#made this same post back with MK11. lol

[unnecessarybeltbuckles]

Wouldn't mind the sudden introduction of canon heterosexual relationships for characters that were previously unassociated with each other, if they'd stop with the fucking "ummm these two same-gender characters regard each other like blood family now so pairing them would be weird :))))" they've pulled so many times across MK11 + MK1 it's so blatant

[peijizerojournal]

issues and inconsistencies in "khaos reigns" [part 1, probably] :

i already have a post speed-reviewing/critiquing ‘khaos reigns’ and i touched on the sektor parable via a reblogged post, but grrahh, i still have tons of thoughts, questions and comments about the narrative and i need to excise them from my soul so here are some of them. apologies for any spelling mishaps or inconsistencies i may have missed. spoilers below, of course :

- the new era being — essentially — a multiverse, totally cancels out the idea of kronika being THE titan of TIME itself. her timeline was the ONLY one. i know that they tried to explain this away by saying that the fight between liu kang and shang tsung for the hourglass in mk11 was apparently so powerful that it broke the space-time continuum, but still! the way mk1 ended and how ‘khaos reigns’ continues the story basically takes away from the gravity of her position, and the weight of what it means to be the keeper of time. kronika painstakingly tinkered with the realms to achieve a golden balance, but now, since basically everyone and anyone can be a titan, liu kang's sacrifice seems moot. everyone just opens a portal to anywhere and everywhere and does whatever they want to his timeline. he may be reluctant to touch the hourglass out of fear of going insane or mucking things up, but the writers sure don’t mind i guess lol!

- according to titan havik, ‘time crystals’ come from geras (because he’s the only one to exist in all timelines), and they function in a similar way as jinsei (only jinsei is the 'essence' of the realms). so does that mean jinsei isn’t a thing anymore? or are the time crystals the ‘jinsei’ for the alternate timelines? what do they even look like? the needles in geras' back look like they are holding the same fluid that was injected into bi-han, so i'm confused by how they were extracting anything from geras at all...

i wouldn’t really care about this normally, but since they went to the trouble to bring back the kamidogu and insert a weak explanation from havik about the usage of these phenomena, then why not give us the proper exposition? i guess they didn’t bother because the kamidogu are essentially just infinity stones (‘the avengers’) or chaos emeralds (‘sonic the hedgehog’). hm, veryyy creative plot device…

- the scene with sub-zero and havik talking about the time crystals and kamidogu should have been longer. noob saibot's transformation was too rushed and havik’s motivations for corrupting him aren’t there. why didn’t we get sub-zero’s final stand fight scene either? it would have made sense to show that: giving havik a reason to actually keep sub-zero and turn him into a henchman (because of his formidable kombat skills and cunning to follow him into the portal, perhaps) and it also would have helped flesh out bi-han’s dimensionality, too (i.e. jumping into the portal to go after geras).

- geras and sektor should not have stopped noob from attacking liu kang at the end. bi-han needed to fight the fire god. it's such a long time coming. the pressure between the two of them has been building, bi-han’s frustrations have been surmounting and in that moment, he was ready to implode.

would he have lost the fight? yes of course, but that’s the point. bi-han needed to be humbled. maybe after liu kang defeated him in kombat, he might've cooled off a bit and been more accepting of help and willing to go to the temple of the elements instead of having to be sedated and taken there against his knowledge/will. and sektor being the one to break him out and tell him that liu kang 'abandoned' him and left him to rot -- while his last memory of being awake is his failed confrontation with liu kang -- does his redemption arc no favours. no wonder he went back to being 'bad.'

- i believe that sektor is not only bi-han’s enabler, but his full-blown sycophant. i don’t necessarily think she is 100% a manipulative mastermind, but if we ignore the bad storytelling going on, it’s plausible that she is a ticking time bomb of her own, and in her obsessive infatuation with bi-han, she is -- perhaps unknowingly -- sabotaging his opportunities to grow and confront his flaws and frustrations. and to be honest, they don't really seem 'romantically' involved to me, but rather have developed a strange codependency toward one another.

bi-han in mk1’s normal story mode clearly sought to be respected, maybe even revered, and acknowledged for his efforts, as well as exhibiting a keenness to take on more proactive role in leading earthrealm. to go from that to: “better to be feared than respected!” hmm… that doesn’t seem like the same man to me.

