in a bunch” personality well. It was cool.

I don't really see what you said about Sonya to be a shining moment. It's not like it was really all that different from something in her previous appearances.

Lol. Like I said, the sinning moments I mentioned above have to do with important elements on the story, and important elements on each character (and more, read the Cage bit again). This game reinforcement of her qualities is great.

Yeah, Jax has a new rival, not that it was interesting or anything.

Its all relative then. Depends on how you see it. I personally cant see whats not so interesting about this. Sure we have seen this in the past with other characters, but FOR Jax, it’s a big moment. Anger is explored, same as determination and best of all, he is no longer under Sonyas shadow. His MKU bio and ending reinforce this even more. That’s why its so good. I don’t think his role is as boring as you make it sound.

I don't see what's so fairly well developed about Moloch's story.

Oh oh oh, I was mostly referring to the revelations given to us in the Krypt (final or not) and his role in Drahmns, the DA and Scorpions plot and Konquest. He is not really that one dimensional (MKA will let us know for now), he can expand. His role was built very nicely for a sub-boss and new character that seemed to have not much importance, and that his only role was to be the Kintaro of Mk2. I think Moloch is great. Needs serious development, but he is great. I guess I wouldn’t miss him if we died, but I admit I would love to see him again just to see more of that “owl bringing his huge metallic ball from the skies, and him emerging from the ground” story.



LOL! Go ahead and read. I would love to hear your opinions, plus, I think I wrote a post directly for you at the very end.

I'm not the one who can give DPs here, sorry.

I still disagree about Kung Lao. The whole annoying, egotistical jackass persona is very cliche and unnecessary for his character. There is already a contrast between Kung Lao and Liu Kang, and for them to change his persona to give a more obvious contrast is silly, imo.

The thing about Fujin is that he's already been made the new Protector God of Earthrealm. We should at least see how he does in that role, what he does simiarly and differently from Raiden.

For Sub-Zero, I thought you were implying thatMKDA was his only turning point or something along those lines. I think his MK4 story would've been more interesting had they did some actual exploration with the secrets he knows and just how he'll be useful to the heroes in their war against Shinnok and his forces.

I don't really see what's wrong with the way she's been handling things. My only little problem is that it makes Sindel's role as Queen of Edenia rather insignificant.

Well, yeah, Bo' Rai Cho is more than what he seems, but I think Kitana was perhaps a bit impatient.

For Quan Chi and Scorpion, him being forced to be tied with Scorpion is why Scorpion is dependant on characters like Quan Chi and not the other way around.

It's the newness of villains like Onaga that holds them back from them being main antagonists. You see, we haven't really seen much from them as villains. They don't have the length and consistency as villains that Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn have. The consistency thing is a factor as to why Shinnok isn't much of a main antagonist, especially with him being rather overshadowed by Quan Chi in MK4. However, given his MKA storyline, it does seem that Shinnok coule easily become a main antagonist.

I still can't agree about Kano. I'd say that MK3 and MKDA were the biggest parts of his entire story. Everything else is rather mediocre. Sure, he may have become Shao Kahn's general after MK3, but as a villain, he hasn't really stepped up.

Whether we are talking about pre-retcon or post-retcon Scorpion, Quan Chi is still simply not his antithesis. It just doesn't make sense.

I'm aware of the nature of the endings in MK. It's just that I don't like the concept of the direction taken in Kano's MKA ending. Sure, it's relevant to what happened to him after MKDA, but I just don't like the concept of the whole half-human/half-black dragon thing. And besides, I don't care much for his character anyway. *imagines him as a human/dragon hybrid saying "I'm gunna wrestle me-self, mate!"*

I just don't have that much interest for the Shokan and Centaur races, but at least they are better than the shallow and overly 1-dimensional Tarkatan race. As for Sheeva herself, I never cared for the character. Yeah, her story does reveal the whole Shokan-Centaur animosity and Shao Kahn secretly about to turn on the Shokan. Actually, I do think that's part of why Goro joined Kitana. Anyway, back to that sub-plot, I just don't care much for it. If Sheeva's overall presentation had been much better, I wouldn't have minded her.

I know what you're trying to say about Johnny Cage, but I guess it's because I don't care much for the character, and even less with Jax, I don't really want to bother seeing them return, especially since they've been in the series for so long, while characters like Jade haven't been in too many games. As for the Cage/Sonya pairing, I don't think it would work if they go in the direction of JC's ending. I guess I'm trying to look for the less sugarcoated type stuff, hence why I think Liu Kang should ascend to the Heavens and not be with Kitana.

Shinnok's plan is already backfiring since the quest has been corrupted, as well as Blaze's design. So instead of his enemies being wiped out, what is more likely to happen is a very unforseen outcome, one that will more likely not work in his or most others' favors.

I still don't agree about Ermac having the deepest story of all the Ninja-type characters. You seem to be confusing versatility with depth. Sub-Zero has been around longer and has come a long way, growing and developing into the leader he is now. I don't see how Ermac supposedly being able to go everywhere and anywhere he wants as having more depth to his story than Sub-Zero's. It just doesn't make sense at all.

