Articulating the Sektor & Cyrax Gender Swap "Problem"

[@randombush7361]

For me the biggest issue with cyrax and sektor is that they removed everything cool about the robots and just made it armor

[@randomserbianguy5677]

Exactly!

[@TheGraveKnight]

They're both pretty much Ironheart now (and nobody wants to be Ironheart)

[@adamricecracker7128]

Also they have an iconic and badass look, especially the original designs, while this female versions look like Fortnite chars , not badass at all.

[@ColonDee.]

THIS

[@skytheirishguy8829]

The sound is also a huge issue. Half of what makes the cyborgs so satisfying are those chunky metallic punch and damage sounds. The soulless robotic voices were iconic. None of that is present here. They just come off as weightless Iron Man cosplayers

[@realmjumper8154]

I just find it funny that they brought Sareena back, featured her in the story mode with some dialogue and then made her a kameo.

[@bladewolf656]

Tbh nrs should've remove sareena from the kameo roster and make her a actually fully playable she hasn't fully playable snice armageddon

[@gringles]

She has one of my favorite designs too, total waste.

[@Tribrid-zv3nq]

Fr

[@Zaire_39]

They’ve been wasting Sareena since 2002😭

[@sir_will_iam]

They are just continuing the tradition they started back in Mkx of bringing back a beloved character, giving them a badass design, giving them some story significance and yet doing nothing with them in gameplay.

[@TheDigitalApple]

Guess Netherrealm heard your critique of Frost in 11 being basically female Sektor and went “Hmmm that gives me an idea.”

[@luismatias5985]

In retrospect I really think that characterization of Frost is good almost perfect.

[@darkzeroprojects4245]

@@luismatias5985 Almost Perfect??

[@kurozunakabuto9682]

​@@luismatias5985 almost perfect? She was an angry off switch

[@Superluigi881]

Frost sucks because she's a narrative nightmare who's never even been that fun to play as in any game either. Don't know how she got in three games (technically 4 if you could the PSP port of deception.)

[@happyabbyarts]

​@@luismatias5985I didn't dislike Frost either, I feel it's the Kronikafication which was more the issue. Sometimes I feel Mortal Kombat needs to lower the stakes a bit and tell more stories that aren't universe ending, upping the ante everytime. If they had spent more time actually focussing on Frost as a threat, I think that could theoretically be an interesting story.

[@doomslayer9138]

And Netherhealm continues to waste sareena

[@pixi7633]

FR if you want more women in the Lin Kuei Frost and Sareena literally already exist????????

[@I_H_M_N]

Dei money

[@Cinemadiction]

Sareena is in the story has a voice actress and a new design and it's a character that has a lot of potential but no they had to do cyrax and sektor again this time female for some reason surely they could have done something better than the fem bots and bi han 2.0(which is honestly worse like bi-han is still Sub zero couldn't they have waited at least one game before making him noob saibot it's the first time he can have a big story role as Sub zero since the first game what 3 decades ago but no they just did the same as before, noob saibot wasn't needed at all)

[@nothingwrong2293]

Yeah and Bi-Han was RIGHT THERE man

[@dominicpotter4878]

Serena would've been dope

[@ShatteredPedestal7]

They didn’t want to add more 3d era characters, so they gender swapped the two legacy characters fans cared about instead of adding the remaining 3d era ladies. In this case, Kira and Frost.

[@ShatteredPedestal7]

And since NRS is doing the same Cyrax and Sektor story, AGAIN in another reboot, they can’t come up with anything else with those two.

[@SoulReaper2367]

They should’ve add characters like Jade, Sonya & Kung Jin

[@SGTWashington1]

No Frost yippeee (Number 1 frost Hater for ten years now

[@SoulReaper2367]

@@SGTWashington1 oh shit

[@mexicanmaggot666]

Honestly, I wouldn't have liked a new iteration of Kira. She seems like an even edgier Harley Quinn with an obnoxious Kano edge. There's no way that NRS would have improved her at all.

[@micah459]

One thing I hate the most is that Boon won't explain WHY they changed their genders. NRS will never respond to criticism unless it's a game bug

[@tatopres]

Most likely it was just a "Why not?"

[@thesilentsociety3252]

It’s a “reimagining” will be the excuse as that’s how they were pitching this game since the reveal

[@jonal5126]

Because he wanted to make canon the ship of Bi-Han x Sektor and Cyrax x Scorpion

[@otaking3582]

Because the most likely reason is "Sweet Baby Inc told us to"

[@lobsterwithhisshouldersbac8368]

@@otaking3582the most likely honestly.

[@FOREEAL]

Me personally, the an issue I have is how this gender swap feels like a poor attempt to make up for their lack of female characters after a DLC pack of all male characters, and reflecting back on NRS’s DLC history, it wasn’t extremely noticeable until just Kombat Pack I of this game.

[@TheDigitalApple]

Exactly you want more female characters? Well than actually add characters who haven’t been playable in years like Kira, Sareena etc. instead of lazily filling the quota by changing already existing characters.

[@CodecrafterArtemis]

@@TheDigitalApple ...Ashrah is already in the game. Do you even know which game are you criticising?

[@TheDigitalApple]

@@CodecrafterArtemis not Ashrah meant Sareena make her an actually properly playable character.

[@bandawin18]

​@@CodecrafterArtemis oh wow, a whole one character. That's surely enough, right? Come on dude

[@LiMe251]

The comment originally said Ashrah instead of Sareena, it was a correction comment. ​@@bandawin18

[@VIE5x]

i think the changes was dumb and unnecessary, if they wanted a female use females you have (sareena,jade,skarlet) no one ever wanted swap versions of already established characters, they didn’t need to replace the og robots instead make new characters instead of replacing and swapping established characters

[@darkzeroprojects4245]

I don't expect them to commit to staying with their changes or new ideas anyways. Besides probably will do more timeline reset multiverse bs. Tbh still surprised anyone is still invested in this franchise anymore.

[@shin-gokusatsu645]

@darkzeroprojects4245 you aren't lying. I was invested in this franchise during the Midway era. Now it's a complete hot mess especially with M1K's bullshit lazily written story. Don't get me wrong I like MK9-11 but felt like they could of expanded MK11 after the Aftermath DLC since it felt pretty unfinished.

[@atcandotherthings4985]

Shows how lazy they are, he’ll coulda used tasia or vorpex from mk conquest

[@DioStandProud]

New, rebooted timeline. You expecting anything to stay the same is completely a you problem.

[@VIE5x]

@@DioStandProud just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s good, i never expect anything to be the same i never applied that either, i even said new female robots would be fine,and it’s not a me problem considering most people think it was a dumb change

[@saintmangosteen]

I don't like it because it feels like they're replacements instead of substitutes. Frost is a SUBSTITUTE to Sub Zero because she's close enough to what he's like but also unique in her own way, she has her own quirks and goals, making her feel fleshed out, she can be liked by the fans because she doesn't pretend to be the same character as Sub Zero. But this version of Sektor and Cyrax are straight up, raw, unapologetic REPLACEMENTS, completely wiping out the legacy and character developments of the original Sektor and Cyrax which is what fans of those characters like the most, not yo mention they erase what made them truly iconic: They are supposed to be ROBOT ninjas, that's what made them truly unique and special, plus the dramatic topic of the cyborg initiative revolving around abandoning humanity in favour of evolving using technology was very captivating and interesting to discuss. But now it's just two random people cosplaying ironman, which is something already seen and explored, it's not as interesting or unique. Also, it reduces Sektor and Cyrax to being items instead of their own fleshed out characters, they are now soulless armor pieces instead of their own characters.