sektor’s constant smirking/lurking in the background of the cutscenes, however, makes me think that she’s been planting certain seeds in his head: encouraging him to embrace his negative traits (likely not even on purpose, just out of adulation), be the villain that everyone has already been painting him to be, and continue to isolate himself from everyone who might have ever stood up to his shenanigans or help him find a better path.

whether or not she actually has ulterior motives, it's clear to me that sektor prefers bi-han to be "bad," or unchanged, based on his presented mk1 persona. for her to be the first voice bi-han hears and the first person he sees when he wakes up after his mind is fixed... that's something poignant.

the man has been -- more or less -- 'lashing out' because of the departure of his brothers, and because for sometime now, he's been frustrated by his strained, untrusting relationship with liu kang. so, sektor is quite literally the only one he trusts and feels that he can trust.

but, this sort of 'all-in' attitude is, of course, toxic. when she says to liu kang that she stopped bi-han from attacking him because he 'would have gained nothing' from the challenge'.. uh, who is she to decide that? of course she wants bi-han to be restored: as in, made human again. but not redeemed. a 'redeemed' bi-han would be a different one than the one she has known, and a version of him that has been humbled (like if he fought liu kang at the end and neither her nor geras stopped him), or cannot be controlled (noob saibot) is probably not the one she wants.

she gives off: ‘i’m the only one that understands you’ vibes, but if he remains as noob, or if he were to be redeemed and healed as a better sub-zero, she cannot continue her power fantasy with him. to be honest, i think that would've been an interesting direction to take her character in: where in her mind, she has built up this idea of the lin kuei and the grandmaster, but in bi-han's fall from grace or in realizing her ambitions have diverged from his, she sees her disillusionment and in her delirium, proceeds full-force with the cyber initiative. THAT would have been one hell of a tower ending!

(side note: i also -- like many other people -- was almost certain that she would have looked down on bi-han in her tower ending, the same way she did with cyrax and kuai liang, and thus turned to embracing machinery and going full-on insane with her aspirations for the lin kuei. unfortunately, though... the writers introduced it only to then promptly throw it away.)

there is definitely more than meets the eye with all of this that is worth further exploration and analysis, as there are plenty of examples of her warped fanaticism (think annie, from ‘misery’ by stephen king), but it’s best saved for another post.

- there are too many contradictions between mk1’s base campaign and this dlc, INCLUDING tower endings and intro dialogue. i don’t know what is ‘canon’ and what isn’t anymore because technically, all of it is, if it’s in the game, right? but, it makes no sense for liu kang’s new era. what’s the point of introducing all of these plot twists when they don’t apply to the current timeline? from an ‘easter egg’ standpoint, it is what it is. but from a a lore/storytelling standpoint, it’s confusing and utterly inept. it seems silly to rewrite the lore while constantly referring to the 'old story' at the same time.

- NRS really do hate sub-zero and bi-han… but why? it’s clear that even in mk1, bi-han is shown to be a rather complex, emotional character that is grossly misunderstood and certainly not irredeemably wicked. i have a hard time believing that the guy who wanted to help lead earthrealm, who wanted to use his father’s teachings to guide him, who wanted to lead the clan alongside kuai liang first and foremost…. is suddenly a supervillain? who enjoys lying to his supposed ‘second-in-command’ (cyrax)? this contradicts mk1’s story mode so much (among other things) and it’s WILD. yes, he is extremely flawed, but it's clear that there is more under the surface than is being said. since it was a noob saibot-focused dlc, we needed more info about his upbringing, maybe; more insight into the bond with his brothers and even his subordinates, into his role as grandmaster... but it's clear that NRS can't wholly decide what they want to do with him. they villainize him in 'khaos reigns' except for his story chapter, and even that is nullified by his tower ending. another storytelling fail.

- another conspiracy theory i have is that this dlc seems like it was supposed to be longer and larger, likely including noob’s full character arc, too, because so many things are missing. some of the leaked dialogue from last year was not in the dlc at all, and lots of the lines in the cinematics seem to not really fit… almost as if there were cutscenes that used to be there but were hastily edited out at the last minute or something. also some of the audio mixing and animations are a bit off, if you pay close attention.

