One of the many things that bothers me about MK11 is how none of the good guys seem to acknowledge that Revenant Kabal used to be on their side. Sonya only referred to him as Kano's goon and that's it. Not to mention he doesn't interact at all with his past counterpart. It really makes you wonder what goes on in these writer's heads, like did they not look at MK9's story at all?
@@zackxeno1019 Well MK9 didn't have time to establish any relationships between the Earthrealmers, during the invasion arc - a side effect of condensing 3 games into 1 - so Sonya doesn't really know Kabal much. Stryker's the only one who knew him, and he's also a revenant in X, which just reinforces how dumb of a decision it was to kill everyone in MK9 and kill any opportunity to develop most of these characters, going forward.
Kano's goon. Damn, Kabal, how low you fell. I'm really starting to think that Warlock's idea about making a smaller roster is a better thing. Story will benefit greatly, all the characters will have screen time to be the actual characters. If you bring styles back, for example, or variations, small roster wouldn't make a problem with variety. With styles there can be like 3 different characters in one, if executed good. And with each game roster changes almost completely, so it's always something new, something fresh, but at the same time no one will be forgotten. But of course, they will never release an MK game without Scorpion or Sub-Zero, for example.
Narratively, Kabal is in fact very underutilized. At a mechanical level, however, Midway (and NRS, later) gave him everything needed to dominate MK's meta. He is very rarely ever found outside the top tier of rosters he showd up in.
*Finally!* I have been EAGERLY waiting for this.... and it was worth it. Fun fact, Kabal is consistently the strongest character in the series, competitively. NRS hates us too much for him to be in story strong. If you want to learn more, watch the competitive history of Kabal.
@@EmeraldSplasher Oh I have, K&M knocked it out of the park with that video. Kabal's dash cancels and zoning were fundamentally broken. He's a character that truly had it all, so I guess that goes well with him having like 4 elemental proficiencies.
The thing with Kabal is his backstory is so vague and undefined that he's easy to mold and change (usually). He can be a former black dragon, leader or not, who was set ablaze but somehow survived, Joshua Graham style. He can be a former cop who got in Kanos' hands and became a dirty Cop before a weapons trade gone wrong. He could even be an outworld general who was burned by either Shao Khan or General Kotal agents, who both deny having done the order. The fact the character has that much FOR PURE BACKSTORY gives someone alot to work with
Thanks, personally, just because it's never been done before, would do the Outworld General. You could make his story figuring out who tried to assassinate him. Perhaps with it being, he ends up thinking it was Shao, but it's never fully confirmed
I appreciate your rationalization of Kabal's kitchen sink of a moveset. It always bothered me that his specials had no apparent common theme, and I think this is also reflected on his mess of a storyline. Which is a pity because I really dig his design, and I'd love to love this character.
6:19 Speaking of Motaro: we need a video on this poor sod (if we don’t already), as he went from *"hero"* to zero straight out of MK3. Dude went from being arguably the hardest boss in the original trilogy to being a straight up "who" character who's treated even worse than most jobbers. Even Kintaro had better recognition. And we don't speak of that abomination we had in Armageddon...
Poor guy got one-shot in the background of MK9 then _offscreened_ by a weaker version of the guy who offed him the last time in M1K. Can't catch a break.
@@RedCommunistDragon That's true, Motaro was, in many ways, more annoying to beat than Shao Kahn. You couldn't juggle him, he teleported all over the place, his moves had faster recovery, he had an annoying throw, and less vulnerabilities and exploitable quirks, overall.
@@CynicalWarlock Story wise, I should also mention, of the sub-bosses; *Motaro* had the most relevance within the OG trilogy. Sure, *Goro* may have slain the *Great Kung Lao,* however, that was five centuries ago at the time of the original MK1. Not too reliable to us, the viewer (plus *Kung Lao* himself wasn't even introduced in MK1). *Kintaro* had even less of a presence. Other than being Shao's bodyguard, Kintaro was just kinda... there. Which is unfortunate, because dare I say: I actually prefer him along with the Tigras over the Dracos, which is ironic because I typically prefer dragons🐉 to tigers🐅🐯. Motaro, on the other hand, not only slew *Johnny Cage,* personally, but also dragged Kano's weakened ass back to Shao, allowing him to recover and was inadvertently the cause for Sheeva's defection to Earthrealm, as a result of his purges against the Shokan.
Kabal forever my goat for being broken in both MK3 and MK9 ...Actually no I lied, of course back then I wouldn't know jack about what "broken" even means in these games, but he was always so damn fun to play as.
After mk9 I liked to think kabal was undercover black dragon who made some actual friendships which is why Kano tries to talk him back in. This way you can play his loyalties however you like
That would be a cool way to add even more complicated morality. Like Kano's a complete dirtbag, sure, but maybe Kira and some other Black Dragons are actually cool, redeemable people, who saved Kabal and they bonded etc.
I always found the idea of him being a good guy and then turning evil to create his own version of the Black Dragon to be super interesting,. I do think it suffers from having the 2 new Black Dragon members be kinda forgettable for the long run but I like the concept. The idea he regressed to his evil ways while also taking on a leader role is an interesting thing to explore. Personally, I always felt like him having beef with Sonya or any other Special Forces member would be untapped drama. This is a guy who fought alongside you during the Outworld Invasion, and he betrays for Kano because he felt underappreciated by you? It's definitely an idea that could be expanded upon for sure.
The idea of a good guy turning evil does sound quite interesting, as so far we've only been blueballed by Dark Raiden and the revenants in that department. However, I really don't think Kabal should be the vehicle for that kind of plot. In the Midway timeline, he was a black dragon member who, after a near-death experience, vowed to fight for the forces of good. Then along comes Deception, with yet another near-death experience, and he becomes evil again? Because Havik told him to? I can't even call that character regression, that's just flip-flopping between allegiances, much like Goro in Unchained. The worst part, I'd say, is that his return to evil is tied to the stalling of the overall story. By the time of Deception, the black dragon clan had been on its last legs for two games, and with the red dragon clan being introduced in Deadly Alliance, it seemed obvious they would take their place as the new criminal antagonists. Hyping up villains is something MK has historically done really well, yet here they decided to instead bring the black dragon back to its former glory and pit them against the new antagonists - stalling both the escalation of the plot AND failing at hyping up the new bad guys. Kabal going after Mavado for vengeance makes perfect sense. Him working alongside black dragon members also makes sense, since they have a common enemy. Being a former criminal, literally scarred by his experiences, Kabal would have fascinating interactions with Kira and Kobra, two hot-bloods eager to prove themselves. But him actually rejoining the black dragon, trying to forcefuly bring them back to the plot and kill the hype for the red dragon, was, to me, a terrible decision.
It's similar to what I'm going for- Kabal sort of becomes an outcast, trusted by neither the SF nor the Black Dragon, yet both are forced to work with him. I'd keep him murky, instead of formally evil.
An interesting fact about the hook swords he uses or the Shauang Gou is that they are weapons typically used for trapping the opponent's weapon or trying to disarm them or misdirect the opponent, and not necessarily used to kill or maim, possibly due to the weapon being associated with Shaolin monks and a part of Shaolin kung fu. You could play around with that in terms of gameplay or his character and as you said lean more into his more benevolent side. Also I just love this weapon and the weapons MK characters use in general. Like Sindel's Kwan Dao (Guan Dao in real life), being a weapon that can more easily decapitate someone and playing into the, "Off with your Head" line from the red queen.
Your scout boy video is gem btw try making that content too, but yeah love your full nerding on mk lore, very unique and rare type of content channel should have been famous till now.
I do make it, but no one watches it. The Boy Scout one was an exception. Will continue to try and diversify, every now and then. And thanks a bunch, that's very cool of you to say. Type.* Whatever.
