Yes. I did. And that is mostly why I am complaining now, because they are being portayed in exactly the same way as every other female character. Now, Kitana is being thrown into the same lot as THOSE characters.
Mileena you could almost make a case for. Almost. Same with Tanya. Jade? She is an assasin, and was pretty much reduced to a stripdancer. And now Kitana has gotten the same treatment. They both are wearing less than Tanya, who is pretty much known for being a character without principles. Either way, the costumes are rather tasteless, but you can at least almost defend Mileena and Tanya.

As far as Tanya goes, you think her MKD costume revealed more than her MK4 costume? I thought she was one of the few characters where the opposite was true. She seemed to be more clothed than in MK4.

Three hours of cutscenes!? NICE. I dig that a lot. I'm still curious as to how it'll all come together if some of them are on a specific character and some include several characters together.

Perhaps that refers to events that occur that effect multiple characters such as transitions between MK1 and MK2 and MK2 and MK3? Who knows.

It leaves me feeling optimistic about the story mode none the less. It sounds like they're really giving it a good once over.

Oh and the idea that there are several game modes but that all of them stick to the dark fighting theme? I LOVE that!!

Of course, we don't know exactly what that means, ya know "the dark fighting THEME." That sounds a bit vague. I mean, Chess combat stuck with the fighting "theme" because yeah, when one piece went to take another, there was a fight.

But I'm still hoping that we've seen the last of those game modes, which Hector seems to say directly.

Thanks for the info man!!

Actually they're getting thrown in with Kitana, Mileena and Jade. They were the first. Kitana, Mileena and Tanya's costumes are the same in MK4 when it comes to revealing skin.

Here is something off, but it kinda relates. Elena from Street Fighter 3 is a warrior princess, kinda like Kitana (she is just happier and fights for fun and to make new friends). People really don't say anything about her costume (or lack there of) because it's part of her culture and we've all seen pictures of Africans dressing similar in National Geographic. It seems like Edenian culture for (at least) the people of the royal court to not wear much. Edenia is probably a hot place.

The in game footage and screenshots of Kitana from the new game prove that her bust in NOT as huge as it's been assumed. It's just that in the render she is facing forward, if it were a sideways view, this tit debate wouldn't be being discussed.

you know, you're right lol. No one said anything when her first image came out (well, not about her breasts anyways). Why are we talking about her chest again? To the people who don't like the design, would her bust changing size really change your mind at all about her costume? I personally don't care about it, I love her costume regardless.

Kitana's best look (face included) was from UMK3.
Then MKGold.

Even the MKII was cool.

If I was on the production team, I'll swap that look to Jade in the final product.

my problem with that new look is that it's not royal. It does't scream Kitana.

Kitana is one of my favorite character from a game. Her weapon, her story, her origin... (her mother!!!!).... for me everything is awesome about her.

Yet, since MKDA she kind faded away... And it's sad.

Since this is a "retelling" of the events, I wished she could just be as awesome to the new fans that are gonna discover her like I did 17 years ago.

Instead they's have that amazon, jaba-the-hut-slave thing.

For me, it was all in that bathing suit and that hair-bun.

But hey, we'll see when the game comes out...

Aside from the dullness of the design, I still don't buy this outfit suiting Kitana. Not when served Kahn, and I wouldn't even buy her wearing it when she did evolve the Princess of Edenia.

I notice someone brought up Jade and was it a big deal when she was dressed as she was in Deception....but there is a difference. We know pretty much nothing about Jade...aside from she was also an assassin for Kahn and she's Kitana's friend. So when she showed up wearing her little "amazon/dancer" look, no one could say it didn't suit her. Apparantly, that's who Jade is and part of her character.
Fine and dandy.

Does anything that's been established about Kitana, in the almost twenty years she's existed, say she would or should be dressed like a belly-dancer? And I'm not talking about how much skin she's showing...as I said, I don't care about that sort of thing, provided it's an interesting design and suits the character.

Say for example, they reveal Sonya's render and she's suddenly wearing a one-piece leotard with the center cut out, sort of like Kitana/Mileena/Jade's MK3 attire...you telling me people wouldn't throw up a red flag? Not because it's sexualized...because between the midriff, thong, and see-through shirt, Sonya's already plenty revealing...it just would not suit the character based on what's already been established about her.

