Characters / Killer Instinct 1

Killer Instinct character sheets
KI1 - KI2/KI Gold - KI2013

Characters introduced in Killer Instinct

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Black Orchid

"One step closer to flushing out Ultratech."

Voiced by: Faye Newborough (KI), Anzu Lawson (KI 2013)

"Black Orchid" is an agent of mysterious origin tasked to infiltrate Ultratech's tournament and shut them down. She fights with two escrima and possesses mysterious power over yellow fire and electricity. Orchid's victory against Eyedol at the end of KI1 caused a rip in the timestream that thrust Ultratech back in time by 2000 years, leading to the events of KI2 where she seeks to finish off Ultratech and escape back to the present.

Orchid gains a new backstory in the reboot, explaining that she was born with a feline apparition known as the Firecat thanks to a secret government project. After her agent father was killed by Ultratech technology, she looked into the company's dark side and became obsessed with tearing it down. Her superiors discharged her for treason, having their own ties to Ultratech, forcing Orchid to started an underground rebel network called Disavowed to expose Ultratech for the monsters they are.

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• Action Girl: The most badass character in the series, bar none. She took on a god and killed it! Not even Jago could truly end Gargos!
• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the original series, Orchid was a dangerous and mysterious special agent. In the reboot, she's a former agent who was discharged for her insistence on investigating Ultratech and now leads her own underground network.
• Ambiguously Brown: It's unclear whether or not Orchid is Caucasian, East Asian (especially considering how her KI2 design had the same skin color as the canonically Chinese/Korean Kim Wu), Latina, (a lighter skinned) Black, Indigenous American or even just mixed though it's implied she might be from Tibet. Her appearance in KI 2013 leans towards Caucasian. Her appearance in the comic for KI1 leans towards East Asian. A magazine reviewing KI Gold called her a "a brunette bombshell from Bombay" if that even means something.
• Animal Motif: The jaguar, which symbolizes confidence and focus, shapeshifting, protection from evil, and, in Mayan Mythology, is associated with the sun. One of her specials consisted of her transforming into one. KI 2013 even makes it materialize as a separate entity, as well as use it in several attacks, supers, and even her Instinct Mode.
• Anti-Hero: She is very much one of the main protagonists and a major driving force of the series, but given her paranoia and focus on destroying UltraTech she leans her more on the "anti" side.
• Badass Family: She and her brother Jago have beaten down Gods, have fought against an extremist mega-corporation that employs raptors, assassins, a man made of fire, and a machine that has AI based on the first person to actually beat Ultratech's tournament, and aren't afraid to throw down with Aliens, monsters, and mummies. 2013 adds more to this with her father's history in Seal Team 6 and her grandmother's Superpowerful Genetics, and you have one of the baddest girls in history.
• Brother–Sister Team: One of her endings in KI 2013 has Jago coming to her aid to help ease her very troubled mind.
• Brown Note: Her Breast Flash finisher, at least on all male opponents, who proceed to die of Stendhal syndrome (unless her opponent is another Orchid. If done, then the other Orchid just stomps the ground and pouts in jealousy).
• Calling Your Attacks: The biggest offender in KI 2013, it seems. She shouts "Buster!" when using her Buster Knee (both normal and Shadow), calls out "Ichi Ni San" on every hit of the move, her Instinct Mode has her sometimes call out "Firecat!" and she calls out "Finish!" whenever she activates her Ultra Combo.
• Character Development: A tragic case with Orchid in that, unlike most examples, her personality worsened over time due to Ultratech still managing to stand despite her efforts to wipe it out. Her increasingly extreme efforts to erase Ultratech off the map turned her from the flirty, sexy, heroic secret agent in the original KI and KI 2, to a ruthless and paranoid vigilante in KI 2013.
• Character Song: "Touch Me (And I'll Break Your Face)" for 2013, showcasing how she's gotten darker as a person over the course of the series while still retaining elements of her trademark GRRRL! Power sound from KI1, including a usage of the techno vocals from "The Way U Move".
• Combat Stilettos: Her footwear in the original KI and KI 2 were straighter examples. Her KI 2013 incarnation is more realistic with this trope, giving her combat boots that, while still high-heeled, had thicker heels for stability.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: In KI2, she and Kim Wu both bore a strong resemblance to Janet Jackson.
• Corrupted Character Copy: She started off as a straight Expy of Cammy White, with both being acrobatic and agile women wearing a green Leotard of Power, working for a government agency to bring a corrupt organization to justice. But while Cammy was able to conclude her mission against Shadaloo and find peace through helping fellow victims, Orchid was discharged after being consumed by her paranoia about Ultratech and can potentially become an international terrorist, her vigilante group committing atrocities no better than Ultratech's.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: In the first 2 games.
• Dual Wielding: Whatever weapon she has, she'll always have it in both hands.
• Emotional Powers: 2013 reveals that her Firecat is only summoned through her anger.
• Fanservice Pack: Orchid goes from wearing a unitard catsuit in KI to a leotard version of it in KI 2 that lets the player have a nice view of her legs and rear. Inverted for KI 2013.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: She's wearing a kneepad on only her right knee in KI 2013.
• Face–Heel Turn: One of her KI 2013 endings has her paranoia consume her, thinking only of taking Ultratech down. Her mercenary group grows in numbers, but with less and less control or order.
• Fighting Spirit: She can summon a cat-like manifestation of energy which she calls her "firecat" that obeys her every command and which assaults anything that's threatening her. Orchid has been known to assume this cat-like form of pure energy herself, implying the "firecat" in actuality is the extension of her own life force.
