#I need kabal to sound like that actually

[theemissuniverse]

MK MEN GET TURNED ON WHEN YOU SLAP THEM ACROSS THE FACE CRAZY GIRLFRIEND!READER

SUMMARY : Title

WARNINGS : (MDNI)! slapping, being a crazy girlfriend in general, alluding to smut, mentions of being “hard”

CHARACTERS : Kenshi, Kung Lao, Johnny, Havik, Kano, Shao Kahn, Erron Black, Kabal

MASTERLIST

MORTAL KOMBAT 1 CHARACTERS

Kenshi Takahashi is no stranger to violence and you knew that. Despite his character, Kenshi was actually very dangerous and not one to be messed with. You didn’t care and he liked that you didn’t. He’d watch you yell at him and granted, he deserved it because he didn’t do what he needed to do. As attractive as it was seeing you like that, sometimes he would zone out because all you would do was talk. When you realized he wasn’t listening to you, that’s when you smacked him across the face. It took you two a second to register what you had done. Kenshi felt his mouth some before looking at you. “You didn’t tell me you could hit like that. I kinda like it.”

Kung Lao likes to piss you off. Not only does he find it incredibly attractive but he just thinks it’s funny. You’re the only woman that can get him rock hard just by yelling at him. He pulled another prank on you and you were beyond mad. You started to go off on him and Kung Lao just stared at you like he was having a dream. He’ll tell you the prank wasn’t that bad and that’s when you slap him across. He stands there, a little stunned that you did that. Then he looks down to his erection. “Why did that make me hard?”

Johnny Cage is more so turned on by you being mad at him than you slapping him across the face. He finds it incredibly hot when you curse him out. (Especially if you happen to speak a second language and you start swearing in that one.) There’s just something about you yelling at him and swearing at him that makes him hard. You look so sexy when you boss him around or command him to do something. He’ll say something regarding how hot you are when you’re mad and because he was not paying attention to anything you said, he gets a smack on his face which stings but it’s worth it seeing you mad. “Jokes on you. I’m into that.”

Havik is into all of it. From seeing you mad, to you cussing him out, to you slapping him across the face. He loves it when you get out of control and lose yourself. Especially by his own doing. You were mad because of other things going on in your life and when Havik had a sarcastic attitude towards you, you started to take your anger out on him. He didn’t even say anything. He just watched you. You were even threatening to kill him and that just turned him on even more. Just him staring at you pissed you off. That’s when you slapped him. He started to laugh at it and he grabbed your hand to place it on his right cheek. “Do it again.”

MORTAL KOMBAT 11 CHARACTERS

Kano would never hit you but he loved when you did it to him. The two of you would get into a fight because you believed he was flirting with another woman. As hot as you were, he didn’t appreciate getting accused. He rolled his eyes as you went on your big long rant. He was not flirting with another girl. You just happened to walk in on them having a conversation and you took it the wrong way. (It sounded like he was gaslighting but it was actually true.) Kano rubs his temples, annoyed. He’ll ask you if you were done. Oh, that pisses you off. He receives a good hard smack on the mouth. He clicks his tongue showing no reaction. He finishes the beer in his hand. “Now why you turning me on like that, love?”

Shao Kahn is more proud of you than anything. He is the Emperor of Outworld. A tyrant. Nobody crossed him but here you were, sticking up for yourself at him. Nobody would dare do what you would do or say. That’s what turned him on about you. It was cute that you thought your words mattered to him but he’d let you rant to him about what he considered to be absolutely nothing. Then he would threaten one of your friends and that’s what causes the slap across the face. You waited for him to hit you back but he doesn’t. In fact, he licks his lips and stares at you hungry. “I like strong women.”

Erron Black more so likes the fact that he’s the one that can make you that mad, it gives him all the control. Seeing you curse at him for something so simple is just amusing to him. This time you were mad because he didn’t do the dishes. He liked his women crazy so when you started to throw glass plates at him, he liked you even more. He was ducking plate after plate. It made you mad that you didn’t hit him one time so you ended up just smacking him across the face. Erron feels his face before looking at you. He just grabs you by the hips and pulls you in for a kiss. “Damn, you’re so hot.”

Kabal(pre burn) likes his women feisty so seeing you lose your cool did wonders for him. He loves it all. How your eyebrows forward. Your eye twitching to keep it together. Your teeth gritting against each other. Kabal sometimes would just piss you off on purpose. Well, this time he had actually done it on accident. You were mad at him because he wouldn’t let you in where he hung out at with the Black Dragon and your thoughts immediately went to him cheating on you. It annoyed him that he was being accused. He’ll ask if do you ever shut up and that’s when your slap him. His hand’s immediately go to his belt and he starts to take them off. “Bend over the table. We’re bout to have a fun night.”

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat x reader #mortal kombat 1 #mortal kombat 11 #mk #mk1 #mk 1 #mk11 #mk 11 #johnny cage #kenshi takahashi #kenshi takahashi x reader #johnny cage x reader #kung lao #kung lao x reader #mk havik #mk Havik x reader #havik x reader #shao kahn x reader #shao kahn #mk kano #mk kano x reader #kano x reader #erron black #erron black x reader #mk kabal #kabal x reader #mk smut #mortal kombat headcanons #mk headcanons

[starsurface]

Hai! Been regressed all day because I’ve come down with a icky sickness and i dont feel so good :< Could I maybe get some Mk11 Kano Cg hcs of him looking after a sick/ill baby regressor?- ✨

No cause like, I've been sick for almost a week and it's only gotten worse, especially in the past two days >:(

There's some silly virus going around, and I'm sorry you caught it, darling :(

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

CG Kano w/ Sick Babyspace Regressor Hcs

⚔️ Kano, as much as I love him, isn't the best person

⚔️ Probably teased you for being sick when it wasn't that bad

⚔️ Like, come on, you aren't that sick, stop being all dramatic

⚔️ But when your symptoms began to worsen, he actually became super worried

⚔️ At first you just felt a bit icky, but now you can't feel half your face with how congested it is, your throats all scratchy, it hurts to talk, you're practically panting because you can't breathe through your nose

⚔️ ^ Apologies, I'm projecting, I feel incredibly icky rn

⚔️ He feels really bad that he didn't take your sickness seriously when he could have helped you when it wasn't that bad

⚔️ He feels even worse when you regress really tiny because of how icky you feel :(

⚔️ Don't you worry, Uncle Kano's gonna take good care of you now, Sweetheart

⚔️ Since your really tiny, he'll swaddle you in your favorite blankie and rock you, gently shushing your cries

⚔️ Kano's got a pretty tough inume system, so he doesn't get sick easily

⚔️ Because of this you get all the cuddles you could ever ask for

⚔️ Usually when you two cuddle he calls you a Clingy Koala but will die down his teasing because you feel icky and just want some lovin’

⚔️ Ans how could he make fun of you for that? Poor thing

⚔️ Kano, surprisingly, is a pretty decent chef, and will make you some bomb chicken noodle soup

⚔️ ^ I recommend Princess Chicken noodle soup, it makes me feel a bit better

⚔️ He'll spoon feed you so you don't spill anything by accident

⚔️ He'll get you some yummy Sprite and saltines if your feelings hungry

⚔️ Like, he'll get you actual food if you'd like, but those are some of the go to sick snacks he knows of

⚔️ Will not let you have munchies if you can't stomach anything though, he doesn't wanna make you throw up on purpose :(

⚔️ He'll clear his entire schedule just to make sure he can look after you

⚔️ Kanos not a very nice man, but he refuses to leave his bab’s side when they feel all icky like this

⚔️ Plus Kabal can do all the Black Dragon work for a few days <3

⚔️ Unfortunately, you might need to have some nasty medicine :(

⚔️ He'll get you some yummy water afterwards and cuddle you

⚔️ He knows some medicine doesn't taste great, but somehow all the yucky ones make people feel better quicker

⚔️ If your little enough to use diapers, he's more comforting about it than usual because your all sick

⚔️ If your throat hurts, he'll make you some warm milk or get you some throat medicine

⚔️ Is also a lot more patient than usual

⚔️ He knows your sick, and he knows you might be already sensitive than usual

⚔️ He also knows that crying because you couldn't find your hair tie isn't something that you'd usually do, but you better know he'll find that hair tie for you (he was probably sitting on it)

⚔️ Usually he'd encourage you to babble, laughing and having conversations with you

⚔️ But now you sound like Bi-Han, all raspy and almost drunk (very bad overall)

⚔️ So he probably expects you to go somewhat nonverbal, cradling you and letting you huff and cry into his chest

⚔️ It's never nice, feeling all icky and bad

⚔️ You'll never have to worry about going through it alone though, he'll become your clingy Koala

⚔️ He'll put on your favorite cartoons or movie, and you two will cuddle in bed

⚔️ He'll try to make you laugh by making jokes or jabbing at one of his friends

⚔️ But if you get irritated at them faster than usual, he'll stop

⚔️ It's no fun making a joke if you both can't laugh about it

⚔️ Kano isn't the best person to help you get better, since he doesn't actually know what he's doing half the time and is completely winging it

⚔️ But he's there for you, thick and thin

⚔️ Your his baby after all, you can't be sick alone, what kind if Dada would he be if he left you all alone? >:(

⚔️ He'll gently clean your face and shush you when you start apologizing

⚔️ There's so need to apologize, your body just feels a bit icky, Sweetheart, no need to be sorry

⚔️ If your too woozy or small to stand up, he'll carry you around so you can feel a bit better by brushing your teeth or taking a quick short

⚔️ Highly encourages sitting under a steamy shower so your face gets unclogged from all the bad stuff in it

⚔️ He'll even help you brush your teeth!! You really don't gotta lift a finger around this man, especially when you're this sick and small!!

⚔️ You becomes his new Teddy bear, and he becomes your new Teddy bear (and servant), that's how the world works <3

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

I hope you feel better!!! <3

#age regression #agere #sfw age regression #mortal kombat agere #age regression headcanons #sfw agere #mk agere #mk11 headcanons #mk11 #mortal kombat 11 headcanons #mortal kombat 11 #mortal kombat #mk kano #kano #mk11 kano #kano x reader #cg Kano #caregiver kano

[iris-of-bliss]

Healing I: Absence

Summary: Your fiancé hasn’t arrived home for days. Thoughts began to worry about his fate. You would soon find out about what was going on his entire time being away. Giving him love and affection was more important on your to-do list.

Pairing(s): Kabal/F!Reader

Warning(s): Angst

A/N: My first ever angst fic. I hope you enjoy <3

Today has been quiet as usual, remaining alone at home in bed once again. It has been three days in a row of Kabal being absent. Your stomach felt like it was tied in a hefty knot. You remember him talking about a job he needed to handle with Stryker. There were monsters wrecking havoc through the city a few days back. You prayed that he made it through okay instead of ending up dead. Your patience was running thin as you sent text message after text message and stared at one of the photographs you took with Kabal. Your finger traces across his face, heart aching for his return to bed. The atmosphere doesn’t feel the same without your lover. Enjoying the sweet comfort from him by a warm embrace and kisses being peppered all over you. You two settled down well in your new home after the engagement. You couldn’t wait to finally become his wife sooner or later. There weren’t any wedding plans just yet. This might have to hold off for a while.

You recall the memory after his proposal, “I’m so fucking happy you’re in my life, baby. I will always protect you until the day I die…”

You two were holding each other in a tight hug, cherishing this precious moment.

“You really mean that, don’t you Kabal?” you look up to him. Kabal lifts a hand up to caress your face gently.

“Trust me, I never forget to keep my word.”

The treasured memory made you sigh with a hint of sadness. You miss Kabal so much. Getting out for some fresh air in the start of the weekend might help out, but not completely. After getting up to change your clothes, you head out and drive into a town nearby. The place wasn’t too crowded with some residents doing their usual routine. It sounded pretty quiet around here. After stopping at the right parking spot, you wander across a sidewalk while sightseeing. You try your best not to get thoughts about Kabal in the way, yet this would prove difficult.

After some minutes of walking, you rest your back against the wall of a convenience store. You pull out your cell again to send your fiancé another text, telling how much you miss him.

You worriedly look into your surroundings, hoping for him to pop up any second. The heel of your shoe taps along the concrete. You never dealt with Kabal being gone for more than a day, unless it was for an urgent mission. He always reminded you when he comes home, and it was supposed to be a day after he left to work in the afternoon.

Your thoughts snap after you soon recognized a familiar downtown alley across the street. It held special memories of you and Kabal with its cute decorations of lights and plants hanging across the building walls. Plant vases and valuable trinkets gave the alley a nice touch along the path. You remember hanging out to chat next to one of the restaurants within the alley, admiring each other’s company. This was most often planned during the night since the scenery would feel more romantic. It was the right time for each other to get flirty. You manage to cross the street to examine the empty place. Your eyes caught the small dining table made for the outdoors. This was you and your fiancé’s favorite spot. The table was cheap and made of steel along with the seats, but they at least felt comfortable thanks to the cushioning. You sat in one of them before your memories appear once again.

