Where your favorite blogs come alive
Kung Lao - Blog Posts
MK1 Characters Ages Headcanon
Vaeternus: 1 year = 6k years
Edenian: 1 year = 400 years
Draconian: 1 year = 250 years
*For Vaeternus, I made these calculations based on a Nitara intro. I believe Kung Lao asks her how old she is and Nitara says that she was a little girl when humans discovered fire. There were many differing accounts on when that happened but I decided to pick the one that said fire was a widespread, controlled source 125,000 years ago. It was the second most recent account- first being 12,000 years ago. I chose 125k since I assume the intro I mentioned is meant to hint how much older Vaeternus is than most races.
*Since the story confirmed that Kitana and Mileena were 10,000 years old, I used the number to find an estimated number of Edenian years that equals a single human year. I considered Kitana and Mileena to be 25 in human years since it divides 10,000 evenly and the sisters look close to that age- dividing those numbers equaled to 400 years. So, 400 Edenian years is equal to 1 human year.
*In the story, Sindel confronted Shao and mentioned how she remembered the sickly boy he was. This is evidence that Sindel is older than Shao by a few years- ten years at minimum; however, in my opinion, Shao looks older than Sindel so I believe the Draconian species have a shorter life span than Edenians, but they are still much larger than human’s. Unlike with the Edenians, I decided to have 250 Draconian years be equivalent to one human year because of an idea of an estimated range.
*Liu Kang is slightly older than the Big Bang in the New Era. I couldn’t calculate Geras’ age since he’s experienced a ginormous amount of timelines. Calculations over a trillion is too difficult for any calculator to compute.
Ashrah: 29 (human years)
Baraka: 22k (Edenian years), 55 (human years)
General Shao: 12,500 (Draconian years), 50 (human years)
Geras: Can’t Calculate
Havik: 27 (human years)
Johnny Cage: 28
Kenshi Takahashi: 28
Kitana: 10k (Edenian years; canon), 25 (human years)
Kung Lao: 24
Jerrod: 20k (Edenian years), 50 (human years) [If he were alive]
Li Mei: 18,400 (Edenian years), 46 (human years)
Liu Kang: 13.8 billion
Mileena: 10k (Edenian years; canon), 25 (human years)
Nitara: 150k (Vaeternus years) or 12k (Vaeternus years), 25 (human years)
Raiden: 24
Rain: 10,400 (Edenian years), 26 (human years)
Reiko: 26 (human years)
Reptile: 29 (human years)
Kuai Liang/Scorpion: 26
Sindel: 19,200 (Edenian years), 48 (human years)
Shang Tsung: 27 (human years)
Tomas Vrbada/Smoke: 25
Bi-Han/Sub-Zero: 28
Tanya: 9,600 (Edenian years), 24 (human years)
My MK1 Fatalities Tier List (Main Roster)
Note: The placements are based on the average rating of both fatalities. For example, if I gave a character an S and a B then they would go to an A rank since that would be the average. Also, if rankings are next to each other then I will round up to the higher rank. For instance, I gave Li Mei an S and an A for her fatalities so she would go to the S rank since I'm rounding the overall rating to the higher one.
Here's a more detailed ranking (where I add + and -) if you are curious:
Ashrah
Fatality 1- B+
Fatality 2- B
Baraka
Fatality 1: B-
Fatality 2: S
General Shao
Fatality 1: C
Fatality 2: B-
Geras
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: S
Havik
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: B+
Johnny Cage
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: A
Kitana
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: A-
Kenshi
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: A
Kung Lao
Fatality 1: C+
Fatality 2: A
Li Mei
Fatality 1: S
Fatality 2: A+
Liu Kang
Fatality 1: S
Fatality 2: S+
Mileena
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: C+
Nitara
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: C+
Raiden
Fatality 1: B
Fatality 2: A
Rain
Fatality 1: A-
Fatality 2: B-
Reiko
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: A
Reptile
Fatality 1: S
Fatality 2: B
Scorpion
Fatality 1: B
Fatality 2: A+
Shang Tsung
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: S
Sindel
Fatality 1: A
Fatality 2: B+
Smoke
Fatality 1: C
Fatality 2: C-
Sub-Zero
Fatality 1: B+
Fatality 2: B
Tanya
Fatality 1: B
Fatality 2: B+
Kameos (Bonus):
Cyrax: S
Darrius: C-
Frost: C
Goro: A
Jax: B
Kano: C
Kung Lao: C
Motaro: C+
Sareena: A
Scorpion: B
Sektor: B+
Shujinko: A
Sonya: C
Stryker: C+
Sub-Zero: B
MK1 Character Writing Review
I'm curious about other fans' opinions on MK1's character writing. Personally, I think it's improved most characters but there are some issues.
