It's absolutely correct that Kitana and Mileena have been joined at the hip for far too long a period. My solution to all that is simple: Have Kitana confront Mileena about taking her place, and have Mileena come out on top, in a fair fight. I want her to kill Kitana dead.

Kitana has done jack for as long as I can remember. Same boring old "Be the brave single warrior princess" routine. She had an opportunity to go and avenge Liu during MKDA, and that got nixed by Raiden going thermonuclear. Say what you will about Kitana and Mileena being too dependent on each other, the same is true for Kitana to Liu Kang. Her tired old "romance that can never be" angle is puke-worthy.

Meanwhile, Mileena's been actually doing things. It may have been a mistake to initially bring her back, but she's benefited from her return. Deception made her into a great character; Kitana should have killed her all over again when she had the chance. Instead, she settled for throwing her in jail for years. That was a mistake Kitana should live only long enough to regret.

Mileena has grown from token evil twin to a character of ambition. Most of the ambitious scheming second-stringers like Kano, Reiko and Tanya haven't managed a tenth of what she has, or become as interesting; the only other one that comes to mind is Noob Saibot.

I used to see her as an appendage to Baraka, as her old endings would always be referencing the two...obviously, she's grown apart from him since. She's served under two masters, and all the time she's had her eyes on the prize. I love the fact that she's finally taking Kitana's place and making it work - not by force, but through subterfuge. She learned from her mistakes, something few people in the cast ever do.

She's developed visually: Her MKD and MKSM looks really set her apart from Kitana; her raunchier, sensual, twisted nature was emphasized. Hearing her say "Do you find me sexy?" in MKSM was one of my fave moments in the game - it establishes her own sense of irony concerning her appearance, and could even imply self-loathing.

Last thing I'd want is for her recent progression and development to be thrown aside so the two-dimensional blue princess can hang around and do the exact same goddamn thing she's been doing for ages: Sitting there, moping about Liu Kang, and being princess of Edenia. I'd love it if Mileena finally took that throne away...and then, who knows? Maybe she could set her sights on Outworld next.

Verdict: STAY.

in my mind Mileena is an icon of the franchise...i say stay.
also,not trying to pick on ya or anything icebaby but you said she wears pink but she is in purple.

Mileena: A great, interesting, and mysterious character since 1993. I love how they evolved her "sexiness". That's they way she should be. Very sexy and mesmerizing when you meet her, and then a killer-of-killers when you fight her...She always had great moves, and her sais are as iconic as Elektras...lolol

VERDICT: STAY!

As far as Mileena's look, I've always been somewhat intrigued by her flawed beauty angle. It kind of adds to the idea that she's a bit of a psycho (possibly due to the knowledge of the past, partially due to her resentment of Kitana as being the "original" and partially because she just is what she is possibly), albeit a calculating and ambitious one.

Unlike others, I never understood why she all of a sudden developed this sort of "Arabian Nights" look to her. Why? Did she go on a long journey to Saudi Outworldia or something? It makes zero sense.

I'm not saying that someone can't change their look, but as an evolution of her character, it just seemed like an odd choice. A nice one, in the sense that it looks cool and certainly separates her look from Kitana's, but still odd and kind of random none the less.

If you're going to change a character's look that dramatically, maybe at least give some sort of reference as to why? Just one sentence like "I had been traveling through the Golden Desert." That would've been fine.

As for her moves, I mean... It's Mileena. You get her standard sai throw, ball and teleport kick. It's what she's always had... In every game. Ever. Not one single addition or subtraction from her special move set in ANY game she's ever been in. That's pretty weak.

Her story? Honestly... I'm not a fan. I like that she started out as a clone and she's been scheming ever since. She's sort of like... I dunno, Kitana's evil self, though a lot of Mileena fans will probably hate that characterization.

My feeling is that no matter what she's done and where her plotlines have taken her, she simply hasn't been very interesting. Not uninteresting. Just strikingly average. She's had these sort of average plotlines where she's serving someone else or she's plotting this or that against Kitana.

Overall, I'm just not that impressed with her. I like her. She has a cool look and what not. But she just seems to be this sort of old school scheming evil that goes along the lines of other evil characters, only she doesn't do anything nearly as well.

Does she have potential? Sure, I guess. But does that potential involve anything that's not a story I already dislike or have grown tired of (ie her rivalry with Kitana, her plotting with Baraka, anything involving Edenia etc)? Well... Maybe.