[@DioStandProud]

My brother in Christ Cyrax and Sektor didn't even have tangible character development in prior titles what are you talking about 😅 People only cared about them because they look cool. I remember distinctly hearing people complaining years ago about Netherrealm wanting to retcon Cyrax and Sektor into just being human in MK9 just because they're predominantly in the story as their human selves. And had they brought back other female characters to star in this pack I guarantee you'd have people still complaining about it.

[@electricfeverx976]

​@@DioStandProudSektor fits this description but not Cyrax. He had a whole thing about joining the SF & undoing his cyberisation in the late arcade era. NRS at least gave him the ironic twist angle in MK9 by having him be pro technology only to be disgusted at the idea of cyberisation, then he had that noble sacrifice moment in 11.

[@JTBJacksdeadasschannel]

They weren’t robots originally. It is 100% going to come later on, chill the hell out. People always love to try and hate on the game for stupid story reasons without realizing that this isn’t the final game in the series. There’s more to come.

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

@@DioStandProud Please play the midway games... Or just read Sektor & Cyrax's bios and endings (damn near all of which are canon) from MK3, Gold, and Deadly Alliance (Tournament Edition for Sektor).

[@S-treme]

​@@JTBJacksdeadasschannelexcept they will not be robot because the only good reason why someone would cared about the new sector and cyrax is because they are humans.

[@AgentZombie6021]

The big issue with things like gender swaps is a 3 way issue. The people who have an issue with it cannot articulate it (like you stated) The people who defend it just assume the people who don't like it are just sexist The people who decided to make the choice (Devs) don't DO anything with the changes Sex changing Cyrax and Sektor is dumb for several reasons, it's pointless, it is questionable from a lore standpoint (why would Liu Kang gender change them deliberately?), there's ACTUAL FEMALE CHARACTERS THEY COULDVE USED, etc.

[@CodecrafterArtemis]

I wouldn't say it's pointless. They wanted to make a Cyrax and Sektor story, but the Earthrealm side is already kind of a sausage fest (not counting kameos, there is no female Earthrealmer in the base game).

[@vaggos2003]

EXACTLY!!!

[@ULTIMATZEKROM]

Really? I can articulate my hate for such swaps perfectly. 1. The reasons behind such swaps are stupid at best 2. The outright hypocrisy surrounding those that defend these swaps.

[@ULTIMATZEKROM]

@@CodecrafterArtemis Then they could have brought in existing characters, or even made up new ones. That's what MK1 Sektor and Cyrax might as well be: brand new characters with Sektor and Cyrax's names. So it WAS pointless.

[@CodecrafterArtemis]

@@ULTIMATZEKROM Existing characters? Like whom? If I recall correctly, your options are pretty much Sonya, Kira, Frost, Jacqui and Cassie. I guess they don't want the SF storyline (hence Sonya and Jax appearing only as kameos and in endings), I guess they don't want to deal with more Kombat Kids baggage. So we're left with Frost (who's generally not liked *and* had the whole cyberization plot just in the last game *and* is probably too young?) and Kira who... No one cares for.

[@ldking5132]

Why doesn't Bi-Han use power armor? He only has his subordinates use it? This story is stupid.

[@TheSwordsman100]

Especially considering since they already swapped his real personality with that of the old Sektor's.

[@ldking5132]

@@TheSwordsman100 Bi-Han has shown to have no honor. He's completely obsessed with power and ambition. He creates power suits and just lets others get them instead of ensuring he himself is suited first and foremost. Absolutely idiotic. This character is so stupid in this timeline. Im tired of my favorite character getting done like this lol

[@DioStandProud]

​@@ldking5132Bi-Han is also Infamously egotistical in regards to his potential. He likely saw the armor as a disrespectful crutch.

[@MusicoftheDamned]

Too busy being turned into the forced version of Noob by Titan Havok, though typing that sadly just makes me realize we could have gotten Cyber Noob if NRS wanted to make him actually interesting. These changes are dumb and not that necessary, but somehow to me they're still the least dumb aspects of everything shown in the DC trailer.

[@DioStandProud]

@@MusicoftheDamned and yet the idea of a cyberized Noob is horrendous in my mind. Serves no purpose. See how that works? Now I wish people got over the gender swap.

[@windwind3170]

Did... did people just forget that Human Cyrax had a whole chapter dedicated to him in MK9? Like, only a blind person wouldn't notice his race, but even then they're just blind, not stupid. Maybe people are pissy because the new VA's accent is more prominent?

[@lordlundin6495]

blind person checking in. Not offended, just thought it'd be funny. A lot of us play Mortal kombat and are long standing fans of the franchise. Sup? Also, agreed.

[@Superluigi881]

MK4/Gold: Cyrax's ending shows his face. MKDA: Cyrax has an alt costume without his mask on. MK9: Human Cyrax is an alt costume and his playable chapter has him in human form. He was black the whole time and no one said anything. So anyone who goes with the "you're a racist" or "they race swapped him" argument is a grifter who knows nothing and needs to gtfo.

[@TheRTDZ]

It’s more than just prominent, it’s almost stereotypical. Also, wasn’t Cyrax from Jamaica originally? But this new one sounds like they’re from the middle of Africa.

[@windwind3170]

@@TheRTDZ No. He's from Botswana. You're probably thinking he's Jamaican because he had dreads in MK9.

[@sigmalaflare]

​@@windwind3170Right, he was from Botswana. A lot of people really don't know what they're talking about and just have a limited view.

[@pedrorenault5335]

What bothers me the most as a big Sektor fan (probably one of the few out there) is that they are wasting the new timeline plot to rehash the same story about Sektor being evil and Cyrax rebelling. Also, they’ll probably hype Sektor as a rival but have her lose every single battle she participated. And it’s even more frustrating that they can’t seem to let Sektor have his role and personality and just give it to Bi-Han or Frost

[@ri_c_e]

power levels are actually so fked in mk lmfao

[@gringles]

It’s like the Scorpion and Sub-Zero brothers thing. They still end up enemies and now Sub-Zero is going to turn into Noob Saibot anyways. They didn’t even stick with this supposed “fresh” take on the characters as a fire and ice team.

[@latecheckout11]

​@@gringlesf them. cancel them.

[@THENIGHTMAREINC]

I'm not even mad at the gender swap. It's more the point that nothing really changed despite the clean slate the series has. Kenshi is blind again, Mileena is a tarkatan (which is honestly fucked up to change a race to disease), all the villains are STILL evil and heroes still good. No real changes? Not a single new character? They wanted to play the evil Sindel card in MK11, but nothing of the sort in a whole new universe?

[@frostywarrior4649]

The only reason sindel is good is because she just now barely died and don't have the time to go through the Shao Khan storyline... I bet you the devs would make her evil

[@thewarden3554]

Yeah, the whole timeline plot is just an utter fail.

[@CabbageSalesman]

On the topic of characters being good or bad when I first saw general shao, It shows he's fiercely loyal to outworld and wants to defend it at all costs, so his rebellion due to shang tsung manipulating makes sense, what would of been a great twist would be that when he discovers that shang lied about everything, instead of just going back to his villainous ways in the old timeline, he tries to make amends but still keep his disliking of liu kang (obviously I'm not a wrighter so some changes would need to be made to keep it in line with shao's character)I thought something like that would be planned but nah, everyone is pretty much the same

[@channelorsomething218]

​@@frostywarrior4649 Sindel is already morally questionable as it is, given the way she treats Outworlders infected by tarkat. Baraka was quite successful and decorated in her army from what we've been told, and yet Sindel just sort of swept all that under the rug after he got infected. It took her dying to finally treat Tarkatans right. She's not really a good person imo.

