Mortal Kombat Thread - GET OVER HERE!!!

[Level99Manchild]

A certain developer isn't happy with all of the Woke Kombat 1 criticism, and unlocked his inner Alyssa Mercante.

 

[Mayor Cody Travers]

Having seen the new DLC story, I feel....

Nothing.

I just don't have any big rants or anything witty to dunk on it with. This really isn't the set of characters I grew up with.

All I'm thankful for at this rate is that the old timeline technically got a happy ending (IE, God Liu won) and I can combine canon details or consistently-appearing what-ifs from the old two timelines (as they are meant to be the same one, just with the butterfly effect in the second) to come up with a version to my own liking.

 

[Another Random]

I also noticed that they removed the one thing that made the Cyber Lin Kuei a more macabre thing that fits within the gruesome world of Mortal Kombat: the fact that they're no longer human. The new cyborgs aren't even cyborgs; they're just babes in suits. We even see Cyrax take off the suit and just wear plain clothes when she was sworn in as a Shirai-Ryu. MK11 made a huge point about how becoming a Cyber Lin Kuei is a horrible thing, and you even had Kuai Liang and Hanzo Hasashi try to rescue Lin Kuei acolytes who were kidnapped and being turned into cyborgs, and when they got there too late, Kuai Liang almost had an emotional breakdown because he was horrified at what happened.

But now, the suit is just a suit. Might as well just mass-produce it for the Shirai Ryu, Shaolin and the Outworld forces, as Mileena suggested with the latter. It's just military kit now, no longer a symbol of losing one's humanity for the sake of power. You put it on during combat then take it off once you're done.

The fact that these cyborgs lost their humanity was the one thing that really gained my interest in the Cyborg Lin Kuei. It basically made them stand out from all the other dudes in power armor; the fact that they're basically turning themselves into war droids to become immortal and more powerful at the expense of their own humanity. It's the kind of crap you'd expect a darker character to do, and in a dark world like Mortal Kombat, it's something that fits in rather well. The fact that these guys did to themselves what the Reapers did to people in Mass Effect, or what the government did to Gray Fox in Metal Gear, just for the sake of power; it goes to show how far the Lin Kuei would go to seek perfection, to the point where they discarded their humanity for it.

Wasn't there a thing where Cyrax or Smoke regaining his soul was a legitimate event that happened, because the cyborg version was a legit soulless machine that was only alive due to being mechanical?

 

[Shao Khan]

A certain developer isn't happy with all of the Woke Kombat 1 criticism, and unlocked his inner Alyssa Mercante.

View attachment 6469989

What a fucking loser

 

[Mayor Cody Travers]

Tbf, in Mk9 Sektor and Cyrax originally just wore mech suits until halfway through the story. I also even prefer it this way compared to the triborg bullshit in X.

I always took it as their normal uniforms but especially in Sektor's case, with weaponry equipped on him to perform his specials that he'd fully integrate into his cyber form. Notice he and Cyrax could teleport seemingly using bonafide magic (a greenish thing for Sektor, a smoke-bomb effect complete with white spark for Cyrax).

Wasn't there a thing where Cyrax or Smoke regaining his soul was a legitimate event that happened, because the cyborg version was a legit soulless machine that was only alive due to being mechanical?

In MK3 bios it was stated the cyborgs lost their very souls which made them undetectable to Shao Kahn's soulnado, but already Raiden saved Smoke's soul and the next game over in MK4 we saw Cyrax revived by the OIA/Special Forces as well.

I'll cop while it's a genuine retcon, I DID quite like the change from "bodies cut up but it still somewhat exists under the cyber stuff" of MK3-MKA to MK9's "just a brain and spine" onward. It was a better way to convey the body horror. Also because Deception's cut ending for Smoke turning him into his alt costume/Enera (likely Enera, since his MK9 ending and MKX dialogue explained he had that demon in him...) and Quan Chi re-making Sub-Zero into a human revenant in the MKX comics shows you TECHNICALLY have a way to turn them human again, if in very comic book-y ways.

I liked that kind of butterfly effect, btw. Both third cyborgs (Smoke, Sub-Zero) began fritzing in hell and had something else force their cyborg body to explode and revive them into a human/"human" form again (Smoke's Enera demon looking like it's given him a body and again Sub revived as a human revenant). That's what I meant in my above post, the canon details and consistent what-ifs to get a good lock on likely "canon events" (I hate to use that term but hey) for a generalized old-timelines MK.