What if she turned against Shang Tsung for creating her with Tarkatan blood, thus basically making her inherently evil? Maybe she tries to fight her own natural instincts? The problem is that while it's easy to see the potential, it's much harder to think the MK team will act on it and not make her just some average side story or henchmen.

VERDICT: GONE. I don't have anything against Mileena. I liked her in the past. But I just don't have the faith that the MK team could do anything with her story that would make me think she's worth having around as opposed to a new character with a blank slate.

Not to get off topic, but I want to get this out of the way first...

Really guy?
In what game has Kitana ever been dependent on Liu Kang's presence? Name me the game where, if there were no Liu Kang, she would have nothing to do? True, Liu's death was a factor for her in MK:DA, but it was hardly the ONLY reason she was around.
And in what game did Kitana spend the whole time "moping about Liu Kang?" She felt bad about his death in MK:DA...but, for the most part, she seemed to handle it rather well. She may be getting stressed out and depressed, but Liu Kang is but a small part of a lot other things going on with her....and that really sums up Liu's contribution to Kitana as a whole. He's but a minor, tacked on percentage that she could get along just as fine without.
HE gets more out of their two-bit relationship than she does.

And do you really think people who want Kitana back want her to just want her to continue running Edenia like she's been doing? Did you not read the posts on her in this thread alone? Lot of people are hoping she gets out of that hole....in fact, there's a growing contingent of people, myself included, who hope Edenia just burns to the ground altogether.

_____________
Anyway, onto Mileena....

Mileena is one of the few pre-MK3 sacred cows I think should stay. She has a clear and distinct motivation based on her background; as opposed to guys like Kano, who seek "power" because....why not? She's one of the few villains in Mortal Kombat that can be seen as somewhat sympathetic. And her look is memorable....like others, I think her being an uber-skank suits her. Having a butt-ugle mouth, naturally she'd try to draw attention away from it, but it also seems as cool visual....what you'd think would be MK's token "sex symbol" character turns out having an unpleasant surprise.

Up until Deception, she served her role as Kitana's antithesis rather well. Personally, I think their rivalry is the best one in Mortal Kombat. And in Deception, she got a nice boost in becoming less concerned with simply defeating Kitana and deciding her "destiny" is actually to replace her. Personally though...I was always more intrigued by what would happen to Mileena and where she'd go when her attempted coup would inevitably fail.
Because let's be honest....it won't last.

This is one of the reasons I'm not into continuing the usurption angle. Most seem to expect she's just going to slide into the Edenian throne and it'll be all sorts of bad news for the heroes. From where I'm standing, Mileena actually appears to be the underdog in this scenerio. Won't the people of Edenia be just a little bit curious why "Kitana" never takes her mask off anymore?
But okay, let's say she finds some way of getting her face fixed (effectively undoing one of the things that makes her unique). So now she's just going to rule Edenia however she wants? Um.....no. The people of Edenia just got themselves free from Shao Kahn's tyranny...we're supposed to believe they'll just roll over and let "Kitana" do whatever the hell she wants?
I only want to see them continue the usurption angle if the acknowledge just how much a pain in the ass it's going to be for Mileena to pull it off.

First though, I've notice people ponder "But if they bring Mileena back, how can they get her away from Kitana because if Kitana comes back then Mileena will want to kill her and if Mileena wants to kill Kitana than I'm going to cry...."
The answers lies, quite simply, in Shao Kahn's death. Lest we forget, the whole reason Mileena hates Kitana in first place is because she was supposed to take her place...but Kahn decided to take his chances on the real & pretty Kitana than go with the ugly fake sure thing. So Mileena got the idea in her head that Kitana was the source of all her problems and if she could just prove she was better, Kahn would accept her and it'd be sunshine and lollipops ever after.

How do you get Mileena over Kitana? By making her finally realize Shao Kahn is the source of all her misery; not Kitana. Which could easily happen....Armageddon being the big climax of the current era and all. Not to mention, Mileena's Armageddon bio left off with her giving up control of Outworld...because Shao Kahn told her to. So now she wants Edenia, but doesn't anyone else believe she should stop and think to herself "Hey wait...even if I get Edenia, won't Shao Kahn eventually just storm in and expect me to hand over THAT realm, too?"
That's closure for the current storyline.