I'm guessing Tremor probably burnt Kabal's face. Either by lava punches or in a spicy makeout session. I can just imagine Tremor burning people as his way of doing "pranks". Like... Tremor, "Hey- Hey- Kano! Invite that Night- Grey Cloud kid in our gang! I gotta pretty "LIT" idea!" The next day we see Nightwolf tragically crying over his burning reservation, family and everything. Tremor, "Sorry my guy, but crossing the Black Dragon wasn't a- Pff- Bright idea!" That day Nightwolf had discovered what true cringe truly was.
Kabal is my favorite MK Character, and I love the idea that Kabal was knifed by numerous people and he is using his skillset to his advantage to get revenge of all of them, sounds like a fun story.
WE GOT THE SPINS WITH THIS ONE 🗣🗣🗣 But really Kabal is one of my favorite characters. I wish he was used more than just randomly popping up every other game.
You know what a hook sword isn't good for? *Impaling people.* That always fucked with my OCD... >.< My favourite Kabal was always the mentor to Kira and Kobra, maybe that's because Deception was my intro to him. To me, he seemed like a guy who proved the Black Dragon didn't have to be one-dimensional goons. I wouldn't mind seeing him play the Batista to Kano's Triple H in the New Era...
@@lordtrigon1733 Well he certainly is the *one* Black Dragon that isn't one-dimensional; the way Kira, Kobra and Kano are all portrayed is pretty much 'eviscerate puppy' levels of evil. And that's a good point about hook swords - they literally prevent a clean, merciful death, except perhaps by slashing someone's head off, if they're sharp enough. Thrusting is about as effective as cutting steak with a spoon.
You know what Kano is a air user, only because of that one sonic spin move he does. I like to think that Kano asked Kabal to teach him some air abilities, where now Kabal is frustrated he put in the effort to show Kano only for Kano to only use it for mid air sonic spin.
Fitting that you mentioned Chaosrealm as a potential backstory element for Kabal given his storyline in Deception… (Which I actually hate with a scorching hatred.) So I am still yet to finish my fucking thesis in response to your video on how to improve every MK character but when it comes to Kabal, I do believe he and Stryker should actually be used in a pair and they could be a much needed ‘focal points’ for Earthrealm in the conflict between Seido and Chaosrealm. The story kind of writes itself there with Kabal being initially seduced by Havik’s speeches and almost embracing chaos, and with Stryker finding something in common with Hotaru and his law-abidingness, with their differing points of view threatening to destroy their friendship and pit them against each other… And then they would both understand just how messed up each realm really is and how dangerous each absolute is. Also it would be interesting if the reason Havik sought out Kabal specifically was that he survived something that he, in all fairness, should not have survived, thus becoming one of the few creatures in the universe who could be potentially capable of surviving in and accepting the nature of Chaosrealm. This could hint at Havik’s own backstory and relationship with the realm without the need to actually disclose them. And please do not forget MK:DOTR, which has the best Kabal to date, even with that weird ‘Phantom of the Opera’-esque romance with Sonya.
Every time I hear of DotR, it gets weirder and weirder. Sounds like a solid storyline, and we see eye to eye on Havik's vibe - hint at stuff about his origin, but don't fully reveal it. It honestly depends on how well you portray Order and Chaosrealm.
@@CynicalWarlock Oh believe me, it is weird. Even its status is weird as it is kind of an alternative sequel to the first film. But among the weird shit you have real gems like the Lin Kuei episode or Kabal episode. Also, Shao Kahn resurrecting Shang Tsung just to bitchslap him - fucking perfection. The unfortunate thing with Seido and Chaosrealm is that they are too removed from the main storyline of the MK universe and the majority of the characters. It sometimes feels like they were created for a spin-off. Maybe they would work better if one changed the backstory a bit so that Seido and Chaosrealm had been conquered by Kahn by MK1 and then after Liu defeats the Emperor they get the chance to become free again, like Edenia? And honestly, it sometimes feels weird to even have a dedicated realm for chaos. Maybe it should have been a space between the realms, the unknown, the weird, the dangerous... and the UNCONSCIOUS of the One Being.
@@serhibei I feel the same way about them - my very first thought on Order and Chaosrealm, years ago, was to delete them, and after trying to make them work for months now, I've almost come full circle to that initial thought; there's just no point for them to exist. Chaosrealm being deadspace between the realms is legit something I thought of a couple months ago. So it's not just me.
@@CynicalWarlock Totally agreed. I know that a lot of old-school fans (and I am one of those) love them and argue that they expand the lore, but I sometimes think that people like the idea of them more than the realms themselves. And also I personally think it is better to deepen than to expand. Not to mention that the characters who represent these realms can very easily be re-imagined as Outworlders or Edenians or, in case of Havik, a Netherrealmer (he was created as a redesign for Noob after all). I would not lose any sleep if Darrius was re-imagined as a Red Dragon member, Hotaru as Onaga's general and Havik as a chaos-worshiping wraith. Havik could even become somewhat of a foil to Drahmin lol.
@@CynicalWarlock Although I do have some idea of how to use them in the narrative - but it involves them being destroyed by a certain character who is becoming the One Being's avatar...
Good video. MK has lots of defectors from evil groups (Subzero, Kitana, Jade, ect) that I love your ideas how reintroduce Kabal. With his speed, he could have been a great assassin for the good guys.
Great topic for a first upload this year. I remember Kabal being one of those characters I severly overlooked as a kid, but always felt that air (pun intended) of mystery about him - pretty much for all the reasons you discussed. I read about the Tusken Raider influence, but the Vader one is also a neat parallel. I didn't even know what hookswords were, but thought they were an interesting looking choice for his design and gameplay aesthetic; a blend of grace and dexterity with a slight unhinged and chaotic flair - which I think sums up Kabal quite well. As far as Black Dragon go, I always consider him the more skillful and "disciplined" or level-headed of the bunch, especially compared to Kano - more Red Dragon-esque in appeal, which makes sense given his run-ins with Mavado (essentially his kombative counterpart). Overall, a cool and intriguing character, and exceptionally high tier competitively. I mained him quite a bit in MK11. And I agree... it would be "TRIPPY INSANE". 😉
Air/gas could explain most of his kit. His speed could be either wind manipulation to push himself foward at high speed or gas propulsion to the same effect. Gas blast since it seems to come from his face could be him overtuning his breathing apparatus. Saw blade is a physical collapsible weapon, but he uses either of the aforementioned to propel it foward. Most of these would work if his breather had a more obvious power source. Mk11 had a small one on his ass, but that just makes his gas attacks some bo rai cho shenanigans.
Kabal's MK3 story is so powerful to me (I even liked his MK9 story, and surprisingly didn't hate him in MK11. My least favorite will always be Deception). I especially loved how it was adapted in Defenders of the Realms (for all its problems, they handled the character quite well, better than the games dare I say). Originally from what I heard with people like Herman Sanchez (or someone, it was a long time ago, I just vaguely remember that), that the original intention was to make Mavado the real leader of the Red Dragon (you see the multiple set ups in his and Sonya's endings in DA). But due to backlash from the fans who were very angry that these new guys (Hsu Hao, Mavado) took down the old favorites such as Kano and Kabal, ... let's just say --- wasn't well received like Midway thought. So that's why, in Deception, neither Mavado nor Hsu Hao came back. Darrius was planned to be the Red Dragon but they dropped that idea because they thought the Red Dragon was a poor concept from the beginning and instead revived the Black Dragon.
By the way you have a very extensive vocabulary it's very nice keep doing such I'm learning new words. And I thought that I was pretty versed in literacy
Why thank you, that's nice of you to say. I would imagine listening to my stuff is like flipping through a dictionary that has some random curse words and dick pics peppered throughout, for no reason. A dicktionary, there ya go.
