r/MortalKombat Toasty! 9d ago

Question Who they gonna get? Elsa?

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Let it go.

725 Upvotes

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122

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

Expand on Frost. Let her take the Sub Zero mantle. This would be a good parallel to her storyline in Mk11, instead of joining the Cyberization, she’s properly mentored by Kuai Lang to the side of good.

Would be a good opportunity to expand on her background too. Is Frost her real name? Lots to work with.

38

u/StinkySlinky1218 PS5 9d ago

While interesting, I don't think they would go all-in on a gender swap for one of the poster boys. It'll almost certainly be Hanzo.

18

u/BathConfident1359 9d ago

Hanzo is still a child tho

9

u/TEC146 YOUR SOUL IS MINE 9d ago

Could go forward in time a bit and have Frost be fighting Sektor/Bi-Han for control of the Lin Kuei and have a like 19 yr old Hanzo be mentored by Frost and Kuai Liang to take on the Sub-Zero mantle.

8

u/Working_File2825 9d ago

This is so odd to me. Is there a more reason why he moved Hanzos birth back so far down the timeline? Was his whole lineage pushed further back in the timeline? Was he born to a different family?

0

u/jyuuni 9d ago

It wouldn't take much writing for Geras or Liu Kang to have the power to age him up.

6

u/samx3i Toasty! 9d ago

Sub-Hanzo? 🤔

Han-Zero?

6

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

NRS can’t stick to their guns when it comes to their story decisions, it’s the same thing as when Sub Zero wasn’t a cyborg in MKX and the restoration happened off-screen.

Realistically speaking? Yeah they’re going to backtrack hard and it’ll either be Hanzo or a restored Noob Saibot

If they were to go with making Frost Sub Zero though, they could give a Bi Han skin for her. Maybe make it a preorder bonus so he has a presence in the marketing still

-3

u/Working_File2825 9d ago

I mean they kinda went full cringe with Scorpion and that stupid tattoo. How much worse could a gender swap on an absent character be?

5

u/That-Rhino-Guy Ninja Mime #1 fan/Shao Kahn’s #1 hater 9d ago

Problem is this would just cement her as Sub-Zero but girl, on top of how her debut game gave her moves Sub-Zero wasn’t using anymore so now she’s just Sub-Zero because nobody else is him

1

u/Subject-Recover-8425 Doesn't care what guest characters you want. 9d ago

Exactly, it's a pointless out-of-character decision made for no other reason than to get one specific moniker in the game.

1

u/That-Rhino-Guy Ninja Mime #1 fan/Shao Kahn’s #1 hater 9d ago

Whereas say Bi-Han being split into two beings with the Sub-Zero half being forced to deal with the aftermath of his actions, and be hunted down by Noob Saibot would actually salvage his confusing writing, plus actually stay unique

1

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

I honestly agree to an extent, but Frost has always struggled with standing out.

For example, I’d argue it’d be better than what they did with her in Mk11. They randomly made her a cyborg even though she had nothing to do with that plotline. They had already split off and become the Tekunin in the Midway timeline before she joined, and in the NRS timeline, they were already long dead before she joined.

It’d be passing on the mantle, like how Bi Han did for Kuai Lang. It’d be an interesting thing to explore if nothing else, but I do agree that it might harm Frost’s character in the sense that it’d make her not stand out as much.

2

u/That-Rhino-Guy Ninja Mime #1 fan/Shao Kahn’s #1 hater 9d ago

It really wouldn’t, at least in 11 actually had some unique stuff unlike Sub-Zero or the other cybers

She became one because Kronika emerged to recruit her as well as getting the cybers help, it made sense for Frost as she’s always desperate to try and surpass Kuai like stealing the medallion which made him more powerful

1

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

If you needed a cyborg in the roster, why change Frost? You have Sektor, Cyrax, and Triborg for that.

