This deviant artist has a pretty cool Rain concept with an early Roman soldier/gladiator influence which I think plays off real well with what we know of Rain.
Rain Concept
I'd like to see Rain continue to be arrogant, like douchebaggy arrogant so it would be fun to punch him square in the jaw. Prancing around claiming to be royalty blah blah blah WHAM!

Well I siimply don't like him using lightning. He should use wind if you call him a stormy weater element user. I was glad that he hasn't it in Armageddon

Uhh...he DOES have the lightning summon in Armageddon.

Yeah you are right... forgot about it xD

I really like that look for Rain, its definitely something new and different, very regal looking, maybe his alternate can be more ninja like. I think it would be cool that somehow in the the back in time thing Rain ends up being loyal to Edenia. Finds out he is the son of Argus and wants to marry Kitana so he can be the legit king of Edenia, but princess Kitana, sounds much better than queen Kitana dont you think.

While I love the artwork he doesn't really seem to be a vain character in this picture, more tough like scorpion.

His hair showing is a BIG BIG must for a vain character, think about Vega for once, his hair is his everything and so does his looks.

I loved the rain from armageddon because they showed off his hairs for once, that makes him more EDENIAN and more different than the other ninja's.

I hope the new rain has this aswel!

I don't think that Roman armor fanart looks a thing like Rain, personally. You'd never know it was him if it weren't for the purple and the other pictures around it to indicate "this is who I'm trying to draw."

The Armageddon look with lots of gold, the ponytail, the cape, the quilted V, and the sort of crown-thing attached to his mask were all much more indicative of what kind of character Rain is supposed to be.

rAIN should be vAIN! :p

It only differs 1 letter for a edenian gods sake!

I like the direction this artist is going for the reason it reminds me a bit of what the Edenian soldiers in konquest wore, besides this a customized Edenian armored suit is more along the lines of what I was picturing to make him more recognizable. Unless I'm mistaken, the earilest we know of Rain is turning against Edenia for fear of Shao Kahn's forces killing him. Seems reasonable he'd acquire his native realm's best line of defense, almost for the sole reason of cowardness.

I don't really think it looks like the Edenian soldiers from Konquest. And even if it did, I don't think Rain would wear bulky, restrictive soldier armor. He's more roguish, like a thief, an outlaw, ninja gear suits his personality and role.
And if we were to be talking about a game set after Armageddon, which I realize MK9 is not, but just for the sake of argument since we're discussing a piece of fan art more than the current game, now that he thinks of himself as a prince, he'd especially never dress like the common folk who defend the kingdom in all that dull steel, that's the look of a generic guard, or a general at best. It's not royalty. He's all about looking fancy and wearing a lot of gold now.

I agree with your second paragraph, that's where the arrogance comes into play. With his stealthy origins, that's what is drawing me away from his character, since he's treading on the very much overdone. And the original character stealthy types do it much better than Rain could achieve.

I don't want Rain to look like a soldier in heavy armour as well, but being a light warrior doesn't always have to equal looking like a ninja. The fanart showing above is a bit too heavy armoured than what I had in mind for Rain.

As long as he doesn't have the double shoulder cloth, a hood and a mask he can fart around in a 7 foot wide purple tutu for all I care.

They tried to give some overall greco-roman vibe to Armageddon with both Taven and Daegon.... the idea at least had some basis in the lore.

Sadly, the thing is lightyears from Rain.

Somebody mentioned it here,but after I played MKA,I always pictured his appearence as Altair/Ezio from Assasin's Creed.I think this kinda look will fit him perfectly.

I actually like Rain as a ninja. I think it would be cool if he puts on the facade of being one of Khan's loyal servants, but really he goes in disguise and dons the purple ninja suit and fights in the invasion of earthrealm to help win back Edenia. I also found it interesting that he was in the background of the Temple level in MK2011. It looks like he is mourning somebody's death. To me it sounds like a start to a good origin for Rain's motives in MK3.

