Cyrax

Cyrax is a player character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise created for Midway Games by Ed Boon and John Tobias. Making his debut in Mortal Kombat 3 in 1995, he is a member of the Lin Kuei clan of assassins who underwent transformation into cyborgs. Along with counterparts Sektor and Smoke, Cyrax was assigned to hunt down the rogue former clansman Sub-Zero. Unlike Sektor, he and Smoke were able to rediscover their human sides, with Cyrax in particular joining Sonya Blade and Jax Briggs as a member of the Outer World Investigation Agency after having his soul restored. His backstory prior to his transformation is expanded upon in the 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot.

Cyrax
Mortal Kombat character
Cyrax in Mortal Kombat 11 (2019)
First appearanceMortal Kombat 3 (1995)
Created byEd Boon
John Tobias
Portrayed byJ.J. Perry (Annhliation)
Voiced byEd Boon (MK4: Gold)
Rhasaan Orange (MK2011)
Ike Amadi (MK11)[1]
Motion captureSal Divita (MK3, UMK3, MKT)[2]
Stephan Scalabrino (MK2011)
In-universe information
SpeciesCyborg (formerly Human)
WeaponSabre of Light (MKG)
Pulse Blade (MK:DA, MK:A)
OriginBotswana (Earthrealm)
Fighting stylesNinjutsu (MK:DA, MK:A)
Sambo (MK:DA)

Cyrax has also been featured in other Mortal Kombat alternate media such as the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm and the 2011 web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy. The character has received mostly positive reception, particularly for his Fatality finishing moves and gameplay.

Appearances

In video games

In Mortal Kombat 3, Cyrax is a member of the Lin Kuei clan of assassins along with Sub-Zero, Sektor, and Smoke. When the clan decide to utilize modern technology by converting its members into soulless cyborgs, Sub-Zero refuses and defects from the clan; which lead to the clan's grandmasters marking him for death. As a result, Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke were all assigned to hunt down and kill him. During Outworld emperor Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm, Sub-Zero captured Cyrax and reprogrammed him with orders to destroy the emperor, but Shao Kahn was defeated beforehand by the other Earthrealm warriors. As a result of his reprogramming, Cyrax awaited the orders of a new objective. When these never came, he consequently malfunctioned and wandered until becoming mired in the middle of a vast desert. This storyline was continued in Mortal Kombat Gold, when he was recovered and repaired by the Lin Kuei. The short-handed clan sent Cyrax back into battle, with Sektor assigned to monitor him.[3] However, his MK Gold plotline was ignored by Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance's (2002) Konquest Mode, in which Cyrax was "recovered by Special Forces agents Sonya Blade and Jackson Briggs," a reference to the character's unused biography in Prima's official strategy guide for MK Gold; according to which Cyrax was recovered by the Special Forces in the Gobi Desert and reprogrammed to fight on the side of good against the fallen Elder God Shinnok.[4] After Shinnok's defeat, Cyrax began to experience flashbacks of his former life, so Sonya and Jax brought him to the Outer World Investigation Agency (OIA) headquarters, where they restored his humanity. As a token of gratitude, Cyrax joined the agency as a scout in Earthrealm.

During the events of Deadly Alliance, Cyrax was ambushed by the Oni Moloch and Drahmin. After driving the two demons off, he became stranded in Outworld. His arm console, which allowed him to return to Earthrealm, was damaged in a surprise attack by Outworld native Reptile that was orchestrated by the vampire Nitara. When Cyrax encounters her, she offers to help him return home in exchange for his aid in recovering a lost artifact. They traveled to the underground chamber that housed the egg of the Dragon King. There, Cyrax submerged himself in a lake of molten lava and discovered the orb that would separate her home realm of Vaeternus from Outworld. With the egg in her possession, she honored her promise to Cyrax and used her mystical necklace to open a portal to send him back to Earthrealm.[5]

