I believe Li Mei was a fighter because she was trained by Shujinko, we don't see anything in the game that indicates she is a fighter but we also don't see anything that says she isn't.

I believe she will be a fighter just like in the original timeline, I wouldn't worry about her too much since I believe NRS likes her.

I definitely think NRS likes her too. I think her and Tanya re their favorite 3D females. They DID bring her back in Deception over Frost, Sareena, and Nitara.

To quote her Konquest segment from MKDA:
"Although quite young, Li Mei grew up in the presence of martial arts masters and can hold her own in a fight. When Kano's troops invaded her homeland under the banner of the DA, she fought bravely and bested many of Kano's men. She might have defeated Kano himself had Quan Chi not interfered."

This was before being trained by Shujinko. This was before she was trained by Bo Rai Cho. The argument that she's not a fighter is stupid and untrue.

To be fair, Mortal Kombat is known for retconning their shit all the time. Hell I think in the original game, Kano was suppose to be middle eastern, but because people loved the australian version from the movie, they made him australian.

Not saying you're wrong, just mentioning the facts.

True, but I doubt they'd retcon her ass out of the game as a character xD.

Although I do agree about them being horrible at their job which is writing but I doubt Li Mei will be retconned.

That's true but keep in mind there is nothing that contradicts her original origin story. She still grew up in her village. Those same martial arts masters that taught her would still be there. The only thing in this timeline definitively altered is her interactions with Shujinko and Bo Rai Cho. Until it's flat out stated that she can't fight for whatever reason (and there is no reason) then her previous backstory is still what it is.

The more interesting thing to talk about is what happens to her now. As of now the Outworld refugees are still in Earthrealm. Do they stay in Earthrealm? Do they return to their homeland? There are a lot of possibilities here.

I think maybe Kung Jin will introduce Li Mei to Bo Rai Cho.

Karnival Kick for the win!!!

@Truth That's very much true. Believe me, I'm probably one of VERY FEW Li Mei fans out there, but even I'm skeptical at this point in regards to what her backstory really is now. For all we know though, she may have grew up around masters, and learned some things. But I think that Shujinko just gave her the extra means to really become the fighter she was. That's my theory anyways.


@Sindel If Bo Rai Cho isn't dead like we saw in story mode, I would like to see this.

There are a lot of Li Mei fans. You're not alone.

This.

It's because she is a fighter though that she doesn't really stand out. She could have replaced Liu Kang, a character that would be DLC if necessary and also cut down on the turkey noises. Most of the other characters have some kind of powers or weapons. All she has is purple ki and terrible luck. (Dying in DA, becoming Onaga's queen, dying in Armageddon's opening)

This would be good. Li Mei was one of my favourite characters so I'd love to see her as DLC or in the next game for sure.

In the alternate timeline, it makes sense that Li Mei is not a fighter. In the original timeline, it was only after Quan Chi and Shang Tsung enslaved her village and her wanting to free village that led her to ask Shujinko for training so she could fight. In the alternate timeline with Shang Tsung and Quan Chi apparent death, nobody really enslave her village so she doesn't have a reason to fight.

She lives in Outworld. Thats why she should fight. It was already stated that she was taught by Martial Artists in her village and a writer already said she is a fighter.

Lmao she is a fighter.
Didn't she win the Deadly Allience tournament?

He was deported from Japan. Kano is a Japanese name too.

Really?

Mind providing a source? I'm not doubting you, I'm doubting my own memory for thinking he was middle eastern.

I guess I just never pegged Richard Divizio as japanese based off of his mk 1 stills.

It's in his original MK1 bio.

The Australian accent could easily be explained by him spending a majority of his life in Australia...accents aren't biological, they're learned and a product of environment. For example - I've lived in Texas for 5 years, but spent all 27 years before that living in New York. Despite that I'm starting to develop a Texas drawl which does not pair well with a New York accent.


Back to Li Mei - her original timeline story where she was corrupted from having her soul transferred to one of Onaga's soldiers, which led to her being his bride, was one of the best stories to come out of the new characters from the 3D era. Not only that, she was GOOD and easy to play as. Her fatalities in Deception were also pretty good iirc.

I still beleive they'll release her in a "story pack" if one ever comes to fruition.

This is clearly an angry rebuttal against a comment I made in another thread.

I merely said she wasn't a fighter because, as far as we have seen, she was merely the leader of the refugees and the informant for the SF once they managed to get to Earthrealm from Outworld.

My point was that she had been demoted to a victim, and didn't appear or happen to be an actual fighter or even a key character.

Her cameo time was literally "hey earth dudes, shit happened in outworld, you should prolly do something."

That's it.

Yes, she could be shown to be a fighter, but for the moment, she has not.

That was all I said.

Thank you for the insult.

Doesn't she say something about how she tried to fight back but the amulet made Mileena too strong?

Original timeline: Mileena was with Kitana for a long time, as Kitana considered her a twin
New timeline: Mileena was born yesterday of the MK2 tournament and meets Kitana then

OT: Sub-zero and Smoke return to the Lin-Kuei HQ to find the cybering has started.
NT: The Lin-kuei couldn't wait to shove the machine up in them and forcefully take one during the MK2 tournament (while everyone watches).

OT: Rain chose to work for Kahn over death at his hands. Was a bit of douche
NT: Rain worked with the Edenian Resistance until he sold them out just to get his army. Definitely a douche

OT: Quan Chi met Bi-han back in Mythology so it would be a strange to show up alongside Scorpion
NT: Bi-han either doesn't remember or doesn't care what should have happened a week before

OT: Kamidogu are art pieces
NT: Kamidogu are daggers

OT: Quan Chi got tattoos help summon the Dragon Army which happens after Shinnok invades Earth.
NT: Developers were lazy.



Li Mei's story can go anywhere like the Shaolin trained her or she's some reincarnation of a new guy in this new timeline.

Mythologies happened around 2 years prior to MK1 (based on info from MK4,) so it wasn't a recent incident by the time the tournament started. Still, if we had seen some reaction of him initially encountering Scorpion with Quan Chi, it would be somewhat more believable/excusable even in its poor execution.

If anything, it's far more of a retcon that Bi-Han is serving Shang Tsung and actively working against his realm (jarring in comparison to Mythologies, though he was coerced) rather than being hired to kill him.

Also, Quan Chi even being there and competing doesn't make since as he's neither an Outworlder nor an Earthrealmer. How can Netherrealmers participate in the tournament if its only supposed to be between denizens of those two realms?
He should've just been plotting in the Netherrealm, while Scorpion was stalking Bi-Han at the tournament.

MK9, why did you do this? (/rant)

As for Li Mei, time will tell. For now, though, she seems relegated to a nod to the 3D era fans.

In another vein, it's a safe bet Kano is simply Australian, not a Japanese-American who moved to Australia. They've been modeling him very closely after Trevor Goddard (a white Englishman) since Deadly Alliance.
He looks pretty white to me. That, or his Japanese side does not show whatsoever (other than the darker hair and eye color.)

As for his name (so to speak,) you could easily explain it's a codename he uses as the leader of a large criminal syndicate.

THIS. MK has shown many times that they retcon their shit all the time. I do hope Li Mai does get some spotlight attention in the future though, maybe trained by Bo Rai Cho (if he's still alive), or hell I wouldnt mind seeing her being trained by special forces. THAT would be an interesting twist to her origin.