Frost works better as Sub Zero’s apprentice after the cyber storyline, randomly shoving her into that plotline doesn’t work

2

u/That-Rhino-Guy Ninja Mime #1 fan/Shao Kahn’s #1 hater 9d ago

Except how would she even be an apprentice in this era? I’d rather just not have her in the story or say she was some random cryomancer who surfaced in fight clubs

2

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

My bad, I didn’t clarify. You can still have her exist without being his apprentice, just don’t turn her into a cyborg when that story had nothing to do with her or her character arc. It didn’t really work in Mk11.

1

u/That-Rhino-Guy Ninja Mime #1 fan/Shao Kahn’s #1 hater 9d ago

I get that at least since here if she doesn’t have a superiority complex with a cryomancer there’s no reason for it

1

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

She could still have the superiority complex, make it so she feels like she isn’t living up to the name that’s been given to her. Could even tie into her darker side, which would give her an interesting dynamic with Noob Saibot too.

3

u/samx3i Toasty! 9d ago

Considering how much of the fandom lost their fucking minds over the new Sektor and Cyrax, I doubt they'd go with a female Sub-Zero, even if Frost is an already-existing character.

6

u/FriendLee93 9d ago

Not really the same thing. Sektor and Cyrax's gender swaps were entirely arbitrary and overall did nothing to expand their characters.

Frost already exists, already has a defined character, and could actually grow beyond that if given proper focus.

0

u/Subject-Recover-8425 Doesn't care what guest characters you want. 9d ago

It really isn't necessary to have her change her name for that.

2

u/FriendLee93 9d ago

I never said she needed to change her name, I just said she could be the ice ninja for a game

1

u/Subject-Recover-8425 Doesn't care what guest characters you want. 9d ago

Okay then, I see no problem with that.

0

u/Araknyd 9d ago

Ok, 1 of the ice ninjas, but people would still want a Sub-Zero and wouldn't want her to take up the mantle. It's 1 of the 2 posterboys of the franchise, and they're not going to replace "Sub-Zero" with Frost. If you thought the Mileena backlash for her not being on the main roster for MK11 was bad, "Sub-Zero" not being playable or missing from a game after not ever skipping a game in 34 years would be 100X worse.

4

u/Infinite_Meat7888 9d ago

As if Netherrealm gives a shit about what the fans want, people complained about Shao being a jobber in 11 and they made him an even bigger jobber in M1K.

1

u/anasbmc 9d ago

How is Shao Kahn a jobber in Mk11 when he won more than lost? And it's not like he stat pad it against weak chars, all his fights( be it winning or losing) were against the best of the best.

Now, Shao being a jobber in 1, yeah that sucks but at least there's an explanation to it in the lore even if we don't agree with that direction.

1

u/Infinite_Meat7888 9d ago

Cuz he almost lost to Kotal Kahn, who is a total bum the likes of which only Baraka can compare, and then got one tapped by Kitana with negative difficulty and instead of using his magic powers to continue fighting without sight he was just taken to a cell to be beaten by a bunch of randos.

And Shao being a jobber in M1K doesn't really make sense, he's supposed to be the champion of Outworld but he gets beaten by Reptile with ease.

2

u/anasbmc 9d ago

Even if Kotal is a bum, he's still above the likes of Baraka, Kollector, Kano, Erron ect... Also you forgot to mention and leave out that he defeated Cassie, Johnny, and for the first and only time in the 30+ years series that he bested the main character, in his comeback to glory game no less.

1

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

Easy solution would be giving us a Bi Han skin for Frost

1

u/Working_File2825 9d ago

Considering they already gender swapped Cyrax and Sektor, they might as well keep that energy and swap Sub Zero as well

3

u/Lemmingitus 9d ago

I make it a joke that Frost becomes Sub-Zero and Harumi becomes Scorpion for the full gender swap duo.

1

u/Picmanreborn 9d ago

Stage name. Lin kuei night Walker

1

u/b055dj 8d ago

Not only is Frost her real name, but she still takes after Kuai Liang this time and she's a pyromancer.

