liu kang stays. even in death he stays. people should know who he is because he is one the most important characters in the story history. he could become earth's protector but what about fujin? kung lao could take his spot as earth's new champion, but I would rather have someone completely new.

This is a big post going down the classic characters, stick with me and we'll get through this. Liu Kang: If MK9 isn't a reboot of the series, then Liu Kang should stay dead. He should be GONE.

Kung Lao: I dunno if Kung Lao should take over for Kang, though. A quiet guy with a bladed hat who can teleport at will is too cool to be the poster boy of the game. He should be the guy they call in when things are getting rough. Kung Lao should STAY but in a secondary role.

Baraka: This dude needs an overhaul of his moveset to be interesting again. but otherwise he's a cannibal monster with oversized teeth and knives coming out of his arms. People pay to get character design that good nowadays. He should STAY.

Kano: He's pretty boring even though he has a funny accent. I never took him seriously either. You got a show with bionic soldiers, undead ninjas, Bruce Lee and Van Damme ripoffs, and a petty crook who's good with knives is supposed to be a big threat? that's retarded. I can't think of anything to do with him that wouldn't involve a complete desperation throw. GONE.

Johnny Cage: Cage is cool, he just needs a good story besides trying to use the MK tournaments as plots for his movies. STAY, but make him less off a showboating goofball and more like he was in the MK movie, a showboating asshole.

Kitana's: she's played out as a character, she should try to be the mentor role that Raiden used to be before he went crazy. I mean, let's be honest, she IS thousands of years old, she probably knows shit that'd make Raiden go "Say what?" . GONE.

Major Jackson Briggs: Jax is a weird case. He should STAY but only they characterized him more like they did in MKvsDC. A big scary black dude who happens to be a genius is a good idea. But the weapon based move set has got to go. They should give him back his massive upper body strength from MK2-MK4.

WE GOT MORE COMING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Jade: as pretty as she is, she couldn't really fit anywhere when the focus is supposed to be on Earth now. Unless Kitana TOLD her to start helping the Earth goons...but that would be kinda heavy handed. GONE

Fujin: I heard the original plan was to replace Raiden with Fujin in Deception. That woulda been brilliant but they didn't go through with it after Raiden "died". He's a good design but the only way he could STAY is if they reintroduced him somehow, not just a random comeback outta nowhere.

Ermac: Cool character all around. Good moveset, good design, good backstory. STAY, but bring him back for a later game after this next one.

Kabal: He's got a mask, hook swords and super speed. What's not to like? He needs a grand re-introduction though, like Fujin. STAY.

IF they are to bring back Liu Kang, then the only direction I can see him regaining any credibility is by tying his redemption to the Great Kung Lao.

Goro's MK4 bio, despite the typo, pretty much confirms Liu as a decendant alongside the current Kung Lao, and therefore there is an excellent opportunity to see Liu model himself on his revered ancestor.

I'd have him tap into his dark side, perhaps on Raiden's recommendation, and turn seriously badass. Shave his head, bulk up, and don the brown headband shown in the original MK1 comic. They could even incorporate Goro giving the cloth back to Liu Kang, perhaps as a reward for winning MK1, or defeating Goro during MK Armageddon and taking it back, which is even reference to the movie Bloodsport and Van Damme taking Tiny's bandana back from Chong Li.
(You can see Goro gripping the Great Kung Lao's headband in that original comic as he wins),
Use his hallowed ancestor as inspiration by learning his moves, techniques, philosophies, etc. Devote himself to the ways of the Shaolin, the histories of his teachers, and consume himself with the emulation of earthrealm's first champion of the Shang Tsung era. He will then come back with something interesting, rather than the same old we saw in the first 4 games, the intro of MKDA and MKSM, or the amusing-but-unsustainable zombie form of MKD and MKA.

He doesn't even have to remodel himself on his ancestor, for they could create a storyline involving his separated soul and Raiden, or even the Elder Gods, fusing Liu's and the original Kung Lao's in a desperate attempt to stop whatever threat emerges for the new game. A hybrid of the two greatest champions of earthrealm would be pretty hardcore.

Either way, he really needs an overhaul if he is to return, and tapping into the history dating back to the Great Kung Lao would be a good twist. The Mk team could design stages based on that ancient tournament, throw in storyline references to Goro, Shang Tsung, and all the near-immortal characters who would remember the first Lao, and even add some subtle references to MK Conquest, possibily through things like the "Champion's Belt" that adorns Paolo Montalban, and (if it were up to me) MK: The Journey Begins with the inclusion of the arena where we see Goro kill the original Kung Lao.

