Li Mei unfortunately fell into the "Initially good story, but fuck the story and screw them up" category. Li Mei is one of the most screwed around character in the series. Her soul gets taken away in her MK:DA ending, gets saved by someone, puts herself forever in his debt, and then fuck that, turn on him instead. Also, I know you don't count anything Armageddon, but in the non-canon intro, she was the first one to get killed. Very easily, as a matter of fact. I don't think the crew don't care for her much if a lot of this keeps happening to her. I hope that, if she stays, something good can happen.

Her look, well, depends of the costume. In both MKDA and MKD, her primaries are better than her alternate. It was nice to see a female fighter with civilian clothing on. The face was ugly in DA. I guess Shang's soul transfer also came with a facelift. The alternate in DA was more of a joke costume IMO. It seems more model-y. MKD gave her armor, although I think the primary was better. Alternate wasn't bad, but I didn't like the silver/pink combo of it.

Her moves are nice. She was one of the few MKDA fighters blessed with 4 specials. Her flying fists were basically the hand version of Liu Kang's Bicycle kicks. Her Nova Blast was just a different type of projectile. Her Flipping Heel kick was a nice charge attack. Then, her signature move, Carnival Kick, was awesome. It was a cool looking pop-up attack. The impossibleness of that move made it unique among others.

Do I want her to stay? Mmmm, eh. Only if the crew doesn't screw her up.

I don't have much to say about Li Mei. I think she should stay in Outworld and fight evil forces, whatever they are.

Her gameplay is fun, though I don't like that they gave her one of Reiko's special moves, the Flip Kick one.

Her looks are OK, her MKA alternate is the best one to me, the primary one needs some patches.

Overall, I say STAY, though I wouldn't care much if they decided to let her go.


... ... ...

My verdicts so far:

STAY: 17

GONE: 15

I'm going to say something unpopular.

I liked Li Mei's Deception ending, where she succumbs to the mummy essence left in her soul and falls in love with Onaga. I find her boring as hell as a good guy. "Must constantly fight an outside influence and heroically overcome it to do the right thing" is such a cliché, seeing someone actually FAIL and not just give in to their dark side, but seem to be happier as a villain than they were as a hero...that interests me.

That said, I think Li Mei is dead. I don't mean should be. I think DID die, past-tense, in Deception or Armageddon. It's the only way I can reconcile the fact that she's in the Netherealm fighting Shinnok in Konquest mode. If she's alive, how and why would she go to the Netherealm to fight a guy who's not an actual threat yet? If she's dead, her presence there makes sense. She's helping Kintaro et al. try to steal his throne...keeping in mind all those characters, herself included, are a trick Shinnok is playing to win Taven's trust. But one has to assume Shinnok is using characters who actually ARE in the Netherealm for said trick. And it's never actually made clear whether those characters are literally illusions, or if they're their real selves, just following Shinnok's orders and pretending to be against him. I mean, Shinnok shouldn't even know who Li Mei is unless she was already in his realm.
And as I fall squarely on the side of letting the dead stay dead in future games, my vote is GONE.

Agreed with RazorsEdge. Out of all the characters MKDA introduced, I found her the least interesting. That's not to say I dislike her, far from it, but she never seemed to have real direction, per se. She might be more interesting as a Netherrealm denizen, working alongside the likes of the Brotherhood of Shadow, or perhaps Sareena in some capacity...but I think I'd be more content to have her as a background character in future Konquests, if any. I wouldn't be averse to having her back at some point, but I think she needs to be shelved for a good long while.

My verdict: GONE.

That changes everything (for the better), but why on Earth would they retcon that fact so quickly? It makes more sense to have Kung Lao win and also fits the trend of having a different victor each game (Shujinko, Taven, Rayden in MKDA... kinda).

I don't know how to feel. Happy Kung Lao originally won in MKII, or sad that his victory was retconned not even a sequel later.



Her being in the netherealm is suspicious, but I don't think that's enough to deem her deceased. First off, Li Mei isn't evil; she wouldn't go to the Netherealm even if she did die. She wasn't a saint like Liu Kang, but even Smoke had some sort of spiritual breakdown when he entered the netherealm, and it seems reasonable to say Li Mei is a morally purer character than Smoke.

You could argue that the will of the Dragon King's will was still bound to her soul, but that seems like a stretch. I can't rule it out, but that just seems incoherent with MK's ethical structure (unless they're using the karma system, where evil functions as "weight"). If that turns out to be true... man, sucks to be Li Mei. Oppression, slavery, possession, mind-control, the girl's had it rough.