With Kahn dead and Mileena no longer interested in Kitana....they can go their separate ways and move on with their lives.
BUT WAIT...if they decide to continue Mileena trying to take over Edenia, why doesn't Kitana do something about it? Go back to the aforementioned idea of Kitana abandoning Edenia because she wants nothing to do with it anymore. She knows from experience being Edenia's Princess isn't all it's cracked up to be. "Go ahead Mileena. Find out what it's like to be me for a while. Have fun."

So like I said, if they're going to go ahead with the "Mileena's taken Kitana's identity" storyline, I very much hope they acknowledge that it's going to be an uphill climb for her. Having Mileena believe if she just wears blue and a mask she can rule Edenia however she wants for however long she wants....either she's stupid for thinking that or the Edenian people are stupid for letting it happen.

Personally, I think it'd be more fun playing up Mileena as the one under pressure in this scenario. Obviously, she has top worry about the good guys who'll want to stop her for the usual boring reasons. But more relevant, by deciding to take her own power....she's basically, stepping out of her place. Other bad guys won't be happy about that and they're going to try to tear her down. And that's a situation I'd like to see Mileena have to deal with.

Just as an example....Tanya. Yeah I know, everyone hates Tanya...but bear with me. As said, there's some sympathy to be found in Mileena. We understand why she is the way she is. Tanya, on the other hand, has no redeeming qualities. As far as we know, there is no terrible tragedy motivating her. She just is.
Suddenly, Mileena appears to be the lesser of two evils. Despite being a "villain" we'll root for her before we root for Tanya.

Say Tanya somehow or another gains leverage over Mileena? Suppose she somehow finds the means for Mileena to fix her face? Or supposing Mileena already had fixed her face...Tanya somehow has the means to undo it or prove that she really isn't Kitana. How could Tanya choose to wield this power? Will she wait until the oppurtune moment to unmask Mileena...making herself appear to be a repentent traitor who heroically rescued Edenia from Mileena's evil clutches (they forgave Kitana, why not Tanya)? Or maybe Tanya blackmails Mileena...letting her appear to be the ruler when in actuality, Tanya pulls the strings from the shadows? That way, if something goes wrong, Tanya can slip away leaving Mileena as her scapegoat.

Just imagine the interaction that would go on between the two. Priceless. Way more interesting, in my opinion, than Mileena taking power and Kitana or Jade struggling to set things right and ensure justice and all that shit.


That's if they decide to run with the usurption storyline....but like I said, I personally am more interested in what Mileena would do AFTER. When her coup is unmasked and she's on the run from both good guys and bad. Or even...let's say after Kahn's death and finally letting go of hating Kitana, Mileena decides to forge a new identity for herself. Finding a new way for prove her self-worth that doesn't involve worrying about what Kitana's doing.

She could continue her pursuit for power...which kind of leads back to the same situation as pretending to be Kitana. She could end up as wild-card in whatever the next "big plot" is. Kind of the lone bad guy on the run from everyone...which I think would be cool.
She could even try to reform herself......now let me first point out, because I know when I say that people throw a shit-fit ("Mileena good?! Then she'd be just like Kitana!! *grumble grumble grumle*)....I mean in the sense that Venom was a "hero." A very deranged, self-righteous, "I will bite off the heads of evil-doers" kind of anti-heroism.

This is kind of an out there idea...but suppose Mileena wasn't the first failed clone of Kitana? Do we really think Shang Tsung just made Mileena and said "Aw fuck, it'll never work."? Suppose there was a clone that came out even worse than Mileena did and suppose that clone somehow survived....and she doesn't really like Mileena or that she was the one Kahn let stick around? Suppose Mileena were to have her own "Mileena?"
Just a thought.


Far as her looks go, I'd keep the skanky element to her. As said, I think one of the appeals of her character is the juxtaposition of she appearing to be a cheesecake sex symbol character...but she's not. She really came into her own with Deception and that Arabic flavor they gave her...so I'd keep along those lines.
She could use some new special moves. Keep the sai, Ground Roll, and Teleport Kick, naturally, but she could use some new additions.


Anyway, I vote STAY for Mileena.
I do believe she is a character with a strong enough drive and characterization that she can be put in virtually any situation and she'd bounce off other characters and it'd be interesting. She has a good look and she's usually good to play as.
Of all the characters kind of stuck in the Edenia black hole or kind of lingering in Kitana's shadow, personally I think Mileena has the best chance of all to expand into her own character.

