for the people who still need explainations on why kung lao deserves better, allow me to explain, since i’m tired of typing this out all the time:
it has happened too many times in recently where i’ve had to explain my stance on kung lao, mainly why i like him so damn much, and hopefully my opinion can help you finally see why my hat man is likeable.
the one thing i hear ALL THE TIME is “why do you like him? he’s a stuck-up douche!” while yes, you are right, but you are also wrong. why are you wrong? because kung lao is a misunderstood character, ever since he was created - or rather, ever since he was retconned in shaolin monks. he’s misunderstood because he just wants to prove his worth to everyone - he’s tired of being known as “liu kang’s this” or “liu kang’s that.” he has a legacy he wants to live up to, and for once not be known as liu kang’s worse half, or second best shaolin.
let me put it into an example, so you can see my stand-point and see through kung lao’s point of view: imagine that you are in school and you have a older sibling. your sibling has ALWAYS been the popular kid - they were looked up to and treated like royalty. meanwhile, you were least popular kid in school. you were always belittled because you would never live up to your sibling’s standards, per se. you were never known as your name, you were always just known as your sibling’s younger sibling, and you HATED it. would you want to make a name for yourself instead of being whoever’s little sibling?
now, let’s translate that into mortal kombat. before lao was retconned, he was originally (before shaolin monks) chosen as champion, but he wanted nothing to do with the tournament, so they had sent liu kang instead. but now, kung lao was never chosen as champion, it has always been liu kang - i personally don’t even believe that raiden has faith in kung lao, nor wants to give him the time of day to show his actual worth. all lao wants is to be treated equally and live up to his ancestor’s name, but no one will let him show - or rather, admit - his true worth, all because “he could never live up to liu kang and be champion.” in other words, he wants more than just liu kang’s respect and appreciation, because liu is truly the only one that believes in lao. yes, he does have a big mouth, but in my personal opinion, his skills make up for it, it’s just that no one else can see it. hell, it honestly seems like the only person that was really, TRULY proud of him when he defeated quan chi and shang tsung was liu, which i believe shows exactly how much of a good fighter he is.
in fairness to liu kang, kung lao should be seen as his equal, but in actuality, in talks of the game, kung lao should be treated the way liu kang is, and liu kang should be in lao’s shoes. and don’t get me wrong, i love liu kang, but lao is truly his equal, maybe even his superior.
