Ninja Assassin

Cassie and Jacqui: Opinions and Thoughts

These are my thoughts and opinions on Mortal Kombat that a bunch of people probably won't care about, but I thought I should post them here. Now I will be using past games as reference, even though every character's interpretation/counterpart is different, they still play part to the canon storyline.

Okay, so these two are besties. Now before I get into any details, this is just theories and opinions. I just want to quickly say that I like Jacqui's character, and not just because I was able to play as a black female character, but I found her interesting and liked her romance with Takeda.

I'll start with Cassie. She is a nice enough blend of Sonya and Johnny, I guess. I found her a little annoying in mkx but only because of her intros, and to be fair a lot of character dialogue kind of sucked in that game. I found her very relatable when I was younger though, because I said a lot of cringey things when it came out. Other than that she was pretty cool, and was a different kind of case where a character voices out what everyone else is thinking. To be fair, Johnny has that as well but Cassie is Gen Z levels of voice (or an everyman). I also appreciate that they made her more girly, although I do miss the tomboyish Cassie from mkx.

Thing is, I don't like how they made it into a thing where they made Cassie feel like a main character, and while I understand that's how it must be done with next generation games, I get the impression that she was treated better than her teammates. That impression was solidified in the mk11 storyline where Cassie was chosen to be the new general with the addition of Takeda and Kung Jin being cut from the game. I get that she defeated Shinnok and whatever, but seriously? It was also a situation where Sonya was choosing randomly, so I think she should've chosen Jacqui simply because Jacqui is genuinely into being a soldier. For a moment the audience is shown the pain on Jacqui's face, and I was honestly anticipating some kind of rivalry to take place where Cassie and Jacqui end up fighting about something within the story mode.

I wrote in another post that I think Cassie joined the special forces because she wanted to impress Sonya. We know that from mkx Sonya was neglective, and if Cassie is much closer to Johnny then I don't think it would make sense for her to not have some appreciation for the creative arts. Meaning, Cassie yearns for Sonya's approval. It was also hinted that Sonya may have been abusive, randomly attacking Cassie and Jacqui with arm bars. Even while Cassie is an adult Sonya is still neglective, as noted in the last game, not even caring about Cassie's love life. It's very clear the two of them have problems with each other. One thing for sure, Cassie has inherited Sonya's cruelty which makes her snark different from Johnny's. A nice blend of seriousness and un-serious = obvious sarcasm. I'm also calling back to the 'Johnny pee pants' incident that she was told about.

"So how are things between you and Bob?" - Sonya

"For the last time his name is Dylan." - Cassie

"Why learn his name if he's not sticking around?" - Sonya

----

"I'm the new improved you." - Cassie

"(Scoff) Improved how?" - Sonya

Well for one thing, she's got powers.

----

"Jacqui says as kids you were scared of me." - Sonya

"You'd randomly attack us with arm bars." - Cassie

"And you learned to always be ready." - Sonya

The fact that she says this with a smug smile shows she sees nothing wrong with the fact that she went out of her way to scare and hurt children. Characters have been drilling in on Johnny but had nothing to say to Sonya about her parenting. Johnny made it his mission to change into a better person, even in his ending he didn't need people to tell him that he was doing something wrong because he realised it by himself. Sonya for whatever reason lacks that same awareness.

----

"Growing up I always wanted a sister." - Sonya

"To exchange style tips and dish on boys?" - Cassie

"No! To spar with." - Sonya

You can do that too, Sonya. Jeez.

----

"You are Johnny Cage's daughter." - Robocop

"Ha! Shocked I'm not some Beverly Hills brat?" - Cassie

Beverly Hills kids: Well... that hurts. I think it's somehow been engraved in Cassie that being any old normal girl is a terrible thing, and I don't support that "I'm not like other girls" nonsense. I think it was Sonya's influence, and potentially Jax.

----

"I am honoured to fight you." - Liu Kang

"I'm no chosen one, Li Kang." - Cassie

"You fought shinnok and won." - Liu Kang

Oh he's mad. He is so mad. Bro died because of Raiden.

----

Now with Jacqui.

I think Jacqui is in Cassie's shadow, hell they even erased her from her own ending. Even when she was given screen time it still felt like she was brushed to the side. Cassie was chosen to be the leader of the friend group, and in hindsight that was a bit predictable. In comparison to her Jacqui is rational and doesn't turn things into a joke. I know Cassie is serious as well, but Jacqui is more passionate about fighting for Earthrealm and being in the special forces while Cassie is more of a show off.