The thing with Sub-Zero's story is that given the way it is, closure would best be given later on. There is just so much more that can and should be done with Sub-Zero. There still needs to be exploration with the whole Cyromancer armor thing, learning more about what the Cryomancers were all about and what drove them to near extinction. Then we have the rivalry with his brother, Noob Saibot, which could be developed further. Sub-Zero could even possibly be developed into the next main hero, though I personally wouldn't want that.

Yeah, Jade is in a similar position to Johnny Cage's. However, like I said before, what separates them is that Johnny Cage has been in the MK games since the very first one and has been in almost all the MK games. On the other hand, Jade hasn't been in too many games.

The thing about Kenshi is that he doesn't really care about being a hero. Pre-retcon Kung Lao is more or less the same way. If Kenshi were to be the main hero, he would have to be properly built up into it. Personally, I'd rather see him take a different direction.

Sub-Zero's primary care is not going after Scorpion. He's after Shang Tsung. Sub-Zero would not give a damn about Sonya's score to settle with Kano, whether he knew or sensed that she had such. Like I said, he's the kind of character with a very survivalist mentality. Regarding the whole Sareena thing, as of now, it's very ambigious as to why she was the only one he has spared.

About Raiden's name, it originally started out as "Raiden". It was because of the whole copyright issues that they changed the spelling of his name to "Rayden" for the home consoles until when MK4 came around. Speaking of MK4, I was referring to when you were taling about him not being allowed to play a role in the affairs of the realms due to his status, saying that the same story was followed with MK4 and MKDA. I didn't see how there was a problem in MK4 for him to intefere, especially since the Elder Gods themselves are in danger.

Yes, I was referring to MK2 with Liu Kang's victory. You could be right about him facing Shang Tsung instead of Shao Kahn.

I know what you mean with JC's MKA story. The battle in the Edenian crater is inevitable. But aside from his MKA story, his overall story had been extremely lackluster.

I agree about Rain. I hope they can have him return, especially as an antagonist towards Taven and possibly even Jade.

About Kung Lao and Shao Kahn, well, his MKG bio seems to imply that he did fight Shao Kahn and was greatly injured from his battle with him. Then again, perhaps his bio really meant Shao Kahn's forces.

You may be right about the MK4 comic, but considering how it's not written by John Tobias as has some contradictions in it that conflict with story elements in MK4, I don't know if it should be taken as canon. If it is canon, then it's not 100% canon.

About Sektor and Cyrax's stories, in MKG, it is stated that Cyrax is rescued from his desert prison by the Lin Kuei and was physically repaired. However, his behavior is different from behavior, which make the Lin Kuei Grandmaster suspcious. So what the Lin Kuei does is send Sektor to watch and report on Cyrax to determine whether or not it should be Cyrax's last mission.

However, all of this is thrown out the window thanks to the story elements in MKDA. Instead of being rescued by the Lin Kuei, Cyrax is instead rescued by Sonya and Jax. Because of this, Sektor's MKG story is pretty nonexistent, which screws him over a bit.

Before MK4, I don't see how you saw more to Goro than his outer appearance. It's not like much of his story hinted anything of the sort.

Yes, Jax's anger is explored since MKDA, but at the same time, they fuck him over by making him into such a stereotype.

Moloch's story is just ok. It could be worse, I guess. I just find him to be a very annoying character.

I’m not the one who can give DPs here, sorry. I still disagree about Kung Lao. The whole annoying, egotistical jackass persona is very cliche and unnecessary for his character. There is already a contrast between Kung Lao and Liu Kang, and for them to change his persona to give a more obvious contrast is silly, imo.

Don’t worry about the DP, I already knew you couldn’t, I was just wondering if they were going to do it anyways. On Lao, I can see what you are saying about him, its a very used cliché, that’s true, but clichés seem to be part of Mk anyways, and thank God most clichés in Mk aren’t awful enough to make us think the overall story is corny, just a few things (MKSM comes to mind). I do agree on that. But that contrast of which you speak, which is good, just doesn’t feel strong enough in the story itself, not because its not valid, but because it doesn’t feel its taking Kung Lao anywhere, because it seems the team isn’t aware of his position, not entirely anyways. In reality, its us who make the characters shine this bright, I don’t even think the team is aware of their full potential or development, which is really sad.

I guess it does feel clichéd to have Kung Lao as an egotistical bitch, but for some reason (assuming and hoping he still keeps the “I don’t want to be the hero” personality), I find it more attractive and distinctive for him then how he has been presented all this time. It gives him personality, something he has lacked severely despite his noble and honorable intentions. But don’t get me wrong, I can see and am fully aware (and agree) of the deep potential he has with the established personality they gave him for Mk2, Mk3 and maybe Mkda.

The thing about Fujin is that he's already been made the new Protector God of Earthrealm. We should at least see how he does in that role, what he does simiarly and differently from Raiden.

Hmmm, I guess I agree. Hey, what if Fujin started doing things wrong? Not wrong with evil intentions, but just, starting to fail by not being as caring or patient with the Earth heroes Rayden loves so much? Would be pretty interesting and most definitely make him a lot more different then Rayden (I will do some exploration of this during the MKA discussion later on)..