For the rebooted Mortal Kombat (2011), Cyrax is first depicted as a human, Tswana member of the Lin Kuei who relies on his chi to carry out clan missions. He and Sektor, both introduced during the first tournament, have conflicting views over the Lin Kuei's impending "Cyber Initiative", which calls for all of its members to be transformed into cyborgs. While Sektor wholly supports the proposition, Cyrax is reluctant to surrender his humanity, as he believes his instincts and judgement are far more effective than any mechanical augmentation. He naively believed that Shang Tsung had invited him and Sektor to the tournament until Raiden informs him that he had been paid handsomely to kill the Earthrealm fighters and that if Earthrealm loses, so will the Lin Kuei. As a result of this, Shang Tsung unsuccessfully attempts to have Cyrax killed by Sheeva and Baraka. Cyrax later confronts Sektor after refusing to kill Johnny Cage during their match and knocks out his fellow clansman following an argument; severing his ties to the Lin Kuei. However, in events that occurred off-screen, Cyrax was getting caught, cyberized, and reprogrammed to be loyal to the Lin Kuei before assisting Sektor in pursuing Smoke and the younger Sub-Zero, Tundra, into Outworld.[6] After capturing Sub-Zero in Shao Kahn's arena during the second tournament and taking him away to be cyberized, Cyrax and Sektor pledging their services to the Kahn in exchange. When the Outworld emperor launched an invasion of Earthrealm, the cyborgs launched their own attack on the Earthrealm defenders to stop them from interfering, only to be thwarted by warrior Nightwolf. Despite this, Shao Kahn's wife Queen Sindel, arrived moments later and completed the cyborgs' mission.

Cyrax's fate is expanded on in the Mortal Kombat X prequel comics. After Sektor became grandmaster, he intended to fully cyberize the Lin Kuei in his image while Cyrax remained his servant. When Sub-Zero infected the Lin Kuei with a computer virus, Cyrax was freed from the slaving protocols that dictated his programming, allowing him to turn on Sektor. After Cyrax reveals the Cyber Lin Kuei need a central master to function, Sub-Zero decapitates Sektor, and Cyrax becomes the remaining cyborgs' new master. Unable to live as a cyborg, Cyrax chose to self-destruct, taking the Cyber Lin Kuei with him. In the MKX game, Cyrax was added as one of three variations for the shapeshifting cyborg DLC character, "Triborg".

A time-displaced Cyrax appears in Mortal Kombat 11 as an NPC character who was brought to the present timeline by the keeper of time Kronika as part of her plan to restart time; taking part in Sektor's plot to capture Sub-Zero's Lin Kuei warriors and convert them into cyborgs to bolster her ranks. After Sub-Zero and Hanzo Hasashi infiltrated the Cyber Lin Kuei factory to shut them down, Cyrax attempted to stop them, only to be defeated and have his slave protocol disabled. Upon regaining his humanity, he was horrified to discover what Sektor had done to him and chose to sacrifice himself to shut down the factory, though Sub-Zero pledged to restore him.[7]

Design

Cyrax, played by Sal Divita, was the second of the three cybernetic ninja characters to be conceived, and he and Sektor were unofficially named "Mustard" and "Ketchup" while Mortal Kombat 3 was in production. He was a yellow palette swap of Sektor, as the original costume used for game filming was red. Divita explained that the outfit, which consisted of a large amount of plastic armor plating and a custom-made helmet, was "really heavy," while the helmet itself was "hot and uncomfortable" and he "couldn't breathe" or "hear anything" while wearing it.[8] John Tobias said that Cyrax and Sektor's design was in part inspired by Boba Fett and the Predator.[9]

With the series' transition into three-dimensional games, each of the cybernetics' visual appearances has evolved independently; Cyrax in particular had several enhancements to his costume that included a utility belt and LED lighting placed throughout his mechanism. His human face was officially seen for the first time in his MK Gold ending, which showed him in full armor minus his faceplate.[10] His alternate costume for Deadly Alliance showed him in a more revealing costume with fewer openly visible cybernetic enhancements while more of his actual body was displayed, as he wore a type of open-faced, helmet-like apparatus.[11]

Since appearing in MK3 and its updates (Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and the 1996 compilation title Mortal Kombat Trilogy), Cyrax, Sektor and Smoke would not feature in the same titles as playables again until Mortal Kombat: Armageddon in 2006: Cyrax and Sektor were selectable in MK Gold but Smoke was omitted, while only Cyrax was initially playable in Deadly Alliance until Sektor was added to the roster in the "Tournament Edition" update of Deadly Alliance for the Game Boy Advance. Meanwhile, Smoke was included in Mortal Kombat: Deception (as part of a unit with Noob Saibot), in which neither Cyrax nor Sektor appeared. All three would reunite once again as playable characters in MK2011, while Cyrax and Sektor's MK3 costumes were released together in June 2011 as downloadable content for the reboot game.[12] Cyrax's code unit of his cyborg form, LK-4D4 is used as a password reference by Catwoman to release the Brother Eye from Brainiac's control in Injustice 2.