“So uh, how do you like the place? Pretty romantic, right?” Kabal asked nervously, hoping for a positive answer.

You answer happily, “Oh Kabal, I actually like the atmosphere. It feels nice, and it isn’t too open. We’re sitting in an alley and are about to eat together. It is romantic.”

Your hand rested atop of his. One finger traces the back of his. Kabal then holds into yours to circle his thumb around your knuckles. It was a moment of tenderness during the dinner date. Enjoying a date in an alley for the first time was a new experience for the both of you. His expectations were kept low by how you would react to the surprise. He did a great job making you happy though. Why wouldn’t you settle down in a finely decorated alley for dinner? This will end up being forever treasured in your memory. Your fiancé leans in to kiss you. He pulls back so he could stare into your eyes softly. He loved you so much, and he never chose to waste that.

“That’s good to hear, doll face.”

Suddenly, your thoughts were interrupted by a faint cry of a man from the town’s plaza. It sounded as if he was about to die. Your body began to startle from the abrupt situation. The man finds his way into the alley until he recognized you. He looked to be a criminal, but there was something else more questionable: was he wearing Red Dragon attire? There was some blood splatter covering his outfit.

“You,” he announced while panting for air, “I’ve been trying to look for you. Kabal’s little whore I assume?”

You didn’t know how to react. You were hesitant on running the hell out of the alley, but the guy might kill you easy. Your voice shook, “W-what do you want from me? What did you do to Kabal?”

Your response made him raise an eyebrow. Before he makes a move, a burst of purple ran into the man, pinning him against a wall by his neck. The guy was unrecognizable with burnt scars over his skin while also wearing a mask. His clothes looked somewhat similar to what your fiancé has worn before leaving the Black Dragon. He also had hooks words with him. Your mind soon took in the realization. Could this strange individual be Kabal all along?

“If I ever see any of your punk asses around here again, I’d be more than welcome to track you all down just like your buddy! Got it!?”

Your heart dropped. His voice. It had to be Kabal. It was sort of muffled by the mask, but it indeed sounded like him. The Red Dragon member was let go to run off from the area, never to come back again. Your face stirred with worry as you couldn’t believe it was your fiancé. How did his body get burnt up so badly? You rose from your seat to approach the man. He wiped off some blood splatter from his arm after a piece of work he handled. You began to question, “Kabal, is that you?”

He quickly looks up at your face before turning against you, attempting to walk away. You soon grab him by the wrist to stop him, but he pulls away from you. You grip him again by his arm this time. It’s doesn’t matter how hard you try. Kabal keeps resisting you.

“What happened to you? Answer me, please!”

Kabal roughly pulls away from your grip and turns to you, “Get the fuck off me!”

Your body remained still with eyes widening. You have never seen him act like this towards you before. He treated you with love and respect constantly as you were a couple. The joy of him being able to see you again was all gone. Something must have affected him greatly.

“Kabal…talk to me. What’s gotten into you? I never heard from you since you left to work with Stryker,” your words began to stumble, “I…I miss you…”

You rushed in to hug him with tears streaming in your eyes. Your fiancé tries his best to push you off him. It didn’t matter though. You care about Kabal. You wished to comfort him from whatever caused him to earn body scars. All you want was for him to come home with you and talk.

“I said. Get. Off.”

He manages to push you back aggressively. Kabal was an entirely different man now. This can’t be real, right?

His voice raised heavily, “It isn’t worth being around you anymore. Ever since the shit show this four-armed freak made, I’ve got other things to worry about than some engagement.”

You slowly back away from him as he turns against you. You hope to the Elder Gods this engagement never came to an end, but it apparently would be.

“We’re best off not seeing each other again. Goodbye, Y/N.”

With that, he rushes off elsewhere distant from you. You immediately fell to your knees sobbing. You feel your stomach tied to a knot due to what happened just now. There was no way Kabal chooses to throw this all away. The wonderful dates, his protection given to you, those precious reminders about how much he loves you. Hell, even the wedding proposal was there, too. They will never come into fruition anymore after his departure. There is a strong indication of him returning to the Black Dragon, which was ran by that one-eyed scumbag Kano. Still, your heart aches for him. You wanted him to return for comfort, but now all you feel is emptiness. You had nobody by your side. Only time will tell what could possibly happen next.

#mortal kombat #mk kabal #kabal #kabal x reader #fanfic #blissfic #sfw

[mklegends-smokescreen]

Mortal Kombat Legends: Smoke Screen chapter 10: Mission Complete

The next day, the Earthrealm warriors get ready to leave for home. The Special Forces and the ninjas all gathered for their final goodbyes, and the kahn and her sister walked forward, thanking the Earthrealm warriors once again.

Kitana: And as for you, Robin, what do you say? Will you stay here, or leave to join these warriors?

the caped crusader gave some thought, but then he looked over at Smoke, who nodded his head as if to say yes, and he finally made his decision.

Robin: actually, I think I might leave, your majesty, 'cause, I've sort of always wanted to see what lies beyond this Realm. I know I have duties here, but I'm leaving that behind me... For now at least, but I will send you messages when I can. I've met a lot of people in my life, but I may have found my real friends right here.

Kitana and Mileena looked at Robin, scoffing, but happy that their close friend made the right choice.

Kitana: Very well, you may go with them, but do send us messages once a week.

Robin: I'll try, your highness. Thank you. Now, shall we go, everyone? I can't wait to get to Earthrealm, see all the things I've missed out on.

Hanzo Hasashi used his amulet to open the portal to the Special Forces Headquarters.

Smoke: (to Robin) You made the right choice, Robin. Trust me. You'll love it.

The caped crusader smiled, and nodded his head. As they all walked through the portal, the image cuts to the inside of the S.F. HQ, where Sonya and Johnny waited for them.

Johnny: Yo, Cass, good job! We were worried, but we had faith. Nice job. And uh... Who's the new guy?

Kabal: (reffering to Robin) He's just a friend.

Sonya: Tremor.

Tremor: General.

Sonya: Can someone explain why this Black Dragon scumbag is here?

Robin: Hey, Rocky Road's a good guy now. Don't worry, I got some dirt on him that I can share. I got a feeling you're gonna like this.

Sonya: I'll be the judge of that. You guys need a ride home, or are you good?

Sub Zero: It is alright, we can make it back safely.

Cassie: Oh come on! At least stay for the party!

The other ninjas and Tremor looked at eachother and shrugged. Smoke was the only one to say yes. As the image fades out, we see Kano in the cell with a note book and a pencil, drawing something, as he is very good at it. He looks over to see his cell is right next to Hsu Hao's (hey, remember that guy? I do).

Kano: What did I do to deserve this.

Hsu Hao: You know, I can hear you.

Kano: I hope you can hear me.

The image fades away into the Outside of the HQ, close to midnight, with fireworks flying through the air and music playing in the background. Johnny and Sonya are dancing together, while Cassie is introducing Robin and Tremor to her team, the Kombat Kids. Kabal and Stryker are cracking jokes, and the other ninjas are drinking. Jax is talking to Kenshi and Sub Zero, and Hanzo Hasashi is watching over everything.

Tremor and Robin, somehow, still feels unwelcome. He makes a rock chair to sit on it alone for a bit. Smoke, ever observant, notices this and walks up to them.

Smoke: What's wrong, Robin? Are you alright? You're not having fun?

Robin: (looks at him) I am, I'm just not used to any of this, is all.

Tremor: And I just... I guess I don't feel welcome. I'm sorry, its just, I'm not the easiest person to talk to. I was never taught how to be friendly, and its kinda hard for me. Sorry. Maybe its a good idea if I leave.

Robin: Nonsense. Everyone needs a little help every now and then. If ya want, we could teach you how to fit in. Ya know, if you'd like. (Looks at Smoke) Would you?

Tomas: (looks at Robin and nods) Of course. But first, let's enjoy the party. Tomorrow we can get started. Sound good, Tremor?

Tremor: Yeah, yeah, sounds good.

Robin: (to Tremor) can I trust you with something, big fella?

Tremor: Yes.

Smoke: Great. I'll be over at the food section if you need me.

Robin: (leans in to whisper) you wanna know a secret? I'm not so sure about these people, myself. I'm not one for crowds. You wanna know why I came along? Its because I was hoping I could find a place I can belong. A family, since mine is lost to me. So, I'm gonna tell you this: I can understand how you're feeling. And we all need a friend or two.

Tremor: (in disbelief) Really?

Robin: Yeah, really. Trust me. I got plenty of dirt on these guys.

Tremor: Well, we have plenty of time to get to know eachother, and we can start tomorrow.

Robin: Agreed. (sticks out his hand) Partners?

Tremor: Sure. Why not? (shakes his hand)

And the image fades to next morning.

The next morning, everyone says their final goodbyes. Kabal gives everyone a quick high five, Robin and Tremor join the Special Forces and Smoke and Sub Zero head home to the Lin Kuei Temple.

Robin: (narrating) Well, that's basically it. The ninja dudes head back home, and Tremor and I go on a few duo missions, but occasionally with the Kombat Kids. After that, they give me the offer of a lifetime: a spot in their team. And, I don't know, they made it clear they really want me on their squad. So, I took it, and now, I'm a member of the Kombat Kids. We've been a team for three months, and they're a great team to be on. I've met many interesting people, and made some good friends. Tremor also got a fresh start, as the Special Forces erased any and all of his records of being in the Black Dragon, and now he's a S.F. Super solider. He and I sometimes take road trips to revisit our Lin Kuei buddies. I don't know what's gonna happen next, but one thing is certain: whatever the future brings, I'll be ready for it. I've lived a long life, and there's no better way to end it, than fighting alongside my best friends.

The End

#mediocre writes mk #mortal kombat #mortal kombat au #smoke screen au #kuai liang #tomas vrbada #mk smoke #mk sub zero #mk #mortal kombat legends #sonya blade #jax briggs #johnny cage #cassie cage #mk kabal #mk tremor #kenshi takahashi #kombat kids #mk oc red robin #special forces #lin kuei #fanfic #mk au

[summerwritesfics]

🌎Proposition

Pairing: Shang Tsung/Kuai Liang Length: 1916 Words Rating: Mature Warnings: Criminal AU, Criminal!Shang Tsung, Cage Fighter!Kuai Liang, Runaway!Kuai Liang, Crimes & Criminals, Organised Crime, Homelessness, Petty Crime, Illegal Activities, Illegal Fighting Rings, Controlling Behaviour, Runaway, Running Away, Taking Advantage of someone in a bad situation, Cage Fights, Minor Injuries, Kuai Liang making poor life decisions, Touch-Starved

Meanwhile In Another Universe Masterlist

Notes: NGL I am obsessed with this ship atm, it’s like the only thing I wanna write right now XD Also yeh I think Shang and Kuai’s relationship would end up being very toxic here, but hey. Kuai’s got a lot of internal guilt over things that he really shouldn’t be feeling guilty for, and Shang is basically completely taking advantage of that fact. Although I do like the idea of Shang sitting and kicking his feet and giggling while watching Kuai beat people up so idk, maybe that’ll do it for someone else too lmfao.

Kuai hissed as his fingers laced the bruise very quickly forming on his cheek. At least it’s not my eye this time. He usually walked away from these cage fights with far worse. To be fair, tonight's opponents had been particularly pathetic. Worst of the worst was some prick who thought because he ran with a street gang that made him hard. A few well aimed punches and kicks had hopefully humbled the asshole.

Although knowing Kuai’s luck, he’d gather all his gangbanger friends and try to take him out for disrespecting him or some bullshit like that.

Kuai looked down at the envelope of money on the side. At the very least he had enough to keep him going for another few weeks. Maybe even enough to splash out on a cheap motel room for a night or two. That’d be nice, I could use an actual bed and a night of just watching shitty TV shows. 

He supposed, in reality, there was still a bed for him back with his family. It wouldn’t be so bad right? At least he’d be with Tomas again…

As if to remind him why he left in the first place, the scar on his face began to ache.

No. I can never go back. He sighed miserably to himself, grabbing the envelope and shoving it into his backpack. Sorry Tomas. It’s probably for the best you don’t see what I’ve become. 

He was brought out of his musings by the sound of the door opening. Expecting it to be Kabal or Kano coming to inform him of the next fight they’d want him to do, he turned his head. Only to find it was neither man, or even any member of The Black Dragon that Kuai was familiar with. He was a man of a similar stature to Kuai Liang himself, long hair and a very fancy looking suit. So fancy that it was completely out of place for someone to be wearing at an illegal fighting ring.

“If you’re looking for the toilets, they’re a little further down,” Kuai informed the man, jerking his head in a motion to indicate which way the man needed to go.

“Actually, I’ve found exactly what I was looking for,” the man replied, a strange smug tone to his voice that made Kuai wish he was in the ring with him so he could get away with punching him for it. “Scorpion, am I correct?” Kuai frowned at the man, hoping to prompt him to clarify why he was looking for him. “Although I assume that’s not your real name.”