Ashrah: I'm happy she's back because Ashrah was the 3D-era character I wanted to return. I really like that they kept her story from the 3D era but improved it. I'm curious to see if she'll get corrupted by the Kriss in the next game.
Baraka: His story improved immensely. I never cared for Baraka in the previous games since he wasn't developed enough and was just one of Shao Kahn's henchmen. Baraka being a victim of Tarkat makes him more sympathetic and interesting. I hope he gets a happy ending but I think he'll die in the later games.
General Shao: I'm a bit disappointed in how he was written. I was hoping we'd learn about his past and how it affected his personality. Shao was born with a weak body, so I expected his father to be abusive by forcing Shao to go beyond his limits. This would cause Shao to believe being strong is the only thing that matters. Hopefully, the next story portrays Shao as more than a stock villain.
Geras: I really liked this version of Geras compared to MK11's since he's more than Kronika's minion. He's loyal to Liu Kang but they are friends/partners, and Geras wants to protect Liu Kang's timeline because he believes in its potential.
Havik: I was really interested in learning about Havik, his powers, and the Chaos realm. I was disappointed that Havik was a minor character and his powers weren't explained. I heard that there will be a story taking place in Seido/Order Realm so I'm crossing my fingers that we'll have a great story for Havik and other Order/Chaos realm characters.
Johnny Cage: His backstory and personality didn't change that much which I'm glad for because MK9-11 Johnny had one of the best character arcs in that era. I really enjoyed his bromance with Kenshi and his comedic moments were really fun (my favorite was the Alien reference).
Kenshi: Kenshi's story was already good but it was improved upon and explored further. Kenshi wanting Sento to protect his family from the Yakuza and bring back the Taira clan made me sympathize with him, and actually seeing how he loses his sight was horrifying and broke my heart. His bromance was Johnny was one of my favorite parts and I hope they are in future games together.
Kitana: I found Kitana kind of bland. Unfortunately, with her old goal of wanting to be an Empress going to Mileena, she lost what made her interesting. She felt more like Mileena's sidekick rather than her own character. Maybe that'll change in future games since she's a part of Mileena's council.
Kung Lao: Kung Lao was likable and enjoyable. I don't have much to say other than that. I want the next story to explore his ego/arrogance and why he has that attitude. Although I really like Raiden as Earthrealm's champion, I sort of wish Kung Lao was the champion since he's wished for that opportunity for so long.
Li Mei: Li Mei is an okay character. She's kind of boring since she's a "follow the rules" character. Her and Sindel's friendship was the most interesting aspect of her. Li Mei's powers are really cool though, and I'm a big fan of Kelly Hu (her va).
Liu Kang: Having Liu Kang as Earth's protector and Time Keeper made his character more interesting compared to him being the "Chosen One." I am slightly disappointed in the way he was written. I expected/wanted Liu Kang to be a neutral good character where he's willing to do bad things to keep the peace. They kind of did that with Liu Kang creating meaningless lives for Shang Tsung and Quan-Chi, but he was never called out for those decisions. I also wanted the other characters to start questioning Liu Kang about why there are still tragedies occurring and why doesn't he intervene. Though we get it in the battle intros, I wanted it explored in the story. The writing for how Liu Kang's time powers was also pretty unclear. The power's restrictions were never specified so it's not obvious which events in the timeline are Liu Kang's mistakes or not.
