Kenshi= stay. Yes he has Ermacs moves, but he is a more original character than Ermac. Ermac is a palette swap. If kenshi was there in the beginning before Ermac, it would've been 1000 times better. Kenshi deserves to be here more than Ermac IMO

Ermac WAS a palette swap, he no longer is. Nowadays he's a brilliantly designed character with his own unique any mysterious look. His MKD primary design is the best one I've ever seen in MK.

Back to Kenshi. I like him, along with Quan Chi, I'd say he's the best post-MKT new character. His story is decent, his looks are cool and so are his special moves. I agree with most of the others, I'd like him to use his sword skills more than telekinetic, I'd leave that to Ermac. Maybe it'd be cool to have a clash of the swords between Kenshi and Ashrah, katana versus kriss. It'd be cool to have Ashrah's special moves based on light (some sort of unholy light, if that makes any sense), and since Kenshi is blind, it could be an interesting confrontation. Just some random ideas...

Anyway, I vote for Kenshi to stay as a regular character, appearing in every game. He's got that cool feel to him which attracts people, he's a good poster boy for MK, so to say.

Thanks for the welcomes!

... ... ...

My verdicts so far:

STAY (regular character): 5
STAY (background character): 8
GONE: 12

Hey Nephrite, welcome to MKO! You don't have to worry about long posts. A LOT of people here have large posts, myself definitely being one of them. I like your thoughts so far, so stick around. I have a feeling this site will be seeing a lot more traffic when the next MK game is (finally) unveiled!

Huh... I seemed to have missed Kano. So I'll go ahead here with him first and then Kenshi.

Kano: I like Kano for his character, yet I despise him for his story. Sure, he had one of the silliest moves in the history of the game (his MK3 "grab and shake" move) but beyond that, I dig him.

I like the aussie accent, the mercenary angle. I'd like to see him in a different light now perhaps. Maybe the Black Dragon has betrayed him and he's out for revenge against his own clan? Maybe he forms a very odd alliance with Mavado in order to bring down the splinter faction that he started in the first place (though I'm not sure there's evidence that he started it, I could be wrong).

At all costs though, he'd ABSOLUTELY have to stay away from Sonya and the special forces. That plot cannot happen anymore, at all, whatsoever.

Another way of bringing Kano back could be that aforementioned betrayal by his own clan, but maybe that leaves him alone, reconsidering his life... Say, he's battle-scarred, tired and now simply looking to disappear in to the normal world. All of his scheming and back stabbing and basically whoring himself out to whom ever he thinks will win has left him with nothing. He's getting up in to his 50's. Maybe he's starting to go a little gray up top. Maybe he just wants out.

At this low point, he could be approached by some shadow wing of the government that needs a mole in the next tournament. He agrees, almost as an attempt

He gets his freedom and an unconditional pardon if he's able to so... something. Perhaps they end up double crossing him too.

Anyways, I'm not trying to write fan fiction here, I'm only saying that stuff to say that I think that there are other directions for Kano to go in. He can still be a bad ass and still be what I described above, but many more "Solid Snake MGS4" badass and less psychopath.

As for his moves, I've always liked them. I wasn't a fan of the "hold block" moves from MK1. Sure it made him different, it also made him really annoying to use. But on the hole, I've always liked his moves, his knives etc.

VERDICT: STAY. I don't care about icons and sacred cows etc. But I've always thought that Kano has so much potential to be more than some dumb thug. If (and that's a big "if") the MK team can give him a new, fresh story, then I see no reason to leave him off the roster.

Kenshi...

Ah, two characters in a row who's stories have nearly damned them in my eyes.

As much as MK:DA made him in to a good, if not great character with a deep story, MK:D did it's level best to crap on all of that.

In MK:DA he had the vibe of being this lone swordsmen, even though they, for some horrifically stupid reason, put him with the special forces. He had a mission though and everything else was just a means to an end.

In MK:D? Honestly... He had no real reason to be in that game at all. As others have said, they just kind of threw him in with Sub Zero to give him something to do. They even put Ermac in the same game with him and have two guys that use the same powers. Great, how about we throw 12 ninjas in to the game too?