EDIT: I wish we got a human-enough Human Sektor costume in the 3D era. We had a Kuai Sub-Zero outfit in MKDA, Cyrax's alt in MKDA was workable, Smoke had his Shaolin Monks outfit, and Bi-Han could also use the Sub-Zero Shaolin Monks outfit (especially since he's the Sub in the intro). Too bad, too bad....

 

[Level99Manchild]

In MK3 bios it was stated the cyborgs lost their very souls which made them undetectable to Shao Kahn's soulnado, but already Raiden saved Smoke's soul and the next game over in MK4 we saw Cyrax revived by the OIA/Special Forces as well.

Smoke wasn't rescued in the old time line. Noob revived Smoke in Deception,and tried to use him for his own means. Smoke found his humanity when Ashrah fought Noob.

 

[Mac Monster]

I always took it as their normal uniforms but especially in Sektor's case, with weaponry equipped on him to perform his specials that he'd fully integrate into his cyber form.

It was a neat little bit of foreshadowing, showing us that even as a human, Sektor was already embracing technology, while Cyrax still employed the traditional ninja tactics. It's too bad we never got a proper resolution for the Cyber Lin Kuei plotline in the main games, and it was just relegated to some shitty comic book.

 

[Mayor Cody Travers]

Smoke wasn't rescued in the old time line. Noob revived Smoke in Deception,and tried to use him for his own means. Smoke found his humanity when Ashrah fought Noob.

I agree, I should've worded better. Smoke still kept his soul via Raiden making him a chosen warrior despite Sektor and Cyrax's MK3 bios claiming the cyborgs "had no souls to take". Then according to old Deception info he got kidnapped by Shao as a war trophy on the retreat from Earthrealm post-MK3 and deactivated himself within the chambers that as you said Noob eventually found him in.

I also agree with you that he re-gained control of himself and his humanity during the Ashrah versus Noob fight - I'm referencing his cut Deception ending as well. I'm convinced his alt costume was the visual for what he'd be as the "more than a mere cyborg ninja": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6Zk3MI0aM

It was a neat little bit of foreshadowing, showing us that even as a human, Sektor was already embracing technology, while Cyrax still employed the traditional ninja tactics. It's too bad we never got a proper resolution for the Cyber Lin Kuei plotline in the main games, and it was just relegated to some shitty comic book.

100% feel you there, though I suppose it can be agreed both within Sub-Zero's MKDA and Sektor's Tournament Edition bios/endings alongside the MKX comics that the Cyber Lin Kuei became an extinct idea once Sub-Zero wrested control of the Lin Kuei from Sektor.

Side note, the only thing I like from Cyraxia's MK1 ending is her joining the Shirai Ryu. I always wanted Cyrax in the Midway/original timeline to have re-joined the Lin Kuei the way Deception's Konquest showed Smoke seemed to have done so, feeding information to Sub-Zero as a spy and seeing him on the good guy side in Armageddon.

 

[Level99Manchild]

I agree, I should've worded better. Smoke still kept his soul via Raiden making him a chosen warrior despite Sektor and Cyrax's MK3 bios claiming the cyborgs "had no souls to take". Then according to old Deception info he got kidnapped by Shao as a war trophy on the retreat from Earthrealm post-MK3 and deactivated himself within the chambers that as you said Noob eventually found him in.

I also agree with you that he re-gained control of himself and his humanity during the Ashrah versus Noob fight - I'm referencing his cut Deception ending as well. I'm convinced his alt costume was the visual for what he'd be as the "more than a mere cyborg ninja": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6Zk3MI0aM

Smoke's alternate costume might have been what Noob's army would look like if he was successful with his goal. I'm not going to lie: that alternate costume was my least favorite one in Deception, and the 3D games had a lot of shitty costumes.

 

[Mayor Cody Travers]

Smoke's alternate costume might have been what Noob's army would look like if he was successful with his goal. I'm not going to lie: that alternate costume was my least favorite one in Deception, and the 3D games had a lot of shitty costumes.