Mileena: Adored her in this game! I love seeing Mileena happy for once with a loving family and a good life. I expected her to be overtaken by Tarkat the whole but was happy to see her with a regular mouth for most of the game. Having her as Empress is really interesting and can't wait to see more of that.
Nitara: I really wanted to like Nitara, yet she's so bland. I thought we would learn about Vaternius, and see Nitara being a truly neutral character. Compared to the other 3D characters in the game, she was the most disappointing.
Raiden: This version of Raiden is way more likable than previous iterations. He's nice, humble, handsome, and strong. He's literally the perfect man! I'd like his anger issues from the previous iterations to be developed in the next story. His anger would get out of control after a tragedy and he feels like being more ruthless is more beneficial to protecting everyone.
Rain: I don't have much to say about Rain. He's kind of boring and was sidelined in the game. Maybe he'll have some kind of connection to Delia and Argus, which will introduce them to the new timeline.
Reiko: Reiko's okay. The only thing I'm really interested in is his relationship with General Shao and it's mostly me wondering whether Shao is capable of caring/loving someone.
Reptile: Love this rendition of Reptile! Like Baraka, Syzoth is more complex and isn't only Shao Kahn's minion. He has one of my favorite designs in the game and his backstory shows the issue of internal racism. The only thing I'm iffy about is his family that was murdered was his wife and son since that is very similar to Baraka's backstory to losing his wife and children to Tarkat. Plus, it's kind of weird that he moved on with Ashrah relatively quickly. I would've preferred if his family were his parents or siblings.
Scorpion: At first, I was a bit iffy about Kuai Liang being Scorpion but think it was a good choice since it makes the rivalry between the Lin Kuei and the Shirai-Ryu more personal. I'm excited to see how his and Sub-Zero's story moves forward.
Sindel: Good queen and mom Sindel is best Sindel! She was very likable! I had a feeling she would die in the story though her soul being absorbed into Ermac was unexpected. I'm interested in where this story will go.
Shang Tsung: I really enjoyed how sassy Shang Tsung was, and was glad he was the main villain after so long. The only thing I'm disappointed in is we didn't see more of his backstory. Also, the idea of Shang Tsung being evil all along NRS was going with was pretty lame. I wanted to see whether Shang Tsung was truly born evil or if was he made that way because of his hardships. It being the latter would've been intriguing because it means Liu Kang technically created Shang Tsung.
Smoke: Smoke is a sweetie, but didn't have much going for him. I was really interested in Smoke when he was in MK9 so I expected him to have his own chapter and develop. Maybe the Lin Kuei/Shirai Ryu war will give me that.
Sub-Zero: I hoped Bi-Han would be an interesting antihero instead of a generic villain. His betrayal is fine, but I wish he was more indecisive or slightly regretful of his choice since he lost his brothers. For example, when he slashed Kuai Liang's eye, I wanted to see him be regretful and sorry for hurting his brother. We didn't get that, which is one of the biggest disappointments of the story.
Tanya: I'm neutral with Tanya. Personally, her role and personality are too similar to Jade's. She felt like a totally different character who happened to have the same name as the original Tanya. Changing a character's story is okay, yet there should be some part of the original iteration that stays. I do find her and Mileena super sweet and I hope they live a happy life.
OUUUUGHHHH IM DYING
🥹 they got together again, my poly couple <3
kung lao, raiden, kenshi, and johnny
Maybe I have a request for Kung Lao x Tall and Buff Muscular!fem reader. How his reaction of Muscular!Fem reader flex her muscles
EMBRACE OF A GODDESS
kung lao x reader | sfw
Cw! female reader, fluffy, light suggestive content, drabble
Summary! Kung Lao has a crush on a literal goddess (his words not mine)
Kung Lao wasn't jealous by any means. He swears.
Or enamored either.
"You're lying to yourself, dude." Johnny was amused at his pain. Kung Lao never seen such a woman, and she could most definitely break him in half.
Somehow he couldn't find himself disliking such a thing. You were tall and smiling. A goddess next to the likes of Liu Kang. A strong woman and a strong fighter.
"Oh my, you're red." Raiden giggled as his eyes drifted between him and you. You standing in your glory in the sun.
