Well, in the opening cinema it was the older one.

But I always thought the characters should've been wearing different clothes in the opening cinema of Shaolin Monks. Liu Kang just should not have his red pants and headband on at the original tournament. It ain't right.

Anyway, I'll be using elements of the MKSM costume when I draw MK2 Subby, so I can't use it for his MK1 alt.

Besides, it'd be too similar to the primary.

hmm, what about using the cryomancer suit? for some reason whoever designed Sub-zero for MK:D forgot about the scar on his eye so without it he could have been big brother (though we all know it was little bro)

That wouldn't make sense canonically.

Besides, I finished Sub-Zero yesterday. As soon as I'm done with Sonya, which should be some time tomorrow, I'll put up the finished main 7 cast members.

And here they are:

Main Cast, Alternate Costumes

I've also added this and the Primaries in color to the first post, so anyone who's new to the topic can find them more easily.
I'm much happier with how Raiden turned out the second time. Adding more of the samurai influence from his MKDA alt and remodeling the face really did the trick, I think. Now he definitely looks like the kinds of gods the Ancient Japanese worshipped.

Cool, cool. Usually it's hard for me to take Sonya seriously due to her skimpy outfits, so I already love her alt. costume. Raiden is... The design is really cool, but I'm really used to the classic Raiden, so it's hard for me to swallow his demonic look. Come to think of it, maybe just a bright red demon mask would have worked better, but that's just me. Sub-Zero's mask and colour pallete reminds me of Stryker's alt. On the other hand we've seen around 60 characters in the MK games, most of them changing clothes every game, so getting original with the costume designs is really kind of hard. Heheh, you saw my "Kabal" Sub-Zero.

Honestly, I don't think my Subbie looks like Stryker at all.

Anyone can wear a ski mask. (I never thought he looked right in that anyway. They should've given him a big riot control helmet instead) The defining feature of Stryker's MKA Alt for me was the earpiece and the chest armor that looked like his MK3 t-shirt, but in opposite colors.

What I was going for with Subbie, once you brought up the idea of something Splinter Cell commando-ish to reference the Lin Kuei going modern, was basically a cross between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow...and then add as much Lin Kuei to that as I could. It seemed appropriate to think G.I. Joe since he and Scorpion, at least in the first game, seemed very similar to or based on them in the first place. I'm thinking this outfit but in red/yellow and with a few more armor plates would be absolutely spot-on for Sektor and Cyrax's MK3 alts as their human forms.

With Raiden, a mask, or anything else that says "I'm a human wearing a disguise" just wouldn't have done it. Like I said many times, the objective was to look like the Raiden/Raijin that the Japanese worship. That's where the character originates from and MK1 is the origin stories game, so I feel it's appropriate for an alternate costume. So really, the fact that he looks so unusual to you because you're used to Carlos Pesina/Christopher Lambert is a good thing. It's not like you can't still tell it's Raiden. He's got the clothes, the color scheme, the hat, and the kanji he always wears. It's just how Raiden looked to a different culture long ago. It hints that there's a bigger story to his life than the stuff we know, that as a religious figure, he's taken many different forms and been different things to different people. That's what mythology is all about, many different interpretations of the same stories and figures.
As for Sonya, that one was easy. It's basically a more colorful interpretation of the gear she has on the first time we see her in the movie. I wanted to have a movie reference somewhere and none of the other characters wore anything cool in the whole damn film. Boring street clothes and plastic-y looking oversimplified ninja vests as far as the eye could see. Very disappointing.

Wow I've been missing out on this thread, amazing stuff here, can't wait to see more.

first of all...before i let out my critique...nice artwork yet again.

compliments aside...lets get to my crit...i don't care for the costume on Kano too much...it makes him look goofy and too casual for his portrayed personality. it would probably look better without the blades but it would make him look more like a JC Penny model lol. i could actually picture switching the costumes of Kano to Cage and put the 80s suit on Kano and give Cage the more Rough casual look.

i like the monk Liu kang but i think there is too much orange in the costume. he looks good but maybe more earth color clothes would fit better...he looks like a monastery monk right now and i know that is what ya were probably going for but i think he would look better with a traveling monk type feel. even if you just took away the orange from the top half and left it all white would look a lot better imo. i think as a monk there are only a few logical colors they wear traditionally...red,orange,white and tan/linnen brown...some blue and yellow embroidery is sometimes applied but more for ritual purposes or for celebrations perhaps.