"Leave dad in peace." - Jacqui (mkx)

"There's things only Jax can do." - Sonya (mkx)

---

"What do you see when you look at me?" - Frost

"A cheap second gen knock off." - Jacqui

"I said look at me, not you." - Frost

These two are love and hate, two sides of the same coin. Frost wants recognition and goes against the Lin Kuei to have that, while Jacqui wants to make people proud and carry on a legacy. Both have a male counterpart of some kind. Frost disappointed Sub Zero for not being patient and she became a villain, while Jax doesn't want Jacqui to even be involved in anything kombat related. Jacqui follows, Frost demands command.

---

"Cassandra Cage overshadows you." - Cetrion

"In her own mind maybe." - Jacqui

"Do not deny your jealousy." - Cetrion

---

"It's time to pass on your mantel." - Nightwolf

"Baby girl's good, but she's not me yet." - Jax

"Don't underestimate your daughter, Jax." - Nightwolf

Notice the edge in Nightwolf's voice? Also, Jacqui doesn't have to be Jax. Not to mention she was trained by Johnny and not Jax, so it's weird of him to say that. I think she should be trained by Scorpion as a wedding gift and have a few Shirai Ryu inspired outfits if she's introduced to the franchise in future games. Anything that distances her from Jax.

---

Jacqui is called "unproven" and a "knock off" when she has in fact proven herself, she just hasn't beaten an elder God- oh wait, what is this? Jacqui defeated Cetrion? (Do not bring jax into this, I chose Jacqui). In mkx she beat Reptile and Ermac, the very same Ermac that Jax lost his arms to because he was caught lacking, and held her own against the revenants.

The characters constantly compare her to Jax, which is problematic in my opinion. As a person who was constantly compared to my older siblings growing up it felt like my identity as my own person was being stripped away from me, and I think it's the same case with Jacqui. Jacqui should be recognised more for who she is rather than who her father is, because Jacqui is just as good if not better.

"Such beauty in Kombat is rare." - Shang Tsung. Oh Shang Tsung, you pervert.

Now onto her friendship with Cassie. It's very obvious that these two grew up together and even went to the same school, which must've meant that they lived close to one another, like the same town or city. I don't think the two have always been buddy buddy, in terms of problems coming up. If it weren't for circumstances I think these two wouldn't even be close or in the same vicinity. Cassie went and dated Jacqui's love interest for prom knowing Jacqui liked him. I'm surprised these two are even friends.

Moving onto her relationship with Jax, I liked Jacqui bonding with the younger version of her dad during story mode, and seeing the differences between older Jax and young Jax.

I always saw Jax as an a-hole, but jeez. I understand being a protective father but he needed to accept that he couldn't breathe down her neck for too long. What ticks me off even more is his disapproval of Takeda. I think one of the reasons Jax isn't very fond of Takeda is because he mildly reminds him of Johnny. Takeda has that charisma about him and makes jokes as well and overall has this easy going air about him. Even after Johnny and Sonya got married, meaning Jax saw Johnny a lot more, I don't think Jax grew a liking to Johnny. I'm not sure if Jax truly had feelings for Sonya, but I do think it's a possibility if Johnny not only did not want to get between them under the suspicion that they were together, but also because he thought they would end up together.

I have a bunch of stuff to say. I believe Cassie should've done MMA fighting or something around there, that way Cassie wouldn't just be another copy of her parents.

If Jax and Sonya did end up together then I think the turn out would be more extreme. An overprotective father and a neglectful mother.

Twlight Headcanons + Fancasts

After years of only seeing the movies I'm finally reading the book. First one only. The reason why I'm not acknowledging the other books is because I heard Stephanie Meyer purposefully made Jacob unlikable so that the readers would vouch for Edward more.

Bailey Bass as Bella Swan

She's mix raised: I started reading Bella as black because of how much of myself I saw as her and as the chapters went on her skin became darker.

She's autistic: Edward is her special interest and it doesn't help that she has trouble regulating her emotions. She definitely got them from Charlie.

She has aphantasia: The inability to imagine things. She still has thoughts, she just can't imagine. Not the reason why she's a shield though. The reason I think this is because I've come across many memes saying there's nothing going on in her head.

Renee is an abusive parent: She moved in with Charlie in an effort to get away from Renee. She's willing to suffer bad weather if it means no longer being parentified. What's worse is that Bella wasn't even looking after any children, she was looking after her own mother.