So now they've got Kitana wearing this belly-dancer outfit, and I see people defending it because "she's a princess." And this is something that's really come to bother me about the direction of Kitana's character for a while now. All the time I see people say she should dress like this, act like that, and so on...and if asked why, the answer is always: "She's a princess."
And this what I mean by her being drerailed. It's become "She should do this because that's what a princess would do"...because, apparently, all princesses everywhere in everything, regardless of context or backstory, look and act the same. But not "She should do this because that's what Kitana...the character that's been established and developed for almost two decades...would do."

Kitana is (was) one of Mortal Kombat's most developed characters. It's too late to go back and decide, back when she served Shao Kahn, he had her dressed up like a stripper with a tiara. Especially when one looks back at what Kitana actually wore circa MK2/MK3 when she was still very much in assassin/rebel mode.

Within the context of the Mortal Kombat universe...a simple, straight-forward, ninja assassin attire. Something she would wear when she was working. Making people dead. Nothing "princessy" about it. Nothing that says "My daddy's the Emperor and I'm his pretty princess daughter." Even her MK3 attire, which was essentially the same thing, only with an open slit down the middle.
This is why I tend to balk when people say she was "always" the princess and "always" acted that way.

No she didn't. To borrow a line from Mr. Pink, she was "a fucking professional!"

But okay, they're going back to the beginning and I guess, when Kitana wasn't out making things dead for Shao Kahn, she chilled out in this fancy belly-dancer outfit with a tiara. And this is where my brain comes to screeching halt...and the left-hand side looks at the right-hand side and says "It's dark in here. And we may die."

Really? All this time, we've pondered the relationship between Kitana and Shao Kahn and how they regarded one another. And all this time, if this new outfit is to be considered...according to those that defend it as suiting her...THIS is how it was? Dressed like a slave girl/belly-dancer, clinging to her ruler's leg?
I guess she was just a trophy to him all along, after all? Like I said earlier, I always imagined him preferring and encouraging the more professional Kitana.

I never, in all these years, ever got the indication that was how it was. And, personally, I think it's too late in the game to suddenly say it was. Hence, I'm throwing up my own red flag.

I preffered when Kitana was a professional.

Speaking to the storyline, you guys would do well to remember this game is based on MK1 through MK3, not just MK2. Cyrax and Sektor are cyborgs, but technically they ought to still be human if you want to go with the timeline that Kitana still works for Kahn (costumes wise).

I must say, discussing this is getting rather tiring. Everyone on both sides of the fence just keeps repeating themselves. I think everything that needs to be said has already been said 10 times over. There honestly is nothing left to be discussed when it comes to Kitana's attire. You either love it or you hate it.

That's a really good point. I wonder if they'll have 3 different costumes for each timeline. If so, I wonder which era of Kitana this outfit is, 1,2, or 3 EDIT @XiahouDun84, Have they ever really discussed how Kitana dresses in her leisure, or her relationship with Shoa Kahn? I'm not sure, just asking. You're argument is good, but the only thing I would disagree with is her MK2 design. I don't think a leotard is proper assassin wear lol, though it's probably preferred to her current costume. I think that since we never seen Kitana's life behind the scenes (we don't know her culture at all, what she does on her free time, ANYTHING except what's given to us) that this costume kinda helps establish who she is more.

It's easier for people to repeat themselves. Unfortunately no one is going to shut up about this until the next tidbit of MK news comes out. Once that happens I predict the pages on this will go up to 13 before people move on to argue about something else.

No, they haven't.

But even so, based on what we do know about Kitana...I just have trouble seeing her wearing something like that in her downtime. It just doesn't gell to me.



That's why I said "within the context of Mortal Kombat."
Where it's common practive for ninja to wear elaborate and brightly colored clothes and okay for military officers to have their thongs showing.

Not real life, obviously...but in Mortal Kombat, that's how it rolls, I guess.

I don't know, the last couple pages have been informative to me (which is why I keep posting lol). I think Crow and XiahouDun84 have interesting perspectives and very different from myself. I'd like to know more lol

maybe kitana dresses like this to "seduce her prey". wouldnt that her an edge as an female assassin.......at least over some male opponents?????