Aright, that's a bit extreme, and I hate to be all judgemental, but the Sub Zero story, Ermac... That's all just blatantly shotty writing and I REALLY wish they'd hire someone on to the MK team that can write a cohesive narrative for characters and find ways to keep them strong and interesting.

Regardless, I'm of the mindset that MK only needs one telepathic character and to me, that's Ermac. That's not to say that Kenshi should be gone, but as others have said, I'd much rather they deemphasize the telepathy and do more with the awesome glowing red sword that speaks to him.

Keep his "force push" move, but that's it. That's a Kenshi signature move, so I have no problem with it staying. Every other new move should be based on the fact that he's an awesome blind swordsmen. Oh, and he definitely needs to be a loner again from now on.

His look in MK:DA was a good start, but still a little too techy looking. MK:D? Not so much. I'm not sure when MK's art designers became obsessed with giving characters large man boob circles on their outfits (see Kai's Armageddon outfit as well), but Kenshi's MK:D attire looks terrible.

VERDICT: STAY. Kenshi has a lot of potential, but they really need to move him in a better direction. To me, he's actually a lot like Kano in that he's got a great foundation. He's got a cool look, a nice background and some solid moves, but the MK team has given him nothing to work with storywise recently. Did anyone even read Kenshi's Armageddon ending? Wow. So bad... Just, wow.

Of course, the only difference is that Kano's had about 3 or 4 bad stories, so maybe that's why people hate him more while still seeing Kenshi's potential. Anyways, I like both and think that with some actual quality writing, they could both be great again.

What the hell is a background character? Is that like in MK3 when cyrax is just stuck in the background of the desert?

I think he means like more of a support character. A non-essential that comes back every so often, but isn't a vital character to the series that should appear in every game.

I loves me some Kenshi. Absolutely he should come back.

i missed a few characters so here it is.

kai should return. he was an interesting character. although i disliked him in mka. his hand stance style would of been cool to have. also his fireballs could be changed to white because i never really saw him as a villian type of character.

kano could sit out for few games but def return. maybe his attitude could be something similar to that movie the stepfather.

kenshi. a character that i like but also dislike. his look is very cool but his moves are to similar to ermac. i'd rather have his moves focus more on his sword then his tk.

That's exactly what I mean, thanks Baraka407!

Sorry jbthrash, English is not my first language.

Starting with the next character, I'll change those terms to "playable in every game" and "not playable in every game", that should be better.

You're quite welcome, buddy! And let me say... You speak better English than alot of people on this board, so no need to apologize whatsoever.

You could just use two categories like most people and say that you want them to come back or you want them gone.

Just a suggestion. That's what I've been doing more or less. I think that there's a good deal of fat that can be trimmed off of the roster, but if I honestly see potential in a character, I'll vote them back in.

I mean, I'm not necessarily saying STAY as in "they must be in the next game." For me, it's more of "does this character need to come back at all, ever again?"

I always tend to start that answer with "no," and then reason my way as far as I can toward "yes" and then see how far I get in either direction when I'm done.

But that's just me. Whatever works for you man, go for it. You could also just say "Important character," "Support character," "gone." Or something like that. Just throwin ideas out there for you if you think that you have a language barrier to get over.

Just tryin to help!

keep kenshi. but

make his primary a little less like daredevil.....
make his secondary a little less like ryu....

lmao sorry, thats just what i see.

Wow, where have I been? Playing catch-up here:

Ashrah: STAY
I like her and her relationship with Sareena has potential.

Baraka: GONE
Time to retire the monkey.

Blaze: GONE
Served his purpose. Bye-bye.

Bo' Rai Cho: STAY (background character)
Eh... yeah, I guess he's okay. Don't kill him, but I don't want to see him in the actual fight.

Chameleon: GONE
GONE GONE GONE!

Cyrax: GONE
Sorry, people, but I'm just not a fan of the cyborgs.