[@farhadgamer375]

Lol wtf you should be absolutely mad because they gander swapped two 20+ years old characters that everyone liked for no reason😂. I hate people downplaying the main reason

[@tobyvenom]

I dislike the new Sektor and Cyrax because previously it was Sektor willingly giving away his humanity while forcefully taking Cyrax's and also ridding him of his free will which he would later be able to regain Now it's just they're in Iron Man suits lol. Nothing about what made the old Sektor and Cyrax good are in the new versions. They're both just Temu Iron man. That's what they've been replaced by. Temu Iron man

[@Right_Bumper]

That's my biggest complaint They're not cyborgs, just lame ass armour

[@daChief-khalife]

It's disrespectful to the source material

[@liz6377]

My problem is they wouldn’t do this to Main fighters. Not Mileena, Kitana, Scorpion or Sub-Zero. Yeah they did it to Johnny, but notice how they relegated Janet to Kameo! Why? Cause genderbent Johnny in the main story would piss people off. Why do it to Sektor and Cyrax? Why not just add women? You want female Lin Kuei? Frost. Is. Right. There. Sareena was also LK in the OG timeline. This change is annoying and unnecessary. Now we gotta wait forever to have them as males again.

[@Synical02]

Well lemme explain to you something RQ. Frost isn't a character that would sell well or people would like. She's not popular. Yes let's add Sareena A diet Ashra. Also they could do it to those characters because it's a different timeline in fact they've changed Lineage entirely. Finally - This is Canonically a huge change. 1. The story isn't even OUT YET so how do you know they replaced the males entirely? Sektor in Subzeros Ending is the tinkerer behind the suits; so why not have that as canon? It would DEFINITELY give him more personality, and a greater purpose. 2. These are Suits; not cybernetic upgrades. Cryax, and Sektor aren't their names they are codenames mantles. The same way night wolf, Subzero, and Smoke are codenames who've all been swapped within the series. They've even released more info this is madam bos daughter so that theory is already in working order.

[@RACH90810]

​​@@Synical02the tinkerer is previous sektor, he gave the title to his daughter. He no longer sektor just retired or make Tekunin after hearing Kuai Liang made shirai ryu.

[@lordlundin6495]

You could even redeam Frost from her mk11 feminazi persona. It's totally possible to write strong women without said women being evil andd wickid.

[@latecheckout11]

I don't have to wait for cyrax and sector. They officially dead and mutated into 🐈‍⬛ . Like maiden said. there's things worst than death, this is one of them. goodbye😂

[@brinkxlee2956]

They’re going to do this to every character now the gaming industry hates gamers, especially masculine gamers so they’re gonna make every masculine male a female eventually that is their goal for 20 years until the next generation takes over and puts everything back to normal. It was fun while it lasted.

[@PrimevalParadise]

The main argument I would say regarding Cyrax is that too much has changed in this one timeline that she really could have just been a brand new character, very much the Ship of Theseus in character form It is an argument that will be moot if the OG Cyrax also exists in this timeline, but if we don't get it, then the argument is still valid. Changing gender, nationality (and thus most definitely birth name which we never got for Cyrax), the cyber stuff, all at once, just makes me want her to be her own character untethered to Cyrax

[@pumpkus9616]

Gives off major "characters are just functions" vibes.

[@KombatGod]

It's true but the problem is that they pretty much CAN'T have new characters as DLC. People mostly just buy veterans or guests. And that is one big problem of the DLC model right now.

[@yagamifire7861]

...but AKI and G and Menat and others were DLC and extremely popular Crazy idea...maybe NRS could make new DLC characters that aren't crap?

[@Krakenburgvortex79]

@@yagamifire7861 The difference with them is that they all have their own unique stuff that F.A.N.G, Q and Rose don't have. They have SOME shared stuff or similarities but are very much their own characters.

[@SabreSmasher]

​@@KombatGod Aki, Happy Chaos, Menat, Goldlewis, Leroy Smith, Hisako All these characters are smash hits in terms of popularity, all dlc too. It's not that nobody buys new characters as dlc (they do.) NRS just has zero ideas, afraid of trying anything new, or both. Kinda what happens when you fill your dlc roster with guest characters :/

[@bancho9898]

The swap was unnecessary and was lazy IMO. NRS could have brought back Sareena, Jade, Frost or Kira and fleshed them out but instead just lazily gender-swapped two more popular fighter. It's like what they did with Dairou - instead of fleshing his character out or even giving him a new backstory, they just merged him with Havik. It's just so lazy. Cynical Warlock did a great video on how one could have gone about fixing fighters and such.

[@farhadgamer375]

That's just a lame excuse. The only logical reason is they are WOKE

[@kobold7466]

"if it doesn't matter why'd you change it in the first place?"

[@espurrseyes42]

Basically.

[@reeree3032]

You can dislike gender swaps if you like but this argument is terrible and every time someone makes it I roll my eyes. There are absolutely things that are small enough to be added but also too small to make a large complaint about.

[@espurrseyes42]

@@reeree3032 Messing with the identities of existing characters is not one of those "too small" things tho. Especially when it's obvious what the reason is given the history of the company doing it.

[@kobold7466]

@@reeree3032 gender swapping is not a small thing to change

[@mustanggox]

because things don’t always need a complex reason to be changed.

[@0missingerror]

My actual problem with them that they are no longer fully cybernetic and just have power armor. Kinda defeats the entire purpose. It's probably because netherealm didn't want to bother modeling mechanical gore

[@user-hg4hz1lx2h]

Nah now this I disagree, Cyrax is my favorite character but, I’ve been waiting for human Cyrax for the longest, obviously there’s fans like you who like the OG cyber ninja only, they gave us the best of both as still human still cybernetically enhanced

[@0missingerror]

@@user-hg4hz1lx2h I liked how they handled them in MK9, they had human alternative costumes so you could have both versions of them.

[@charathefallen]

​@@0missingerror I mean in one of the clash dialogue with sektor, she says that the power armor is just the beginning, hinting at a more accurate cyber initiative, I mean we might see that in the dlc story or just in M2K or MK13 (calling it this to not confuse it with the og mk2)

[@ottooctavius9552]

I don’t get people who defend the gender swap. They either don’t care or don’t have a good reason for the change. So why attack those or do care?

[@ShatteredPedestal7]

Because it’s easy to insult people and say “You’re an incel if you don’t like it.”

[@chris9206]

Honestly it's no issue to me especially when it's MK1. If it was before Armageddon then I can see an issue. Anything and everything as changes happening in what MK1 one is.

[@jeremycampbell4021]

@@chris9206 No one would really care period if it didn't ALWAYS go the one way. I guarantee, if female characters ever got male versions from other realities (not just in MK) it would be far less annoying. People are mostly sick of it always just being male characters converted into female characters cuz it's a lazy way to try to force in a new character without actually just making a new female character.

[@TheDigitalApple]

Because there are some odd people who love lazy swaps of characters, who have the most surface level change made to them because they go “Oh I finally care about this character because they look just like me!” As if you’re only allowed to love a character if the look like you, if that’s the case then why has Transformers stuck around past the 80’s?

[@ottooctavius9552]

⁠@@chris9206that’s a poor argument. That’s change for the sake of change.

