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Mortal Kombat (2021)

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EmeraldSource Since: Jan, 2021
#501: May 27th 2023 at 12:21:24 PM

The movie might have made some sense as a prologue to the tournament, but hyping up the importance of the tournament only to spend the second half of the movie saying the bad guys are circumventing the rules just leaves the film series aimless. One of the few things I liked about Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was at the end the Elder Gods stepped in and enforced Trial by Combat, having become annoyed at Shao Khans' Rules Lawyering.

Edited by EmeraldSource on May 27th 2023 at 12:21:36 PM

Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures.
GrandmasterKiramidHead Since: Oct, 2010
#502: May 27th 2023 at 12:58:11 PM

All the drafts were full of weird choices, like Kano remaining a good guy and nobly sacrificing himself so Sonya can take his place as a champion, Raiden pretending to be a twelve-year-old because he's annoyed at humans for forgetting about the tournament, and Cole being a white boxer who spontaneously turns into Scorpion when he unlocks his arcana.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#503: May 27th 2023 at 1:20:24 PM

Him being a Willing Channeler for Scorpion would have been awesome.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
GrandmasterKiramidHead Since: Oct, 2010
#504: May 27th 2023 at 1:23:29 PM

That wasn't really what was happening. In one draft, he's just Scorpion. In two others, he's Scorpion's son who got abandoned. None of them really go into Hanzo Hasashi at all.

Edited by GrandmasterKiramidHead on May 27th 2023 at 3:23:49 AM

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#505: May 27th 2023 at 1:39:49 PM

Either way, it would have made Cole's "My first OC who is really just riding the coattails of my favorite character BUT HE'S A COMPLETELY ORIGINAL CHARACTER DO NOT STEAL" vibe so much worse.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
GrandmasterKiramidHead Since: Oct, 2010
#506: May 27th 2023 at 8:35:46 PM

Need I mention cringe jokes about internet porn, the dark web, and Sonya being a nutty conspiracy theorist with a string map and a crazy cat lady, too?

Mizerous Pet Owner from Hell Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: Brewing the love potion
Pet Owner
#507: May 28th 2023 at 5:24:07 AM

I just want characters to be like themselves. Is Baraka Mileena on film too much to ask? :/

Edited by Mizerous on May 28th 2023 at 8:24:19 AM

Just Makima.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#508: May 28th 2023 at 6:20:05 AM

It's a major plot point of the Mortal Engines the protagonist has severe facial damage.

Onscreen?

NOPE.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 28th 2023 at 6:20:15 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#509: May 28th 2023 at 6:31:29 AM

Women aren't allowed to be grotesque in media.

Someone earlier asked why Mileena has such a huge fanbase, and it's this. This is exactly it. Mileena is grotesque in a way that female characters are rarely allowed to be. It's pretty much a universal standard across mediums that women are supposed to be pretty. Even when they're not being sexualized, they have to be pretty. Even when they die, they have to die pretty.

Mileena is probably the most sexualized character in Mortal Kombat. But she isn't pretty. Her Tarkatan features are horrifying and grotesque. Her face is violence incarnate. And those grotesque, violent features make her a perfect fit for the female face of the Mortal Kombat brand (where Scorpion is often the male face of the brand).

It's a face that's exceptionally difficult to get away with putting on a female character. And, in fact, you can see exactly how difficult in the way both the 2021 film and the Mortal Kombat X video game have both tried to dial it back and make her more pretty. Mortal Kombat Annihilation even went whole-hog and cut her face entirely.

But this is always met with pushback, because her fans don't want her to be pretty. There are enough pretty women in Mortal Kombat. Mileena's fans want her to be a monster. She's a character they would not make today, but one that's grandfathered in with a fanbase that will not let you take her away.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 28th 2023 at 6:35:27 AM

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CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#510: May 28th 2023 at 8:44:23 AM

Even then they keep making her mouth less horrible.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Mizerous Pet Owner from Hell Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: Brewing the love potion
Pet Owner
#511: May 28th 2023 at 11:45:16 AM

[up][up] Rule 34 confirms this.

Just Makima.
FOFD Since: Apr, 2013
#512: May 28th 2023 at 4:52:36 PM

People I know y'all are on TV Tropes and all about that "let's have elderly ugly-looking women so we can break gender stereotypes" shtick.