Gameplay

Cyrax utilizes modern weaponry such as bombs and buzzsaws, in addition to a trapping net composed of green energy that snares his opponents and sets them up for a free hit. He is notable for his "Self-Destruct" Fatality in MK3, when he arms a bomb in his chest with a wrist-mounted control panel, taking out himself as well as his opponent. In MK 2011, many of his combos utilize his buzzsaw. Cyrax also tends to have a lot of throw moves at his disposal, as seen in games like Deadly Alliance and MK 2011. Cyrax has separate combos in the sambo style in Deadly Alliance named Ketchup and Mustard, a reference to this. As a reference to his MK3 ending, Cyrax is seen trapped waist-deep in sand in the desert background in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

GameSpot criticized Cyrax's bombs in MK Gold, mentioning that they are nearly useless in the game, since one can just sidestep them.[13] IGN wrote both of Cyrax's detonator special moves make him interesting in Armageddon.[14] Kotaku said that Cyrax "was familiar and fun to play" in MK 2011 and that "he's like a cybernetic Swiss army knife, stuffed with nasty surprises."[15] On the other hand, GamesRadar criticized Cyrax for feeling unbalanced in MK 2011, citing his projectiles that one can barely get around.[16]

In other media and merchandise

Cyrax is seen in two episodes of the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm. In the series premiere ("Kombat Begins Again"), he and Sektor lead an attack on Earthrealm that is thwarted by the Earthrealm defenders, during which he speaks his only line of dialogue in the series. During a brief flashback scene at the Lin Kuei compound in the fifth episode ("Old Friends Never Die"), Cyrax was unmasked and depicted as a light-skinned man with short black hair. This is believed to be an illustration error, not an error in continuity.Cyrax and Sektor were mistakenly color swapped in this scene.[10] He and Sektor are also shown in their present forms as working with the Lin Kuei grandmaster in attempting to apprehend Sub-Zero while fighting the Earth warriors, before they eventually retreat from battle by exiting through a portal.

Cyrax appeared in the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and was played by J.J. Perry. He served as one of Shao Kahn's assassins, and leads an extermination squad into battle during Kahn's invasion of Earth to kill Sonya and Jax. He was never mentioned by name, save for the closing credits. While he has only one line of dialogue in the film, Cyrax had a slightly more expanded role in the first draft of the script and the movie novelization, in which he is depicted as wearing a red gi and killing an Army general with his energy net inside the medical facility where Jax had been outfitted with his metal arms prior to the invasion. He additionally identifies himself by his LK-4D4 unit code during this scene (in contrast, the Lin Kuei is never mentioned in the film). In the script, Cyrax's net is described as being made up of "millions of microbe-sized 'flesh-eating' robots—the latest in nanotechnology."[17] The net proves ineffective against Jax in combat, and he is defeated by Sonya, who then finishes Cyrax off by performing her "Kiss of Death" Fatality. He activates his self-destruct mechanism afterward, which destroys the entire base as Jax and Sonya barely escape. In a 2011 interview with Killer Film, Perry, who also played Scorpion in Annihilation and had doubled Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) in the first movie, revealed that he had filmed his fight as Scorpion with Keith Cooke (Sub-Zero) on an injured ankle that he had sustained after stepping on a power cable during the shooting of his fight scene with Lynn Williams (Jax), due to the helmet he wore as part of his Cyrax costume having robbed him of his peripheral vision. During Cyrax's fight with Jax, Perry added that he and Williams "really beat the piss out of each other."[18]

The character makes one appearance in the 2011 first season of director Kevin Tancharoen's Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series, and is played by Shane Warren Jones. In the ninth episode ("Cyrax and Sektor"), Cyrax—whose face is shown beaten and bloodied without explanation—and Sektor are first shown in their human forms, and are being taken to a nondescript warehouse that serves as the Lin Kuei headquarters. After a successful test battle pitting them against cyborgs disguised as human fighters, Cyrax and Sektor themselves are seen undergoing automation, the process of which is shown in detail for the first time in any type of MK media while featuring moderately graphic imagery. They then fight two against one in hand-to-hand combat against another cybernetic named Hydro,[note 1] who decisively pounds on Sektor until Cyrax gains the upper hand that enables them to team up and finish Hydro off with a kick to the head by Cyrax that decapitates him, all while the Grandmaster and a pre-injury Kano watch from inside a laboratory.[20]

Cyrax was included in a "Mortal Kombat Klassic" three-pack of action figures along with Sektor and Smoke that was released in 2011 by Jazwares,[21] and was one of twenty MK characters featured on 2.5" x 3.5" collectible magnets from Ata-Boy Wholesale.[22] An 18" polystone statue of Cyrax was released by Syco Collectibles in 2013, which was packaged with additional sets of arms, a removable chestplate, and a bomb.[23]

