Sub-Zero (Bi-Han) even states HIMSELF in MK Mythologies that he is NOT a ninja!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMzCz8eYGHE

And I quote:
"Let's get something straight. I am not a ninja! I am Lin Kuei! Scorpion was a ninja!"

So there you have it.

Holy shit! How can this be, Noob and Sonya are tied! I thought Noob was going to take this but now it can go either way!

Yep. :)
go sonya!

Noob because his favorite color is pink :)

Lets bet real. That's the Lin Kuei being bitchy.

I don't see it like that at all. They aren't ninjas. And of course Sub-Zero don't want to be compared to Scorpion who is a traitor to his clan. It's understandable.

Sonya got my vote sorry Bi Han...Noob Saibot. Sonya has been one my favorites forever.

Yeah, J-R got this in one. People have used the classification 'MK ninjas' ever since day one, basically. It was the running assumption until Mythologies came along and specified Scorpion was the only true one within the universe. I still call them ninjas, but it's just the use of the familiar term (See also: Street Fighter's 'shotos' who are mostly supposed to be using variants of Ansatsuken, rather then anything Shotokan-based).

I use ninja as a blanket term. I'm guilty of that. But I can play ball.

Let's not have any Assassins, Wraiths, Enenras, or Cultivation of souls in the finals.

Sonya got my vote sorry Bi Han...Noob Saibot. Sonya has been one my favorites forever.

Come on Sonya fans! Get your pals to vote! We're losing...

That was awesome! LOL Good find...

People who keep crying "OMG but Scorpion is the only real ninja!" are wrong. In-universe, ninjitsu was founded by the renegade Lin Kuei Takeda. So of course Sub-Zero is gonna react with disgust at being called a ninja..in his eyes they're not only a rival but an inferior copy started by a Lin Kuei traitor. That doesn't mean ninjas and Lin Kuei have nothing to do with each other as you'd have people believe, now does it? Sub's MK1 bio even refers to the LK as Chinese "ninjas".

Secondly, in MK9's story, Shao Kahn berates Kitana for letting "Earthrealm ninjas" crash the party after Sub-Zero, Sektor and Cyrax show up. The fact he bothered to specify EARTHREALM ninjas implies that there are ninjas from other realms. And since this is MK and we're talking about pop culture ninjas to begin with and not real life, it's quite logical to assume all masked assassins/warriors in the MKverse are called ninjas. So people like Kitana, Jade, Reptile, etc = NINJAS in-universe as well.

But thirdly, and most importantly, even if you don't accept my in-universe explaination, it still doesn't matter. Because it's mind-numbingly obvious that when people talk about MK ninjas we mean in REAL LIFE, not the context of the story. You know, the god damn pallette swaps that there was a million of running around back in the day. And in the games that most of us started with, they were all dressed like Scorpion in different colors (or Kitana or Sektor for that matter) and we all called them ninjas back then. Forget not all being from Japan, you do realize that real life ninja didn't all go around in pajamas and masks right? (let alone the color-coded ones we get in MK) They mostly dressed as farmers and what not.

I think that a lot of people are getting hung up on the term "ninjas." It's not like people think that Ermac is the leader of the red ninja clan or that Reptile is the leader of the green ninjas. Forget that word. It's really just a place holder for a palette swap, which some people tend to look down upon when compared to so-called regular characters.

Maybe it's because they were a cheap, low budget way of cramming more characters in, or maybe some soured to how rediculous it got after awhile given how many shades there are, who knows, but l'd be willing to wager a hefty sum that it has nothing to do with the technical definition versus what the characters are behind there masks and more to do with the repetetive and somewhat redundant appearances.

In other words, there are 8 characters that all started out wearing black ninja clothes with a unique color. Some people prefer more uniqueness is all. Though I'd personally look past that, I do remember thinking "god, seriously, now there's a PURPLE ninja too??" When I first saw the MK3 arcade attract mode.

Anyways, with all due respect to Bi-Han, I voted for Sonya. She's unique, she always has a fun moveset, and it finally seems like they're taking her in a new direction.

She's MK's first lady, and I hope she goes the distance. Go Sonya!!

Exactly.

Jaded-Raven knows this just as well as the rest of us do. He just wants attention as usual. ;)

lol Dude, your eyes are on fire.

I'm sure we all know of this info, and if not then we do now. But it's okay to label them as "ninjas" for familiarity and identification. It's like how Scyther, Spinarak and Skorupi are classified as bug-type pokemon, even though praying mantises, spiders and scorpions are not bugs.

And once again. Are they running around in brightly colored garments with dick and pussycapes? Them motherfuckers are ninjas.