I hear some people saying "she looks too much like a princess", "she looks too much like a slave", "she looks too much like an assassin"... I think her costume combines ALL those elements.

Here, have a gander at this little montage of the current Kitana amongst a backdrop of warrior princesses and femme fatale assassins.



She blends right in, doesn't she? And this is compared to warrior princesses like Street Fighter's Elena, Prince of Persia's Empress Kaileena and Princess Farah, and DC's warrior goddess Artemis, and to femme fatale warriors and assassins like Elektra, Psylocke, Nina Williams, and Voodoo.

Does Princess Farah show too much skin? Kitana's wearing more clothes than she has on. Is Artemis a demeaning belly-dancer? She's from a race of women that loathe and reject men. Is Elektra any less of a stoic, intriguing character and assassin because she's wearing a two-piece and you can see her belly button? Again, I find it to be highly comparative to Kitana's current regalia.

She looks no worse than Jade, Mileena, or even her own mother, the QUEEN.

(seriously, those are some magnificent mega-hot mom mammaries right here).

Could she dress up more? Yeah, and she probably will in her alternate costume (just like Jade), but I think it's a bit harsh to say her new look is anywhere near approaching the objectification of other games.

You used two pictures of Elektra and both are terrible examples, she has almost always worn a version of that costume that covers her stomach. It's usually red too.

And that Psylocke one is fan art! She usually never shows her belly button either.
At least most of the chicks you posted come from a tribal culture or a hot climate so being skimpy makes sense for them. But quite frankly, none of the girls in those pictures look much like "warriors" OR "princesses", much less both. They just look like generic citizens of wherever they're from. (Except for the blonde girl on the middle left, she looks like some kind of tough biker chick. And the one on the right looks like she actually is wearing Kitana's MK2 outfit, so she's acceptable.)
But Kitana does not come from a tribal culture or live in an exceptionally tropical place. One could make the argument that Edenia looks kinda tropical, but there is no fucking Edenia in MK2 and 3, and Kitana hasn't been from there since she was a goddamn baby.
Regardless of what does or does not pass for a warrior in other cultures and other media, there's a clear "Arabian slave girl" theme going on with MK9 Kitana, and if Kahn is all of a sudden treating his daughters as decoration for his throne room or fucktoys instead of ninjas, that's grossly out of character for everyone involved.

I didn't reference Edenia at all. Outworld must be horribly hot too since Kahn, Goro, and Motoro all barely wear any clothing. The other clothes that Outworld citizens wear are rather loose and light as well, including Baraka, MK2 Shang Tsung, Li Mei, Nitara, Khameleon, and others are light on the clothing.

And why are the Elektra pictures terrible? They were used as covers for her OWN COMIC by Marvel themselves, so obviously they were comfortable enough to at least include them right on the front of the book. In fact, I spotted some nice midriff from her in the most RECENT comic issues.



And you're right. The Psylocke pic was a mistaken fan-art piece. Let me find something more dignified and official...


Yeah, her new Exiles look totally is an improvement.

Other people did. A lot. To the point it's driving me insane. That said, you'll note I did edit my post to cut down on the over the top screaming and make more sense. I tend to do that.



It's not how much skin you show, it's the way you show it. These characters have THEMES. Shao Kahn, for example, is a cross between a samurai and Conan the Barbarian, so his bare chest and legs make sense.

Kitana is supposed to be a ninja. This outfit is not that of a ninja, it's that of a belly dancer. Everyone can see the belly dancer in it. I'm far from the only one who's used the phrase "belly dancer" here. The first time everyone saw it, when she was just a small, blurry pic of a girl chained up in Kahn's arena, everyone used the term "Slave Leia".

So it's not even that you can see her belly, it's the shape and design of the clothing. Hell, you can see Mileena shaves her pubes, her outfit is so low cut. But she still somehow looks like a ninja in it!



Not terrible, terrible examples. If you're trying to make a point about how people dress, and you're gonna turn to comics as your example, use the costumes they're actually known to wear for long strings of time, the ones that are identifiable, not rare variants. The same goes for the Psylocke case. Exiles has been cancelled for like a year and she went back to the 90's bathing suit.

