Mortal Kombat 9/Fridge

Fridge Logic

• Noob Saibot's X-ray move causes his opponent to vomit upon his leg when he delivers a side kick to their stomach. Aside from the possibility of the vomit entering his wounds from the battle, why would he try it on Reptile? The guy upchucks acid that melts people down to skeletons in seconds.
  • Even moreso with Skarlet's fatality, where she slits her opponent's throat and bathes in their blood. Again, not recommended if Reptile's inwards are as bad as his bodily fluids.
  • Perhaps Reptile's acid is spewed from a gland and is not actual stomach acid, which would make sense from a biologist's point of view. This also means that Reptile could effectively fight on a full stomach... Maybe we're reading too much into this?
  • Reptilian venom in the real world is saliva. Not stomach acids.
  • Two points: firstly, this is Mortal Kombat. "Real world" does not apply. Second, Reptile's clearly using an ACID of some sort. Saliva does not melt flesh.
    • Neither does acid. Acid dissolves things, just like saliva does. Saliva is the first part of the digestion process, and it may not break down matter as quickly as the dedicated acids in your stomache do, but it gets the job started. Think of the various poisons in nature that are described as pre-digesting the food from the inside out. Same thing.
      • Not to mention that it clearly sounds like he's spitting whenever he uses his Acid Spit special.
• Raiden managed to heal Jax somehow with his electricity powers in the second chapter of the game, so why couldn't he try it on Kitana before she died? Could've at least brought her back from the brink...
  • Perhaps the wounds were too severe; also, Rule of Drama.
  • Sindel was halfway through stealing Kitana's soul before Nightwolf intervened. Presumably Raiden's healing powers only work on physical injuries.
  • I got the impression Raiden was just cauterizing the wound.
    • Jax clearly had a lot of bruises in addition to any actual cuts and wounds he may have sustained. Raiden's powers seemed to heal those as well, and apparently gave him the strength to be able to walk around on his own again, so it's not just cauterization.

Fridge Brilliance

• Shinnok has cemented himself as a Magnificent Bastard/Dumbass No More here. The Cosmic Retcon seemingly changes several details that it shouldn't, since Raiden's warning from the future should only have changed minor details during and after the first tournament. This seems like an example of They Just Didn't Care.... until you realize that these changes in particular benefited Shinnok in the end, leaving the Netherrealm in control of several dead, enslaved fighters it didn't have before and having a firmer hold on both Noob Saibot and Scorpion, not to mention Shinnok taking credit for getting Shao Kahn killed (and, very nearly, Raiden). All this which suggests that, like Raiden, Shinnok (the only other survivor of Armageddon besides Shao Kahn and Liu Kang's spirit) has also messed with time and worked to change the outcome of past events--in his case, much more successfully. -- masamune 1
• Many X-Ray attacks look like they qualify as fatalities, and some should certainly blind the victim. However, this explains perfectly why no one has previously died in the series, and in so many ways, gives the team a perfect excuse to revive everyone Sindel killed for the sequel, should it come to pass.
• When Cyber Sub-Zero's classic costume was announced, some fans cried foul because Ed Boon had stated that new characters wouldn't get classic costumes. But Cyber Sub-Zero isn't a new character - it's the first time he's playable in this form, but he's still the same Kuai Liang.
• The inclusion of Freddy Krueger had a few wondering how he has his powers when the the other Kombatants aren't dreaming. However you may recall that in Mortal Kombat Deception it was revealed that the MK universe exists only as the dream of the One Being, and would cease should he ever wake. The MK universe is a dream, in a sleeping mind, Freddy loses no power.
• Why did the heroes get slaughtered so easily by Sindel? Because they were holding back in the begining because it was Kitana's mother and Raiden had likely filled them in on the nature of her death and resurection. They were trying to contain her so Kitana could break the spell controlling her but, Sindel hit them too hard too fast for them to recover.
• Why was Rain a DLC instead of involved in the actual story like he should have been? Because he would have derailed the storyline. He's too powerful a player to have actually included, no matter how they used him. Either Kitana convinces him to pull a Heel Face Turn like in the original timeline, in which case they have someone with enough firepower to hold off or even defeat Sindel, not like he'd care if she lived or was being controlled. Or he'd remain a villain and help Sindel, in which case there would be no survivors, possibly even Raiden would be killed as well.
  • That, and Rain wasn't even in the original MK3, but rather it's Updated Rerelease, Ultimate MK3.
    • Neither was Ermac.
    • Rain wasn't even playable in the original Arcade version of UMK3.
• Stryker shows a bit of Genre Savvy when he immediately recognizes Mileena is a bad guy. In the Armageddon intro, Stryker shows his Genre Savvy again by being the first to run up the pyramid, but only after punching the lights out of Mileena who was distracted at the time.
• When Raiden sends his message to himself, mixed in with the scenes are very faint images of character other scenes faces. One of the last of these is Quan Chi. It may be possible Quan Chi witnessed some of this and tied it into his scheme, or twisted what Raiden received to aid himself.
  • Quan Chi seems to be smiling when Liu Kang defeats Shao Kahn, which seems to be planned.