• Forced Transformation: Her Frog Stomp finisher, where she magically turns her defeated opponents into a frog before stomping on them. She can even do this to herself if the opponent is B.Orchid.
• Frame-Up: In her backstory, she's framed for the explosion that killed her Commanding Officer, just after being dismissed for being "paranoid and delusional" by members of her squad that were heavily implied to be paid off by Ultratech.
• Genre Motif: Hers is electronic pop in KI 2013; it sounds like something you might hear on Top 40 radio stations.
• Goggles Do Nothing: She wears goggles in her KI 2013 design, but they're just there for show.
• Grenade Spam: Season 2 of the 2013 release gives Orchid the ability to throw grenades at will now, which detonate only on a timer.
• The Hero: The closest there is to one, considering she beat Eyedol.
• I Shall Taunt You: Her theme features several verses dedicated entirely to taunting her opponent.
• Jiggle Physics: Probably the greatest victim of this, considering how her costumes tend to lack any support. The new game has toned it down with one exception.
• Kick Chick: When she isn't smacking opponents with her batons, Orchid attacks swift kicks.
• La Résistance: Her character in the 2013 game centers around her singular crusade to take down Ultratech at all costs.
• Lawman Baton: Orchid is a special agent who fights with either Eskrima sticks or tonfas.
• Leotard of Power: KI 2 turned her outfit from the first game into a leotard.
• Leitmotif: "K.I. Feeling", "Orchid", and "Touch Me And I'll Break Your Face.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: She's Jago's older half-sister.
• Ms. Fanservice: Between her Orgasmic Combat and her Leotard of Power that looks practically painted-on, you bet that this trope is in force (that said, both Kim Wu and Maya in KI2 debatably give her a run for her money). Toned down but still present in KI 2013 (though Sadira arguably outdoes her there).
• Mythology Gag: Before doing an Ultra in Killer Instinct (2013), she does her Killer Instinct 1 victory pose, complete with Jiggle Physics.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In KI 2, she gets hit with this after she destroyed Ultratech, causing the surviving characters from the first game to be thrown into a time vortex leading to the past in the second. She also got rid of Gargos's competition by killing Eyedol. Oops.
• Not as You Know Them: The first two games portrayed her as a sexy, flirtatious secret agent with 90's pop as her theme. The 2013 game turns her into some kind of GRRL power killer bounty hunter, with the lyrics emphasizing this. "Touch me and I'll break your face!" Turns out her plot for the third game's story mode is that her former agency has cut ties and disavowed her for unknown reasons. Even though Ultratech was allegedly destroyed (2013 takes place some years after KI2), Orchid still feels like they're operating, and thus forms a rebel group to take down whatever's left of them, leaving her paranoid and vengeful. Further justified with the revelation that ARIA is now leading a new Ultratech whose motives and goals have yet to be determined.
• Orgasmic Combat: Not so much during combat itself, but players who win a perfect victory as Orchid in KI 2 will be treated to a surrounding shot of her (in all her thonged leotard glory) as she moans very sexually.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • "This should be quick" in KI 2013.
  • When activating Instinct, she shouts, "Take 'em down!"
  • Before doing her Ultra, she yells out "FINISH!"
• Properly Paranoid: In the first season of KI 2013, she's convinced Ultratech is up to something shady. She's right.
• Retractable Weapon: Her stun batons in KI 2013.
• Shock Stick: Orchid fights with a pair of electrified batons in the first and third games. She uses electric tonfas in the second game.
• Shotoclone: In first two games, she was the Ken to Jago's Ryu, the only difference being that her "shoryuken" was actually a rising knee strike. She no longer qualifies in 2013, since she has lost her projectile and was retooled into more rushdown-focused character.
• Spy Catsuit: Wears them in KI and KI 2. Not so in KI 2013
• Start My Own: When Orchid is disavowed by her secret government division, she gathers like-minded agents and hackers and forms her own mercenary organization, the Disavowed, focused solely on taking down Ultratech.
• Super Mode: Her Instinct Mode summons her Firecat familiar to help deal damage in combos.
• Superpowerful Genetics: It turns out that her Firecat powers were a result of her grandmother volunteering for a genetic enhancement experiment back in World War II, conducted by Ultratech founder Ryat Adams. While it's clear that Orchid has inherited these powers, it's uncertain how much of it Jago inherited.
• Sword and Fist: Orchid's fighting style combines lightning-fast kicks with use of her staff weapons.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Despite the already lofty standards of overkill established in the third game, Orchid is capable of stringing SIX ULTRAS together to make a 300-hit combo.
• Thong of Shielding: Shown in the second game. The thong portion of her leotard is so skimpy that it rides up into her cheeks and leaves her ample rear end almost entirely exposed. Naturally, this outfit has become something of a fan favorite.
• Took a Level in Badass: She went from pulling off killer combos with ease to upwards of two hundred hits in KI 2013.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: The 2013 game has her go from her flirtatious and secretive persona in previous versions to bitter, vengeful and paranoid. Just listen to the lyrics of her Leitmotif "Touch me and I'll Break Your Face".
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: KI 2013 turned her into this, doing anything to expose Ultratech's crimes and bring the organization to (permanent) ruin. Her vendetta got her expelled from the agency she worked for, turning her into a bitter, paranoid, and ruthless vigilante who establishes an unstable spy network for the sole purpose of tracking down Ultratech's activities.
• You Killed My Father: All There in the Manual states that she, as a grown-up, saw the murder of her (and Jago's) parents during the events of 2, something which made her hatred of the Fulgore cyborgs to be extremely intense.