Scorpion looks good but too Ghost Rider-like with his head. the only thing i would do though is get rid of the flames on his head and put them in his eyes or something...or even have his mouth open with fire there instead. another thing...i dont like the sword much either...i remember him using an axe at one time maybe use an axe instead. otherwise i like the tattered look like he just crawled out of a grave.

Johnny Cage i saw what you were going for and you nailed it but i think the pants should be a different color than the jacket of his suit. one thing i realized,why is there one red ball and two green? whats the purpose of that...is there a reason lol?

i kinda like this Sub-Zero...like Scorpion i dislike the sword though. also i think if you remove the sword and give him shoulder guards or something that it would help get rid of the Stryker resemblances. i don't like the night vision goggles on his head much either and there should be more blue embroidery in his face mask i think...also lose the grenade on the belt i think...like you said before he was rebelling against the new technology so i would maybe instead use shuriken or even a small blade like a kriss. i could see this working for him.i like the clan symbols on the costume but they are hard to see...maybe instead of just having them embroidered into the cloth make them like metal badges

honestly,i am still not digging Raiden...the costume improved some though. i just can't picture him like this...as i am sure most will say the same. i do however like the samurai feel and the new hat i like. not sure about the lower half of him though...looks like he has a dress on almost. your on the money with the colors of the costume though...that purple was horrible lol. also i am wondering why you didn't use any textures for his skin...like scales or patches of fur or something. the new sideburns i don't like with this version...it would have fit better with the first version you had drawn. i could except this version if i really had to in a game but i would use the first version you had of his face with the new version. one last thing...i still hate the staff...it looks too peasant-like for a god. it should look stunning and regal. maybe make the staff made of metals and maybe you could implement a tiger theme here...use a solid gold tiger claw for the end of it instead of a rock tied into a sack on the end of a stick lol.

Sonya...i like this but it seems a bit plain and average. the top sweater should be a more earth tan green and black tephlon pads should be on it too i think but that is not what it really needs. i dunno...it feels like Sonya to me should be more of a street cop/super cop with tactical swat gear and stuff but that is my opinion. there is not much you can really do with her...i mean you could go full camo army gear or something but all the bulky equipment would logically be difficult to do martial arts in...unless you just use the uniform alone without the battle gear. anything is better than the spandex that made her look like a female wrestler.

Are you not familiar with Johnny's special moves? Sometimes they turn red at random, or because you're Player 2. The Red Shadow Kick even does more damage than the green.

As for everything else...I think it mostly comes down to character interpretation.

Kano is a mob boss. The Black Dragon (Or at least the one Kano ran, Kabal's is different) are NOT a "clan" like everybody calls them, they are a "syndicate". That means organized crime. They are like the Mafia, the Triads, the Yakuza, etc. I don't think that's ever been properly represented in the games, so I wanted to show Kano looking like the gangster he really is. Therefore, I tried for an 80's style Miami Vice/Scarface look for him. I just gave him a red vest instead of the jacket part of the leisure suit because he wore a red vest in the movie.

Liu's orange...that's what the Shaolin wear, man. Tan is for other kinds of monks. And I didn't want to have any fancy designs on it because Liu Kang, at this stage in his life, would not BE fancy. He's just a simple, peaceful man who hasn't yet done or won anything. Except for having hair, he wouldn't really be interested in standing out from any other monk.

Scorpion...why care about the Ghost Rider similarities? Nobody who would call Scorpion a rip-off actually matters to me, they have enough differences. The fact that his skull lights on fire when the mask is off is canon, it happens in several games. His Deadly Alliance alt is one of my all-time favorite Scorpion costumes. Besides, without the fire, I'd think it looks bare and boring.

