Im afraid these recycled punks wont even get retro costumes. Just saying…
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I think the assumption here is that Shadow Orchid will automatically be Orchid with gray skin and gurgly gurgles. I don’t know that this is an assumption that should be made. Maybe that’s what she’ll be, but maybe not. I’d like to think that MS / IG are a bit more creative than that.
I’m personally hoping that she’s Roxy, or perhaps a take on Kara from the comics ie a blonde, Ultratech assassin. Someone that could be a rival or foil to Orchid, which I think would make Orchid a bit more compelling from a lore perspective.
Would this mean that she’s not technically “shadow Orchid?” Yes, but I’m kinda hoping that they look at this as an “Orchid remix” opportunity more akin to Kilgore than the more literal interpretation of “they want the exact same thing for Orchid that we gave them with Jago / Shago.”
With a few exceptions, I think that most people around here would at least be open to the idea of an Orchid remix character ala Kilgore, where we get a new character. This distinction seems to be important to some people. I don’t personally think it’s a big deal, as I think that a Shadow Orchid character could be fun too, if done right, but that’s just me. Either way, I don’t think that everyone’s being quite as unreasonable as it seems.
However, the sheer amount of people that are down on this idea before even seeing what it can be is a bit disappointing, but obviously not unexpected. We all have different taste here. If you don’t want clone characters, no problem. I’m still trying to understand why people think a shark with human legs sounds appealing. But other people like that idea. More power to them.
MS / IG have already announced three characters. One’s almost done and the other two are likely well in to development, so I tend to doubt that anything said about Shorchid lately will matter. They need to serve the larger community, not just the ten or so fans on here that hate an idea that many more clearly liked. Or, they need to serve what they think is best, so if they think a Shadow Orchid is best, or a Roxy, or a Kara, or something completely different works better, that’s the devs prerogative and I respect that 100%.
I just hope that if one of these next two characters ends up being Shorchid, that this board isn’t flooded with negativity about it. Same goes for Shark TJ or any other idea.
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You’ve coherently said in more detailed way everything I’ve been saying about shorchid. People are so hung up the name that they shut out the idea entirely and judge it before we’ve even seen anything.
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As someone who doesn’t participate in a lot of FGC stuff, and has really only been playing them relatively recently, I’m starting to wonder if fighting game fans really know any better. Thinking about it, almost every major fighting game franchise I can think of has the bulk of their roster made up of either clones (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, DOA) or characters from other franchises (MvC, Smash Bros, Soul Calibur, Injustice). I really shouldn’t be that surprised that the most popular idea for moving KI forward is to stick to their comfort zone.
I know I can trust IG to come up with characters that are fun to play, but I’m not sure I can trust a big chunk of the audience to come up with interesting suggestions.
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Interesting is a highly subjective term though.
Let’s be clear here, if the choice is between a brand new character or a shoto clone for SF or a palette swap ninja for MK or a remix character for KI, you better believe a substantial portion of any fanbase would choose a completely unique character, myself included.
But again, and I can’t stress that enough… This is not the choice we’re being given. That wasn’t the choice on the survey. I don’t think that many Shorchid enthusiasts would even prefer her over a brand new character.
Now, when I say brand new, I mean new rig, new animations, new name, story, etc. I don’t mean “take Fulgore’s body, put some new stuff on it and give it a new name and (mostly) new move set.”
When we start getting in to this area, the waters become a bit murkier. Both Kilgore and Shadow Jago are technically remix characters. They’re new takes on an existing characters. I mean, you realize that Kilgore could just have easily been named Prototype Fulgore, right? They just changed two letters of his name.
Now the counter argument is “but he’s a new character.” Okay, sure. But isn’t Shadow Jago technically a new character? He’s not Jago. At least, not completely. The lore confirms this, so let’s not get hung up on what’s new or not from a technical perspective.
Sorry, I don’t mean to be long winded here, really. All of this is just a long way of saying that of the choices presented, some people see certain ideas and like them and some don’t. What’s original to some may seem derivative to others. To some, Kilgore is original and Shorchid is not. That’s all fine. But let’s not get in to “maybe the fans don’t know best” just because we don’t like a specific idea.
I don’t like Shark TJ as a concept and I don’t see the value in ultimates. That doesn’t mean I don’t think MS / IG could come up with some ideas here that I will like or that either of those things couldn’t turn out to surprise me. Let’s just try and keep an open mind and see what we end up with before we start doubting the value of our own feedback. We’re not going to agree on everything as a community, but we should at least agree that community feedback and developers listening (but not always agreeing) is a good thing.
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Why Shadow Orchid? How about “Black” Orchid?
Duh!!!
Does anybody even call her Black Orchid anymore? Nope.
Shadow Orchid sounds stupid as hell and has that Badass Decay effect.
“Black Orchid” sounds epic as hell and has that Instant Badass effect.
Give B.Orchid the same tonfas from Killer Instinct 2, a better looking Default suit (black being the default color), her KI2 retro outfit (again, In BLACK!!) and instead of a fire cat, how about a black fire panther?
Sorry if I sound rude but the opportunity of bringing Black Orchid back to the forefront must not be missed!!!