Chief Thunder (a.k.a. Hinmatoom)

"Now I go along with the law."

Voiced by: Ken Lobb

"Chief Thunder" is an Indigenous American warrior who joins Ultratech's tournament in search of answers. His brother, Eagle, was a contestant in a prior tournament who mysteriously disappeared, driving Thunder to find out what happened to his brother. The only certainty of his involvement in KI1 is that he defeated Spinal; his absence from KI2 implies he was killed or otherwise left before he could get sucked to the past.

In the reboot, Thunder (real name Hinmatoom) seeks revenge on Ultratech. His parents were killed and his Idaho reservation polluted by Ultratech, which drove his brother Eagle to join Disavowed and challenge Ultratech alongside Orchid. When Ultratech informed Thunder of his brother's death but refused to return his body, Thunder went berserk on an Ultratech facility and was incarcerated. Following his release, he set off on his own quest to discover what truly happened to his brother.

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• Academic Athlete: According to his backstory, he was pretty good in school on the academic front, and was also a natural at football.
• Animal Motif: Originally, it was The Phoenix, as seen in his projectile. His 2013 redesign places a heavy influence on Creepy Crows, to the point that his Instinct Mode surrounds him in a flock of crows.
• Arch-Enemy: Ultratech, probably much more so than any other character in the game. They're responsible for the death of his parents in KI 2013, and they refused to return his Eagle's remains to him for a proper burial after he was killed in the Killer Instinct tournament, instead implanting Eagle's mind into Fulgore. As a result, he has a deep-seeded hatred of them even in the present day.
• Badass Biker: Thunder's retro outfit. He eventually received a culturally accurate outfit, courtesy of input from the Nez Perce tribe, during Season 3 (see Shown Their Work below).
• Badass Native: Though he didn't look to much like it before, he does look the part in force for 2013.
• Braids, Beads and Buckskins: Not so obvious from the first game, but his new look definitely embraces this aspect.
• The Bus Came Back: Returns in KI 2013 after being absent in KI 2.
• Character Song: "Hinnamatoom" for 2013, with prominent Native American wind and percussion instruments to highlight his heritage.
• Darker and Edgier: His story and appearance in KI 2013 are much darker than his initial appearance.
• Death Seeker: In one of his Arcade Mode endings in Season 1 of the 2013 game, it's noted that he's looking for answers or death, and will welcome either.
• Domino Revelation: Thunder discovers in the first game that Eagle has apparently died. His questioning of Orchid in KI 2013 about the circumstances of his death lead to him learning that Eagle was used to create Fulgore.
• Drowning My Sorrows: The explanation for what he has been doing since the first game.
• Due to the Dead: His story in KI 2013 involves him looking for his brother Eagle's body, likely so that it might get a proper burial. He also sports a massive tattoo of an eagle on his chest marked with Eagle's date of birth and supposed year of death.
• Frame-Up: After he was arrested for breaking into an Ultratech facility and announcing he was going to burn the place to the ground, Ultratech did exactly that, and pinned it on him.
• Genius Bruiser: He was very academically gifted in school and was even planning on becoming a teacher. He still kicks just as much ass as all the other characters.
• Genre Motif: Much like Jago, his stage has rock music as this, only his includes some Native American instruments befitting his origin.
• Ground Pound: A new move of his in KI 2013 allows him to stomp the ground right below him from midair after performing his Sammamish attack.
• Home-Run Hitter: His Axe Uppercut No Mercy.
• Hunk: He's as hunky now as he was back then.
• Immune to Flinching: His Shadow Moves in KI 2013 have a point of super armor on them.
• Large and in Charge: Both a massive fighter and a chieftain of the Nez Perce tribe.
• Leitmotif: "Oh Yeah" and Hinnamatoom.
• Magical Native American: Thunder wields spiritual powers that are usually associated with shamans.
• Odd Friendship:
  • With Sabrewulf. Thunder admires him for his oneness with his spirit guide.
  • He forms one with Aganos, after he destroys the Ultratech device controlling it.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Thunder is almost never referred to by his actual name, hinmatoom.
• Powerful Pick: His DLC costume lets him replace his tomahawks with pickaxes in one of the accessory sets.
• Put on a Bus: After the first game.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In his backstory in KI 2013. After Eagle was killed in the Killer Instinct tournament, he, in order, drove his car through the gates of the Ultratech facility near his reservation, put a dozen or so security guards in the hospital, and was then detained by police while yelling that he would "Burn Ultratech to the ground."
• Shock and Awe: His Rain Dance No Mercy. There's a greater emphasis on lightning in his KI 2013 moveset, to the point of giving him a new move in 2013 Season 2 where he summons lightning that subsequently strikes and empowers himself.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Thunder's shouts during Shadow Triplax are accurate to the language of the Nez Perce tribe to which he belongs, and not just made up gibberish as is often the case with Native American characters:
  "Náqc!(One!)Lepít!(Two!)Mitát!(Three!)"
  • His victory quote is also accurately spoken, all of this despite Niimiipuutímt being an incredibly obscure language.
  • They also got design tips on him from the Nez Perce tribe so that he wouldn't look like a walking stereotype like in the first KI, resulting in his current appearance. However, they admitted that even despite steps taken to be less insensitive, Thunder was not 100% accurate as a cultural representative. To correct this, Iron Galaxy (the team in charge of the game after Double Helix left following season 1) revisited the Nez Perce tribe and spent more time than was originally allowed by the game's need to be ready for the Xbox One's launch in order to create a completely accurate depiction of a tribal warrior, which was then offered as free DLC for owners of the character during season 3.
• Sickening "Crunch!": His Call of the Earth grab ends with a brutal curbstomp, where he twists his heel to make this noise.
• Super Mode: In the 2013 game, when he triggers Instinct Mode, his dash becomes invulnerable and he can dash much further, allowing him to rush in without fear of retaliation as well as quickly cross-up his opponents when they're caught unaware.
• Take It to the Bridge: His stage in the original game was a long wooden bridge (though oddly it didn't include a stage finisher in spite of it). His stage in the 2013 game is likewise inspired by that setting (now taking place in a northwest corner of the US on a natural stone walkway).
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: At a good 6'4".
• Tattooed Crook: Is implied to have formerly been this; his chest is covered in tattoos and his intro quote implies that he didn't always follow the law.
• Tribal Facepaint: Both versions of Thunder include this. His DLC costume, though, does not.
• Use Your Head: In the first game, he had his mohawk light up for one special, Sammamish. In the 2013 release, the mohawk's gone, but he's still got the move.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: His default costumes display this.
• Wrench Whack: One of the accessory sets for his DLC Costume replaces his tomahawks with wrenches.

