Human Reptile

[Deleted member 66057]

I feel like this topic actually warrants its own thread. We haven’t seen a human reptile skin since 2011 and since 2002 in alliance, NRS decided to strip away all the mystique and cool factor of a lizard hiding his identity as a human ninja with cool acid powers and make him a giant cheesy lizard.

The whole idea of reptile’s initial fatality where we see what’s underneath was the entire appeal of the character for me. The is in stark contrast to MKX’s literal lizard making crazed noises every time he slides. Why bother wearing the mask at all? You’re kind of giving away the secret by your very distinctive shrieks sir…

Anyway I thought human reptile was the coolest thing about mk 1995 and was just feeling a bit nostalgic for the green ninja. Who misses human reptile and hopes we see that return at some point?

edit: this was meant to just be mk general discussion

 

[OutWorldAleMerchant]

I like human Reptile, Khameleon, the whole Zaterran sub plotline. Probably one of the most underused of all of them.

I mean, who doesn't like the classic looks anyway? I go for em nearly any time they are available.

I remember one of the first things I did upon getting MKA was create a human reptile character since it didn't exist.

 

[Deleted member 66057]

I like human Reptile, Khameleon, the whole Zaterran sub plotline. Probably one of the most underused of all of them.

I mean, who doesn't like the classic looks anyway? I go for em nearly any time they are available.

I remember one of the first things I did upon getting MKA was create a human reptile character since it didn't exist.

Was it really not an option in Armageddon either? Wow. That’s crazy how committed they are to this awful superficial lizard retcon. Just give us the option.

 

[OutWorldAleMerchant]

Was it really not an option in Armageddon either? Wow. That’s crazy how committed they are to this awful superficial lizard retcon. Just give us the option.

Nope, you had the option of a reptilian form as bad as MK4's, and the much better one of Deadly Alliance. Armageddon Reptile's primary is the worst looking character in the game lol.

 

[Rizz091]

Reptile used to be my favorite character dating back to mk2. With my favorite incarnation of him being from umk3 both in look and gameplay.

I couldn't even play him in the 3D games when he went from cool green ninja that is hiding a reptilian form to giant lizard man. The character was lost on me at that point.

I loved him in Mk9 because he felt a bit like his umk3 incarnation and he had his classic look. I pre-ordered the game for his ninja skin specifically. I think it had to be off Amazon if I remember correctly lol.

In mkx I couldn't stand to look at or play him with his silly voice acting and design. I too hope we get to play him in his classic look again.

 

[Art Lean]

We actually discussed exactly this over on this thread:

Kombat Pack 3, 4 and 5 Leak From the Guy That Leaked Aftermath

100%. I think the uninspired designs we saw not only for Reptile but most characters in MK4, esp the new ones, are a good indicator of Tobias's diminished or strained role at Midway. As he either lost inspiration or influence, the MK franchise took a nosedive with each release beginning with...

testyourmight.com

And I quote myself because I can't be bothered to type anything new haha:

"In regards to Reptile, the MK2 live action advert which was the first time they married the reptilian skin to the ninja appearance and he looked beyond incredible. He was dialled back visually in the 1995 movie to be like Sub Zero and Scorpion again, but his fight with Liu was probably the defining fight of the film. A magnificent marriage of music and action choreography set in a fusion of The Wastelands and The Tower MK2 arenas.

Reptile looks fantastic in MK11 as a Shang morph (he's my Kombat Kard), he has that powerful aura of a hidden warrior, and also equally fantastic as the Scorpion KL skin (though wish he didn't have the pearly white teeth, but is a nice call-back to his MK2 advert form). He looks deadly and vicious again; a disguised humanoid assassin trained in the lethal martial arts of ninjutsu but hiding a truly repulsive secret. It's amazing how the cold cruel eyes of him in human form as a Shang morph are a thousand times more powerful and scary than all the teeth and tongues and horns and tails and scales they tried slapping on him from MK4 through to MKX. Knowing the face is a facade just seems all the more horrifying, like the classic series of V or a vile doppelgänger to Scorpion. The more the monster is hidden, the scarier he becomes. The more they showed, the more he became a leathery Brooklyn Brawler."

"When he's all hunched he exudes a real diminutive persona; small, weak, unconfident, submissive, he feels so unthreatening and comes across as a pure snivelling lackie. The 95 movie injected him with some reptilian body-language yet it was done with the speed, sharpness of posture angles, hand gestures and sound design that gave him the viciousness and striking power of a cobra or velociraptor, not the timidness of a gecko which is sadly how I feel he comes across in every game since MK4."

 

[BurdaA]

I pre-ordered the game for his ninja skin specifically. I think it had to be off Amazon if I remember correctly lol.

Same here. Iirc PSN got hacked and went down for ages afterwards and I was unable to redeem it...

 

[Jynks]

Human reptile is lame af. Keep him a monster.. there is lore about him, it looks cool and not yet another ninja ... there is zero interesting about human reptile and everything awesome about monster reptile.

 

[Deleted member 66057]

Human reptile is lame af. Keep him a monster.. there is lore about him, it looks cool and not yet another ninja ... there is zero interesting about human reptile and everything awesome about monster reptile.

Yikes… not a huge fan of nuance are you bud?

 

[NaCl man]

Mkx reptile looked awsome. Lizard/ninja best of both worlds.

 

[Metin]

There is no need to make all ninjas palette swap again. it was about the gaming Technology at early 90s i suppose but in this time? c'mon. Why the fuck a Raptor should look like a ninja? Why a Prince of another realm? Ermac also doesn't have any connection to be a ninja, he was created by Shao Kahn's Magic and there are thousands of souls in him, and he is a ninja? Doesn't make any sense tbh. The best thing you can get a skin pack and be relax you will have that pack for every future MK game. Also i hate to see masks on them. is the mask that neccassary? i don't think so, being a ninja, i mean a Real ninja should be something special to Scorpion.

