I don't know. Shao Kahn dresses like a vaguely Asian warlord. There's nothing vague or interpretive about Kotal for example, it's just so apparent.

Kahn's original MK2 outfit was not "vaguely" Asian, it was as straight-up samurai as a samurai suit of armor can possibly be. The only difference between him and Mitsurugi is a lack of pants underneath and a katana. Hell, the Deception-thru-vsDCU revamp even increased the aesthetic a little bit. 9 was the first time they ever took it away from a blatantly Japanese style of decoration and texture to something more generic.

And then there's the fact that like 2/3rds of the ninjas are actually Outworlders. More if you count the girls.

Plus the fuckin' pagodas and yin-yangs in MK2 stages.
And I don't know if the Aztec gods had teal skin.

I've never seen a samurai who looked like Shao Kahn. The things that were different about it (slight as they may seem) are what makes it vaguely Asian and not otherworldly Japanese warlord.

Well how many samurai have you seen? Have you ever google image searched the word "samurai"? Samurai armor is made of lots of rectangular plates laced or bolted together in layers, just like Kahn's shoulder pads, shinguards, the flap over his crotch, and the back of his helmet. They're even frequently red in color with gold highlights and a scratched/criss-crossed texture. They're also, like, the ONLY kind of armor in the world that has that big round plate that fans outward on the back of the helmet and a crest shaped like horns on the top.

The only thing that's different about Kahn is he's naked like Conan under the armor. Even the skull on the front of the helmet isn't that original as Samurai armors regularly had scary masks, they just tended to look more "kabuki", like Drahmin's or the one Scorpion wears in Legacy.
I've had this argument a few times before, mostly when MK9 was coming about and I was talking about how I hated the new Kahn design compared to the old...and it actually rather irritates me when I run into someone who denies that Kahn's previous designs were so blatantly samurai. It feels like they're trying NOT to see it or lying to me or themselves. It's TOO obvious that it's there for someone to be willfully ignorant about it.

I think when people think of samurai they DO think of people like Mitsurugi who seems more like the prototypical samurai than someone like Kahn. Ironically I think it may be the helmet that throws people off even though like you mentioned it's the most blatant piece lifted from samurai armor.

The general nakedness, the skulls, the leather strap-y chest part, the spikes etc. There's enough different about Kahn that people might not make the connection despite the obvious influence. I think so at least.

I feel like Kotal has just as much about him that's original/generic, but it's harder to make an argument around it because he's based on a culture in general rather than a specific thing, like if Kahn were just "Japan" instead of "Samurai".
Also, this argument was about the dude's name at the start and, again, "Kotal" is totally a spelling-changed "Coatl".

Correct me if I'm wrong but
Sub Zero, Smoke, Cyrax, Sektor - Earthrealm
Scorpion - Netherrealm
Reptile - Zaterra (I think)
Rain - Edenia
Ermac is the only one that could be considered an Outworlder since he was created there. Who else is from Outworld?

Well yes this i can see, but why add Kahn/Khan(??) instead of something more derivative from the source material. Any name that looks difficult to pronounce wouldn't actually be all that much of a problem after hearing the announcer twice anyway. And there's no denying that he's heavily Aztec-influenced.

Sub - Zero and Frost share far cryomancer origins, cryomancer were native of Outworld.

Scorpion was reborn in hell, but he is native of Earth. Exactly like Noob.

Ermac is composed of edenian souls, so he is somewhat edenian.

People from realms merged with Outworld like Reptile and Rain count as Outworlders.

Also, I wasn't counting Sektor and Cyrax because I was talking about the palette swap era, when all the ninjas still looked like ninjas.

And to Pickle's "why add 'Kahn' to his name" question, the obvious answer is that there's a story reason for his name we don't know yet.

For now, I stand by the theory that Kotal is from Outworld and all Outworld gods are "Kahn"s.