Finally, it would do the series great justice to center much more of the story around its roots, in particular the original format of the Mortal Kombat tournament, with all the aura, mystique and nostalgia that involves, and by connecting Liu Kang and the Great Kung Lao that could become a reality. Take the series back to its Oriental theme, refer to its illustrious, deep past, and remove the redundancy of Liu Kang by redefining him, whilst at the same time exploring some of the great backstory that has so often been referenced, but never fully realized.

That's the only method of redemption I see for his character, and if it is not done this way, I think his story will become even more outlandish, ridiculous, pointless and embarassing - at which point it would have been far better if he had remained dead.

i think liu kang as a character should be laid to rest but on the other hand his play style and moves were unique and made his character likable.so if the MK team wanted to they could maybe have a current or new character be possessed by his ghost so that his moves would translate to that certain character. either that or just have a create a character system so its possible to make liu but in story his story as a zombie should end. i like liu and personally it would be kinda cool to see an HD version of his dragon fatality but hey thats just my opinion. if he stays he has to drop the zombie bit. either make him a ghost to possess someone,nitara turn him vampire,make him reborn or reincarnated or something...lose the zombie joke they made him into. otherwise just get rid of him and let him rest in piece in the krypt.

See, I feel his first death was made insignificant by Liu Kang returning in the very next game. I can definitely understand why some would want to see Kang return just to die and be left dead. Right now, Kang disappears, and it doesn't really make sense, because he's an active character in the storyline. He just cannot be forgotten like, say, Jarek, and no one will notice. You have to explain what happened to Liu Kang during and after Armageddon.

As for Fujin (I've had many people disagree with me on this) -- I feel the MK Team hates him. I prefer Raiden, and find Fujin a bit of a...bland character? But yeah, his time was Deadly Alliance, and they chose to replace the logical leading duo of Fujin & Kai with Raiden & Kung Lao. That he has been protecting Earthrealm for years and has not had any sort of development is not a good sign. They might as well kept Raiden in the role and forgot Fujin ever existed. It definitely should have been Fujin in Deception, though, too.

Maybe he will get another chance, but why it comes years and years later goes right over my head.

If they really tried to bring Fujin back they'd have to reference the fact that he hadn't shown up in a long time, like

"Raiden appointed me the new Protector of Earthrealm. Unfortunately, I grew lax in my duties, preferring the benefits of authority over the responsibilities. When the Deadly Alliance reared its ugly head, my lack of discipline rendered me unable to fight them effectively.

It might be true that other warriors fell to them, but I was the first line of defense. I shouldn't have let them even get the opportunity. Now my former ally Raiden is terrorizing the realms with a zombified lackey who used to be his finest fighter. I must make up for my indolence by rallying the Forces of Light to stop Raiden...even if it must be by force."

I agree with what you say. Just as every character's Armageddon outcome should be explained, so should Liu's. But, as some others have suggested, I'd do that via the intro video of the next game, or even better via a reference in some other character's bio. I definitely do not want one roster slot to be occupied by a character that has had many chances to shine, but never really did (imo), and by a character that has already died and now is supposed to die once more. OK, let's kill him again, but let's not waste roster space for that. That's just how I feel, I simply don't care enough for him to have him as an actual character ever again.



I don't think they hate Fujin, at least I hope they don't. I just think they weren't brave enough when they should have been -> going for Raiden in MKDA & MKD, playing it safe and pleasing the fans. I don't mind that Raiden was in those games, but they should have brought Fujin back as well. I hope they bring him back and properly explain what has he been doing all this time. Maybe he needed to go through some sacred ceremony/training with the Elder Gods before officially becoming the protector of Earth, lol, j/k.



I agree, I'm just not so sure about your suggestion, but I would like to see him and Raiden confronting each other in the future, preferably not right away in the next game, I'd prefer a little build up to the clash of the two gods and former friends.

My only problem with that is that I cannot see them not clashing in Armageddon. I dunno, it just feels like that game should have been where they came to a head. We haven't really had much development on that front. Plus, maybe I am just being weird, but I hate having too many god characters around. It's Mortal Kombat. I know we've always had Raiden in there -- but I'd rather see mortal characters do the combat. Fujin needs to be explained, I agree; but maybe he'd even do better as a "behind the scenes" character?