- in his first moments as noob saibot, bi-han is literally more human than he’s ever been throughout mk1. strange, considering in the beginning of ‘khaos reigns,’ he is SO out of character and almost comically villainous, but yet… after having his mind broken and then freed from havik’s mental corruption, he is forthright with liu kang, shows distress towards his situation with his hubris on full display, and then he fights alongside the allies to protect the timeline without claiming ulterior motives.

despite the khaos magic still coursing through him, he does his due diligence. but then… all of this gets tossed away when sektor frees him in his tower ending. what was the point in the vulnerable moment where he showed visible concern for how his actions compromised the timeline? or when liu kang lets him know that his desires for a different future aren’t an issue, it’s the ‘methods for achieving them?’ (that scene needed to be longer too, tbh) in short: why introduce the concept of bi-han potentially being salvageable if at the end he’s just going to continue being bad, if not worse off than how he began? the whole dlc was like a flat circle in terms of progression; that's how little happened in it.

- the hand on noob’s hip was supposed to be explained. in the last kombat kast (and i think in that xbox article, too) they said its purpose would be revealed in the actual dlc but… that never happened. aside from the missing fight scene with sub-zero and havik, we didn’t even get a glimpse at his transformation, either. he was just suddenly there… with the hand on his hip and all of these new powers. it would have been nice to get a teeny bit of info as to how exactly khaos magic works for noob, like imagine a scene where havik explains to noob what he can do now, how the hand and the shadow work in tandem and how much more powerful he is compared to how he used to be? it would also have been a chance to explain the random telekinesis, too.

- smoke really, really, really needed to have a chapter in 'khaos reigns'. i have a feeling — as i mentioned earlier on — that the dlc was originally going to be a bigger expansion, but some characters/scenes/dialogue were cut along the way; likely to drip-feed the whole story back to us in a trilogy of dlcs instead (taking notes from BUNGIE i see… ahem ‘destiny 2: lightfall’).

but i digress: smoke having a chapter maybe just before noob’s would have been amazing. it would have been nice to see his visceral response to bi-han’s transformation, as he has claimed to have idolized bi-han in the past and was/is hoping for reconciliation between the brothers. i personally think the brotherly bond between the three of them is the most interesting part of the lin kuei story in mk1, and it sucks to see this angle being completely abandoned when the dlc focuses around bi-han.

we needed MORE BACKSTORY! more info about their parents, their upbringing, bi-han’s obvious long-standing conflicts with his life's purpose, the true nature of their father’s death (what actually happened?), etc. and the dynamic between the three of them with bi-han as noob would have also been really interesting. smoke was absolutely necessary as a the vessel for the more compassionate approach to bi-han’s downfall and ensuing redemption (instead of sektor, who is obviously evil) and bridging the gap between scorpion’s mercilessness and bi-han’s malevolence.

- it's not havik, but liu kang who was the real hypocrite here, and it breaks my heart. first of all, stopping bi-han from killing titan havik in order to ‘save innocent lives’ is such a weak, oxymoronic explanation from liu kang. let’s not forget that he wiped out two timelines in the base game: titan shang tsung's and quan chi's. a bunch of other titans died at the pyramid battle too. liu kang even says himself that without shang tsung to ‘hold the timeline together’ it would collapse! the actions of the final chapter of mk1 were already enough to kill BILLIONS of innocents, yet havik is somehow an exception. actually, leaving havik alive would have been worse, considering he didn’t want to destroy or merge the other realms, but have them tumble into anarchy and khaos instead. bi-han was 100% correct when he said that they were 'not safe until he dies.’

- another problem i have with liu kang is that says he cannot leave his timeline to go help get geras (which by the way… geras is his closest companion and confidant, another powerful being like him who has been at his side for EONS). that left me with a huge, glaring question: where is liu kang’s urgency?

it is so unlike him to be this 'laissez-faire' (but that’s a discussion for another post). he says that he cannot go with them because the timeline would be compromised without him, but that is a silly excuse because:

1) his timeline is tainted anyway, because 'damashi' already messed with it, and the fact that concurrent timelines exist negates this idea that his new era can ever be truly 'safe' again.

2) titan havik leaves his timeline all the time with his cronies… he’s been collecting every geras and kamidogu, so why can’t liu kang? havik said he'd be back to inflict khaos after taking geras, so it wasn't like he needed to wait in earthrealm and twiddle his thumbs. it was GERAS, for god's sake. he should have been right behind bi-han going through that portal, the way they built up the bond them in the main story.