The key thing is she needs to first get over Kitana.

She's wearing pink in Deception. I'm going by that attire

The other reason being her stint leading the Edenians (sounds familiar) alongside Goro against Kahn's armies. Yes, her alliance with Goro turned out real well for - oh, wait, no, he disfigured a corpse and switched sides at the drop of a hat.

I concede that sure, she had other reasons for being there, but they're just another aspect of that same old rut that's been brought up: Edenia. I don't want to have to dredge that up again, but that's it. That's Kitana: Warrior Princess of Edenia who fights Shao Kahn and got jilted by a Bruce Lee lookalike that one time.



Handle it well? How many years passed between MK4 and MKDA?

"She also held a moment of silence for Liu Kang and secretly wished he had joined her in Edenia so many years ago."

And how many other things was she doing? Leading the Edenians against Kahn's army? Leading the Edenians against the Deadly Alliance?

You and I may have better ideas for her, but the team barely knows what to do with her apart from expand on her princess role. They haven't since MK3. That's why they felt compelled to bring that connection with Liu back up, despite the fact that it takes place ages later, and a line about, say, Sindel giving a speech or some such would have been just as interesting. Remember MKDA takes place years after MK4: By our standards, the girl's got it bad. But you know what, I suppose I could forgive that because she's 10,000 years old and some change. Maybe that many years is a blink of an eye for her. Maybe.



I can't see any evidence for that. The only post-MK4 opportunity we've had to explore Liu Kang has been Deception, and he was off being a zombie. Now, that's what I call exploring different venues. Maybe not an entirely popular turn of direction for him, but my god, he was doing something different. More than I can say for Kitana.

Maybe it's true that I overstated Liu's importance to her plot a bit; you'll forgive me for that. But when she has absolutely nothing going on in her storyline apart from the crown or tiara or whatever on top of her head & the duties that come with it, and they saw fit years later to reference that romance subplot...no. That's just an indicator of how badly she needs that connection in her plot, or at least how badly the team thinks she does: They don't think she's got much else. They did kind of back themselves into a corner over time: Kitana got a whole bunch of plot resolution early on...maybe too much: Got her memories back, killed her clone, saved her mom, clone came back and so she sent her to jail. It's a damn shame that they didn't explore the reunion between her and Sindel at all in any of the games post-Mk3.

They could have, but no...the most we get out of her connections by the time MKDA and onward rolls around are a botched plot involving allegiance with Goro - again tied to the ever-loving Edenian princess role, and a mention that she still misses Liu. It's cursory, it's a single mention, but it's an important one, revealing just how important the team think he is to her character. She's got nothing else that they can see.



And you're entitled to that. I just disagree completely. I'm as bored of Kitana as I am of Kano, Jax and Sonya. I wanted her to do something different and interesting in MK4. I wanted her to do something different in MKDA....and I got some hope. Not much of it, but there was some. And then what? Goro fakes his own death and runs off, cheapening her ending, and then she becomes a mindless slave. Cripes, even when MK Unchained came out, and she was free, they had to name-drop Edenia into her bio. Her plot's been botched at every turn for ages now. That's why I say she's better off dead at Mileena's hands - I think it'd be perfect if it turned out that she spent all this time through the games looking at the big picture and being a princess that she forgets to take care of family business (or what passes for a clone half-sister, anyway) and it bites her in the ass with razor-sharp teeth.

Considering she still sought out Bo' Rai Cho to get trained by him and fought Quan Chi....yes, I think she handled it as well as she could. She didn't win....but hey, no one did.
Obviously Liu's death played a factor....but so did Goro's "death" and the mounting frustration that'd been growing over being unable to wipe out the last of Shao Kahn's forces.


I think you're reading way too much into that line. Regardless of how many years passed between MK4 and MK:DA, she still felt bad that he died and regretted his not joining her. That hardly implies she spent every day and night pining for Liu.

I'll agree they've been fucking her up for the past few games....increasingly burying her under the Princess title.
But I also think you underrate her MK:DA storyline. You could write it off as just "Well, Kitana's defending Edenia again." But you ignore the character development she undergoes within that. They've established she's growing increasingly stressed out and tired of constantly fighting...made worse by the deaths of Goro and Liu Kang......which has only gotten worse since MK:DA, as she's died, been enslaved, Goro's betrayed her, etc, etc.
So yeah, while she is just "defending Edenia again" at least things are happening internally for her. Compare that to Scorpion who's been pretty much out for revenge since the beginning, but with little to no internal variation in why he's doing it or how he's reacting to the things around him (except that he's angry).