In video game's prequel comic of Mortal Kombat X, after the Netherrealm War where Sub-Zero is one of the three former Revenants who are fully recovered back to human again. Cyrax still remains under Sektor's control, until Sub-Zero obtains a USB virus from Kung Jin to free him and other slaved human Lin Kuei warriors turned cyborgs. After Sektor is killed, the clone cyborgs kneel to Cyrax for being the last original human turned cyborg, yet he feels that the real Lin Kuei needs a human leader. Preferring to commit suicide by initiating a self-destruct to destroy Sektor's base, rather than finding a way to live a peaceful life as a cyborg, Cyrax entrusts Sub-Zero to carry on the Lin Kuei's honor, then bids him farewell. Sektor's base and the remaining Lin Kuei are destroyed in the resulting explosion, allowing Sub-Zero to reform the Lin Kuei as humans as seen in Mortal Kombat X's video game adaptation.

In Injustice 2, Cyrax's code, LK-4D4, is used by Catwoman as the weapons deactivation code inside the Batcave. This is because the Injustice series and the Mortal Kombat series share the same creator: Netherrealm Studios.

Reception

Cyrax was included in a three-way tie with Sektor and Smoke atop GamesRadar's 2011 list of "gaming's most malicious machines."[24] Game Informer included Cyrax in a list of characters wanted for the 2011 MK reboot, while also praising his special moves.[25] ScrewAttack ranked Cyrax as their sixth-best Mortal Kombat character, but also considered him one of the "cheapest" characters in MK3.[26] Cheat Code Central listed Cyrax as the ninth best Mortal Kombat character: "[N]obody in the MK universe can match up to [his] list of awesome abilities."[27] 1UP.com included Cyrax among a selection of characters wanted as downloadable content in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe: "Cyrax probably clashes a little with Lex Luthor's battlesuit, or even elements of the cyber-armed Jax, but is another bright yellow hero who many remember fondly from the digitized era."[28] Cyrax placed at 25th on UGO Networks' 2012 list of the top 50 Mortal Kombat characters.[29] Complex ranked him the fourth-coolest robot in video games.[30] Prima Games called the MK2011 version of Cyrax "easily the cheapest character in the game" due to his unblockable bombs and anti-air attacks, and "nothing the development team adjusts [in the game] seems to change that."[31]

Critical reaction to his Fatalities has been more mixed. Game Rant listed Cyrax's "Self-Destruct" Fatality from MK3 as one of the series' worst finishers. "[T]his is a classic fatality of Cyrax. Doesn’t stop it from being a flat-out stupid one."[32] Game Informer named it one of the game's most confusing finishers.[33] ScrewAttack named his "Trash Compactor" from Deadly Alliance as their seventh-best Fatality from the series,[34] and Complex named it eleventh out of twenty in a similar list, as they felt it "demonstrated the [development] team's rejuvenated dedication to blood and guts, while keeping the dark sense of humor that made the violence palatable."[35] However, none of his finishers were included in Prima Games' 2014 list of the MK series' top fifty Fatalities.

Reception to the "Cyrax & Sektor" MK: Legacy episode has been positive. Ben Kendrick of Screen Rant said, "Cyrax and Sektor may not have the same fan-fueled clout as the traditional MK ninjas—but, despite being a bit light on character development, the pair has some of the coolest action-shots featured in the entire run of the series."[36] IGN gave the show itself a score of nine out of ten, describing it as "pretty damn terrific" while praising the special effects, and "[their] big fight sequence at the end of the episode is probably the coolest battle of the entire [first] season."[20] C.J. Miozzi of GameFront described Cyrax as "a whiny baby about [the automation]" while professing himself as a fan of Sektor.[37] Fearnet praised the "complete accuracy" of the episode's depiction of the characters.[38] Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times wrongly described Cyrax as "the one with a rocket launcher where his sternum ought to be" in his 1997 review of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.[39]

See also

Notes
  1. The inclusion of Hydro in Legacy was inspired by the character of the same name who was created by Malibu Comics for the Mortal Kombat comic book series.[19] He was a Lin Kuei compatriot of Sub-Zero's who had the power to control water, and featured in the 1994 Blood & Thunder miniseries, in which he appeared in the first four issues before being killed by Scorpion. The character was transformed into a cybernetic exclusively for the web series.

References
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  31. Dawson, Bryan (September 24, 2014). "Cheapest Characters in Mortal Kombat History, Part 4". Prima Games. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
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