I didn't make this edit, but I see there isn't enough Male Human Cyrax appreciation in this fandom.
I love how Terry didn't look the least bit offended when Kenny flipped the bird at him.
A part of me likes to believe he sort of saw Kenny as a surrogate son, or at least could've been. I always saw Terry as Kenny's Miyagi, and I can picture Kenny (when Dallas was still small) following Terry around. Terry (though manipulative) is more soft and sympathetic than Kreese was. Terry was probably the 'nicer' one.
Yes, Robby trained Kenny most of the time with the addition of Tory, but I'm pretty sure he was more of a brotherly figure. Terry had the mentor title because not only was he much older, but he could teach things Robby didn't know.
Like, Daniel was someone to torment, whereas Kenny's mentorship was genuine. There was a bond forming between them. Edit: Kenny and Daniel both have big brown eyes. Makes me wonder, if Daniel wasn't an enemy, would Terry have treated Daniel like he treated Kenny? Even with the coke in his system?
When Kenny flips the bird it's like seeing your child be rebellious, and while you could get mad, it's also adorable. No matter what, you'll remember them for the little kid they once were. Regardless of whether or not their anger is valid, that's your little boy/girl.
He didn't look disappointed or angered, it was more like a 'well, damn'.
These are my thoughts and opinions on Mortal Kombat that a bunch of people probably won't care about, but I thought I should post them here. Now I will be using past games as reference, even though every character's interpretation/counterpart is different, they still play part to the canon storyline.
Okay, so these two are besties. Now before I get into any details, this is just theories and opinions. I just want to quickly say that I like Jacqui's character, and not just because I was able to play as a black female character, but I found her interesting and liked her romance with Takeda.
I'll start with Cassie. She is a nice enough blend of Sonya and Johnny, I guess. I found her a little annoying in mkx but only because of her intros, and to be fair a lot of character dialogue kind of sucked in that game. I found her very relatable when I was younger though, because I said a lot of cringey things when it came out. Other than that she was pretty cool, and was a different kind of case where a character voices out what everyone else is thinking. To be fair, Johnny has that as well but Cassie is Gen Z levels of voice (or an everyman). I also appreciate that they made her more girly, although I do miss the tomboyish Cassie from mkx.
Thing is, I don't like how they made it into a thing where they made Cassie feel like a main character, and while I understand that's how it must be done with next generation games, I get the impression that she was treated better than her teammates. That impression was solidified in the mk11 storyline where Cassie was chosen to be the new general with the addition of Takeda and Kung Jin being cut from the game. I get that she defeated Shinnok and whatever, but seriously? It was also a situation where Sonya was choosing randomly, so I think she should've chosen Jacqui simply because Jacqui is genuinely into being a soldier. For a moment the audience is shown the pain on Jacqui's face, and I was honestly anticipating some kind of rivalry to take place where Cassie and Jacqui end up fighting about something within the story mode.
I wrote in another post that I think Cassie joined the special forces because she wanted to impress Sonya. We know that from mkx Sonya was neglective, and if Cassie is much closer to Johnny then I don't think it would make sense for her to not have some appreciation for the creative arts. Meaning, Cassie yearns for Sonya's approval. It was also hinted that Sonya may have been abusive, randomly attacking Cassie and Jacqui with arm bars. Even while Cassie is an adult Sonya is still neglective, as noted in the last game, not even caring about Cassie's love life. It's very clear the two of them have problems with each other. One thing for sure, Cassie has inherited Sonya's cruelty which makes her snark different from Johnny's. A nice blend of seriousness and un-serious = obvious sarcasm. I'm also calling back to the 'Johnny pee pants' incident that she was told about.
"So how are things between you and Bob?" - Sonya
"For the last time his name is Dylan." - Cassie
"Why learn his name if he's not sticking around?" - Sonya
----
"I'm the new improved you." - Cassie
"(Scoff) Improved how?" - Sonya
Well for one thing, she's got powers.