Jin Akanishi as Edward Cullen

He's 1/4 Japanese on his mother's side: I was trying my best not to imagine Robert Pattinson and the result ended up with me imagining Yoon Ji-hoo from Boys Over Flower (Korean ver). So yes, Edward is Asian.

He's a monster: I actually like the idea of Edward being quite evil, because let's face it he is in canon, but he prefers being a poser. He's evil in that typical vampire way where their humanity is almost gone.

Thinks Bella is cute when she's angry: Enjoys banter with Bella, so long as it's not misplaced.

Dakota Beavers as Jacob Black

He and Bella can relate: With the difference being that Billy isn't abusive.

Wolf: There's a spiritual side to it as well. Jacob isn't very in tune with his spiritual side, but he does occasionally try to communicate with his ancestors.

Little brother figure: Bro is 15 there's no way he's ending up with Bella. I think the conflict between him and Edward should lean onto Edward being dangerous with Jacob being protective rather than most of being relationship wise. Things between Jacob and Bella should always be platonic.

The What If timelines

I really wish MK1 expanded on the what if scenarios and timelines. We know of their existence, but we don't know them intimately like we've seen with Liu Kang's timeline, or even momentarily with Shang Tsung back in mk11.

I really wanna see more Good Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Kano-Sonya and Janet Cage. Hell, even Ninja Meme Johnny. We never hear most of the other versions speak, we only see glimpses of them or just have them on screen for like a minute.

The fact that there's a version of Johnny that showed up in the final battle dressed as Ninja Mime means that he is literally a ninja mime, and I kinda wanna see a story behind that. Maybe being talkative annoyed everyone so much that it made him feel bad and study the art of silent kung fu or something.

I want to see some Janet Cage in a story mode, I get a vibe from her that she feels more inclined to prove herself. Is she the only genderbent version in her universe or is everyone genderbent? Is she trans? She's an action star, but she didn't want to be the sexualised female heroin or sidekick, so acts cocky and obnoxious to prove that she's more than a sex symbol, her ego as some kind of defence mechanism against the sexism in Hollyweird. But that kind of takes away the point of Janet's character (because she's Johnny).

I would really like to see Shang Tsung interact with good Shang Tsung, see how many versions of himself he can hate. Is good Shang Tsung's Liu Kang evil too?

Why does Shang Tsung have clones of Kitana if he has an evil Kitana working for him? Why would evil titan versions of the heroes help Shang Tsung? Wouldn't it be a hassle to try over throweach other because of greed and stuff?

Why are evil versions to begin with? What is their backstory? Cross-over characters... I have so many questions (genderbent ninjas, character with another's aesthetic for example: Lizard Queen).

We have evil versions of the characters, but no evil Johnny (except John Khaner). Missed opportunity to have an evil Johnny, could've made it a Jill Roberts situation where there's a timeline of evil Johnny that only cares about the fame because of some deep rooted issue. In fact, I've already mentioned John Kahner, I want to know how he became Kahn.

Back to the Mileena clones of Titan Shang Tsung, re-watching the fight I saw that they were all colour coded (red, blue, yellow, pink), so they have a rank or Shang Tsung cares about differenciating them so that they're not so much mindless killers that just do his bidding. Do they have other names? Do they all secretly want Shang Tsung's approval? Do they conspire against one another? Is he their father figure now that Shao Kahn isn't in the picture? Do they have a sister bond with each other? Is Kitana their mean older sister?

Now that our timeline has Mileena and Kitana as actual sisters, is there a timeline where Mileena and Skarlet are sisters? A timeline where Shao Kahn is a good, loving father and husband? I have so many questions.

Terry Silver through time

Bring It On (2000) Background Cheerleaders (Part 1)

Snape has a kid

I know no one cares but I wanted to share my opinion to possible listeners. I've read a fair bunch of fanfics where Snape has a son or daughter and the kid only has some of his looks like his hair or his eyes. It's like writers are afraid to make the kid look normal, at least Snape levels of normal.

I have to be specific, but think of how the kid would actually look like. I think the kid should have every right to be as creepy and stern looking as Snape himself, and if it's a girl don't be afraid to give her a hooked nose.

I guarantee that kid is going to look like either Pakunoda or Illumi. If anyone thinks otherwise then they're wrong. I know that it's mostly Snaters that love hating on his appearance and his character overall but I always roll my eyes when his child is given traits that are either predictable, or felt like they came from a teen drama. This distaste skyrockets when they fancast a Vampire Diaries-esk actor.