For Sub-Zero, I thought you were implying that MKDA was his only turning point or something along those lines. I think his MK4 story would've been more interesting had they did some actual exploration with the secrets he knows and just how he'll be useful to the heroes in their war against Shinnok and his forces.

Glad this was settled. I too agree that Mk3 was a stellar moment for Subby like I posted in my earlier analysis. Such a great story. And yeah, Mk4 would had made him rock if they had explored those secrets he knew. But it seemed they just decided to forget about that specific interesting factor, like with Mileenas ability to read Kitanas mind, Sonyas alliance with Jarek, etc.

OR maybe, those factors might be explored (with loads of luck) in MKA...a place Shinnok and the amulet seem to play a huge role.

Well, yeah, Bo' Rai Cho is more than what he seems, but I think Kitana was perhaps a bit impatient.

Yeah.

For Quan Chi and Scorpion, him being forced to be tied with Scorpion is why Scorpion is dependant on characters like Quan Chi and not the other way around.

I also agree with this, but it still doesn’t take away the fact that it affects Quan Chi negatively either way.

Whether we are talking about pre-retcon or post-retcon Scorpion, Quan Chi is still simply not his antithesis. It just doesn't make sense.

I guess not. For some reason it does strike me, perhaps I just happened to confuse enmity with exact opposites? I guess that was it, but whatever the case, not all characters need an antithesis to rely on.

*imagines him as a human/dragon hybrid saying "I'm gunna wrestle me-self, mate!"*

LOL!

I know what you're trying to say about Johnny Cage, but I guess it's because I don't care much for the character, and even less with Jax, I don't really want to bother seeing them return, especially since they've been in the series for so long, while characters like Jade haven't been in too many games. As for the Cage/Sonya pairing, I don't think it would work if they go in the direction of JC's ending. I guess I'm trying to look for the less sugarcoated type stuff, hence why I think Liu Kang should ascend to the Heavens and not be with Kitana.

Yeah, I too think that’s why you don’t see much future. But hey, its cool, its your opinion.

Shinnok's plan is already backfiring since the quest has been corrupted, as well as Blaze's design. So instead of his enemies being wiped out, what is more likely to happen is a very unforseen outcome, one that will more likely not work in his or most others' favors.

Hopefully a good potentially unforeseen outcome.

The thing with Sub-Zero's story is that given the way it is, closure would best be given later on. There is just so much more that can and should be done with Sub-Zero. There still needs to be exploration with the whole Cyromancer armor thing, learning more about what the Cryomancers were all about and what drove them to near extinction.

Very true. But that plot can also be used without him being strictly tied to the Lin Kuei as he has been in the latest games. Imagine a quest of some nature, of him leaving his quarters in order to solve out those mysteries. In the process, getting some different role then just being leader of the Lin Kuei, for that story can be occupied by a corrupted Frost or a criminal like Mavado. But I guess its too early to see the Lin Kuei be deformed yet again.

Then we have the rivalry with his brother, Noob Saibot, which could be developed further. Sub-Zero could even possibly be developed into the next main hero, though I personally wouldn't want that.

I hope the Noob Saibot conflict ends as soon as possible. Unless they take an unpredictable direction, I don’t want to see these two facing off in Kombat.

The thing about Kenshi is that he doesn't really care about being a hero. Pre-retcon Kung Lao is more or less the same way. If Kenshi were to be the main hero, he would have to be properly built up into it. Personally, I'd rather see him take a different direction.

I know. I just have this feeling that screams Kenshi is perfect for the role.

I agree about Rain. I hope they can have him return, especially as an antagonist towards Taven and possibly even Jade.

That would be awesome.

About Sektor and Cyrax's stories, in MKG, it is stated that Cyrax is rescued from his desert prison by the Lin Kuei and was physically repaired. However, his behavior is different from behavior, which make the Lin Kuei Grandmaster suspcious. So what the Lin Kuei does is send Sektor to watch and report on Cyrax to determine whether or not it should be Cyrax's last mission. However, all of this is thrown out the window thanks to the story elements in MKDA. Instead of being rescued by the Lin Kuei, Cyrax is instead rescued by Sonya and Jax. Because of this, Sektor's MKG story is pretty nonexistent, which screws him over a bit.

Oh! I see know, thanks for the info.

Before MK4, I don't see how you saw more to Goro than his outer appearance. It's not like much of his story hinted anything of the sort.

There was something special in that amazing huge Goro imagine in the MK1 arcades that just me me look at Goro as more then just a brute with no brain. The movies and MKT also helped. I honestly don’t know in what aspects, but it was enough for me to see Goro as more then the typical muscle king.

Its like, when you just know theres more to the character then what meets the eye.

Yes, Jax's anger is explored since MKDA, but at the same time, they fuck him over by making him into such a stereotype.

The stereotype bit really sucks, I agree.


Moloch's story is just ok. It could be worse, I guess. I just find him to be a very annoying character.

Oh, come one. How can you find his sexy tail annoying? I just remembered that member who had a very weird obsession about Molochs tail. He hated it with passion, lol.