I'll cop would have preferred they import the Human Smoke look from Shaolin Monks, a la Reptile's, as his Armageddon alt as a throwback while keeping his Enera/smoke-demon Deception alt as the Armageddon main/story costume. At least Smoke became free and a good guy again even if he promptly died anyways in the Battle of the Pyramid.

 

[NaggotFigger]

Smoke's alternate costume might have been what Noob's army would look like if he was successful with his goal. I'm not going to lie: that alternate costume was my least favorite one in Deception, and the 3D games had a lot of shitty costumes.

At least they do actually nailed that badass yet simple samurai costume for Raiden. That prayer beads on his Dark form still sucks dick in some way. It’s also the same era where tits are also exposed for days, similar to MK9 before they were de-sexualized heavily to play it safe and the sake of DEI.

I'll cop would have preferred they import the Human Smoke look from Shaolin Monks, a la Reptile's, as his Armageddon alt as a throwback while keeping his Enera/smoke-demon Deception alt as the Armageddon main/story costume. At least Smoke became free and a good guy again even if he promptly died anyways in the Battle of the Pyramid.

If I want a human form Smoke, I’d keep the long flowing white hair from MK9; but preferably always keep the palette swap ninja idea intact and faithful. Whilst Cyborg Smoke is still the same; and smoke demon Smoke the same.
And personally, it would be nice if the shitty 3D era smoke demon design align with Noob Saibot instead. Though, my shitty idea is that Noob resurrected Smoke, but only preserved his memories, and nothing else. When resurrected, Smoke manifests into a fully smoke demon/ghost that regrows his hair; but his humanlike shape is botched; leaving him having fully red eyes and no nose/mouth. However, different from Ketchup and Mustard was that his form can freely enter into the prototypical cyborg that was meant to host resurrected ghosts/demons.

 

[Wendigou]

Aside from the complete nothingness of the story and shoehorned rule 63, am I the only one that felt like the Alternative Tanya and Rain felt like a DEI slop fanfic characters rather then what they were?
OG Tanya is a back stabbing bitch with spunk so why the fuck did she feel like her mediocre MK1 counterpart, getting 10 fights in a row, and gets to randomly know dragon tongue to a conveniently placed dragon that can teleport everyone out of danger.
I don’t give a shit if she’s “different”. She feels like a Mary sue that the writer wanted to make and used someone else’s character because they’re lazy and want to use a popular characters name.

 

[Super De Quico]

Aside from the complete nothingness of the story and shoehorned rule 63, am I the only one that felt like the Alternative Tanya and Rain felt like a DEI slop fanfic characters rather then what they were?
OG Tanya is a back stabbing bitch with spunk so why the fuck did she feel like her mediocre MK1 counterpart, getting 10 fights in a row, and gets to randomly know dragon tongue to a conveniently placed dragon that can teleport everyone out of danger.
I don’t give a shit if she’s “different”. She feels like a Mary sue that the writer wanted to make and used someone else’s character because they’re lazy and want to use a popular characters name.

Tanya wuz kangz an sheeit.

Sounds so convenient that they're dragging the whole multiverse diarrhea into the game - even getting her waterbending husband to get squashed like a mosquito so she could rise and shine. "Look guys, we're totally not racists! Tanya is a good girl now!"

It's like when they made Jerrod a cuck. They couldn't let the "empowered female" be forced to be Shao Kahn's sex slave. So they retconned her to be willing to join Shao Kahn's army and went full NTR doujin shit.

Khaos Reigns makes MK Annihilation and the movie with Kirito Cole Young look good by comparison. Heck, even that prototype MK reboot trailer where Reptile is a cannibal with a skin disease and Scorpion is a hitman for Yakuza looks better than this.

 

[Mac Monster]

OG Tanya is a back stabbing bitch with spunk so why the fuck did she feel like her mediocre MK1 counterpart, getting 10 fights in a row, and gets to randomly know dragon tongue to a conveniently placed dragon that can teleport everyone out of danger.

The whole dragon scene was entirely unnecessary and out of place. It felt like something out of a children's TV show instead of Mortal Kombat.

 

[NaggotFigger]

Off-topic, but here's a Raiden + Rick Tomlinson shitpost photoshop for Halloween.
"Yes Shinnok, Bo' Rai Cho and Jax has farted in Cetrion's vagina. Brace for impact, wait for the Fatality and enjoy Netherrealm with your Elder Gods, stalker god."