----
"Jacqui says as kids you were scared of me." - Sonya
"You'd randomly attack us with arm bars." - Cassie
"And you learned to always be ready." - Sonya
The fact that she says this with a smug smile shows she sees nothing wrong with the fact that she went out of her way to scare and hurt children. Characters have been drilling in on Johnny but had nothing to say to Sonya about her parenting. Johnny made it his mission to change into a better person, even in his ending he didn't need people to tell him that he was doing something wrong because he realised it by himself. Sonya for whatever reason lacks that same awareness.
----
"Growing up I always wanted a sister." - Sonya
"To exchange style tips and dish on boys?" - Cassie
"No! To spar with." - Sonya
You can do that too, Sonya. Jeez.
----
"You are Johnny Cage's daughter." - Robocop
"Ha! Shocked I'm not some Beverly Hills brat?" - Cassie
Beverly Hills kids: Well... that hurts. I think it's somehow been engraved in Cassie that being any old normal girl is a terrible thing, and I don't support that "I'm not like other girls" nonsense. I think it was Sonya's influence, and potentially Jax.
----
"I am honoured to fight you." - Liu Kang
"I'm no chosen one, Li Kang." - Cassie
"You fought shinnok and won." - Liu Kang
Oh he's mad. He is so mad. Bro died because of Raiden.
----
Now with Jacqui.
I think Jacqui is in Cassie's shadow, hell they even erased her from her own ending. Even when she was given screen time it still felt like she was brushed to the side. Cassie was chosen to be the leader of the friend group, and in hindsight that was a bit predictable. In comparison to her Jacqui is rational and doesn't turn things into a joke. I know Cassie is serious as well, but Jacqui is more passionate about fighting for Earthrealm and being in the special forces while Cassie is more of a show off.
"Leave dad in peace." - Jacqui (mkx)
"There's things only Jax can do." - Sonya (mkx)
---
"What do you see when you look at me?" - Frost
"A cheap second gen knock off." - Jacqui
"I said look at me, not you." - Frost
These two are love and hate, two sides of the same coin. Frost wants recognition and goes against the Lin Kuei to have that, while Jacqui wants to make people proud and carry on a legacy. Both have a male counterpart of some kind. Frost disappointed Sub Zero for not being patient and she became a villain, while Jax doesn't want Jacqui to even be involved in anything kombat related. Jacqui follows, Frost demands command.
---
"Cassandra Cage overshadows you." - Cetrion
"In her own mind maybe." - Jacqui
"Do not deny your jealousy." - Cetrion
---
"It's time to pass on your mantel." - Nightwolf
"Baby girl's good, but she's not me yet." - Jax
"Don't underestimate your daughter, Jax." - Nightwolf
Notice the edge in Nightwolf's voice? Also, Jacqui doesn't have to be Jax. Not to mention she was trained by Johnny and not Jax, so it's weird of him to say that. I think she should be trained by Scorpion as a wedding gift and have a few Shirai Ryu inspired outfits if she's introduced to the franchise in future games. Anything that distances her from Jax.
---
Jacqui is called "unproven" and a "knock off" when she has in fact proven herself, she just hasn't beaten an elder God- oh wait, what is this? Jacqui defeated Cetrion? (Do not bring jax into this, I chose Jacqui). In mkx she beat Reptile and Ermac, the very same Ermac that Jax lost his arms to because he was caught lacking, and held her own against the revenants.
The characters constantly compare her to Jax, which is problematic in my opinion. As a person who was constantly compared to my older siblings growing up it felt like my identity as my own person was being stripped away from me, and I think it's the same case with Jacqui. Jacqui should be recognised more for who she is rather than who her father is, because Jacqui is just as good if not better.
"Such beauty in Kombat is rare." - Shang Tsung. Oh Shang Tsung, you pervert.
Now onto her friendship with Cassie. It's very obvious that these two grew up together and even went to the same school, which must've meant that they lived close to one another, like the same town or city. I don't think the two have always been buddy buddy, in terms of problems coming up. If it weren't for circumstances I think these two wouldn't even be close or in the same vicinity. Cassie went and dated Jacqui's love interest for prom knowing Jacqui liked him. I'm surprised these two are even friends.
Moving onto her relationship with Jax, I liked Jacqui bonding with the younger version of her dad during story mode, and seeing the differences between older Jax and young Jax.