3) liu kang literally DID leave his timeline in the base story mode… the first time, he went to look for titan allies to fight shang tsung, and the second time was when he went to the pyramid to defeat him. he is essentially repeating the former raiden’s mistakes with this sort of approach to protecting earthrealm.

on one hand, raiden was slightly too impulsive and tried to intervene a bit too frequently, causing a negative ripple effect to those surrounding him. i get that liu kang does not want to repeat his — or kronika’s — mistakes, but doing absolutely nothing until your hand is forced and trying to evade all conflict by letting [terrible] events play out is not the way to be doing things. defend your timeline, liu kang!!! get up and get moving!!! just as raiden 'jumping the gun' had its own consequences, so does remaining overly-passive and slow-to-react.

- i like the character of liu kang and i was initially excited at the idea of a timeline reboot with mk1. liu kang is known to be humble, kind, genuine, understanding, compassionate: all of those hero-like qualities that we know and love him for. but that being said, why claim to reset the timeline if everything is going to turn out mostly the same, if not worse?

from a development standpoint, i understand needing to have certain things remain static, no matter what game or era we’re in. for example: raiden must always have lightning, mileena/baraka must always be tarkatan, sub-zero and scorpion must always exist, etc. fair enough.

but having bi-han not even make it a whole game without becoming noob? having shang tsung, shao and quan chi continue their plotting? how come some characters got a pleasant rework (reptile, sindel) but others are thrown so far under the bus and are poorly-utilized/represented (sub-zero, smoke, havik).

constants are needed, of course, but variables are also important too. and there are not enough variables in mk1 for it to feel like a 'new era,' and cheap, low-risk 'changes' are not an effective way to reflect it. at this point, the game should have just been called ‘mk12’, full stop.

- cyrax deserved better. she starts off as what we expected of her, based on her new character bio, anyway. she is loyal, but inquisitive. ‘free-thinking.’ she has no problem pushing back on bi-han a little bit about his explanation for kuai liang and tomas’ departure, and she obviously doesn’t get along with sektor and doesn’t mind talking back to her, either. she is defiant, but noble, as presented. but then…

she spends the rest of story mode groveling to scorpion: following him around like a lost puppy and begging for his forgiveness and receiving the brunt of his anger and spite (which was completely unwarranted and undeserved.)

kuai trying to hold her accountable for something that had nothing to do with her is crazy and really out of character for him, and because of this, her story arc was thwarted by her constant seeking of his approval and validation. the same way sektor’s reliance on bi-han takes away her arrogance, genius and austerity, cyrax’s sudden flip from being honourable but discerning into being manipulated by scorpion is just so, SO unfortunate. both ladies deserved better than to simply be portrayed as the unsung loyalists to a pair of capricious, irascible men.

some insignificant [mostly nitpicky] honourable mentions :

- this was an observation made by gaming youtuber mike hollow who pointed out some telltale inconsistencies regarding believable power balancing: sektor’s camouflage, scorpion’s fire teleportation and rain’s ability to turn into water were all missing in this dlc. it’s like they forgot to include the characters’ defining abilities in the story at all. why weren’t they taking advantage of the cybersuits in the maze? using camouflage to hide from havik’s minions? where was scorpion’s kunai climbing rope? why did rain not turn into water to escape his crushing death? again, it's not that deep in the grand scheme of things, nor is it new to the franchise, but it's definitely something i noticed, as well.

- in that same vein: geras’ time freezing abilities could have stopped him from being kidnapped by havik’s minions. why didn’t he stop them? he casually stopped bi-han at the end from lunging at liu kang, and he had plenty of time to do it since sektor stalled the attack.

in sindel’s throne room, havik was going on a big, illustrious speech about how he was only here for him. isn’t geras on par with being a kind of divine being, considering he himself is a construct of time (i.e. made of the sands)?

perhaps his lack of reaction in that scene can be chalked up to just 'shock', but this is just another example of poor power balancing in mk1's story mode (and i say mk1 and not the other games because the current timeline has all kinds of titans and divine beings that are all fair game). another example of this would be: empress tanya being able to defeat noob, but noob easily defeats titan, kamidogu-powered havik. and -- if the khaos magic had something to do with it -- they should have shown that somewhere in the campaign.

- how come titan havik’s limbs suddenly stopped regrowing when noob fought him? is it because noob has khaos magic in him and thus, he can be defeated by his own powers, therefore stunting his ability to regenerate? they don’t actually explain this whatsoever, unless again: it is another misrepresentation of power scaling in the story, but it is what it is. (seriously though, we should have gotten a scene where havik explains to bi-han his new powers!)

