Welcome back, bro. Still loving that signature.


Damn, I wanted to be the only one who said "Stay" for Kobra!

That's right, peeps. I love this clown. And to me, clownliness is next to godliness.

He's so many homages in one package! Sure, he's a joke character, and most joke characters aren't worth dick, but those guys were more "bobcat goldwaith" funny. Kobra is more "Mike Judge" funny.

And it's not like he's incapable of a good story. He's got the tools he needs to be important (and I already know your response. "You could say that for everyone, Temp!" Well, yeah, but the difference is that Kai and Jarek aren't lolfests).

As far as I'm concerned, he's Johnny Cage for the bad guys. I say stay.

PS: if this guy is so unpopular, why the hell was I fighting him all the damn time online!

PSS: Oh, that's right. Good spamming skills. Damn n00bs.

MKD, right? Spamming is a minor part of the deal. He is the fourth best chracter on the game. High damage combos, glitched weapons with more range than they should have had, that low fireball, OTG's and free throws galore made him a powerhouse. He was used because he was one of the best and easiest characters to abuse.

KOBRA KAI!!!

*L* No contest. GONE.

Ha, ha...Kobra.

SWEEP THE LEG!

He has a lot going against him. Though, to his credit, he has a more developed backstory and more personality than a lot of the sacred cows who'd been around for almost two decades.
Latching him into the Black Dragon dead zone did him no favors. He'd be better suited to smaller scaled story...like entering a Mortal Kombat tournament....because he does seem out of place in the middle of the big multi-dimensional war.

Most people instantly hate him because of his vague resemblance to Ken Masters....even though he's actually based on Johnny Lawrence....

....but I guess, it's no longer cool for Mortal Kombat to get their ideas from movies. If only he'd been created fifteen years ago, right..?



Anyway...he's pretty much useless and disposable. There are better choices to bring back and few would miss him.

......but fuck it. I say STAY anyway.

KOBRA KAI NEVER DIE!!!
؟

Kobra also suffers from a big break-down in the series after his debut, too, in my opinion. If I were employed to write the story for Mortal Kombat VII as a true follow-up to Deception, I'd have included Kobra in the storyline. I'd probably have put him at terms with Kabal and Kira or something. The dude deserved a chance to develop.

I actually like how there seems to be so little behind him. He's driven by base instincts, and to me, that can be one of the scariest things about psychopaths. Some people are just dicks. Kobra going around killing people to see how easy it is? Pretty fucking scary to me. It's those sort of people without deep reasoning, or human emotions that are truly the most terrifying. Even Kano was motivated by greed and his own drive to survive. Kobra seems to me like he would get turned on by his own blood. We haven't actually had a complete nutter in Mortal Kombat. We've had a lot of calculating nutters -- but someone as unpredictable as Kobra could have killed Kabal in his sleep for the hell of it.

The Black Dragon storyline was a dud, but you had to find a way to bring Kobra in somehow, I guess. That he came in to the series when they were using the DA engine also sucks for him -- because the MK Team were pretty lazy, and just lifted styles for many characters, and thought they could get away with it. If he were introduced in a game where he had to be built from the ground up, and given his own personalised style, he'd have faired a lot better, I think. A lot of the new characters in Deception felt old just because they used borrowed styles and such.

I'm also convinced that the MK Team thinks it is cool to give new characters "homage" moves. I can just imagine them thinking making Kira a Sonya/Kano hybrid was a cool concept, and that giving Kobra Kano's Fatality was a great way to have the character's essence there without bringing him back. I don't think they realise how much this pisses people off. That hurt Kobra.

Basically, I feel that Kobra was an underrated concept that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Essentially what could have been a good idea turned into a massive ball of miscalculations. He might have fared a lot better if he was introduced as a fresh face for the upcoming Mortal Kombat game, with a simpler storyline going on, and he didn't need to be paired with other characters to give him a reason to be there.

I'm going to leave my verdict as GONE, just because I do feel that he could be trimmed without hurting anything, and that the marks against him make him too unpopular to return when other characters with more of a fanbase won't be making the cut -- but I almost want to say "stay" just for the hell of it.

LMAO!!! I'm having second thoughts on Kobra. The Komedy potential for this guy is jawesome. :D

Sweep the leg, Johnny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFlQNtL8F9s

People say Kobra is just a clone of Ken Masters or the Karate Kid guy but MK is full of stereotypes.

What about Liu Kang? He's the biggest stereotype in the fighter game genre - a Bruce Lee clone. Almost every fighting game has one.

