(Btw, I'm not a Scorpion fanboy. I just don't understand the bias between these two.)
As for their storylines...
Now that they've confirmed Scorpion did vow to protect the younger Sub-Zero, people should go easier on Scorpion since that brings back his developement and shows that he wasn't always doing the same thing.
But even then...a problem with Scorpion is that any time it seems he will change or evolve they drag him back down. Like he dropped his grudge against Sub-Zero....then they have him chasing around Quan Chi. He becomes Champion of the Elder Gods....now according to Armageddon's Konquest, he wants revenge against them. Then in his ending he's still chasing Quan Chi....ugghh.
It's a wasted potential thing. Scorpion can easily offer much more to the story...but they constantly bog him down with revenge.
I think the thing with Mileena is...while she is essentially always after Kitana...there's more to their rivalry than that. If you look into Mileena's story, you can see tragedy and sympathy there. She was created for a specific purpose...yet Shang Tsung messed up on her face...so she ends up becoming the watchdog of the woman she was meant to replace. And she can't hate Shao Kahn for it because she was created to be loyal to him. Kahn favors Kitana....Kitana now hates him...Mileena thinks she ungrateful....I could keep going.
That's why I like the Kitana/Mileena/Shao Kahn thing. There's a lot of bizarre love/hate dynamics there.
There's also a misconception that Mileena was after Kitana in MK3 again...she wasn't. She was working for Shinnok at the time. There really isn't anything to suggest she and Kitana even came across one another during MK3.
While in MK Gold it can be seen as "Mileena's after Kitana again," what I found interesting was that Mileena ALLOWED Kitana to escape the dungeons. If all she wanted was to kill Kitana, she could've done it while Kitana was locked up. But she lets her escape...despite the fact I doubt Shinnok would've been happy about it...so she can get a fair fight. So while it was a continuation of the rivalry, it revealed another layer of it...that I personally found interesting.
So the fact that it's not as overexposed and there's more to it is what helps Mieena's story....but with that said, that doesn't mean I think the Kitana/Mileena rivalry should keep going.
I can't really speak for everyone, but I guess the point I'm trying to make is...while Mileena chasing after Kitana has gotten old, it's not as bad as Scorpion chasing anyone who pisses him off. Yet anyway.
If they keep Mileena around, she needs to change before that happens.
EDIT:
Just want to add because you mentioned how Mileena dresses....the good thing about that is Mileena is probably the only female character where dressing uber-skanky actually suits her character. She's ashamed of her face, therefore she constantly wears a mask and dresses in skanky clothes to draw attention away from it.
It still wouldn't hurt her to get at least one new special move, though, since she's one of the only characters whose moveset hasn't changed at all in the course of her time in MK (Liu Kang being the other). It may be classic, but the line between classic and uber-stale gets ever thinner with each game.
And the MKGold stuff, well sure an easy escape route was left, but only because Mileena, yet again, was all about Kitana. The fact that Mileena 'left an easy escape route' doesnt add anything to the story for me, it just highlights more that she only has one thing going on again....Kitana. Boring, repetitive, boring, repetitive, boring.
I also find her Kitana-bazsed MKD story boring too.
She needs (or at lest needed to, thanks to MAK complete story-wreckage), get a complete story overhaul, that has nothing to do with Kitana, and maybe she would be able to stand as a character in her own right.
The rivalry is very one sided. Its always through Mileena that they end up interacting. Kitana quite happily gets on with what she has to do (ok people can find her story boring but thats their choice), her bios have had nothing to with Mileena, but Mileenas are always about Kitana.
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Anyway, I presonally think Scorpion and Mileena are among the most overrated characters in the whole of MK. Theyre both pretty stale story-wise for me. I like Scorpion more than Mileena, because I like his moves, his outfits and how he's played in most of the games. But thats not to say hes a favourite (though he has increased in my liking, I used to really ahte him, now Im just indifferent to him, whereas I find Mileena pointless).
Mileena started working for Shao Kahn during UMK3/MKT. In her UMK3 ending, she was still working for Kahn, it was only during MKT that Shinnok was mentioned, and Im not sure if Mileenas ending was canon. Either way she died at the hands of Kitana, meaning she must have gone after Kitana again, and was ressurected during MKGold.