Not that I agree with this position because I like Kasumi, Ayane, Skarlet, Kitana, and Jade just fine, and the endless battle against almost intrinsic sexism in the Japanese gaming industrt is as amusing as it is pointlesd to me, and I don't look at fighting games for realism in the first place - but I get it. I actually like the Sonya covers up in 10 and is in her like 40's.

But if y'all think for one second Mileena is universally liked because of her monster face moreso than her sex appeal I suggest you all find a lamp somewhere because that is some wishful thinking.

You would have better luck convincing me the majority of Soul Calibur players like Ivy Valentine because of her whip sword.

Edited by FOFD on May 28th 2023 at 8:00:20 AM

Chortleous she/her friend to the hooved (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: She does the things you do, but she is an IBM
she/her friend to the hooved
#513: May 28th 2023 at 5:29:35 PM

The whip sword is really cool so maybe not the best example.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
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#514: May 28th 2023 at 5:40:53 PM

Kitana, Mileena, and Jade all have the same sex appeal. They're literally pallete swaps of each other. The reason Mileena became the breakout star and left Kitana and Jade behind cannot simply be explained with "Uh, she's hot and wears sexy stripper-kunoichi costumes."

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Mizerous Pet Owner from Hell Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: Brewing the love potion
Pet Owner
#515: May 28th 2023 at 6:50:38 PM

I mean Kitana has been in nearly MK game hell she was in that bad DC vs MK game she hasn't been left behind.

Just Makima.
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#516: May 28th 2023 at 7:28:02 PM

Mileena arguably did push it with her outfits in later games compared to the other two, and some would see the piranha mouth to have its appeal, for what's worth.

Wake me up at your own risk.
Hawkeye86 Spirit of Battle from Classified (Searching for Spock) Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
Spirit of Battle
#517: May 28th 2023 at 7:29:00 PM

Mileena's sex appeal has been flaunted or highlighted more in the games, opposed to Kitana whose attractiveness is there but not really focused on. Mileena will make double entendres while licking her weapon and promising to give her opponent a kiss, Kitana does not.

Edit: Mileena also had an alternate costume that was just bandages didn't she? They really leaned into it with her.

Edited by Hawkeye86 on May 28th 2023 at 10:29:47 AM

You and I remember Budapest very differently
Bubblepig Rei from Tokyo (Apprentice) Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
#518: May 28th 2023 at 8:06:01 PM

Heard that this adaption got a sequel in the development starting Karl Urban as a lead. I have a theory that the character that Karl Urban is gonna play will be either Johnny Cage or Stryker.

"Now it's starting to feel like a game!"
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#519: May 29th 2023 at 9:15:06 AM

Left behind? the same? cmon tobias, you are reaaaaally reaching from this one.

Mileena popularity is in some part because she is crazy, flaunting her sexuality AND because her monster face, she is one part harley queen(specially in MK 9), another part ivy but with a monster just to make it better.

Is her monster face easy to make in movies?

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#520: May 29th 2023 at 9:33:49 AM

Probably not, at least she wears a mask enough to only use it for a few scenes. Then again, since MK kinda goes B-Movie, you could work with it looking kinda goofy.

Wake me up at your own risk.
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#521: May 29th 2023 at 10:03:30 AM

meh, this movie is less B movie, one can said MK kinda already leave that behind a long time ago.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#522: May 29th 2023 at 12:19:06 PM

A friend had the weird conspiracy theory that Mileena being a ButterFace is part of the appeal. Kitana and Jade are fantastically hot but would never give you the time of day. But maybe you could hook up with the incredibly hot girl with the demon mouth.

It makes her more approachable.

Which is deranged logic for a video game character but amusing enough to share.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
diddyknux (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#523: May 29th 2023 at 2:44:04 PM

Depends on the game. They're kind of inconsistent how Ax-Crazy Mileena is.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
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#524: May 29th 2023 at 2:50:23 PM

I think they've been pretty consistent with the fact that Mileena is a predatory monster who would literally eat you alive. So no, I don't think her sharp monster teeth and preference for biting people's throats out and eating their intestines makes her more approachable.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#525: May 29th 2023 at 3:53:26 PM

Oh, the crazy is part of the appeal.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

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