@Shadaloo
@Zmoke

My fellow Smoke lovers, I think in the end, it comes down to Smoke defeating Liu Kang (by so much :0!) because he is A LOT more popular now. Silly me who actually thought voters were taking the past and legacy of the characters into consideration. This Supreme Championship is pretty much a popularity contest. Which is fine by me, both my beloved characters are still in the tournament =).

Regarding the whole division 1,2,3 and 4 topic, I think Jaded-Raven covered everything about it very well. It pretty much is your own opinion, and nothing anyone says will change that. I see Smoke as a 3rd division character taking his history, abilities, and his role in the story into consideration. I also see Sonya and Cage as division 1 combatants.

I love what NRS did with Smoke in MK9, he is absolutely spectacular. He is definitely in my top 10 favorites because of MK9. It's a little depressing to see my boy Liu Kang go out of the tourney in such a way, but again, this is a popularity contest. Otherwise Liu Kang would own everyone, including my favorite characters. Not a die hard fan of the MK champion but I do have much respect for him.

BTW Shadaloo, Liu Kang's death was actually one of favorite moments in the entire MK storyline! It was one of those rare WTF moments, genius. Off topic, but speaking of WTF moments, NRS really fucked the story up by killing so many of our beloved heroes. I am still disgusted by it, they better find a way to bring them back or fix this nonsense.

I don't always vote for seniority. Sometimes I vote for vagina.

But in all seriousness, "seniority" just denotes for me -- characters that have had more time to shine, stories that are more fleshed out because they have been in progress for a longer amount of time, and more appearances in games where the players had more opportunities to bond with that character by having the controller in their hands.

I didn't actually vote for Liu Kang because of seniority. I voted for Liu Kang because I don't like Smoke. I never liked Smoke's gameplay or storyline, except for the fact that he was the tragic tale of Sub-Zero's best friend and the actualization of Sub-Zero's worst fate. But instead of writing all that explanation which is probably going to be ignored every round, I'd rather just write one sentence that is probably going to be ignored every round.

And Shadaloo's right. When the most interesting aspect about a character is that he died in the introduction of a new generation of games, it shows how much weight he really had in the series. The MK Team had many opportunities to make him a better character; capitalize on Kung Lao's apparent death in MK3, more emphasis on his coupling with Kitana, portray him as more of a leader instead of Raiden, etc. They never followed through with any of that, and as a result, they put him into the ground. Yes, they dug him back up for Deception, but his character had grown so stale that he looked like a wreck from the start.

I agree, Sub-Zero will definitely win. He's one of the few characters who's gone through so many changes and drama with his story, that he's probably the most relatable and realistic character of the entire series. Think about it...
-Kidnapped by his father alongside his brother.
-Against his will, he's raised to become a killer and general "bad" guy.
-His brother takes their father's mantel and dies, leaving Kuai Liang to bear the burden of his entire family line in the Lin Kuei.
-Is pursued by a ghost from his brother's past (Scorpion) for years.
-Is branded a traitor by the only family he has left in the world (the Lin Kuei).
-His best friend and partner is captured and transformed into a robotic nightmare when they both try to escape, perhaps leaving some survivor's guilt.
-He finds out his brother is now a Demon in Hell, serving the monsters he fought and defeated.
-Now embracing the role of a hero and leader, he doesn't destroy Sektor, leading the cyborg to take over Japan and transform its inhabitants into Tekunin soldiers (that's 127 million "deaths" right there on his conscience).
-His bad teaching leads to a pompous Frost to try and kill and replace him, with her resurrection leading to her becoming psychotic and killing several members of the new Lin Kuei.
-And finally, Sub-Zero himself loses his humanity when the past is changed and he becomes a cyborg.
None of the other characters have had to go through as much as Kuai Liang.

I keep trying to remind myself that at least it won't be between Sub-Zero and Scorpion in the end. But I'm just not content with a different ninja being in Scorpion's place. I just don't get the obsession with them. Ah well. Sigh.

Okay, since it's pretty obvious Liu isn'tgoing to win, I going to the next matchup, and yay, it involves Kung Lao! (YAY!) But oh crap... his opponent is the massive Shokan Prince Goro, who killed his ancestor years ago. I, obviously will give my vote to Kung Lao, only because he's my favorite character. In this situation, I COULD base this on battle mechanics and such for Kung Lao to still get my vote, but my loyalty towards my favorite character is too strong not to vote for him anyway. But since people think that since Goro is the former MK Champion and is a Warrior Prince, I've got to keep my hopes up. Hopefully Sonya later defeats Noob, that way Kung Lao doesn't face him.