“Kuai Liang,” he snapped, although why he told the man his name at all was beyond him. For all he knew, this guy was a cop or something. Then again, he doubted Kano would let a pig get this far into the club.

“I’m Shang Tsung.” He held out his hand as if to offer it to shake. Kuai did not respond to it.

“I’d rather you tell me what you want,” Kuai hissed, hauling his backpack over his shoulder. “I have other places to be, you know.”

Well, really he wanted to try and get a good place to sleep for the night. His preferred spot was kind of in high demand, an isolated bridge by the river. No one really went down there at night and it was mostly sheltered from bad weather. It could only fit about 4 or 5 people under there, so it was a bit of a rush to get to it before it was full.

“I have a proposition for you, if you are willing to hear me out.” Oh. Great. A proposition. 

“I’m not interested in whatever pyramid scheme you’re trying to peddle.” He hated that his snappy words seemed to cause the man some sort of pleasure, at least that was what the smirk on his face suggested. “Now if you’ll excuse me-“

“I can assure you, what I am offering is more than worth your while,” he tried, holding his hands up as if to try and block Kuai from leaving. Kuai just rolled his eyes. “It would include you having more stable living accommodations, if that takes your interest at all.”

Kuai paused, feeling a strange cold overcome him. “How the hell do you know I’m homeless?”

“Kano rather does have a habit of rambling once he’s had a few beers.” Shit, of course. Really it could have been anyone from The Black Dragon who told him, but Kano did make the most sense. Loud mouthed bastard. “I’ve watched you fight for the last few weeks, and I can’t help but think your skills would be better suited elsewhere.”

Kuai stayed silent. He had no idea where this was going.

“I work for Miss Sindel Von Edenia. Are you familiar with that name?”

“Wait, you don’t mean that woman who runs that one crime family or whatever? Outworld or something like that?” Kuai was confused, that was one of the biggest crime networks in the city. So much so there was no way in hell they’d bother with someone who committed petty crime at best like himself. “If you work for her, what the hell are you doing in a dive like this?”

“We like keeping an eye out for upcoming talents in our field.” Kuai huffed and rolled his eyes yet again, this guy was so pretentious. “And I am personally seeking out a bodyguard currently.”

“A bodyguard?” Kuai asked slowly, finally realising where this conversation was going.

“Well, bodyguard, enforcer, I am in need of someone good with their fists,” Shang Tsung chuckled, ambling towards Kuai slowly. Once close enough, he gently took Kuai’s hand in his, rubbing his thumb along Kuai’s knuckle. “And from what I’ve seen, you are exactly what I’m looking for.”

“Why me?” Kuai asked, wanting to rip his hand from the other man, but the part of him that longed so much for such a gentle touch stopped him. “There’s dozens of other guys fighting in that ring on a weekly basis. Why me?”

“Maybe there are.” Shang Tsung tilted his head, a small smirk on his face as his eyes swept Kuai up and down. “But none of them look quite as enchanting when covered in blood as you do.”

Kuai choked on his own spit, as his entire world went red hot. He’d been propositioned enough times to be somewhat aware that people found him attractive for some reason. No one had quite ever told him that he looked good while causing others pain however.

“Y-You said…” Kuai cleared his throat, trying to swiftly move on. However the way Shang Tsung looked at him indicated the embarrassed fluster was exactly the reaction he’d hoped for. “You said about stable living accommodations.”

“As my bodyguard, I would require you to be available 24/7.” That sounded extremely unnecessary, if you asked Kuai Liang, but he wasn’t about to voice that. “I have a spare room in my condominium, it would be yours for as long as you are in my employment.”

That did sound good. He’d been living on the street for almost a year now, the brief stays in motels were a small reminder of what he left behind. It’d be nice to have more security in that regard.

You could just go home, moron. The fact that thought was in Bi-Han’s voice disturbed him more than it should have.

But… he could just go home, couldn’t he? It wasn’t like that wasn’t an option. He could go home, head hung low and tail between his legs. He could go back to his brothers.

His gut twisted. He couldn’t go back to his brothers. He loved them, but he just couldn’t.

Tomas would be so disappointed by what he’d become. They’d both always shared the same sense of morality, yet here Kuai was, taking part in illegal fights, stealing money and food to survive. How could Tomas ever look him in the eye again? How could Kuai ever live with the shame Tomas would no doubt feel?

And then there was Bi-Han. His scar began to sting again, the wound that had caused that explosive final argument before Kuai left. Returning to that house would be proof that Bi-Han had been right all along. That Kuai couldn’t look after himself, and he needed his elder brother’s to coddle and smother him for the rest of his life.

He just couldn’t stand having to live the rest of his life being thought of as incapable of even the most basic of self care.

He’d never meant to leave forever. When he walked out the door, he’d intended to wander around for a while to clear his head before returning to plead his case. But in the end he just… Never went back. The longer he spent away, the harder the idea of returning became. Eventually, he just came to one very simple conclusion.

He could never go home to them.

A hand on his cheek brought him out of his musings, a thumb wiping away a tear that Kuai hadn’t realised was there. He tried to resist the urge to nuzzle into the hand. He couldn’t remember the last time someone touched him so gently. He’d grown far too used to the harsh hands he encountered in battle.

“Of course you’ll also have a generous pay check,” Shang Tsung continued, “I wouldn’t expect you to pay rent, or even pay for food. That would be all part of the package in your employment.”

“That…” Kuai paused, squinting suspiciously at the man in front of him. “That sounds too good to be true.”

And his Father, ever the savvy businessman, had always told him if something sounded too good to be true, it probably was.

“I can understand why you would think that.” Shang Tsung gently patted Kuai’s cheek, pulling his hand away. “I think the question you should really be asking is if you can afford to pass over the potential opportunity?”

Kuai hated that he had a point. His current situation was not ideal at all. He needed something to change, something that didn’t require him to go home. Maybe this all sounded like fantasy, but the fact there was a slim chance it could be real was very tempting.

“How about this, I’ll give you a trial period,” Shang Tsung continued. “One month, and if you are not satisfied you can walk away, no questions asked.”

A month's trial huh? He supposed he could do that.

“Okay.” He nodded, although not as confidently as he probably should have. “You have one month to convince me that your offer is worth my time.”

Shang Tsung smiled brightly at that, saying “you’ve made the right choice.” Seconds later, he was slipping his arm around Kuai’s waist, and gently ushering him towards the door. “Why don’t we talk more about the details over dinner. My treat, of course.”

Kuai didn’t say anything, but did allow Shang Tsung to guide him. He hadn’t realised how hungry he was until the word dinner had been mentioned. Right now, he couldn’t tell if he was doing the right thing, or if this was going to end up on his neverending list of shitty life decisions. He briefly thought of his brother, Tomas, of how stupid he’d probably think he was being.

Tomas… Maybe one day you’ll forgive me for all of this. 

Kuai doubted it though.

#mortal kombat #kuai liang #sub zero #scorpion #shang tsung #kuaishang #🌎meanwhile in another universe

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Ayyyyyyyy Guess Who Just Finished Watching Angel's Friends

Me. I did.

So yeah, the start of this post is going to be a spoiler-less review-recommendation kinda thingy and then I'll put all of my other thoughts which include spoilers under the cut

Also, I would like to mention that Im only talking about the cartoon here, I have not read either the comics or the books at this point (I didnt even know that there were books before checking wikipedia to make sure that I actually watched every episode of the show lol)

Lets go babey!

This series is very not-good, but it has some interesting concepts and scratches some of my itches, so I like it. But before we get into that in detail, heres a summary of the basic plot, taken from wikipedia:

"Four Angels (Raf, Uri, Sweet and Miki) and four Devils/Demons (Sulfus, Cabiria, Kabale and Gas) are sent to Earth, in an unused area of the Golden School, where they learn everything they need to become Guardian Angels and Guardian Devils. The Angels and Devils are required to form pairs as part of their education, each of which will have to deal with a human being, known as Earthly Ones, and help them choose between the right and wrong way in life without being discovered. Angels and Devils cannot operate at the same time, so they decide, clashing in the Challenge Room, who will work first. Moreover, they are subject to the V.E.T.O. (Vetoed from Exposing, Touching or Obstructing/Overhearing in the comic – Italian: Vietato Esporsi, Toccare, Ostacolare/Origliare)."

Something that isnt mentioned here is the romance between Raf, the protagonist, and Sulfus, her devil rival, but its a pretty important part of the story that I'll talk about in more detail.

First, the animation is fine. Its kinda clunky and the posing is pretty unnatural at times, you can tell that the budget wasnt that high. The lipsyncing for the english dub is pretty abysmal in the first season but it gets better in the movie and in the second season.

Second, the voice acting is... something. It has that very not-good anime dub quality, which makes sense considering Angel's Friends is already very anime, even more so when youre watching it in italian (with subtitles bc you dont understand italian) and they randomly yell english phrases like "Think Fly!" or "Angel's Friends! Together forever!" or, my personal favourite, "Devil's Enemies! Supreme Temptation!" when transforming or using their powers. The dub is decent enough, Ive only watched the movie in italien and their voices seem mostly the same, with the exception of Sulfus, who sounds just awful in the dub im sorry. I hate listening to him talk, which is pretty bad considering hes the love interest. I mean, he makes up for it by having a great personality but man, what I wouldnt give to have him sound like he does in italian.... But the worst thing has to be the..... moaning, that the voice actors inexplicably do. Its very uncomfortable, I have no idea who is responsible for this but they have stuff to atone for

Third, the characters are pretty good, I like them a lot. Theyre not that deep, but theyre likable and pretty fun. Raf is a pretty nice and likable protagonist without being bland, although I kinda hate her subplot/backstory-thingy. I can ignore that for the most part though, so I dont really mind. Honestly, I think I would've liked Sulfus as a protagonist a bit better, but that might just be my bias towards edgy and pathetic (affectionate) guys coming through lmao. We mainly focus on Raf and her angel friends and their friendship is really cute. I kinda wish they paid more attention to the intragroup-friendships, if you know what I mean? Like, Raf and Urie were best friends and Miki and Sweet were kindof a duo, but thats kinda it and I really wish we explored some other dynamics a bit more. I wouldve also liked them to focus a bit more on Sulfus' friends, but at the same time, I get why they didnt. When it comes to stories where romance is incredibly important, I personally prefer it when the two characters in the main couple are both the protagonists, or when one of them is more like the deutergonist as opposed to just the love interest, but it works well enough here I guess

I also like the little background-plots (?? idk if thats the right word) that the humans get, theyre pretty charming and its fun to watch the angels n devils influence them

Speaking of the protagonist and the love interest, I absolutely adore the romance between Raf and Sulfus. Theyre soooooooo cute together its insane <3 Its gonna be kinda hard to explain why I love them so much as a couple without spoilery examples, but I'll try

Their dynamic is a fairly basic Good Girl/Bad Boy kinda thing (because of course it is) but like, in a way that I dont find absolutely loathesome lol. I usually really hate that dynamic because it feels like writers tend to use the fact that the guy is a 'Bad Boy' to make him toxic and insufferable for some reason while making the 'Good Girl' into a pushover who cant call him out on it, and then the whole thing is inexplicably framed as romantic?? And yea, I cannot vibe with that Im sorry. Fortunately, Raf n Sulfus arent like that :D Their relationship is pretty healthy and most of the drama between them either stems from external stuff or from the fact that their love is yknow, forbidden and no one really wants it to prosper (I think??? Idk honestly the storytelling isnt particularly clear here, I'll get into it later)

I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that Raf enforces her boundaries and Sulfus respects them despite their mutual interests, do you know what I mean? Like, okay, another thing that I love about their relationship is that they actually find out about each others feelings pretty early on and actually communicate about them; From Raf's perspective, the issue isnt "Oh no! Im in love with a devil who will never love an angel like me back :'(", its "Oh no! Im in love with a devil and he loves me back, but we cant be together because its forbidden :'(". And she basically tells Sulfus just that, and he goes "Well, rules were meant to be broken but fine, I get it I respect your decision pls tell me when you change ur mind tho" and I think thats neat

The fact that they know about each other feelings and are able to actually talk without turning into mushy flustered messes around each other is soooooooo incredibly refreshing. Like, I was comparing them to the Love Square from Miraculous in my head, since thats the last romance-centric Magical Girl show I watched and its literally so much better, I refuse to believe anyone actually likes it when the main couple doesnt communicate and dont get together until the last episode. And to be fair, Raf and Sulfus dont actually officially get together either (it looks like the series was cancelled prematurely and they were saving that for a potential third season), but they talk, they compliment each other and confess their feelings to each other and its just so nice, yknow?

The external drama between them doesnt feel contrived either. They straight-up have one of those stupid moments where the love interest appears to do something bad bc of some Outside Influence, like cheating or smth, and the protagonist gets mad and yells at the love interest while the love interest is like "no! wait!! I can explain!!!" but keeps getting interrupted except it didnt feel stupid at all, I was actually really invested in the drama rather than thinking "man, this is so dumb" like I usually do when this kind of stuff happens in stories.