So far, I think the evidence points to her being alive. As to why she's in the Netherealm, I don't really have a good answer. My only theory is that given the robust matrix of character relations they had to fit into the Konquest mode, they just didn't know where else to put her and figured the fans wouldn't care (and it looks like they were right).

Regarding the character, I've made my feelings clear in previous threads. I love her. In terms of gameplay, she's my backup after Smoke, and story-wise, she's in my top ten. Sure, she's dressed like a swimsuit model from the future, but the shoe fits. Don't know how she went from vaguely Asian to distinctly Caucasian, but hey, no harm no foul (maybe she gets her make-up from MKII Subzero).

Something about a slave competing for her freedom immediately strikes a positive chord with me. The concept is both simple and rich, and could lead to a lot of different dynamics. She won Quan Chi's tournament, so odds are she's a damn good warrior, and under Bo Rai Cho (aka: motherfucker who trained Liu Kang/Kung Lao), she could become one of the most skilled/competent fighters in the MK Universe.

Though I agree with IceBaby that her endings are bullshit. Nothing frustrates me more than to beat a game only to see my own character get screwed. My theory is that they gave her such demeaning endings (farfetched, but roll with it) because she's a bombshell character and they wanted to go with a domination theme. I mean, both her endings look like something that would happen in a hentai... not that I watch hentai... I promise...

As I've also said previously, I don't want to see Li Mei become a villain, much for the same reason I don't want to see Jax become a cybernetic berserker. Good villains need solid motives; dragon taint is not a good motive. I know I beat the issue to death during Hotaru's run, so I'll leave the subject at that.

Nothing bad to say about her. Stay times a million.

PS: Hate to say it, but about her MKD appearance, I kind of dig the coke-whore face with the rigid features and dark eye circles. Don't know what that says about me, but it's the truth.

I agree with Dun on the idea of Li Mei being a slave fighting for freedom, now those motives don't necciserily have to make her be a hero. Li Mei could intentionally want to do good but is capable of doing much evil and she is struggling internally with that. Having Li Mei play a wild card type of role I feel is the best way to use a character like that. The good guys can help her achieve what she wants or the bad guys can grant her what she wants if she does something for them, what would be really cool is if the player can choose which way Li Mei goes while playing a story mode of the future games.

Are you talking about MKA Konquest? I think Li Mei was in the Netherrealm because she was part of Shinnok's clones to "test" Taven

You make a good argument, Razor. I wasn't opposed to her staying, and you convince me further. :D

I hated Li Mei in MK:DA. I thought her story was pointless, gameplay awful, and she looked hideous. She struck me as Mortal Kombat's shallow answer to DOA.
But she improved in every way for me in Deception. I understood the point of her MK:DA story was to set up what happens with her in Deception, she played better, and she looked better.

I like the conflict of her being an innocent slowly currupted by evil...kind of like Frodo with the One Ring. I think she can do well as either a hero or a villain. Her struggle with the taint in her soul can be interesting. The only real issue I have there is she could potentially step on Sareena's toes....but I think that can be avoided.
However, I also think think Razor made a good point about how it could be more interesting to see her become fully corrupted. MK could use more villainesses, too.

Li Mei's special moves are good and I liked her Deception/Armageddon promary look best...so I guess I'd stick with htat general template. For some reason I just think the skanky look works for her.

All in all, I vote stay. If they keep her as heroic figure, I think she could emerge as a major protagonist. If they decide to let her get corrupted, she could make an entertaining villain. Either way, I'd keep Li Mei.

I'm glad Miss Mei is getting so much support. I again have to agree with TUN and Xia, who have hit the nails on the head (again). I also agree that Li Mei should have motives for going evil. More so than Jax, anyway (insanity could be it for Jax, who doesn't really have much going for him in the first place). Li Mei having a "tainted soul" makes a great struggle for her as a protagonist -- but to make her evil just because of it? That's not a great antagonist.

That's not to say they can't make her do evil things occasionally. I've always toyed with the idea in my head that Li Mei could kill Bo' Rai Cho. Think Grandpa Gohan being squished by Giant Ape Goku. This could force Li Mei to go out on her own and feel vulnerable (as she did not complete her training), or find a new master, and have that dark taint haunting her. Or even if she joined Onaga, only to have Onaga fall -- and now "The Dragon Queen" has to repent for her ways, without anyone really trusting nor liking her.

