Is Liu Kang A Mascot For Mortal Kombat?

Although Ed Boon's favoritism for Scorpion is as obvious as my favoritism for Liu Kang - I could really not help but notice how the latter still does have a spot for Mortal Kombat as an important character. After they supposedly "killed him off" during Deadly Alliance, he was returned during Mortal Kombat Deception. Now I'd like to talk on how he was developed in both the original incarnation of Mortal Kombat and the series' reincarnation. So what really happened?

During the first game, he was practically just another character. But in later series, he really does play the important part as one of the main protagonists. But aside from that, one can really notice the following changes in the character as the series went by. He was having the use of dragons in some of his moves. For instance, his trademark move is the Flying Dragon Kick taken from the late Bruce Lee. But later, even when he became a Chinese version of Street Fighter's Ryu, dragons just kept getting incorporated from his later fireballs and some finishing moves.

In Mortal Kombat II, the first finisher that triggered a string of rumors was his ability to become a dragon. In Mortal Kombat 3 in all its incarnations the Animality was born and he retained his dragon form. In Mortal Kombat 4 when only fatalities were added, he had another variation of his dragon fatality where he mauled the opponent to death which was my favorite. In the adventure game Shaolin Monks, he also retained that as one of his bonus moves. It was returned in Mortal Kombat (2011) as a hidden fatality this time looking more or less like the Dragon Logo of Mortal Kombat. He also had a fatality where the MK1 Arcade fell on his opponent during the Mortal Kombat 3 ports and in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. He also had a friendship that used a dragon hand shadow featuring the Mortal Kombat dragon in the Mortal Kombat 3 game in all its incarnations.

Aside from the fact that he's died (twice) and brought back as an undead (and I panicked at the thought he may not be in Mortal Kombat X but he's back looking a lot like Evil Ryu) - there's another plot that made me laugh. Mortal Kombat's current developer is known as NetherRealm Studios. Even with Scorpion at the logo due to Ed Boon's favoritism but I can't deny Mortal Kombat X's ending in the Story Mode still left me laughing. Aside from Shinnok's still living head, what I don't deny is that Liu Kang and Kitana becomes the new rulers of the Netherrealm. It's almost like as if Liu Kang and Kitana got promoted as CEOs of Netherrealm studios.