The Luigi of MK.

His razor rimmed hat is one of the coolest weapons I have seen in a fictional fighting game. I love it when he traces his finger around it.

What?! Kung Lao could've been the next Liu Kang, you say?! NONSENSE! We got a selfie-taking 'murican teenager for that role!

You mean to tell me MK9 did a character’s character some justice kind of? Before killing him off and making him an angry zombie?

Bo rai cho: Ah my favorite student. Kung Lao: I bet you say the same to Liu Kang. Bo rai cho: You're right, I take it back. Bo rai cho: Ah my favorite student. Liu Kang: I bet you say the same to Kung Lao. Bo rai cho: With him I mean it. I may have butchered the dialogue, but I think I got the message across

I love your analysis here. My favorite version of Kung Lao IS the MK9 version: Envious of Liu Kang because of his whole name/bloodline/familial duty thing, but still respects him and sees him as a true friend. My first MK was Deadly Alliance, and Kung Lao was the first character I ever beat the Arcade mode with. His ending in that game had him wrecking Shang Tsung's shit with a new move, staying humble, then paying respects to Liu Kang, which the ending refers to as "[Kung Lao's] friend and brother". That solidified Kung Lao for me, so I hated the way Shaolin Monks portrayed him.

Here's an interesting tidbit I learned recently. If Kung Lao existed in real life, his given name would NOT be Lao. To quote wikipedia, "It is considered disrespectful in China to name a child after an older relative, and both bad practice and disadvantageous for the child's fortune to copy the names of celebrities or famous historical figures" So for that reason, Lao should realistically not be named Lao.

Kitana humiliates Kung Lao in all PF her dialogues. In the first she implies she would trash his as in combat without Liu Kang to protect him. In the second she implies that he envy their relationship. A lot of chatacters do that as well, with time it could make him become bitter

Im not gonna lie i didnt mind kung lao but his story and character in 9 is what got me into kung lao im sad how hes treated but kung lao is a relatable character to someone who has a sense of pride and expectations

I kinda would have like Kung Lao to survive MK9 and Liu Kang still die. So Lao could play a part bring Liu kang back to life. They could have a fight and Kang(revenant) saying how he(loa) always wanted to better than me. Loa realizing what kind of person he becomes, changes his ways. Then defeats liu kang.

Biggest wasted potential was Shaolin Monks. They could build a trilogy off that game maybe even more and also Lui Kang and Kung Lao were thrown out of the story as heros.

I really liked how MK9 had Kung Lao get his moment in the spotlight at Shao Kahn's tournament, giving him the chance to prove himself as Liu Kang's equal, showing off against the Deadly Alliance and Kintaro back to back. I wish they'd hard committed though and had him be the first one to beat Shao Kahn like Raiden was thinking, only for that to not be enough to change the future either.

Watching this again after seeing the shitty way his character was treated in MK11.

As a life long fan of Mark Dacascos it was great seeing him in the role -- my older brother (also Mark) not only resembles him but managed to contact the guy decades before social media was a thing. For Kung Lao, I remember how in the Malibu comics (all of which I read and had access to thanks to Mark) there was the Goro: Prince of Pain mini series where Kung Lao circa MK2 was depicted as a Shaollin warrior trapped in Outworld for years. It gave him a distinctive Alice in Wonderland quality as someone who traversed the other dimensional realms while being human. Not sure if John Tobias (who was the creative consultant for the Malibu comics) gave it his blessing or not but that managed to be yet another iteration or interpretation of Liu Kang's equivalent to Ken Masters. I like the idea of the headband and gauntlets. Some real nature vs.nurture / responsibility vs. destiny theme here like the best MK stories!

Sooooo Liu Kang : Goku/Naruto *Unlikely Hero *Works Hard *Righteous *Becomes Strongest(Etc) Kung Lao : Vegeta/Sasuke *Expected to be strongest via lineage *Works harder then anyone yet lacks the talent that rival possesses *Badass Ancestors *Looks Cooler(Etc)

My favourite character! KUNG LAO.. WINS!