The last thing I wanted to talk about was the story and the storytelling. Its pretty alright. I appreciate the structure of the two seasons with both of them starting out with a string of small, mostly unrelated, personal problems (that are mainly the angels and devils trying to make things better or worse for their human charges) while the villains are doing stuff in the background with the good guys being almost completely unaware until they achieve their first Real Victory and then the rest of the season is all the important characters banding together to actually stop them from achieving their World Destroying Final Goal. Theres a good amount of potential and set up to explore interesting themes about morality, free will, maybe love too idk, but the series is far too immature to really delve into any of it. Like, this isnt Winx Club Seasons 1-3, this is more like Winx Club Season 4 or maybe 5 idk I havent watched those season in a while. I would LOVE an animated She-ra (2018)-style reboot of this show because oughhhhhhhh theres so much good shit here but aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Also idk if this is the right place to put this, but the unsubtle and honestly pretty clunky dialogue really isnt helping lol

The biggest issue I have with this series is definitely the pacing. Im gonna be honest, I dont think I truly understood what people who critize media meant when they were talking about The Pacing before watching Angel's Friends and. i sure do now. The first few episodes especially feel like they tried to put 22 minutes worth of story into an 11 minute episode and like, I wouldnt call the experience of watching those episodes dreadful, mainly because they go by pretty quickly but, it sure isnt great. It gets a bit better, I think??? I honestly couldnt really tell you if actually gets better or if you just get used to it. I wasnt too bothered by it once I got used to not always looking at another screen while watching something because I have a pretty low attention span and tend to feel understimulated while watching TV shows, so the fast pace actually helped me in some weird way lol. As a kinda-writer, it was still really noticeable though and not in a good way

Another issue that I have is the fact that Raf and Sulfus' friends dont really seem to have an opinion on their love?? Or rather, its not really explained how much who knows and they dont really touch on it, which I think is kinda important for stories revolving around a Forbidden Love but, oh well.

So yea, thats about it for the non-spoilery stuff I think. I would definitely recommend to check Angel's Friends out, if only for some of the good ideas and the lovely kinda-subversive-in-a-way romance.

Alright, time to talk about what I liked, what I disliked and some missed opportunities in more detail (Apologies in advance if this next part is kinda disjointed lol)

The finales were my least favorite part, hands down. I especially didnt like the second season's finale, which is a shame because I really liked everything until they get to the Libra of the Veto and fight Cassidy and her cringe fail kinda-husband (forgot his name sry). Like, I loved the relationship drama between Raf n Sulfus and all the stuff with the clone and I thought Blue was really intriguing and the like, heist arc(?) were they infiltrate Angi Town and Match City respectively was sooooo much fun, but then the finale was just. eh. I think it might be because thats when I realized that oh, no theyre not really going to expand on all this interesting stuff that I would like them to expand on, are they. And yea, they didnt.

I was especially disappointed that we didnt really find out what Blue's deal was. I get that they were going to do that in a third season, but since we didnt get that, its just. Idk, disappointing, I guess?? Like, I predicted her being someone outside of the angel/devil binary basically in the scene she was introduced and I was theorizing about what exactly she was and where she came from and hyping myself up about her and then it was just.... nothing. Shes connected to Reina, but, how?? I personally thought she was a fallen angel given her primarily devilish features, but lack of horns or a halo and the weird shape of her wings. Maybe they elaborate on her in the books but i dont even know if those follow the same continuity as the show sooooo yea

The episode that truly made me like this show as much as I do was probably season 1 episode 26, where they kiss but it wasnt just the kiss, it was the whole build-up to it. Like, I feel like it couldve been so easy to mess up and make Sulfus come across as really unlikable or frame it like Raf was in the wrong for being upset when she wasnt, but I think they did it really well. And then ougggggggh the actual kiss...... I just really wish their lips didnt look so weird and ugly while they kissed lol

I kinda already mentioned this earlier but I like it happens so early in the series too. Ngl I initially didnt like that their relationship progressed so quickly (yea, the main couple having their kiss by episode 26 is pretty normal but remember that the episodes here are 11 minutes long) but theyre just so sweet together and I kinda realized that I actually prefer this to the usual way of writing 'slowburn' romance where theyre in mutual love but cant communicate at all for bullshit reasons lmao

The only thing that kinda pisses me off about this episode in hindsight are Sulfus healing powers which NEVER come up again. Like !!!! BRO how are you gonna give one of your main characters healing powers and never have him use them??!?! And its not like there werent opportunities!! Like, during the season 2 finale when Raf was injured and unconscious and everyone was telling them to go rest before their battle against those generals I was going "oh! Sulfus is gonna use those healing powers that he has but hasnt used for the entire rest of the series for some reason" but NO

Like, okay, in order to further explain why that sucks Im gonna go into another thing that really bothers me and thats the lack of gray morality

So, the angels as a whole are Good, the devils as a whole are Bad but in like, an emo school bully kinda way and anyone who threatens both angels and devils at the same time is Bad but in like, an actually evil way. Thats honestly perfectly fine in the first season, where we have the angels, the devils and Reina whos outside the binary and threatening to eradicate the existence of both angels and devils at the same time. When the devils are tempting humans into doing The Wrong Thing in the first season, I remember it always being unambigiously bad/selfish (in a bad way), while the angels are always in the right and theres never any doubts about that ever. The second season has these moments(?) that seem to call that into question but with absolutely no payoff

The most obvious is example is Sarah Jane, specifically her little plot about wanting to go to the mall with her friends but her mom not allowing her to because she wants her daughter to practice for a concert thats 3 months away. Thats unfair and her mom is obviously being shitty here and iirc even Urie and the other angels are like "thats unfair" but they dont wanna let the devils win so they convince Sarah Jane to just invite her friends to her practice instead of going to the mall and thats like. fine, I guess. I just think it sucks that the morality of the angels was only questioned for a brief moment and then tossed away because they found an adequate comprise, yknow?? I feel like they couldve had an interesting conversation about how its maybe not always wrong to be selfish (if youve watched Sanders Sides, basically the whole Selfishness vs Selflessness stuff but w/ angels and devils)

Also, it feels weird that no one really calls attention to Cassidy?? Yknow, that angel that was evil and wanted to incite a war?? That wanted it so much that she willingly worked with a devil??? But also, the War Of A Thousand Centuries was seemingly not considered to be bad itself, but rather the fact that Cassidy and her cringe fail kinda-husband tried to re-incite it after there war a law/truce put in place preventing them from fighting. And Im noticing thats kind of a theme in the series as Im writing it down here, where the Morally Wrong Thing tends to be the thing that makes you break a rule or disobey someone. And like, even beyond my own personal issues with that philosophy, that just makes for some pretty boring storytelling

And then theres the fact that. Okay, how do I explain this. It seems like theyre trying to make Raf a bit more 'diabolical' while making Sulfus more 'angelic' even more so in the second season, which, on paper, is a good way to approach their romance. But like, theyre not really doing that?? At least I feel like they arent. Its a bit hard to explain, but let me get back to those powers they gained right before they kissed. Raf uses her fireball powers quite a bit, she is (symbolically) being diabolical throughout the series, while Sulfus only uses his healing powers once, do you get what Im trying to say here??

Idk man, I was originally gonna write some more but ive been writing this post for hours andmy brain is running out of juice so yea. Hope you liked this

#angels friends #tv recommendations #series recommendations

[milkteahood]

MK guys headcanons

Randomly kissing them

Includes: Hanzo, Kuai Liang, Kabal, Kano, Erron, Bi-han, Fujin

Hanzo

-he would be surprised and ask what’s gotten into you. Would then gently hold your hand and place a soft kiss on it.

“Is there something bothering you” he’d ask while rubbing his thumb over your knuckles.

“Can’t I kiss the man I love?”

Would get a little shy at that and blush a lot, but will pull you in and kiss you.

100% husband material, absolutely recommend

Kuai Liang

-he would get really shy and stare at you with widen eyes. Does not understand the concept of kissing because you’re just overwhelmed with love. He will blush so much you could swear the ice around the temple is melting. After clearing his throat, he’d ask why you would kiss him like that.

“Because I love you so much”

“Oh..I..” he’d cough “I love you too”

Very very shy bean, 100% would recommend

Kabal

-preburn would be so proud. His darling kisses him because they love him so much? He’ll finally feel like his life is getting better. It would be a moment of shock for him tho. That’s when it hits him, he actually has someone who loves him

-post burn would be confused and get slightly defensive. He’d think you’re only doing it out of pity. He would need a lot of reassurance and consistency is the key. If you keep on kissing him randomly he will eventually warm up to it and maybe even kiss you out of the blue. Will look for your touch a lot more tho and will always want to hold your hand.

Kano

-he would stare at you for a second and then smirk and immediately kiss you back. It would quickly turn into a heated make out session with his hands exploring your body while you run your fingers through his hair.

After you pull apart and tell him “you know I kissed you because I love you, right?”, weeell, Kano.exe has stopped working. He’s still getting used to the fact that someone loves him. And even more, he loves someone.

“Um could you repeat that?” he’d ask

“I love you, Kano”

“Yeah..that sounds nice”. Will definitely blush but try to hide it.

Erron Black

-definitely used to random kisses because he does it to you all the time. With Erron is actually the other way around because he’s more likely to kiss you out of the blue than you are. He loves how shy you get whenever he presses his lips against yours.

If one day you feel bold enough to kiss him, he will tease you so much about it, but will also completely melt.

“Look at my sugar being so sweet” he’d say.

Bi-han

-he will be confused to why you just kissed him. Then he will just look at you and wait for an explanation. Not because he didn’t like it, but because it took him by surprise and is now blushing. Him asking for an explanation is his way of gaining control over the situation.

“Well I kissed you because I love you, so much Bi-han. I love you so much”

He will inhale deeply trying his best to keep his cool. Will definitely fail so he’ll just pull you in a hug and hide his face into your shoulder.

Fujin

-his eyes would widen and he’ll just look at you for a while. He wouldn’t understand exactly if this is just another human custom he’s yet to adjust to. After you tell why you kissed him and mention just how much you love him, he will smile so brightly.

He will also feel very grateful you chose to share your feelings this way and will gladly return the favor.

“I am very grateful for the love you give me” he’d tell you.

#mortal kombat x reader #hanzo hasashi x reader #sub zero x reader #bi han x reader #mk bi han #sub zero #hanzo hasashi #kabal x reader #kano x reader #mk kano #erron black x reader #erron black #fujin x reader #fujin #mk 11 #mortal kombat 11 #mortal kombat 2021

[shadowhuntresso]

The prove Kano has a heart

Kano x fem!reader

Warnings:Angst, Blood (gore), Smut 18+!!!

the sound of rain was waking you up. The little sounds of drops landing on the window and rolling down, it was kinda relaxing but also gave this scenario a creepy touch. This was too much for you, now he brought home his work. The smell of blood filled your nose and the faint sound of something wet hiting the ground. Not again...you thought. It was the second time your boyfriend took home a "costumer" only to kill them knowing that they would snitch on him as soon as possible. You faught back the urge to gag, this smelled dissgusting. You took a quick look on the nearest clock, 3 am , 3 fucking am...again.

The only thing you remember from that night was after getting up you had the biggest argument that led to this here years later. You are sitting on a couch, alone. You and Kano "agreed" to taking a break, actually you took your things and left as he scremed at you. Erron did warn you about his boss but no y/n needed to just fall in love deeply with the men. You miss him...very much, his smell, his warmth everything. It broke you to be so far away from him after all he was the one, he spoiled you with attention, metirial things and love oh my his breath takning love. This is a very touchstarved man and you felt it every time the two of you slept together. "ya' listenin'?",Errons soft voice takes you out of your thoughts. The cowboy sits on the other end of the couch, looking very worried at you "ya' still love 'im right?", he asks. You shake your head "n-no! Pffff! As if, I'm compleatly over him!", you state, of course you're not and Erron could smell that bs from a mile. "'aint gonna belive ya'", he smiles amused but still very concern about your well being. The two of you are best friends since you dated Kano. You let out a sigh, looking down as tears are forming in your eyes "yeah you right Erron, I'm not but...he...I", you sigh again, looking at the man and back down. Kano is your world your everything but he didn't listen to you, your limits where often over looked at he didn't cared about it. You wanted to show Kano your potential, that you're capable enough to earn the respect. After that tought the most stupides Idea followed "I'm gonna join the Black dragon!" you shout making the Cowboy choke on his drink "ya' fuckin' stupid?! Ya' wanna die?!", you actually tought Erron might like the Idea but this was not the case. You know it will be bloody and illegal but what can possible happen? It's not like you get hurt right?