The MK Team is always relying on their sacred cows, as XD calls them, which is sad, because it gets in the way of other characters. Liu Kang stepped on the toes of Kung Lao, who I felt was even stepping on the toes of Kai. Raiden does the same thing to Fujin. I feel that Kang and Raiden would have been perfect to write out (maybe only temporarily for Raiden) for MK:DA. Have Fujin and Kung Lao save the day, carry the story onto Onaga -- and then perhaps have Raiden come back "not being able to stand by" for the game after that (where I consider us now).

But anyway, this is meant to be about Liu Kang. I am leaning more and more towards him being gone. The character does demand closure, but I am now convinced it can be done in better ways. Other characters won't get the chance to shine with him around.

Mavado. Eww. Gone.

He is really a stupid character who - in my eyes - has no potential to be a main/important character whatsoever.

Mavado wasn't the best, but hell, he's better than Hsu Hao. I enjoy the "human" evilness of Mavado. That is, he is just a mercenary. He had no real special powers, he was just good with ropes and hand to hand combat. I like that aspect. But storywise, I don't know where they could go. So I don't really know what to say. If they don't keep him, I'd like to see more characters in his vein. I'm going to have to say gone for right now.

Alright, I guess I'm going off the beaten path here when I say that Mavado is my favorite character introduced in MK over the last 3 games (by that I mean DA, D and A).

I think his first look is freakin awesome. The best look I've seen for a character in MK since Kabal in MK3. As soon as I saw him, I immediately wanted to use him more than anyone else in MK:DA. Only Kenshi comes close in that regard.

I agree that his alt outfit is hideous and makes zero sense. But that can be easily fixed.

I'm also disappointed with his move list. I LOVE the concept of the grappling hooks, I just think that they were very poorly executed. How about a grapple teleport, or a spinning move where they fly all over the place? How about using the grappling hooks on your opponent to either pull you toward them, them to you or maybe tying them up somehow?

I didn't like the sound effect used for them, but that's a small gripe.

I think that as a concept, they have a lot of potential. They were definitely something different then what most characters have in MK and I really dug that. I still do and I still think that both they and Mavado in general have a lot of potential.

My big issue with him is, like most other peoples (most likely) is the hook swords. Given the trench coat, the hair, the face, just the overall look... He shouldn't be given a 2nd hand weapon (or rather, someone else's weapon). I think it's a bit beneath him.

I think it would be kinda cool to give him two large hooks, maybe these are conneted to the grappling ropes that he uses, but maybe he could use just the hooks as weapons.

The combination of the two could make for a lot of interesting moves, fakes, regular moves that transition in to special moves etc.

Either way, I like Mavado a lot. I think that his look is the best they've had in a long time. I think that his move list needs work, but I see potential there as well.

His story obviously wasn't canon, so I think there's potential there. I could see him return as the lone Red Dragon survivor or maybe he starts his own gang if the Red Dragon is destroyed in Armageddon or maybe he gets away from the gang stories altogether.

Given how new he is to the series (only used once really, outside of Armageddon), I think that he has some flexibility to transition out of the Red Dragon story. But as long as Daegon and Hsu Hao don't come back, he could possibly make the Red Dragon interesting, especially if the Black Dragon is already out of the picture.

Either way, I'd like to see him come back and become a REGULAR in this series. I honestly think that his character, his story, his look and his moves have that much potential.

VERDICT: STAY. Take away the hook swords, give him a better weapon, expand on the promise that his move set already shows and you could have one helluva unique and fun character to use. I DEFINITELY hope we see him again!

To me MKA is a bit too early for them to directly clash just because "Dark Raiden" was still kind of fresh and new. Maybe a little verbal clash would have been nice, just to heat things up for the future.

As for there being too many god characters, well, there's Fujin, Raiden and Shinnok. That's 3 out of 60+, I don't think that's too much. Maybe we can add Rain who's a half-god, so that's 3.5 out of 60+.

As for Fujin becoming "behind the scenes" character (I feel like he almost already is), I wouldn't want that not only because he's my favorite character, but also I think he really contributes to the variety of the roster, especially gameplay wise- I already like his special moves quite a lot (I like how he's sort of a defensive character, relying on various wind traps) and so much more could be done to improve them further and make them even more enjoyable.