This is probably my favorite wasted plotential for a character so far, making an already great character even better with a very solid character arch.

I always thought a good twist would be Kung Lao betraying Earthrealm to gain the glory he felt he deserved. The irony of a character named Kung Lao now fighting against Earthrealm is interesting.

No one talks about how crazy Kung Lao goes in MKX. Dudes combos go nuts.

I really wish that Lao's arcade ending in MKX where Kung Jin saves him from the Netherrealm and he becomes essentially Shaolin Scorpion was canonical...

I've always had a particular liking to Kung Lao over Liu King, idk I guess his story of being crushed under expectations and feeling of inadequately always resonated with me... he's honestly probably my favorite earthrealm defender in the series

Basically Kung Loa is Vegeta and Lu Kang is Goku

I wish Kung lao had a better character development.

Even though I never played it, Shaolin Monks needs a HD remake with no story changes.

Wow, never expected so much emotions towards Kung Lao. Great video btw 😊👍

Also I wished mk11 could’ve displayed Lao’s virtuous side both in story and in the intros. And for the love of the elder gods is Jin his cousin or nephew, nether realm!

I like your version of events. It kinda reminds me of the conflict between Neji and Hinata in Naruto.

I really hope next game they bring his ego down. During the second tournament in MK 9 was the perfect Kung Lao. He actually stops and looks at Raiden before stepping up to fight in the second tournament. He had learned from his first experience with Scorpian. Then actually won. But with Mk 11 he basically can't help himself. Watch any of his intros. Even meeting his revenant it didn't change him.

i love shaolin monks and i want a remastered version!

*Liu Kang is the chosen one* Kung Lao: "and I took that personally.."

Always glad to see another video. The effort put into these videos, is greatly appreciated! Keep them coming.

You should make a wasted potential on Reptile, he doesn't get the love he deserves

Liu Kang and Kung Lao being both descended from the OG Kung Lao was something I thought of as a Jon Snow/Robb Stark thing. That Kung Lao would be the actual heir to the family line and legacy, while Liu Kang was an orphaned bastard who also had a bit of the family blood, but not the name. But the two would be friends, nonetheless, due to being classmates and blood-relatives.

The way he emphasized the word ‘stark’ in the beginning sounded hilarious, like he can’t hide how much he hates SM Kung Lao.

Everone loves a hero and everone loves an underdog

I sorely miss the Kung Lao of MK 2 and 3. I dig the video as a cross-section of Lao's persona evolving. I don't even mind TOO much the revenant trope, but what the holy hell did they turn him into in mk11???? It makes me want to cry....

You made me love Kung Lao even more.

the virgin liu kang vs the chad kung lao

Hopefully the new game shows the og characters a little more love instead of catering to the newcomers so heavily... we get it, new blood new money but.... c’mon

one correction, the head bandaba in martial arts has 2 uses improve focus, and soak up head sweat to prevent it from falling in the eyes wich could be a problem in a fight. Since using tight artifacts improves focus, i believe that's also the use of liu kang gauntlets. So he can focus energy in his fists. wich in turn can produce fireballs better

Goddamn you are amazing at this. Seriously this is an amazing take on the character. I was really unhappy with the bitchy new version of Kung Lao, but you've gone an opened up some fascinating new possibilities. I really hope someday your talents get to shine outside of KZfaq. Go ahead and take a bow.

You just made my favorite mk character even greater, I thank you for that

I'm subbing for a couple reasons, you cover my main man, you have him a fair trial and made if funny, and you enlightened me about some aspects and made me like my character even more. Also you didn't show Kung Lao's neck treatment ;D

this is beautiful, you should write the script for an MK movie

So, building on that family legacy idea, what if in addition to being an offshoot of the Kung family, Liu Kang also has some family ties back to Shang Tsung? It could allow for some exploration of how family legacy affects a person, and how your lineage doesn't define who you are. Plus it wouldn't hurt to give Liu Kang more depth as a character in these newer games.