Kobra is supposed to be a fun easy character who is easy to pick up and use and that's what he was in MKD.

I would say keep him but improve his story line a bit.

Like MK9betterbegood wrote, there are other "borrowed characters" in this series. Cage is most likely a reference to Roper in Enter the Dragon (at least personality-wise), Rayden is borrowed from Big Trouble in Little China, Rain is a freakin Prince reference for crying out loud.

So in that sense, I don't see anything wrong with Kobra in those terms. I'm not sure why other people think that makes him comic relief though.

For me, the fact that he's a clone from Karate Kid is something that actually works in his favor. I think that his look is awesome and while his weapon is ripped from Sonya's in MK:DA, his fatality is ripped from Kano and his special moves are about as exciting as watching paint dry or flies f**k, all of that stuff can be improved upon.

What can't be improved is his personality or who he is. A story can be changed: Anyone can die and come back, drop out of a story line and get plugged in to another one etc, but Kobra's whole deal is that he's an a-hole that likes making people feel pain. He kills for the fun of it and while some people love a good psycho, I don't see that when I look at Kobra.

The guy in Karate Kid that he's based off of wasn't a "psycho." He was just a d-bag. So I don't buy that Kobra kills just because he enjoys it. On this character, it looks silly and it makes his story, no, it makes who he IS appear lame.

Some people might like him for comedic value and that's fine for them, but what's funny about him? It's not like he's Dan from Street Fighter, with a ridiculously weak fireball, tripping all over the place etc. He's just a cool looking fighter with a terrible personality and while you can change a story, I don't like the idea of simply changing WHO a character is.

I know that's not a great reason for me to say GONE, but his overall look can't outmatch everything else that sucks about him. He has a bad story, a bad personality, bad special moves, bad weapons and bad fatalities. To me, he's not comically bad because of all that, he's just bad.

It's annoying, because his look is really cool. If they had a story where maybe the Red Dragon kills his entire family and he realizes what others lost during his lust for bood and he goes about a journey of both revenge and contrition... But do you honestly see the MK team writing that story?

To me, there's just too many "if they fixed this" issues with Kobra. I'd rather see a character in a cool karate gi that had a great story and great moves than try and see the MK team bring Kobra back from mediocre character purgatory.

i kinda liked using Kobra...i say stay.

Ah, sorry... I knew when I said that stuff about why I didn't buy him as a psycho that I wasn't being overly clear on it. Let me clarify:

The character he's based on wasn't a psycho, but separate from that fact, I just look at Kobra and he doesn't look like a psycho to me. He looks like a dude in a karate gi.

For some people, the fact that he doesn't look like a psycho but is a psycho might work and might even seem more realistic than than the bad guys looking like bad guys and all good guys looking like good guys.

But to me, it just doesn't work for Kobra. It's a flimsy story. He started killing and now he's what, addicted to it? He developed a blood lust? I dunno. I just seems kinda lame to me.

But your point about his story needing more weight... That's exactly what I'm talking about. Not only does his story have no weight, but he, as a character has no weight. His introuduction, to me, just makes him feel plain and unoriginal. "he likes to fight." Okay, who in this tournament doesn't like to fight? Which bad guy doesn't enjoy killing? You see what I mean?

I could see that weight in his story coming from the idea that someone got him back or that his actions have reprecussions, but I honestly don't see the MK team giving a character like this that much depth.

Is it possible? Sure. Any character can be fixed with the right amount of story bandages. But you add his weightless, blah personality that he's a "psycho" because he loves killing people (again, like most other bad guys) to his boring special moves, his unoriginal fatalities and weapons and what are you left with?

A guy that looks cool but is, in every other way, a mediocre character. Like I said, I'd rather see a new cool looking character in a karate gi that actually had a good story and an intriguing backstory/set of motivations plus fun special moves etc.

Kobra just has too much working against him that they'd need to fix. Again though, that's just my opinion. I wouldn't slow-yell "nooooo" if he came back, I just think it would take a LOT to make me like him as a character.

He's not one of my favourite characters but I wouldnt mind seeing him again.
His primary outfit in MKDA was horrible tho, he should keep his alt.
STAY

I didn't like his MKDA primary outfit either...

Anyway, I do want to see him back. I guess the main reason is that he's just cool to me, too cool to throw away. That's it.

I loved playing Shaolin Monks with Kung Lao, they should bring back some of his special moves from that game, especially the one where he uses his hat as a defensive move, the one where he throws it and then the hat spins around his body.

Verdict: STAY.

... ... ...