That would have been nice.

... ... ...

Anyway, Mavado...

I'm going to surprise myself here and actually say STAY.

I'm not into his story, but I do like his special moves, they're kind of different from the rest. I think so much more crazy stuff could be done with the ropes. I like how he uses them to cover great distances, so he doesn't need a teleport which is great 'cause there are way too many teleport special moves in MK. He could also use the ropes to strangle the opponents. I have some other ideas too for his specials, but I won't go into that now, I'm not sure I'd be able to explain those ideas precisely with my English.

So, I guess I'd keep him for the gameplay purposes and if something interesting could be done with him story wise, well, that's a bonus. Just please, take away the hookswords, those are the trademark of Kabal and it really sucks badly when you take away something that makes one character so cool and give it to another. I don't think Mavado needs a weapon at all.

... ... ...

My verdicts so far:

STAY: 18

GONE: 16

I liked Mavado. At first I wasn't sure about him because I don't give shit about the Special Forces sub-plot or any of that...but Mavado was pretty cool. I liked how methodical he was and he had a good look. I was also intrigued by the possibility in his ending that he'd end up feuding with Sub-Zero and the Lin Kuei.

Then, much like Kung Lao, they buried him in Deception. All this build up of the Red Dragon, establishing how Mavado would be a much more significant threat than Kano could ever be, single-handedly beating Kabal, Sonya, Jax, Kenshi, and Kano.....he's bitched out in the background on a bio screen so we could get the "grand" return of the fucking Black Dragon.

I don't know how they plan or planned to explain why he's not dead, but he already has that stink on him. The Red Dragon, as of Armageddon, is in total shambles. Sub-Zero's moving on...as well he should. Sonya....I don't care. No interest in a feud with the "new" Black Dragon....even if I wanted Kabal back, which I'm not that big on. We need fewer clans period.

Much as I liked him, he's damaged goods and I don't know where he can fit into the future. With regret, I'll say go.

Mavado- GONE.

Sick of the Black Dragon. Sick of the Red Dragon. Sick of the Special Forces. Dump it all.

Imma say GO, his weird spring things were so random.
Nothing about him interested me at all and he looked like Steven Segal in his leather jacket lol.

Mavado: Stupid. Weird looking, and the Red Dragon is dumb.

Verdict: Gone

Speaking of Red Dragon. What if in MK9 the Red Dragon and Black Dragon merge to become Blood Dragon. Yeah bad ass. I know they hate each other, but I think there should only be one criminal group in MK. There are already a lot of affilations to be apart of, and I find their feud uninteresting. To me it seems like the least liked characters are apart of either group so they should take their time when making one of these characters, and make their stories interesting.

gone. lol

I thought Mavado was the beginning of a good idea in Deadly Alliance, but left unfinished. And now that he has come back without explanation from very clearly having been killed on-screen, it is too late to fix what is wrong with him and replacing him with a new character would be the stronger decision.

Gone.

I want Mavado to stay for two reasons:

1. We got two black dudes, a couple Chinese monks, and a bunch of white folks, we could use a Hispanic guy to round out the races.

2. The grappling hooks were cool. Get rid of the hookswords, leave that to Cabal, let Mavado keep the grappling hooks in his style

Honestly the character roster has too much potential with varied movesets.

Mavado is easily my favourite of all the characters introduced in MKDA. I loved his look and his story. His look just oozed cool to me. He was amongst the first characters, if not the first one, that I learnt to use fully.

I really liked his alternate outfit. I view it as his battle gear whereas his primary costume would just be his day to ay wear. I pick it everytime I use him. The majority of MKDA's alts were brilliant, imo.
What let him down was his moveset which they didn't really fix in MKA although the new move they gave him was highly useful. I would've liked to have seen more done with the grapple hooks (which I find a nicely unique tool) and some better and safer attacks for him that weren't all hook based.
Also, that Fatality they gave him with the terrible physics was fun but just wrong. Mavado deserved far better.
I liked Mavado with the hookswords. Just because Kabal has them as well, it doesn't mean someone else cannot. There are more than one set of these in the world after all. It would be interesting to see him with another weapon to use however. We know that he is a highly trained warrior and he would have training in the use of a good number of weapons. That he made the choice to keep Kabal's hookswords could show that he likes to keep a token that belongs to an enemy or victim of his to remember their encounter by. Sort of like how Kano took a lock of Sonya's hair and kept it.
Mavado had a brilliant story built up for him in MKDA. I was hoping for great things for him next game and then he wasn't in MKD much to my disappointment, thus screwing him over greatly. MKD and MKA saw a good number of characters being wounded deeply story wise. It was however interesting to find out that the leader of the Red Dragon was none other than Daegon and that he was Mavado's superior.
Overall for Mavado, I'd say he should stay. Hopefully if he returns, they can move him away form the Special Forces and Black Dragon story arc as it's just not worth continuing.

