Let's Visit Shang Tsung's Island
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- čas přidán 2. 08. 2024
- With Shang Tsung's Island Ruins being a background in Mortal Kombat 11, and with Shang Tsung's Island being the site of the MK11 Krypt, now is a great time we took a look at the legacy of Shang Tsung's Island as it's been a mainstay throughout Mortal Kombat's entire history!
As always, we cover a variety of Mortal Kombat games and spin-off media, including the Mortal Kombat X comics, the Blood & Thunder comics by Malibu, the 1995 film by New Line Cinema/Threshold Entertainment, the novel by Jeff Rovin, even a couple of things we shouldn't have access to -- like the script for the first movie, or an internal document called "Threshold Entertainment Presents A Writer's Guide to Mortal Kombat: The Animated Series." Props go to GoroStillLives over at MK Online for that one!
So we find a couple discrepancies, like the reason why the island sunk, or even if it sunk at all! We find that the island has been given a name - Shimura Island - as well as a couple of nicknames like Blood Island (from the MKX comics) and Argos Island (from an ungrateful Kitana in MK vs. DC Universe). Then there's the matter of its location - The Lost Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea have all been places that the island is said to be found. Also - whose island is it, anyway? Was this really created by the Elder Gods as neutral territory between Earth and Outworld, or is it Shang Tsung's Island? And how does the Yin-Yang Island fit into it, anyway?
Of course, we can't forget the inspiration - the island fortress from the classic Bruce Lee flick, Enter the Dragon.
For this video, we'll be sticking with Kombat Island, and not even mention the UFC Fight Island.
So join me, as we go into a ridiculous amount of detail on the most important island in video game history! - Hry
A couple of points from this video:
The East China Sea and the South China Sea border each other, and it's very common for islands in the southeast of the ECS, or the northwest of the SCS to be considered part of both seas. Taiwan is an island on the border of both seas (although much larger than Tsung's Island). I imagine, of course, that the Island is mystical and moves around the area. Wikipedia tells me that the "Lost Sea" is actually an underground water system in east Tennessee, so probably unrelated.
"Shimura" is as very common Japanese surname (used, for example, in My Hero Academia, and in real life by famous Princeton mathematician Goro Shimura. Ummm, er...). This suggests that the Island may have had Japanese origins, and fits a location in the East, East China Sea, perhaps amongst the Ryukyu Islands that stretch between Japan and Taiwan.
Speaking of Goros, Goro could have mutliple, similar lairs in Outworld and Earthrealm. It's a pretty plain dungeon for him to chill out and eat people, I guess, as befits his Shokan lifestyle. Alternatively, the Lair might be in Earthrealm (per flavor text), but the kombatants are transported across realms when crashing through the ceiling. Maybe they installed a portal in the ceiling for Shao Kahn to toss leftover ne'er-do-wells through to keep Goro busy and active during the fifty-year breaks between tournaments.
I play MK games since I was 6 year old, in 1992, and I always wondered, speacilly after the 3rd instalment, about the "mechanics of the realms".
Considering that:
* In the Mortal Kombat Lore the world is composed of may "realms", and aparently they are unreacheable by spaceships, so, those realms shouldn't be Planets in outrspace, but separated universes since it seems that it's only possible to travel between them trough interdimensional portals.
* These worlds are liable to be merged in pairs until they eventualy form a one single realm called "one realm".
* Whenever 2 of those realms are merged together, the builds, construction, landscapes, panorama, and biomes of each of them starts to organically overlap each other, as seem in MK3/UMK3/MKT/MKAdv.
The main question is: What EXACTLY is each Realm?
1 - an entire full scale universe full of galaxies, stars and planets? If yes, why doesn´t the warlords of each world care for outerspace exploration in their own universe, instead of invading and venturing into others first?
2 - diferent states of the same unique planet? If yes, what would happen if the inhabitants of diferent realms went out of their atmospheric boundaries at the same time? Would they meet each other in the outer space since it would be a neutral zone without "realms"? And more, if this is the correct answer, would "realms" be just state of minds? So every MK realm exists overlaped in the same space at the same time, and each living being can only see what its/him/her "realm" permits?
3 - is each realm a "pocket universe" based on a geocentric (or even a "flat"centric) planet surrounded by a small number of stars and minor non inhabited planets (or they are even just and ilusion like Truman Show), like super limited "globes" with a tangible end. And for this reason their powerful warlords don´t seek space exploration, since the space is super limited, and to liberate their greed for power, they seek to enter other realms where "there area still something new to conquest".
