History YMMV / MortalKombatDeception

* LawfulStupid: Yes, that's right, Shujinko. Just go with [[FlatCharacter Hotaru]] when he arrests you for breaking a crime that he had no way of knowing that he had broken, even if had known of the law; don't bother to just, I don't know, knock out the lone warrior who is [[SarcasmMode totally way harder than the various sorcerors and demons that you have faced]]. Nope, upholding his realm's ridiculous laws whilst even OUTSIDE of the realm [[spoiler:and rotting in jail for 30-odd years without any attempts to escape, despite having learned how to use telekinesis, set people on fire, and teleport]] is a way better plan and obviously far more important than completing that quest for the Elder Gods.

* LawfulStupid: Yes, that's right, Shujinko. Just go with [[FlatCharacter Hotaru]] when he arrests you for breaking a crime that he had no way of knowing that he had broken, even if had known of the law; don't bother to just, I don't know, knock out the lone warrior who is [[SarcasMode totally way harder than the various sorcerors and demons that you have faced]]. Nope, upholding his realm's ridiculous laws whilst even OUTSIDE of the realm [[spoiler:and rotting in jail for 30-odd years without any attempts to escape, despite having learned how to use telekinesis, set people on fire, and teleport]] is a way better plan and obviously far more important than completing that quest for the Elder Gods.

** Onaga happens to have quite a following. Despite his status as an SNKBoss for some, many liked his design, his stature, and his story. He was even [[http://www.trinidadcarnivaldiary.com/?p=2817 featured as a costume]] in Trinidad's 2009's Carnival celebrations!

** Some fans have this opinion in regard to Sub-Zero's "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Shredder]]" outfit that he had in this game as being unfitting for him. [[BrokenBase Though on the other hand]], some fans would consider this NarmCharm in that Kuai Liang is the [[{{Badass}} type of person]] who is [[{{Pun}} cool]] enough to make what would otherwise be ridiculous [[SugarWiki/SoCoolItsAwesome look stylishly awesome]].

* BaseBreaker:

** Say what you want about them, but Kira and Kobra do have their supporters (see BaseBreaker above), with shippers as part of those ranks. This actually is even given a degree of canonical support in ''Armageddon'', wherein both characters' endings show them expressing affection towards the other in some manner... only to end up being backstabbed for their troubles.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Shujinko's status as an UnwittingPawn makes it possible for him to be seen as TheWoobie, with shades of an IronWoobie. While easily manipulated, he was merely a guy who wanted to face Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat, [[AscendedFanboy actually got the chance to join that world]], [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone never meant for any of this to happen]], [[TheAtoner and works his butt off to rectify his mistake]].

* BaseBreaker: Bo' Rai Cho. Either you like him for being a FunPersonified CoolOldGuy or hate him for taking his already established ToiletHumor from ''Deadly Alliance'' and turning it UpToEleven.

** The random punching is more an example of VideoGameCrueltyPotential.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Onaga happens to have quite a following. Despite his status as an SNKBoss for some, many liked his design, his stature, and his story. He was even [[http://www.trinidadcarnivaldiary.com/?p=2817 featured as a costume]] in Trinidad's 2009's Carnival celebrations!

** Ashrah is also this, to a lesser extent.
* FanPreferredCouple: Fans seem to be fond of pairing up Ashrah and Raiden despite [[CrackPairing no tangible connections existing between the two]] aside of being members of the Forces of Light. As noted on the Characters page, this is rooted in [[ThemePairing how similar the two appear to each other]], with many mistaking originally Ashrah not only as Raiden's DistaffCounterpart, but his wife.

* GameBreaker: A '''ton.''' The majority can be corralled under two things: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQftCLpsk_A moves that lead to unduckable throws,]] and moves that can be repeated ad-nauseum until the timer runs out. It's the core reason why this game was frowned upon by the professional fighting game community.

* GoodBadBugs: Perform a Fatality and a Hara-Kiri at the same time to get [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-egksufiao these.]]

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Mileena.
* ReplacementScrappy: Shujinko was the target of a lot of hate for replacing Liu Kang. He's [[TooDumbToLive terminally naive]] and stole the special moves and even ''appearances'' of the other characters during Konquest Mode. It doesn't help that Boon hamfisted him down the fandom's throat [[CreatorsPet by labeling him "the next generation Liu Kang"]] in an interview, or that his name ''literally means'' [[MeaningfulName "protagonist."]]