My verdicts so far:

STAY: 16

GONE: 15

To me, Kung Lao began in MK with a decent backstory, but seemed more like a support character. I love the info provided about his ancestor, and the fact that was actually dealt with later in MK4 was the type of closure that you simply don't normally see in MK. Not to that extent at least.

He really came in to his own in MK:DA to me. I'm still not sure why he had red hair in his alt costume, but overall, his look from game to game (with the exception of MK3, where everyone not named Kabal looked horrifically bad) had been among the best and most consistent designs in the series history.

His moves are both simple and fun to use. His whirl spin is a great pop up move, but it also serves as a great anti air maneuver that can suck people in like Baraka's blade fury. I like any character that has defensive maneuvers that allow you to try and draw the opponent in.

His hat throw, teleport and triple kick are all good moves. Hell, I even like his throw from MK2 and wouldn't mind seeing that as a type of special move where he lunges at the opponent from a short distance, flips over them and either throws them or has a few other moves that can branch off of it.

Where can he go from here? I think that the sky's the limit really. Some people believe that he's missed his chance to be the hero. I don't believe that's the case at all. I think that he's failed in the past, and that can drive him forward.

I see him as a sort of flawed hero in this sense. He's not "the chosen one" but he wants to be, and that type of drive to do good, even with the knowledge that you're not the one that's meant to be the world beater, the game changer, I think that makes for a fascinating character.

VERDICT: STAY. I could go on for pages on why this guy is one of my all time favorite characters. From his amazing initial design, which I still feel was the best overall design from MK2 and one of the best in the series as a whole, to the fact that through his various iterations, he's always been a fun character to use.

Alot of people seem to want to get rid of many of the sacred cows and I'm one of them. However, Kung Lao is one of the characters that I honestly wouldn't mind seeing in every game. Of course, in saying all of this, I have to say that I almost completely ignore what an annoying a$$hole he was in MK:SM. God, was he annoying in that game.

i say gone because i never really cared for him even in mk2. his persona i felt was cheesy. maybe that's just me. i would like a new earth realm fighter to take his place if he were to go.

I'm a big Kung Lao fan. He's just an interesting character to me. I've always felt that if they were to ever really retire Liu Kang for good, they should let Kung Lao take over. I say stay.

Kung Lao: STAY

Where can he go? I have an idea. He should be the final boss. After MK: Armageddon, the MK tournament should fall back into the rightful hands of the Temple of the Order of Light. After all, Shang Tsung hijacked the tournament from them in the first place. I've always been interested to see what a MK tournament would look like if it were sponsored by its proper hosts again.

There could be some issue as to whether or not Kung Lao really is the champion of Mortal Kombat, or, more likely, if he's just filling the top slot due to the absense of Liu Kang. He could be the final boss, the appointed defender of the title of MK champ, but maybe wouldn't have earned it rightfully (and thus not be immortal). That's my initial idea anyway. Feel free to disagree. But anyway, STAY

I always felt Kung Lao was one of Mortal Kombat's better characters. He had a cool distinct look and moves, and I always considered him the superior Shaolin monk. He's a character who should've been more.


No, he doesn't. You'd think, as the last descendant of the Great Kung Lao, he'd be the Chosen One to fight Goro & Shang Tsung and save the Earth...but he wanted nothing to do with it. That's what made his story so much more interesting than Liu Kang's. Everyone expected him to be the great hero, but he just wanted to live his life in peace....only fighting when he feels he must.

Naturally, that created the nice expectation of Kung Lao someday being forced to accept his destiny and be the "hero." And it seemed like we were finally going to get that pay off in Deadly Alliance, with Liu dead and Kung Lao returning to get trained by Bo' Rai Cho.

Should've been good......but then they buried him in Deception. And after buring him, they pissed on his grave with Shaolin Monks by presenting him as the exact opposite of who he's supposed to be.

I find myself torn on whether Kung Lao should return or not. He's a solid character and it does seem kind of a shame to lose that, and there is still a part of me that wants to see the pay off properly.
But if they bring him back, two words spring immediatly to mind: DAMAGE CONTROL.

They need to do some serious work to clean up the shit smear they rubbed on him, which has all but hammered home as a fact that Kung Lao is just the lesser sidekick and nothing more. Shaolin Monks' canonicity is questionable, so they can just ignore that, but they need to really need to restore Lao's credibility after the embarrassment he was put through in Deception.
I don't know...it may already be too late. I'd be hesitant to say he's been irreparably damaged...but like what's happened to Mavado...that taint might not go away.

