Even if they are just cameos, I wouldn't be surprised if NRS redesigned them a little bit, that's what im thinking they did with Sindel and possibly Rain.

I feel like Rain's redesign is just way too much to be just a cameo though. But I agree with Sindel. Not much changed with her look.

They should give the characters that aren't playable a redesign I mean its the least they can do for their fans. I'd be pretty bummed out if my favorite character wasn't playable and he/she doesn't even get a redesign in the story. That would just suck to the max.

It makes sense for the revenants to have costumes similar to the ones they died in.

I hope they don't redesign NPCs too much, it would be such a tease.

If they don't make the roster, I would think that the NCP's would be first in line for DLC. It would make sense, as they're already present in the story mode, and they've already got new models. Kind of like how Skarlet was present in the MK9 story mode, but wasn't actually a character until DLC made her so.

My thoughts exactly.

I wouldn't put it past Boon to go back on his word and make the same people DLC again. I could see Rain being first in line for some easy DLC bucks.

If rain is in, I really hope his costume changes. That's shirtless shirt he has on is HORRIBLE.

wut?

If you don't know what I mean I'm not gonna take t he time to spell it out. Look up his new look.

Regardless what they originally said....I have a strong feeling that a lot of characters will be alternate skins for existing fighters.
It would be a pain in the ass for NRS to balance 3 styles per additional character, so they probably will be cameos as skins. For example, Reptile's Noxious style reminded me a lot of Smoke.

Rain could go for Raiden's Storm Lord, Shinnok (if you dont believe the leaks) could use Quan's Warlock, Sonya any of Cassie's, you see where I'm going with it.

It would also save on alternates and voice recordings since they are just single skins.

Just wouldn't make sense. I believe they confirmed on twitter as well that this won't happen for MKX.

You bring up a good point OP. Lately I've been conflicted over this, on one side I feel like the leaked roster is totally legit and just keeps becoming more and more legit by the second. On the other hand, I feel like the roster lacks diversity compared to past MK's, and there's just no way all the child and parent teams make it in as playable. Like my gut tells me out of Johhny, Jax, and Sonya ONE of them is a NPC (but possible later DLC).

That said, I also think that NRS would absolutely update the costumes of NPC's for their epic, movie like story mode. I think the comic using new or old costumes is a dead giveaway of who makes it out of the COMIC, but the game is a completely different arena. For instance Shinnok (who I hope to god makes the roster) is going to be a major plot point in the game REGARDLESS of whether he is playable or not. For all we know what we saw of him is the opening cinematic. Sindel being in her MK9 attire makes sense because thats what she died in, an update isn't necessary and might even be confusing. The one character who is completely throwing me through a loop however is one of my favorites, Rain. We know he won't be DLC, and we know he has a slightly updated MKA costume. And it all comes down to the question you asked in your post, how much detail did NRS put into the cameo's or are all updated characters straight up on the day one roster? Sadly I'd say at this point it is slightly leaning in favor of the leaked roster. But I really, really don;t know.

Funny how Kitana didn't get that treatment.