Write your original character however you want but is it so bad to want to read a story where an author experimented with giving Snape a goth kid, or a kid that practises martial arts. Something wild that manages not to butcher the characters at the same time.

I'm probably being judgemental and I don't mean to bash anyone's original characters or favourite fanfic story, there's even a chance that I'm chatting crap or don't know what I'm talking about, but can we spice things up around here?

Illumi and Gon

I really wish there was more Gon vs Illumi content. This scene is so underrated. And while I get that Illumi and Gon have their assigned rivals/obstacles (Killu and Hiso), I don't think Gon and Illumi are explored enough by the fandom. There is always the 90s musical where Illumi is more of a threat and less nonchalant, thus is actively trying to get Gon out of the way. There's also that short fight they had in the 90s anime as well. In the 2011 version, Illumi is pretty blase about the friendship thing, probably confident that Gon will either die during the Kukuru mountain mission, or won't act unless given the signal to by his parents.

This arm breaking scene??? There is so much potential, and I am still surprised everyone just moved past it. It also showcases just how strong Gon is even without the use of nen against someone who is older, more experienced and arguably stronger. Maybe Gon proved how worthy he was by that alone to some extent. Break a Zoldyck's arm and live? That has to be impressive. Sure, Illumi didn't touch Gon because of Hisoka, but he also didn't seem angry at Gon's disrespect. He was still operating logically.

Hisoka: The Abilities outside Nen

Here's a rant from someone who's been a HxH fan since they were 10 (I'm 20 now)

Hisoka is one of my favourite characters if not my favourite villains next to Illumi. He immediately had my attention when I first saw him. I really saw him as a force of nature, and I loved how unpredictable he was. There would be moments where he came off as a psychotic killer, but also times where he seemed pretty chill. I could never quite figure out what was going through his mind.

These days I think the fandom, which is now filled with Gen Z-ers, have kind of turned him into a bit of a joke (not in a bad way), but I still remember him as the man who held a lot of mystery behind him.

Now there's just one thing I always wondered about him, and that was his abilities. We already know about Bungee Gum, and the fact that it has the properties of both rubber and gum, but I'm talking about before Togashi introduced nen to us.

We know that Hisoka is a magician, but are the abilities the result of bungee gum, or was he truly trained in some kind of trick? Does he have abilities outside of nen? One example I will use is the Zoldyck family. They are super humans, and have abilities outside of nen, like Killua's long nails and being immune to poison. Then there's the Freecss family. Even without nen, Gon was still a pretty damn strong kid, he broke Illumi's arm for crying out loud (I don't think that's spoken about enough). So we the viewers know that there's a handful of superhuman families, so it wouldn't be any surprise if Hisoka himself came from one.

We could say that it's just the 2011 version being creative, but the 1999 version has fun as well. In fact, I'll compare the two.

2011: When we are first introduced to him he burns off a guy's arm for bumping into him. His arms have turned into tiny petals. When Hisoka and Gon officially meet, he disappears into dust every time Gon tries to hit him. Usually, Nen users would blur when they move very fast. Hisoka has a bloodlust moment, and one butterfly becomes hundreds. When he takes the tag from Gon (after he punched him) he makes 4 copies of the tags.

1999: The guy seems to have melted into a wall instead of his arms being burned. Then there's his fight with the knife guy (ep 15, 1999), nothing too special, but it's what happens afterwards. In the 2011 version Hisoka still has the injury on his shoulder, but in the 1999 version he does a trick to make it disappear/heal instantly (most likely an illusion). The butterfly thing doesn't happen.

Not to mention Hisoka's bloodlust. Much like Illumi's, it gives a sense of unease to anyone who is of close proximity to it. Even going as far as to disturb nature. Hisoka is superhuman, even without the use of nen. Unfortunately, we don't see more of his 'magic' in the anime.

Yukako Higashikata AU

Yukako Higashikata

Is the younger twin

Argues with Josuke a lot, but in a 'only I can insult you' way

Has the Joestar birthmark

Has Tomoko's rage, but Yukako takes it to the next level

Gets hit on. A lot.

When Yukako and Josuke get along you know that trouble is coming

Her and Josuke are hair and fashion pals but they argue over the bathroom mirror a lot

Yukako and Josuke bond over their hate for Rohan

Yukako and Jotaro bond over their hate on people flirting with them all the time

Great big sister to Shizuka

Great younger sister to Holly

(I need more Yukako as Josuke's twin content)