Judging by the GS videos and his fight with Raiden, Kotal looks like he could match Kahn's brutality. Maybe that's an Outworld attribute. Considering Baraka, Kahn, and Tsung.

Perhaps somewhere in the storyline he's faced with the threat of losing his god status. So he joins with someone promising to prevent that (Shinnok). Meriting his participation in X. Maybe that's how him and Raiden are familiar.

Basically on the subject of him and for the rest of the newcomers, I'm a blank slate. I don't really know what to expect from them story wise so until it's revealed, Im open to all theories.

Is it just me or EVERY intro dialogue scene has characters familiar to each other?

Even Scorpion and D'vorah seem to know each other.

The fact that Reptile's realm merged with Outworld later in his life doesn't make him an Outworlder tho. His origins are still from Zaterra. And Rain is CLEARLY Edenian sorry. As are the girls. I don't count anyone as Outworlder because Kahn merged their realm with Outworld. They still originate from elsewhere. I live in London but I still originate from Greece. It doesn't make me British lol

If Kotal is the phonetic way of spelling "Coatl," maybe his name would be spelled "Coatl kan" traditionally in mayan. I noticed that "kan" is used in mayan names such as "kukulkan" who is a mayan plumed serpent god.

I also noticed in the movie Road to Eldorado the bad guy was a mayan named Tzekel-kan, so maybe kahn/khan is the phonetic spelling of "kan." I don't think "kahn" at the end of Kotal Kahn's name has to do with a title or relation to Shao Kahn, but is a variation of the mayan spelling. Then again, we'll just have to wait and see.

Do you have legal citizenship in England?

What does that have to do with Rain being Edenian? I dont think legal citizenships work in MK...

In his MKA bio kard it also states "Place of Origin: Edenia", as in Reptile's it says Zaterra, as in Nitara's it says Vaeternus so I'll take the canon versions.

So if Sonya and Cage reside in Earthrealm until their 50s and then in MKX someone decides to merge it with Outworld, it will automatically make them Outworlders?

I was just asking about you, you brought it up. I've no interest in debating whether or not Reptile counts as a ninja "from Outworld", I already know the answer to that question and find your disagreement silly.

Of course you do. Because whoever disagrees with Razor is silly -.-'
Anyway you stated that Rain, Reptile, etc are all from Outworld which is untrue even if you're dragging it. So feel free to consider my disagreement silly. To each their own.

I didn't understand why you wanted to derail the thread into a petty, unimportant semantics argument that has nothing to do with Kotal anyway. The point I was making is that there's a lot of characters in MK who dressed Japanese in MK1 thru 3 but weren't from Earth, and they don't have Japanese names so there's no reason Kotal needs to have an Aztec name with an authentic spelling and everything, because he's probably not really Aztec, he just looks like one.

Shinnok's Armageddon bio says he's from the Netherrealm though.

Yeah the ones I remember do. I read on another thread that people were speculating a history between Kotal and Raiden. Hence the "maybe".
I just hope everyone's relationship is explained in story mode. Not just "oh you're D'Vorah, and we're in the same game so I have to know you."

Place of Origin doesn't mean that's their culture though. Reptile may be Zatteran or whatever but he spent his life is Outworld. Most people that are born in one place and grew up in another consider the latter their home. Reptile isn't an Outworld native but he's still from Outworld.

Again it doesn't really make sense to compare real life to MK.
Also how can we possibly know about Reptile's culture? That's just speculation. The only thing we know about him in that aspect is that he IS from Zaterra. That is a fact. Not speculation.

That's great but he's still from Outworld tho.

He's from Zaterra. That's where he was born and he had nothing to do with Outworld until Kahn merged them. Zaterra is his home and that is the realm he is trying to resurrect. Check the freaggin wiki. Even there it only mentions Outworld as his current residence and nothing more. It's plain logic.
But anyway this is getting way out of topic. Believe whatever you want. I still choose facts over speculation.