I do hope his look changes from MKA. I thought it looked awful. I hope they make his mouth piece look like Scorpion and Sub-zero. I want the rest of his suit to be like UMK3 with the square padding on the vest. Sort of a throw back to that game while also being different from the other ninjas in MK2011.

Why would Rain a prince of edenia dress himself as lowlifes such as Sub-Zero and Scorpion?

There is no need in that, Rain should not copy the dressing style of cheap ninjas.

He should get his own style, non scorpion and non sub-zero.

I wouldn't go as far as to call Scorpion and Subbie for lowlives, however, I agree that Rain should definately get his own style of design instead of copying others. He was well underway by doing so in MKA. Individual designs are important to make characters interesting aesthetic wise, so turning Rain back into a Scorpion/Subbie clone would be a very unwise move.

It makes sense to my take on the character. Shao doesn't seem like the type who would put up with treachery in the highest form. Also in the main story it makes sense. He becomes one of Shao's pawns, so being a prince means jack shit and Shao will dress him like a Barbie if he pleases. Edenia is on lockdown by Shao remember. How old are you? I feel like I'm talking to a little kid.

Cheap ninja? Sub-zero maybe. But Scorpion? To me his clothes look supernatural and not of this world.

Rain can also dress as a ninja and not look like them. It would be perfect if he didn't want to be found out by Shao. He could just dress as a ninja assassin with powers and he would blend right in. I also don't know how intimidating a warrior in purple prince garb would be.

You are imagining a world where Rain could ever have good, non-selfish intentions and become a freedom fighter. This dude will always do what benefits him the most. He has already in his life taken a look at Shao Kahn and said "That guy is OBVIOUSLY the winning side, so fuck Edenian pride, I'm with him and gladly."

The only reason it was ever even hinted he might turn otherwise was in his MKT ending, which did not come true, and he seems to do so there mainly to get into the good graces of Kitana, and also because she was all like "Kahn killed your dad"...and that dude has since been revealed to not even be his real father.

What IS canon, as regards his destiny (at least in the original timeline and one has to assume they'll keep his personality the same because changing it now after it's been so strongly established would defeat the purpose of this whole "strengthening their character traits and making them stand out" thing they're going for), is how he's depicted in Deception Konquest, where Jade thinks of him as a traitorous snake just about as much as she does Tanya, and Armageddon, where he's clearly not working on the side of the angels.

Rain should definately stay a bad guy in my opinion. It is how his role as a bad guy should be like that is the question. I don't see Rain as a criminal mastermind, but I can easily imagine that he would exploit being a minion of Shao Kahn to his own benefit against Kitana and the overtaking of Edenia.

Should Rain be more cunning in his ways, being manipulative and more diplomatic, or should he be a more of a violent, aggressive type of character who believes that the way forward to gain what he wants is to take it by force?
It is hinted that his personality leans to the latter in MK Armageddon Konquest mode where Rain attacks Taven in the belief that it would help him come closer to his goal.

"Good non-selfish intentions" I guess. If he fights to take back Edenia he would be Prince again which would be a selfish intent. To me it would make sense for him to act loyal to Khan but really deep down he loathes him and he wants to live the life of Royality in his home land. Wouldn't you? I know I would be pretty damn bitter about it and if I was half god I would look for a chance to take him down. I think this would be a cool take on the character other wise whats the point of him being an ex prince of Edenia if he is just Shao's pawn.

The other aspect is Rain is kind of a joke character. He's purple, his name is Rain, and he is a Prince. To me it just seems like a blatant homage to Prince and the song purple rain rather than a serious MK character. To me he is right on the border of being canon and non-canon so it doesn't really matter how much they change his character in this game. If you like him as a bad guy or a serious prince that's fine, but I would like them to take my idea. He's not bad he's not really good he just wants his Kingdom back and he wants to be royality.

Few things:

- Rain is a prince only in his own head. Being the son of a god does not make you royalty.

And even if it did, my second point:

- Rain doesn't know he's Argus' son until Armageddon. So, being as this is MK1/2/3, he should definitely NOT be running around bragging about how he's a prince.


Just FYI.