* TheScrappy: Aside of Shujinko, [[ReplacementScrappy Kira]] and [[CaptainErsatz Kobra]]. Kira [[{{Fanservice}} less so]] than Kobra.

* WhatAnIdiot: You just have to facepalm when the Elder Gods Champion (the one before Scorpion) steps in to stop Shujinko and the natural reaction of our [[IdiotHero hero]] is to say "No, it's me!" and initiate a fight, not even thinking for one second how this guy reached the Nexus or why he would make such claims.
** Also Raiden blindly accepting Shujinko's story of being the Champion of the Elder Gods based on him "having the strength of ten fighters" without ever bothering to check with them to corroborate his story arguably also counts.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Some fans have this opinion in regard to Sub-Zero's "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Shredder]]" outfit that he had in this game as being unfitting for him. [[BrokenBase Though on the other hand]], some fans would consider this NarmCharm in that Kuai Liang is the [[{{Badass}} type of person]] who is [[{{Pun}} cool]] enough to make what would otherwise be ridiculous [[SugarWiki/SoCoolItsAwesome look stylishly awesome]].
** Special mention has to go to his ''other'' costume, however, as it's not a look that even Sub-Zero can pull off. In a nutshell, he looks like a bald [[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} night]] [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft elf]] with loose-fitting [=PJs=].

* MostWonderfulSound: The fanfare that plays in the Krypt when you purchase a non-artwork item.

** Time seems to have been kind to Shujinko, or else a generation of MK fans who grew up with the [=PS2=]-era games turned out more fond of him than the old guard were; either way, when [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX Cassie Cage's Arcade Tower ending]] depicted her unknowingly murdering Shujinko after mistaking him for Shang Tsung, many mourned his ignoble fate.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Some of Seido's actions (particularly its suppression of people's freedoms ("freedom leads to anarchy, anarchy leads to Chaos, Chaos leads to suffering") and its wars against Chaosrealm and Outworld) seem like a [[TakeThat derisive]] reference to the United States' national security policies under the then-current Bush Administration and American involvement in the then-ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the larger War on Terrorism. This game also came out in 2004 (when a presidential election occurred) and Chicago (where the ''Mortal Kombat'' games were made at the time) is a notoriously liberal city in a deep blue state. Make of those last two what you will.

** Motaro appears out of the blue in a random Earthrealm village in the Konquest mode to give you some koins, then vanishes. It's a rare occurrence and the player has to be quick to make it happen, so it's more of an EasterEgg.
** Meat randomly appears with a British accent in the Netherrealm in the Konquest mode to give you some koins, then disappears.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Some fans have this opinion in regard to Sub-Zero's "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Shredder]]" outfit that he had in this game as being unfitting for him. [[BrokenBase Though on the other hand]], some fans would consider this NarmCharm in that Kuai Liang is the [[{{Badass}} type of person]] who is [[{{Pun}} cool]] enough to make what would otherwise be ridiculous [[SoCoolItsAwesome look stylishly awesome]].

** Havik, due to his unorthodox playstyle and hints of him and his people being {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s. There is currently a lot of fan interest in him making the roster of ''MortalKombatX'', notably being the only ''Deception'' character of choice. [[spoiler: If he survives his encounter with Takeda, that is: he has been made the BigBad of a story arc in the prequel comics, after all]].

* FridgeBrilliance: Aside from the improbably of a Chinese person having a Japanese name in circa late-nineteenth century/early twentieth century China, Shujinko's name does make some sense in-story. The name translates into English as "Protagonist" and what role is he playing when at the start of Deception's Konquest mode while playing a game of make believe with some fellow classmates? He's roleplaying as the hero against fellow students who are playing as the antagonistic Shang Tsung and Goro. Perhaps he got to play the role of hero so often that Shujinko stuck as a nickname.

** Possibly this or GameBreaker, but for some odd reason, Liu Kang's bicycle kick ignores Onaga's defensive stat and takes off his health like you shattered one of the ring's Kamidogu. It's easy to defeat Onaga that way.. .provided that you never get sick of watching Liu Kang's ending.
* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler: Noob Saibot is the original Sub-Zero.]]
* LoveToHate: Arguably it was the aim of the creators for Hotaru to be seen this way, but didn't play out that way with most of the fans. See his entry under the Scrappy section for details.