Trilogy overrides UMK3 and nothing states she died again. After she was killed in MK2, Shinnok resurrected her and sent her back to spy on Kahn. When Kahn was defeated, she returned to the Netherealm along with Noob Saibot & Scorpion.
Mileena started working for Shao Kahn during UMK3/MKT. In her UMK3 ending, she was still working for Kahn, it was only during MKT that Shinnok was mentioned, and Im not sure if Mileenas ending was canon. Either way she died at the hands of Kitana, meaning she must have gone after Kitana again, and was ressurected during MKGold.
Trilogy overrides UMK3 and nothing states she died again. After she was killed in MK2, Shinnok resurrected her and sent her back to spy on Kahn. When Kahn was defeated, she returned to the Netherealm along with Noob Saibot & Scorpion.
Her MKT bio is still the same as her UMK3 bio, saying she was ressurected by Kahn. But then, if her MKT ending is true, she was again ressurected by Shinnok. So thats two ressurections, therefore two deaths. And if in MKGold she wants to avenge her death by fighting Kitana, seems logical that it was Kitana who killed her.
Nothing really says she WASNT killed either at the end of UMK3/MKT. Her MKGold bio does point at her being killed again though saying she was 'reborn' in the netherrealm. I guess its something that was not explained well enough, and is open to interpretation.
But again, either way, all really she ever does is go after Kitana. Her stories are very Kitana-based. Without Kitana, shes just another henchman who changes loyalty from bad guy to bad guy, which is also boring and repetetive.
I like them both, but I think main difference is Scorpion...unlike Mileena...is forced upon us in every game. Mileena will sit out a game or two here or there so she doesn't come across as being over-used. Scorpion on the other hand has become Mortal Kombat's poster boy and there's a sense that he's way too overexposed.
As for their storylines...
Now that they've confirmed Scorpion did vow to protect the younger Sub-Zero, people should go easier on Scorpion since that brings back his developement and shows that he wasn't always doing the same thing.
But even then...a problem with Scorpion is that any time it seems he will change or evolve they drag him back down. Like he dropped his grudge against Sub-Zero....then they have him chasing around Quan Chi. He becomes Champion of the Elder Gods....now according to Armageddon's Konquest, he wants revenge against them. Then in his ending he's still chasing Quan Chi....ugghh.
It's a wasted potential thing. Scorpion can easily offer much more to the story...but they constantly bog him down with revenge.
I think the thing with Mileena is...while she is essentially always after Kitana...there's more to their rivalry than that. If you look into Mileena's story, you can see tragedy and sympathy there. She was created for a specific purpose...yet Shang Tsung messed up on her face...so she ends up becoming the watchdog of the woman she was meant to replace. And she can't hate Shao Kahn for it because she was created to be loyal to him. Kahn favors Kitana....Kitana now hates him...Mileena thinks she ungrateful....I could keep going.
That's why I like the Kitana/Mileena/Shao Kahn thing. There's a lot of bizarre love/hate dynamics there.
There's also a misconception that Mileena was after Kitana in MK3 again...she wasn't. She was working for Shinnok at the time. There really isn't anything to suggest she and Kitana even came across one another during MK3.
While in MK Gold it can be seen as "Mileena's after Kitana again," what I found interesting was that Mileena ALLOWED Kitana to escape the dungeons. If all she wanted was to kill Kitana, she could've done it while Kitana was locked up. But she lets her escape...despite the fact I doubt Shinnok would've been happy about it...so she can get a fair fight. So while it was a continuation of the rivalry, it revealed another layer of it...that I personally found interesting.
So the fact that it's not as overexposed and there's more to it is what helps Mieena's story....but with that said, that doesn't mean I think the Kitana/Mileena rivalry should keep going.
I can't really speak for everyone, but I guess the point I'm trying to make is...while Mileena chasing after Kitana has gotten old, it's not as bad as Scorpion chasing anyone who pisses him off. Yet anyway.
If they keep Mileena around, she needs to change before that happens.
EDIT:
Just want to add because you mentioned how Mileena dresses....the good thing about that is Mileena is probably the only female character where dressing uber-skanky actually suits her character. She's ashamed of her face, therefore she constantly wears a mask and dresses in skanky clothes to draw attention away from it.