Are you planning on doing any wasted plotential videos on the cyber ninjas? I know to most people they are goofy relics of mks past, these predator power rangers, but they were always one of my favorite parts of mk, Cyrax in particular. I always thought it would have been awesome if instead of blowing himself up in the mkx comic and taking the whole of the cyber lin quei with him, to "clean the slate", instead he formed a new clan, the tekunin, a mirror or Sektor from the old timeline, but now his tekunin will be on the side of good. Seeing an army of cyber ninjas vs the forces of darkness in mk would have been really cool to me, I always love the technology vs magic idea in other fiction. And if they had to go through with the whole Cyrax suicide thing, I had an idea for Triborg too. Triborgs mind is composed of Cyrax, Smoke Sektor, and Sub Zero. Why if Sektor was then only evil one among them, do they give him literally the most boring goal for any robot style villain, to destroy all organic life, that is the most played out and overdone objective they could have given him. Skynet, Ultron, Sigma. Its been done to death. If anything they should have made him a neutral, trying to figure out where he stands in all this. They could have had a dynamic where when hes using Sektors configuration, his weapons and armor, he becomes much more violent, but stronger, and more powerful, because he was the most deadly, the one who actually wanted to be transformed, and inherits Sektors personality traits, the same way with the other personalities in triborg. It would have made his character much more interesting than "DESTROY ALL ORGANIC LIFE, because thats the most boring thing for me to want to do."

Ready for 4thsnake to be hired as a writer for the next mk or injustice. These plotential vids always hit 🔥

I was hoping u did this guy thank you for the video ✊🏽💯

Your greatest video so far, great content, keep up

Jade wasted potential is next?

I have always felt Liu Kang and Kung lao were equal the only difference is raiden. Both seeing him as a father figure lao wanting his approval and encouragement but not getting it causing him to doubt himself and fail. Liu Kang gets his approval and encouragement but doesn't really care or need it because liu believes in himself while lso doesn't which leads to laos resentment towards Liu Kang.

Im just waiting for the day when kung lao is the main character... and not that shitty 90s show

I think the main thing I don't like about Kung Lao in the reboot timeline is how hair cut like damn bro you had a sick as hell ponytail last time around, where the fuck did it go?

MK11 Aftermath about to change all this

Liu Kang next. PUH LEASE. Soooooo much wasted potential in both original AND new timeline. Freaking Ed Boon

What this gives me is huge Iron Fist vibes, with Danny and Davos, which was one of the few plot points I loved in that show....very well done!

just have fujin merge with kung lao as raiden did with liu kang in mk 11.

The *"Great"* Kung Lao -> Beats Shang Tsung -> Killed by Goro Our Kung Lao -> Beats Goro -> Beats Shang Tsung + Quan Chi -> Beats Kintaro In my eyes, Kung Lao is way superior than his ancestor

Love this series so much!

Fire God Liu Kang: "But Raiden, I cant reshape history alone") Raiden: "Well, there might be someone who's always been at your side") Fire God Liu Kang: "Kitana!") Raiden and Kung Lao: "Hoes over Bros I guess") Atleast the Raiden ending is canon but damn, hurts that he didnt even consider Kung Lao, one of his bestest friends)

hmmmm that was interesting. hell i could see it working out the way you described if it were like a movie. you have a good eye about these things. do more of these im really liking what you come up with and the information you give :) its all useful

Don't even need to watch the video. Thumbnail says it all. Hands down favorite character

In all seriousness, the best decision the game devs and IP holders could do for the actual story in games forward is freaking hire you. Or really anyone even remotely close to as dedicated and skilled as you. Either would work, but at least you'd get paid for all the sensible sorting out of this Gordian Knot you've done. Good points all.

I yelled "FUCK NOOOOO!!!!" in MK9 when Kung Lao was killed out of nowhere

Very happy to see an in-depth video of my favorite character!