With the flex of your arm muscles, you could see all that you worked for. Kung Lao was floored. His face was hot and he was confused.
His mind flashed with pictures of his head between those thick thighs of yours. Or even his entire body wrapped in a hug, like a blanket of warmth.
"God dammit! Leave me alone!" He grumbled.
His outburst caused you to look over, and he visibly stiffed.
No! He had no crush, nor did he want to be crushed by you. Definitely didn't want to be on his knees for you.
"It's too hot in here!" Kung Lao shouted before storming off. His face only became hotter when he heard your faint giggle when Johnny loudly told you what Kung Lao was doing earlier.
He would have his revenge, and get a spar with you soon.
He swears he's not imagining you taking him down, and dominating him.
Totally...
Shout out to Kung Lao for uhhh. Being Kung Lao
Happy Chinese New Year!
They are performing at the Shaolin Temple
Training with Kung Lao :3
I think I love the "Kung Lao is a slacker" viewpoint, because that means just about everything he does is natural talent.
So imagine how absolutely terrifying that man is when he decides to put effort into something.
So umm got bored in class today 😍
Fell asleep in math…did not end up good 😨
Don’t y’all LOVE terrible lighting! 😍
My art style a couple months ago!! 😀 OMG I WAS SO LAZY
Didn’t think that I was going to finish this 😍🫶
Poor Liu kang they slapped his face with stars 😭
Just a colored version 😘
Poor eyed kenshi 😔 WOMP WOMP
Should I finish the famous dumb ass twins drawing?
Should I color it? Art block FUCKING SUCKSSS DIC-
Liu kang tired of these fools 💀😭
Johnny CAN NOT be talking 🥲
Kung Lao piece I did trying to figure out his face
I firmly believe that, originally, Liu Kang had expected that the champion would be Kenshi. Now, don’t get him wrong. Any champion would be fine by him, he trusts them all and loves them all. And it would’ve made sense that Kenshi would be the one to win, as he was the one with the most experience out of the four champions.
But when Kenshi was defeated, it took him by surprise that this man, Kenshi, who escaped the yakuza. Who was more skilled in fighting terms, that had more experience, had lost.
That put Liu Kang slightly on edge. Because it meant that his champion would be either Johnny, Raiden or Kung Lao. When Johnny lost, his nerves weren’t appealed. But when Kung Lao lost, it felt like he could breath again.
His brain making him remember when his friend had died on his timeline. He trusts Kung Lao, he trusts him as a person and he trusts his strength. But he’s still grateful that it wouldn’t be Kung Lao the one to face Shao Ka—General Shao.
Even if this new tournament, that he himself organized, didn’t required for anyone to die, like in his timeline, Liu Kang—despite all the eons that had passed— still had it fresh in his skull when his friend died. The celebrations that the public had made when Kung Lao’s inert, cold, dead body hit the arena. The way his eyes were wide open, staring at nothing, and how the bone of the neck was slightly peeking out through the skin.
Liu Kang doesn’t think he will ever forget any of it.
I love the fact that, even though Liu Kang changed a bit of everyone, either in personality or story or whatever, he DID leave Kung Lao as he was in his timeline. Because, that’s his best friend right there. His best man.
How can he bring himself to change something about Kung Lao? How can he bring himself to change his bestie? Kung Lao may not remember him, but Liu Kang does. He remembers. And leaving his friend as he remembers him, might be Liu Kang’s own way of grieving with the fact that the people he used to know, no longer exist.
Sure, there are other timelines where his friends are still alive. But as the Time Keeper, the God of Fire and the guardian of the Earthrealm, he can’t exactly go and visit them. The ones in his universe are the only ones he gets to see daily.
Yet only Geras and him remember.
Tbh the most funny thing is adding a whole group chat of c.ai bots then acting like it's an actual group chat of those characters and your oc. This is so fucking funny. [This isn't suppose to follow cannon. Just for shits and giggles.]
What type of Cards Against Humanity players would the Mortal Kombat X Kast be?
Note(s) : I have not played this game fully and I also haven't written for these characters before, this is almost definitely inaccurate and cringe, but I'm free.