I think ultimately it comes down to what we consider "different" for the character and how many chances should they get to change.

Look back at Razor's post on Mileena....all she's done until Deception is try to kill Kitana. Now, she's trying to take Kitana's place. It's really not THAT huge a difference. It's about as big a difference as Scorpion wanting to rescue his son from Quan Chi, as opposed to his trying to get revenge for his son against Quan Chi.
But I disagree with Razor that it's been worthless, as I think....while Mileena's storyline has since the beginning revolved in some way around Kitana....her internal logic and their rivalry had enough layors and complexity to it to warrant an opportunity to grow when it ran its course....which it has. And she's gotten that opportunity (slightly).
As I explained in my post, I'd prefer to see Mileena go even further....but as seen from your post, it's sufficient enough a change for the time being.

Kitana is kind of a reversal. She started out great throughout MK2 to MK4. Now, since after MK:DA she's been kind of stuck in a rut. Abysmal appearances in Shaolin Monks & MK/DC, despite being non-canon, have not helped at all. I think now that the Princess angle has more than run its course, she warrants a chance to get back on track....which I think is possible because they've been building up this little stressed out storyline for Kitana. Will the MK team pay it off and use that to set up a new chapter and direction for Kitana....I don't know.
Realistically, they probably won't.....no more than they'll do anything really interesting with Mileena if they bring her back. Do you really think they're going to do anything worth while with Mileena's new story direction? She'll end up just another idiotic power hungry villain with ambitions to conquer that go nowhere.

But we're not here to discuss what most likely will happen....we're here to discuss what should happen.

Anyway, as I was saying, I think Kitana is worthy of finding a new direction. Compare that to someone like Liu Kang who's sucked since day one. I mention Liu because you brought up his zombie story as a new direction for him. It really wasn't. At least, no more than Kitana's MK:DA story was different for her.
What was Liu's response to his zombified corpse? "This is bad...I must stop it." How was that any different than "The Shaolin Temple was attacked. That was bad....I must stop it." Or "Earth has been invaded. This is bad...I must stop it." Or "Kitana was kidnapped. This is bad....I must stop it."

Key thing once again...the internal response to what's happening. Liu Kang's internal development is the equivilent of Kevin Costner's deadpan, monotone delivery of "My boat." in Waterworld.

BTW, I say Liu gets more out of the relationship with Kitana because if you take it away....for Kitana, she's motivated y the outrage of being used by Shao Kahn, she wants her home to be restored, she's tired of constantly fighting....etc.
Meanwhile, take it away from Liu and what have you got? Liu Kang is a heroic Shaolin monk who saves the day because....not saving the day would be a bad thing. And he kinda-sorta is related to the Great Kung Lao, so that kinda-sorta inspires him to be a hero.
Not saying it adds a lot...but having a crush on Kitana at least gives him a little more concrete motivation than what he's got on his own.


One thing I think we at least can agree on is that Edenia has become a pit of despair for everyone involved. A white dwarf headed for black hole...that's physics. It's inevitable.
It's killing Kitana and, by extension, doing Sindel and Jade no favors. Someone should warn Mileena that Edenia is where storylines go to die.

I think everyone would do well if that ship was finally sunk for good.

@XiahouDun84

isnt saving EARTH REALM alot of motivation for liu kang or any mk hero??? i know its bland and boring(storyline), but thats alot of stress......

Some very interesting points on Mileena going on here.

To Xia:

I like that storyline for Kitana and Mileena, I really do. I like Kitana saying "You know what? Fuck this," and leaving Edenia to rot without her there fighting all its battles. Mileena taking it over would also be interesting. I've said it before on here that I think it would be interesting to see how Mileena handles running a realm. Yeah, we know her as an evil psycho-bitch; but that's always because she has been chasing something (Kitana, Edenia). Her Tarkatana instincts really come out in that sense. But if she was sitting on the throne, do you think her "Kitana" might take over? Not to the point where she is the exact same character, ew, no -- but to the point where she might actually be able to do some fucking good for the realm.