I always saw Jax as an a-hole, but jeez. I understand being a protective father but he needed to accept that he couldn't breathe down her neck for too long. What ticks me off even more is his disapproval of Takeda. I think one of the reasons Jax isn't very fond of Takeda is because he mildly reminds him of Johnny. Takeda has that charisma about him and makes jokes as well and overall has this easy going air about him. Even after Johnny and Sonya got married, meaning Jax saw Johnny a lot more, I don't think Jax grew a liking to Johnny. I'm not sure if Jax truly had feelings for Sonya, but I do think it's a possibility if Johnny not only did not want to get between them under the suspicion that they were together, but also because he thought they would end up together.
I have a bunch of stuff to say. I believe Cassie should've done MMA fighting or something around there, that way Cassie wouldn't just be another copy of her parents.
If Jax and Sonya did end up together then I think the turn out would be more extreme. An overprotective father and a neglectful mother.
Notes: The Reader was inspired by Carrie. Why? I wanted to do a black reader with super powers, but I didn't want to write her like other black readers have been written with 42 Miles. I just can't relate with how they speak or the situations. This isn't to say she will be a sweet, precious thing, just odd.
You had a bunch of issues. First, you were a target for harassment, verbal most of the time. Vandalism was rare, but it did often happen. Your locker would be painted with unkind words, and a pencil would be missing from your pencil case and you could never point out who took it but you always had a suspicion. It wasn't too bad, depending on who you compared yourself to, but it still hurt. It was still bothersome.
You had to wonder what made you such a great and easy target in the first place. Your habit of wearing the same clothes everyday, sleeping in class, and taking things too literal. Even worse, you were too gullible. A genius would've just said these were your autistic traits, but too bad you didn't know that at the time. The many times you attempted to be different didn't work out, always setting a standard. So you gave up, counting the days until graduation. Hoping that it would come sooner than expected.
There was only one worthwhile thing in school and that was art class. Not too many people present. You weren't amazing with drawing or art in general, fairly decent, but it was the only class with any peace in it. The least judgemental lesson. In every art class you sat behind Miles Morales, and you would find yourself staring at his back. At his pretty braids.
You always liked boys with long hair, and Miles was no different. This day was no different, quiet as always and slow. It would be most preferable if you didn't make your crush obvious.
"Are you going to keep staring at me or are you gonna look away?" You heard him speak. He didn't even have to look over his shoulder.
You blinked hard, "Hmm?"
"You're staring. Stop." he didn't sound angry from what you could hear, but his tone wasn't pleasant either.
You immediately did as he asked. You tried to focus on your sketches, drawing pictures of magical girls from your favourite childhood cartoons, then drawings of more serious things. The Prowler had been on the news again, reporters painting him in good and bad light. He saved two teenagers from a burning building, others say he caused the fire. But teenagers always did stupid things, and you would know from being one. Just thinking about it made the windows crack a little.
"Look at the windows!" one of the boys spoke, pointing.
Everyone else, except Miles, either got up to have a closer look or sat in wonderment from their seat. You feigned surprise as best as you could, you've long since learned that you weren't good at faking expressions. The teacher ordered everyone to start packing up, safety being the number one priority. There was no reason for the windows to break by themselves, and you contemplated if you should stop.
As you stared at the window you slowly started packing your equipment, watching the cracks reach the corners and edge until every single one of them smashed entirely. It was like lifting an eyebrow, some could do it naturally and others couldn't.
"Alright, everyone out!" the teacher called.
Your classmates were already rushing out of the room, but only Miles remained sitting while you stood looking at the broken glass on the ground.
"[LN], Morales! Time to go!" the teacher called.
You left the room, but halfway through the door you heard Miles say behind you, "Serena had a party last night."
You started fiddling with your top, dreading what he would say. "Okay."
"What were you doing that night?" he asked coolly.
That party. That damned party.
"I got invited, and then I left." that was the truth.
"So you weren't there, when Jordan..." he grabbed your arm, "Threw his drink at you."
That's not all that happened. They threw food at you, and your clothes became stained. You dressed special for that day, hopeful, unfortunately expectant.
"I..." you tried to pull your arm away.
"How did that fire happen?" he turned you to face him. You averted your eyes. Miles' eyes were beautiful but the way they bore into your soul was most unkind.