Fucking. THANK YOU. Easily one of the coolest characters, could be a huge way to complicate Kano without constantly relying on the Sonya drama. Makes Kano a more variable character, makes the Black Dragon a more realized idea, gives *an action of consequence to the goings on of the world(s)*. Add it to the goddamn list of cool things that NRS (but really their WB overlords probably) just can't or won't do.
That's a hilarious and interesting video, I loved it! Now I like Kabal even more. Btw I never thought some people may think he's on a Flash level speed, that's just ridiculous. He only has his dash, and nowhere else his superspeed is shown, never thought he's a speedster. Oh, and I also thought Kabal is his real name. It's the only way how it makes sense that everyone calls him that, police and criminals.
What if No Face or possibly Jerek deformed Kabal? Not to mention the Midway Time-line established a rivalry with Mavado. What if the Red Dragon was fueding with the Black Dragon and the Black Dragon bailed forcing Kabal to fight the Red Dragon and nearly being beaten to death by one of its members or Mavado? I always figured Mavado returned some time during the MK 3 Time-line or MK4 and attempted to finish Kabal once and for all, but left him for dead. Kabal didn't die because he was rescued by Havik who taught him the ways of Chaos convincing him to reform the Black Dragon in his own unique way and making him turn bad; which did essentially happen. As far as him being a cop goes, what if he were undercover and had to infiltrate the Black Dragon and bring them to justice, but ultimately fell in love with their rule breaking antics and slowly became one of them. Than he gets found out, maybe by Erron Black and gets betrayed, only to return to the force, but gets horribly scard by Kintaro and saved by Kano further complicating his aligance. Have MK 9 play out the same way, but have him have a near death experience with Mavado and be rescued by Havik to turn him evil again. Oh and he needs a real name. Stryker goes by Stryker, but his real name is Curtis. Kabal was called "Carlos" by Johnny Cage, but that was just a joke. I can't think if a proper last name like Stryker and assume Kabal is a codename, so I'm going with Cody. His MK 9 strikes me as a Cody or Brandon. Don't know why though.😅
Yeah in MK vs DC Midway started the whole Kabal is as fast as the Flash crap and I've always thought that was stupid. Don't get me wrong he's still blindingly fast, but I'd assume he's almost battery operated in that he can only do short bursts of quick speeds before basically running out of juice and having to wait to get stronger. Maybe he's like Bane under the effects of Venom where his abilities only last so long and than he has to rest and sorta regroup. Maybe he enhances his Nomad dash with some sort of drug or chemical and maybe he has some robotic implants allowing him to run at high speeds to begin with. Remember in his MK 9 ending when the Dr. who gave Kano his cybernetic eye also worked on Kabal and gave him enhancements? What if that ending was cannon to his character? The only thing that doesn't work for me is how he got my Waifu😯...😳...I mean Sareena in his MK11 ending. He TOTALLY stole my...er Bi-han and Kui-Liang's potential love interest. Bastard.😅
Correction Supermans top speed is usually faster than the flash under great effort But superman is far slower naturally than the flash and its shown many times that he is just holding back...Though another thing is that superman can fly and has a body better for moving...But movement speed isnt combat speed
Since Kabal is his name even as a cop, I always viewed as some kind of ethnic name because cops aren't allowed to wear long hair but he's got a ponytail so maybe he had to request to wear it because of religious or cultural reasons or something.
"Shaking your fists in anger at the world is as tempting as it is useless." ...Pretty much every action we take in life is useless. We're all dust in the end.
I just got done with your video to improve every mortal kombat character ( great video by the way) And When you talked about kira It reminded me of a theory Post on reddit that the theory on kira That she was supposed to be the daughter of Kano and sonya
Yeah, there was a secret, blink-and-you'll-miss-it message embedded in the how to improve video where I address that. Kira being a mix of Kano and Sonya, I mean, and the troubling implications of it. Didn't know there was a reddit thread on it.
I think there's a problem of getting his story straight and not flip-flopping between a redeemed, criminal or back to being a criminal with this character.
I love how while you were talking about physical limitations you forgt literally the biggest one he has. HE HAS ASTHMA literally just make him a asthmatic track star of a character. Also another idea is that you can make it that he always was a practitioner and had a high potential as a another champion for earthrealm but then make it where when he was injured, not only was he too physically harmed to run as fast the same way he used to but also because of that, thats why he wants his revenge against Kano or Sonya or whoever the fuck netherrealm wants him to lose to next
Agree on the speedster thing. Moving as fast as Flash and having *a bladed weapon* is a REALLY BROKEN FIGHT-ENDING COMBO. 13:45 What move are talking about?
great video and kabal has always been my favorite out of the bunch, I'd love to see him kind of side with bad guys and in the momment the villains are about to win he'd backstab them revealing it was just a plan he had to get to them,kinda like dante did with sigma ultron in marvel vs capcom infinite, and with both accesses to special forces archives and black dragon contacts he'd definetly could be a kind of fixer, like you want to find this criminal? kabal knows where he could be, you want some illegal substances that can only be brought of black market? kabal knows how and where to get them
I always thought it was kinda funny they gave the character with respiratory issues the power of super speed, maybe he doesn't use it constantly out of concern of hyperventilating? Lol? Hands down my favorite character tho. All lot of interesting things have been done with him but i don't really feel get fleshed (haha) out. Though i guess you can say that for a lot of the characters anyway.
Great video for a cool character. Hey a revenge story for Kabal is cool I'd love to see it as a comic or animated movie. Again MK got good stuff with this character but not investing in him. For his powers I like the idea of limitations it makes things more interesting. I'd like to say for his speed being limited what if it's connected to his smoke powers and his breathing. Since he uses smoke which can be blur the vision and also hurts your lungs Kabal can't use the pure clean element of air we see in Kung Lao, Kitana and Fujin. It would also add to his murky morals as well. His speed could be representation of him being a neutral character who has been on both sides of the fence running from one side to the next. I'd like to this that blast ball is the fire being more ignited so like a smoke's smoke ball blast but kicked up with heat. As for illusion I'd again connect it to smoke what if those projectiles he uses in that stance is him using a mix of smoke and his weaponry to trip up people.
Oh interesting, so his speed would actually be Smoke-based, instead of Air-based; would be an interesting lore tidbit. The fireball bit makes sense too, thematically, and power system-wise. You *really* want Kabal to be a pure Smoke character..
@CynicalWarlock haha I guess so, I was just thinking due to his character it makes sense. Heck Smoke freaking teleports I don't think it's a stretch Kabal uses the air aspect of smoke to make himself faster. We could use more smoke users
Thank you thank you thank you thank you. You are the only human being on the planet that I have ever encountered, on the internet, in person, that had the same idea as me when it comes to Superman. The flash.. are any other person that can go at ridiculous speeds. You mean to tell me you can travel around the world in a matter of minutes but then all the sudden for your fights you slow down and get the other person The edge, why. If we're going to be honest Superman should never lose to any villain because he moves faster than their eye can see.. he literally has to intentionally let buildings be destroyed by villains by going slower than he know he can.
Which is why you should either remove Superman's superspeed, or give it a huge penalty, like he loses his invulnerability when he uses it. And removing his superspeed starts a chain reaction of problems, cause now he can't go to space fast enough, he can't go to the sun, which.. I mean that's preposterous no matter how you slice it - if he were fast enough to get to the sun in a reasonable time frame, that's.. it's not eve-I can't. No.
mk11 kabal felt weird, in 9 he learly was a good guy after he told Kano off after saving him in X does nothing and now 11 he's back but only as the pre-retcon black dragon member
5:35 if that's the case then don't worry kabal you can tell us your real name we don't judge i mean my favourite characters full name is Zachary tristopher watterson or gumball tristopher watterson depending on the name you call him by goddammit i wrote a goddamm paragraph again warlock give me a gun
Americans really love their redemption stories, I think they are more overdone than just jobber bad-guys, and I hate redemption stories in mortal kombat, there are simply too many of them, especially in the last games. I love my speedster powers (as well as the hair and voice-based power characters) to be sided with evil, they are more interestingly used by evil characters, the problem with evil characters in mortal kombat however, is that they are all forced into the jobber corner because they can't kill good-guys as those good guys become unplayable and if they kill a good-guy the entire world hates the characters, as we see with D'Vorah.. I do agree with you that the speed should be toned down, Kabal is fast, but not as fast as the light or even sound, he can just run fast and have speed bursts, but not anything insane like those heroes from DC and Marvel.
