For sure Hotaru. I thought he looked awesome and really loved the look of his armor, especially considering no other MK character wears a suit of armor like that. His weapon and specials were cool too, the lava balls he threw were a more interesting version of a generic fire ball.

What I liked most about him tho is that his motives made him stick out above other villains as he wasn't particularly evil per say, he just sided with whom he believed most able to end the conflict and restore order. He wasn't power hungry or cruel, and he didn't thrive off war and pain like Havik (who also struck me as not entirely evil in an interesting way). To me Hotaru seemed almost like a good guy hero type of character who believed in peace so strongly he was willing to force it on others. Thats a really clever and unique way of turning a positive and heroic cliche on its head. After all its not often the character fighting for peace is the bad guy. I'd love to see more of that from him in MKX.

Like most people, I would like to see Havik return. He's gotta return for the next game because he is the goto guy for conflict starting when theres nothing going on. Imaging a scene where Liu Kang is relaxing on a beach with a lemonade and NRS has no clue where to go with the story. Havik runs up to him, smacks the drink out of his hand and runs off. Boom, conflict. Of Course you'll need Hotaru as well. They're a 241 deal.

Hotaru was technically a bad guy too. Kinda cool because it was hard to draw the line on who was good and who was bad with those two. It is easy to say "order is good and chaos is bad" but in reality too much of both is bad and too little of both is bad.

If anything from MKDA-MKA returns I hope it is these two characters. Although I would not be opposed to a new Order Realm character and a new Chaos realm character. I just hope the Order and Chaos realms are included because it is a very cool concept.

@ spaceman: I agree about Hotaru's Armor. If he does not make the cut I hope a new character will adorn some sort of plate mail armor.

agree. the only good characters are ninjas.

Funny you mention the ninjas... speaking of lack of creativity. XD

WOA WOA Jaded. Hold the presses. The ninja's are indeed creative. They all have masks but their moves make up for it in the creative department.

They're my favorites but that doesn't mean I dislike all other character's. I like plenty of other character's.

Hehe, don't worry, I did only mean their aesthetics, not their moves. ^^

Kenshi, Havik, Frost, Bo'Rai'Cho, Kobra (if done right), Kira and Maybe Mavado.

Kind of surprised at how many of you said hotaru. And I was thinking he was the outcast fighter that nobody cared about. Ashrah too. You guys have given me new hope.

But I'm going less than 20% chance they actually make it into the game.

Bo' Rai Cho - MK needs an obese man. MK needs a trainer. MK needs an alcoholic. He's a great comedic character; just take away the farts and puke, because those are too silly. I like his name and the Drunken Fist style is unique. His appearance and story in the 3D-era was fine, so they only need to revamp his moveset.

Ashrah - Underrated character. Appearance-wise, I like her 'holy' look. Very modest clothing with the look of a saint, but in reality she is a demon. It's a breath of fresh air to have an MK female that doesn't look like a stripper. Maybe remove the Raiden hat, though. Story-wise, I love how she's trying to redeem herself by slaying demons, but she's really being deceived and misled. It's a lot cooler than Sareena's generic redemption. Her moveset was copy-cat in MKD, but she has potential. Here are some possible variations: Demon Slayer (holy light-based powers, Kriss blade normals), Hidden Demon (she lets the demon inside her take over with a new set of specials), Voodoo.

Havik - I like his self-mutilation gimmick. I've never seen it done before and it's hilariously twisted (pun intended). I'm sure more can be done with it. Would he break his own bones in his X-ray? Also, his concept, being an agent of chaos, is a damn fine one, but it hasn't been fully-realized yet, story-wise. It would be cool to see him shift alliances during the story, from aiding the bad guys to helping the good guys, whichever suits his agenda at the time. Maybe even just generally throwing a monkey wrench into plots to stir things up for the hell of it.

The rest of the MKDA/MKD/MKA newbies generally don't appeal to me, but I would give them a second chance if they received the Kenshi treatment. The ones I mentioned are just the ones I'd like done first.

I love it when people say "Character X has soo much potential, all you need to do is give them a new design, a new story, a new move set and you have a great character!"...So basically just keep the name then?

I know that there are still a ton of characters left to debut, but given how many will be new, I'm starting to worry about the number of 3D era characters that'll actually make it in to this game.

I knew that the number would be small, but now I'm starting to wonder if any of them will get in or maybe just one or two, which still feels light.

It's sad too, because it feels as though NRS has improved a lot of the Trilogy characters over the years (Ermac in UMK3 to Ermac in MKD to Ermac in MK9 or Striker in MK3 versus MK9 for example), but many 3D era characters never got the chance to really grow and evolve, whether in move list, appearance or story.

Some characters had one cool aspect, but maybe lacked in other areas. Mavado had a cool look, but a weak move set. Kira had a cool background, but a copied move set. Hotaru had an awesome look, but a very limited move set.

Anyways, it'd be nice to see some characters get a second chance. I left Mavado and Drahmin off the list since Boon's more or less ruled them out.

Here are my top five:

5. Hotaru: I'm not a fan of the Order/Chaos plotline, as it's a bit too on the nose to me, but the guy's got such a cool design that it makes me want to see what NRS could actually do with him if they fleshed him out.

4. Nitara: I like her look, but I think that it could be even better. Plus, a vampire would fit in great with the character variety and move variations of MKX. I feel like this game is built for a character like Nitara.

3. Kira: Absolutely love her origin. Sure, she needs her own moves and a redesign wouldn't be the worst thing ever, but she has the makings of a more modern female character for MK and I'd like to see that happen.

2. Bo Rai Cho: I have a strong feeling that he'll get in. He's an Outworld character that's a good guy, he can train the next chosen one and it'd be great to see them redeem his joke aspects. Drunken boxing style a big plus for me.

1. Sareena: Through her story and connections to multiple characters, she has the potential to be a central player if only they'd give her the chance. She's one of the most requested characters, so hopefully she finally gets a real chance to shine.

Honorable mention: Shujinko. I'd really like to have an old sage style character in MK. Just not sure that his look, background or his ability to learn other moves are what I'd want for this type of character. Nor really looking for MKs answer to Edge Master from Soul Calibur.

Deadly Alliance:
Bo' Rai Cho - just get rid of his farts and barfs, the drunken master would be nice addition
Frost - I like her but I have no idea what variations she could have
Kenshi - I'm not his biggest fan but I think he will come back
Li Mei - she was in 3 games and I'd just love to see her, more girls in a roster please
Mavado - he wasn't bad
Nitara - she would fit Mortal Kombat X like a glove

Deception:
Ashrah - I'd like to see a voodoo doll variation, she has a lot potential when it comes to story and gameplay, and she doesn't dress like a slut
Havik - he was in Noob's ending in Mortal Kombat so they didn't forget about him completely, I hope there is a place for a cleric of Chaos in MKX
Hotaru - a great warrior, I like his looks and story
Kira - give her new specials and she's fine