I star to think about the "Yin Yang island". This arena is one of the most significative when the subject is trying to understand the mechanics beyond the existencial plans in MK lore. In this island a turistic cruiser ship transforms itself in a vessel that ressembles Shang Tsung Nethership... As we can see, the merging of 2 diferente realms alters - ON THE FLY - the objects of the invaded realm into other objects that ressembles the invader realm nature. For isntance, trees becomes snakes, I wonder, probably the tripulation and passangers of the turistic ship are momentarily transformed in prisioners when the mergind occurs, and come back to normal when the separation is dismantled. This mechanics seems to be similar to the supernatural world of Silent Hill, where the "mood" and aesthetics of the invader world shift living and non-linving things of the invaded world.
Like said in "shang tsung´s island" in mortal kombat wikia article "Shang Tsung's Island is a place located between the realms of Earthrealm and Outworld on the Lost Sea. (However, in other sources, Shang Tsung's island was said to be located in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.)" this Yin Yang island should be located near shang tsung's island in lost sea (east/south china sea), although it cannot be saw. And perhaps, like dracula's castles on Castlevania, from time to time whenever a mortal kombat tournament is going to happen, maybe a portal to outworld should appear in china seas and this region starts to be partialy/momentarily dominated by ouytworld. And at the bordering areas of those areas the islands and objects stay in a meta stability state glitching between realms.
I think each realm is the interior of a Dark Hole. And when Dark Hole's feed they grow. When they encounter each other they feed on each other and merge into a single Dark Hole which manifests itself as realms merging. Dark Hole's come into existance by way of printing. A huge cosmic printer outputs them into being. The code that servers as input is the infamous bloodcode which holds the dna of life.
These are the series of events that led up to formation of Outworld.
I have always accepted that Shang Tsung's Island is Neutral Ground, he is running the Tournament from it. For me it was never his, and the Islands Peaceful look is a illusion to get Earths Warriors to lower their guard. I never liked that the Island got destroyed or exploded. But I believe that when Shang Tsung left the place it should go back to looking like a baron wasteland as his Sorcery is no longer maintaining It's look. As for Trilogy moving Goro's lair under Outworld... Don't get me started on Trilogy :P
TotalMK agreed
it should grow moho or be covered in green or dust with an abandoned feel but not be wasted i agree, like wtf is your problem
Whaaaat?
Shang Tsung is clearly the counterpart of Han, or Shang Lao from the movie Big trouble in Little China
Dude you sure know how to do your research, subscribed faster than scorpion's teleportation
Subscription?? GET OVER HERE!!
Underrated channel.
yeah, but it mentions mk tv series and dc universe too often. :D
You forgot to mention Johnny cages Mortal Kombat X ending!!
WolfHolly yeah, but we know that in the new time line the island is ok. But good memory
Shang Tsung Island is somewhere on Earthrealm. I think story he became MK Champion when Shao Kahn saw evil in his heart and thought him steal souls. When he lost original Kung Lao, so Shang call Prince Goro to defeat Lao, and Goro 9 straight victories. Portal between Ying Yang, Tsung Island plus outworld. 🤔
It's essentially based on the vanishing Island of folklore
Maybe the island is lost in the China sea? Lol. Great video.
Besides being into MK, I'm also an ICP fan so that Island Records shirt is double awesome to me.
Hey, glad you caught that! Now I only wish I made some reference to Juggalo Island ;)
i remember making it on Sims 2 lol
Hah, cool idea! Do you have screenshots of this?
Complete with The Pit?
This man deserves to be an ambassador.
Something bothers me... At the beginning of Shaolin Monks, Shang Tsung is destroying the island. Now, considering that he's an extremely powerful sorcerer, he should be able to erase the whole thing in a blink of an eye, killing every Earthrealmer in the process. Maybe he's weakened by his wounds.. But even if his power at that time only goes so far as to slowly make the island crumble, Raiden just casually instructs two of the most important Earthrealm fighters to brawl their way out.... Isn't it a bit irresponsible to risk their lives on a crumbling island? Why not just teleport them back to the Wu Shi Academy?
Because the only issue I truly have with Shaolin Monks is that the story is absolutely full of plot holes.