Cinder (a.k.a Ben Ferris)

"You know how the saying goes: Play with fire, well...you know the rest."

Voiced by: Ray Chase (KI 2013)

Cinder, real name Ben Ferris, was a small-time criminal with a record of assault, breaking-and-entering, and arson. Ultratech used him as a human guinea pig, and one chemical weapons trial had the unexpected side-effect of engulfing his body with plasma, but leaving him alive. Ultratech decides to enter him into the tournament to defeat Glacius, proving human superiority and granting Cinder freedom from his sentence.

In the reboot, Ben Ferris was instead an ex-spec-ops soldier gone thief-for-hire, and a highly competitive egomaniac seeking more and more power. One day he received a contract to infiltrate Ultratech and steal data on the secret "Project Cinder"; after nearly completing the job, he was caught and informed it was a test posed by ARIA to see if he was up for undergoing the project himself. He agreed without hesitation, becoming the plasma-based lieutenant of Ultratech's black ops.

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• Adaptational Backstory Change: Originally, Ben Ferris was a petty crook who was offered freedom from his sentence if he underwent Ultratech's experiments. Ferris in KI 2013 is a former spec ops agent turned con artist mercenary, who was hired by ARIA to undergo the experiments and did so very willingly in order to become stronger.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: Is considerably more mouthy and witty in the reboot, resulting in a much more cheesy and fun Cinder.
• Adaptational Villainy: Cinder didn't seem like an especially cruel guy in the original games, more like a criminal making the most of his situation. In the reboot he is excited to help Ultratech's insane plans and even considers becoming The Starscream to usurp ARIA's control of Ultratech.
  • The most we got of his personality gamewise was his Extended Story describing his horror at his new form. Come 2013, he's a con-man who loves the power his current form gives him, and he's a Blood Knight to an absolutely psychotic degree.
• Alien Blood: Appears to bleed orange lava in the original. Averted in the new game, where he bleeds normal red.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Even for Killer Instinct his alternate colors push the envelope, ranging from intense violets to gray to two shades of green affectionately nicknamed "Mountain Dew and Xbox" by the developers.
• Badass Boast: "ARIA may be powerful, but she cannot keep the Sun from rising".
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Due to being enhanced with alien DNA, 2013 Cinder looks quite a bit more alien as a result.
• Blood Knight: From some of his dialogue, it looks like it.
  Cinder: (victory) Ha ha, that was too much fun!
  Cinder: (throwing Pyrobomb) Heads up!
  Cinder: (doing Trailblazer) Sick burn!
• Brick Joke: This is actually a pretty long one. T.J. Combo's trailer, which debuted at E3 2014, had him saying "Is that the best you got, Ultratech?" while standing over a defeated Fulgore. At the end of this trailer, an orange glare appears behind him; he turns around, and the trailer ends. That was almost a year before Cinder was shown in full near the end of Hisako's trailer, using the exact same set-up as T.J.'s trailer. The month after that, Cinder's trailer opens with him beating the crap out of T.J. Combo, and his first spoken dialogue is:
  Cinder: About now, I'm thinkin' ol' T.J. has to be regrettin' that witty line of his. (in a mocking impersonation of T.J.'s voice) "Is that the best you got, Ultratech?" I mean, who says things like that?!
• Captain Ersatz: He's basically an evil version of the Human Torch. His redesign in the 2013 game makes him look like a flaming Ultron. Others have taken to the name Heatblast.
• Character Blog: While not an official constant one, Cinder temporarily took over the Killer Instinct twitter on April 30th, 2015 (his release date)
• Character Song: "Inferno" in 2013, a frantic and powerful Industrial Metal piece showcasing his origins and personality.
• Con Man: In 2013 he's a master of corporate espionage and apparently a major con man.
• Cursed with Awesome: Cinder in KI 2013 is obviously having one hell of a time using his powers.
• Downloadable Content: Cinder was the second-to-last character to be released for Season 2, released on April 30, 2015.
• Deadpan Snarker: As part of his new design.
• Death Seeker:
  • According to the comic, Cinder wishes for death due to what he has become.
  • Averted in KI 2013. Ben willingly went along with being transformed into Cinder, fully knowing what it would turn him into.
  Cinder: It's hard to go by Ben when you look like I do. But you know what? I like this new me. Stronger, faster, burn-ier.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Somewhat in 2013. His individual hits deal very little damage, and even an 11 hit combo performed by him can only end up being around 12% damage, which is much lower on average than even Kan-Ra or Omen. But, he can build up a ton of potential damage, meaning that if you're patient and play your cards right, your next combo is going to really hurt.
• The Dragon: To ARIA, alongside Sadira. That said, however, his loyalties only last as long as he can enjoy himself. By the end of his story arc, Cinder has become ARIA's chief lieutenant. In the 2017 comic, he stays back and lets ARIA be destroyed when he's supposed to be assisting her, fully intending to become a Dragon Ascendant as a result.
• Evil Feels Good: If his in-game quotes are any indication, 2013 Cinder sounds like he's having a lot more fun compared to his older or his comic counterpart.
• Face–Heel Turn: In the 2013 game, he went from being an ordinary spec-ops operative to a career criminal, before ultimately working for Ultratech.
• Fiction 500: According to ARIA, he has 18,459,379 euros in his bank account, equivalent to about 20 million US dollars, making him richer than 99% of the people on earth.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: His chief rival is Glacius.
• Genre Motif: Cinder is associated with heavy metal tracks.
• Grenade Spam: Cinder can throw up to 3 Pyrobombs he can detonate at will, making this a viable zoning strategy.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Ben's DNA was spliced with that of Glacius' in the 2013 game during his transformation, effectively making him part alien.
• I'm Melting!: His Lava Pool No Mercy.
• Incendiary Exponent: The crux of his fighting style.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Ben wasn't the nicest guy even before he became Cinder, but this discussion between him and ARIA about one of his military raids when he was being held prisoner serves as this.
  ARIA: And you don't feel a sense of guilt?
  Ben: About what?
  ARIA: The multitude of civilian deaths that went along with those fourteen enemy kills?
  Ben: [laughter] Do you feel guilty for all of the people who’ve died from Ultratech bombs or guns or bad vaccines?
• Kill It with Fire: His Meltdown No Mercy. It's also his whole shtick, considering he's a being of living flames.
• Killed Off for Real: Glacius kills him in the first tournament. The comic depicts this as a mercy killing.
• Laughably Evil: In 2013. He sounds like a stereotypical high-school jock, all while spouting off insults, dumb nicknames, and fire puns. Though unlike in the original Killer Instinct, he is very much on Ultratech's side this time, and is obviously enjoying causing havoc with his new powers.
• Large Ham: The guy sounds like he's having the time of his life in 2013, gleefully laughing and trash-talking his opponents throughout the fight.
  (using Inferno) "BUUUUUURN!"
• Leitmotif: "Trailblazer" and "Inferno".
• Malicious Misnaming: Cinder likes to spout out ridiculous nicknames for those he is beating.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Cinder. Also counts as a Meaningful Name since cinders are partly burned coal/wood bits that are still combustible even after the fire has died.
• The Needless: Thank to the experiments made by ARIA, Cinder body doesn't need food at all.
  ARIA: The door will open in 30 seconds. Fulgore will escort you down the hall. I will be waiting in the lab.
  Ben: OK. Sure. Let’s talk some more about all of this. But when’s feeding time around here?
  ARIA: Soon you will not have to worry about such mundane things, Ben Ferris.
  Ben: Great. ‘Cuz I’m terrible in the kitchen. I burn everything I touch.
• Nightmare Face: His face without his mask on looks pretty creepy. Becomes especially apparent when he starts smiling.
• Only in It for the Money: Averted. His job as a spy pays incredibly well, but he sees the money as more of a symbol of his personal skill. He actually lives a very modest lifestyle despite his wealth.
• Playing with Fire: What kind of power would a man of fire have? Three guesses, first two don't count.
• Pyromaniac: No matter what continuity it is, Cinder enjoys setting stuff and people on fire.
• The Rival: To Glacius, since they are elemental opposites (Cinder being fire and Glacius being ice).
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Ben/Cinder's entire body has been converted into an unstable plasma energy (although some parts of his old body are still visible, like his face), making him basically a walking sun. So Ultratech equipped him with armor that gives him the capacity to control his powers.
• Secretly Wealthy: As stated above, he's in the top 1% of wealth in the world, but he lives in an apartment, leases a car, and doesn't really have any hobbies to speak of besides his mercenary work.
• Smug Super: Cinder's huge ego is backed up with his pyrokinetic powers.
• Sociopathic Soldier: ARIA describes him as one, but Ben doesn't even try to justify this, only saying that the casualties he and his squad caused were sacrifices for the greater good.
• Spirited Competitor: Cinder enjoys the thrill of battle more than anything else.
  Cinder: But if they really wanna fight it, who am I to complain? It just means I get to have more fun.
• Status Effects: Some of his combo enders set the opponent on fire, generating potential damage (white health) over time. There's both kick and punch burn enders, and if the opponent uses a kick or a punch attack respectively while on fire, they refresh the duration of the debuff.
• Sticky Bomb: His Pyrobombs in the 2013 game, which will stick to the opponent if they connect. He can detonate them at any time by pressing all three punch buttons, but if he's hit while his opponent has any Pyrobombs on them, they fizzle out, and they will also fizzle out automatically after a short time.
• Super Mode: Along with the standard Instinct, Cinder in the 2013 game also has a special state called Fired Up. When he's Fired Up, his special moves are given new properties such as extended range. Using a special move will remove the Fired Up state, but it recharges after a few seconds. His Instinct Mode fires him up continuously.
• Trash Talk: Cinder always has a witty comment for his opponent.
• Transhuman: Due to Ultratech messing with alien tecnhology to create Cinder, Ben Ferris is no longer an ordinary man. In the 2013 game, he's barely even a human anymore.
• Visible Invisibility: He had a special that either makes him only partially invisible (only a silhouette) or fully invisible. Both give him projectile immunity, though the former only lasts against one move. He'd be almost unspottable if he wasn't Wreathed in Flames.
• Visionary Villain: Cinder is convinced that Ultratech is this and is therefore the right side to be on, and doesn't understand how others don't see it this way. Even the realization that ARIA may someday try to dispose of him as well doesn't shake his faith in Ultratech, instead deciding to forego dealing with it until it actually happens and focus on assisting ARIA.