"Absolutly not", Kano chuckles a little as you, red faced because of anger and looking very pissed off stand infront of him, he has no Idea how strong you are, clearly. "I'm gonna join right now! Say yes, take my blood whatever", laugher apeared as Kabal looks very amused at you "I'm sorry but you're not a trained fighter you're gonna-", "I don't care..train me!"It is now that Kano realisted you are very serious, did he pushed you this far? Is it his fault that you're endanger your life? This is not the y/n he met so many years ago, she looks now broken, stronger and sad at the same time. "Kano! Take.Me.In in your policy stands if I beat you, you need to take me in!", yeah he is sure you mean it 100%. "No I refuse m' not gonna beat ya' up. never gonna happen", such an ass. "Then I challange Kabal or Erron", this was the last option if you beat them Kano has no other chance but to take you in. You see him thinking about it, "I'm gonna take ya' meself then..", Kano never liked the Idea of you being touched by anyonther but him. But what if you already got another man? Is this money making for him? Did you got the life you deserved? But then why are you here?

The two of you take your places in the Kage, no one else but you two. Usually the whole Black Dragon see's this but not today, Kano made sure of it. "Ya' last chance to back off y/n", Kano warned you, he still don't like the Idea, but policy is policy that he even made himself. "No", you say and charge at him, ellbow first, planning on hitting his side. With a swift move Kano takes your arm and twists it enough to hurt but dosen't break anything. You take back a scream of pain and kick his legs away, making him letting go of your arm. You shake your arm as Kano stood up, he dosen't wanna fight you clearly but you keep charging at you, hitting and kicking him. His nose is bloody just as your knuckles and you breath heavy "Come on! Defent yourself!", you said. "I'm no-", Bam another hit in his face, "Quit being a god danm pussy and hit me back!", your tone was very low showing him you are very serious about your steatment. So Kano fought you back, actually surprised at how good you can defent yourself but the whole fight endet with him pining you on the ground. "It's over I won", he says and stands up a little bit relifed. "I want a rematch", you groan under pain, you are sure he broke something. "No go home y/n we're done 'ere", Kano sits down on a bench and puts his face into his hands, leting out a deep sigh. " The policy-", " I SAID GO HOME!", he shouts. Standing up you aproach him " Kano..what is your problem?", holding your stomach you lean against a wall "No! WHat is yours?! ya' come 'ere wanting to join the black Dragon out of nowhere, makin' me hit ya'? Go back home to ya' perfect new boyfriend or whatever", so that's his problem. Why does he tought you might have someone new? Suddently everything went black. Your body falls on the ground, the pain was too much for you to handle as he thought. Kano jumps up and catches your body. This was his fault, he hold back of course but he was to hard on you...again.

Opening your eyes your pain is gone, over you is a lamp that you reconised. You are in Kano's bed, him sitting next to you. "Tell me.." it is more a whisper from Kano as his glowing red "eye" is turned to yo "Ya' have someone new?" not saying anything you just hug him, hiding your face in his neck, taking in his scent "I could never find someone like you Kano", your words are like honey, sweet and sticking in his brain. He lays down and lifts you on him "Then why ya' never called?", his voice filled with hurt. You are the only thing that makes him vunrable, a dangerous fakt none of his enemies should know. But danm he can't ressists you, your body is a dangerous wapean against him. "Move in with me again" this is not what you expected from Kano, asking you to stay. This new side on him surprises you but not in a negativ way oh no "I think about it", you can' resist but teasing him, how could you not? Pulling you down he looks deeply into your eyes "Please I need ya'", now this, this is new and befor you could say anything his lips are pressed against yours. Kissing him back you start rubbing yourself against the growing errection between his legs, finding it quite amusing what impact you have on him. Moaning a little into his mouth as he grabs your ass and pulls you further down onto him. Undressing the both of you, you are now under him, Kano thrusting inside you and making the bed groan under the movement. There it is, the sweet love he makes, the way he touches your body and playes it like it's something he does every day. Kano knows your body better than yourself you sometimes belive, hitting spots inside you, you never knew exsisted, making you moan unnder him. Holding himself up with his arms against the headboard he thrusts mercessly inside you making you cum more than one time. Looking up you see Kano's face, his forehead also leaning against the headboard, pure pleasure in his face. His eyes are closed and his mouth half open, a little bit drool running down the corner of his mouth. Your walls are pressing around him, making him bite his bottom lip every now and then. Focust on his face you didn't notice him opening his eyes until he slams inside you making you groan loudly "ya' like what ya' see?", Kano chuckles and licks his lips, again with exstasy in his eyes. Suddently Kano get's slower and sloppier "S-Shit love, think m' cuming", you take his face between your hands and nod "cum inside me", with shaing legs you raise them up and put them even thighter aroung his waist as you feel him cuming inside you.

You woe up again, you think it must be one or two hours later, thinking Kano is now gone as he always was after the two of you had sex. But no, he is actually huging you from behind smiling to himself. This is your prove that Kano indeed has a heart.

#mk kano #mk11 #mortal kombat #mortal kombat x reader

[shangsclaws]

Musical Instruments

Pt. 2

Do the kombatants play any instruments? How do they react if their s/o does too?

Includes: Fujin, Kano, Shang Tsung, and Raiden

gifs are not mine!

((I miss being in band))

Fujin

He himself plays many if not all woodwind instruments for obvious reasons

The wind god most likely carries a piccolo or ocarina around for when he needs to occupy himself, sometimes he annoys the crap out of Raiden with it

And yes, he plays the recorder. He’s quite serious about it.

If you can play something outside of his expertise, he will request you teach it to him; it is time well spent with you, and he plans on learning a piece later on to woo you, duh

And I’m sorry to say, but he will always be 10x better no matter how long you’ve been playing your instrument. He is a god, after all.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to teach you. Heck, he might even start his own mini music school. You will be his first student, if not the vice principal.

Bonus points if u know how to play any brass instruments — he will definitely take that up

But if you teach him the sax, do not ever let him listen to Careless Whisper please I beg you

He will never stop playing it if you tell him it sounds sexy

Johnny Cage will have a fucking field day

Kano

What are instruments if not pots, pans and bbq skewers

Aside from makeshift drum sets tho, he’s a percussion kinda guy, and actually quite good at it too

You know that part from In the Air Tonight? Yeah I don’t think I even have to say it...

If you play any instrument that he classifies as ‘rock band material’ (think electric guitar), he will call up Kabal and Erron against their will to jam out — the results are horrendous, but he makes your sides split

If not, he’ll find a way to get you playing along with them. He has a terribly expensive sound system that he rarely has an excuse to use anyways, I know it.

If you play any orchestral instrument, he’ll tease you for being uptight. It’s not that it’s a bad thing — he sees it as you having ‘sophisticated’ tastes.

If you know how, please teach him how to play the trombone. He will play it with his heart and soul. Also, he likes sliding.

Teaching him the trumpet is a bad idea tho. Terrible idea. If you play it, you better not tell him.

Shang Tsung

This man was crazy enough to learn the violin all. by. himself.

He will serenade you, I promise.

If you play it too, you’ll notice his techniques are really weird, but it works and you don’t really complain

Should you try to correct him, he’ll hear you, but trust me, he isn’t listening. He’ll keep playing the way he likes, and very well to boot.

Other than that, he doesn’t bother with much else. If he sees you know how to play something, he’ll gladly listen to you for hours, but he’ll simply admire, not try to learn.

Your music does make good company on long nights in the flesh pits tho. Or any night, really.

The only other instrument Shang Tsung will take keen interest on playing is the piano. He’s seen many Earthrealmers play before and has been jealous in the past that he doesn’t know how to do it himself — it seems rather simple until it’s not.

If you know how to play, he’ll be insistent on getting lessons from you. He’ll pay you. He’ll let you take some of his souls. Anything. He wants to play the piano.

Bonus points if you can accompany him while he plays the violin ((I’m thinking about this right now and lol it’s actually rlly cute))

Raiden

Absolutely fucking clueless, even if he is a god. But he does try.

Fujin teases him like crazy, believe me

Will be mesmerized if their beloved can play, you don’t even have to be good. He will listen to you for years.

But....he can sing. He can really sing (now that I think about it, Fujin totally can too!)

I honestly don’t know much about how voices work but I’m pretty sure the term for it is baritone. He’s a baritone. I believe that means he’s a deep singer but not the deepest. He could try going there, but he’d have to strain his voice.

He doesn’t like to sing when people are around though, he finds his singing as very personal and intimate. He only sings songs he’s learnt at the Sky Temple, all in a tongue you’ve never heard before.

When he hears the cello (i think?) is the closest thing to a human voice, he’ll make an earnest attempt at learning it. He’s much better off starting with the piano though. It also helps when he wants to warm up his voice.

And yes, he will sing along as you play your instrument. If you get him out of his comfort zone, he might even perform a bit with you. But that will take a lot of convincing.

Expect him to sing you to sleep on many occasions.

(( edit: honestly who cares, but I was listening to Raiden’s voice not long ago and you know what, he’s totally a bass singer. He could hit those notes lol ))

#mortal kombat #mk11 #mortal kombat x reader #shang tsung #raiden #fujin #kano

[plasticnightmaredoll]

Mortal Kombat (2021) Review

Well, well, well....here we are, a Mortal Kombat movie -- not the first, obviously. I will say, it's much better than both films from the 1990s. I will also say that, for the most part, I enjoyed it more than "Mortal Kombat 11" and its garbage DLC "Aftermath."

Come for me all you want, but I am standing by my thoughts on that game and its DLC.

Overall, I did like this new "Mortal Kombat" movie. It was entertaining. However, I have...a lot of issues with it, too, pertaining to lore, acting, and special effects.

What was the best part of this movie? If I had to pick one? Oh, definitely Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion. He is one of the best Japanese actors working today. He's one of the best actors working today. Having him play such an important character was probably the best choice the producers made.

Also, quick side note: Hiroyuki is 60 years old. HOW?! I mean, he doesn't look 20, but 60? I have my doubts.

Also, this is the first time I've heard him speak English. Interesting.

Another wise decision the producers made for this movie is casting Josh Lawson as Kano. I don't like Kano. He's a dick, but Josh gave the idiot a sort of douchebag charm that you couldn't help but be amused by.

So, what did I like, broken down:

Josh Lawson and Hiroyuki Sanada

The opening scene and final fight were the best scenes in the movie. Fantastically done, both of them.

Some cute little references to MK lore: a picture of Nightwolf, the use of "flawless victory," the use of "fatality," some suspiciously MK-sounding music cues, the massive statue of Shao Kahn...There were some nice fan service moments.

The fights, even the training ones, were all entertaining. Kind of like with "Godzilla vs Kong," the action is one of the strongest points of "Mortal Kombat" (2021).

The concept of the dragon brand to indicate who would fight in MK tournaments was actually a great choice. It does give the writers an excuse to not worry about including EVERY MK character; only the ones who have been "chosen" can fight at this time. It makes sense, it works, it's intriguing.

Kung Lao slicing Nitara in half (Sorry, Nitara -- love ya, Girl!) with his "spinning hat" technique was probably the most Mortal Kombat kill of the movie. It was extremely graphic, bloody, gross, over-the-top...it was perfect.

Hanzo toasting Bi-Han with his classic fire breath was a badass move if I ever saw one.

I did like how Mileena's mouth "worked" in this movie. She had sharp teeth and reddened skin(?) around her mouth to indicate that there was something not quite right with her face. Then she gets pissed later in the movie and opens her jaw completely, revealing an almost snake-like mouth, the skin tearing in the process. It was pretty badass. I liked it.

I actually liked Raiden a lot in this movie. I don't particularly like him in the games (don't come for me -- it's just my opinion) but I thought he was awesome in this movie, a truly intimidating but wise presence. His lack of full assistance made more sense in this movie, too (again, don't come for me because this is just my opinion).

The special effects were sometimes quite good. Sub-Zero's ice powers were well made, for example. Another example is Goro, who was fantastic (so much better than he did in the 1995 movie).

The backstory behind the main weapon of Hanzo was a pleasant surprise: it was a gardening tool to being with, and he just so happened to find it and turn it into a weapon.

Mixed thoughts:

The acting was decent overall. The only two I thought did great were Josh Lawson and Hiroyuki Sanada, but everyone else was ok. Some of the performances got a little hammy at times, but...I'm not going to take too many points off for that.

I liked Mileena but also was disappointed. She wasn't as malicious and flirty as she normally is; like she was watered down in this movie for some reason. However, she still was a dangerous fighter and her mouth was crazy! 👄

What I didn't like:

Some things didn't look so great. When Jax lost his arms, it looked...well it looked like blatant CGI. The lighting barrier Raiden created to protect his fighters from Shang Tsung looked pretty cheap as well. Some set pieces looked a bit too much like set pieces. I know we're on a set because this is a movie. However, when it looks kind of obvious, it really distracts you. I know this is a Marvel movie or something, but I think the special effects and sets could have looked a bit more refined.