Kung Jin -
Goes the dark humor route, but plays it with a complete straight face, he does laugh, but purposefully never at his own cards because he thinks it'll be 'suspicious'. It becomes a tell to see what his card is. He never picks what the person choosing would find funny, which means he usually never gets any black cards.
He will absolutely rage quit, or just try and get others to rage quit by being snarky and incredibly salty about his losing odds.
Takeda Takahashi -
He's not extremely dark humored (?) in his cards, but one of his cards made Liu Kang faint once. He typically goes to dad humor, the ones where you laugh at them but don't actually pick them.
He's never actually angry when he loses, sure, he's a bit salty especially if he finds his cards funny, but, at the end of the day, it's just a game.
Cassie Cage -
It depends on a, the black card, and b, the person choosing. She can win easily if it's her parents or Jacqui, she knows their humor, but if it's someone like Kitana she's screwed. Very 50/50 with her win chances.
She'll only get angry if Kung Jin wins, they're wlw and mlm hostility.
Jacqui Briggs -
Her cards are always hit or miss, she either puts her best card down on a prompt but someone else has a better card, or she saves her good cards until it's too late. She tends to get little to no black cards.
Never gets angry at a loss, she's pretty competitive during it, but afterwards even if she loses, she's just happy to spend time with everybody.
Kitana -
Gets confused on the point of the game, she's trying to keep her dignity and plays the less Inappropriate cards, whenever a particularly dark humor one comes along, she sneaks it back into the pile and picks a different card. She never gets black cards.
Doesn't get angry, she finds the game a bit pointless anyway.
Mileena -
The amount of horror this lady thinks of on the daily can't compare to any cards in any deck, she somehow always brings the worst one out, hardly ever wins because people are too horrified to pick her cards.
Will attempt murder if she doesn't win every round.
Johnny Cage -
Always goes the outwardly dad humor route, he rarely ever picks dark humor cards to put down unless that's all he has. Usually people can tell it's him, so he only wins if the person choosing likes him.
He says that he's only pretending to be salty as a joke, but in reality? It definitely makes him lose pride for at least one evening. Everyone can tell. And they all make fun of him.
Sonya Blade -
She plays with dry yet witty humor, ones you'd expect to see in a teen drama series or something, she's always relying on what she thinks her friends will find funny, and gets black cards regularly.
Will only rage if someone gets a black card and she finds the card genuinely unfunny, she can get over losing if she has a laugh over the card they chose, but if not, she's holding that over that person's head for years.
Kenshi Takahashi -
He's more of a judge, makes sure nobody commits murder, and makes sure nobody cheats. He can't play for obvious reasons, but he does secretly root for certain players, and may or may not excuse cheating if it means someone he doesn't like will lose.
Hanzo Hasashi -
He's silent the entire time, doesn't pick dark humor cards, and doesn't pick any funny ones, either, it's always a deadpan and scorchingly dry card, he's never won a single black card, everyone can tell it's his card, and nobody will pick his.
He's treating it more like a game of chess, and so when he loses he sort of just goes 'welp, could've been smarter.' And moves on.
Liu Kang -
He doesn't find any cards funny to be honest, and he mostly relies on how other people react to see what they find funny, as such, he has no black cards until the end, where he makes a comeback so insane everybody fully believes he cheats.
Won't rage if the comeback fails and he loses, however, he will get annoyed if Kung Jin wins. ( No but why was this man so outraged in every intro like calm tf down )
Kung Lao -
He won't be too sour if he loses, he's past the point of being insecure at every loss, but he definitely does try too hard to be funny. It makes everybody cringe. He gets at least one or two black cards on a bad day, but he plays too much into his humor rather than the person choosing.
Jackson Briggs -
Plays a lot of dry and witty type humor cards down, or ones where it's an actual answer to the card that would make sense, he's a sort of mix of Hanzo and Johnny, so he typically gets a few black cards, and wins maybe.
Doesn't get angry at all, he's just happy to be here.
I’m back bois - this took longer than it should but i pulled through ✌️😭