Work of art huh.. Hm.
These are in no particular order, and my knowledge of NRS stuff begins with MKX and extends slightly in to Inj1 which i started playing a couple months ago so I have some BG in the injustice series when Inj2 drops.. I am not taking balance in to consideration unless I expressly state that in the description. I am not following a formula here, just going with my gut. Some characters are here for aesthetic design, some for balance, some for a combination of elements, some for pure potential. There isnt an exact science to my list, so what rates one character highly might rate another towards the bottom.
My thoughts..
Solomon Grundy!
This is what a grappler should be. He isnt great in the engine itself, but the way his systems work and play in to one another along with his grabs that buff you and the way they can be used to finish combos or raw... Corpse cancels for mobility and a good dash.. He's my favorite character in Inj1 next to Green Arrow, though I dont feel Arrow is as well designed at all. Grundy is a brilliantly built character IMO.
Takeda
Such a bad-ass idea.. even though I dont think they fully realized the potential of a dual energy whip wielding ninja assassin trained by Scorpion, the design in general is what puts him here IMO. Way more could have been done, but the idea itself is a work of ass-kicking art. His personality if pretty generic sadly, but the character design itself is incredible.
Kenshi
A sword wielding telekinetic bad-ass with spirits and ghosts and shit living in his sword that he can use to beat your ass? Hell yeah. Balance ASIDE, I love his move set and specials across all variations and think he's a fantastic design. I know Ive heard MK9 Kenshi was a beast, but I dont know first hand and cant say. His these is what puts him here for me, much like Takeda
Kano
I dunno.. I just love Kano in MKX. Didnt care for him pre-MKX much (what little I know of him) but in MKX his attitude, look swagger, everything about him is well realized and his moveset is great. From his 'normal' normals to the headbutts, to his parry and command grabs, he's a great character that they put together well. When i play Kano I just feel like a bad ass.
Ferra Tor
This is a Takeda situation again.. The character design and idea is amazing. It's such a bad-ass idea. I feel like more could have been done thematically with the character design, but that design is incredible. F/T has an amazing win pose where Ferra kinda shakes Tor's head and then sets her elbow on it and kinda leans on her hand.. there is so much personality in that little gesture and its great interaction between the two. I feel like a ton more could have been done to really make F/T a hugely unique character, but again, the design ideal stands strong enough to put them in my top 5, even if the balance and the gameplay didnt entirely live up to the promise of the design.
Honorable Mention:
Scorp and Sub. - Everyman characters (as everyman as someone can be in the MKX universe, heh) that are beautifully designed and very well realized thematically.
The worst..
Martian Manhunter
Here is where balance comes in to play some.. He's.. Horseshit. Shit of a horse. His design is boring to me and his gameplay, even aside from being op as hell, isnt anything special because its everything special. He just has everything to the point that, to me, he's a very meh character. If you give a character every single thing he loses his identity and direction as a character. He doesnt have an identity of his own. Less can be more. So, between his brokenness and lack of an identity.. boring.
Doomsday
Man.. Doomsday. This guy should be in top 5, not down here. Just to be clear, I LIKE Doomsday, I LOVE Doomsday. Dude killed Superman. C'mon. I had those comics.. But his effective playstyle was just SO DAMN BORING. It was hyper repetitive. So much potential wasted. Dude shoulda had a damn command grab.
Tanya (except DN Tanya)
Sorry Revet. She's just uninspired. DN is a really cool idea, ill give you that, but Tanya in general is just generic and boring as hell. She feels uninspired from a number of angles. Excepting DN.
Lui Kang
I dunno.. He's just boring to me.. I dont like his personality. He's generic.
Jason
He's damn good, but hes bbbbbblllleeeehhhhhhhhhhh