[@TheShortShop]

The fact is, they got rid of the only 2 black males. Jax and cyrax were the only 2 black male characters

[@yagamifire7861]

With Darius relegated to kameo

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

@@yagamifire7861 At least whatshisface is no longer a slave to a bitter old white lady... Though I don't quite remember if he even survived MK12's Story Mode.

[@phylasvell]

That’s actually a really good point, removed the black male repsentation is kinda disapointing.

[@yagamifire7861]

@jaernihiltheus7817 yeah now Gearas does nothing and is a plot device...no improvement honestly

[@lordlundin6495]

Jax not being playable makes me sad and ... guess what, I'm neither black nor american. I love a character cause they're sick, not cause their stupid traits. For all intents and purposes race is esthetics in video games, or should be.

[@ambition883]

I don't like cyrax's accent . I'm from Zambia a central African country and im sick of every African character in western media having a thick Nigerian accent.

[@artemprotectron]

The -istaphobic arguments are a quick out to make the other person feel bad, because the arguer legitimately has no good counter argument.

[@voiceunderthecovers]

I think a lot of the time it can just feel like there’s a ton of racism and misogyny in gaming spaces so people knee jerk react.

[@libertyprime1614]

​@@voiceunderthecoversThey can shove their feels where the sun doesn't shine.

[@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158]

One other thing that also annoys me (for two reasons) is Cyrax's new voice: Reason 1 - if she's from Niger AKA western Africa, why does she sounds like she's from Uganda or some other east African country? Do people at NRS (and Hollywood too) know that not everyone in Africa has that accent? it just sounds off. Reason 2 - that voice sounds like it's coming from completely different person. Cyrax looks like she's in her late 10's or early 20s, but she sounds like middle aged woman. I know that young women can have deep voices but it still sounds ridiculous and out of place. Also, I don't want to be pessimistic but, from what I have seen so far, new story expansion has "disaster" written all over it. I'm genuinely expecting the worst here and I really hope that I'll be proven wrong.

[@kidkatanatv]

That accent throws me off, I genuinely think she is just a wannabe Wakandan because holy cow even I'm lost why her and Tanya have these accents out of nowhere

[@MAZZLE.MCFAZZLE]

Cyrax orginally was from botswana

[@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158]

@@MAZZLE.MCFAZZLE Yeah, even that got retconned.

[@MAZZLE.MCFAZZLE]

@@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158 since when

[@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158]

@@MAZZLE.MCFAZZLE Cyrax's M1K bio claims that she's from Niger. She's no longer from Botswana.

[@thaoster209]

Its just annoying that they wasted a slot for a character that is already in the game as cameos. They shouldve added newer characters like tremor or even cobra

[@BluCarnage]

Game devs don’t design their rosters by filling out slots. They just choose the characters they want in the game

[@Henry-iz7iv]

You know Tremor is also a kameo, making your comment hypocritical right?

[@ceriani1234]

@@Henry-iz7iv he's right though, cuz tremor being a cameo is also a waste, especially since his cameo design is an insanely huge downgrade compared to his mkX design.

[@Henry-iz7iv]

@@ceriani1234 I agree but that isn’t relevant? He is complaining about Sektor and Cyrax being wasted main roster slots because they’re already kameos… but saying they should make Tremor base roster, who’s also already a kameo?

[@ri_c_e]

@@Henry-iz7ivto correct his opinion, there either should be no overlap between kameo and character, or full overlap

[@Jahlil.W]

All i'm going to ask is: Why would Liu Kang do this?

[@kodakblackmane]

You're a better man than me for giving detractors this much benefit of the doubt

[@Perdix64]

I honestly find myself kinda neutral on this, I do think them being opposites in the sense that Cyrax is still a dude while Sektor is a woman. I honestly do think that Cyrax being “race change” is freaking weird! He’s always been black in MK even in MK9. I don’t know how to articulate what I want to say aside from sounding too rambley if that makes sense but this is more semantics imo. I do wish they kept the cyborg initiative keeping the horror bit with Cyrax being the character without their free will while Sektor has theirs.

[@TheOfficialGarr]

I think that this would be a very interesting take on the characters, though unfortunately I can already very vividly imagine the vocal minority screeching about how Sektor was made to be a girlboss and her position over Cyrax is somehow sexist because wahmen better than man. It's a gross mentality, but I've seen it play out time and time again the moment a woman is written as anything more than eye candy or supporting to a male character.

[@Perdix64]

@@TheOfficialGarr it could be interesting with Sektor being a bit more cocky and accidentally letting or having Cyrax regain their free will and fighting against her. Probably allying himself with Scorpion, I’d have Sektor with the “power armor” while Cyrax is the cyborg.

[@Perdix64]

@@TheOfficialGarr I honestly could see her as a bit of “eye candy” for some people with this now that I think about it…

[@rascoehunter3608]

Depending on the context around the new Cyrax they probably should have just made a new character.

[@darkvoidswrath958]

Cyrax has always been African Botswana (in the old timelines) and still is(Niger) now.

[@bobsmith8405]

Still waiting for Johnny to get married to Sonya, Jade to be friends with Kitana etc

[@ri_c_e]

yeah but u gotta be careful, if enough things start to resemble the original timelines then what woukd have been the pointbif swapping it

[@shawerful5209]

​@@ri_c_e theres no point in reseting the timelines at all, even in armageddon where everything ends they could make a sequel instead of a reboot

[@frostywarrior4649]

​@@ri_c_ebut it seems that the storyline don't want to not change things: the creation of the Shirai Ryu, how scorpion and sub zero still have beef even tho their actually brothers now, how Shao Khan wants to take over shit, etc...

[@voiceunderthecovers]

Have you guys noticed that every guest character so far has been a man? This change feels like the devs noticing the blatant lack of female DLC characters and therefore changing Cyrax and Sektor so they can have some more female rep. If only they had some female characters that already exist to make DLC…

[@daChief-khalife]

That's got nothing to do with that.

[@voiceunderthecovers]

@@daChief-khalife great argument buddy

[@redbigun]

I don't think the gender swap was necessary. "We need more female characters." People have been begging for Jade since the game was announced, you namedropped Sheva in the base game, You still have Kira, Kia, Jatakaa, D'Vorah, Cetrion. Hell, you reworked Takeda, why not rework Jacqui and Cassie as relatives of Johnny and Jax. Or instead of Ghostface, how about The Bride? I'm not going to pitch a Grummz level fit because women without exposed mammary glands is woke or whatever. I'm definitely not going to complain about Cyrax being black (where were these morons when Mortal Kombat Gold dropped). I'm just saying there was a better way to achieve what they wanted.

[@terryrocks2j]

Funny how that's the narrative being pushed these days. Like turning the Penguin into a female in the new Batman show. Their excuse? We need more females says the show creator. And Poison Ivy, Roxy Rocket, Catwoman, Talia Al Ghul, Lady Shiva, and a whole bunch of google searches get pushed aside.

[@brewmaster2912]

Having the Kombat Kids be relatives of the OG cast instead of their children is dumb. If you wanted to have the Kombat Kids you shouldn’t have cut half of them out of MK11 just to focus on the OG cast and rebooted AGAIN

[@redbigun]

@@brewmaster2912 I don't think a 20 year old Cassie being the daughter of a 30 year old Johnny Cage, especially when he hasn't met Sonya, makes a whole lot of sense.

[@dillydraws]

@@terryrocks2j As a girl. My issue with MK is that most of the women are like Royalty or like almost all family and I just want some more normal type female characters. (Sorry if I'm poorly explaining it) Like I really want Kira or someone who isn't a ninja princess. Which is why my favourite characters in the games are people like Kung lao, Kenshi or Johnny. I just want different female characters that are more interesting

[@jackdaone6469]

"I'm not going to pitch a Grummz level fit" Had me until you decided to take an unnecessary potshot at a guy who has done nothing wrong.