Great post! Mileena is one of my favorites and she does have a pretty deep story compared to many others (Including Scorpion), but on the other hand I think Kitana's is boring and I'm not a fan of her character. Therefore in order for Mileena to exist, Kitana does too. Here's hoping the "female Scorpion and Sub-Zero" make it to the next gen.
And the MKGold stuff, well sure an easy escape route was left, but only because Mileena, yet again, was all about Kitana. The fact that Mileena 'left an easy escape route' doesnt add anything to the story for me, it just highlights more that she only has one thing going on again....Kitana. Boring, repetitive, boring, repetitive, boring.
I also find her Kitana-bazsed MKD story boring too.
She needs (or at lest needed to, thanks to MAK complete story-wreckage), get a complete story overhaul, that has nothing to do with Kitana, and maybe she would be able to stand as a character in her own right.
The rivalry is very one sided. Its always through Mileena that they end up interacting. Kitana quite happily gets on with what she has to do (ok people can find her story boring but thats their choice), her bios have had nothing to with Mileena, but Mileenas are always about Kitana.
---------------------------------
Anyway, I presonally think Scorpion and Mileena are among the most overrated characters in the whole of MK. Theyre both pretty stale story-wise for me. I like Scorpion more than Mileena, because I like his moves, his outfits and how he's played in most of the games. But thats not to say hes a favourite (though he has increased in my liking, I used to really ahte him, now Im just indifferent to him, whereas I find Mileena pointless).
This is exactly how I feel about Mileena. Finally someone else shares my point of view. Her "rivalry" with Kitana really does seem one sided since Kitana doesn't seem to care about her. To Kitana Mileena just seems like an annoyance while to Mileena Kitana is basically her whole world. From MK2-MK4 it's fine but after that I would've had Mileena be done with Kitana. I like to imagine Kitana's cold speech to her in MK4 would really get to her and after she losses again and is imprisoned she decides "OK I can't defeat her, what else can I do with my life" also keep her away from Kitana afterwards.
My ideal scenario is that while in prison she reflected on her life and finally realizes that Kahn is to blame for how she turned out, both physically and mentally. Her ultimate revenge against him would be to take the throne of Outworld and un merge all the realms Shao Kahn had ever conquered because what better way to get revenge than un doing everything he spent his life doing.
This could lead to the people of Outworld respecting her which would at first confuse her since their well being wasn't initially on her mind because revenge was but over time being genuinely appreciated would be a welcomed feeling for her and she ends up being a pretty good Empress unlike how she was in the NRS games. This change in personality could potentially draw Kitana back to her and they could make up. They could just...talk. I really do feel like if they just sat down and tried to see things from each others perspective they could mend their relationship. That's my little fan fiction. What do you think?
Love this was an idea since 2006 before Mileena was sexed up in 2011's MK9.
But after reading this whole thread and 13 years of thought, I still am clueless why Mileena is liked more than Scorpion, or why there is such a belief, especially how this topic is relevant since she's missing from the roster in MK11 yet Scorpion just so happens to make his way back.
Yet when Scorpion was left out of MK3, fans had a fit and hurriedly released UMK3 and included him back in. Although many fans threw a fit over the absence of Mileena, NRS has yet to include her into MK11. Clearly it's not about her sex symbol status from MK9 since she made a return in MKX and all the other women who were sexed up in MK9 made their returns in MKX and even MK11.
So... why is this so or thought to be so?
Ignore this one
Love this was an idea since 2006 before Mileena was sexed up in 2011's MK9.
But after reading this whole thread and 13 years of thought, I still am clueless why Mileena is liked more than Scorpion, or why there is such a belief, especially how this topic is relevant since she's missing from the roster in MK11 yet Scorpion just so happens to make his way back.
Yet when Scorpion was left out of MK3, fans had a fit and hurriedly released UMK3 and included him back in. Although many fans threw a fit over the absence of Mileena, NRS has yet to include her into MK11. Clearly it's not about her sex symbol status from MK9 since she made a return in MKX and all the other women who were sexed up in MK9 made their returns in MKX and even MK11.
So... why is this so or thought to be so?