Daegon: GONE
Served his purpose. Don't want to see his face anymore.

Dairou: GONE
Don't care about Order Realm

Darrius: GONE
Don't care about Order Realm

Drahmin: STAY
I would've said gone, but Xia brought up a couple good reasons to keep him. Damn! Anything that develops Sareena's character more makes me happy.

Ermac: STAY
Pretty cool dude.

Frost: MAYBE
I like Frost, but not her story. Too many people always trying to claim leadership for themselves. It gets old. If they maybe redeemed her somehow, then I'd like to see her stay. Otherwise- get rid of her.

Fujin: GONE
Keep him in the background somewhere, I guess. Don't really care to see him in kombat though.

Goro: GONE
Why they hell was he even brought back? This guy should've stayed dead and buried. Move on already!

Havik: GONE
Don't care about Chaos Realm

Hotaru: GONE
Don't care about Order Realm

Hsu Hao: GONE
Time to retire the monkey.

Jade: STAY
I like Jade's look more than anything. I'd like to keep her for that alone. But something needs to happen with her story/personality.

Jarek: GONE
Fuck the Black Dragon. That story is stale.

Jax: MAYBE
I like that Sonya has a partner, but this guy is just kinda'... boring. Maybe he needs a cat or something. I wonder if Jax is a cat guy or a dog guy. I did like his portrayal in MK vs. DC though, so that makes it iffy.

Johnny Cage: GONE
Tough choice for me. I like Johnny for bringing a little comedy to the MK games, but at the same time he's been played out.

Kabal: GONE
Fuck the Black Dragon. That story is stale.

Kai: GONE
We already have Liu Kang and Kung Lao representing the shaolin monks. Don't need this guy. He never amounted to much anyway.

Kano: GONE
Fuck the Black Dragon. That story is stale.

Kenshi: STAY
Ehh... I like him well enough, I guess. Well enough to give him another chance.

Sonya and Kano... too much drama and Kano needs to die already


Johnny Cage - no need to show off your moves, you ain't that cool

Shao Khan - You're dead, stay dead



I would like Noob to stay so he really can have a story line... same with meat and the rest of the hidden characters

Uhh... we're not at Shao Kahn or Noob yet. Let's save the discussion for them when they're up for debates please.

Anyways, I'm done talking about Kenshi, let's move on to the next character.

Khameleon

The only real story this character had was her Armageddon bio. And instead of shortening it up like I’ve been doing to characters’ biographies, I’m just gonna copy and paste this one just because my fingers hurt from outside. It’s too cold out.

Shao Kahn... He destroyed the realm of Zaterra - my home. My kind is all but extinct; I believe the only survivors are Reptile and myself. I have spent a lifetime hidden from view, searching for a way to kill the emperor for what he did to my world. It seemed I had been given my chance when Reptile agreed to join forces and slay him - but once again Reptile fell under Shao Kahn's influence and turned against me. I barely escaped with my life.
For a long time I had given up hope. It seemed that Shao Kahn was invincible. His allies served and protected him, and those who fought against him only seemed to make him stronger. It was as if he fed on kombat itself. I wandered the realms aimlessly, uncertain of what could be done to stop him.
During my journeys, camouflaged to conceal my presence, I learned from a gathering of warriors that a great weapon would present itself in Edenia. The victor of some skirmish would be granted immense power - like that of a god. More alarming was the mention that Shao Kahn himself sought this power.
The emperor will not acquire it. I will find this weapon and use it to punish Shao Kahn and those who have served him. He will suffer greatly for destroying the Raptors.


Basically, since majority of you hated that Chameleon came back in Armageddon because the fans’ wanted him there, I have a feeling you might be saying the same thing about this character.

I don’t intend on having this character stay up for too long, I’ll just leave her up until tomorrow. But as of right now: I say go, just like with Chameleon because there’s nothing to do with you or Chameleon. I don’t see you teaming with Reptile in future games, nor do I want to. Just go, you were never really a favorite of mine.

So, let’s debate. Should Khameleon stay or leave?