But, to be honest, while you have done a very good job -- I'm not sure if I would completely buy that Mileena and Kitana would stop at each other's throats just because Kahn died. Yes, Mileena eventually coming to blame "daddy" for her "issues," if you catch my drift, would be a perfect way to take her character. But even if she does blame Shao Kahn, Kitana has still killed her, imprisoned her, and all that jazz. I think I would buy it more if Kitana challenged Shao Kahn during Armageddon, and Mileena stumbled upon the scene. Kitana's passion and rage allows her to do well against her father, he could be worn down from a previous battle, also. Kahn notices Mileena and begs her for assistance, but Mileena responds by actually delivering the killing blow to Kahn.

That way Kitana and Mileena have some sort of mutual moment of healing, as cheesy as it sounds. Even then, they probably wouldn't like each other, but Kitana has shown that she doesn't neccessarily want Mileena dead (imprisoning her rather than killing her) and perhaps Mileena realises that it's best not to make an enemy out of Kitana right now, and to look for a window that will allow her to perhaps earn some favour with Kitana.

To Razor:

Although you put it very bluntly, those are some fair points to bring up, haha. Mileena needs something more, no doubt. I do like the idea of her being an "anti-hero." Well, not even that. Just her own protagonist. Someone that is rebelling against the bad guys, but has no allies in the Forces of Light.

One thing that I think needs to happen with Mileena, is that we need to lose that "pure evil" concept with her. Although Mileena is a "botched beauty" she is also "incomplete ugly." There are gaps on either side for her to stand out as either a vicious bitch, or as someone with buried layers of nobility. We've begun to see ambition from her. That is the first step, I think.

milleena stays. one of my fav girl fighters in mk and i love her moves.

now mileena is an interesting character because shes a crazy clone of kitana. shes always going after kitana for any reason, shes like a pest. i think she really needs another story line badly. the rival between them is played out. maybe she can "wake up out the matrix" and realize kahn is just using her for his own gain. milleena needs something thats says im different and i have my own intentions. just like a child that grows up and moves out of his parents home, millena needs to evolve. stop following kitana around, stop believing everything kahn says, become smarter and open her eyes to the real world. even when she has taken over in deception she still is living in kitana's shadow.

Mokap....really?

GONE

Best character Mortal Kombat ever had, a true blessing in disguise. He needs to stay.

Mokap GONE.
He was a funny-ish addition but was a waste of space really that could have been filled with a better character.

Gone, of course. Much like Chameleon-with-a-C, I don't even really consider him canon.

Mokap- GONE.

... ... ...

My verdicts so far:

STAY: 19

GONE: 18

Mokap: Stupid. One look at him justifies my decision.

Verdict: Gone.

I prefer Meat than MOtion KAPture.....lol

Did Mokap really do anything? He was just there. Every secret character at least had something important to fight for. He's just basically in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mokap needs to stay home or in his studio.

Gone.

i am not a big fan of mokap...i never really used him in game and he never appealed to me. meat has more potential than mokap...this one is a no brainer,gone.

I'm not saying she was grief-ridden day after day for years, but neither is there anything there to imply that she didn't still feel a very strong attraction to him.

If you'd asked me whether or not before MKD came out whether Mileena would have been a major player in the next MK game, I would have scoffed. Instead, we got a nice surprise. I'd say Mileena's ambitions to conquer have already borne some fruit; I've always seen Mileena as motivated not out of a mere irrational hatred of Kitana, but for being created in her image, flawed. Taking Kitana's place in my view is probably more important to her than the act of finishing Kitana off herself; I see it as Mileena legitimizing her own life. To me, that's more significant to the character than a simple change in Scorpion's motives.
And trust me, when we get to Scorpion I'll have a nice essay typed up on just how his one-dimensional nature could be used to the great benefit of the series.
Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to see Kitana undergoing some manner of internal conflict. You've made a good point about it. In fact, I only just picked up MK Unchained a week or two ago, and was quite surprised to see her reaction to Blaze's warning in her ending. Had those MKA bios been completed, and that plotline elaborated on, I might be singing a different tune now. In any case, I can't help but feel it's almost too little, too late, just as I do with Liu.
You were okay with her in MK4, but I began getting sick of her starting then: She's described there as escaping to go fight Shinnok and Quan Chi, for Edenia's sake - and then her ending depicted her as doing nothing more than dealing with Mileena. It bugged me just how predictable and unfocused the whole thing was. She wasn't alone either; that was about when I began considering Liu, Sonya and Jax as stagnant characters. It really does boil down to how many chances we feel they deserve, as you've said.
She got points for her negotiating a treaty in Kung Lao's MKG ending, though. I thought that was great, and was very pleased when it was followed up on in MKDA.
I'm willing to give her a chance in MK9 - not like I have much choice as it appears she's in - but assuming it's not a reboot, I expect very big things from her. Who knows? Maybe they'll use Kitana's ennui with warfare and Mileena's identity theft to work out a compromise between the two. It would be amazing if an MK rivalry actually ended that way...I don't expect it to happen, but it would surprise me more than anything else they could toss out.