As a relatively new fan (I'm 21 so when MK was at it's peak I either wasn't born yet or was too young to know what the franchise was lol) I would say they miss her move set I guess. You go on YouTube and you'll see people playing her in MKX.
Btw stay off Twitter, Ed Boon can't tweet anything without hardcore Mileena fans swarming him. Also I think people are starting to see her story potential once you free her from Kitana's story. If you read my earlier post you'll see I certainly have. They really hated her death in MKX even though it wasn't the first time she's died. I've also read some pretty good fanfics about her that have made me lover her even more but not so much that I'll harass people on Twitter to get her in MK11.
I don't care much for Scorpion but hasn't he been in every MK game because he's Ed's favorite?
Love this was an idea since 2006 before Mileena was sexed up in 2011's MK9.
But after reading this whole thread and 13 years of thought, I still am clueless why Mileena is liked more than Scorpion, or why there is such a belief, especially how this topic is relevant since she's missing from the roster in MK11 yet Scorpion just so happens to make his way back.
Yet when Scorpion was left out of MK3, fans had a fit and hurriedly released UMK3 and included him back in. Although many fans threw a fit over the absence of Mileena, NRS has yet to include her into MK11. Clearly it's not about her sex symbol status from MK9 since she made a return in MKX and all the other women who were sexed up in MK9 made their returns in MKX and even MK11.
So... why is this so or thought to be so?
As a relatively new fan (I'm 21 so when MK was at it's peak I either wasn't born yet or was too young to know what the franchise was lol) I would say they miss her move set I guess. You go on YouTube and you'll see people playing her in MKX.
Btw stay off Twitter, Ed Boon can't tweet anything without hardcore Mileena fans swarming him. Also I think people are starting to see her story potential once you free her from Kitana's story. If you read my earlier post you'll see I certainly have. They really hated her death in MKX even though it wasn't the first time she's died. I've also read some pretty good fanfics about her that have made me lover her even more but not so much that I'll harass people on Twitter to get her in MK11.
I don't care much for Scorpion but hasn't he been in every MK game because he's Ed's favorite?
He wasn't in Mortal Kombat 3. But I think he's been in every MK tournament game otherwise.
Love this was an idea since 2006 before Mileena was sexed up in 2011's MK9.
But after reading this whole thread and 13 years of thought, I still am clueless why Mileena is liked more than Scorpion, or why there is such a belief, especially how this topic is relevant since she's missing from the roster in MK11 yet Scorpion just so happens to make his way back.
Yet when Scorpion was left out of MK3, fans had a fit and hurriedly released UMK3 and included him back in. Although many fans threw a fit over the absence of Mileena, NRS has yet to include her into MK11. Clearly it's not about her sex symbol status from MK9 since she made a return in MKX and all the other women who were sexed up in MK9 made their returns in MKX and even MK11.
So... why is this so or thought to be so?
As a relatively new fan (I'm 21 so when MK was at it's peak I either wasn't born yet or was too young to know what the franchise was lol) I would say they miss her move set I guess. You go on YouTube and you'll see people playing her in MKX.
Btw stay off Twitter, Ed Boon can't tweet anything without hardcore Mileena fans swarming him. Also I think people are starting to see her story potential once you free her from Kitana's story. If you read my earlier post you'll see I certainly have. They really hated her death in MKX even though it wasn't the first time she's died. I've also read some pretty good fanfics about her that have made me lover her even more but not so much that I'll harass people on Twitter to get her in MK11.
I don't care much for Scorpion but hasn't he been in every MK game because he's Ed's favorite?
He wasn't in Mortal Kombat 3. But I think he's been in every MK tournament game otherwise.
He has because he's now MK's poster boy despite the stories never really being centered around him.
The thing I find most amusing about this thread being resurrected since 2006 and people moaning back then that Scorpion was being rammed down our throats, is that back then he'd never been on a front-cover, yet these are the front covers for every MK game released since this thread was first posted haha:
Whilst these are the covers for all the televised spin-offs we've received:
The thing I find most amusing about this thread being resurrected since 2006 and people moaning back then that Scorpion was being rammed down our throats, is that back then he'd never been on a front-cover, yet these are the front covers for every MK game released since this thread was first posted haha:
Whilst these are the covers for all the televised spin-offs we've received:
Like I said he's Boon's favorite. Not much we can do.