Mavado

Mavado.

He's in my top ten easy.

I love Mavado, why must he lose to Kabal?

I wonder how some of these characters would do if we waited til after MKX, where I'm sure some of these characters will get a makeover.

Mavado just has so much potential to me, and has one of the cooler looks. His trenchcoat is awesome. Also, he just reminds me of some kind of mob boss. I admit I hate anything that has to do with Red Dragon and Black Dragon. They are just dead ends to me. However, Mavado is the exception. He's a friggin awesome character and he's about to bite the dust just like my girl Li Mei did earlier. That sucks.

I keep hearing people say that certain characters have potential. I'm pretty sure EVERY character has room for growth. Some may have more than others, but every character has potential. Even Meat and Mokap.

^

I view many characters as having little to no potential without a massive aesthetic and gameplay redesign. Mavado, Taven, Daegon, Li-Mei, Drahmin, Jarek, Kobra, Kira, Dairou, Darius, Shujinko, Hsu Hao, Hotaru, and Kai are all just miserable stains on the series, IMO.

Salvage the the ones that show some signs of life... Nitara, Kenshi, Havik, Khameleon, Ashrah... maybe Bo Rai' Cho and Frost... if the others are so crucial to the story, they need to start from the ground up with their gameplay and aesthetics.

'Potential' is being used more and more as a throwaway word. It shouldn't stand for 'shitty character that might be good if redesigned completely'. IMO It shouldn't even factor into votes. I'm voting purely based on how much I've enjoyed the characters and what they've accomplished up to this point. Not what I think they're capable of. I think Smoke, for example, has the potential to start slaying gods with his penis. Not going to consider that crucial to the character until it actually happens, though.

Kabal because seniority.

It should be a factor. Since some of the characters were never properly realized, but there were much more enjoyable than their opponents in the poll.

No, because If they were much more enjoyable even if not fully realized, then that's due to what they are, not what they "could be".

Also, who decides what "potential" is, anyway? Will that "potential" even be used? Lived up to? I've seen tons and tons of great ideas for every member of the cast - potential is infinite. Any character can be made wonderful given the correct amount of work and proper direction; ex: Rain WAS a shit character. Now he's amazing. Comic fiction is rife with examples of hilariously bad characters getting A+ makeovers. If this were fifteen or so years ago and a DC comic poll occurred, Catman would be everyone's favorite overweight, washed-up, has-been joke - but go look at Catman now. Characters change, but you can't use where you think they could ideally be in five years as a factor to judge their overall current quality.

I like Dairou's concept a whole bunch. I think MK needs a bounty hunter. But as he is, Dairou is ass. The Eastwood-inspired headhunter I imagine he should have been is just a figment of my imagination. It doesn't actually exist.

IMO people who vote for characters who "have potential" are very likely placing an idealized, non-existent version of their favorite shitstain over whoever else, and demonstrate difficulty in making objective comparisons.

Now, a character's 'direction' is another story, despite similarities. I'd say it's fine to go "I like where they're going with Liu Kang", for example. He's been given a brain in 2011, and been painted as anything but the ol' predictable 2-D hero we all remembered him as. It's a factor which makes him interesting in the here and now. It's something we've witnessed that's enhanced his character.

Long story short, the topic title is "Who is the Supreme Mortal Kombat Champion", not "could be".

I think it would take a severe lack of attention and imagination to write the characters off the way some are. The difference between Dairou as Eastwood, and the potential of characters like Kobra or Dairou, is that it is implied potential. It is delivered in their appearances and the games and is based on something other than completely ignoring what they are. The comic book reference is an argument for this justification and acknowledgment. The best revamps of comic book superheroes (with which MK has a lot in common) are usually firmly anchored to the original premise and pick up on that, or key references.

The spirit of the competition isn't to vote for fan-fiction, this is true.
A little imagination might help people notice what's actually there, though. When you're shunting characters who didn't get a great run to praise the virtues of Meat, it shouldn't be difficult to notice somebody isn't paying attention in the slightest. Kobra is a street fighter in the MK universe -- simple hook that could go a lot more ways than it has. Tremor is a Black Dragon powerhouse who may or may not have history with the Lin Kuei -- a character with a lot of connections to the fiction and a lot of potential as a classical counterpart to a character like Jax.

Don't confuse the need for an improved appearance, the kind that has occurred from MKDA+ (rendering the assumption that a character who has been a palette swap can never be more moot...) with there not being potential. It's sitting right there in front of everyone. Tangible.

Mavado is cool, but I have never been really attracted to him as a character. He does have potential, he could make it big as the "leader" of the Red Dragon clan, but like many of the other characters of the new generation, he never really did grow that much as a character. Hopefully we will see more of him in the next game.

Kabal is awesome though. I've always liked him, but much like Jax, I've never been that good at using him, but as a character, I like him alot. He is pretty unique in a game full of rainbow coloured ninjas, with his burned skin, respirator-backpack and his hookswords. His outfits has also been very cool and it fits him to be in more neutral earthly colours. There is only one thing I think looks absolutely ridiculous on him... his hair! It looked alright in the past games, but this time he's got freaking pigtails! It looks so stupid! FIX IT NRS! At least give him his ponytail back from when he was a policeman as Stryker's partner.
His storyline is also quite cool and I hope he will follow-up on becoming the new Black Dragon leader, perhaps with the influence of Havik. ^^

So my vote goes to Kabal.

Fujin is my favorite god. I'm not too fond of the Dragon King.

Fujin <3

Changed my avatar to a one day exclusive alternate avatar to support my favorite Mortal Kombat character.

I voted the Dragon King, but it was really another 50/50 for me.

Onaga.

I love Fujin. He's in my top 3 favorite characters and he should have been involved in more games.. He was awesome in MK4 with the crossbow and you can't go wrong with that ponytail.. Ponytails and Pigtails ftw.

Onaga however I thought was a cool attempt at a different boss and a dramatic change in the story. He fell short though in design and he was annoying as fuck to fight in MKD..

My vote is for Fujin.

I voted Onaga. The whole history leading up to him from MK:DA to MK:D just cemented him as a really cool boss figure in my mind.

That and the fact he's the rightful ruler of Outworld. Would be interesting to see how Outworld would function if he was re-established on the throne in future.

Fujin.

Onaga never was nothing more than Shao Kahn-as-if-he-was-a-dragon. It's implied that he is different than Kahn, but it was never properly showcased.

Fujin is another character with great potential (yes, and I don't care what people think about that point of view). MK4 and MKA give us glimpses of how he could be made, but he never was realized for 100%. If NRS would continue using MK9 mechanic and Fujin will be in the next game, I believe, he finally will have a chance to shine.

Fujin. But this one was a close vote. I actually had to think about this decision unlike the rest.

I don't want Kabal being a bad guy. Maybe he'll reform the black dragon under his own terms. Not with Havik's help.

Of course I voted Fujin.

Fujin is my favorite god. IMO he's way better than Raiden.

Onaga on the other hand, is just another generic cheap boss. I liked the idea of him. He sounded cooler than he actually was.

This was the toughest choice for me yet.

I pretty much have an equal amount of interest for these characters. But in the end, I chose Onaga. To be honest, he's my second favorite boss, right behind Shao Kahn.

I vote for Onaga the dragon king!

The god o wind, stay away from master bo rai cho win this

Oh yeah i forgot my friends of MK can someone help me find out to put my own pic for my character cause im getting tired of using the old default ones (thank you)