I think kung laos orgin could be exploited on aswell as he is one of my favorite characters in the series. I have high hopes for him in mk11 with him and kung jins ending, he should be the 1st revenant freed and have a fight with him and jade vs kitana and liu kang where they free their allies and come out of their shadows.

reason why Liu Kang is the chosen one is because Liu is ready to die to save Earthrealm while Kung Lao is ready to die for his own personal glory.

5:32 Oh my god I remember unlocking that in the Deadly Alliance Krypt but I never realized until now that it's just the Highlander katana.

Quality content as usual

I am in love with your videos.

Loved hearing the Wu-Shi Academy soundtrack from Shaolin Monks. Such great music.

Kung Lao classic games: wanted a peaceful life and was pretty lazy but entered the tournament to avenge his fellow shaolin Shaolin Monks: has a realistic rivalry with Liu kang since they are praticaly at the same level yet Liu kang is favoritized by everyone. Mk9: Is a good rival to Liu kang without being too jealous or an asshole. MKX and 11: *Gets Flanderized into being an Asshole with everyone and has Inferiority complex towards Liu Kang*

This was awesome

.First video of yours I’ve seen and I’m definitely going to watch more. Very informative and thorough; subscribed for sure.

The only problem I have here is the same plot hole thats from the game itself. There's no reason they cant both fight in the tournament. You might say there's a limited amount of fighters allowed for earthrealm, but thats just not true. Liu Kang, Nightwolf, and Cage were the only earthrealm fighters. Sonya was only there to save Jax. So Raiden only brought 3 fighters to combat Shang Tsung's 10, while actively arguing that Kung Lao shouldnt get involved. No wonder Earthrealm lost nine tournaments in a row.

Love with Kung Loa reignited

God this reminds me of Vegeta and goku. Which makes me love kung lao even more!

You are a very good writer

At this point, why don't you just make 1 all-encompassing video called, "Every Mortal Kombat Character Ever | Wasted Potential". because you're gonna get there eventually anyway.

Thank you for understanding mah boi

I actually like Kung lao because I played him alot in mortal Kombat Shaolin monks with my brother and I was always player 2 meaning only playing Kung lao😢

I enjoy these wasted potential ed boon should hire you man

You didn’t mention the fact he’s the family breadwinner. I’m mean wth was his (paying) job when not fighting tarkatans. I could be wrong though

0:58 *OH GOD THE HANDSHAKE, IT'S TOO POWERFUL!*

That Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks soundtrack is really making me nostalgic.

Can't think of a bigger reason for wasted potential than the character who's main character trait is being tragically killed

He is one of my favourite characters 🔥 and mk11 confirmed it together with Liu Kang.

Yoshikage Lao wants to live a quiet life.

Reptile and Jade

Past Kung Lao wanted a peaceful life? Sounds like some one who likes hands.

Kung Lao's arcade ending(and Kung Jin's) has tons of potential, hope they make it somewhat cannon in MK 11.

And he dies in the FIRST movie of the new series 🤦‍♂️ I swear there is an agenda against Kung Lao.

What I always thought should have happened is have Fujin and Raiden both be equals in defending earthrelm, have Raiden choose Lui Kang, and Fujin choose Kung Lao.

He's gonna be redeemed in MK12 with the GREAT KUNG LAO

Do one for reptile or shang tsung

About Time. 😂

I really thought they would take a kyo and iori (king of fighters.) route with Liu kang and Kung Lao. In that kyo doesn’t care about lineage or destiny but his carefree self is exactly how he falls into the destiny. While iori doesn’t feel like he can escape the expectations or destiny. So he’s obsessed with kyo and how he can have a life and be a carefree person despite the weight on his shoulders.

*Bro u have inspired me to start my own channel and document my progress. Even though I have a fitness channel, your videos prevent me from giving up💪*

7:55 I saw where this was going as soon as you said “gift”

Lot's of wasted Plotential with Telltale's TWDG, especially since it's been canceled. I'd love a video about this from you