I'm glad someone agrees on how much character development Kuai Liang has had over the years. I don't know if NRS intended it but they definitely gave Sub-Zero the best story of any of the characters, IMO, over the years.

I just hope turning him cyber doesn't stunt the hell out of him. The fates of Cyrax and Smoke in the old timeline seemed so directionless though that it makes mke fear for his future. I'm hoping if the heroes get brought back they are all human or something of the sort.

well... it's obvious now that kang has lost (Man I was hoping for liu kang vs. kung lao)

Tomarrow I will be voting for my 2nd favorite, kung lao.

Oh, thank you! It's good to know I'm not the only person voting for him. What is your voting based on?

His story, gameplay, trademark hat, and great fatalitys

On Lao, I vote because he's my fave, hands down. But for all other competitions, it's based on strength, mental ability and endurance, gameplay, and the other character's elements.

Smoke.

My vote goes to Kung Lao to avenge his ancestor the Great Kung Lao by defeating the Shokan Prince, Goro.

Neither characters are exciting anymore. Goro had probably like, one game of fame and then that was is. I mean, Kintaro was in the second, Motaro was in the third. We didn't see him until the fourth game.

Somehow "dies" in the fifth, comes back in a handheld version of the sixth... Obviously returns in the seventh...

Apparently if I call MK2011 the eighth, I'm going to get scolded that it's not the eighth, but it really is the eighth... But whatever... He returns in 2011...

Kung Lao... Humph, despite that he had one nasty fatality in the second game, hardly did anything, to me, in the third... Coming back in Deadly Alliance I thought did him wonders and really thought that he was going to be the next Grand Champion, but sadly he didn't. Comes back in Armageddon and in 2011, he gets killed in one of the cheapest ways I've ever seen in a video game.

Neither has impressed me over the years, but I can only vote for one. I'm going to go with Goro all because when I first saw him as a toddler, I couldn't stop thinking how awesome this thing was.

And since there's a tiger version of him too (Of course, this is the toddler me that's talking here) I was like, "ooh, scary kitty! Where's the bald one?"

Yeap, me as a toddler, wanting to know where the bald kitty was. I was three.... Shut up.

Kung Lao! Goro is pretty awesome, but I really like Kung Lao for reasons I'm not even sure if I can explain. He just.. clicks with me. I like him.

They also ended the other poll kind of early. Oh well.

Goro because he can fly 4 kites at once.

Also because he can hold four martinis at once... like Sheeva:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svzzgiHiNjI

Goro all the way though that should be obvious. Goro has been my favorite MK character since I started playing the first game on the Super Nintendo. I'm a fan of big powerful monsters and Goro fits the bill perfectly. He's always been one of my favorite bosses to fight, he used to freak me out when I was little. The Shokan prince is just such an iconic and memorable character. Goro is also one of the few bosses who actually has a good storyline and character development. He's also my favorite character to play as in any Mortal Kombat game.

Kung Lao on the other hand is alright but I hate his new characterization. Instead of being a peaceful monk he's now a cocky jealous asshole. Both of these characters have been getting screwed over recently, but in different ways. Kung Lao's personality has been changed for the worse making his storyline worse. Goro took a hit when they made him unplayable, and it doesn't help that they made him as pathetic as the other villains.

Kung Lao. Even if they did manage to fuck up both characters I just like him more.

Come On! GORO BETTER WIN OR I'LL CUT YOU'RE DICK OFF!

Admin Edit: Tone it down.

Not my are dick! I'll need that sooner or later!

I was going to vote goro.
But Im voting kung Lao.
My reason? To spite quanchi9. That is the only reason. Not a fan of either. I just cannot stand this guy.

Kung Lao's hat and goros arms are trademarks of this game.I remember back when I was a kid I just used to throw the hat up and down all day plus kung lao looked the coolest as well.And in this game kung laoz technique and gameplay is probably the most beautiful in mk9 and goroz as not as strong as mk4(the pc game when u just wanted to pull your hair out) which is better.
However characterwise they havent done justice to kung lao really I mean the fact that he refers to kitana as "your girlfriend" everytime he has an argument with liu kang and the fact that whenever raiden says "Chosen One" he gets a little pissed makes him look like a teenage fighter not a mature warrior.
But that is MKz fault not his fault so Im voting for him.

Goro! - MK's most original character, with 4 arms, super strength and the original boss of MK - he gets my vote!

Kung Lao I find dull and boring, to me he's just a Liu Kang rip off and his main appeal is his hat, but I don't find hats very interesting..