Artists draw characters in ridiculous temporary shit all the time. But nobody has to LIVE with the costumes that show up once or twice. We actually have to LIVE with whatever Kitana wears in MK9 because we only get one video game every two or three fuckin' years, there's no guarantee her alt won't suck too, and this is probably the last time they'll try to remake MK2 again in at good long while, so is it so much to ask that they actually try to GET IT RIGHT?!
It's like...we all put up with Spidey's weird red and gold "Iron Spider" outfit with the claw arms coming out the back during Civil War, because we knew it'd be gone in a few months, and because it fit the plot with him and Stark buddying up and doing favors for each other. But how would you feel if they released a Spider-Man video game set during...Maximum Carnage or the Gwen Stacy days, something like that, where the only available costumes were Iron Spider and maybe, if you're lucky, something half-decent like the Black Suit, and nowhere in the game was the REAL red and blue outfit, and none of it fit continuity?
And at least that Shadowland page has Elektra showing her belly but still looking like an all-business killer for hire. It's not about the skin, it's about the style. Kitana's style is "harem girl" right now and that's bullshit.

I agree, she fits in perfectly with all of those other characters that were pictured, but that was part of my point. All of these characters pictured have exactly the same concept: wear as little as possible. There is hardly any distinction, and Kitana now finds herself put right into an overdone, overused, and hardly original, tasteless concept of what designers think makes a strong, beautiful female character.

I honestly don't see that big a difference between this look and her UMK3 look except this is more detailed. Kitana, like all other female characters in MK and the vast majority of female characters in gaming was designed to be sexy. This is hardly anything new and other MK characters, let alone other characters in gaming have pushed the envelope far further.

Wow what a giant circular argument this has spun off into. People arguing personal preferences arguing oversexualization arguing character concept integrity. I'll break it down:

Personal Preference - Absolutely pointless to debate over. What you like isn't necessarily better or worse than whatever the next person prefers.

Oversexualization - That's really merit for another thread but suffice it to say that as far as sexualized video game characters go, Kitana fits right at home in the MK universe.

Character Integrity - Well first up, I raised this point towards the beginning and was largely ignored. Secondly, its obvious to me that the aesthetics of Kitana for MK 9 weren't developed with some sort of huge concern for her backstory. Rather, the design leaned more towards what the dev artist viewed as pleasing aesthetics (again personal preference) and sex appeal while incorporating elements of her core iconic design.

I see where those vocal about character integrity are coming from but I don't agree that it makes her appear weak, it just makes her look half-naked. Again though I talked about this already in a prior post.

And since when did female ninja's roam around in brightly coloured one-piece bathing suits?

I think everyone has been blinded by the fact that apparently a bathing suit is ninja attire and something similar is expected.

If we want realism then maybe she should be dressed in all black with nothing showing.

As much as I liked the bathing suit I never thought of it as ninja-esque.

Also I think people are taking things a little too far when discussing the climate of outworld/edenia when trying to justify whether something fits. But that's just me.

Well the debate is pretty much over because I don't think anyone can make heads or tails of it :p

Some people don't like her outfit

Some people are fine with the outfit

Some people think her bust size is too big

Some people think there's nothing wrong with her breast size

Can we let this die now? I mean really, does it matter if she's a b cup or a d cup? Does it matter that she's showing too much skin?

It's all preference at this point. The arguments have been made on either side and it's really just created a shit storm of a debate over how women are portrayed in media.

The Video game industry markets to men. Most men want to see half naked girls. A+B=C

All you guys who are complaining should really just blame your own gender for having a one track mind -_-;

Being modest with female designs is a risk that the MK team can't gamble on. This is their first title under WB and they want it to preform well. They're trying to get hardcore MKers on board and market to the casual gamers. I don't see them dropping the breast sizes of the female characters when they're prolly worried that it'll effect the sales of the game.

Since like the 1980's. I'm sick of people nitpicking the difference between real world fucking ancient Japan and ninjas in fiction. Mortal Kombat is not the place to get all history scholar about shinobi. In comics and cartoons and video games, a skintight one piece with bare arms and legs is accepted as female ninja-wear. Just fucking learn to cope with the concept of pop culture, and do it in your head, not out loud.

It's a shame your argument won't magically change Kitana's outfit into something more respectable in your mind.