You had heard that artists were weird. They either did weird things or had something weird about them. Maybe this was another occasion. You tried to forget about these powers. Even though you have embraced that there was something wrong strange about you.... you couldn't help the need to be decently normal deep down. Now these powers just had to bite at your behind.
"What fire?"
"Don't play stupid, you've seen the news. Serena and Jordan are now in the hospital, the others might still be in a coma."
"How is that my problem?" you asked, your cruel side demanding attention.
Miles was mildly impressed with your response, the grip on your arm loosening. "It isn't," he admitted, "I just know the fire wasn't natural."
"I don't know what happened to them."
He let go of your arm, "Fine."
You walked away.
If you ever wanted to grab the attention of Miles Morales, you didn't want to grab it like this. You weren't sure if your classmate suspecting you of arson should be something to worry about.
"I can't blame her if she did do it, I mean I don't think I should go around killing my classmates, but can you believe they decided to live stream it?" Miles removed the screwdriver from his claw.
Miles' uncle, Aaron, sighed, "Kids as old as you run wild, boys most of all. Girls are different, they go out of their way to plan stuff. I don't know what to tell you."
"I worry about her, tio. She really didn't do anything to... warrant that behaviour."
This, Aaron knew what to say to. "Sometimes people don't need a reason to do something, they'll just do it. That hazing thing was a classic example of that." he tossed a drill to Miles, "Was there a chance she got any clue what they were planning?"
Miles shook his head aggressively, "I don't think she understands basic human interactions even if she tried, I've seen how she is. All they did was smile in her face when they invited her. Smiles are a good thing, and it takes her a while to pick up on the fact that she's getting made fun of."
"Look out for her, then. If she really has something to do with that fire like you suspect, then this could turn bad. Women can be crazy, Miles."
"Okay. I will, tio."
Some days passed since the minor interrogation with Miles, and though he seemed to pretend you no longer existed, you could feel his eyes on you. You tried to be on your best behaviour, and you've had better control of your powers ever since he brought up the incident. You didn't want to be suspected of a single crime.
Upon this suspect-tion came sleepless night, which led to sleeping in class.
"[Name]." sounded faint, like the screams that only felt regret from fear and not guilt.
"[Name]." it was louder this time. A warning for your attention. You search through the heat for where it was coming from.
"[Name.]" This time there was no mistaking it, this voice was not from the dream.
Wherever you were, there was no escaping that fire. Although you had gotten so used to the dreams, you couldn't help your eyes tearing up. You made sure to turn your face away from whoever had shook your shoulder.
You weren't sad or scared, but you couldn't help it. Something about being unable to regulate your emotions.
"[Name.]" the person hadn't left, and now that you were no longer as sleepy you recognised whose voice it was.
"Hey, Miles."
"Hey." he greeted.
He hadn't moved back to his seat, so you looked up to his face, waiting for him to potentially say more, this time not averting your eyes.
He did have more to say, "You're a Tokyo Mew Mew fan." he looked down at your sketchbook, which was still open.
You quickly covered it with your arms, glaring at him. Daring him to say something about your long lasting interest.
"I'm going comic con this Saturday. Do you wanna come?"
His face, and his eyes, were kind. But you couldn't help suspiciously being on edge.
"I don't know." left your lips quicker than it usually did.
He didn't appear disappointed, judging by the lack of expression on his face. He glanced to the side, "Class finished five minutes ago, by the way."
So that's why it was so quiet.
"Can I walk you to lunch?"
Yes. No. What was the correct answer?
"I don't know." you couldn't come up with a better response.
For whatever reason he smiled, or smirked(?). For better or for worse.
"Come on, I'll make sure you get there safely."
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Feeling cute, might do a part 2.
Yukako Yamagishi - People often think her to be related to Josuke and she doesn't understand why. She refuses to believe there are any facial similarities. If not Josuke then Tomoko. Her stand is Bruford reincarnated.
Holly Joestar Kujo - Holly was a rebellious teenager: She was going around crashing cars, and dated a foreigner just to spite Joseph, only to actually fall in love with him. Holly has Hamon, but just like George 2nd she doesn't really use it. She has an overwhelming amount of physical strength, so she never needs help with shopping.