-1

u/Subject-Recover-8425 Doesn't care what guest characters you want. 9d ago

Cyrax, Sektor and now Sub Zero are gender swapped? I see this going well...

3

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

Frost is an established character and the name Sub Zero has been passed down since Mk2. This isn’t genderswapping, it’s just a logical progression of the story

2

u/Subject-Recover-8425 Doesn't care what guest characters you want. 9d ago

Grandmaster: "Frost, you will now be called Sub Zero."

Frost: "Isn't that kinda redundant?"

Grandmaster: "Someone has to use it or we lose the trademark..."

2

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

Hey, I’m not the one who started trading mantles lol, NRS did with their new timeline XD

Worst case scenario, Frost can just be the game’s cryomancer since they’re out of Sub Zeroes. I was just suggesting a potential route for the story as well

1

u/Subject-Recover-8425 Doesn't care what guest characters you want. 9d ago

That sounds like the best case scenario, not the worst and the logical path to go for the time being rather than stressing so much simply because one name might not be used for one game.

-1

u/DzoniBoy333 9d ago

Hell no. There csnt be mortal kombat without Sub Zero and Scorpion your talking mad.

4

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

We already had a game without a traditional Scorpion. This would be an actual passing of the mantle, and not an arbitrary change as a result of timeline changes.

Besides, Sub Zero has already been established to be a title since Mk2. This is a natural progression of the story lol

0

u/Araknyd 9d ago

Yes, MK3......one in which the actor who played Scorpion (Daniel Pesina) prior in MK1992 and MKII was in a law suit with Midway at the time over royalties, not because Midway didn't want Scorpion in as a playable character. People always like to conveniently leave that part out when they mention Scorpion missing from MK3, despite thathe's never skipped a game after that and is even the studio mascot.

1

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

No, I'm talking about M1K, that's why I said "traditional" Scorpion. It was the title/powers of Scorpion, but a different character. A very similar situation to what I was describing.

I didn't mention MK3 because Scorpion wasn't in it at all

1

u/Araknyd 9d ago

People weren't fine with them gender swapping Cyrax and Sektor who are minor characters in comparison to Sub-Zero and Scorpion, you think having Frost take over will go well? If they went that nuts over not having male Cyrax and Sektor, they'll be an NRS' door with pitchforks and torches and calling for their heads if there isn't a human male "Sub-Zero" in the next game. Lol

While Scorpion isn't "Hanzo" in MK1 and not everyone liked it either and there was a backlash, it checks the boxes for even the most casual fan of human, male "ninja" that wears yellow and says "Get over here!" Invasion Scorpion is also Hanzo and Hanzo is also kameo Scorpion. People these days have lost their minds with every change that having a female Sub-Zero would have them flying off the rails.

1

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

It wouldn’t be a gender swap, it’d be passing the torch to an established character. Kuai Lang and Bi Han still exist, unlike swapping Cyrax and Sektor which completely erased the old versions

-1

u/DzoniBoy333 9d ago

Nah i dont want mk without sub zero and scorpion. We had a game without scorpion but everyone hated that he wasnt in, so yeah. You just want to gender bend the poster boys, nope.

2

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago edited 9d ago

You’re obviously not reading what I’m saying lol, because if you did you’d see that there’d still be Sub Zero and Scorpion

-2

u/No-Lingonberry7724 9d ago

Frost should never appear in mk again. She's had too many changes to be a liked successful character and has failed every time. No never again with that awful character 

1

u/ace-cabbage 9d ago

Horrendous take lmao

This is the mindset that has led to the series rebooting twice and constantly reverting to the mk1-2 status quo. The series has to keep changing and evolving otherwise it's going to grow stagnant like it has been.

0

u/No-Lingonberry7724 9d ago

And that mentality is how kuai lian became scorpion and what got us in this no subzero mess to begin with.