- if bi-han and sektor knew that cyrax wouldn't go for the wedding attack (hence the pointless lie they told her about liu kang 'capitulating to outworld'), then why take her along in the first place? why even include her in their plans at all? this doesn't seem like the same cyrax that kuai liang was referring to in mk1's regular story mode when he said she would 'sooner abet' bi-han's corruption than follow him.

um... as soon as we meet cyrax, she is already weary of bi-han and it seems like she has been for a while, enough so for he and sektor to already suspect her lack of fealty. at that point, she shouldn't have even been given that suit.

(side note: AS SOON as they arrive at the wu shi academy, cyrax is already fighting against the lin kuei and going against bi-han's orders. when she comes down from the roof, she immediately eliminates two of her fellow lin kuei warriors before harumi is even captured. she was already over it even before learning about what really happened.)

it doesn't make any sense and does not corroborate kuai liang's observations from the main campaign. i feel like once more, this is another example of something being changed in this dlc somewhere between the initial leaks last year and the trailer drop this past july. it seems like there might've been more planned for 'khaos reigns,' but they got rid of it, or they're saving it for the next dlc (which i'm almost positive is the case, at this time.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

there are a million more things that are running through my mind, and if it comes to it, i'll make a part 2 to this post. there is still a lot to be said about the dlc on a corporate/business level that may be worth touching on.

that being said: the game design, stages, animations, cutscenes, characters, etc. are all absolutely gorgeous! you can tell the ground-level developers really care about their work and that's amazing. c-suite and the 'narrative department' however...

in addition, i've still got some conspiracies regarding liu kang, kuai liang and also... the khaos magic! has anyone out there played batman: arkham asylum? does anyone remember the TITAN VENOM? yeah, i have a feeling that the writers are doing some borrowing from other IPs beyond the obvious comparisons to the avengers (because, of course). the rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper.

i will leave the bi-han analyses to the experts in the community. there is already a lot of discourse out there about what happened to him but all i'll say is this... he deserved his comeback, redemption and victory lap. but... he was bastardized. again. bi-han 1000% deserved his moment. JUSTICE FOR SUB-ZERO!

anyhow, if you made it this far, thank you for reading! xo

[cheatsykoopa98]

Drew the Mortal Kombat ninjas. Isolated pics of each one below! (and hc lore for my au)

scorpion's skin is burnt because when he died. the hellfire tried to consume him, but such was his need for revenge he took it for himself, even if it burned him. so even after he comes back as hanzo hasashi hes still burnt

sub zero, after restoring the lin kuei, is always wearing the armor he had in deception. as much as canon after mk9 has him always wearing his mk3 look

reptile is actually wearing someone's skin over his saurian body. probably from someone who fell down in the pit. eventually he'll lose all of it and have to find a new one, or just go "commando" by showing his true self. his mask is based on the mkx one, with it looking like a lizard snout and being able to open so he can spit his acid

I tried to mix ermac's m1k design with his old deception one (did you notice I really like the designs from that era? lmao) I tried a lot to make him look like a ninja and a sorcerer, since lately they've been designing him to look much more like a sorcerer than a ninja. his skin is the same color as him in m1k

I like smoke's design from m1k and how all the ninjas dont have hoods anymore. since smoke doesnt wear a hood in mk9 I tried mixing his design from that game with m1k, so he has a hair bun, but his hair is still "flowy" and moves around as if it was underwater. his clothes also have a smoke/wind pattern like fujin's clothes from mk11. his bracelets and ankle covers are sharper because hes supposed to be a quick character

noob has the scythe from mk11, I loved the idea of him being a grim reaper character, but also I liked mk9's idea of his clothes being the same as when he was sub zero. so I took shaolin monks' design (my favorite classic sub zero) and scorched it. its to imply scorpion burnt him to a crisp, so he put on that hood to hide his face. I couldnt draw saibot but hes basically the same as MKSM sub zero, but all blacked out and his eyes glowing

I love Rain's designs from mk9 and 11, so I kind of mixed the veil mask and armor from 9 with the noble robes he has in 11. I also made his mask kind of like a crown and gave him makeup (hes a vain guy, I think it fits him)

tremor had the luck on being on the most brown game in the series that was mkx. but since this series is so colorful (something I dont like that m1k made it less) I made him almost orange. he always has lava around his body and his mask is made to resemble bane from the dark knight rises (hes also really tall and muscular, did you notice? lol)

sorry for the long text. I just have a lot of ideas for my au and I might start posting a little comic Ive been working on later

[ancanosaur]

Does anyone else remember how weirdly toxic the MK Fandom was around MKx era? Becuase I do.