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I definitely agree that we should be open to various ideas, and that having devs willing to listen to the community is a resource that we should not squander. Hell, I didn’t think I’d like Kilgore being a character (I thought it was an Ultimate for Fulgore) but he’s got a hell of a lot of personality for a robot with no face. I’ve taken to calling him the GIR of KI, and when I start referencing one of my favorite cartoons from growing up it’s a VERY good thing!
I don’t even necessarily mean that “they don’t know any better” comment of mine as an insult. It’s more of me coming to realize that Remix/Clone characters’ popularity isn’t really as strange as I’ve thought it to be over my time playing KI. I’m really just thinking out loud about some of the habits of the FGC. I mean, if people like game X, it wouldn’t be surprising if they think Game Y could benefit from some of Game X’s choices.
I’m actually much more open to the idea of Remix characters than I used to be, mostly because we have the entire original cast and a little over half a dozen brand new characters. Even the guests have been well done enough that I wouldn’t necessarily mind seeing one more, which is surprising for me considering how much I’ve campaigned against them. I’ll wait and see what the future holds. We have at least two more characters after Kilgore (probably remixes) so I’m curious what we’ll see. I just really hope they use the remix idea and give them a look that’s completely different. I’d eventually make my peace about Shorchid, but if they could take that idea and make it a brand new character visually I’d probably actually be really happy with it!
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Haha, I actually put that forward as being her shadow name in another thread, it does seem like they just decided to drop the “B” from her name altogether now. I’d appreciate an Ultratech clone with some entirely new abilities and that would also seriously pee her off after how long she’s spent “flushing out Ultratech.”
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I’m about to make a poll right now. The Shadow stuff is getting on my nerves.
I sent you a invite. Feel free to invite more people to the thread.
This was me doing my little bit of lazy theory crafting in another thread, basically have her show up as a being cloned from Orchid’s DNA to futz with her, heck this could even be Roxy, instead.
You know, I actually kinda love that idea. Making the clone character… A Literal Clone!
An imperfect clone from her most hated enemy; slightly different look, new moveset, access to advanced technology, maybe some cyberization and this could be interesting. At least, more interesting than “Jago’s Plot Again.” 
It’ll hit the same notes, sure, but it’d be a little more fitting for Orchid. Jago’s journey is a spiritual one, so it makes sense demons (personal and literal) would be heavily involved. Orchid has been working against Ultratech for most of her story, and her arch is more about proving that she’s not insane and that UT really is truly evil and actively so. There are hints in some of the dossiers that after Gargos is defeated, Orchid would resume her crusade against Ultratech. It’d be interesting to see ARIA’s response to that threat.
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How about Umbra Orchid? Yep, female shadow characters should have a distinct class. Btw she’ll end up a with purple skin. Shago is grey because Double Helix Studios created him. IG goes with the purple stuff. But please make this purple darker or almost black. The purple of the shadows looks great when i tone down the brightness of the game.
Purple? Of all things.
Yup, and that’s really all they have to do. Sur epeople are gonna complain about the look if it ends up not being a dark twisted version of Orchid. but atleast the devs know when a certain aspect was reserved for a character (Specifically, Shago being the result of Omen’s possession of Jago until it became a being of its own)
How insane could someone who resembles her perfectly drive her? There’s maybe something a bit off and maybe a bit little bit body horror about her, she has a dead eyed stare or walks with a creepy gait. In my opinion, it’d be a pretty good way of screwing with someone who’s trying their best to hold it together, it’d also be pretty awesome if she looked good, yet had some freakish elements to her that throw you off guard? The Body Snatchers were technically clones, (alien one anyhow) but the sounds that came out of their mouths and their dead eyes were absolutely horrifying.
Ugh, edited because head can’t brain right now. 
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Hey didn’t want to just throw you a “like” after you made such good points. I just see nothing to disagree with and think it’s a good post. Here’s hoping we get some cool new ideas with the next two characters!
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You do realize that this is Black Orchid:
Her name, or rather, her codename is Black Orchid. So calling her “shadow” version for Black Orchid would just be confusing, as it would not differentiate her from the non-shadow version.
However, at the same time it would be clever, as it IS the same character, just… well… changed.
This is why the 1982 version of The Thing is my favorite horror movie. Alien monster? Sure that’s spooky. But an alien life form that can flawlessly assume your friends identities, right down to their memories, and slowly drive a wedge between your crew until everyone is afraid of everyone else?
Yeah, I think Orchid would go a bit off her rocker.
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It does seem like they’ve totally dropped the “B” from her name though these days, I assumed it was ixnayed in much the same fashion as “Chief Thunder” to stick with a more simplified (and more culturally sensitive) naming convention. I’m actually surprised Maya even got a surname. 
All of the yes! I absolutely love The Thing for all it’s brilliant subtlety and equal dose of gross body horror, I’m hoping this is a trope the devs might pick up on along with a Lovecraftian creature.
I know the Brian Yuzna adaptations of Lovecraft’s works are a little on the cheesy side (though they are very entertaining) I was hoping the Lovecraftian character could be a female like Uxia from his version of A Shadow over…I mean Dagon. 
She’s creepy as all get-out.
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