Poor Khameleon. I feel so bad for her.

She had a potentially interesting story...if not as an independent character, than as a supporting player to Reptile's story at least. She was pretty much the only one actually trying to really help him.
I was hoping if/when they brought her back, they would give her a real revamp like they did with Ermac & Rain, with her own moves and such. But she got fucked over for her dipshit male counterpart.

I have to admit, there's still a small part of me that still wants to see her get that revamp and her story get developed into something more....especially since I think Reptile's about done.
But....probably not worth the trouble.

With some regret, I say go.

Khameleon: I didn't even bother to read her bio, because frankly I don't care about her. There is nothing they can do to convince me she is worthy of coming back. I barely even consider her a character.

Verdict: Gone

Icebaby please don't make this discussion long. This character doesn't deserve to have long arguments about.

She should st..no, she should g...no...ugh, I don't know. Khameleon is that character I want to like but I can't because nothing much has been done with her.

Khameleon... Gone... I ignore her existence as well as Chameleon's...

... ... ...
My verdicts so far:

STAY: 13
GONE: 13

Khameleon remains the only MK female I do not like. I like her story but I do not like her as a character. I don't believe she'll be back at all due to the fact that she has never really been truly apart of the series. She started off hidden and playable if you knew how to get her and then doesn't get seen until MKA Wii but only as an extra addition because she was pretty much forgotten the first time around. She had potential but it's all been wasted.
She can go.

Khameleon was a character that I'm fairly certain was just created for the sake of the gameplay she offered. Sorry, Xia, but I don't think story was ever really the point with her. I also hate her name. It's got that pointless "K," and she just feels like a huge gimmick. If she was debuted as a proper character around Deadly Alliance, given a proper look that matched her story, she was given a better name and was properly treated -- maybe. But even then, I feel that Reptile's story should be long done by now.

Khameleon is an easy gone for me. Was never a fan, and I actually think Chameleon has more potential based solely on the fact that he stands as...well, nothing.

keep khamel, but change her physical appearance just a little.

It may sound strange, but I think having a more substantial story than her male counterpart actually works against her. Chameleon has the "lol" factor, while Khameleon doesn't have anything to give her dazzle. She arrived at time in the series where the fans were becoming very conscious of the palette swaps, and from what I'm reading, that stigma hasn't gone away. Poor girl, but it's not like we can undo the past.

*remembers how Scorpion swore to protect Subzero in MK2*

Wait, yeah we can. But let's not start forming any bad habits.

It would be nice to have a character who could utilize two modes of Camo/non-Camo. Then again, and this may sound shallow, but I don't really want to see that kamouflage come off. A female-version of Reptile (teeth, scales and all) just doesn't sound appealing. Maybe that makes me a sexist pig, but let's put it this way. I was a kid who loved Reptile in MK2, it was because I saw him as an alter-ego, and character I temporarily possessed and emulated in battle. That's the mindset I had towards every favorite character. If I picked the females, it was because I thought they were hot or they played well. Uncamouflauged, Khameleon fails on both accounts. The child in me doesn't want to see or emulate a big-breasted woman-reptile. Sorry.

Granted, she could have the human disguise like Reptile did in MK2... if that was canon. Was that ever official, or did SM shoot that down for good? Truth be told, hidden character slots were meant characters like Khameleon: a bonus that is fun but doesn't serve any final purpose.

Though I stand by what I said about Chameleon previously. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I want to see him, Meat, Mokap, and Zebron form a fighting team and seeks out evil.

They'll all play rock instruments, too.

SHE MUST RETURN but with her own set of reptilian moves.

That's goes for most of the MK roster.
I like Khameleon and wouldn't mind seeing her again. However, she needs an overhaul in the worst way. Her story... well, Reptile's a lost cause (if he's even alive). Chameleon's a joke. What more really is there for her to do? Who else does she have ties to? No one. I just hate to think that every Zaterran character has been screwed over beyond repair.

I say STAY.

Khameleon needs to go. Pointless character that never should have been made.