[@Hamieee]

It's hard to say you don't like a change like this when the loudest people whinging about it have the worst reasons.

[@Greg501-]

I am a firm believer of "some things are out of the control of the Keepers of Time." Also because I know in the sequel it will be used by the writers to explain things that people reacted negatively to. "No guys, that didn't happen because Liu Kang wanted it to, it was just [insert scapegoat reason] here."

[@thesilentsociety3252]

That is a lazy excuse because we could use the fact Kronika canonically resetting the timeline at least 22 times & yet nothing drastically changing aside from inconsistency with faces, eye & hair color. Yet Liu Kang 1st reset causes this much changes?

[@Greg501-]

@@thesilentsociety3252 Yes

[@ri_c_e]

@@thesilentsociety325222? it was confirmed in 11? thats insane lol

[@CyborgSelZero]

@@ri_c_e My guess is that they reference the scene where we see a compilation of fights between Liu Kang and Raiden. Don't know how many fights were shown though...

[@demonwolf570]

@@CyborgSelZero Right but she also said they had the conversation so many times, she lost count. That makes me think she reset the timeline possibly billions of times. It's not like time would mean anything to her.

[@aaronpasache1847]

Kintaro and COUNTESS JADE, you know, the one they mention a lot she exists but never show for some reason, were better picks than whatever these ladies are, and my main nitpick is, WHY SHOULD WE PAY FOR TWO CHARACTERS THAT ARE ALREADY KAMEOS IN THE FIRST PLACE? and no, the gender swap doesn't justify that scam just when Ed Boon himself said that Kameos cannot be playable characters some tome before the game's release

[@blackwaltz463]

He meant making the kameo characters that are in the game because of animations. To make them playable they have to create entire movesets and film animations for said moves.

[@aaronpasache1847]

@@blackwaltz463 yeah but still, I think it's scummy to sell them back as paid DLC, they should have been free instead, just like what Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and Ermac should have been too just for appearing in Story Mode

[@blackwaltz463]

@@aaronpasache1847 I think you need to be realistic, they made new models, animations and voice acting, that costs a lot. Even with both Quan Chi and Ermac, the version of the characters in the story mode lack many of the moves they made later for the DLC (that ignoring new skins and voice lines). I completely agree with Shang Tsung, he was 100% done and ready on day 1, pay walling him is scummy, but the others are for all cases and purposes new content that cost money for the studio to make post-game launch.

[@Ratface0007]

This is just a robot waifu fetish thing, I guarantee it.

[@tirzahroseroot]

How I personally see it is it’s because it’s an alternate universe where the characters genders can be different.

[@mrowley7300]

I just hate that they continue to take an established character and race/gender swap like why? But if you suggest doing it the other way around (male Harley or White Panther as examples) suddenly your racist/sexist

[@BluCarnage]

Have you seen the comments on the trailer? The overwhelming majority are just blatantly racist/sexist 😂

[@dillydraws]

Eh your example used don't work since Black Panther race is hugely tied to his character. Same with Magneto being Jewish or Batman being a rich white guy. But when race doesn't really matter in a character, (Nick furry, Gordan, Harvey dent, Falcon, Blade, Sonya) then race swapping or gender swapping doesn't really matter. Like the big example would be Nick fury who was changed in Ultimates and brought into the mcu, or billy dee Williams playing Harvey dent in batman returns. Also side note, Male Harley could go hard af.

[@mrowley7300]

@@dillydraws I used black panther due to a meltdown over a fanart that someone made due to it being a white guy wearing the suit (was a bad example but i guarantee race swapping Blade would cause a meltdown as well.

[@mrowley7300]

@@dillydraws plus they did try and race swap him in comic making him Asian.

[@bee-zeesoul1018]

Here was what my original perception of the backlash was. Let me preface that I could very well be pulling all of this out my ass. My initial thought was that the Cyber Lin Kuei fans have been getting Cyrax and Sektor dangled in front of their faces for about ten years now, and I think a lot of them wanted to have Cyrax and Sektor back, not just as moveset functions for a different character, (Triborg) but in their original forms with their personalities and have some stake in the plot of the game. We got only a tiny taste of it in MK11, and people felt so blue-balled that they were getting desperate to see them again. Now Sektor and Cyrax are back, but they’re different characters, and they’re not cyborgs, (which isn’t new for M1K, and it’s not a problem in this case.) and the people who wanted to see the cyborgs again in their original forms are mad, and I can at least follow the logic. Of course there will be the people who are just pissed that they’re women now because they’re women now. I’m not interested in those takes. But I was pondering why NRS made the decision and I had a theory. You mentioned that they were making Cyrax an homage to IronHeart and that could be valid. I thought they realized that bringing the original cyborgs back meant that all 12 DLC characters would be male, in a roster that was already struggling to keep the female reps up in the base game. (Ermac is either a he or they, but Jerrod is the dominant soul, so I count that.) The base roster is 25 with only 7 women, and 12 male DLC characters added on top of that would be a serious elephant to address. I don’t know if NRS has addressed this in a tweet or on their podcast, so I can’t prove what the reason is

[@jonthanechols6410]

Idk why they had the need to homage Ironheart. That's like making an homage to Walmart Cola instead of the real Coke.

[@jonthanechols6410]

Ironheart was already a lazy, unlikeable swap of Iron Man, a way more beloved character, so they're ripping off a rip off.

[@zalybrainlessgenius503]

The thing is... why does it matter that there are more male characters than female characters in the first place? 😂

[@bee-zeesoul1018]

@@zalybrainlessgenius503 Normally it doesn’t. But when the ratio is 3:1, that pisses people off, and I’m not just talking about feminism, I’m also talking about people who just want to see their favorite female characters in the game.

[@arjunthemadlad]

Making them armor betrays the concept of sektor and cyrax. THEY'RE MEANT TO BE ROBOT NINJAS

[@unrankedchevron742]

The problem with gender swapping the characters is simply that Cyrax and Sektor are male. All of the characters in M1K feel like fan fiction versions of themselves and changing the fan favorite Cyber-Ninjas into power armor clad kunoichis is just another example.

[@spiderverse616]

I personally think Liu kang should have given Hanzo a happy life with his Harumi and his son however, in Khaos Reigns where Titan Havik, nowing how Powerful Hanzo as Scorpion was, turns him into Noob.

[@NotATheyThem]

what if they make Jade a big buff man

[@Perdix64]

… smash.

[@ldking5132]

People would lose it. As they should.

[@marctm7614]

Would just be another in a sea of them, so it's whatever. 🤷🏾

[@I_H_M_N]

This

[@omarslayz]

don’t jinx Jade like this.… shes been through enough

[@personperson1254]

Canonically, the male Sektor and Cyrax exist in the new timeline and they’re the parents of our new Sektor and Cyrax.

[@kingcrimson4554]

Thats even worse, i want to play as the real cyrax and sektor

[@RACH90810]

​@@kingcrimson4554Older Sektor may form Tekunin after Kuai Liang formed Shirai Ryu.

[@mackdennis7355]

Cyrax had a human skin in mk9 too. I thought it was common knowledge that he was black lol

[@brewmaster2912]

The only issue I have is that Cyrax’s accent is awful and I’d prefer keeping him male to help visually distinguish the two a bit more like you suggested in your reaction to the Khaos Reigns trailer.