Fulgore Serial Number s4.Q 4 NT.YX- 003

Voiced by: Jean-Edouard "Jedsound" Miclot (KI 2013)

Fulgore is a prototype cybernetic soldier created by Ultratech. He was entered into the tournament to test and showcase his abilities; if he proved capable enough, mass production would begin. However, he was destroyed by Jago, resulting in a new, deadlier Fulgore being constructed in KI2 to hunt the monk down for revenge. In the comics he was secretly Eagle, the missing brother of Thunder, incorporated into a cyborg suit of armor.

The Fulgore in the reboot is the first in a new line of Fulgore Mk. III. This latest Fulgore possesses an intellect far beyond the rudimentary artificial intelligence of its predecessors. It thinks, it plans, and it is quickly developing a will of its own. It is later revealed that this is because the Fulgore Mk. III's intelligence is based on the soul of Eagle, trapped in Ultratech custody. This gives it a mental connection with the young warrior and his brother, Thunder.

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• Adaptational Backstory Change: Multiple times, actually. In the first game he is assumed to just be an Ultratech machine. In the 1996 comics series, he is secretly Thunder's brother, Eagle, trapped in a cyborg suit of armor. Then in the reboot he is completely mechanical, but his AI is based on Eagle's brain, giving the two an uncanny connection but not as the same person.
• Alien Blood: Leaks what seems to be green oil or robotic fluid in the first two games. Averted in the third, as Fulgore does not bleed when hit.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Laser Blades below the shoulder, in fact.
• Brain Uploading: His AI is based on the brain patterns of Thunder's missing brother: Eagle. This gives him some of Eagle's mannerisms.
• Breakout Character: Fulgore was the penultimate boss of the original game and one of several playable characters. The reception of the character proved great enough that Fulgore went from simply a robot built by the villains to gaining more significance, especially in the 2013 reboot. Despite being neither a heroic character or the main character, Fulgore became the face of Killer Instinct.
• Character Song: "Type-03" in 2013, a menacing Techno Metal piece highlighting his mechanical nature and role as enforcer for Ultratech. It even has bits of his theme from 2/Gold mixed in as well.
• Cyborg: He might look like a Killer Robot, but he is a cyborg according to his backstory.
• Deadly Upgrade: Upon Eagle's victory in the comics, he rats Ultratech out. As retaliation, the company does this to Eagle against his will, turning him into Fulgore.
• Death Is Cheap: Death doesn't stop this robot from returning in the sequels. And it ain't stopping Eagle by a longshot.
• Downloadable Content: Fulgore was released for Killer Instinct 2013 in April 8, 2014.
• The Dragon: In the first two games, he is always the second-to-last opponent. The third game promotes him to end-boss.
• Energy Weapon: Besides his eye lasers, his 2013 design also gives him an even larger, chest-mounted one, used as an actual attack and as a part of his Ultra Combo.
• Expy: Pretty much a robot version of the Predator, right down to how the blades are shaped. In the third game, this is mixed with a bit of The Terminator in his design and the housing of Eagle's mind making it more human.
  • In the comics he is also this to Robo-Cop. Being a cyborg, created from a man with a good heart and strong sense of justice, almost completely encased in armor and having to fight to keep control of his body against his programming.
• Eye Beams: A special move of his as well as a No Mercy. In KI2, his Ultra Combo consists of jumping into the air and unleashing a barrage of Beam Spam. The Eye Laser spam makes a return as a Shadow Move for his 2013 redesign.
• Final Boss: In Season 1 of the 2013 game, you fight Fulgore at the end of the arcade ladder instead of one stage before (as in the last two entries). However, if you perform the necessary steps to get to Shadow Jago, Fulgore's battle will be skipped entirely.
• Flawed Prototype: Despite being extremely powerful, easily one of the strongest beings in the world, it's core programming is still a copy of the mind of Black Eagle, who has far from given up on regaining control of himself.
• Genre Motif: His stage theme is industrial metal, which is combined with his KI2 theme. For the record, the only other character who even references the second game's soundtrack in Season One is Glacius.
• Ghost in the Machine: It turns out that Fulgore has a digital copy of the mind of Thunder's brother Eagle within him. Because of this, Fulgore is slowly gaining sentience and morality.
• Heroic Willpower: He may just have a digital copy of Black Eagle's mind. It's still Black Eagle and he has by no means given up on shaking free of Ultratech's control.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: They glow even more when his Instinct Meter is full
• Invisibility: Starting in the second game. The 2013 version combines this with his teleport.
• Kill Sat: His No Mercy in the second game.
• Laser Blade: His claws.
• Leitmotif: "Full-Bore", "Fulgore", and "Type-03".
• Limit Break: In addition to regular Shadow moves everyone can use, Fulgore has access to unique move that uses his whole Shadow meter: the Devastation Beam, a full-screen laser that deals over 30% of health bar worth of damage and extra 15% as potential damage(that has to be "cashed out" by performing a full combo).
• Ludicrous Gibs and More Dakka: His Gun 'em Down No Mercy.
• Meat-Sack Robot: Fulgore is one of a series of robots created by Ultratech with the intention of selling it as weapons of war to highest bidders. While it for most of the duration of the series has a human brain, that of Chief Thunder's brother Eagle, however Fulgore is not a cyborg in the sense of this trope as it only contains a brain for use as part of its CPU, which operates on its own AI). It is subverted in the post season three release when it has developed a consciousness of its own from absorbing and recording the brain patterns of Eagle, of whom became freed from it due to the work of Chief Thunder and Glacius.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • In the 2013 release, Fulgore does not get a Shadow Meter. Instead, he gets a charge meter that determines how much energy he can spend on attack cancels and shadow moves. The rate at which the charge meter can be charge faster via attacking or unique auto-doubles, while it slows down if Fulgore gets hit or stays idle.
  • Season 2 modified these rules but he remains mechanically unusual in spite of it. Now his meter gains power on its own (initially there was no charge command for Season 2 Fulgore but a later patch adds this back as an Instinct-only feature) and increases gain rate as Fulgore hits his opponent with physical strikes. As it gains, Fulgore's movement behavior improves with each level of Reactor Gauge (green-yellow-red). The Devastation Beam is now usable outside of Instinct Mode (just fill the Reactor Gauge to use it) and activating Instinct will maximize the reactor's growth rate for the duration of Instinct.
    • Season 3 tampers with this further by making the Instinct Mode not max out the reactor speed, but ensure that it never goes down by damage/weapons use.
• More Dakka: End a match with an Ultimate in KI2 and Fulgore will turn into a giant robot (or replace his head with a turret in the first game) to ventilate his enemy.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name is pronounced "Full Gore".
• Power Glows: An aura of red energy glows around him when he activates Instinct Mode.
• Rocket Punch: His 2013 iteration not only uses rockets to boost his Shoryuken, but he also uses this to boost himself along for the Cyber Dash move.
• Robot Hair: Fulgore has a red/brown, ponytail-like protrusion coming from the back of his head. This can be replaced with accessories, including a set of cables that resemble the Predator's hair.
• Series Mascot: Despite being neither the main character or one of the heroes, Fulgore's recognizability made him the face of the Killer Instinct series.
• Shock and Awe: Mainly for show, but he can do it as a projectile. He could also use this to counter enemy attacks and reflect projectiles in the second game.
• Shoryuken: While he has always had this move, his 2013 version combines this with Rocket Punch.
• Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence: His story in the third game focuses upon the possibility that he might actually have a human intelligence. Normally, though, he is around a Level 2.
• Super Mode: Fulgore's Instinct Mode automatically charges his battery, speeding him up considerably.
• Super Prototype: Designed to replace and improve the flawed Kilgore line, Fulgore has a nuclear reactor instead of combustion engine, preventing overheating while having a higher power output. Fulgore was powerful enough that it took both Jago and Black Orchid (who had previously kill a god) to take him down.
• Teleport Spam: He was guilty of this in the second game, and one of his combo enders uses it.
• Turned Against Their Masters: If Fulgore wins KI2 after killing Jago, humanity becomes enslaved by Fulgore as he leads machines to war against their creators. The expanded bio in Season 3 confirms that the new Fulgore model has disappeared, having apparently gone rogue. This may be an indicator that Eagle's original personality is starting to reemerge further.
• Villain Teleportation: Starting in the second game.
• Was Once a Man: It's eventually revealed that the newest version of Fulgore has Eagle's mind programmed in it. The comics went even further with this, having Fulgore be Eagle himself, but 18 years earlier.
• Wave-Motion Gun: His Devastation Beam is large enough to count as this. In his Ultimate, he overclocks it and makes it even bigger - as wide as he's tall.
• Weaksauce Weakness: In the 2013 game, Fulgore's Instinct Mode (which fills his shadow meter over time at the maximum rate his Reactor can reach) can be completely negated with Spinal's Searing Skull projectile (which prevents Shadow Meter gain— even on the HUD it shows the Reactor at a complete standstill).
• Younger Than They Look: Justified in that he's a robot.

Glacius

Voiced by: Kevin Bayliss (KI, KI2), Jean-Edouard "Jedsound" Miclot (KI 2013)

Glacius is an icy alien from the far reaches of space captured by Ultratech. They enter him into their tournament to prove his species' inferiority and boost ratings. However, he killed Cinder and escaped to his homeworld. Then during KI2, 2000 years in the past, an ancestor of Glacius' coincidentally visits the Earth at the same time the contestants of the tournament are thrust into the past. He seeks to rescue a group of his brethren who were stranded on the planet.

The rebooted storyline features Glacius as a galactic marshall dedicated to enforcing laws among the advanced civilizations of the galaxy. Upon learning of his existence, Ultratech lures him to the Earth before shooting his spacecraft down and stealing some of his technology. Crippled but willing, Glacius mounts a counterattack to retrieve his technology and bring justice upon Ultratech for violating the law.