But while the "hero" ship may have been sunk, Kung Lao could have a decent future as the mentor to future characters, like what Bo' Rai Cho is now...without the booze and farting.

I'm leaning towards GO...but if they salvaged him, I'd welcome his return.

Kobra go Kung Lao Iconic fighter he should definently stay

Kung Lao: Sort of an asian Clint Eastwood. He's a perfect fit for MK and an icon, and that's good enough for me.

Stay.

Kung Lao died in his own ending MK3. Then he died in Liu Kang's MK3 ending. I think we can safely say his current vitality is a retcon. The only reason he ever made it back to the shores of the living was because of popularity, which is okay. I think popularity should have the final say on who returns. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I can't think of a single thing Kung Lao has done outside of assisting Liu Kang. One could argue he made a bloody mess out of Baraka, but now that blade boy's scars have magically vanished, I don't even think we can confirm that as canon.

Kung Lao fans should be grateful I wasn't the one behind the Midway writing desk. If I was, I would have canonized his MK3 demise and had both his soul as well as Liu Kang's merge into Ermac's community of warriors. It could have been Ermac's super saiyan moment. Subzero and Scorpion got one, so what could it hurt?

Don't misunderstand me, I like Kung Lao. I think he has one of the coolest art designs/concepts in the series, and he visually peaked in MKDA. But has he justified his existence in future installments? No. Not even close.

Though I once said that if he were to be the protagonist, he should have been so in MKDA, I now retract that. The only way I could see him as the hero is if his track record was different, and realistically, it should have been. The worst thing Tobias ever did was make Liu Kang the victor FOUR GAMES IN A ROW! I think making Kung Lao the victor of MK2 would have been the more reasonable and satisfying outcome. But what's done is done.

The reason track record is so important is that in addition to a gameplay tier list, there's also a literary tier list. We don't have direct access to it, but it's there, and for Kung Lao to even be considered the main hero, he would have to be relatively high on that list. I see no reason to believe he is.

All that out of the way, I say neither stay or go, but make the MKvsDC franchise his permanent residence. I think he could do so much more good there.

No no, I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I didn't mean that he wanted to be the chosen one in the past. He definitely wanted to live a life of peace, as you said.

I just meant that while a lot of people might not think that he has future potential, one possible storyline could portray him as a character that wants to be the hero, perhaps more out of duty and (more importantly) necessity than a desire to be the "Chosen One," but at the same time, he must also grapple with the knowledge that he's not the Chosen One, and what this might mean for the potential outcomes for his mission.

That's all I was really saying in that regard. I think that he still has a lot of potential as far as storylines go. Sorry if it sounded like I was distorting things a bit!

I'm in the same boat as Xia and TemperaryUserName. I do like Kung Lao, to some degree. I have an appreciation for several elements of his character. At an older age, I appreciate his reluctant hero storyline A LOT. It's a shame that they took that, wiped their ass with it, and never took it anywhere.

It seems like MK3 was meant to be his last game. His death was the motivation Liu Kang needed to kill Shao Kahn (I think he was meant to be dead until Deadly Alliance changed that). It turns out he was "faking," and he came back in MK Gold, most likely out of popularity. Then Deadly Alliance came along, and the back-up guy was suddenly all that was left to defend Earthrealm. This was his shining moment, and they blew it with him.

They could turn his failure into his story, and use it to drive him forward. I just don't care, though. I cared more about Kung Lao than I ever have in Deadly Alliance, and I was more than ready to accept him killing Shang Tsung in Liu Kang's name, and then becoming the man to save Earth from the attacking Dragon King. I was also hoping that Kenshi would take Lao defeating Tsung personally (as it denied him his revenge), and the blind swordsman would fight alongside Kung Lao with the attention of challenging him to Mortal Kombat when all threats to Earth were defeated.

Such a natural and interesting way to take things post-Deadly Alliance; but we didn't get that. To be honest, I'd rather see Kung Lao find his peace. Let the man die in battle, or let him retire successfully. Yeah, if he survived he would probably mentor people, but that is boring to me. Kung Lao would probably make a fantastic teacher (a better teacher than a fighter himself), but it's just so...cliche. I'd rather see Bo' Rai Cho keep that section of the story cornered, and return himself (minus the farting).

Kung Lao had his time, but I think the best opportunities to run with him have been missed. Pushing the character now would feel so forced and just wouldn't have the natural energy he had as the main protagonist in Deadly Alliance. To be honest, one could argue that from a storyline perspective, that should have been Kai's game, anyway.

VERDICT: GONE

Kung lao should stay definetly!