Hello and welcome to Wasted Plotential, the show where we discuss the wasted potential
of our favourite plotlines.
You know what blew my mind when I realised it back in 2016? So much so that it was the
reason I started writing Mortal Kombat Khronicles? Bi-Han and Kuai Liang, the two Sub-Zeroes,
brothers, have interacted as human beings exactly once: in a single panel flashback
in the MK4 prequel comic that depicts Bi-Han telling Kuai Liang about his adventure in
MK Mythologies. That's it. There is no indication of what their relationship was like prior
to Bi-Han's corruption, and even Netherrealm's more fleshed-out depictions of events have
failed to deliver any of this. Kuai Liang isn't introduced in 2011 until after Bi-Han's
death, and the time-crossing MK11 doesn't give either brother an alternate time period
counterpart. Not even a bit of pre-fight dialogue that indicates their former relationship.
This all seems really weird when one considers that Kuai Liang's motive in Armageddon is
to save his brother, and 2011 has him out to avenge him and then appear horrified by
his transformation, suggesting that he cares about him quite a lot. But, we really don't
know what their relationship was, leading some fans to believe that Bi-Han was always
a dick to Kuai Liang, despite the lack of evidence to support this. So, that's something
worth exploring.
There was a great opportunity to delve into their history in the original timeline: MK
Mythologies. Considering Kuai Liang had been the Sub-Zero for two of three games by that
point, and was set to continue as such in the game Mythologies was setting up, one would
think that they'd have at least given him a cameo at the start or end. But, no, he isn't
even mentioned in the game. Maybe because his MK3 actor was now playing Bi-Han? Either
way, I have an idea for how they could have done this. To get around the issue that tutorials
in sequels are often awkward because your character should already know all this after
the previous game, Gears of War 2 contextualised its tutorial as the player, as Marcus Fenix,
mentoring Benjamin Carmine.
The same would apply here: the player would either perform various actions against Kuai
Liang to teach him, or the player would be Kuai Liang and have to copy what his brother
does. Bi-Han's responses to each action his brother performs correctly would inform us
of their relationship by being either encouraging or stoic. Bi-Han would then be called away
to see the Grandmaster, starting the game.
Now that we've gotten that idea that was going to be its own episode originally out of the
way, let's discuss post-death Bi-Han, because I think the restoration of Bi-Han has so much
potential as a plot element, particularly with how the current timeline's story has
gone. I'll be discussing the original timeline more in a later episode, but for the rest
of this video, we'll focus exclusively on the second one.
In MK2011, Kuai Liang discovers Bi-Han's fate when the two meet in the graveyard during
the invasion. Bi-Han was brainwashed and corrupted into Noob Saibot, while Kuai Liang was brainwashed
and corrupted into Cyber Sub-Zero, though the latter's old personality has been restored.
I enjoy the dynamic of the two as shells of their former selves, but that was never going
to fly in future games because you have to have a classic Sub-Zero, I guess. Things are
only allowed to be different if there's no logical cause for it. So, even with both brothers
being corrupted undead by the end, Kuai Liang's humanity is restored in MKX, while Bi-Han
just sits the game out due to Nightwolf kicking him into the soulnado, killing him again.
I've mentioned before how I think Noob should have found himself before the Elder Gods through
the soulnado, as Scorpion did in the old timeline, leading to him likewise becoming their champion.
He could then help restore Smoke to his human form, while Kuai Liang remains a revenant,
leading to a parallel with the old timeline where the corrupted Bi-Han and Smoke were
trying to kill Kuai Liang, while the two are now in their right state of mind and trying
to save Kuai Liang.
Sadly, no such thing occurred and Smoke sat MK11 out, while Bi-Han returned. Bi-Han here
is seemingly brought from the past, though I don't think the story is ever explicit about
that.
Noob: "The soulnado made us stronger."
I mean, he says that, but pre-fight dialogue is about as trustworthy as Boris Johnson at
this point.
Kitana: "You claim to know my father?"
D'Vorah: "This One killed him for Shao Kahn."
Raiden: "You have always fought with honour."
Jax: "Didn't keep Sindel from snapping my neck."
He encounters Kuai Liang and Hanzo early in the story, giving us our first ever canonical
interaction between Noob and Scorpion, but it's not treated as all that big a deal, despite
their history and parallels. They just beat him up and he retreats so he can fight Jax
and Jacqui later and then never appear again. Christ, Frost at least gets to be defeated
in the finale and have Sub-Zero as a witness; limp though it all is. It would have made
far more sense for Noob to fight Scorpion and Sub-Zero later on and meet his end there.
Perhaps each of them has their own way to kill him, or they perform a dual Fatality
once it's clear there's no hope for him. But Kuai Liang writing him off as a lost cause
is just so wasteful.
Cetrion: "Forgive Bi Han."
Sub-Zero: "My brother deserves no such thing."
Cetrion: "All beings deserve compassion."