Those like handful of blogs that were just getting into beef with random Kano fans and their whole thing was "Kanno is a peice of shit! And so are you for liking this fictional antagonist!!!" I remember a few who put anti-Kano in thier description of their blog and it was just a hobby to shame people for drawing Kano fanart or liking the character in any way. (And a small revival with mk11 since they made him fuzzy for that game lmao)

Weird uncomfortable age gap shipping... That whole thing about that one artist that drew Cassie cage/subzero stuff and a shit ton of people were like "uh, he's friends with her dad and is like 52. So that's kinda weird." But then it also turned into a headcanon argument bc people were like "yeah subzero definitely watched Cassie cage grow up and he was a part of her childhood." Wich is so funny looking back at it bc there was no need for people to theorise anything about the characters relationship any further than what is Canon for it to be weird.

That fucking Sektor fan who just casually wrote headcanons about Sektor being a huge fucking racist for no goddamn reason?????!?!??? The headcanon specifically was about how they ship him and Cyrax and how Sektor calls him slurs and physically, mentally, and sexually abuses him as part of thier romantic relationship????????????? And they even gave examples of the horribly racist things he says to him¿¿¿? And that Cyrax was just okay with it??? And ended the post with like " I love my evil little man 🥰" No trigger warnings on the post either and when they were critiqued for it they were like "it's realistic and it's just my personal headcanons and you don't have to agree. Sektor is my comfort character and this is just how i see him." -type shit. (Deeper lore about said person. I actually interacted with them way before the headcanon thing. They approached me wanting to rp and they were so controlling they were basically just telling me what to do the whole time. super rude and impatient. So they just suckedl lol.)

Art blogs getting wierd asks that requested them to draw the fem characters in what was very obviously kink art but the asker would ask it in a way to trick the artist into making free fetish art for them. I got so many requests back in the day to "could you draw mileena for me :) but with her jaw wired shut? :)" or "could you draw kitana wereing a new pair of flip flops for me? That would make my day." like ????? Vague to the point of its sus but there were alot of minors in the fandom at the time including myself, i was in highschool at the time. but I was raised on deviantart so I could smell a wierd fetish from a mile away. But I did see other young artists fulfill these requests and several of them completely unaware that they were drawing kink art. Kink art is cool. But not when you're tricking minors into drawing it for you for free. (There was this mileena anon that was the most common one and I swear it was the same dude bc it was always something to do with with her getting her jaw wired shut, her getting bracess, or some other hardware being attached to her jaw/teeth.)

Selfshippers/heteroshippers being like "I know Kung Jin is the only Canon gay character in this very cis het and hyper masculine video game franchise- but im gonna ship him with my girl oc :) becuase he isn't real and it's not wierd to just pick the only gay one :) out of a huge line of big muscle men to choose from :) to ship with :) my female girl she/her lady with a vagina self insert :) or ship him with Cassie :) bc they are friends and should date :) I know he likes men :) and erasing that part of him :) erases :) a big part of his character :) and character arc :) but he would look cute :) kissing girls :) bc im :) girl :) and so is Cassie cage :) and my oc :) - is what I remember.

2015/16 really was a time for the fandom.

[wing-dingy]

alright well here’s a little post for my interpretation of the krypt explorer

basically going over some hcs and backstory

its cringe but aaaaaaaaaaa whatever im cringe worthy we been knew

for starters, his name is Isamu Ueno. He’s bisexual and non-binary, he/they pronouns (depends on what he feels like at the moment). He’s the post that’s like “not he as in a boy but he as in a dog you dont know the gender of” or however it went lmao.

He’s also American-Japanese, his father was American while his mother was Japanese, but he grew up in Japan.

When his mother passed away, he refused to be stuck living with his father he despised, so he ran away.

The night he ran away, he made a stop at his mother’s grave. At first it was just to say his goodbyes, but his grieving soon enough lead him to impulsively dig up her grave and reach into her casket to retrieve the purple sash she had been buried with. He wanted to keep one thing from her with him for comfort.

This is exactly what lead to him becoming a grave robber

So of course on top of adventuring to see the world, he’d often seek out crypts, tombs, mausoleums, catacombs, anything full of death and treasure. There always was just a constant strong need within him to take what isn’t his. It never did occur to him this was all just an unhealthy coping mechanism started by robbing his own mother’s grave, because it was the only times he actually had control, and a chance to be spoiled since he was hardly ever rewarded for anything growing up (thanks dad).

some people??? rob graves??? to cope????