I preferred the Quan Chi twist in regards to the death of Hanzo's family. It provided a much more complicated revenge story, and...I just think it was a better choice than making Bi-Han the murderer, like in this movie. I get that if they did use the Quan Chi twist, this movie would have become, like, 5 hours long or something, and would have had yet another character to develop (or attempt to develop). Still, it's not my favorite take on the Sub-Zero vs Scorpion story. So...meh.

Reptile looked impressive. He was more like a ... reptile than usual, you know, as opposed to a humanoid reptile creature. However, he didn't speak and didn't wear any armor, and his role in the movie seemed forced. It felt more like a badly executed fan service moment, like, "Heeeyyyy, it's Reptile, Guys! Ok, kill him because we have too many characters already...."

Cole was a likable guy, but I didn't see a point in his character being in the movie. He isn't an MK character from the games, and this just doesn't seem like the time to make a new character for the franchise. There are so many more MK characters to choose from, I think they could have avoided making up someone.

At the same time, though, this movie does suffer from having too many characters to focus on: Cole Young, Kano, Sonya Blade, Jax Briggs, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Reptile, Mileena, Reiko, Kabal, Shang Tsung, Raiden, Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion, Bi-Han/Sub-Zero, Goro, Nitara...I mean, damn, that's a bunch of characters to cram into one two-hour film. People who know little to nothing about MK may not be bothered by this, but fans like myself most likely will feel disappointed with how certain characters were handled in the movie.

Reiko, what...did they do to you? Did...he even need to be in the movie? I mean, he was just.....there.

Having the concept of "arcana" was just...I don't know. It wasn't a terrible idea but it also made things even less believable. No one got their unique traits due to some sort of weird-ass prophecy or whatever in the games. I suppose the writers used this "arcana" thing as a way to keep the movie flowing and avoid having it be hours long. However, it just didn't sit right with me.

I know this movie is only two hours but I would have liked a little more development for Mileena, Reiko, and even Kabal. Kabal gave us the short version of what happened to him but, again, it was so quick. Like, blink and you'll miss it. I think Mileena and Kabal are two very interesting characters in MK, and having them be so one-dimensional was disappointing.

Hanzo was barely in this movie. It seemed....weird to me. Bi-Han was out there wrecking everyone's shit and Hanzo was somehow trapped in the Netherrealm until Cole was forced to fight Bi-Han one-on-one? I mean, eh? They chose the absolute best actor to play Hanzo but didn't use him much.

I was so disappointed to see Kung Lao killed off. I mean, characters that die in MK games don't always stay dead but still....he was so much fun in this movie (as he should be).

I didn't care for the portrayal of Nitara at all in this movie.

I didn't hate "Mortal Kombat" (2021), but I didn't love it, either. I'd watch it again, and I would watch a sequel, but there is definitely room for improvement. There is a lot of potential for the next MK movie(s) to be much better (this movie had clear potential, too, to be honest). I just hope that maybe the writers will realize this if a sequel is made.

Final grade: C+

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 2021 #mk #liu kang #shang tsung #raiden #cole young #hanzo hasashi #bi-han #sub-zero #goro #kabal #mileena #kung lao #sonya blade #jax briggs #kano #reiko

[generalasshattery]

MK Movie Thoughts and Reflections

It’s been a few days since I watched it, and it’s all had time to settle in my brain. Who wants a tangent?

So, I guess I should start with the like biggest issue. Cole. Like I get he was only put in the movie because the studio insisted, and I feel like a little bit of the resentment for having to do that is obvious by just how bland a character he is. If they had to have him, they could’ve at least made him a little more fun to watch. Like, you had the opportunity to make a new Mortal Kombat character, some of the most deliciously and wonderfully over the top and charismatic fighting game characters out there... like why didn’t they make any effort to justify his existence on screen? Want to give us an everyman that can be used to introduce the world to the public? Do it, make him an audience proxy. Use some wit and charm to make people feel like he represents how they’d act in that scenario. I’ve seen this done to absolutely beautiful effect, my favorite example is actually a short horror film on YouTube called Downstairs. Lean into the batshit insanity you’re introducing in the form of mortal kombat. This role is historically handled by Johnny Cage, but he’s a celebrity rich boy, how would Joe down the block honestly handle this shit? Would he be stressed the fuck out and anxious? Or riding high getting to live out an ultimate power fantasy? That’s what would’ve been fun to explore with a new character IMO.

With that out of the way, I’m not going to belabor all the things I didn’t enjoy. Because well, it’s obvious. Jobbers irritate me, like what the fuck was that they did with Reiko? Did not like. Killing a clearly post burns Kabal in a fire? Like that just upset me. And all the weird lore building choices were just that... fucking weird. They do not need to be super heroes. They do not need to awaken super powers. Tech based abilities make it more interesting against the more supernaturally influenced characters. Genre bending has always been a feature and not a bug in MK. The game was supposed to be a Jean Claude Van Damme game, it was supposed to be all these different genres of movies coming together to fight the Van Damme, in a manor of speaking. Taking away the absolutely fun part of the story where special ops, a celebrity, and monks team up with a god to fight ninjas, a sorcerer, criminal empires, and monsters, is like missing the forest for the trees with the franchise. And I just can’t even go into Shang Tsung. I just can’t. I like Chin Han, he plays assholes very well, but Shang Tsung is a special kind of asshole. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa just set the bar so high with how much intellectualism he brings to the lines. He can drop them in such a smart sounding way that it makes you feel like he’s three steps ahead of you. There’s something so obviously manipulative and toying in his vibe (god the best part of MK11 is him, I’ll fight people on this, he fucking stole that shit for me) that it makes him feel instantly threatening. Immediately you know this is a man you Should Not Fuck with. I need that from Shang Tsung, or I don’t even really feel like you should bother bringing him to screen.

But despite all that, I did actually enjoy the experience of watching the movie, admittedly because I expected not to like any of it, so there were quite a few pleasant surprises. The gore and fight scenes were so perfectly stylized with the excessive blood and choreography, showing off the characters fatalities and famous moves... yes feed me that fan service. Feed it to me.

And while I don’t love all the casting (Reiko and Shang Tsung for example), some of it was pure perfection. Kano, Jax and Sonya? Story was... A Choice but loved the actors and what they brought to the characters. Also, like Lui Kang being cast with just the prettiest actor made me very happy. Pretty boy Lui Kang can hang, especially with his belt/slash floating in the wind. I was here for that.

Holy god damn hell, Joe Taslim, what the fuck dude? You made all my Bi-Han fantasies and dreams a reality. Like god damn, I could feel the depth he was bringing to the role even if the script didn’t let him explore it. I seriously hope we get so much more from him because got damn. I was so pleased with his performance. Holy shit not to mention the ice effects, his Katara moment of stopping the rain and then wrecking the shit out of a street is the kind of raw destructive power that canon has always hinted he has but hasn’t really shown us. He’s so often relegated to being a jobber, and MK is so especially bad at telling you a character is powerful but not showing it. Oh boy the movie showed it. Not just him either, I felt a real sense of power from a few players, and that was deeply satisfying.

Also like Kabal? For as much as his death pissed me off, damn did they nail his vibe. I think we’d all rather have good guy Kabal (which would’ve been a more interesting story with Kano on both sides the fence [and I DO NOT have the energy to write the dissertation I have for that weird ass choice]) but I really thought they got the bad guy him just right. Side note: My sister watched it with me and just adored him, she loved his fight scenes and kept asking me who he was and telling me how damn cool he seemed. And I do agree. His fighting scene was so damn good. The way they handle his choreography and effects made him look every bit the intimidating opponent he is, even if he didn’t actually win. Very good work there.

Hanzo has some promise here, but man did they cock tease us with those trailers. Didn’t even toss a handy j for our troubles. I will say, assuming they do make another film (and that is a big assumption) I am cautiously optimistic about where it could be heading. The actor really didn’t get enough time to explore the part, but Scorpion has the potential to be fascinating and I feel like him and Sub Zero getting their own film properly could really give me some satisfying story telling in Mortal Kombat’s biggest rivalry.

Over all? Not super satisfying for the dedicated fans. Wouldn’t really recommend it if you don’t Stan Bi-Han specifically. But if you set your expectations as low as possible, you may find some fun in it the way I did.

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Mortal Kombat (2021)”

I am a huge fan of the Mortal Kombat games. They have very creative gore and fatalities but another thing that makes it special is the lore, story and characters. Video game movies are starting to get better so I had some hope for Mortal Kombat (2021) especially since it was going to be R Rated. The premise is "Hunted by the fearsome warrior Sub-Zero, MMA fighter Cole Young finds sanctuary at the temple of Lord Raiden. Training with experienced fighters Liu Kang, Kung Lao and the rogue mercenary Kano, Cole prepares to stand with Earth's greatest champions to take on the enemies from Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe". So is this a flawless victory or fatally flawed?

Firstly, I love the casting choice. Joe Taslim as Sub Zero and Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion is phenomenal casting as both embody their characters. John Lawson steals every scene he is in as Kano. He is hilarious and genuinely some of the best parts of Mortal Kombat (2021). Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Jessica McNamee as Sonya is all also great casting as they resemble the characters from the game perfectly. Tadanobu Asano is very majestic as Lord Raiden and Chin Han is very sinister as Shang Tsung. I also really appreciate having an Asian be the main character with Lewis Tan as Cole Young. It's great that the director, Simon McQuoid, is giving Asians more representation in mainstream media and I can appreciate that.

A lot of video game movies don't work because it is clear the director and writers are not fans of the respective game. However, this is not the case here and this clearly shows within the movie. They have authentic casting so characters that were Asian in the game are played by Asians in the movie, characters act and resemble their game counterparts, gruesome fatalities and a lot of game references. Additionally, the first 10 minutes is amazing and is such a great start to the movie. The last 15 minutes of the movie is also really good which is down to the fact that any scene with Sub-Zero and Scorpion is great. The score by Benjamin Wallfisch is also quite good at times when orchestral instruments are used.

However, sometimes the score can be quite odd such as when electronic sounds are used in the 17th-century scene which doesn't sound right. Furthermore, the editing of certain scenes is quite bad. Despite casting an actual martial artist who can fight, the director still uses a lot of quick cuts in fight scenes that just ruin it. It even happens during sparring fights which just makes it very disorienting. The most jarring editing comes around the middle where multiple fights are occurring with different characters and the scene just keeps constantly swapping between all of them. Instead of just focusing on one fight at a time which would result in a more pleasant experience. On that note, the action scenes not concerning Sub Zero or Scorpion lack a lot of brutality, grit and damage. You don't feel like the characters are getting hurt enough as during fights it feels like they are just slapping each other about. Where are the broken bones, bruises or physical impact in these fights?

Another major flaw is the main lead Cole Young as he is very bland and uninteresting. The only thing about his character is he a chosen one and he has a family that he cares about. It's boring. The supporting characters are not that great either since there are way too many characters and not enough time exploring them. Liu Kang and Kung Lao appear but are pretty much just the strong yet generic Asian guys. Jax and Sonya are just initially there to get the plot moving and then fight some people which is all there is to them. Mileena, Goro and Kabal are in the movie but are just there to be fodder for the heroes. We get absolutely no information about them, not even an explanation on why Kabal has super speed. Raiden is a good powerful guy and Shang Tsung is a bad powerful guy. Both barely appear and when they do it is when the plot needs teleporting stuff.

MINOR SPOILERS HERE Following that, the story is a mess. It starts in the 17th century with Scorpion and Sub Zero. Scorpion's family gets murdered and he dies as well but goes to hell. However, his thirst for vengeance for his family being murdered by Sub Zero will bring him out of hell and that alone is an interesting story. Such a shame we ignore that and just focus on boring Cole Young. The marketing plays up Scorpion's role but he is only at the beginning and the end. He also just randomly appears at the end with little to no explanation. It's very baffling even to me, a Mortal Kombat fan. Throughout Mortal Kombat (2021) there is a lot of build-up for this tournament. It feels like the movie will conclude with the tournament but it does not which is kind of annoying. They spend two-thirds of the movie leading to it but then decide in the 3rd act just to forget about it. This is where Mortal Kombat (1995) does better as the 1st act is the setup and the 2nd and 3rd are the tournament which is way better.

Overall, Mortal Kombat (2021) does a lot of right in satisfying fans but doesn't do enough to bring new people in. It feels like they were just ticking boxes instead of making a cohesive and good movie in general. Mortal Kombat has great characters which are why the movie should've just focused on one of them instead of just bringing in as many characters as they could. The movie has a fair amount of things better than the 1995 version but a fair amount that isn't as well. The only conclusion that I got out of it was that at least it was way better than Mortal Kombat Annihilation and honestly that is a huge win in my book.

#movie #Movie Reviews #film #Film Review #mortal kombat #mortal kombat 2021 #joe taslim #hiroyuki sanada #the raid #sub zero #scorpion #Warner Bros #video games #lewis tan #mk 2021 #mk11

[kaediisarchive]

Final thoughts on the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie.

LOTS of spoilers under the cut! Do not look at this post if you don’t want to see spoilers!