** Time seems to have been kind to Shujinko, or else a generation of MK fans who grew up with the PS2-era games turned out more fond of him than the old guard were; either way, when [[MortalKombatX Cassie Cage's arcade ending]] depicted her unknowingly murdering Shujinko after mistaking him for Shang Tsung, many mourned his ignoble fate.
* RonTheDeathEater: [[AntiVillain Hotaru]] is frequently demonized to a degree greater than the way he is presented in canon with some detractors going to the extreme of claiming he is ANaziByAnyOtherName. While it is true that he is a Legalist and possibly can also be interpreted as an Authoritarianist ([[TotalitarianUtilitarian though one with Utilitarian motivations]]), but there is no concrete evidence that he holds views that resemble those of [[TheSocialDarwinist fascism]] (unless one is [[GodwinsLaw going by the looser definition of the term]]). Even if Hotaru holds such a philosophy, to claim that the makers of Mortal Kombat are condoning this detestable ideology is as absurd as claiming that [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse Marvel Comics]] condones the likes of the Comicbook/RedSkull by his mere existence in their fictional universe.

*** Though in Hotaru's case, while this is justified in that he is intended to be somewhat like a HateSink, but is also a straight example in that he falls into this category due to being such a [[FlatCharacter one-dimensional]] StrawCharacter who lacks any personality traits aside from his obsession with maintaining order.

* TakeThatScrappy: Mokap can be found twice in Konquest mode. One time in Chaosrealm for a side mission and another time walking around in a flamboyant manner in Seido where he can't be interacted in any way aside from punching him out to unlock a fighting style video.
* TierInducedScrappy: Hotaru, in addition to the other criticisms of him noted above, is regarded as the least effective in regard to play style based on the limited usefulness of his attacks, most notably his Lava Burst attack which can be easily nullified by the opponent being too far or too close. Thankfully when he returns in Videogame/MortalKombatArmageddon he gets some well needed adjustments, but even then he is roughly mid-tier at best.
* WhatAnIdiot: You just had to facepalm when the Elder Gods Champion (the one before Scorpion) steps in to stop Shujinko and the natural reaction of our [[IdiotHero hero]] is to say "no, it's me!" and initiate a fight, not even thinking for one second how this guy reached the Nexus or why he would make such claims.
** Also Raiden blindly accepting Shujinko's story of being the champion of the Elder Gods based on him "having the strength of ten fighters" without ever bothering to check with them to corroborate his story arguably also counts.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Some of Seido's actions (particularly its suppression of people's freedoms ("freedom leads to anarchy, anarchy leads to Chaos, Chaos leads to suffering") and its wars against Chaosrealm and Outworld) seem like a [[TakeThat derisive]] reference to the United States' national security policies under the then-current Bush Administration and American involvement in the then-ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the larger War on Terrorism. This game also came out in 2004 (when a presidential election occurred) and Chicago (where the Mortal Kombat games were made at the time) is a notoriously liberal city in a deep blue state. Make of those last two what you will.

** Special mention has to go to his ''other'' costume, however, as it's not a look that even Sub-Zero can pull off. In a nutshell, he looks like a bald night elf with loose-fitting pyjamas.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Some fans have this opinion in regard to Sub-Zero's "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Shredder]]" outfit that he had in this game as being unfitting for him. [[BrokenBase Though on the other hand]], some fans would consider this NarmCharm in that Kuai Liang is the [[{{Badass}} type of person]] who is [[{{Pun}} cool]] enough to make what would otherwise be ridiculous [[SoCoolItsAwesome look stylishly awesome]].

** Havik, due to his unorthodox playstyle and hints of him and his people being {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s. There is currently a lot of fan interest in him making the roster of ''MortalKombatX'', notably being the only ''Deception'' character of choice. [[spoiler: If he survives his encounter with Takeda in the comics, that is: he has been made the BigBad of a story arc in the prequel comics, after all]].

** Havik, due to his unorthodox playstyle and hints of him and his people being {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s. There is currently a lot of fan interest in him making the roster of ''MortalKombatX'', notably being the only ''Deception'' character of choice.