@@wesleyvalk9129 And I agree that the jobber epidemic is caused by not allowing bad guys too kill, or at least win battles and do anything significant against good guys. It's also the chapter system which limits the number of characters you can play as and the insistence on only letting you play as the good guys, for the most part, so it's a multifactorial thing. People hate D'Vorah not because she kills and outmaneuvers established characters, but because she does it abruptly as a new character that hasn't been built up at all, and does it repeatedly, hogging the spotlight in an ensemble game, which registers as missed oportunities for some of the other characters. Meanwhile, Kotal - who, despite being a new character, *has* been built up as a potential badass, since he's the new Kahn, Shao's successor, and referred to as a sun *god* - gets humiliated, repeatedly, in both games, and acts like a dumbass. It's the goof of all time; completely backwards. Kabal's redemption was built into his first appearance though, back when there weren't that many characters, so you can't make the case that he, specifically, is an exercise in overusing the redemption trope.
@@CynicalWarlock I cannot lie, when I first saw mortal kombat 3 in a game magazine back in 1995, my two favorite characters in it were both Sindel and Kabal, nothing was shown about their backstory, they were just called Doctor Kabal and Shao Kahn's wife, soooo (me as a evil-guy only lover) I immediately loved Sindel and Kabal as I thought they were bad-guys, too bad their stories were both redemption bores and they fought for the side of good... I started liking Kabal again in Deception though and Sindel in MK11, they are simple villains yeah, but I'm always rooting for simple villains. D'vorah isn't the cancer people should hate, it is Ed Boon/Dominique for making that up. Kotal should get more luck in the future yeah, don't understand why this guy is getting all the bad-luck stories. The character I think is perfect for a redemption story is Reptile, and Kotal, maybe Erron, the others not so much, Kira, Reiko, Tanya, Mileena, Baraka, (Sindel and Kabal should start out evil and stay evil in my Opinion), Sektor and Noob should never turn good at any point or time.
*Currently resting due to being sick for a week, coughing up tennis sized fur balls* *Watches the video, but due to a very sore throat. All I do is write a simple letter* " I left a present for ya after you called me awesome. As for the video, 👍 "
@CynicalWarlock *Points to the things that you miss in mk post* Before I got sick... I left.. the prolouge of the universe I was working on after you called me awesome.. not everyday you find a equal in chess kombat.
I'll die on this Hill midway has still a way better story lines than netherrealm studios. Also Kabal was broke so he rejoined the black dragon he called and told me
@CynicalWarlock Would be right not saying you're wrong. My theory is that they were trying to be on top doing over the top things to blow out the competition. Big roster, big adventure, big customization, motor Kombat. So they chose quantity over quality. Just my theory
Listen, Cynical, I'm a f*ing fangirl of every videos you post but, Kabal+underused? UNDER F*ING USED? Come on, he was broken in mk3 and he didn't make a bad impression in mk9 (can't quite remember the 3D era, so I'll give you that) but underusd? Meh, not quite sure abt that lol 😂 EDIT: OOOOOH, ok I got it and I was disgustingly wtong on the point I wanted to make. Yeah, I thought it was purely on the playable thing, and I mistook it. i apologise, loved the video. As aleays ❤
I stopped reading after "fangirl", that's all I wanted to know. Jk. Yeah it was more of a story remark, and even then, this is more so a way for me to avoid writing "This is a Kabal video" in the title.
also on another note on the moral dilemma, to be able to wield the shuang gou, your hands have to be able to move separately, like left hand draw circle, right hand draw square
if you are talking about nrs yes they dont put him in many games and dont give him the attention he deserves but if we are talking about the fanbase kabal is a really popular and lots of people really like him.
So wat if he was undercover the entire time as in he was already a cop and sent in to infiltrate and say it works for a bit and kano finds out through his own infiltration of sonyas and jaxs team as he misleads them and such
One of the many things that bothers me about MK11 is how none of the good guys seem to acknowledge that Revenant Kabal used to be on their side. Sonya only referred to him as Kano's goon and that's it. Not to mention he doesn't interact at all with his past counterpart. It really makes you wonder what goes on in these writer's heads, like did they not look at MK9's story at all?
@@zackxeno1019 Well MK9 didn't have time to establish any relationships between the Earthrealmers, during the invasion arc - a side effect of condensing 3 games into 1 - so Sonya doesn't really know Kabal much. Stryker's the only one who knew him, and he's also a revenant in X, which just reinforces how dumb of a decision it was to kill everyone in MK9 and kill any opportunity to develop most of these characters, going forward.
Kano's goon. Damn, Kabal, how low you fell. I'm really starting to think that Warlock's idea about making a smaller roster is a better thing. Story will benefit greatly, all the characters will have screen time to be the actual characters. If you bring styles back, for example, or variations, small roster wouldn't make a problem with variety. With styles there can be like 3 different characters in one, if executed good. And with each game roster changes almost completely, so it's always something new, something fresh, but at the same time no one will be forgotten. But of course, they will never release an MK game without Scorpion or Sub-Zero, for example.
You all realize it's because the writers knew nothing about the game right? Go woke go fucking broke
Narratively, Kabal is in fact very underutilized. At a mechanical level, however, Midway (and NRS, later) gave him everything needed to dominate MK's meta. He is very rarely ever found outside the top tier of rosters he showd up in.
@@kylenguyen7371 Yup, he was absolutely broken in most of the games he's been in.
The conversation between you and Midway was peak cinema
*Finally!*
I have been EAGERLY waiting for this.... and it was worth it. Fun fact, Kabal is consistently the strongest character in the series, competitively. NRS hates us too much for him to be in story strong. If you want to learn more, watch the competitive history of Kabal.
@@EmeraldSplasher Oh I have, K&M knocked it out of the park with that video. Kabal's dash cancels and zoning were fundamentally broken. He's a character that truly had it all, so I guess that goes well with him having like 4 elemental proficiencies.
@@CynicalWarlock "I am... the one who Nomad Dashes."
@@EmeraldSplasher I am the Nomad who magtows.
The vigilante route they were going with the MK3 ending gave the character such potential.
Such wasted potential 😞
The thing with Kabal is his backstory is so vague and undefined that he's easy to mold and change (usually).
He can be a former black dragon, leader or not, who was set ablaze but somehow survived, Joshua Graham style.
He can be a former cop who got in Kanos' hands and became a dirty Cop before a weapons trade gone wrong.
He could even be an outworld general who was burned by either Shao Khan or General Kotal agents, who both deny having done the order.
The fact the character has that much FOR PURE BACKSTORY gives someone alot to work with
Yeah it's like the multiple choice Joker origin story thing; keeps the character fresh and mysterious.
All those are great origins, by the way.
Thanks, personally, just because it's never been done before, would do the Outworld General. You could make his story figuring out who tried to assassinate him. Perhaps with it being, he ends up thinking it was Shao, but it's never fully confirmed
5:02 "From now on, you're Carlos"
That was actually a funny intro.
i will never forgive what they done to my boy in MK11, i love Kabal so much
Yeah *nothing* is what they did with him.