And remember, this is all just my opinion. It’s not like an actual in-depth review because I’m not a film student; this is just my perspective on what I saw as a fan of this franchise.

POSITIVE

Sub-Zero and Scorpion were great. Opening fight was great.

“Eddy Tobias” namedrop lmao

I love the snow preceding Sub-Zero’s attack. Very foreboding.

Score is AWESOME. My favorite soundtrack is probably the one that plays when Sub-Zero is attacking them in the city towards the beginning.

Sonya rigging her house with a secret bunker and trap doors is smart and fits her character.

I like that the dragon logo has an integral meaning to the story.

Loved Jax vs Sub-Zero. Not mad about the origin change of Jax’s arms. I like that he had to work through his feelings of inadequacy and failure; people don’t just immediately bounce back after something that traumatic. I also like that his arcana manifests to protect Sonya rather than in the heat of battle. It shows his emotional priorities and what separates him from people like Kano who manifest their arcana in a fit of rage.

Sonya “Throw Hands on Sight” Blade lmfao. They nailed her fighting style too and I am happy.

Kano is the best thing about this movie. No competition.

Kotal reference!

Nightwolf reference!

Shang Tsung’s soul magic being black and wispy and foreshadowing Noob Saibot.

KANO DID THE HEART RIP

CHEKOV’S GNOME I’M SCREAAAAAAMMMMIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG

I love Liu Kang in this. He is 1000000% a Wholesome Boi. I like that he’s younger and unhardened and not the fully realized champion version of his character yet. Let him grow into it so it feels earned later on. I like that he’s the underdog, and I like what they’ve set up for him in the future. Also, the casting for him was perfect and they nailed his fighting style, too.

That little “the FUCK” that the Kano actor improvised(?) in the middle of Liu Kang’s lines made me laugh more than it should have. I don’t know why that moment got to me so much but it did.

I love Kung Lao. And they nailed his fighting style, too! Great to see variation that represents the characters (though there were less shining examples, which I’ll touch on later).

LOW SWEEP! LOW SWEEP! LOW SWEEP!

Egg roll scene is best scene.

Kabal! I love his dry humor. And his voice reminds me of Duke Nukem, which I’m not mad about. It complemented his dialogue well.

Not mad about Kung Lao’s death because it was meaningful. His fatality on Nitara was sick, too.

Liu Kang taking the ribbon from Kung Lao’s hat and wearing it in his honor, giving an origin for his signature headband is FANTASTIC.

THE PIT!

FLYING BICYCLE KICKS!

LIU KANG’S DRAGON FATALITY!

SONYA’S ENERGY RINGS!

Sub-Zero was a GREAT final boss. They really built him up appropriately to make him feel like it.

Scorpion’s fatality! And his skull face!

NEUTRAL

Not sure how I feel about Sub-Zero being wholly evil and there being no involvement from Quan Chi. It’s more straight forward for sure. It makes him an interesting (and badass) character, and I’m really behind this portrayal in that he is one of the most believable characters in the movie, but I’m not sure if I like the implications for later films in how this has simplified the dynamic in the entire Shirai Ryu vs Lin Kuei plotline. Having Quan Chi be the Machiavelli was always one of my favorite MK twists. And how do we eventually end the feud now? If Bi-Han / the Lin Kuei were wholly responsible, why should Hanzo EVER make peace with Kuai Liang down the line? The complexity feels like it’s been stripped down a bit, but I do love this iteration of Sub-Zero. I truly do. That’s why this is in the neutral category and not the negative XD.

Why didn’t Jax tell Cole when he saw the mark? Why wait until his family gets attacked? Maybe he didn’t want to do it in front of his family to keep them out of it, but that ends up endangering them more. Not a gripe, just a curiosity.

Sound editing was a bit too intense at times for my taste. I have tinnitus, so...big boomy bass with very mild voices is a chore for my ears to switch between. My ears were ringing within the first twelve minutes.

Torn between “fuck you Reiko” and “Reiko deserved better”. He deserved just a little bit better, but Skarlet says “get fucked” anyway.

I don’t like the “shaky cam” used in the fight scenes. Not my cup of tea. Very hard to visually process at times.

Whatever cosmic force is picking the champions for Earthrealm is doing a shitty job at it.

Why did they change the location of the Sky Temple to a desert? Again, not a gripe, a curiosity.

“We will not see another full moon before the tournament begins” THEN WHERE IS THE TOURNAMENT BUDDY???

Not sure how I feel about the “arcana” concept. It’s an okay plot device but kinda hammy.

Kitana’s fan! But why? Why is it there? I could understand the Kotal and Nightwolf references because Sonya has been researching, but why is Kitana’s fan randomly in an Earthrealm temple? Purely cheap fanservice.

Nitara was really cool. Shame she had to die, but her death was cool and there have to be some characters that get killed off. Wish she had more screentime though; feels like another instance of fanservice just having her show up basically as a namedrop and a quick kill.

The phrase “Are you okay?” was said WAY too much in this film. So much that I actually notices how often it was said, and I usually don’t pick up on these things.

Pretty sure a camera operator fell at one point in a Sonya scene because the camera jerked around violently all of the sudden then stabilized. Whoops.

How did Sub-Zero know to take Cole’s family to the gym? WHY did he take them there?

NEGATIVE

Opening scene was awesome, but it’s emotional impact felt stunted. I feel like the order of events should have been twisted a bit. Hanzo find his wife and son should have been the big emotional climax of the scene, but it felt like a passing moment and gave him no time to mourn and no time for the impact to truly set in with me. It was an “oh no they died” moment instead of an “ OH MY GOD THEY DIED THIS IS SO FUCKED FUCK YOU SUB-ZERO” moment. I dare say that the Legacy web series did it better in spite of their lower budget and overall quality; the series of events had better pacing and gave more emotional impact because of it. I said what I fucking said don’t @ me.

Wish we got more Scorpion. I love Sanada, I love him as Scorpion, but they didn’t give us the time we needed with his character to truly get a grasp of him.

Cole Young is like white bread in a parade of decorative cakes.

Raiden, a normally passionate and protective character whose fatal flaw is that he involves himself too much in events because he cares about the people in his realm and ends up fucking things up because of it, now seems to not care in the slightest. He feels completely uninvolved save for an occasional pop in to give a nod of disapproval. I don’t like this unemotional take on one of the most emotional characters in Mortal Kombat.

Small complaint from my perspective as a martial artist but uh...”Throw your uppercut!” was a bullshit line in a bullshit scene. If you’re locked up with someone like that and the guy has his arms around your neck, you physically cannot uppercut. You cannot fit your arms between his arms because they are cinched tightly around your shoulders/neck. YOUR HEAD is between your fist + bicep and HIS HEAD. In that situation, the guy has also left his body completely unguarded, so the most logical thing to do since you CANNOT reach his head is to go for BODY BLOWS. Beat him until he lets go to protect himself, catch his floating rib with double strikes, or punch the dude in his fucking liver as hard as you can to DROP HIM. Cole is supposed to be an experienced fighter, yet he makes one of the most rookie mistakes a fighter could ever make. Normally I wouldn’t care to point out mistakes in fight choreography or whatever because it’s MK and I expect ridiculousness, but this is the WRONG kind of ridiculous. It’s just NONSENSE.

I have SO MANY issues with Mileena. I’ll make this as short as I can. I don’t like the design of her mouth. I don’t like her weird stacked voice. She shows NO personality, not in her acting or even her fighting style, just an evil minion that got angry because she almost got her ass kicked. The turned one of the principle characters of the entire franchise and a fan favorite into a GRUNT. There is NO mention of Kitana outside of literal “fan”-service. Not even a reference to one of the most important plotlines in all of Mortal Kombat. And then they KILL HER OFF!!! When they do inevitably bring in Kitana WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY GOING TO DO SINCE THEY KILLED OFF MILEENA???? I’m heated and biased and they did my girl dirty.

Speaking of doing characters dirty, poor Reptile. They turned him into an actual animal. What a waste.

Why are they so mean to Sonya if she doesn’t have a mark? She wouldn’t be as much of a “liability” if they would take the time to prepare her and teach her how to defend against fighters that have unlocked their arcana. Mind-numbingly stupid logic.

This movie relies A LOT on prerequisite knowledge to work. It’s like they want fans to fill in the blanks for them. But not everyone watching is already a fan; this isn’t an obscure release, this is a blockbuster movie released worldwide. These gaps in lore and prior knowledge don’t make sense for such a broad audience.

Cole Young literally could have just been Johnny Cage.

Where was Raiden when his temple was being assaulted?

Cole’s arcana is LITERAL PLOT ARMOR IM FUCKING DONE

No but for real that’s the most boring decision they just ripped off Jax’s MK11 heater effect and Baraka’s blades (I know they’re tonfa and they aren’t attached and I DON’T CARE). Also, now he’s suddenly good at fighting again? After being dog shit this entire movie??? And tanks Goro?????

If Raiden is an Elder God in this continuity, why is he allowed to help Earthrealm AT ALL? It seems like favoritism and bends the rules that the Elder Gods are supposedly bound by way too much. They really just shouldn’t have made him an Elder God; I honestly think they just said it to introduce the concept without a fuck given towards the actual lore of the Elder Gods.

WHY DID RAIDEN TELEPORT KANO TO SONYA’S HOUSE AFTER HE BETRAYED THEM I HAD TO REWATCH THAT SEVERAL TIMES TO MAKE SURE I JUST SAW WHAT I SAW  WHAT THE ACTUAL NONSENSICAL FUCK

Cole REALLY should not have been involved in that last fight. Especially not after Scorpion shows up. It should have been Scorpion vs Sub-Zero ONLY for the final fight. Cole tag-teaming Sub-Zero with Scorpion cheapens Scorpion’s revenge.

Camera work in the final fight was not good, especially in the first portion. At one point Cole gets thrown into a fence, but it cuts to an awkward inverse angle that makes him look like he’s bouncing off of a trampoline. This continues to happen and ruins several shots for me.

Honestly Scorpion should have just possessed Cole. Permanently. No switching back and forth. No more Cole, only Scorpion.

PREDICTIONS

Lots of dead characters come back as revenants and / or with upgrades.

Kano comes back with cyber eye.

Mileena comes back with full teeth.

Liu Kang becomes MK champion, wins tournament, and kills Shang Tsung. As it should be.

Cole Young helps Liu Kang become champion somehow idk maybe he sacrifices himself or something just please don’t make Cole the champion I will start a riot.

Next movie will start IMMEDIATELY at the tournament since there was supposedly less than a month until the tournament starts in this movie.

New characters coming in will be Kitana, Shao Kahn, Jade, Quan Chi, Kuai Liang, Noob Saibot, Ermac, and Johnny Cage.

OVERALL

This movie was good, bloody fun! It’s not an A++ Oscar-winner, but if you expected that going into it, you played yourself. It was Mortal Kombat; it was stupid, it was gory, and I had a blast watching it. Kano and Liu Kang were the best parts of the movie for me, with Scorpion and Sub-Zero tied for third. Also I popped a lot for the cheap nostalgia hits. I’m overall satisfied with what we got in spite of my complaints, and I only complain so in-depth about the things I love lmao so trust me when I say I’m not actually mad, just nitpicky. I’ve watched it twice now, and I would watch it again. It’s like a 6.8/10 for me.

#mortal kombat spoilers #mk movie spoilers #spoilers tw #[ooc]

[gronjon44]

Ok so thoughts on MK-2021

I was gonna make a longer more spoilery review but I'm gonna cut it short cause there's one big thing I wanna talk about (so let's bullet point

Kano is and always will be one of my favorite characters in the MK Franchise (with Reptile, Barakka, Noob Saibot, and Scorpion) His character felt like it should and while I originally would've wanted to see Karl Urban as Kano I do really like Josh Lawsons performance.

Lui Kang and Kung Lao were really fun to watch, Lui especially (I'm not fully familiar with Kung Lao so I won't talk about him too much other then the fact I think he's neat)

I'll kinda consider this a ⚠️⚠️SPOILER⚠️⚠️ so if you wanna skip this whole bullet point snd the next one after; The villains were all awesome in this film (Reptile was awesome to see quick as it may have been, Mileena was fucking AWESOME, Reiko and Nitarra were... there? (I don't know either of them so they were just kinda canon fodder to me), Kabal was cooler then I thought he'd be (though I wanted more)

Gorro was awesome to see but he felt... underused? I'll go more into detail at the end.

Jax was alright but I never knew much about him then and I still don't

Sonya Blade was fine until the end and she just kinda felt... crammed in? Like yeah yeah know she has more in the games and she had a presence in the original 95 film, and she was an integral part of the story all the way through till the end but then she *spolier *spoiler *spoiler* with *insert name here* and she just felt like a thematic paper weight at the end.

Scorpion and Sub Zero were FANTASTIC and i have no complaints with either (at least not directly)

Raiden was there and he was played by Tadanobu Asano (of Thor) and was a MUCH NEED improvement over Christopher Lambert

And then Cole Young...⚠️SPOLIER BTW⚠️

...

