The Mortal Kombat tournament is literally only relevant in the first two games though.
Scorpion is now the face of Mortal Kombat. He's one of it's driving factors and is THE selling point for thousands of fans. He's bigger than the dragon, he's more important than any other character under him.
I really do hope, company does not see it the same way as you do.
This is the famous last words of every single franchise and company I have known for years.
It is pretty funny how small things like that, have the potential to influence the entire thing.
I am not gonna argue with the fact, that for a lot of newcomers Scorpion is the face of MK right now. But Mortal Kombat isn't played by just newcomers. The "old" community is still alive and well. The old foundation, remember? And I can tell, that there is a very decent number of people who like me, don't consider Scorpion as the face of MK. Not because of personal hate for the character or anything like that (contrary, he is my one of top favorite characters), but because we know from where Mortal Kombat comes.
He's bigger than the dragon, he's more important than any other character under him.
Sorry I missed that part in game. Wasn't Johnny cage supposed to be the champion and Cassie Cage the main protaganist, while Scorpion was literally shown to set Shinnok free and couldn't even fix the mistake? That's pretty crappy presentation for the character more important than others.
That's what I am talking about. He is on the cover art, used as the main face, but in story he is shown as the guy who endangered entire existence, because of his inability to listen to reason. Yet was shown to reason with Sub Zero, even AFTER an attempt on his life by Frost.
What it means? Bad marketing. It shows that Cover Art is made by a team of marketing boys, who have no idea, of what Mortal Kombat stands for. They picked what seems nice and put it on the cover. And they aren't even good at that. Yellow, bright background, Scorpion in front of the dragon. From design point of view, this screams only one thing. Scorpion is the main character of the game. If he plays important role or is a main protaganist of the story. I will understand the choice.
I mean he has a good chance to be the main character in a story. His foolishness unleashed Shinnok and resulted in Raiden's corruption. Scorpion might take this upon himself to correct his error by defeating Raiden, BUT if it turns out that Scorpion plays only a side role in the story, then this is a major fail in marketing department. It is 101 of marketing and design. Represent the IDEA behind the game. 1-3 showed only the logo, as tournament was the main idea of the game. 4 showed characters, representing the build up of factions and characters. 5 shows two blades forming a shied, to represent the idea of deadly duo, that is Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. Deception included Onaga as he is the main enemy. Armageddon included only a logo, but in flames, representing the fact that everything is going into a shitstorm and everyone is going all out for the epic finale.
MK9 cover was also smart. It showed Scorpion and Sub Zero engaging in a duel with Dragon Logo being open in the background. And we did see both Sub Zero's and Scorpion engage into fights. They were side story, but important nonetheless. AND, they also represented the idea of a tournament. Which MK9 was all about.
Now MKX cover art? What's that? Only Scorpion and black background with basic Text and Logo. Hmmm. Scorpion must be playing a pretty importa... aaand Cassie Cage is the main protaganist and the game is about passing the torch to new generation. Yes. That Cover Art definitely reflects that...
MK11. So far the theme is about time, two different versions of Scorpion were shown in the cinematic trailer. So you would think that cover art would show SOMETHING about that. Hell it could be two scorpions in the same cover, but just in different versions, indicating different timelines, universes, etc.
You know? I think I can quote [MENTION=17789]Tarkatan_Trash[/MENTION] here. People are getting f%cking lazy. Now that I look at all the cover art from older games and the current designs, I am seeing a lot of form over function.
He's bigger than the dragon
Sure he is. Let me check my key chain. Oh wait it is a dragon. Let me check what happens when I write Mortal Kombat logo in Google, or let me check the coin in the invitation letter for the gameplay reveal of MK11. Oh wait. It is a Dragon.
So because marketing team decided to put Scorpion as a face on cover art for two games, he suddenly became bigger than the symbol that represented Mortal Kombat for 27 years? Sure, he did. Maybe for some kid, that just started playing the game.