[@Alpha1918]

Yup I agree. There is no racial argument here, but there is a strong sex argument. There isn't almost never a good reason to swap a character like this, and it always seems to take away from other characters. MK has plenty of good female characters, but instead of showing them off, they take 2 males and give them a spot on the female side, taking away from the pre-established characters. Additionally, they could've made two new female characters who were also cyborgs, which would've brought the total number of cyborgs up to 6 (sektor, cyrax, sub, smoke, 2 females). But this way, they take away from the men by turning them female, and take away from the females by not adding any new ones, and sidelining pre-existing ones.

[@SonicHaXD]

4:25 I'm glad you have a kind soul and give them the benefit of the doubt. But I genuinely do not think these people even know Ironheart to make that comparison. I really think it's "Black lady with tech??? WAKANDA!!! WOKE!!!" XD

[@I_H_M_N]

You're a gay furry, of course you're woke

[@nabilahmed579]

Tbf ever since mk11, shit started to feel more like mcu’s endgame/infinity war (more so endgame) and now with them trying to blow their load despite being the first game in supposedly 3rd/4th timeline and not even exploring the other realms and go to other realms, you could easily understand why people will think fans have thought mk has taken more of the direction of many things with the mcu

[@thetruestar6348]

Iron heart is the most shit character to ever exist

[@I_H_M_N]

@@SonicHaXD nice, deleting comments, you're a furry, you're biased, im Bi, im not. I like old melina and cassy + sonya. Stop propaganda

[@BluCarnage]

@@I_H_M_NScaley

[@omnislash1221]

"The Sektor & Cyrax Gender Swap situation is crazy"

[@pixelgoat7317]

I thought Frost's jump to cyberization was pretty on-point for her arrogant personality, and the fact that her body was able to contort itself added to the cyberization horror in my opinion. Since this timeline's Bi Han is also an asshole who is obsessed with his own power and influence, I think original Cyrax and Sektor, along with a female cyber Frost and/or Suijin would have been pretty awesome.

[@valevalentine8632]

I actually like the change. I will acknowledge that it's a bit hard to justify, storyline wise but this was the kind of stuff I was hoping for when netherealm promised us "whole new era" and we didn't get that many big changes. That and I'm just happy to have those 2 back even if it's different.

[@GamerTimeNinja]

I'm frustrated that they are making a whole dlc explansion about the Cleric of Chaos and are only adding more characters from Sub-Zero's ending and then a bunch of guest characters. They really should have brought more variety like maybe bring Onaga from Shao and Reiko's endings to help Titan Havik inflict Chaos or Hotaru to expand on the devastation of Rain and Havik's flood on Seido or Jade and Kotal to help defend Outworld and set up their future relationship. The Cyber Lin Kuei will probably be better for the next game and have Scorpion finish off Bi-Han as Noob Saibot for this DLC and have the next game show the Shirai Ryu versus the Cyber Lin Kuei with a more serious tone.

[@marctm7614]

It's lazy. Cyrax could be a woman and an entirely different person, it's kinda weird to keep them tethered to their origins considering all of the other changes. 🤷🏾

[@Brandelwyn]

Without this origin nobody would care

[@marctm7614]

@@Brandelwyn You wouldn't care, speak for yourself.

[@theshadiest7109]

​@@marctm7614you're a nobody.

[@MauZangetsu]

Based take, w pfp

[@lbnycity89]

No, I don’t know why people acting like Cyrax just became black when he’s been that way since MK gold back in 1999. Personally, I forgot that he’s from Africa and that’s because as a kid he had an English voice actor so I didn’t think nothing of it. I knew he wasn’t Jamaican though some people are total MK thought that because he has dreads and they’re using that whole Jamaican stereotype of having dreads but he said he’s going off of that stereotype, which I haven’t heard since the 2000/. This is no different from the. Tanya controversy because for some reason, people act like light skin Black people don’t exist and they kept saying that Tanya was racially ambiguous when her likeness comes from Egyptians mainly Cleopatra last time I checked Egypt is in Africa. This is where the social commentary channels go way too left. No pun intended.

[@jeggsonvohees2201]

It could have been a fun nod to Defenders if they'd swapped Cyrax and Sektor's race in MK1.

[@TheToaprimezilla]

I’m hoping that with enough negative feedback that they’ll make male skins for them. I have a theory that we’ll get an invasion centered around Sektor who will be male because it would not make sense that he’s female in multiple different timelines. I’ve also argued this change with so many people on the internet. I’ve asked what if they made Sonya, Kitana, Jade and Mileena male and a lot of people say this “I don’t care as long as they still play the same” which makes no sense. It’s not about playing the same it’s about feeling the same.

[@misterdewott8766]

While I'm still excited about having Sektor and Cyrax being playable. The fact they're just wearing robot suits is super crappy imo

[@mrb4783]

I like how positive you tried to be and seriously we need more people just taking a second to think and to be more polite instead of being an angry keyboard warrior over fiction

[@hosep]

It's not power armor it's Battle Ready Armor

[@keithmjali761]

Lol, KND reference.

[@luismatias5985]

This take is so good and I think you're defining the m1k world way better than whoever are the current narrators could ever dream of.

[@abrakadabra6364]

Your theory makes sense. OG Cyrax has been through enough 😢

[@level3xfactor]

I think you’re giving a lot of these people more credit than they deserve lol

[@Abel_Unstable]

The easiest solution : Stop defending this shit game. Its been shit since MK11 and its gonna be shittier in the future. Just go back to MK9 and MKX, those are the last good Mk Games.

[@the-dramatic-nerd]

It’s more so sexiest. Like having a problem with NetherRealm not using Serena as a love interest or partner for Bi-Han is valid. Sektor being a women would work fine if its sole purpose wasn’t to make Bi-Han and her flirt. Cyrax I’m in different too she’s very similar to her counterpart and it gives us another bad ass female. The actress are also both a plus to have in the franchise.

[@vadandrumist1670]

My problems are just A: The inconsistency of the changes, B: The most likely motivations for these changes, C: The fact that it has only gone one way. "A" refers to how this is more of how they went so far as to make Kuai into Scorpion, but still gave him his scar. I just think back to Snake's Liu Kang character bios and think "How could he even begin to justify this change?" "B" refers to the social politics. As most evident by the direction of Jax's ending in MK11, Netherrealm staff have ideological beliefs they wish to affect the series with. I disagree with those beliefs, so I disagree with what I think are direct products of them. "C" refers to the fact that it's not just Cyrax and Sector. Nightwolf's arcade ending in MK11 and some banter, Scorpion's invasion ending, and every single swap or two-gender fighter hybrid of the miscellaneous characters in M1K's campaign ending. There has not a single time been a female-to-male swap. You could say there is a lack of representation, and the question of "why" most likely leads back to point B.

[@josesosa3337]

I didnt even know there was a genderswap contrevry. I just assumed characters we've known before became cyrax and sektor via time line shennanigans.

[@MobDraws69]

At this point I don’t really care about the gender swap, but how these “new characters” are handled in the story, of which I don’t think there’s enough info to properly devise from only the trailers. The only issue I have right now though is Cyrax’s voice. Emphasizing the character’s black, or in this case African heritage through voice work, is all well and good, but her accent is so thick that I genuinely find some of her lines difficult to listen to and understand. I’d almost argue it’s a bit stereotypical, but then again I’m only a black American, so it’s not entirely my place to say.

[@ldking5132]

Yes its extremely thick. Annoyingly so

[@nadaproblem3023]

Wakanda foevah!

[@dillydraws]

@@nadaproblem3023 You don't have to be an ass.