 

[BlueCandles]

Yeah, even ignoring the Sektor/Cyrax shit. I really could have gone without Rain and Tanya spending the game going 'I love you my wife/husband who I hope never dies lets use our love as teamwork to defeat our enemies and show that our love as living not dead people is as strong as us loving being in love and also married'

Even Shao Kahn was like stfu

 

[NaggotFigger]

Yeah, even ignoring the Sektor/Cyrax shit. I really could have gone without Rain and Tanya spending the game going 'I love you my wife/husband who I hope never dies lets use our love as teamwork to defeat our enemies and show that our love as living not dead people is as strong as us loving being in love and also married'

Even Shao Kahn was like stfu

It makes no sense, considering how bad the actual personality match between Rain and Tanya is. Both are traitors, and would pledge loyalty to evil rather than spending time loving each other. They’d have an extremely toxic relationship if we even base Rain and Tanya through their original era’s personalities. NRS utilized both in a shitty way that’s meant for DEI brownie points, and nothing else. It’s a filler pairing, and was there for no reason, much like that dragon from MKA.
Khaos Reign sounds like an ridiculously nonsensical piece of shit children’s hero movie plot, but with vomit color theory and DEI plastered on it.

 

[Carmen The Aids Rabbit]

I'm so sick of this gay DC alternate time-line bullshit. It really makes moments and characters on a story feel meaningless as there are an infinite number of them just doing stupid shit.

"Yeah in the original games Sub-Zero killed Scorpion causing him return as a specter BUT IF SCORPION WAS THE ONE KILLING SUB-ZERO OR WHAT IF THEY WERE BLACK AND GAY!!!!??!!!? *soyface*"

Just fuck off with that over saturated shit, mate.

 

[BlueCandles]

Except they managed to go back to square one as despite an attempt at a Good Scorpion/Evil Sub-Zero subversion, we still end up with him turning into noob saibot and losing his ice powers. This leaves us without an ice ninja for the next game tho which seems pretty sacrilegious as 90% of normies identity MK as the ice and fire ninja game. Good chance to reintroduce a black Frost I guess tho.

I also hate how this multiverse bullshit has even bored the characters. Evil, gory versions of people these characters personally know and love pop out of portals being like ‘grrr I love being evil check out my Mohawk’, and all they can respond with is like ‘oh hi evil Kenshi let’s fight now’. They don’t even give a fuck, so why should we?

 

[Mayor Cody Travers]

Except they managed to go back to square one as despite an attempt at a Good Scorpion/Evil Sub-Zero subversion, we still end up with him turning into noob saibot and losing his ice powers. This leaves us without an ice ninja for the next game tho which seems pretty sacrilegious as 90% of normies identity MK as the ice and fire ninja game. Good chance to reintroduce a black Frost I guess tho.

Black Frost scares me yet feels inevitable.

My personal guesses are:

1) Hanzo becomes the new Sub-Zero as Kuai claims the mantle on basis their father had it and passes it on to Hanzo, or
2) through the power of love magic and timeline shenanigans yet again Kuai's pyromancy becomes cryomancy and he takes up the mantle while Hanzo becomes Scorpion, or
3) Bi-Han splits his evil side off somehow and becomes Sub-Zero again while "merely" Saibot/the shadow runs around as Noob Saibot.

Imagine how much easier things'd be if they bit the bullet and had Kuai remain Tundra instead of trying to have only "returning" characters. Then he could merely claim the Sub-Zero mantle without complaint under reason their beloved father deserved to be honored by someone who loved him and yadayada. They have "General" Shao instead of Shao "Kahn", after all, when it comes to new names even! And in terms of gameplay they've had two ice ninjas in many games before (UMK3 with unmasked and Classic Sub, 3D era's Sub-Zero and Frost, MK9 had regular and Cyber Sub-Zero, yet again in MKX....). Just have both Subs use the Ice Ball, Bi-Han the Slide and Kuai the Shoulder Slam from 3D era, Bi-Han the Ice Clone and Dive Kick while Kuai has the Ice Puddle/Foot Freeze (and Kuai's a bit more anti-turtling/pro-rushdown with this specific set of moves).