Fridge Horror

• Liu Kang's dying words to Raiden was "You killed us all." You can easily deduce this from the fact that Raiden's actions have led to dire consequences that made things increasingly worse for the heroes, but the Fridge Horror kicks in that this can also apply to the things Raiden didn't do. For example, he could have saved Sub-Zero from getting captured had he zapped the cyborgs similarly to when he saved Smoke. He could have zapped Shao Kahn before he came close enough to snap Kung Lao's neck. If he had merely teleported and knocked out Liu Kang instead of frying him to a crisp, Liu Kang would still be alive. At this point, him calling out the Elder Gods for standing by and doing nothing is particularly hypocritical in light of the previous two examples.
  • In the first example has Raiden stating that if he interferes there's a good possibility that the Lin Kuei would retaliate and take Smoke (a bit weak but at least there is a reason). The second, remember Raiden said that he was weakened in Outworld, and we see how powerful Shao Kahn is compared to him in the beginning and (especially) in the ending of the story, so it's possible that he wouldn't be able to stop Kahn in time. Finally the incident with Kang was an accident no one could see coming.
  • Additionally, in the original timeline, the Cyborgs, after capturing Smoke, were only interested in capturing Sub-Zero as well; but because Raiden stopped them from catching Smoke, they instead caught Sub-Zero in front of Shao Kahn, and offered their services in exchange for Kahn letting them take Sub-Zero.
• Armageddon is prevented once and for all at the end of the game, but it's probably not just due to Shao Kahn's death. If you paid close attention to the storyline of the previous game, it indicates that Armageddon came about because of too many warriors emerging with supernatural powers. When you consider that nearly all of the Forces of Light (and therefore a huge number of superpowered beings) die at the end, it almost makes perfect sense that this timeline ran that course to prevent Armageddon!
  • Going by that train of thought, it might imply that even if Raiden had figured out what "he must win" means, the Elder Gods probably wouldn't have bothered to step in after Kahn's attempt to merge the realms was allowed to succeed unless a number of fighers on one side or the other had been killed, just to be on the safe side. Granted, they probably are smarter than that and might have intervened anyway, but chances are that holding back would have allowed them to kill two birds with one stone.
• Kahn is defeated, but are the realms still merged?
  • It's likely that the Elder Gods intervened before he could actually merge Earthrealm and Outworld; everything before that was a mere troop invasion. As for other realms tied to Outworld, they're likely still bound. According to recollection, the only reason Edenia got split off in the old timeline was because Sindel broke free of Shao Kahn's control and used her own powers to liberate it. She didn't get free this time around, so this hasn't happened.
• Not exactly a horror, but still a late thought: Reptile's still alive, so could the return of Onaga still occur in this timeline?
  • It definitely could. And considering how thinned the ranks of Earthrealm's warriors were during the events of the game, it's quite possible Raiden will go on a recruitment drive for the next game. It makes sense that the new warriors will be those from the following games. We already know Kenshi's around.
  • While it's still possible, hopefully with Shao Kahn out of the picture, Reptile might actually get a chance to make his long-overdue Heel Face Turn, and prevent that from happening in the first place. After all, the only reason he served Shao Kahn in the first place was to restore his realm. Now, with Shao Kahn dead, and the power of the elder gods having been fully demonstrated, he might wisen up a bit and ask Raiden for help.
    • Definitely a possibility. Khameleon (in her Trilogy attire) has been spotted among the crowds in the Outworld tournament, and her Armageddon bio states that she was able to convince Reptile to join her until Shao Kahn bribed the poor sap again. With Shao Kahn out of the way (and at a much earlier date), Reptile doesn't have to hump anyone else's leg. All that he has to do is join up with Khameleon and, y'know, have some mad Raptor babies with her.
• Some Fridge Horror can be interpreted from, of all things, the Babality. Those babies won't have long to live due to that harshness of the battle environments (as well as the fact that there's an overhanging question of who will take care of them, if anyone will come at all.)
  • On top of that, performing a Babality on a cyborg. Cyborgs won't mature in those robotic shells, so you're basically sentencing them to be trapped in miniature form with the intellect of a baby FOREVER. And if some Babalities are an indication, the victims retain some memory of their adult forms, meaning that it's entirely possible that they're aware of their predicament, and can do nothing about it.
  • Stryker's Babality, in which he plays with his gun, becomes a lot less funny when you consider that you have a baby holding a loaded gun. Or funnier, depending upon your sense of humor.
  • Speaking of Babalities, imagine the horror of new DLC character Freddy Krueger performing a Babality on someone. For those who don't get it, Freddy is known in canon as a child molester...