Eventually instead of breaking into krypts to steal from dead people, it becomes more about wanting to seek out cool and interesting artifacts. He came to notice people were buried with such cool things, sometimes magical things. He wants to keep exploring to find more cool and fascinating things. He just has such a habit of stealing that he forgets to put it back after...

Also hc that MKX was also his adventures

so basically mkx and mk11 were the same krypt explorer

mk11 was such a great time for him that he’s now a shang tsung apologist

(aftermath didnt happen shut up)

He’s a himbo. He’s a bit stupid, he’s strong as hell, and if you get to know him he can just be a total softie. I’d say “It takes a bit to get through to him and gain his trust” but if you approach him slowly with some food like a deer he’ll already be trusting you, lol. He’s so not used to kindness, so just be a bit nice to him and he’ll be all 🥺👉👈 He also gets scared easily, he’s full of anxiety, his worst fears are the dark and snakes and disappointing people he likes. He always thinks he hates people and would rather be alone, but it’s just a front, he really wants more friends. He wants to feel loved and cared for.

he can also be equated to a hedgehog. spiky on the outside, but really is actually soft and cute. and eats bugs sometimes. gotta eat what you can find. 😩 oh yeah anyway just gonna get past his prickles to see his best self

Apep is his grandpa, so ofc with Apep being Bo’ Rai Cho’s student, Bo’ Rai Cho was present through his mother’s life, and Bo’ Rai Cho was there early in Isamu’s life. Too early for Isamu to remember him too well, but he remembers Isamu as a sweet little baby. At one point in his adventures, he bumps into Bo’ Rai Cho, who recognizes him, and from there on Bo’ Rai Cho became like an uncle to him, and is his only bit of family left.

Since Apep was White Lotus, and so is Bo’ Rai Cho, Isamu could become White Lotus since he’s got those connections. It’s really just a matter of if or when he feels ready.

ive got so many more like head canons and stuff i’ve developed him more than this i swear im just drawing a blank atm hjbghfjbg but im super emotionally attached to him 😳 he’s my grumpy beloved

[paindealt]

seidanguard replied to your post:

I feel like MK forgets that the lin kuei and shirai ryu are inherently immoral

Honestly... yeah??? Though funny enough, I don’t talk about it much -- but that’s something I never quite... understand about Kuai’s character. Because whilst I believe characters can be good, despite who they’re raised by evil people... but Kuai acts COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS to everything about the Lin Kuei (including why his brother would be a horrible person). It almost feels like Kuai wasn’t actually raised by the Lin Kuei, and they just kinda dropped him off at the Grandmaster’s Grandmother or some shit. Like, perhaps the Lin Kuei are good people now that Kuai took over and made them the Power Rangers... but like, they were supposed to be/are horrible, horrible people back then. Like, I do headcanon that Kuai was lied to often by the Lin Kuei, and uh... I guess that’s why he’s completely oblivious to them -- and even so, it’s amazing how naive/oblivious/ignorant/whatever he was to what they truly were. But like, for the longest time he keeps saying “Sektor dishonored the Lin Kuei!!!” and even after he found out about the deal they made with Quan Chi, Kuai said that the Lin Kuei lost their honor long ago... yet he still seems bent on “restoring” their honor? And it’s like... WHAT HONOR DID THEY EVER HAVE?? WHAT HONOR DID THEY HAVE???? I mean... did they EVER have any honor?? Because I’m pretty certain they’ve always been an immoral clan that focuses on money and greed and power lmao. They certainly never had honor whilst Kuai was apart of it, considering Sektor’s father was the Grandmaster, and he was probably the Grandmaster the entire time Kuai was growing up. So they were definitely honorless the entire time Kuai was with ‘em!!!

Or those stupid MK11 intros, the particular one with Erron Black where Erron says “That’s some outfit...” and Kuai replies with “it honors Lin Kuei tradition.” EVEN THOUGH IT’S LIKE, KUAI’S NEW LIN KUEI GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING THE TRADITIONAL LIN KUEI STOOD FOR. IN FACT, KUAI CHANGED THE LIN KUEI SO MUCH, THEY MIGHT AS WELL NOT BE THE SAME DAMN CLAN.

The Lin Kuei:

Kills anyone for the sake of money or power.

Will work for the evil of Outworld for a quick buck.