I appreciate your rationalization of Kabal's kitchen sink of a moveset. It always bothered me that his specials had no apparent common theme, and I think this is also reflected on his mess of a storyline. Which is a pity because I really dig his design, and I'd love to love this character.
I think you will. This was just an appetizer.
There's MUCH to be done with Kabal... but FIRST fire NRS's incompetent writing ✍️ staff and hire Warlock to write him PROPERLY.
6:19 Speaking of Motaro: we need a video on this poor sod (if we don’t already), as he went from *"hero"* to zero straight out of MK3. Dude went from being arguably the hardest boss in the original trilogy to being a straight up "who" character who's treated even worse than most jobbers. Even Kintaro had better recognition. And we don't speak of that abomination we had in Armageddon...
Poor guy got one-shot in the background of MK9 then _offscreened_ by a weaker version of the guy who offed him the last time in M1K. Can't catch a break.
@@RedCommunistDragon That's true, Motaro was, in many ways, more annoying to beat than Shao Kahn. You couldn't juggle him, he teleported all over the place, his moves had faster recovery, he had an annoying throw, and less vulnerabilities and exploitable quirks, overall.
@@CynicalWarlock Story wise, I should also mention, of the sub-bosses; *Motaro* had the most relevance within the OG trilogy.
Sure, *Goro* may have slain the *Great Kung Lao,* however, that was five centuries ago at the time of the original MK1. Not too reliable to us, the viewer (plus *Kung Lao* himself wasn't even introduced in MK1). *Kintaro* had even less of a presence. Other than being Shao's bodyguard, Kintaro was just kinda... there. Which is unfortunate, because dare I say: I actually prefer him along with the Tigras over the Dracos, which is ironic because I typically prefer dragons🐉 to tigers🐅🐯.
Motaro, on the other hand, not only slew *Johnny Cage,* personally, but also dragged Kano's weakened ass back to Shao, allowing him to recover and was inadvertently the cause for Sheeva's defection to Earthrealm, as a result of his purges against the Shokan.
@@RedCommunistDragon I need to look this man up.
Horse-man, whatever.
@@CynicalWarlock Horse-men a.k.a: the Centaurs.
Kabal forever my goat for being broken in both MK3 and MK9
...Actually no I lied, of course back then I wouldn't know jack about what "broken" even means in these games, but he was always so damn fun to play as.
He absolutely was broken, but to you, you were just like "hey this character's fun". Meanwhile, your opponents were pulling their hair out.
After mk9 I liked to think kabal was undercover black dragon who made some actual friendships which is why Kano tries to talk him back in. This way you can play his loyalties however you like
That would be a cool way to add even more complicated morality. Like Kano's a complete dirtbag, sure, but maybe Kira and some other Black Dragons are actually cool, redeemable people, who saved Kabal and they bonded etc.
@@CynicalWarlock Yeah, lets turn every bad guy into a good guy, tea-parties for every one...
@@wesleyvalk9129 I hate tea.
@@CynicalWarlock Then turn more characters into bad-guys, not the other way around, good-guys are boring.
I always found the idea of him being a good guy and then turning evil to create his own version of the Black Dragon to be super interesting,.
I do think it suffers from having the 2 new Black Dragon members be kinda forgettable for the long run but I like the concept.
The idea he regressed to his evil ways while also taking on a leader role is an interesting thing to explore.
Personally, I always felt like him having beef with Sonya or any other Special Forces member would be untapped drama. This is a guy who fought alongside you during the Outworld Invasion, and he betrays for Kano because he felt underappreciated by you? It's definitely an idea that could be expanded upon for sure.
The idea of a good guy turning evil does sound quite interesting, as so far we've only been blueballed by Dark Raiden and the revenants in that department. However, I really don't think Kabal should be the vehicle for that kind of plot.
In the Midway timeline, he was a black dragon member who, after a near-death experience, vowed to fight for the forces of good. Then along comes Deception, with yet another near-death experience, and he becomes evil again? Because Havik told him to? I can't even call that character regression, that's just flip-flopping between allegiances, much like Goro in Unchained.
The worst part, I'd say, is that his return to evil is tied to the stalling of the overall story. By the time of Deception, the black dragon clan had been on its last legs for two games, and with the red dragon clan being introduced in Deadly Alliance, it seemed obvious they would take their place as the new criminal antagonists. Hyping up villains is something MK has historically done really well, yet here they decided to instead bring the black dragon back to its former glory and pit them against the new antagonists - stalling both the escalation of the plot AND failing at hyping up the new bad guys.
Kabal going after Mavado for vengeance makes perfect sense. Him working alongside black dragon members also makes sense, since they have a common enemy. Being a former criminal, literally scarred by his experiences, Kabal would have fascinating interactions with Kira and Kobra, two hot-bloods eager to prove themselves. But him actually rejoining the black dragon, trying to forcefuly bring them back to the plot and kill the hype for the red dragon, was, to me, a terrible decision.
@@RodrigoPereira-ws8okThey got cold feet, last second, because of the Black Dragon's popularity.
It's similar to what I'm going for- Kabal sort of becomes an outcast, trusted by neither the SF nor the Black Dragon, yet both are forced to work with him. I'd keep him murky, instead of formally evil.
An interesting fact about the hook swords he uses or the Shauang Gou is that they are weapons typically used for trapping the opponent's weapon or trying to disarm them or misdirect the opponent, and not necessarily used to kill or maim, possibly due to the weapon being associated with Shaolin monks and a part of Shaolin kung fu. You could play around with that in terms of gameplay or his character and as you said lean more into his more benevolent side. Also I just love this weapon and the weapons MK characters use in general. Like Sindel's Kwan Dao (Guan Dao in real life), being a weapon that can more easily decapitate someone and playing into the, "Off with your Head" line from the red queen.
That's true, the hook swords are Shaolin weapons; should've mentioned that counterpoint. I mostly thought of the bloody ways in which Kabal uses them.
Your scout boy video is gem btw try making that content too, but yeah love your full nerding on mk lore, very unique and rare type of content channel should have been famous till now.
I do make it, but no one watches it. The Boy Scout one was an exception. Will continue to try and diversify, every now and then.
And thanks a bunch, that's very cool of you to say.
Type.*
Whatever.
@@CynicalWarlockdude I love your sense of humor. I'll be lying if I say I always get it, but still.
I'm guessing Tremor probably burnt Kabal's face. Either by lava punches or in a spicy makeout session.
I can just imagine Tremor burning people as his way of doing "pranks". Like...
Tremor, "Hey- Hey- Kano! Invite that Night- Grey Cloud kid in our gang! I gotta pretty "LIT" idea!"
The next day we see Nightwolf tragically crying over his burning reservation, family and everything.
Tremor, "Sorry my guy, but crossing the Black Dragon wasn't a- Pff- Bright idea!"
That day Nightwolf had discovered what true cringe truly was.
Tremor does seem like the kind of guy who jovially pats people on the back with a stone hammer.
@CynicalWarlock A stone hammer that might as well be his hands, of quartz.
0:25 I always thought Reiko was inspired by Nightwing.
@@byrongabriel488 Interesting. The Nightwing to Shao's Batman.
Kabal is my favorite MK Character, and I love the idea that Kabal was knifed by numerous people and he is using his skillset to his advantage to get revenge of all of them, sounds like a fun story.
Yeah, even discovering the identity of some of these people could make for some fun reveals.
Glad I finally covered your favorite character.
WE GOT THE SPINS WITH THIS ONE 🗣🗣🗣
But really Kabal is one of my favorite characters. I wish he was used more than just randomly popping up every other game.
Yeah him and half the cast.