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• Adaptational Backstory Change: Originally he was a random space traveller captured by Ultratech and forced to fight for his freedom. In 2013 he's an intergalactic officer whose technology is stolen by Ultratech, forcing him to take it back and stop them from misusing it.
• Alien Blood: Seemed to bleed out ice in liquid form in the first two games.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Among the color palettes available in every game, Glacius tends to have some of the most varied among them. His DLC costume in the 2013 release even gives him a transparent costume!
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Glacius and possibly all of his race are revealed to have two hearts. They also are able to create shells around their bodies using their environment (in this case, ice).
• Blue Is Heroic: Glacius is colored blue (and white) and has noble and non-malicious motives.
• Character Song: "Shatterhail" for 2013, with heavy dubstep beats to show his technologically advanced nature while also using strings and haunting vocals to show his alien mystique.
• Damage Control: His story in the third game involves fixing whatever mayhem that may ensue from the misuse of his technology. As it turns out, Sadira's after this technology as well. the fact that Ultratech is even planning to use it let alone the fact that they opened a rift with it, potentially leading to Gargos' arrival is considered a violation of his culture's "88 Decrees".
• Extreme Omnivore: Possibly one of his KI 1 finishers: he turns into a puddle and engulfs the doomed opponent while in this form.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Glacius' primary rival is Cinder.
• Genre Motif: Glacius gets an electronic one of these for his stage, Crash Site, in KI 2013.
• Humans Are Special: Glacius' story summary shows that he holds this opinion, and is only participating in the newest tournament out of a sense of chivalry in order to curtail all the harm that Ultratech would bring to humanity.
• I Did What I Had to Do: One of his endings in KI 2013 has him activating the self-destruct mechanism on his stolen technology to keep those damn, dirty Earthlings from ruining the universe with it. Said mechanism ends up destroying Earth and it's implied that he's not happy about it.
• An Ice Person: Though he sadly lacks any kind of stunning move.
• Immune to Flinching: In the Xbox One game, his Instinct Mode allows him to take up to five hits without flinching as long as it's active.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His Ice Pick No Mercy. Made into a spear in the second game. By the third game, he gains an attack similar to Twelve's X.N.D.L. Super Art.
• Large and in Charge: In KI 2013, the guy towers over most of the cast so far.
• Legacy Character: The one in the second is not the same as the one in the first. The third game brings back a previous Glacius (Possibly the second considering the DLC costume), though visibly different. The second Glacius is stated to be a distant ancestor of the first.
• Leitmotif: "Controlling Transmission", "Glacius", and "Shatterhail".
• Literally Shattered Lives: His No Mercy in the second game.
• Long-Range Fighter: His fighting style is mostly geared around fighting at a distance from his opponents, with several moves extending the length of his arms and legs or creating ice constructs to attack from afar. This is justified In-Universe by the fact his body within the ice is fragile and he can't afford to let his shell break in combat.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: For the first two games at least, he had more throws involved.
• Powered Armor: In KI 2013, Glacius is wearing a transparent form of this made of ice. Circuitry patterns can occasionally be seen flashing on it.
• Shapeshifting: The first two games had more fun with this, with his hands turning into various sharp blades or spikes for special moves. The third game toned this down considerably to only melting into a puddle.
• Shout-Out: His 2013 default appearance looks remarkably like Mewtwo, sans the tail.
• Space Police: A new detail to his story in 2013. His occupation among his culture is as a police officer of sorts, upholding his culture's law of "88 Decrees".
• Super Mode: The 2013 release's Instinct Mode temporarily gives Glacius 5 hits worth of super armor, making him Immune to Flinching. It also speeds up his Liquify command normal, allows him to preform homing Puddle Punches by pressing heavy punch and heavy kick again, and extends the amount of active frames on his shadow counter.

Jago

"I'm afraid your path ends here."

Voiced by: Kevin Bayliss (KI, KI2), Mike Willette (KI 2013)

Jago is a monk of a clan that worships the Tiger Spirit in the mountains of Tibet. He is urged by the Tiger Spirit to enter Ultratech's tournament to purge darkness: both in the company and in his own heart. He destroys Fulgore, but after the defeat of Eyedol the Tiger Spirit reveals its true nature as Gargos, whose rival has just been taken out of the picture. Now 2000 years in the past, Jago vows revenge on Gargos for betraying his faith.

In the reboot, Jago remains a monk of the Tiger Spirit. However, prior to the events of the story Gargos impersonated the Tiger Spirit and corrupted Jago into the evil Shadow Jago to prepare the world for his invasion. Once Jago escaped from Gargos' influence and reverted to normal, he was horrified by the violence he committed and doubled down on his worship of the Tiger Spirit, seeking to purge the lingering darkness by destroying the forces of Gargos.

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• Ambiguously Brown: Like his half-sister B. Orchid, Jago's racial background is debatable. Canonically, he's the bastard son of Orchid's father and a foreign aid worker but that still makes nailing it down iffy.
• Anvil on Head: His Falling Car No Mercy.
• Animal Motifs: The tiger. Particularly prominent in the 2013 game.
• Anime Hair: His 2013 design makes his hair windswept almost entirely to the side.
• Back from the Dead: KI2 gave Jago a specific method: He can use a specific command that drains him of about 1/8 of his health, but if he is out of health bars (and isn't finished with an Ultra or Ultimate), his spirit will leave his body and regain that sliver of health so he can fight again.
• Butter Face: For a time in Season One there was a glitch wherein Jago's mask would not render in various menus and in matches, revealing his face, assuming it isn't simply a placeholder. He isn't ugly per se◊, but his face certainly looks... off on his ripped physique.
• Character Song: "The Tiger Warrior" for 2013, which uses a lot of Oriental themes and instruments as well as throat singing from Mick Gordon himself to paint a powerful picture of Jago's background.
• Charge Attack: In Season 3, he can charge his Endokukens to release a Big Endokuken (or two if in Instinct).
• Cult: Jago was originally part of one that unbeknownst to him was worshipping Gargos.
• The Dark Side: His story in the third game centers around him trying to manage the corruption within him from serving Gargos under the guise of the Tiger Spirit, as well as dealing with the guilt of being used in the first place.
• Darker and Edgier: Although it's only really present in the backstory, Jago is this in KI 2013.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Stock Shōnen Hero who is commonly the lead in Fighting Games. Not only is he not the main hero, (that honor arguably goes to Orchid) but his intense faith and dedication actually cause a myriad of problems for Jago, including the possibility of a Superpowered Evil Side. Not to mention that most of his endings either involve him suffering for his victory or outright failing altogether.
• Enemy Without: Omen.
• Energy Ball: His Endokuken. Exaggerated with his 2013 Ultimate.
• Face–Heel Turn: In his worst ending, he succumbs to Gargos' corruption and falls under his control.
• Genre Motif: Rock music is his for KI 2013, although there are some Eastern instruments included, reflecting his Tibetan origin.
• Heroic Bastard: Jago is the result of an affair between Orchid's father and a foreign aid worker. Unless he's possessed by Omen, he's one of the most heroic characters in the KI 'verse.
• Heroic Build: Tall, muscular, and with very little body fat.
• Hunk: And a fairly extreme example to boot.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His Sword Stab No Mercy.
• Improbable Weapon User: One skin for his sword in KI 2013 is a keytar for his classic costume.
• Improvised Clothes: His new outfit in the 2013 game is made from materials he found around the temple.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Can turn it into a Laser Blade too. His 2013 design makes it a scimitar instead of a katana.
• Leitmotif: "Do It Now!", "Jago (Game Version), "Jago (Shakuhachi Remix)", and "The Tiger Warrior".
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Is revealed to be Orchid's half-brother.
• McNinja: He's really a Warrior Monk from Tibet but has a very ninja-esque design.
• Mr. Fanservice: His skintight and tastefully ripped outfit, showing off his lean muscles with about 1% body fat, were a blatant attempt at reaching for this. He's still fanservice-y in KI 2013, in a more rugged way. His Classic DLC Outfit◊ then ratchets the fanservice back up to the old level, if not a little more.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In classic KI, he mistakenly breaks Gargos free. Averted in the remake since it is Kan-Ra who does the deed.
• Place of Power: His stage is set in the Tiger's Lair, where the Monks of the Tiger were formerly located.
• Playing with Fire: His Charring Fireball No Mercy in the second game.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His combo trait Around The World invokes this by allowing him to chain his doubles in a Heavy - Medium - Light - Heavy sequence, building Instinct meter and drastically raising the ender value of the combo in the process.
• Shotoclone: Even with a sword, he still has Ryu's basic moveset.
• Shout-Out:
  • The special accessory set that is available for his DLC classic costume references none other than Voltron with the Tibetron accessories.
  • He is also originally one of Ryu, but nowadays he is a full on Deconstruction.
• Sinister Scimitar: Inverted in KI 2013. He wields a scimitar, but he's a good guy.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Shadow Jago in the 2013 game. Originally it was mostly a Palette Swap and Evil Sounds Deep but Jago and Shadow Jago became differentiated in 2015 and now possess significantly differing movesets (for instance Shadow Jago can throw Endokukens while jumping). According to the story, this is what happens to Jago if he doesn't get rid of what's left of Gargos.
• Super Mode: 2013's Instinct Mode temporarily gives him two extra frames of advantage on all his moves as well as healing properties on his fireballs and a double-fireball attack.
• Sword and Fist: He slashes enemies with the sword in his hand in between punching and kicking them.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: At 5'10".
• Temple of Doom: His stage in KI 2013.
• To Be a Master: Jago believes it is his destiny to master the powers of the Tiger Spirit. Even after learning that Gargos was the being he worshiped, his best ending implies that he believes there is an an actual Tiger Spirit looking out for him whose power he must master.
• Too Many Belts: Jago's outfit features roughly four sets of paired ropes functioning as belts. In all fairness, at least two appear essential to holding together his ensemble.
• Turned Against Their Masters: When the cult you were following is idolizing a Humanoid Abomination who murdered your parents and then used you to free himself from his dimensional prison, there aren't many other options. His plot in KI 2013 revolves around this.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: His new outfit in the 2013 game.
• Warrior Therapist: One of Orchid's endings has him track her down and help ease her very unstable mind.
• A Winner Is You: Essentially what Jago's best ending boils down to. He fails to purge Gargos' corruption, but resolves to struggle through and master it, essentially restoring the status quo to what it was at the end of KI2.