FINALLY! Someone else that saw how awesome this guy was! Or at the very least, the fact that his potential was sky high after MK:DA.

I still disagree about his alt outfit. While I get the idea of everyday-wear vs fighting gear, I just didn't think the whole chain mail/armor thing made any sense. I mean, I guess you don't HAVE to be from Arthurian times to use that type of equipment, but it just looked unnatural and out of place in MK.

You could argue that it adds to his uniqueness, but while the gappling hooks did a great job with that, I still kinda thought the armor didn't do him any favors. I mean, didn't his alt just have him in normal pants? What's the point of armor on the top half if the bottom half... oh well.

I also agree that his moves list needed to be fleshed out more and while it would've been cool to use the grappling hooks in different ways, I'd also just like to see more special moves for him in general. On a side note, it would be cool if you could sort of... Unsheath them like Barka does with his blades in MKvsDC. Then you get a small set of moves with them. Move back, forward, side to side, throw, grab oppoent, do some other special moves etc.

As for the hook swords, I personally just don't like the idea of taking something that is signature for another character. Whether it's special moves or weapons. I didn't like that Li Mei had Mileena's sais. I didn't like that Kobra had Sonya's kali sticks.

While yes, there are more than one set of those weapons in the universe, the flipside to that argument is that there are more weapons than what we've seen in MK thus far to draw upon. You have a unique weapon for each character, that becomes something that's theirs and it becomes a part of who that character is. I thought that's what they were doing with MK:DA, even if they never really said so.

That's why it looked like such blatant laziness in the next game when others took those weapons. Some goes for the overusage of swords in MK. There are a TON of weapons out there that I'd love to see in MK and that I think could add a really cool facet to characters if they were matched propertly (by that I mean that Shao Khan looks more natural with a sledge hammer than say, Kitana might).

Either way, I agree with you whole heartedly on everything else regarding Mavado, TGrant. He was the coolest character they've introduced in a long time and I really hope the MK team sees that and brings him back for another go. Though maybe this time, as you said, leave the Black Dragon/Special Forces motif out. Hell, maybe even leave the Red Dragon out as well.

I don't like the idea of Mavado being the lacky of someone as lame looking as Daegon anyways.

I LOVED Mavado when he first debuted. The dude had a cool look, was intelligent, and a pure bad-ass. He pretty much orchestrated the Special Forces getting fucked over, and then he killed Kano, was set-up as being Sonya's "greatest threat" and became wary of the Lin Kuei. Deadly Alliance set Mavado up to be this huge character. But how Deception destroyed things. It was so bad that they brought Kabal back when he should have been used to establish Mavado better.

The damage to the Red Dragon may be irreversible, which is sad -- because I think Mavado was a character with real legs on him. But has the damage made me want to see Mavado written off? Partially, yes. I can't imagine how they can really save him. So much of the "cool" has been jobbed out of the character to put over that boring old Kabal guy.

If they bring him back -- he needs to absolutely destroy somebody, bring with him some weapons that aren't hookswords (yeah, there are more than one set in the world -- but he uses Kabal's, that is well established), and he needs to not be treated like he was in Deception ever again.

Verdict: STAY (if they can get serious about him)

I get the sense that from the start, Mavado was a composite mish-mash of ideas...like they wanted to give someone boot knives, and they wanted to give someone grappling hooks, and they figured it may as well be the same guy. I've liked his look, and Long Fist was really suited to him, but...something always felt off. I've always found his moveset awkward, and his fatality awful. From the start I wanted Kabal to come back and reclaim his hookswords, and I was glad when he did.

The Red Dragon was a good idea that was sadly mishandled. If the story continues - which I'd rather it didn't - I'd much prefer it be under Daegon's leadership, if he's still around.

He was a good attempt, but as stated, he's already been killed off once and reeks of death. It's a shame, but I think he was used badly. I say GONE.