@@CynicalWarlock Truuuuuuuuue lol
You know what a hook sword isn't good for? *Impaling people.* That always fucked with my OCD... >.<
My favourite Kabal was always the mentor to Kira and Kobra, maybe that's because Deception was my intro to him. To me, he seemed like a guy who proved the Black Dragon didn't have to be one-dimensional goons. I wouldn't mind seeing him play the Batista to Kano's Triple H in the New Era...
@@lordtrigon1733 Well he certainly is the *one* Black Dragon that isn't one-dimensional; the way Kira, Kobra and Kano are all portrayed is pretty much 'eviscerate puppy' levels of evil.
And that's a good point about hook swords - they literally prevent a clean, merciful death, except perhaps by slashing someone's head off, if they're sharp enough. Thrusting is about as effective as cutting steak with a spoon.
let me say something my brotha, yo vids NEVER MISS. 👍🏾
@@francoisdelrio1824 Erron Black ain't got nothin on me.
You know what Kano is a air user, only because of that one sonic spin move he does. I like to think that Kano asked Kabal to teach him some air abilities, where now Kabal is frustrated he put in the effort to show Kano only for Kano to only use it for mid air sonic spin.
That'd be funny, actually.
Fitting that you mentioned Chaosrealm as a potential backstory element for Kabal given his storyline in Deception… (Which I actually hate with a scorching hatred.)
So I am still yet to finish my fucking thesis in response to your video on how to improve every MK character but when it comes to Kabal, I do believe he and Stryker should actually be used in a pair and they could be a much needed ‘focal points’ for Earthrealm in the conflict between Seido and Chaosrealm. The story kind of writes itself there with Kabal being initially seduced by Havik’s speeches and almost embracing chaos, and with Stryker finding something in common with Hotaru and his law-abidingness, with their differing points of view threatening to destroy their friendship and pit them against each other… And then they would both understand just how messed up each realm really is and how dangerous each absolute is.
Also it would be interesting if the reason Havik sought out Kabal specifically was that he survived something that he, in all fairness, should not have survived, thus becoming one of the few creatures in the universe who could be potentially capable of surviving in and accepting the nature of Chaosrealm. This could hint at Havik’s own backstory and relationship with the realm without the need to actually disclose them.
And please do not forget MK:DOTR, which has the best Kabal to date, even with that weird ‘Phantom of the Opera’-esque romance with Sonya.
Every time I hear of DotR, it gets weirder and weirder.
Sounds like a solid storyline, and we see eye to eye on Havik's vibe - hint at stuff about his origin, but don't fully reveal it.
It honestly depends on how well you portray Order and Chaosrealm.
@@CynicalWarlock Oh believe me, it is weird. Even its status is weird as it is kind of an alternative sequel to the first film. But among the weird shit you have real gems like the Lin Kuei episode or Kabal episode. Also, Shao Kahn resurrecting Shang Tsung just to bitchslap him - fucking perfection.
The unfortunate thing with Seido and Chaosrealm is that they are too removed from the main storyline of the MK universe and the majority of the characters. It sometimes feels like they were created for a spin-off. Maybe they would work better if one changed the backstory a bit so that Seido and Chaosrealm had been conquered by Kahn by MK1 and then after Liu defeats the Emperor they get the chance to become free again, like Edenia? And honestly, it sometimes feels weird to even have a dedicated realm for chaos. Maybe it should have been a space between the realms, the unknown, the weird, the dangerous... and the UNCONSCIOUS of the One Being.
@@serhibei I feel the same way about them - my very first thought on Order and Chaosrealm, years ago, was to delete them, and after trying to make them work for months now, I've almost come full circle to that initial thought; there's just no point for them to exist.
Chaosrealm being deadspace between the realms is legit something I thought of a couple months ago. So it's not just me.
@@CynicalWarlock Totally agreed. I know that a lot of old-school fans (and I am one of those) love them and argue that they expand the lore, but I sometimes think that people like the idea of them more than the realms themselves. And also I personally think it is better to deepen than to expand. Not to mention that the characters who represent these realms can very easily be re-imagined as Outworlders or Edenians or, in case of Havik, a Netherrealmer (he was created as a redesign for Noob after all). I would not lose any sleep if Darrius was re-imagined as a Red Dragon member, Hotaru as Onaga's general and Havik as a chaos-worshiping wraith. Havik could even become somewhat of a foil to Drahmin lol.
@@CynicalWarlock Although I do have some idea of how to use them in the narrative - but it involves them being destroyed by a certain character who is becoming the One Being's avatar...
I finally found time to watch this one... Thank you for the entertainment during my lunch break, mr Warlock!
Happy to help. 💪
Great video, i liked the philosophical conclusion part ❤
Good video. MK has lots of defectors from evil groups (Subzero, Kitana, Jade, ect) that I love your ideas how reintroduce Kabal. With his speed, he could have been a great assassin for the good guys.
Great topic for a first upload this year. I remember Kabal being one of those characters I severly overlooked as a kid, but always felt that air (pun intended) of mystery about him - pretty much for all the reasons you discussed. I read about the Tusken Raider influence, but the Vader one is also a neat parallel. I didn't even know what hookswords were, but thought they were an interesting looking choice for his design and gameplay aesthetic; a blend of grace and dexterity with a slight unhinged and chaotic flair - which I think sums up Kabal quite well.
As far as Black Dragon go, I always consider him the more skillful and "disciplined" or level-headed of the bunch, especially compared to Kano - more Red Dragon-esque in appeal, which makes sense given his run-ins with Mavado (essentially his kombative counterpart). Overall, a cool and intriguing character, and exceptionally high tier competitively. I mained him quite a bit in MK11.
And I agree... it would be "TRIPPY INSANE". 😉
Air/gas could explain most of his kit.
His speed could be either wind manipulation to push himself foward at high speed or gas propulsion to the same effect.
Gas blast since it seems to come from his face could be him overtuning his breathing apparatus.
Saw blade is a physical collapsible weapon, but he uses either of the aforementioned to propel it foward.
Most of these would work if his breather had a more obvious power source. Mk11 had a small one on his ass, but that just makes his gas attacks some bo rai cho shenanigans.
Kabal's MK3 story is so powerful to me (I even liked his MK9 story, and surprisingly didn't hate him in MK11. My least favorite will always be Deception). I especially loved how it was adapted in Defenders of the Realms (for all its problems, they handled the character quite well, better than the games dare I say).
Originally from what I heard with people like Herman Sanchez (or someone, it was a long time ago, I just vaguely remember that), that the original intention was to make Mavado the real leader of the Red Dragon (you see the multiple set ups in his and Sonya's endings in DA). But due to backlash from the fans who were very angry that these new guys (Hsu Hao, Mavado) took down the old favorites such as Kano and Kabal, ... let's just say --- wasn't well received like Midway thought. So that's why, in Deception, neither Mavado nor Hsu Hao came back. Darrius was planned to be the Red Dragon but they dropped that idea because they thought the Red Dragon was a poor concept from the beginning and instead revived the Black Dragon.
I really like kabal, even I don't use him as much as I'd like. Great video as always!
Same, I never put the time to learn him properly in any game, despite loving his design.
Calling Reptile Barf Boy is the best thing I have heard today😂
One of my many nicknames for him.
By the way you have a very extensive vocabulary it's very nice keep doing such I'm learning new words. And I thought that I was pretty versed in literacy
Why thank you, that's nice of you to say.
I would imagine listening to my stuff is like flipping through a dictionary that has some random curse words and dick pics peppered throughout, for no reason.
A dicktionary, there ya go.
waiting for fujin n jade vids like this
Fucking. THANK YOU. Easily one of the coolest characters, could be a huge way to complicate Kano without constantly relying on the Sonya drama. Makes Kano a more variable character, makes the Black Dragon a more realized idea, gives *an action of consequence to the goings on of the world(s)*.
Add it to the goddamn list of cool things that NRS (but really their WB overlords probably) just can't or won't do.