Riptor

Voiced by: Zachary Quarles (KI 2013)

Riptor is one of Ultratech's experiments, made by splicing human and reptile DNA to form a creature with the savagery of a raptor and the intelligence of a human. Ultratech is eager to test its performance in their tournament, and will greenlight mass production if he is a success. However, it is killed by TJ Combo and thus does not return in KI2.

In the reboot, Riptor is a genetically-engineered dinosaur clone with cybernetic enhancements, known within Ultratech as a "Stalker". She is the head of an entire unit of Stalkers just like herself, being the most cunning and vicious of the pack. While intelligent, she really only cares about getting a good meal at the end of the day, and is more than willing to devour the enemies of Ultratech in order to do so.

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• Action Girl: As a female dinosaur-like deadly cyborg in the 2013 game.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Was originally a grotesque lizard-human hybrid that happened to look like a dinosaur. In the reboot she's straight-up a cloned dinosaur with cyborg enhancements.
• Alien Blood: Bleeds purple.
• Ambiguous Gender: The Riptor from the original game was never stated whether it's a male or female. Riptor's Story Profiles don't use any gendered pronouns at all (although the Nintendo Power Guide used masculine pronouns), while its ending does not mention Riptor at all.
• Ambiguous Species: It's never stated which dinosaur species has been used as a basis for the Riptor that appears in the 2013 game, albeit she seems to have the size of an Utahraptor and the frame of a Deinonychus.
• Beta Test Baddie: The original batch of Stalkers (represented with the Retro Costume) were berserk monsters that couldn't obey orders. Riptor is sent to cull them before they fall into the wrong hands.
• Breath Weapon: Able to expel spurts of fire. The Season 2 release dedicates an entire button just to flame breath.
• Camera Abuse: In her victory pose in the 2013 game, after pouncing on enemies' (unseen) body and biting a few chunks of it, she suddenly looks curiously at the camera and takes a bite at it.
• Character Song: "Hatchery 09" for 2013, with frantic techno beats and shrieking string sections to remind that, for all her intellect, Riptor is still a cold-blooded killing machine.
• Commercial Switcheroo: The teaser for Riptor is almost entirely made as a legitimate advertisement for Ultratech's military applications, with the only mention of the game being in the gameplay footage and the intro/outro. And the teaser for Omen.
• Cyborg: Now with some fancy new cybernetic upgrades, including an extending tail.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Invoked by Ultratech, as Riptor was developed with a Breath Weapon.
• Downloadable Content: Riptor wrapped up 2014 as December's new character release for Season 2.
• Dumb Dinos: Riptor is intelligent, but suffers from serious Split Personality issues from its instinctual dinosaur side.
• Genetic Abomination: Riptor is the product of genetic engineering to combine a dinosaur and a human into a hybrid.
• Genre Motif: Riptor's theme in KI 2013 is mostly orchestral (fitting of Jurassic Park movies), with some electronic mixed in.
• Hollywood Acid: The Acid Spit No Mercy.
• Hulk Speak: Talks like this in Shadow Lords, which is also the only time we've ever seen Riptor talk at all.
• Informed Flaw: Riptor is stated to be struggling with its Split Personality, product of the human and reptilian DNA mixing, and constantly getting confused whether to use its human reasoning or its dinosaurian instincts. Other than the fact it has a moveset that is heavily geared towards being a rushdown character, you wouldn't notice this problem judging by gameplay alone.
• Killed Off for Real: By T.J. Combo. Though she's been revived by the time of the 2013 title as a cybernetic weapon.
• Leitmotif: "Rumble" and "Hatchery 09".
• Mix-and-Match Critters:
  • It's a humanoid dinosaur in both appearance and personality. More clearly depicted in the original game, with a dinosaurian overall shape but with a muscled humanoid torso, whereas, in the 2013 version, Riptor looks drastically more dinosaurian (with barely any humanoid anatomy left at all), albeit still keeping the Split Personality.
  • In the original game, Riptor also had a cobra-like hood, exclusively used for one of its Ultimate moves.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A cybernetic humanoid dinosaur in the 2013 game.
• Raptor Attack: A genetically-engineered one. It's also part of its Punny Name.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of her shadow moves (a ram that knocks opponents to the air) is affectionately called the "Clever Girl".
  • One of her retro costumes turns her hind purple and her belly green, resembling a certain other dinosaur.
• Split Personality: Riptor has human-level intelligence, but also the instincts of the reptile it got its DNA from, with both effectively functioning as this trope.
• Super Mode: Her Instinct Mode in the Xbox One game enhances her breath and tail attacks, increasing their damage or range.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The KI 2013 Riptor is implied to not be the same Riptor from the first game, but apart from being a Cyborg, there are a lot of similarities between both.
• To Serve Man: In both the original and 2013 game, Riptor has the potential to eat the opponent.
  • In the original game, one of the No Mercy options has Riptor leap forwards, and the screen does a Fade to Black before displaying it laying back and cradling a Balloon Belly.
  • In the 2013 game, her Win Pose has her pouncing on their corpse and starts visibly tearing chunks off of it, just offscreen, before throwing her head back and roaring.
• Younger Than They Look: Zig-Zagged. The adult-looking Riptor is four years old in the first game, which is extremely young for its human side, but at a more plausible age for its reptilian side.

Baron Konrad von Sabrewulf

Voiced by: Jean-Edourard "Jedsound" Miclot (KI 2013)

Count von Sabrewulf is a poor soul cursed with lycanthropy, transforming into a werewolf-like creature. He is offered a cure by Ultratech if he participates in their tournament, and with few other options, he accepts. In the end he is severely maimed by Glacius, allowing Ultratech to have their way with him and give him mechanical cyborg arms. Infuriated, Sabrewulf fights against Ultratech for revenge in KI2, hoping to possibly find an ancient cure in the past while he's at it.

In the reboot, Baron Konrad von Sabrewulf was once a hedonistic aristocrat who became cursed with lycanthropy after tampering with his monster-hunting family's relics. At first he went to Ultratech for help, but they failed to cure him. He succeeded using arcane magics and medicines to restore his arms to their humanoid shape, but his sanity is quickly waning and he fears he may succumb to the beast. Unfortunately for him, a superpowered werewolf is quite an asset, and both sides of the conflict now attempt to sway him to their sides.