But if I were to find a headcanon to explain it, I'd say MKSM Raiden simply cant teleport other people, only himself.
The mountain tower that Shao Kahn stands on in MK2... is that supposed to be any particular known place in the outworld and is it blood at the bottom?
I always assumed it was a metaphor, and that it was symbolic of the tower that Shao Kahn actually ruled from. And yes, that's definitely blood at the bottom!
tabmok99 then perhaps it's a tower of rock in the sea of blood from shaolin monks
You are the man Tabmok99. Love your videos. Keep it up please!
I ❤ the Island Records T shirt.
So what actually is the Lost Sea? Is it a real sea on Earth, or is it a sea on Outworld? If the island is literally between realms, then does a version of it physically exist in Outworld as well?
Makes you wonder but they'd probably call it something different in Outworld. Like... the Found Sea? I'm going with that.
I prayed elder gods for expanding MK:Legacy universe!!! It's so dark and noir, the one that Mortal Kombat deserve... Da hell, they can always say that's a PRARLLEL UNIVERSE! With no Batman or Wonder dogs.... I loved that miniseries. Should rewatch it again that years later.
PS The original season of MK:L... The second one was not needed
I also like MK Conquest alot, even tho its much lighter in tone and very cheerful at times. But yeah MK Legacy is and Epic Belt and Ring
Dude! This is so in-depth and well edited, it's a mascaraed how few views it has! Few real MK fans I guess...
I'd really love to see a video on your thoughts towards the end of the Tobias MK / Midway Arcade era. Aka thoughts on The Grid - spinoff Smash TV with MK4 cameos. So much can be talked about: Tao Feng, MK: Special Forces
I love the 2010 feel of this video.
I had always thought the island was between worlds that's why they had to go through the stormy area during the movie
Boro in ETD and Goro in MK
Another great video and shirt Justin 👍👍👍
amazing!
Enjoy all your videos hope to see many more in the future
Very Good Video I'm Impress with all the information you have and show to us in your videos
I love you and your videos, never stop being you ^^
Like your content a LOT
Thank you so much Mike!
Great content, IMPRESSIVE!
How in the fuck do you know all this shit?! 😂 I love it
Superb video has always. Always the right t shirt too lol
Please make a materrial about shang tsung cobalt mines
How big is the island?
You do an incredible amount of research. You probably know more about the lore than those at NetherRealm Studios. 👍
The one problem is that shaolin monks is not Canon
Fair enough, Meme God, but even when you take MK Shaolin Monks out of the equation there are still come contradictions here!
You should put a map of south China sea. Other than that, great video
Show's rainbow island..."definitely not" lol
lilweezy210 That part got me too lol
I can't quite place what your intro song is. What's the exact name?
Hey LazorPowa, it's actually based on the intro to the arcade version of Mortal Kombat II.
But if the island crumbled at the ending of MK1 how do u return to Goro's lair to fight the hidden bosses 6:48
You see the problem here, with the island sinking/not sinking. It gets tough to explain away.
Which characters represented Outworld in the Mortal Kombat tournament on Shang Tsung's island? Kano is from Earthrealm. Scorpion was born in Earthrealm, but he died and became a denizen of Netherrealm. Sub-Zero was born in Earthrealm, but his ancestors (cryomancers) originated from Outworld... MK lore is so complicated. 😑
Shalion monks is the so so so GREAT
what do you know about HaaaNNN?
What happened to the original video? Got takendown by machimina?
This is the original video. It was temporarily unavailable for a bit because of a clip from Machinima, but it should be OK now.
Which mk trilogy has a stage change/transition for Goros lair?
The Nintendo 64 one
@@tabmok99 I knew it wasn't PlayStation version
Who is the hero of mortal kombat there is no way to create game without a hero
The island is somewhere at north pole cuz only there the compass rotates insanely like in the movie. Ever heard of lands beyond antarctica? There are districts beyond ours.
But it would be freezing cold!!
Unless it's like the Savage Land (from the X-Men).
@@tabmok99 you're wrong. Go watch admiral Byrd's diary. He explains there is a green warm land beyond the pole.
czcams.com/video/NOBBqtxSP7Q/video.html
Honestly I kinda wished the island looked more lively in MK11
Island records shirt
Oh yeah good catch!
great content man, I'm feeling really nostalgic. I just played the Krypt in MK11, what are your thoughts about the island in mk11?
