Poor, Poor Mortal Kombat Characters

Scorpion and Sub-Zero, sometime mortal enemies in the Mortal Kombat franchise, gladly agree to pose for a portrait at the MCM 'Comic Con' Expo in London

Mortal Kombat characters have difficult lives. Not only does the video game revolve around the loser being brutally killed at the end of every fight but their storylines are also pretty rubbish. Their tales are meandering sprawling trails, born from a time when games development did not attract the most edgy writing talent in town.

Evidence of Mortal Kombat fan culture from Google (image not my own). Two fans dress as (from L-R) Sub-Zero, Scorpion

I will quote the storyline from Wikipedia on my two favourite characters, Scorpion and Sub-Zero, as an example of this kind of quaint almost indecipherable fantasy history:

“In the first Mortal Kombat game Scorpion is introduced as a dead warrior who enters into the Mortal Kombat tournament to kill Sub-Zero, the man who killed him. Scorpion manages to kill his target, but later learns that Sub-Zero plans to compete in the second tournament. Enraged at the idea that his nemesis has somehow returned, Scorpion tracks him down during the tournament. He realizes that this Sub-Zero was actually his killer’s younger brother, who was sent to complete his brother’s failed mission of assassinating the tournament’s host Shang Tsung. As a result, Scorpion vows to serve as the new Sub-Zero’s guardian in atonement for killing his older brother. Scorpion does not return to the series until Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 when Shao Kahn tried to conquer the Netherealm after his invasion of Earth and enlisted the ninja in his forces. Scorpion’s allegiance to Kahn quickly dissolved when he discovered that Sub-Zero was one of Earth’s chosen warriors, with whom he then sided in their final showdown with Kahn.”

You get the picture. The poor guys. Here’s some gameplay to show what I mean about their hard lives*:

*(01.03 onwards being the money shot)

First post jitters

Hello everyone (especially people on the MA course), welcome to my little blog. In my experience I’ve always managed to find it incredibly difficult to work out exactly what I should be writing in my first post on any blog I’ve done, so I’ll keep it short: Hello!

This will be the place where I will do my best to document my experiences on the LCC’s Photojournalism course over two years. Let’s hope I stay articulate to the end.