I like the sword and grenade (it's actually a smoke bomb) on Sub-Zero. I like the sword a LOT, in fact. It's one of the things that says to me "this is a ninja, not a spy or dude in a ski-mask like Stryker"

Raiden we've been over too many times already. Every choice I made was on purpose and I'm extremely happy. I will say that the "dress" is directly taken from his MKDA alt, and the "staff" isn't a staff, it's a drumstick.

And Sonya...eh, I like the color scheme. And I could've added pads or armor of some kind, but I decided to save that for her MK3 alt.

yeah, this is how the god of thunder in japan looks like



i like everyones design. but shouldn't smoke bombs just be full black? i thought only grenades have that design

Well modern smoke bombs are cylinder-shaped. They almost look like a can of hairspray or something, and I was afraid that'd be confusing looking hanging from his belt, so I figured a grenade would be close enough.

I'm surprised Liu has never had a real Shaolin outfit in the games. Looks good!
Also, great idea on the traditional looking Raiden! it looks awesome!
And the Cage outfit is hilarious!

Haha...that's awesome. I like what you did with Raiden too.

Man! This are incredible. Are you thinking about doing the MK2 cast and so? 'Couse I would love to see them.

You work is great. congrats.

Awesome work, look forward to the MK2 cast

Wow, you have no idea how much I love these Alternate costumes you made. They're all fantastic. It's great to see Liu Kang wearing something different for once, and I like the coloring on Scorpion. And I seriously love Sonyas outfit. Can't wait for more.

Awesome stuff! Great to see you putting something up here!
Handful of design pieces I'm not so keen on, but on the whole, well drawn and well executed stuff, dude! I particularly like the alternate costumes. A shred of those references would be nice to see. Liu Kang resembling a Shaolin Monk, who woulda thunk it?

Damn, didn't expect to see this bumped back up to the top.

Okay well, while it's here...maybe you guys can help me out. The reason I never got around to the boss/hidden character alt costumes is I'm stumped on Ermac and Goro.

I don't want to copy Goro's Deception alt, and the only idea I have for Ermac is to draw him like a stone statue from the Warrior Shrine, MKSM-style and I'm not sure that's a strong enough idea.
So...any suggestions?

well...

Goro is supposed to be a Shokan Prince, so a royal theme might work and, in the comic Goro Prince of Pain #1, he had a red cape.

so maybe a combo of the two would work.

These are pretty cool, I especially like the inclusion of Ermac and Nimbus. Make some for MK2 now.

Go with the stone idea for Ermac. The outlines of his clothing could be glowing red, or perhaps cracks in the stone could be instead. Could put a dull green glow around his hands and eyes

I remember many years ago now, back when MK1 was first out, there was a glitch on one of the platforms that turned Sonya's skin green, was lovingly labeled as a reptile sonya by fans for some time, perhaps a new alt costume on that idea

I realize this is probably quite some time away, but when/if you do a MK2 cast, do you by chance have any plans to include the red kitana/mileena glitch as well? I can't remember what people called that, I want to say Ruby but I don't think that was it,

Her name was Skarlett, and I don't think I'll be drawing her.

See, Nimbus I drew because as rumor characters go, he's got a little more basis in reality, so to speak, because there were actual fake pictures of him. Skarlett, on the other hand, exists only in fantasies. I ain't drawin' Hornbuckle either and he's an actual guy...sorta. I just thought MK1 could use more characters, particularly of the racial diversity variety. And "Nimbus Terrafaux" is a cool sounding name.

Plus I can imagine a story for Nimbus. He'd basically be like a game version of Art Lean, just one of the fifty or so normal humans who went to Shang's island and died in the tournament.

Skarlett...doesn't really have a place. The "female ninja who hides in the shadows" role is already filled by Jade.

Hmm, not really something good but what about unmasked Ermac? Since he's an amalgam of many people, my guess is he really doesn't have a face (no mouth, hair or nose). Or maybe that belt buckle from Deception somewhere on the suit.

I'm sure Ermac does HAVE hair, a nose and mouth, etc...but I'd never want to see them. Showing what he looks like under the mask would be creating a single visual identity for him, which doesn't fit for a character made of multiple minds/souls.

You gave Ermac a slight Arabian outfit. Being a being of thousand of souls, what about some kind of other country outfit? like say this



Or maybe that X-symbol on his forehead be on his vest?