...

...

(I'm doing this in a smaller font to get everything I wanna say) I wanna like his character more I do, and i have nothing against Lewis Tan he's a phenomenal actor, but Cole Young is a weird character for this film.

Hes both underutalized and at the same time completely unnecessary to the plot.

Lewis Tan is the decendant of Hanzo Hasashi (Scorpion) after all of Hanzos family was murdered by Sub Zero, say for one orphaned daughter; throughout the film he's hyped to have this big connection to Scorpion (through glimpses of a Kunai surrounded by far to even Cole seeing Hanzo in visions) and later on we see that each champion has a special power, and Coles "power" is supposedly passed down to him by his familial ties to Scorpion.

Now, from that description I'm sure you'd think Cole would gain the Hellish abilities Scorpions known for, or even his retractable Kunai, but NO, instead he gets these wrapping all across his body that act as a sort of shield to protect him and absorb incoming damage (its basically the Black Panther suit)

He also has a set of Tonfas (one of which is bladed) that appear when he needs them

Now I should point out that early on in the film it's shown to the audience that Cole is a struggling boxer trying to support his family, and if you look you can see these wrapping across his body are reminiscent of the boxing wrappings he put on his ha ds prior to a fight. But here's the thing... WHAT DOES HIM BEING A BOXER HAVE TO DO WITH HIS TIES TO HANZO?

You can argue it shows us he's always had a connection to tournament fighting, and yeah that's valid, but it doesn't change the fact that he and Scorpion don't really share a connection.

He unlocks his armor while fighting Gorro who was sent to hunt both him and his family (which frankly is such a waste of Gorro on it's own but I'll get to that in a minute)

When we see Cole get hit in his armor it glows a Hellish red, similar to the fires of Scorpions Hell based powers, but that's as far as it goes and it shows that the armor has absolutely nothing to do with their connection

If you wanted these two to share a bond in their powers, why not have Cole dress in clothes inspired by Scorpion, and then have his powers be hell based or have him control a mystical Kunai, and maybe have the soul of Hanzo watch over him

And this ties into both of the fights that Cole takes part in (Gorro and Sub Zero)

His fight with Gorro is cool, but Gorro isn't the same menace as he was in 95; he's a goon for Shang Tsung and that's it (they refer to him as a prince but even then he's mostly just a lackey, similar to Sub Zero and Scorpion were in the 95 film) And ⚠️SPOLIER⚠️ Gorro gets fucking wrecked.

And even then there is no stakes between them, other then his family might die; these two don't know each other, they have no beef, hell to Cole I bet Gorro is just a big monster.

And this is where the missed opportunity was with Sub Zero; Sub Zero HAS history with Cole there IS a beef between them (even if Cole isn't fully aware of it) but there final fight is just kinda... meh.

Sub Zero and Cole have a full fight (Sub-Z using his ice powers and Cole with his armor and Tonfas) and throughout the fight it looks like Cole might lose; that is until he cuts himself on a Kunai Raiden gave him (it was the original Kunai that belonged to Hanzo when he died) and his blood beint spilled on that blade actually SUMMONS Hanzo FROM the depths of Hell to help win the fight.

They win, Sub Zero dies, Hanzo is laid to rest blah blah blah.

Now, all of that sounds like a REALLY AWESOME IDEA in writing.

The problem is that it goes LITTERALLY NOWHERE WHEN THEY USED IT

Up until this point there is no physical evidence that shows Cole is Hanzos decendant, hell you could argue that Lui Kang is his decendant and it'd make more sense.

Cole's entire arc has been nullified by the simple fact that there is no physical evidence to show the two are related, and this whole blood feud with Sub Zero is kinda useless.

Now I'd like to propose an alternative plot point to fix this if you'll bare with me

Again, another ⚠️⚠️⚠️MASSIVE SPOLIER⚠️⚠️⚠️

...

...

...

Shang Tsung kills Kung Lao in front of Lui Kang, basically setting off that entire arc like the 95 film. Now, here's the alternative I'd like to suggest.

Shang Tsung isn't the one to kill Kung Lao, Gorro is.

Gorro is ordered by Shang Tsung to kill Kung Lao after he ⚠️SPOLIER⚠️ kills Natarra.

And instead of killing off Gorro have him leave with Shang Tsung and the two return to Outworld and Lui Kang is left with a dead Kung Lao.

And to Parralell this, instead of Gorro fighting Cole, have a prelude fight between Cole and Sub Zero, one where Sub Zero actually DOES KILL Coles family (they didn't even die in the film so there)

Sub Zero can battle Cole, Cole can discover his powers, and Sub Zero (in a panic) can just fuckint destroy his whole house with his family inside by summoning a giant ice glacier inside the house.

This in turn adds more weight to the final fight between Sub Zero, Cole and Scorpion; Cole lost his family to Sub Zero, just like Hanzo did before him. And when Cole summons Scorpion in the climax it holds more weight because TWO GENERATIONS OF THE SHIRAI RYU CLAN avenging the deaths of their families in that instant.

And as for Lui Kang make him the main fighter of the ACTUAL TOURNAMENT (they don't even do the tournament in this film they just kinda talk about it) and have Lui battle Gorro for the Title of MK Champion.

Well... that was a long post. I think I'll end it here by saying that while i do have beefs with the film I still want to make it clear I don't hate jt, in fact I genuinely enjoy it.

I just... have some criticisms.

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 2021 #mk 2021 #MK-2021 spoilers #spoilers #movie analysis

[voidselfshipp]

Black Dragon Boys HCS

Cw:food, ab*sive m*other mentions

Kano

Hes a huge softie! And very easy to convince , Well at least by me anyway "if ya think you can bat your cute little eyelashes to get what ya want...then youre absolutely right"

Whoever said that this Man doesnt shower is wrong, I like the hc that hes actually quite clean, his own house Is a different set of rules but shhh

Messy, just...so messy

As seen in his friendshipp finisher hes quite good at bbq so every sunday he invites kabal and erron over to have a good ole bbq

Fuck cannon, black dragon bffs , they get on eachothers nerves but honestly is way more fun if they are just good Friends who do dumb shit togheter.

(Erron is the only one with functional braincell convince me otherwise)

Shirts? Why would he need shirts? This Man loathes shirts, getting him to use one is a miracle and a feat few people can accomplish.

The aussie jokes like "that isnt a Knife,THIS IS A KNIFE" arent funny to him, but kabal does it to get on his nerves.

He Designed a whole place in the black dragon base as a kitten sanctuary, anyone is free to take a break there if needed, a short one though, get back to work!

If you wanna get on his good side just buy him knives, the older the better he has a whole collection of em.

He shaves with his knives, and thats a fact , hes got a pretty steady hand too.

This Man sleeps shirtless, i mean who needs sleepwear anyway.

Kabal

Aw yeah my main Man kabal!

Ive been wondering, if we ever had a playlist togheter it would be a Fucking minefield.

Maybe you got some nice old indie rock, and suddenly 5 songs of h*milton the musical come in ONE AFTER THE OTHER.

I like the idea that hes just a huge nerd (I read this hc some months ago in a @/spacehologramcollection fic) and honestly same lets stay all night playing games togheter.

He says fashion aint his thing but u see his wardrobe and everything looks good on him.

Of course he has those clothes that are rotten and gutted and that he uses to mess with kano or erron.

He fast as fucc boi, if you feel a breeze behind you thats probably kabal running to do something he forgot before kano notices.

Hes honestly okay with kanos bbq, he brings all the snacks to eat while the foods cooking in the grill.

Mans got everything you need, he aint picky with snacks, he has this huge drawer in his messy ass kitchen filled to the brim with snacks.

Likes cleaning but it takes him so long to get started with it.

Sleeps like a fucking log, good luck trying to awake him.

Erron

Me? Proyecting my trauma on him? I could never. BUCKLE UP EVERYONE

He lived with his abusive mom most of his teenager years, he did learnt a lot from her but still hates her guts to this day.

If you for some reason want to make him mad ask abt his mom.

Hes the only person that has a functioning brain when hes with kano and kabal.

Hes the person who takes em out of trouble.

He talks mostly with cowboy slang, he wont translate nor Will he stop doing it,good luck.

Okay this is a crack hc , you cant tell me he didnt find "old town road" by lil nas x at least a bit amusing.

Hes has that "horse girl" energy.

His hat is his most precious thing, dont touch it (only I can)

If you ask him how Long hes been alive he'll answer but Will tell you a different thing every time. Just to mess with you

When its bbq sunday hes the one who brings all the drinks, he has Many favors yet to be cashed ( idk If thats how you say it)

He snores rather loudly, kano and kabal have learnt to deal with it and block out the sound.

Okay...I think thats all of em!

Also if you happend to notice that one (or more) of my hcs resemble someone elses please let me know, so I can check and if needed credit them properly.

#erron #kano #kabal #jericos cannon hcs #tw abusive mother ment #tw abusive mother #tw food #cw food #tw flashing lights #cw flashing

[gaynobara]

My mk21 thoughts *SPOILERS*

- it needed a longer run time. the last half of the movie felt rushed, and it was due to a lack of screentime. they needed it to be longer to tell their vision. the pacing felt off towards the end and a lot of scenes felt rushed, especially sonya's arcana scene. yes, there was build up to it, but we never got to see her master her arcana.

what I didn't like

- kung lao's death was done poorly. liu kang was right there?????? could've saved him???

- goro got bodied and it sucks because he's wasted potential (mileena isn't, given that shang tsung made multiple clones of her (in the games, at least) so another clone could take her place)

- mileena's outfit was bland. I like how bi han and hanzo still look like sub zero and scorpion but she doesn't look like mileena aside from the mouth. her clothing is more revealing and purple/pink in the games; that's who mileena is. I don't see her wearing this version of her costume

- shang tsung was underutilized. he deserved more screentime himself but I don't blame the crew for the short run time

- kabal's voice was so weird, but that's a personal opinion more

- some of the editing could've been better but I can understand that the studio was rushing them

- jax and raiden felt more like side characters :( I do think they have great casting, but I wish we saw more of them.

what I did like

- aside from that, I liked everything else. I always knew ludi would kill it as liu kang, and he really did. and of course, I love the praise hiroyuki sanada, joe taslim, and max huang are getting as hanzo, bi han, and kung lao. they all absolutely deserve it.

- I love bi han in this movie (though it sucks we didn't get to see sareena before his passing and becoming noob saibot); he's perfect. he actually feels scary and like a force to be reckoned with. his design, personality, the way he carries himself... joe was taking no prisoners. but, I wish they would've alluded to quan chi, or even shang tsung forcing bi han to kill hanzo's family, because I think it speaks volumes on their hatred towards each other and bi han's morals. I don't want to think he'd actually kill a child

- this movie also had the best harumi and satoshi scenes yet. they did a little building with hanzo and his wife, and I don't think I've seen the games do so other than "well his wife and kid died". yes, they're his main motivation (at least in the recent games) but we never got to see him interact with them aside from more niche mk content! I love seeing a happy family like that, but there's a subtle eeriness in that opening scene because you know what's going to happen

- sonya in this movie!!!!!! she wasn't a bitch this time. the recent games like to think she is, but you can be tough without being a shitty person to be around. I love her compassion for her teammates, especially jax!!! sonya was perfectly casted here as well, and I think jessica should influence future designs for sonya going forward. I love everything about sonya, though her arcana was a little too quick to master, but that's not a character gripe really. she was so good here!!!!!!

- liu kang and kung lao!!!!! seeing kung lao not get disrespected by most of the cast is refreshing. his fatality was badass and I love the shot of him getting blood sprayed onto his face. they're beasts I'm glad they had a scene of both of them fucking with kano. they had perfect designs (love the little bun kung lao has), two actual martial artists playing them, and a great dynamic. I wish we got to here the turkey sounds liu makes when he bicycle kicked kabal though!

- also, I really did like kano here. he was fucking hilarious. josh lawson is a funny guy irl but he didn't play around with kano! he was the funniest character, though everyone had their moments. I do have criticism towards kano's arcana being his eye, but aside from that I love his character here

- the references! I loved seeing nightwolf, hopefully we see more of him...

- I love the way kabal moved, it looked cool and fluid. they did well with that!

- I actually like cole young! I don't care much for his wife or daughter though his daughter was more compelling. he had some of the best lines that actually made me laugh. I think lewis tan deserves this big role and it's been exciting seeing him get more spotlight! cole wasn't a mary sue like people thought, I thought too, and I'm glad they tried to show him as a down to earth, beat up, but loving and kind of sarcastic family man.

in conclusion: sonya, bi han, hanzo, and the monks were my favorites. the actors all did AMAZING. I will say this, this movie isn't for people who don't care for or even like mortal kombat. I don't have nostalgia glasses for the original movie, so I can say I enjoy both of them equally. both have their pros and cons, but I love them both :)