[@dillydraws]

@@ldking5132 They changed Cyrax's nationality from Botswana to Nigerian.

[@ri_c_e]

it just feels kinda mocking in a way, no other character really has accents like that iirc? could be wrong. The chinese characters are all intelligble and fully understandable

[@TylerYoshi]

I think the Wakanda comparsions are referring to Cyrax's voice, not the genderswap.

[@bravefrontiernerd1796]

That was the first thing I really noticed. Like why does she have an african accent

[@Evoker23-lx8mb]

@@bravefrontiernerd1796because he/she is and always has been African.

[@bravefrontiernerd1796]

@@Evoker23-lx8mb huh, you learn something new every day

[@Evoker23-lx8mb]

@@bravefrontiernerd1796 the only part that was changed in terms of her race was that the original Cyrax was from Botswana while the new one is from Niger.

[@ri_c_e]

@@bravefrontiernerd1796tbf with butara’s VA and sonya from 11 this isnt one of the worst ones but its meh

[@MageGrayWolf]

I would have preferred they make them new characters rather than just gender swaps. They could keep just about everything about them the same, with just different back story and names. Say, they made the mechsuites based on the original cyborgs as their origin. Then you also could have the cyborgs on top of that, with an interesting addition to the lore to play with. That would also give them more room to come up with new unique move sets for them in the future.

[@dillydraws]

The issue is. New characters don't sell Kombat packs.

[@thesilentsociety3252]

@@dillydrawsnew characters who are well developed would sell

[@T-REX-KNIGHT]

Funnily me and a buddy of once predicted if the cyber initiative starts off as armored suits, the only next prediction is if sektor activates a switch that turns all suits into a body horror moment where all the suits converts the pilots into full on cyborgs. another prediction is after bi han gets converted into noob, sektor will then eventually just go full ham into the cyberization stuff.

[@JewishSeaslug7575]

I feel like it was just pointless and sadly not shocking as stuff like this happens all the time, I wish they would just use actual female characters instead if they wanted to use females it’s dumb in the same way making kitana a dude would just be pointless and weird

[@trudahkness9976]

Me personally, this just doesn't Bug me as much as it's Bugging a lot of People. It's just whatever to me honestly. Sareena DESERVES a Main Roster Spot, nobody can Convince me otherwise.

[@bakedowls299]

I guess it would be more expensive, but they should've released them with the ability to toggle between gender. Like how they had premier skins in Injustice 2, if the choice is up to the player then I think no one would be upset.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

I know that this was just done so they could reuse models, but it baffles me that they didn't just swap one of the Cyber Ninjas. It makes perfect sense to me to have a Female Cyrax and a Male Sektor. But this company can never do anything right without having at least five weird decisions alongside it.

[@MementoMori7777]

My problem is Just that this Cyrax is too different from the OG. Change is okay, but Netherrealm made this Cyrax so different that she's almost unrecognizable as the cyrax i knew. no saws, no explode-port, Using flexible gymnastics moves instead of robotic ones and lots of kicking, The net, grenades and color are the only parts of Cyrax i recognize. That's why i have a hard time even calling this version Cyrax. Because to me, it's NOT cyrax. Not anymore. Even if Kuai liang is Scorpion now, he still looks and fights like Scorpion, he still has the spear and yells "GET OVER HERE!" Baraka and mileena are still recognizable as themselves despite the lore tweaks. But Cyrax and Sektor are not like that. They're TOO different.

[@powerlegacy7952]

4:02 I think Wakanda connection more of a comes from Cyrax's accent and Midnight Angels armor from Wakanda Forever

[@timhuff7418]

So every african is Wakanda? Lay off the marvel movies

[@powerlegacy7952]

@@timhuff7418 what? I'm saying that people who bring up Wakanda because of Syrax's accent and not that every African is Wakanda

[@topcat59]

I agree, we as a community should be civil and hear everyone’s arguments.🐱

[@TheDigitalApple]

I’ll be civil, but if I get treated worse than scum for asking questions as “Why?” and get called evil then no I will not be civil, in fact I don’t want anything to do with them!

[@MazeDaGr8]

You really expect a video game Community to be civil?? 😂😂

[@redwolfe7049]

Gamers get triggered over the most non issue topics. That's asking a lot from them.

[@dillydraws]

@@TheDigitalApple You can ask why and not like it without being an ass about it. A lot of people have

[@malks2500]

Lui Kang in story said he gave up his position as guardian of time to take part in his creation, I wonder if things just spiraled out of control from there and made changes he didn't anticipate like Baraka's disease

[@Abyssal_CToFaV]

Baraka: As my creator, you're to blame to my affliction. Liu Kang: It was an unforeseen consequence, Baraka.

[@skintgirafde320]

My main thing is why are their faceplates the same? I liked that from MK 2011 to MK 11 they had different face plates

[@corvetterules8047]

It could be something akin to PROJECT skins in League of Legends. Maybe most of the bodies of Cyber Lin Kuei converted warriors has been cyberized, but the face remains intact or something

[@StarKushExoticGalaxy]

They have Kira they could’ve added, female khameleon should’ve been playable, Sareena should’ve been playable, they left out skarlet, they have plenty of females to add instead of doing this to Sektor cyrax.

[@TheODLawson23]

100% agree with you!!!

[@demonman905]

Kudos to you for not only articulating the argument but also flat out refuting some of the faulty arguments going around. Also, thank you for encouraging everyone on either side to not jump to conclusions and to calm down over these debates - I feel like that's something that more people need to work on for all sorts of issues from politics to pop culture to even societal topics. People just need to calm down and listen to each other, even if they disagree.

[@trebeezy16]

I think the idea about Cyrax is a great way to justify the genderswap. My idea for Sektor is that Original Sektor is M1K Sektors father. Heres the justification. OG Sektor was someone who was cold-blooded and didnt care for the lives of the people in his clan and was willingly killing his clan members for the cyber initiative. So how about in this timeline make him a father, giving him someone he can love unconditionally. He then teaches the new Sektor stuff he knows about tech and unfortunately his daughter picks up the same carelessness as his original self getting a huge ego and doesnt care if her people get hurt for the "greater good" of the clan. Im imagining test runs she couldve did on lower clan members getting gravely injured due to glitches and stuff in the armor. Also now we know Madam Bo is her mother. The falling out between the 2 if they had one can play more into her bitter attitude towards life. Also will she hate Kung Lao and Raiden even more so because she left the lin kuei to help train them instead of her. Or perhaps her bitterness can be from how the OG Sektor doesnt know how to care. Theres so many angles they can go with this. I just hope we do get a justification as to the genderswap in game.

[@featherguardian6023]

I don’t care about the Genderswap, all I care is how accurate Ketchup and Mustard are and they capture their Personalities Perfectly as One is More Machine than Human while the Other is more Human than Machine, this is one of the Best MK Rivalries they never Fully Explored before in the Series and I’m glad NRS are Evolving it Slowly.

[@daChief-khalife]

🙄😒

[@louishenrigobin1224]

Personaly I just don't like that they are both wearing iron man suits, I was hopping for something more "gadget" like their alernative designs in MK9. And if the idea behind the gender swap was just to have female characters then they had plenty of characters they made into kameos they could have used

[@ChildlikeMan]

With regards to the Cyrax/ Wakanda comparison, the vast majority of the comments I've seen personally cite her accent as the reason. Which i find just...unfortunate.