 

[Komatose]

I actually strongly agree. There are so many male, human ninjas but that was what makes reptile the coolest. While the rest were just color swaps (at least back in the day), Reptile literally had something to hide and the coolest part was that what he was hiding came out unexpectedly. Such as the acid ball, spit, him eating your head off, disintegrating you with acid spit, etc. It also was cool on another level too, on the premise of “Wow, so many nicely colored ninja to choose from and they all do something different…” and one out of the several bunch is a sinister, creative creature from an entirely different realm.

I entirely agree with your statements. However, I do think the straight up Saurian look is cool and to see the evolution and graphical update of the race is cool as well, both options should be available, always. And that’s with every ninja.

 

[Komatose]

There is no need to make all ninjas palette swap again. it was about the gaming Technology at early 90s i suppose but in this time? c'mon. Why the fuck a Raptor should look like a ninja? Why a Prince of another realm? Ermac also doesn't have any connection to be a ninja, he was created by Shao Kahn's Magic and there are thousands of souls in him, and he is a ninja? Doesn't make any sense tbh. The best thing you can get a skin pack and be relax you will have that pack for every future MK game. Also i hate to see masks on them. is the mask that neccassary? i don't think so, being a ninja, i mean a Real ninja should be something special to Scorpion.

Scorpion AND Sub-Zero, considering Sub-Zero literally leads a clan of assassins. Assassins so hardcore they wanted to become cyborgs to further enhance their already godlike assassination capabilities.

But anyway, what you’re saying is undoubtedly true but there is no reason there shouldn’t be alternate skins that pay homage to original costumes. Absolutely no reason. I don’t think the OP is saying to go back to the original-like human skin, color change ninjas but rather have that option for the ninjas available, especially Reptile. I mean, Reptile is indeed meant to blend in with his surroundings so it would make sense regardless if they gave us OG skins or not. Lore wise he should be able to look like that anyway if we are looking past MK9 (where he was only able to camouflage and not actually mimic others).

 

[Komatose]

Human reptile is lame af. Keep him a monster.. there is lore about him, it looks cool and not yet another ninja ... there is zero interesting about human reptile and everything awesome about monster reptile.

That was rude and what you said is obviously blatantly wrong considering the OP and myself both like human Reptile, so there is indeed an ounce of human Reptile favor. Not including idk probably thousands of other fans that like or prefer human reptile over Saurian Reptile.

All you did was state an opinion in a rude way. We don’t like that energy around these parts.

 

[Zviko]

How can anyone even say "just another palette swap ninja" now when referring to Human Reptile when he is literally one of the 3 original ninjas from MK1.

 

[Demon_0]

For me Reptile's MK4 design is the best. It was a good mix of Reptilian and human. I wish we'd see it return in the future even if it's as an alt.

 

[colby4898]

I feel like this topic actually warrants its own thread. We haven’t seen a human reptile skin since 2011 and since 2002 in alliance, NRS decided to strip away all the mystique and cool factor of a lizard hiding his identity as a human ninja with cool acid powers and make him a giant cheesy lizard.

The whole idea of reptile’s initial fatality where we see what’s underneath was the entire appeal of the character for me. The is in stark contrast to MKX’s literal lizard making crazed noises every time he slides. Why bother wearing the mask at all? You’re kind of giving away the secret by your very distinctive shrieks sir…

Anyway I thought human reptile was the coolest thing about mk 1995 and was just feeling a bit nostalgic for the green ninja. Who misses human reptile and hopes we see that return at some point?

edit: this was meant to just be mk general discussion

There already enough human looking characters, the fact he looks like a lizard is more interesting than a bloke in green.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Please keep this discussion civil. You're discussing opinions about the aesthetics of a video game ninja ffs. There is literally zero reason to get bent out of shape.

For the record, I despise all of the monsterous Reptile designs, probably because MK2 was my favorite in the series until 9 came out. Palette-swap Reptile for the win!

 

[Deleted member 66057]

Lizard Reptile has always been on the level of Baraka. Human reptile is part of the original trinity of ninjas. Would you rather be associated with scorpion and sub zero or... poor Baraka?

 

[Law Hero]

I'm kind of mixed on the subject. On one hand I generally dislike the overt reptile monster costume, but on the other, I remember hearing that the original concept of reptile was something more akin to that and he was only a palette swap because of technological restraints, so the monster form is more in line with the creators'original visions. One thing I dislike about "human reptile" is that I think he's a bit too similar to Scorpion. By that I mean that he looks like a regular dude, then pulls his face off to reveal a monster head.

For me, I think his MKX alternate costume was his best look (specifically the artwork). He's got those cool ninja-ish clothes, pale green skin, and apart from the claws on his feet, could probably easily pass as some sort of strange Outworld person before taking his mask off. When he returns, I hope his costume is similar to that one. A monster trying to disguise himself instead of a human that pulls his face off and turns out to be a lizard man.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

I dont hate the lizard-reptile that much, but I wish we could have been given the OPTION of having human reptile, something we didn't get since UMK3 (and mk9, if you count the classic costumes pack). MKX "classic" reptile was insulting. It was just lizard-reptile cosplaying human-reptile. I wish he would get the costume from my avatar - an updated classic ninja look. Hell, maybe have him show some green skin after taking battle damage, as if he is wearing a fake human skin or something. JUST GIVE ME THE GODDAMN HUMAN NINJA AS AN OPTION FFS