That's a hilarious and interesting video, I loved it! Now I like Kabal even more. Btw I never thought some people may think he's on a Flash level speed, that's just ridiculous. He only has his dash, and nowhere else his superspeed is shown, never thought he's a speedster. Oh, and I also thought Kabal is his real name. It's the only way how it makes sense that everyone calls him that, police and criminals.
What if No Face or possibly Jerek deformed Kabal? Not to mention the Midway Time-line established a rivalry with Mavado. What if the Red Dragon was fueding with the Black Dragon and the Black Dragon bailed forcing Kabal to fight the Red Dragon and nearly being beaten to death by one of its members or Mavado? I always figured Mavado returned some time during the MK 3 Time-line or MK4 and attempted to finish Kabal once and for all, but left him for dead. Kabal didn't die because he was rescued by Havik who taught him the ways of Chaos convincing him to reform the Black Dragon in his own unique way and making him turn bad; which did essentially happen. As far as him being a cop goes, what if he were undercover and had to infiltrate the Black Dragon and bring them to justice, but ultimately fell in love with their rule breaking antics and slowly became one of them. Than he gets found out, maybe by Erron Black and gets betrayed, only to return to the force, but gets horribly scard by Kintaro and saved by Kano further complicating his aligance. Have MK 9 play out the same way, but have him have a near death experience with Mavado and be rescued by Havik to turn him evil again. Oh and he needs a real name. Stryker goes by Stryker, but his real name is Curtis. Kabal was called "Carlos" by Johnny Cage, but that was just a joke. I can't think if a proper last name like Stryker and assume Kabal is a codename, so I'm going with Cody. His MK 9 strikes me as a Cody or Brandon. Don't know why though.😅
Also on his creation I never heard Tuskan Raiders, but I did hear it was a combo of Bobba Fett and Darth Vader.
Yeah in MK vs DC Midway started the whole Kabal is as fast as the Flash crap and I've always thought that was stupid. Don't get me wrong he's still blindingly fast, but I'd assume he's almost battery operated in that he can only do short bursts of quick speeds before basically running out of juice and having to wait to get stronger. Maybe he's like Bane under the effects of Venom where his abilities only last so long and than he has to rest and sorta regroup. Maybe he enhances his Nomad dash with some sort of drug or chemical and maybe he has some robotic implants allowing him to run at high speeds to begin with. Remember in his MK 9 ending when the Dr. who gave Kano his cybernetic eye also worked on Kabal and gave him enhancements? What if that ending was cannon to his character? The only thing that doesn't work for me is how he got my Waifu😯...😳...I mean Sareena in his MK11 ending. He TOTALLY stole my...er Bi-han and Kui-Liang's potential love interest. Bastard.😅
Correction Supermans top speed is usually faster than the flash under great effort
But superman is far slower naturally than the flash and its shown many times that he is just holding back...Though another thing is that superman can fly and has a body better for moving...But movement speed isnt combat speed
Since Kabal is his name even as a cop, I always viewed as some kind of ethnic name because cops aren't allowed to wear long hair but he's got a ponytail so maybe he had to request to wear it because of religious or cultural reasons or something.
I actually didn't know male cops aren't allowed to have long hair. Yet the female ones can rock some locks no problem. Bit sexist, really.
@CynicalWarlock Like most things.
"Shaking your fists in anger at the world is as tempting as it is useless."
...Pretty much every action we take in life is useless. We're all dust in the end.
And they call *me* "cynical".
Way to easy a reference to dust in the wind. Have you considered a massive bag of weed?
Bro added Ranton 😆
The way I see it Kabal will always be evil pure for stealing Bi Han's sexy goth gf
I feel like kabal works best with stryker i really want to see more of their relationship.
For sure, MK9 had the right idea.
I just got done with your video to improve every mortal kombat character
( great video by the way)
And When you talked about kira It reminded me of a theory Post on reddit that the theory on kira
That she was supposed to be the daughter of Kano and sonya
Yeah, there was a secret, blink-and-you'll-miss-it message embedded in the how to improve video where I address that.
Kira being a mix of Kano and Sonya, I mean, and the troubling implications of it. Didn't know there was a reddit thread on it.
I think there's a problem of getting his story straight and not flip-flopping between a redeemed, criminal or back to being a criminal with this character.
Yes.
I love how while you were talking about physical limitations you forgt literally the biggest one he has. HE HAS ASTHMA literally just make him a asthmatic track star of a character. Also another idea is that you can make it that he always was a practitioner and had a high potential as a another champion for earthrealm but then make it where when he was injured, not only was he too physically harmed to run as fast the same way he used to but also because of that, thats why he wants his revenge against Kano or Sonya or whoever the fuck netherrealm wants him to lose to next
Well I did mention "asthmatic" several times.
@CynicalWarlock well I don't want to admit to being wrong so pretend instead of saying asthmatic I said autistic
I love this video for my favorite mk character
Glad I addressed your favorite.
Agree on the speedster thing. Moving as fast as Flash and having *a bladed weapon* is a REALLY BROKEN FIGHT-ENDING COMBO.
13:45 What move are talking about?
Kabal is his surname. So Mr. Kabal.
Mr. Kabral.
great video and kabal has always been my favorite out of the bunch, I'd love to see him kind of side with bad guys and in the momment the villains are about to win he'd backstab them revealing it was just a plan he had to get to them,kinda like dante did with sigma ultron in marvel vs capcom infinite, and with both accesses to special forces archives and black dragon contacts he'd definetly could be a kind of fixer, like you want to find this criminal? kabal knows where he could be, you want some illegal substances that can only be brought of black market? kabal knows how and where to get them
Pretty much what I'm going for.🤝
I always thought it was kinda funny they gave the character with respiratory issues the power of super speed, maybe he doesn't use it constantly out of concern of hyperventilating? Lol?
Hands down my favorite character tho. All lot of interesting things have been done with him but i don't really feel get fleshed (haha) out. Though i guess you can say that for a lot of the characters anyway.
Good point, he's a speed demon, with the lung capacity of a lung cancer patient.
Hey we ain’t gonna talk like that on my favorite raccoon character reiko
Warlock where my else world stories lol
Great video for a cool character. Hey a revenge story for Kabal is cool I'd love to see it as a comic or animated movie. Again MK got good stuff with this character but not investing in him.
For his powers I like the idea of limitations it makes things more interesting. I'd like to say for his speed being limited what if it's connected to his smoke powers and his breathing. Since he uses smoke which can be blur the vision and also hurts your lungs Kabal can't use the pure clean element of air we see in Kung Lao, Kitana and Fujin. It would also add to his murky morals as well. His speed could be representation of him being a neutral character who has been on both sides of the fence running from one side to the next. I'd like to this that blast ball is the fire being more ignited so like a smoke's smoke ball blast but kicked up with heat. As for illusion I'd again connect it to smoke what if those projectiles he uses in that stance is him using a mix of smoke and his weaponry to trip up people.
Oh interesting, so his speed would actually be Smoke-based, instead of Air-based; would be an interesting lore tidbit. The fireball bit makes sense too, thematically, and power system-wise.
You *really* want Kabal to be a pure Smoke character..
@CynicalWarlock haha I guess so, I was just thinking due to his character it makes sense. Heck Smoke freaking teleports I don't think it's a stretch Kabal uses the air aspect of smoke to make himself faster. We could use more smoke users
@@kobebrewster2549 True.
Babe wake up warlock posted
Let the girl sleep, maaan..
I wasn't aware that Mortal Kombat was based on real-world conditions!!!
Thank you thank you thank you thank you. You are the only human being on the planet that I have ever encountered, on the internet, in person, that had the same idea as me when it comes to Superman.
The flash.. are any other person that can go at ridiculous speeds.