Tomoko Higashikata - Has a thing for older men, not interested in men her own age. Bonus if the guy is foreign. Her rage reminds the Morioh residents of Yukako. (I just really love the twins au). She's the hottest woman at her workplace.
Shizuka Joestar - She grows up having the same personality as Suzy Q, but has the wit and quick thinking of Joseph. She's been taught how to use hamon since Joseph had to halt his own ageing process when raising her.
Santana - He was a teenager when he woke up from him slumber. He finds a way to escape the Speedwagon foundation. He has a lot of internalised inferiority due to the treatment he experienced under Kars and Esidisi, and the constant comparison to Wamuu. He gets annoyed easily.
Narciso Anasui - He's also on the spectrum. Has a tendency to take things apart, and his intentions are often misread, which puts him in a sticky limelight. He has a hard time understanding why certain things are wrong (like creepy behaviour that was intended as romantic gestures). Picks and chooses when he wants to feel the weather. Doesn't like the rain's wetness, so he'll wear a hat. Definitely explains his fashion sense.
Warning: Terrible Shots
I'm gonna quickly bring up the past and appreciate the fact that NRS made Johnny and Kuai Liang have a maybe friendship with each other.
Even though Kuai is hostile towards Johnny, he still entertains him a bit. Compare that to his intros with Sonya where he eludes to intending on killing her.
In mkx he gives the kombat kids a test, specifically requested by Johnny. The fact that he not only has contact with Johnny, but agreed to it says a lot in my opinion. Of course, the kombat kids don't know this, but there's something Cassie says that caught my attention.
"My father always spoke highly of you, Sub-Zero. He wants to talk." - Cassie
"Talking. Always his first choice." - Kuai Liang
How close were Johnny and Kuai Liang before mk1? Besides being mentoring the kids and making sure they become great warriors, (edit) what else? Edit: There had to be more to it. Cassie says Johnny always spoke highly, which means whenever Johnny was telling Cassie about the events that came before, Johnny only had good things to say about Kuai Liang. Kuai in return, not so nice things, but in comparison to what everyone else has to say about Johnny, it was pretty tame. It just raises the question: How often did they talk? I theorise that Kuai could see himself in Johnny to some extent. Johnny remained to serve Earthrealm and is incredibly loyal to Earthrealm (especially Raiden), but was also all too happy to train his own daughter and many others (no shade). Kuai can relate with starting fresh and leading a new generation. Jax left the military, but Johnny stayed even though there was nothing in it for him to.
Kuai had Frost as his student, and I like to think they both have a strained father-daughter relationship. While Johnny doesn't have a strained relationship with his daughter, you can see that Cassie is some kind of identity crisis, having Johnny and Sonya's traits and having to deal with constant comparisons from anyone that knows them. In other words, they've both experienced parent-hood, with the child being reflections of the parent. Frost broke the mirror, but Cassie keeps it intact.
Also, both of them joined the tournament for selfish reasons. Johnny for his career, Kuai to avenge his brother. You could argue that it's the same for Sonya and Jax, but they were actively working for the military, while Kuai went against the Lin Kuei.
Now I'll show one of his mkx intros:
"Do you not recognise me?" - Kuai Liang
"How'd you get un-cyberised?" - Johnny
"The one benefit of Quan Chi's process." - Kuai Liang
Here's what I find funny. Why would he need to question Johnny about this, considering they've barely had an interaction in the mk9 storymode. (The rest of the intros are comically bad, so I won't transcribe them)
All of the intros Johnny has with Kaui Liang in mk11 are pretty chill.
Now compare those with this one.
"A good general is hard to find." - Kuai Liang
"What's that supposed to mean?" - Sonya
"Your soldiers are going to miss you." - Kuai Liang
What he mean by that?
"There's only one leader here." - Sonya
"Then prove yourself worthy." - Kuai Liang
"I proved that a long time ago." - Sonya
Kuai Liang (supposedly) respects Sonya more than he respects Johnny, and yet he says things like this to her??? Shows the potential closeness Kuai Liang had with Johnny in the old timeline. Kuai Linag and Hanzo friendship is great, but we were robbed of the idea of Johnny and Kuai Liang.