[@BajaBallBlaster]

I’ll wait for the expansion to fully judge them by how they act as characters, but based on trailers and designs I have no problem with the new Sektor and Cyrax. I find it interesting on twitter that they confirmed Sektor’s mother is Madam Bo, that’s nice

[@thunderstudent]

Wait, Madam Bo, the master of Kung Lao in this timeline. In the last it was Bo'Rai'Cho. She likes tea, he likes booze. OH JEBUS, THEY GENDER SWAPPED BO'RAI'CHO!

[@bilbobaggins3068]

Initially I was hesitant about the gender-swap but I think it’s grown on me. At minimum I’m fine with it although that could change when the story comes out. But I’m still iffy on the fact that they aren’t even cyborgs this time around. That bothers me way way worse than the fact they are women now lol.

[@zackxeno1019]

Madame Bo is WHAT

[@BajaBallBlaster]

@@bilbobaggins3068I’m kinda on the fence about cyborgs, depends on they handle it and I really hope Bi-Han isn’t permanently stuck as Noob, cause I think having a evil Sub Zero would entertaining without it having to be noob

[@Synical02]

​@@thunderstudentShe's an entirely different characters buddy

[@Garviel-Loken]

This could have worked if they simply had two existing female characters get cyberised instead of Sector and Cyrax. Essentially a consequence related to Liu Kang changes, in sparing Sector and Cyrax thier normal fate he has passed it to somone else. That way they could have added two cyberised returning characters allowing themselves to reinvent their movesets but with new technology and release Human Sector and Cyrax with move sets based on their Cyborg designs but toned down to human level.

[@zalybrainlessgenius503]

Also, I think the biggest issue is that Sektor nor Cyrax haven't been playable since MK9 (kameos don't count). I can imagine they're some peoples' most favourite characters, and they've been waiting for the characters they fell in love with, not different people parading in their suits.

[@jakwinner1000]

It's the best of both worlds with them. You get the human versions and the robot designs.

[@DragonXD2]

The reason why this is so controversial is because it feels weird. Basically, why do they need to be female. Plus, everyone knows Netherrealms is woke because of the Sindel controversy in MK9 and the trump references in MK11, so tons of people don't trust Netherrealms on this. However, I think the connection of Ironman has almost nothing to do with Black Panther and is more of a reference to Ironman's actor coming back to the MCU as Doom and possibly returning as Ironman. I could be wrong about that, but that makes more sense if they are in a suit like Ironman.

[@ULTIMATZEKROM]

Plus the fact that they weren't even in MKX (unless you count Triborg) and were kept non-playable, but fightable in MK11's story, while giving Robocop Cyber Ninja customization just drives the knife in deeper.

[@sodalangstson9438]

Iron argument come from they just using power arugment th3 black panther to offensive we wuz kang accent they gave to her

[@lordadrianrichter3409]

Sektor implies that the armor is just a start. I would assume this means cyberization is the next step and this variant of Cyrax was able to escape that fate.

[@feuryie]

i still think sweet baby was part of their reasoning for gender swapping rather than keeping the originals. and people say wakanda more to make fun of it cuz as my brother says those voice accents from the movie just make the characters sound bad. i swear black panther ruined black characters because everyone who is black needs to come out sounding liek black panther. regardless of their choices i still stand by my view they could have made these original link kuei and that's what really feels like is so bad about this. they just appropriated male identities and slapped a female face on em.

[@nabilahmed579]

Exactly that, plus no way in fuck would liu kang, out of all characters, care about someone’s gender when it comes to make a whole ass timeline

[@wingedbluj1674]

I imagine with all the gear in MK11, they opted to just have the masks removed because it's easier than creating damaged versions off ALL of it.

[@michaeltheodore5149]

Pattern recognition is a good indication of why a certain course of action was taken. There is evidence that DEI/Sweet Baby Inc. has worked on this to the point where they are trying to cover it up. After MK 11 I am not willing to give NRS the benefit of the doubt here.

[@BryJamie]

His face has been plastered in my mind since MK4 when he got his humanity back

[@TheKingOfHarrtz]

i dont get why they didnt just make these two new characters why ruin existing ones?

[@BluCarnage]

They are not doing new characters in this game

[@Zaire_39]

How do you know they’re ruined?

[@jonthanechols6410]

Cause NRS is lazy as fuck? The entire game is half assed, you don't think they'd half ass their DLC characters? "Hey uh...instead of 3 more guest characters why don't we put some fan favorite female characters? Jade, Skarlet, Kira, Frost, Jacqui, Cassie, Sareena..." "NUH UH, Just turn Cyrax and Sektor into Chicks! If we don't put grandpa's movie characters in half the DLC we're gonna go bankrupt!" This whole DLC is bullshit. I'm tired of MK DLC being Guest Character centric. Their solution for having no female dlc characters is to gender swap instead of maybe sacrificing guest character slots for some of the established ladies people want.

[@PiccoloNamexio]

The thing that made people tweaking abt this change is because how long they've been waiting for K&M to come back. They "tease" how cool the cyber ninja in MK11 but did not make them playable. And now they find out that they got 2 DEI ironheart rip offs.

[@sleepylmguy9968]

Now hold up. I see both sides of this, but I do need to Call Out some people. People on all sides. Alright so this is something I don’t get. The same people that I’ve seen have issues with Cyrax and Sektor gender change. THOSE SAME PEOPLE didn’t say anything or do any complaining when the idea of Female Fujin came up. Or Female Bo Rai Cho. I recall the defense of those two was that “This is a different all new timeline. So it makes sense that some huge differences.” But in that Case. WHY is Female Cyrax and Sektor such a big issue. I mean you see what I am saying, right? What’s the problem with these two?

[@TheSwordsman100]

As far as I aware those were just theories and were able to be brushed aside if you didn't care for the idea.

[@JordanPorter11207]

This isn't to argue, I swear, but I can see the argument for Madam Bo and Fujin. For Fujin, we haven't really gotten a lot of him. The last time he was playable before Aftermath was Armageddon and we know that was all the way back in 06. Even though we got more of him in Aftermath, I can see why they don't take him AS seriously as a character, so they felt that it's not too major of a change. As for Bo Rai Cho, most of the MK community, especially the newer fans, who Neatherrealm is catering to mostly, see him as a joke. The last time he was playable was when he was DLC in MKX. Not saying they're right, but I can see the arguments there.

[@theretrogamingnerd3316]

I don't think Fujin and and Bo Rai Cho are that popular compared to Cyrax & Sektor. So people don't care about them being gender swapped. People have wanted a playable version of Sektor & Cyrax since since Mortal Kombat 9. Mortal Kombat X doesn't count. Triborg is a variation of the two, but is not the characters themselves. People have wanted those two characters for a bit now. NRS knows that but instead of giving us the characters, they gender swap them. The two versions of Sektor & Cyrax in Mortal Kombat 1 are not Sektor & Cyrax.

[@pato6738]

Love how the video is more of a tutorial about how to handle internet arguments. I was fairly neutral about this but now I think its gonna be like you said, Cyrax and Sektor are probably just a title that got pass to this two women and the original guys who had that title (in this or previous universe) are somewhere else, if writers are cool they could make them meet and play around with that, perhaps new Cyrax meets old Cyrax and accept her role, while new Sektor meet old Sektor and gets her suit stolen by him? I know they technically weren´t Cyrax or Sektor in this universe but they could make they were two elite Lin Kuei ninjas that for some reason weren´t available so that is why they didn´t become Cyrax/Sektor but they have the experience as ninjas and the new women could look up to them since the suits were made for them originally perhaps? what I mean its the thing give space to write stuff, the question is if they will make use of it.