The enduring Mortal Kombat brand was virtually scrapped as a result of designer and co-creator John Tobias’ sister thought it was a seahorse moderately than a dragon. This tidbit of data was revealed by Tobias himself in an attention-grabbing Twitter thread wherein he delved into the brand’s historical past after discovering his very first drawing of it. The dragon was initially left-facing, with the developer later utilizing each right-facing and left-facing dragons. However for trademark functions, one needed to be picked, so Tobias went with the brand we see at present.
The story of Mortal Kombat brand
Right here’s a not too long ago found picture of the very first drawing of #MortalKombat’s dragon icon. I designed the icon as each an emblem of our recreation and its fictional event… (thread) #MK30 pic.twitter.com/vVIDr4K9aP
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
Tobias’ drawing above was digitized by Mortal Kombat artist John Vogel, and it was impressed by what might have been sequence’ title had Ed Boon and Tobias not modified it. That title? Dragon Assault.
The inspiration to make use of a dragon because the fictional event’s image got here from “Dragon Assault,” which was in rivalry as our recreation’s title earlier than @noobde and I modified it to “Mortal Kombat.” Right here’s my tough marker sketch of the marquee brand… (3/9) pic.twitter.com/g3UY2X2boX
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
Tobias didn’t say why the duo ultimately selected Mortal Kombat, however he did reveal that Dragon Assault was impressed by Queen’s music of the identical title, and Boon occurs to like the band. In reality, the colours talked about within the music’s lyrics have been ultimately utilized in Mortal Kombat’s arcade cupboard design by Tobias.
So far as the dragon itself is anxious, the inspiration got here from a golden dragon statue that Vogel noticed on the desk of Halfway’s common supervisor, Ken Fedesna. That statue nonetheless exists.
Bonus Kontent: @noobde not too long ago snapped a photograph of the particular dragon statue that we used… 30 years later! pic.twitter.com/scFTo4KAKZ
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
The complete thread is an attention-grabbing learn particularly for those who’re a Mortal Kombat fan like me so make sure that to test it out!