I definitely like the idea of Li Mei being the protagonist of her own story. I don't want to see the richness of her journey tossed aside so she can become a mindless villain with no choice in the matter. If so, it makes her truly tragic -- but it essentially ends her story with her "victory" in Deadly Alliance -- where her soul was lifted from her body. We've followed Li Mei for Deception and Armageddon, and to have that taint defeat her just wastes her potential, in my opinion. It's like how Reptile went from being this powerful, cunning, loyal warrior yet to discover how his master fucked over his people (well, people assumed he was that way) -- to becoming a mindless drone who would jump from master to master, looking only to stay alive himself. That's Kano's story.

Oh I beg to differ. First off, it's a very real possibility that the taint in her soul alone is strong enough to earn her a ticket to Hell.

Secondly, remember that I prefer to think of her Deception ending as true. (With the caveat that, of course, after turning on her allies, they defeat her and Shujinko and Nightwolf's endings occur thereafter as goes the canon.) Taking Onaga's side only to die for it would definitely explain her presence in Hell.

I dunno, I think that we see a lot of "barely protagonists" in stories that come in the form of anti-heroes. Characters that are barely good, but seem as thought they could slip to the darkside at any moment. That type of character that's desperately trying to stay good even though they know that they have evil in them.

I could see Li Mei being something similar to the last statement, then falling and becoming something like the opposite of of teh "barely protagonist." She'd be the barely antagonist, who fights the evil that taints her soul, knowing that what she's doing and who she's siding with are wrong, but can she ever get back on to the right path?

To me, that's a good character with depth. Change her lame moves (I'm sorry, but her punching version of Liu Kang's bicycle kick looked awful and two of her other moves were rip offs from Mileena, including her weapon in general and Reiko), give her a better look, that story and I'd welcome her back with open arms.

That said, I doubt they'd do that. She has potential, but I just don't see the MK team capitalizing on it. I'm wavering a bit on whether to change my vote, but I'll still say GONE.

I truthfully quite liked Li Mei's specials and such. I didn't like her using the Sai in Deadly Alliance, but that was remedied for Deception. I guess we just respectfully disagree with where Li Mei should fall on the alignment scale. To me, I'd rather see her as the good girl who conquers evil in her soul (perhaps after doing some things she regrets). For you, it's doing evil things while not being evil herself.

I get that Sareena has got a similar story going on -- but her's gains strength through the characters she interacts with (Sub-Zero, Noob Saibot, etc.). And if I were given the choice, as disagreed with as this may be -- I'd go with Sareena giving into her evil impulses before I'd go with Li Mei doing it. Sareena has got the tragedy of the nature of her character to drive her forward. It'd be easy for her, as she can make these "bargains" with herself. For example: She can justify turning on the younger Sub-Zero because she loved the older Sub-Zero, who is now Noob Saibot.

To be honest, I'd rather the taint in her soul be a story obstacle that is overcome pretty early for Li Mei, and not really brought up again (unless she is atoning for some wrongs she has committed under the influence, so to speak). Perhaps have her kill Bo' Rai Cho, and from there she purifies her soul with great mental and emotional strength, and from there looks to improve herself physically.

But I may be a bit too in love with the Li Mei character.

If we're going to compare her to Sareena (and I hate comparing other characters to Sareena, because Sareena's my favorite female character and I would kill off anyone with too much in common with her in an instant just to make her stand out more if it ever came down to that for some reason...) then here's my opinion on that matter:

Sareena's more interesting when she resists her impulses because the default alignment for demons is Evil, so by being good, she's unique. And "Subbie's gal pal" is a way better story than "yet another servant of Quan Chi".

Li Mei's more interesting when she gives in because the default position for a human/human-like Outworlder is good or at least benevolently neutral in that NPC way, so evil would be the more unique result. And because frankly, I don't care much at all for Bo or her teacher/student relationship to him. The only character whose connection to Bo I really respect is Kung Lao in the sense that in future games, I'd like him to replace Bo as the teacher character of the series.

If we're going to compare Li Mei with Sareena; as to who, if either of them, should give in to evil...I think Li Mei should go dark side before Sareena does.