* RonTheDeathEater: [[AntiVillain Hotaru]] is frequently demonized to a degree greater than the way he is presented in canon with some detractors going to the extreme of claiming he is ANaziByAnyOtherName. While it is true that he is a Legalist and possibly can also be interpreted as an Authoritarianist ([[TotalitarianUtilitarian though one with Utilitarian motivations]]), but there is no concrete evidence that he holds views that resemble those of [[TheSocialDarwinist fascism]] (unless one is [[GodwinsLaw going by the looser definition of the term]]).

* TierInducedScrappy: Hotaru, in addition to the other criticism of him noted above, is regarded as the least effective in regard to play style based on the limited usefulness of his attacks, most notably his Lava Burst attack which can be easily nullified by the opponent being too far or too close. Thankfully when he returns in Videogame/MortalKombatArmageddon he gets some well needed adjustments, but even then he is roughly mid-tier at best.

* RonTheDeathEater: [[AntiVillain Hotaru]] is frequently demonized to a degree greater than the way he is presented in canon with some detractors going to the extreme of claiming he is ANaziByAnyOtherName. While it is true that he is a Legalist and possibly can also be interpreted as an Authoritarianist ([[UtilitarianTotalitarian though one with Utilitarian motivations]]), but there is no concrete evidence that he holds views that resemble those of [[TheSocialDarwinist fascism]] (unless one is [[GodwinsLaw going by the looser definition of the term]]).

* RonTheDeathEater: [[AntiVillain Hotaru]] is frequently demonized to a degree greater than the way he is presented in canon with some detractors going to the extreme of claiming he is ANaziByAnyOtherName. While it is true that he is a Legalist and possibly can also be interpreted as an Authoritarianist ([[Uthough one with Utopian aspirations]]), but there is no concrete evidence that he holds views that resemble those of [[TheSocialDarwinist fascism]] (unless one is [[GodwinsLaw going by the looser definition of the term]]).

** In regard to Hotaru: Is he primarily a genuinely well meaning AntiVillain who allies with Onaga because he believes it will prevent harm to Seido? A LawfulEvil tyrannical oppressor who simply uses the Seidan Guard's principles as [[TautologicalTemplar an excuse for his actions]]? Or a LawfulStupid PrinciplesZealot who suffers from BlackAndWhiteInsanity? Those who dislike him tend to take the latter two to RonTheDeathEater extremes.

** Also Raiden blindly accepting Shujinko's story of being the champion of the Elder Gods without ever bothering to check with them to corroborate his story arguably also counts.
* WTHCostumingAgency: Some fans have this opinion in regard to Sub-Zero's "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Shredder]]" outfit that he had in this game as being unfitting for him. [[BrokenBase Though on the other hand]], some fans would consider this NarmCharm in that Kuai Liang is the [[{{Badass}} type of person]] who is [[{{Pun}} cool]] enough to make what would otherwise be ridiculous [[SoCoolItsAwesome look stylish]].

** Also Raiden blindly accepting Shujinko's story of being the champion of the Elder Gods without ever bothering to check with them to corroborate his story arguably also counts.

*** Though in Hotaru's case, while this is justified in that he is intended to be a HateSink as he is more or less ANaziByAnyOtherName, but is also a straight example in that he falls into this category due to being such a [[FlatCharacter one-dimensional]] StrawCharacter who lacks any personality traits aside from his obsession with maintaining order.

* WhatAnIdiot:You just had to facepalm when the Elder Gods Champion(the one before Scorpion) steps in to stop Shujinko and the natural reaction of our [[IdiotHero hero]] is to say "no, it's me!" and initiate a fight, not even thinking for one second how this guy reached the Nexus or why he would make such claims.

** [[spoiler:Zombie Liu Kang]]. Many fans saw it as a slap in the face that this is [[CameBackWrong what happened to]] the [[spoiler:Mortal Kombat Champion]], and he even made Website/ScrewAttack's "Top Ten Worst Fighting Game Characters" list.

** Hotaru is eiter liked for being a notable {{Foil}} to the ever-popular Havik or hated for being a fascist.

* BaseBreaker: Bo' Rai Cho. Either you like him for being a FunPersonified CoolOldGuy or hate him for turning his already established ToiletHumor from ''Deadly Alliance'' turned UpToEleven.