Another way you could have made better use of Bi-Han as an enemy for the two, while also
fleshing out his pre-death relationship with his brother, is to make better use of the
time merger. If the characters from the past could come from various points in time, instead
of just the Outworld Tournament, you could have Kronika recruit Tournament-Era Bi-Han
and Invasion-Era Cyber Kuai Liang, along with a revived present day Noob. She misleads Bi-Han
into thinking that the heroes are responsible for his brother's fate, and perhaps that the
older Kuai Liang is actually an evil Bi-Han, so he's more willing to kill him. The inevitable
battle between Bi-Han and Kuai Liang during a dedicated Sub-Zero chapter then brings out
the truth. This leads to Bi-Han and Kuai Liang joining forces to battle their corrupted selves,
with the player being able to choose if the brothers battle their own corrupted selves
or their corrupted brothers.
Kuai Liang: "There should not be two of us."
Cyber Sub-Zero: "I have evolved beyond you."
Kuai Liang: "You are a chilling reflection."
Bi-Han: "Come forth! You will find honour in death!"
Noob: "You cannot kill what is already dead."
Bi-Han: "Let's see if you've become as strong as you say."
Kuai Liang: "You reject my aid?"
Noob: "Retreat or be destroyed."
Kuai Liang: "You have eyes but will not see."
Bi-Han: "Stop this nonsense."
Cyber Sub-Zero: "I am more powerful than ever."
Bi-Han: "Let us put that power to the test."
Hell, you can stick with the existing tournament-only story with Noob and Cyber Sub-Zero coming
from the past (Kuai Liang having been augmented about as unreasonably fast as Jax was), while
Present Bi-Han has been purified by the Elder Gods as a boon for his defeat of Shinnok.
But you don't even have to go that far. The thing is, there was already a perfect opportunity
for Bi-Han to contribute to the story. There have been a ton of commenters suggesting this,
but I think Another Dude put it best:
Netherrealm Studios: Has Noob Saibot, a perfect character to kill Scorpion as it would be
the embodiment of his biggest mistakes finally catching up to him while making his past self
aware on how the path he's taking is not the correct one, thus starting his redemption.
Also Netherrealm Studios: Nah, let's use D'Vorah, she talk funny lol﻿.
If Hanzo had been killed by Noob, and then avenged by Scorpion, it would have been a
far more satisfying scene, as Hanzo's death would be the result of Bi-Han's decades-in-the-making
vengeance, and Scorpion killing him could be an interesting topic for him to discuss
with Kuai Liang, who accepts his brother's death as necessary, hoping he can finally
find peace in death.
By the end of 2011, Bi-Han was dead... again. They could have given his slot in MK11 to
any currently active character like Kung Jin, Takeda, Rain or Fujin, and continued their
stories. But they didn't. When you bring back a dead character - whether by resurrection,
time travel, cloning, retconning, etc. - you have to make the undoing of the ultimate conclusion
to that character's story mean something. Remember when Street Fighter V brought back
Charlie Nash, who had been dead for eighteen years, only to have his heroic sacrifice against
Bison mean absolutely nothing, thereby ruining his original heroic death? It's like that,
only not quite as egregious, obviously.
But this isn't the first time Netherrealm has done this. Joker and Green Arrow were
both killed prior to the events of Injustice 1, but they are both on the roster of the
sequel. Joker is just a fear toxin hallucination and Oliver is from another universe. Neither
one accomplishes anything in the story, making one wonder why they even bothered to show
up. The same really applies to MK11 Shao Kahn as well. Oh, he's getting one of these, don't
you worry.
Noob comes back, is completely written off by his brother and he just disappears once
Kronika gets the crown. Did he and Kabal just fuck off on holiday somewhere? They had the
perfect opportunity for a big, emotional scene with his brother, but did fucking nothing
with it. Then again, given what they did to his fucking voice, it's probably for the best
he wasn't given any serious emotional scenes, because they'd be harder to take seriously
than Ronda Rousey sleepwalking through Sonya's death scene.
MK9 Noob: "I have no flaws. Quan Chi has perfected me."
MK11 Noob: "Because Quan Chi perfected me."
Oh, can we also discuss how Bi-Han being a complete jobber in the Netherrealm timeline
is just plain bollocks? In the original timeline, this guy beat Scorpion, Quan Chi, Shinnok,
Kuai Liang, and even Goro, back when that meant something, and only ever lost to Scorpion
and Taven, a spectre and demi-god, respectively. In the Netherrealm Era, he's lost to Sonya, Scorpion,
Kung Lao, Kuai Liang, Nightwolf, Kuai Liang or Hanzo, and Jax or Jacqui. Much like fellow
Jamieson Price-voiced ninja, Ermac, he's gone from canon top tier to worthless jobber. The
dude once beat an Elder God, and now he loses to Jacqui Fucking Briggs. You can't be fucking
real.
If you liked this video, why not subscribe and support me on Patreon like these fine
people here? If not, then make sure to share it with your enemies so they can suffer along
with you.
That's Part 3 of 6 of the Lin Kuei Saga completed. Just three more to go before we can move on
to the next theme. As always, there are links in the description to my Patreon, Social Media,
DeviantArt, and a few chapters of Mortal Kombat Khronicles that relate to the topic at hand.
Seriously, if you like what I do here, you should also enjoy seeing these ideas in a
more fleshed out form, so why are you not already reading it?
Today's recommended video is "The Rise And Fall Of Noob Saibot" by TheFightersDen. He's
done a few of these, discussing how characters with a lot of potential fell off in more recent
years, even with characters like Kai and Fujin. Plus, he uses Tekken 4 music, and I can appreciate
Tekken 4 appreciation.