Sexist (doesn’t allow women, Bi-Han has expressed sexistness and arguably so has Smoke)

Steals for greed.

Has kidnapped children before.

Kuai (and his Lin Kuei):

Only kills bad guys

Protects Earthrealm with their lives.

Allows females.

Probably doesn’t make any money at all.

Probably never kidnapped children before.

Like... it’s not the same, bruh. And why would Kuai be concerned with honoring the Lin Kuei tradition if he like, acknowledged in X they were BASTARDS? They were IMMORAL BASTARDS WITH NO HONOR? It’s like that part was forgotten or whatever... Also this line from MK vs DC LOL:

“eXtErMiNaTe YoUr EnEmIeS” Like Kuai..... KUAI. YOUR.....YOUR CLAN. YYRUK CLAN!!!!! YOU’RE APART OF THE LIN KUEI WHO DON’T EVEN EXTERMINATE THEIR ENEMIES, BUT JUST ANYONE THEY WERE HIRED TO EXTERMINATE.

Anyways, that’s why I REALLY loved his MK9 ending, because he just said fuck the Lin Kuei and started slaughtering them lmaoooo. 

But yeah, this rant got a little long, but it was something that’s been on my mind for a lil while...

[collinnmckinley]

Why am I so passionate about Mortal Kombat (personal long post)

After more than a decade I actually got back into MK and put so much thought in the game, how so?

Well it all started when I was like 4 or 5? we had a family computer and my brother installed the pirated version of one of the arcade MK games, and man did we all love the game, we were so so fascinated by it we just played it every chance we got. we watched the movie(s?) that has been released. That’s how dedicated we were at the time for the series at the time.

My favorite characters were Sub Zero and Sonya Blade, I just found Subby’s concept soooo cool, controlling ice and shit! And Sonya because she was the only girl in the game and how badass she was. I fucking loved them! and then there’s Scorpion, I hated him...more like feared him. I used to think he used to shoot lizard from his veins, or that his chains are made of bones of the people he killed lol (I used to think the chains were long lizards/snakes, but I’m sure there is a character that is an actual lizard I cant remember his name). 

Also GORO! That giant beast I was terrified and fascinated by his concept at the same time. The game we used to play didnt have a story it just went on like, you choose a character and you go on through THESE certain characters and try to beat them until you get to GORO, who is the ultimate boss, who you have to defeat, thats how you beat the game. and for me, I only got through like the first two and couldnt beat the rest.

Now after a long long time, my brother bought me a PS2, it was like in 2007 or 2008, right after we moved into the new house. since the discs were so expensive, I took the console to an electronic store to hack it so i can play the copied versions of the games. My brother the one who is 4 years older than me, got Shaolin Monks from a store, he thought it was just like any other MK fighting games, but to our surprise it was a co-op 3rd person game, starring Kung Lao and Liu Kang, it was so fun and cool, that my brother and I spent the whole day up until dinner trying to beat the game, which we were not allowed to since my mum likes to watch Soap Operas at a certain time of the day, regardless we played it. We tried so hard but got stuck in a level, we couldnt do anything we couldnt beat the level. If we had internet at the time we could’ve researched how to beat it, but we left it there (still not finished till today). 

Now fast forward to 2015 MKX, I saw a lot of people play the game and I was so so jealous that I couldnt play it for more than one reason, so I couldnt afford to invest in the game. I got like really really sad seeing people record bits of their gameplays and fatalities and upload them on twitter, and when they added Jason Vorhees, I lost my shit. Told my self i would get it when I get a PS4. But after I got it, I forgot about MKX. 

After 3 years, MK11 was announced in The Game Awards show, and man was I fucking pumped! I mentioned this before, but the trailer looked sick af dude! The music, the brutal fighting between two of the most loved characters, or Scorpion’s famous “GET OVER HERE” move. It’s just all was amazing and perfect. After that I forgot about it (I tend to change interests a lot okay, and Siege was everything for me at the time) ... UNTIL the Release trailer came out. Man did I have a seizure because of how good everything looked.

I fell into the game wagon all over again, the one I was in when I was 4 years old. I want to buy the game, not because I’m thirsting over the characters that I already love (its part of it), but because I genuinely want to enjoy the game, play it with my siblings again like we used to so long time ago, enjoy a fighting game.

I dont make these sort of personal long posts very often, but when I do I really mean it and I get quite sentimental about it. 

So you have no idea how fucking much this game means to me. It brought me so many memories back.