I love this idea of having a hat as a weapon, it's genius... i'd love to slice an dice with the hat

and Kung Lao must be a mere human right??? He's a shaolin monk! He can fight with anything. And also he has that belt that keeps his hat on he can you that as a grip.

Just because he's a shaolin monk doesn't mean he can do anything, it only means he should use realistic fighting styles, that is my absolute and clear opinion, the broadsword was unoriginal and unnecessary, and the hat would really ruin his entire persona in my opinion and I think that most people would get bored of the hat weapon real fast because overusing a trademark move does that. The hat posses too many issues and it just isn’t worth it overall. I agree with the fact that I may seem cool but cool isn’t always better.

He's not even a mere Shaolin Monk. He's a superhuman fighter who can tear your head off with his bare hands, much like the rest of the cast. Remember that these fighters are considerably beyond the power and skill of real martial artists.
I don't think Kung Lao would have any problem wielding a friggin' motorbike as a weapon, let alone his hat. Still however, I feel that it's best to keep the hat as a special move only. For the next gen games, providing he's still here, the amount of special variants he can do with his hat could be expanded with low, high, delay, and cancel types perhaps.

i have always wanted kung lou to have his hat as a primary weapon style. its a razor brimmed hat, why would he also need a sword for cutting. plus he would be able to have some sick strike moves with the hat as well as combos.

I'd say hat. It would be cool, and someone else can use broadsword.

wow, somebody bumped this, lol, id still rather the hat

Didnt Boon also say that there could possibly be multiple weapon styles too. Maybe he'll have the hat and the broadsword!

He will be having his sword apparently as seen in the fight scene against the freak Baraka. I hope he just uses hand-to-hand and his hat. He is supposed to be a person of peace.

kung lao's hat is very original and a completely cool idea.. it has been from the start.. but.. as he is a shaolin monk and the broadsword is a traditional shaolin weapon, i think it fits kung lao perfectly.. in my opinion the hat should stay in his specials and the broadsword should remain as his weapon style.. as for his hand-to-hand, i like him using shaolin fist.. but i wouldn't mind seeing him use another shaolin style such as tiger, or eagle claw or even crane.. mantis belongs to shujinko..

I would like for Kung Lao to have his hat as his weapon, but using it like in his SM brutality is kinda irrational. What I would like to see is a sort of "Hat Flail". Simply tie a long scarf or linen just above the brim for the said weapon (the traditional flail chain would way the hat down when thrown). Imo, this weapon would really fit Kung Lao on account of it being effective in kombat, yet dimensional (Kinda like his specials). The Broadsword justs seems too flat to be his weapon.

Shaolin Fist is basically a definite because he is a Shaolin Monk so it is only fitting... Shujinko can have Mantis.
For his weapon, I think the broadsword is too similar to Dairou's Autumn Dao. The weapon, in my opinion, suited Dairou a heck of a lot more than Kung Lao, and his hat would be a great idea for a weapon. So why not got with the hat?
I think his hat throw move will be a big issue. Yes, they could delete it from his special move arsenal, but that would be removing a classic. They could do even worse and ruin this classic by making it impale (I just hope the learnt from Kitana...), but with only two fighting styles, impaling would be a crappy idea.
How about the option of having two hand-to-hand styles. Shujinko could get a new fighting style and Kung Lao could have both Mantis and Shaolin Fist. But why? Jinko should get Mantis and Dan Tien Dao, while Kung Lao gets Shaolin Fist and [weapon]. Why create a new style for Shujinko when Kung Lao could keep his old weapon style (Broadsword) or his have his hat (which would suit him more than any fighting style could suit Jinko).
Maybe they will change Dairou's weapon and give Kung Lao the Broadsword. But then a new style would have to be created for Dairou, and it would not be anything as cool as Kung Lao's hat.
So basically a new fighting style will have to be created for either Kung Lao, Shukinko or Dairou. The only alternative to this is to give Dairou his Autumn Dao and Kung Lao his Broadsword, but those two weapons were way too similar.
Maybe Dairou will get Escrima and Wing Chun, but that would ruin such a great character. Dairou was only top tiered because of tombstone drop and autumn dao. Another big part of his high tiering is his combo (in autumn dao) ts, 1, 1, f3. Without Autumn Dao, Dairou is in my opinion a character who doesn't have anything going for him.
So all of the options have both pros and cons, but which one will they go for? Hmm...