You mean to tell me you can travel around the world in a matter of minutes but then all the sudden for your fights you slow down and get the other person The edge, why.
If we're going to be honest Superman should never lose to any villain because he moves faster than their eye can see.. he literally has to intentionally let buildings be destroyed by villains by going slower than he know he can.
Which is why you should either remove Superman's superspeed, or give it a huge penalty, like he loses his invulnerability when he uses it. And removing his superspeed starts a chain reaction of problems, cause now he can't go to space fast enough, he can't go to the sun, which.. I mean that's preposterous no matter how you slice it - if he were fast enough to get to the sun in a reasonable time frame, that's.. it's not eve-I can't. No.
mk11 kabal felt weird, in 9 he learly was a good guy after he told Kano off after saving him in X does nothing and now 11 he's back but only as the pre-retcon black dragon member
Kabal was one my main in UMK3 (Sektor was the other, occasionally toyed with but found Rain disappointing)
I think Rain had an infinite, or something close to it.
5:35 if that's the case then don't worry kabal you can tell us your real name we don't judge i mean my favourite characters full name is Zachary tristopher watterson or gumball tristopher watterson depending on the name you call him by goddammit i wrote a goddamm paragraph again warlock give me a gun
You get a spoon.
Get creative.
@CynicalWarlock get creative? Ok then I'm going to play Minecraft
WHY DO YOU ALWAYS UPLOAD WHEN IM STUDYING ON MY EXAMS NOW I GOTTA PROCASTINATE MORE
My work here is done.
00:00
"Kabal"
@@kayodeogundele5293 Correct.
You should contact NRS and work for their writing department so that they don't sink. You're the only salvation
And then, next thing you know, Reptile saves the universe.
his real name is john kabal
my favorite character lets GOOO
His name is Carlos.
Great line.
But when will he be KaBALLIN???
Americans really love their redemption stories, I think they are more overdone than just jobber bad-guys, and I hate redemption stories in mortal kombat, there are simply too many of them, especially in the last games. I love my speedster powers (as well as the hair and voice-based power characters) to be sided with evil, they are more interestingly used by evil characters, the problem with evil characters in mortal kombat however, is that they are all forced into the jobber corner because they can't kill good-guys as those good guys become unplayable and if they kill a good-guy the entire world hates the characters, as we see with D'Vorah..
I do agree with you that the speed should be toned down, Kabal is fast, but not as fast as the light or even sound, he can just run fast and have speed bursts, but not anything insane like those heroes from DC and Marvel.
@@wesleyvalk9129 And I agree that the jobber epidemic is caused by not allowing bad guys too kill, or at least win battles and do anything significant against good guys. It's also the chapter system which limits the number of characters you can play as and the insistence on only letting you play as the good guys, for the most part, so it's a multifactorial thing.
People hate D'Vorah not because she kills and outmaneuvers established characters, but because she does it abruptly as a new character that hasn't been built up at all, and does it repeatedly, hogging the spotlight in an ensemble game, which registers as missed oportunities for some of the other characters. Meanwhile, Kotal - who, despite being a new character, *has* been built up as a potential badass, since he's the new Kahn, Shao's successor, and referred to as a sun *god* - gets humiliated, repeatedly, in both games, and acts like a dumbass. It's the goof of all time; completely backwards.
Kabal's redemption was built into his first appearance though, back when there weren't that many characters, so you can't make the case that he, specifically, is an exercise in overusing the redemption trope.
@@CynicalWarlock I cannot lie, when I first saw mortal kombat 3 in a game magazine back in 1995, my two favorite characters in it were both Sindel and Kabal, nothing was shown about their backstory, they were just called Doctor Kabal and Shao Kahn's wife, soooo (me as a evil-guy only lover) I immediately loved Sindel and Kabal as I thought they were bad-guys, too bad their stories were both redemption bores and they fought for the side of good...
I started liking Kabal again in Deception though and Sindel in MK11, they are simple villains yeah, but I'm always rooting for simple villains.
D'vorah isn't the cancer people should hate, it is Ed Boon/Dominique for making that up.
Kotal should get more luck in the future yeah, don't understand why this guy is getting all the bad-luck stories.
The character I think is perfect for a redemption story is Reptile, and Kotal, maybe Erron, the others not so much, Kira, Reiko, Tanya, Mileena, Baraka, (Sindel and Kabal should start out evil and stay evil in my Opinion), Sektor and Noob should never turn good at any point or time.
*Currently resting due to being sick for a week, coughing up tennis sized fur balls*
*Watches the video, but due to a very sore throat. All I do is write a simple letter*
" I left a present for ya after you called me awesome. As for the video, 👍 "
@@dannyleo5787 Yey, exploding presents.
Have a speedy recovery, D.
@CynicalWarlock *Points to the things that you miss in mk post*
Before I got sick... I left.. the prolouge of the universe I was working on after you called me awesome.. not everyday you find a equal in chess kombat.
@dannyleo5787 I'll get to the posts when I can. You get some rest.
@@CynicalWarlock *Snarks*
" have a speedy recovery. Oh right... it's a kabal video and best not to be road kill. "
@@dannyleo5787 How in a Shokan's butt did I not see that speedy recovery pun?
Good stuff.
It's just magic bro.
NOPE ITS DEFINITELY TREMOR COULDVE BEEN THE NEXT BIG BAD OR SOMETHING
Why are you yelling at me?
@CynicalWarlock cus
Tremor supremacy.
Kabal is just better written Jarek
Or, now hear me out, maybe his actual name IS Kabal? 🤷😅😅
I'll die on this Hill midway has still a way better story lines than netherrealm studios. Also Kabal was broke so he rejoined the black dragon he called and told me
Midway certainly handled the mythology way better..
..until Armageddon.
@CynicalWarlock
Yeah I can see why. Armageddon did feel rushed and vague as well.
@@AngelusTheAngel Armageddon is pretty much the series getting tired of itself, and putting a noose around its neck.
@CynicalWarlock
Would be right not saying you're wrong. My theory is that they were trying to be on top doing over the top things to blow out the competition. Big roster, big adventure, big customization, motor Kombat. So they chose quantity over quality. Just my theory
@@AngelusTheAngel Probably true. Having the entire roster available was impressive, but it came at the cost of it being just a modded Deception.
❤
Listen, Cynical, I'm a f*ing fangirl of every videos you post but, Kabal+underused? UNDER F*ING USED? Come on, he was broken in mk3 and he didn't make a bad impression in mk9 (can't quite remember the 3D era, so I'll give you that) but underusd? Meh, not quite sure abt that lol 😂
EDIT: OOOOOH, ok I got it and I was disgustingly wtong on the point I wanted to make. Yeah, I thought it was purely on the playable thing, and I mistook it. i apologise, loved the video. As aleays ❤
I stopped reading after "fangirl", that's all I wanted to know.
Jk.
Yeah it was more of a story remark, and even then, this is more so a way for me to avoid writing "This is a Kabal video" in the title.
9st
also on another note on the moral dilemma, to be able to wield the shuang gou, your hands have to be able to move separately, like left hand draw circle, right hand draw square
Give this man a 9th of a medal.
@@d1tnhauxa0rauAwesome point. Wish I included it.
bro... just give up this game is beyond redemption, I was the biggest fan of MK now I'm the biggest hater
Congrats.
That hate might be (slightly) more useful if you directed it at tyrants instead of a video game.
@@CoralCopperHead don't worry lil bro there's enough hate for everybody
if you are talking about nrs yes they dont put him in many games and dont give him the attention he deserves but if we are talking about the fanbase kabal is a really popular and lots of people really like him.
So wat if he was undercover the entire time as in he was already a cop and sent in to infiltrate and say it works for a bit and kano finds out through his own infiltration of sonyas and jaxs team as he misleads them and such
It's like.. a spy thriller within a spy thriller. I love it.