Motivation was brought up earlier. Good or bad, Li Mei needs a clear motivation to do what she does. We could say the tragedies of her life left her with a drive to ensure what happened to her doesn't happen to anyone else. The other side of the coin is the taint in her soul puts that in a very aggressive direction where she sees herself as the Dragon Queen and strives to finish what Onaga started.

Sareena, on the other hand, has clear motivation NOT to be evil. As we've already seen with her Armageddon bio, when Sareena is "evil," she becomes a slave. A mindless monster serving degenerates and she lives in a nasty pit of despair that she hates.

Which is another reason I would chose Sareena staying good before Li Mei. Firstly, I don't see Sareena's demon side necessarily being literal evil doing...as in, when she loses it, she suddenly thinks about conquering realms and shit. I see it as more like Wolverine's berserker rages or even the Hulk. She just goes batshit. Li Mei, on the other hand, if she goes evil, would have an agenda or goal.
Sareena evil is a monster who gets enslaved by villains (another Reptile, now that I think about it). Li Mei evil could be an actual villainess with a goal.

I also agree with Razor that the conflict of Sareena resisting her dark side is stronger than Li Mei's. As he said, Sareena's default...her true nature...is the violent bloodthirsty monster. She's trying to be what she's not. And not just the conflict with herself, but also conflict with other bad guys that want to enslave and use her, and conflict with other good guys who don't think a demon can ever be good.

I do think it's possible for them both to stay on the good side without stepping on each others' toes. While the internal conflict is similar, it can be payled out differently. Li Mei, in her drive to defend Outworld, will frequently find herself conflicted with which side she's on or wants to be on. Sareena knows what she wants, she just has to deal with her bad temper and the people trying to fuck things up for her.

But if it came down to either Li Mei or Sareena....I say Li Mei goes evil and Sareena stays good.

I don't have time to read over the posts or write anything in depth about Li Mei so I will just give my verdict. Li Mei should stay.

One of the things I really love about Li Mei is that she is a good character from Outworld. She and Bo' Rai Cho were the only ones until Ermac did his switcheroo with Kenshi's assist. Li Mei going "evil" would not be fresh nor exciting -- it would be her becoming evil for the sake of it.

I do agree that both Li Mei and Sareena can remain good without stepping on each other's toes -- but I'd rather the animalistic side of Sareena explored. And I don't think he going evil would mean she'd have to serve Quan Chi. I'd have her align with Noob Saibot, or even the ruler of the Netherrealm themselves (whoever that is after Armageddon). That's if they bring her back. But more on her later.

Li Mei, to me, is so much more interesting because she's this flower in the muds of Outworld. To destroy that naivety and innocence for the sake of "making her evil" would be a huge miscalculation, in my opinion.

Animalistic sides, by definition, have nothing to explore about them.

Look at a dog.

Look at a bear.

Now look at Baraka.

Now look at Reptile.

How many of those examples were not the same thing? Congratulations because you just "explored" every animalistic side every fictional character in human history has ever had.
Not to say that Sareena should never slip into a berserker rage again. It's part of the character. It's going to happen. I'm just saying that it's not a trait one can "explore", because it's not deep. It's not like you can tell paragraphs of backstory about WHY she temporarily loses reason and can't tell friend from foe. "She was born that way" is only five words.
Anyway, I'd argue Li Mei's innocence is already lost and there's no point mourning it. She's wearing armor and bikinis that look like dragon wings for a reason, man. Sharing soul-space with one of the immortal mummy army isn't just going to wear off.

Liu Kang died. Past tense. Time to move the hell on.
I did enjoy the zombie form, but that's clearly not the kind of thing that can last forever. It almost certainly would have been destroyed during Armageddon by one of the heroes, offended at their friend's body being desecrated in such a manner.

If he comes back, as either human or zombie, I don't know where they could go from there. Is he just going to keep wrecking havoc, or is he going to be a shaolin warrior who will win the tournament? I just don't really know. I, for one, don't hate Kang, but he's far from my favorite either. I'd rather see Kung Lao take his place, so I'm going to say go. But I'm torn saying that...

Liu Kang is one of those Character's I think of when I think of Mortal Kombat but he doesn't have any appeal anymore. He is rather dull.
His bicycle kick is really cool but that isn't gna save him.
I say GO. He died, he should remain dead.

Lui Kang: Bring him back the way he always was. No zombie, no bull shit. He's an icon, and I think they can do more with the character.

Verdict. Stay

Liu Kang=MK icon bring him back he needs a better story revenge