I don't expect anything terribly deep from Liu (Kitana however, I've hoped for much more from), it's just who he is, and it's never been an excuse. But in MKD, it just so happened that this time his focus was on his own risen corpse, and his role in the tale wasn't just "Liu takes on the next big bad guy and wins it again". Yes, it was bad, and he was stopping it, but for once he was dealing with a secondary threat, away from the limelight. He wasn't the story's big superhero for once; he was trying to get his own house in
order, and that happened to come by doing what he does best; stopping the bad guy. It's a start, and in my view, more acceptable than a sudden 180 direction in terms of motivation. It could be a bridge to better things.


Edenia's been restored, though, and to me, Kitana seems far more concerned with taking down Kahn for the sake of her people, and keeping Edenia restored, than for personal reasons, which goes hand-in-hand with her princess role. There hasn't been any mention of her personal vendetta against Kahn for quite some time now - not saying it isn't there, but by now I'd think she'd have put her personal grudge on the back burner
for the sake of waging a war against him without her emotions clouding her judgment; she seems to me very level-headed. I'd put that plot point in the same boat as Liu's MKII motivations - remember, he was out for revenge for the Shaolin massacre at that point, and not just winning to save the day - it happened, he dealt with it, and moved on (quite unfortunately, to do nothing but be the good guy from that point on).
I'd like to think that should he be back for MK9, he'll take severe issue with what was done to him by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, and try at least to hunt them down - that is, if he's not dealing with the batshit insane Raiden by that point, assuming he still is such. Liu's not going to want to see his mentor in that state. It goes hand-in-hand with his good guy role, but it's something for him to do other than to be the big hero for the sake of being the big hero. Based on his MKD experience, an introspective view on the dangers of wielding immense power might make him especially suited to the role of helping the big guy get a grasp on sanity (after a solid beating, of course). I'd still prefer he didn't come back at all, but there are places he can go.
Incidentally, I feel the attraction between Liu and Kitana serves at least an important plot point; I look at the bond much like Arwen's with Aragorn in LOTR (even if theirs isn't consummated): emblematic of the trust that the two races seem to now place in one another, more or less. The elves in
LOTR are depicted as a race that's mysterious, powerful, tens of thousands of years old, and rather aloof at times; that's rather how I see the Edenians.



Truth. I'm tired as all hell of the place being brought up. Her MKA bio had her setting her sights on it since Kahn took back the Outworld throne. Not a good sign.

Anyway, let's focus on the character of the moment: Mokap.

Uh...

You know, any attempt I make to try and justify his presence in any future MK games would be like trying to argue for the Puzzle Kombat Version of Kabal to be his definitive canon appearance. I don't think I really need to discuss why he's unnecessary to the franchise. He was a funny one-off joke, but that's all. Shouldn't have been in MKA, even for completion purposes.

Verdict: GONE.

Mokap is a legend! He's just the perfect joke character and does it so much better than Johnny Cage, Meat and whoever else in the series who wishes to challenge him. Add to that brilliant special moves and excellent gameplay and you have a character who is very formidable. I remember everyone on the PAL server (on MKA) ignoring him until I sjhowed them his true talents. Personally I'd want him to stay but as MK needs to progress on for the new generation, I will say he should go.

gone.

But wait! Maybe he was Kobra's teacher back in Chicago! Or a rival student. So now he's got to deal with Kobra and the Black Dragon! And being connected to Johnny Cage, I bet he's a thorn in Shinnok's side too! And, of course, Cage is the one that introduced Mokap to Sonya, and they've been going steady ever since. Mokap is awesome!

And he beat Dark Kahn, I bet!

*L* Yeah, this wasn't hard. Gone.