It was really cool to explore it. I like how the Warrior Shrine is located properly on the island (and not near the Wu Shi Academy as depicted in MK Shaolin Monks). I also like how they solved a long-running mystery - those monks had been loyal to Shang Tsung.
@@tabmok99and it was used as a source of power for kronika crown
No! I am a rock! I am an Island!
Very awesome video, tabmok99.
Anyone else notice Twilight in the lower right corner?
argUs
His island is probably under sorcery, however in mk9 the island didn't blow up.
Edit: what about the pit stages? Its a bridge connected with mountains and under the bridge there are spikes. Was this an arena or an execution area? I don't think its an arena. I can't see any one watched altho pple fight on it. And abt pit 2 and pit3, pit 2 is in outworld so possibly the pit1 transferred to outworld so, the ground changes and there are no spikes? Pit3 is shao Kahn's throne, but what a weird throne it is. It's probably a throne and an area to execute others, the pit 4 from mk deception is just weird. ITS A SQUARE PLATFORM not a bridge.
Altho the pit bridge is in the background.
Yeah, when they rebooted the series in MK9 they made some changes. Not that the old timeline was 100% clear and consistent.
In the old (2D) games, it was pretty clear that The Pit, The Pit II, and The Pit 3 were separate arenas. MKSM got it right when they showed The Pit 1 on Shang Tsung's island and the Pit II in Outworld, but by the time of MK9/MKX they kind of created a mishmash of the two. Some of the classic backgrounds from MK Deception like The Pit were actually redesigned for Chess Kombat and were non-canon (although in the final build, they made them usable in standard arcade mode as well, once they were unlocked anyway).
tabmok99 ah, thanks.
I've heard that the pits were used as execution area but i don't remember which pit.
@@rekius328 the pit was a fighting arena. The bottom was an execution area for those who survived the fall. Reptile was there taking care of the executions.
@@marcoaureliorodriguesdevas135 That's right, there was an official vignette for The Pit stage that detailed some of that stuff.
@@tabmok99 Am I seeing things or does Jax appear Caucasian in that first comic page you showed?
6:52 it got better....
The other name for Shang Tsung's Island is called Sentosa
The resort island, where Universal Studios Singapore is located? Well that's awesome news, because it means Shang Tsung's island has roller coasters!
Awesome video. Shaolin Monks is a game that is worth playing for the gameplay and for the fact that you can now free roam in the classic MK and MKII stages in a 3D environment, which is pretty cool, but it should be completely ignored when discussing Mortal Kombat lore as it pretty much craps on the whole story. The writers ignored the whole point of MKII which was that it was an actual martial arts tournament, only that this time it was being held in Outworld. Another thing that really annoyed me was how Liu and Kung were supposed to be these noble Shaolin warriors but acted like sociopathic punks and were dumb as hell throughout the game. That kind of ruined the immersion for me.
As for the Island, I always just assumed that it is indeed located somewhere in the South China Sea but it couldn't be reached by normal means, as it works as a sort of bridge between Earthrealm and Outworld, so it is on Earth but... not quite. And yes, I agree with you, it is Shang Tsung's island, not some generic neutral ground. Shang always had home field advantage there.
Yeah MKSM really has a non sensical plot. But Liu Kang and Kung Lao's brutality is actually one of the few things that are explained in the game, Shang Tsung disguised as Raiden tells them that they should kill all the Outworld warriors no questions asked because it would weaken Shang Tsung with every death or something like that (while Shang Tsung actually got stronger by consuming their souls), and since the monks are both naïve idiots in that game they just go with it and follow "Raiden's" orders.
White Jax?
That's meant to be Sonya's first partner; the one Kano kills.
this island have exist in real life ; island of living deccal
"The inspiration to the island I think most of us know that question."
I hate how nobody listens to me when I tell my friends about that, they always say MK is a carbon copy of SF.
Also they say Liu Kang is a Jackie Chan copy and not inspired by Bruce Lee.
Haha you’re like an unironic AVGN
2:02 jax is looking pale, must not be well.
It's actually a different Special Forces agent - a precursor to Jax!
It was the metal arms that got me.
Could everyone stop getting their arms ripped off.
@@Paul_The_Spaceman If you have metal arms, you get them ripped off. It's what you do!
Oh, just like Birdie when he was in Street Fighter 1.
Let’s not
Please no more videos
Jokes on you he made more videos