Hello and welcome to Wasted Plotential, where we
discuss the wasted potential of our favourite plotlines.
One of the most baffling things about MK11 is the addition of Kollector to its roster.
Given that this game is the grand finale of the Netherrealm timeline, you would think
they'd want to prioritise closing off storylines that had no closure, or at least making sure the
newcomers all have significant roles within the narrative. The other characters that debuted here
all have roles that make sense, even if they were poorly handled. We have our big new antagonist,
her primary enforcer, the Elder God that is secretly on her side, and... Shao Kahn's taxman.
Why couldn't we have left this guy out until the new timeline begins and either add a new character
who contributes more to the narrative than just telling Shao Kahn about the 30 years since he died
(which anyone could do, really), or bring back a character whose storyline has yet to see closure,
such as Kung Jin. But no, Kollector fills Kahn in, is randomly at the tarkatan camp to make up
numbers in Jade's chapter without giving Baraka another L, goes down to Kitana at the arena,
then goes down to Nightwolf mere minutes later and is never heard from again.
Conceptually, Kollector isn't bad, but there was no reason to introduce a representative of
a new race in this climactic narrative, when they could have waited for the MK12 relaunch to do it.
But there was a character who was in MK11 on launch, but not part of the stor- Shang
Tsung. It's Shang Tsung. Of course, it's Shang Tsung. He should have been on the base roster,
playing a role in the narrative, with Kollector taking his place as
the master of the Krypt. So now, allow me to explain the benefits of such a change.
But keep in mind, this is an episode concept I've been sitting on since before the announcement of
Aftermath. Back then, as far as we knew, going off how Netherrealm had approached post-launch
support in the previous four games, these characters weren't going to have any serious
story presence. So this concept will not take Aftermath's existence into account at all,
partially because if Shang was already on the base roster, Aftermath would have no reason to exist.
Aftermath is just an excuse to have us follow Cary Tagawa around for a few hours. A noble goal,
to be sure, but nothing really changes in the grand scheme of the franchise's narrative if
we skip straight from Kronika's death to the Great Kung Lao epilogue. Now, let's begin.
First, we-
Shang Tsung: "It has begun."
...Yes. Thank you, Mr. Shang Tsung. I think they realise that...
First, we need to establish some things about the Krypt. First of all, Kollector here is not
the same character we have in official canon. If you've read MK Khronicles, you know where
this is going. My Kollector is a servant of Shang Tsung. He has two roles in this regard: to collect
trophies from those killed in the tournaments, and maintain the island in the five decades
between tournaments while his master is away doing other things. Kollector remains in the shadows on
a dusty old island that we've not been back to since Liu Kang became the champion back in MK9,
which is why we've neither seen nor heard of him before now. We probably would have heard of him
if he was a fighter who served as an official in Shao Kahn's government the entire time.
Upon entering the Krypt for the first time, the player is greeted by Kollector. He introduces
himself as the caretaker and guardian of the island and laments that his master is
most likely never coming back. As such, he grants you permission to venture further in and take the
prizes you desire... on the condition that you listen to his master's story. As in the game,
entering certain areas leads to commentary from the mode's host,
but here it is used to expand the lore and Shang Tsung's backstory. There is
commentary on various past tournaments and fighters, which also ties into the rewards.
Rather than special chests, the special character unlockables found in the Krypt
are instead found around trophies and remains from previous tournaments. For instance,
something of the Great Kung Lao's grants the player Liu Kang and Kung Lao gear,
while that cryomancer whose portrait we saw in Kung Jin's flashback in MKX can be found dead
here with gear for Sub-Zero, Noob and Frost. We learn about the tournament held in 1942
where that soldier guy died, and we learn about the mystery female Kenshi, who can grant us the
bandana instead of Kenshi himself. This mode is now not some odd non-canon side thing. It
is a canonical part of the story, expanding the setting's backstory with small tidbits
to get fans theorising. With enough interest, maybe a prequel game could actually work here.
Back to the main story: we'll change Kollector's execution. I'm going to
place Present Skarlet here instead, so she can fill Kahn in, and it serves to tie into
the comic a bit. Shang Tsung arrives on the scene as part of the merger, arriving from
mere minutes after losing to Kung Lao. He stays by Kahn's side for much of the story. Maybe
he takes Kollector's place at the tarkatan camp and morphs into Kitana or Kotal, like
when he became Bi-Han to fight Smoke in MK9. He disappears from the story for a time after this.
When it comes time for the journey to Shang Tsung's island, instead of that weird retcon
that he had this well of souls in Goro's Lair the whole time that we never saw, and it was
a Kronika manipulation to power the crown, we'll instead have the sorcerer himself here,
being drained of souls for the crown. This is how we get the old man version in the story.
We could keep Jacqui and Jax here, or we could have Kung Lao and maybe Kung Jin here instead.
But whoever it is, they arrive on the island earlier than in the game, before Kahn's defeat,
and are greeted by Kollector. He offers to guide them around the island, in return for
them freeing his master from his bondage. They cautiously agree and follow him to Goro's Lair.
When reaching Goro's Lair in the Krypt mode, the player encounters Kollector squeezing through a
tight gap out of the throne area as the muffled sounds of the Noob Saibot encounter can be heard,
revealing to those who've played though the story, that the Krypt is taking place
at the same time as the main story, and we are one single wall away from entering the main narrative.
The heroes conclude that Kahn must have sold Shang out to Kronika, seeing how he's killed
Shang before. Shang doesn't believe Kahn would cast aside someone as useful as him so casually,
so he peers into their minds to see what they know of his future,
or makes them incapable of lying to him, and he learns they speak the truth. He then joins
the good guys to get his revenge. He joins the battle at the arena and saves the life of one
of his enemies to get to Kahn. Once Kitana kills Kahn, Shang takes his soul and regains his youth.
We can then give him a story chapter later, maybe teaming up with Raiden
on the ships and being on option for defeating Revenant Liu Kang, or taking
Scorpion's place to recruit Kharon. Either way, we get to play as him in the base game.
Kollector, then, is a DLC character,
included to give the DLC at least one newcomer, which MK11 actually lacks.
As for Aftermath, I suppose Skarlet would ambush Fujin's group at the arena. This trio
would either include Kollector due to his lack of significance the first time through, or Sindel,
cured of her evil by Fujin and Liu Kang. Again, this was all written before Aftermath,
which would be fundamentally different if Shang was on the base roster. But
I still think this approach to Kollector works better than Shao Kahn's evil taxman
who was never mentioned until right before the timeline got reset again.
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Today's recommended video is Mortal Kombat 2011 - Shang Tsung SUCKS by
SonicHaXD. It's about Shang Tsung! Shang Tsung!
MKTJB Raiden: "Shang Tsung!"