Take away their stories and line them all up side by side circa UMK3. You're telling me that you wouldn't look at them and see the word "ninja?"

I certainly like the stories that a lot of them have, but in most cases, these characters have all been color coded and have largely adhered to a similar style of dress. In the past, there was a bit of a backlash to this perceived redundance, especially in the gaming media. I think that some still kinda have that attitude toward the "ninja" characters regardless of how much their stories have evolved. Perhaps that'll continue right up until the point when NRS suddenly decides that Ermac doesn't have to be black and red, Smoke doesn't have to be black and gray etc.

That's really all I was getting at, but if you disagree, it's certainly cool with me.

True, the term "Ninja" doesn't exactly fit and is more of a blanket term. That said, the final 8 will consist of a:

-Cryomancer

-Alien Princess

-Hollywood Celebrity

-Thunder God

-Cultivation of Souls

-Enenra

-Shaolin Monk

-Wraith or Special Forces Agent

Yes, no, and somewhere in between:

Spread throughout Japan; the Ninja exist as the Lin Kuei's Japanese counterpart. It is believed that a renegade, Japanese-born Lin Kuei warrior named Takeda developed the art of Ninjutsu hundreds of years ago.

The Ninja have never existed as one collected clan. They work as a loosely connected spy network, made up of several small clans. One such clan is known as the Shirai Ryu. Their founder was Takeda himself, making the Shirai Ryu the very first ninja clan.

The above snippets, direct from the archived MKM site and instruction manual, specifically show that the ninja are - in-universe- considered a completely seperate entity from the Lin Kuei, who are the template from which Takeda developed his own techniques, etc. MKM made a concrete, focused effort, both in its detailed backup plot, and in Sub-Zero's speech, to differentiate the Lin Kuei from the Shirai Ryu and other ninja clans. Literally defined at the time, the Lin Kuei could not be considered 'a ninja clan', because they're the originators.

Now, MKDA's Konquest script specifically and repeatedly (like, fifty times) refers to Scorpion as a 'ninja spectre' (His weapon is also a 'ninja sword' in that game). It's very obvious that, yes, this man, this corpse, is defined as part of the original mold.

However, there are other instances that go outside the Shirai Ryu:

Sub-Zero is referred to with that term at a single point during Sonya's segment: "It was the Lin Kuei ninja, Sub-Zero, and..." It occurs nowhere else.

Cyrax is specifically referred to as a 'cyborg ninja' multiple times during MKDA's Konquest. He also uses 'ninjutsu' as a fighting style. and, quite tellingly, a line from his Konquest reads as follows: "Like Sub-Zero, Cyrax had once been a member of the Lin Kuei ninja clan..." It also mentions 'The Way of the Ninja' and a 'ninja strike' technique.

From Kenshi's: Kenshi sympathized with the plight of the enigmatic kombatant, Ermac. The Outworld warrior spirits that had manifested themselves in the form of a ninja had been...

All of this leads me to the conclusion that the term 'ninja' is very much also used in-universe as a blanket term for masked warriors who 'flip out and kill shit' as the old saying goes, even if the Shirai Ryu are specifically defined as the first. But the extra attention to Scorpion and his very frequent association with the term can't be ignored entirely.

I'd personally look at Kahn's statement as more of a derisive one along the lines of Quan Chi's words intended to provoke Bi-Han during Mythologies. All the masked warriors in-universe could very well be called 'ninjas' by other warriors for the same reasons the fanbase does; easy identification of an archetype.

I think it's reasonable to expect that the Lin Kuei would of course during the passing of centuries absorb whatever useful skills the Shirai Ryu and other clans developed, and passed them down to their own members as well (hence Cyrax and the reason for the 'cyber-ninja' designation). Scorpion's old clan ain't using them anymore. Ohhhh, cold snap. (sorry)

It's also very possible that Kuai Liang does not have a stick up his ass and, once he took over the clan, welcomed the use of the renowned term which such traditionalist members as his older brother were anally retentive about.

I personally lean on the Bi-Han traditionalist side of things myself. It depends how you want to use the term; in the sense of the original clans, or as the blanket statement. Either way, you're not wrong; in this sense anyone who wants to call Scorpion the series' 'only true ninja' is well within their rights, I think.

Generally speaking, we all know what we're talking about anyway.

I hope.

True story.

Who cares if Noob is a ninja or not? He's a boring joke character with cheesy moves.

Come on Sonya fans!

I hate Sonya! :D The bitch is going down ;) No match for greatest Noob Saibot, soon to be lord of the outworld :D