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• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the first series he fought to win a cure for his lycanthropy from Ultratech. In the reboot he's already gone to Ultratech for help and they failed him, so he's turning to arcane medicines and hexes for aid instead.
• Alchemy Is Magic: Sabrewulf's new arms in KI 2013 were made through alchemical processes. His stage is even called "Alchemical Lab."
• Alien Blood: Has green blood instead of red in the third game, possibly as a result of the alchemy he is using.
• Beast Man: Being a Wolf Man, this automatically applies. However, the third game plays with his mentality, as he tries to reclaim his human mind.
• Bittersweet Ending: One of Sabrewulf's KI 2013 endings; after an encounter with Thunder, Sabrewulf comes to believe that he is not a man in the shape of a wolf, but a wolf with the heart of a man. While he does finally gain peace with himself, he resolves to remain alone.
• Body Horror: Not only is he forced to transform into a werewolf due to Lycanthropy, he lost both arms to another champion (possibly Orchid or Glacius), in his first tournament. After that, Ultratech figured he could be a powerful pawn for them and built him a new pair of robotic arms and some internal machinery. Once he embraced his inner beast, however, he forcibly rips out his arms and artificial organs with his teeth, and is forced to use agonizing alchemical surgery to regrow them, becoming addicted to his supernatural painkillers in the process.
• Braids of Barbarism: His redesign in KI 2013 has him sporting these around his facial fur, implying an odd degree of dexterity for a werewolf.
• Butt-Monkey: He got the crap beaten out of him in the tournament and was then experimented upon for his failure. He even gets possessed by Gargos, as he tries to kill Orchid.
• Button Mashing: A unique mechanic Sabrewulf has in the 2013 game is Rapid Doubles, which allows the player to mash the same button repeatedly as an autodouble as a means to extend his combo.
• The Cameo: He's loosely based on a character of the same name, invented by Rare for a puzzle-platformer they had released for computers (and remade for the Game Boy Advance) known as Sabre Wulf.
• Camera Abuse: He has a finisher in the first game which smacks his opponents into the screen.
• Character Song: "Lycanthropy" for 2013, With gothic strings and pounding drumbeats to showcase his sophisticated origins battling with his bestial nature.
• Cyborg: Similar to Pre-retcon Jax, Sabrewulf got cybernetic arms in the second game, thanks to unwilling implantation by Ultratech. The new game does away with them aside from an accessory set for his DLC costume.
• Extremity Extremist: A majority of his attacks tend to only focus on his arms or his bite, with only a small number of moves actually involving kicking.
• Genre Motif: Sabrewulf's stage in KI 2013 features classical-styled music.
• Growing Muscles Sequence: The visual effect of his Instinct mode.
• The Hedonist: He was prone to various vices after he inherited the family manor. It's this behavior which caused him to become a werewolf in the first place.
• Heel–Face Turn: One of his KI 2013 endings has him, in the rush of victory, finally reclaiming a good deal of his humanity. His first thought is wondering if he should put on a shirt or not.
• Jack of All Stats: He has a decent mix of strength and speed.
• Leitmotif: "Tooth And Claw", "Sabrewulf", and "Lycanthropy".
• Magic Pants:
  • Subverted with his ending in the first game. He's only shown from the waist up after returning to human form. One guess as to why.
  • Exaggerated with in ending in the SNES port of the first game. When he turns human, a pair of tattered shorts appears out of nowhere.
  • Lampshaded in the Xbox One game. In one ending after regaining his mind, Sabrewulf's first thought is to whether he should find a shirt.
• Odd Friendship: With Thunder. Thunder for his part admires Sabrewulf for being one with his spirit guide. Sabrewulf sees another restless spirit in Thunder.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Unlike other lycanthropes, Sabrewulf was capable of using magic (in the first game), has high knowledge in alchemic arts (who used to restore his missing limbs) and became much more dangerous when he reached an old age than when he was young.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: In KI 2013.
• Rich Boredom: The main reason why he was indulging in so many addictions and vices before becoming a werewolf was simply due to pure boredom.
• Shout-Out: Multiple instances:
  • He was inspired by Sabre Wulf from the ZX Spectrum game of the same name from the same company.
  • One of his color palettes in KI 2013 is inspired by Gmork.
  • There's also one based on Benny, Maximilian Christiansen's pomerenarian sidekick.
• Stronger with Age: ARIA fears Sabrewulf and even classified him as "one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet", apparently because elderly werewolves pose a much greater danger than younger ones: They lose strength and dexterity but gain experience, self control and patience, making them far more dangerous hunters.
• Super Mode: 2013's Instinct Mode temporarily gives him extra speed and strength, including the ability to inflict chip damage, and a new Lag Cancel command that allows him to stop any command he wants.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Starting in KI 2. (In the first game he was a Walking Pantsless Scene instead.)

Spinal

"YA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Voiced by: Chris Seavor (KI, KI2), David Robert Donatucci (KI 2013)

Another ghastly product of Ultratech, Spinal is an ancient warrior whose skeleton was revived through cell regeneration and other secret means. He is confounded by the modern world, but strives to prove his worth to his new masters by destroying anything he faces in the tournament. He gets killed by Thunder, but reappears in the past in KI2 when he is revived by Gargos. Unwilling to remain subservient, Spinal betrays his master and fights for freedom.

The reboot gives him a new backstory, stating that he was once the mastermind of a worldwide bandit network years ago. He got in business with Kan-Ra's plan to usurp the king of Babylon, but was outsmarted and captured. He was then immolated to his skeleton, cursed with the Mask of the Ancients, and buried at sea, but his connection to the Mask actually retained his hold on life. Now a violent, cackling madman, he emerges from the sea thousands of years later in search of the Mask of the Ancients so he may harness its power and find freedom.

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• Aborted Arc: Thunder's ending in KI1 implies that Spinal was originally going to be an undead Eagle, but this plot point was dropped pretty quickly.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Was originally a nondescript skeleton warrior resurrected by Ultratech (or Gargos in KI2). In the reboot he's an ancient bandit-lord who was cursed by Kan-Ra's king; now he seeks the Mask of the Ancients that binds him to this world.
• Anvil on Head: The second game gives him a finisher that drops a giant skull on someone...and THAT skull laughs at you, too.
• Attack Backfire: He has a move where if his shield gets hit by a projectile, he'll get a skull from it. His 2013 form ups this so he can gain a skull from using this move against normal specials too.
• Captain Ersatz: Spinal's KI 2013 design seems to take several cues from Captain Jack Sparrow. His trailer also shows that his head catches green fire when his Instinct Meter is full, taking from Ghost Rider, and his Skull projectiles look a lot like Quan Chi's.
• Character Song: "Warlord" for 2013, which is a prayer being sung by Swedish warriors to Spinal alongside haunting moans, powerful drumbeats, clattering and bone-like percussion, and a human leg bone flute!
• Death Seeker: In KI 2013, at least at first. He sets out on a quest to locate the mask that reanimates him so he can shatter it and finally die a permanent death. When he does find it, he instead preserves it and takes it with him, deciding that seeing the modern world and living an eternity of adventure is more than enough reason to put off eternal rest.
• Dem Bones: He's a sword-and-shield-bearing skeleton who effectively broke Nintendo's longstanding taboo against undead protagonists. He's rather unique with his magical attacks, some of which require the expenditure of a floating skull; up to five can orbit him at any given time and they must be cast summoned of time. No other character has a mechanic like this. His 2013 redesign gives him the ability to summon ghost hands a la Shinnok.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Was easily the most complex character in KI 2013 (until Kan-Ra appeared), requiring good spacing as well as resource management due to his skulls. A decent Spinal is a manageable nuisance. A good Spinal can invariably be a Stone Wall that can drain both Shadow and Instinct meter from his opponents while countering any tactic they might use to break his defense. Spinal was this SO much in the original game that he was nearly cut from the sequel just for being that hard to use.
• Diving Kick: A move that nobody else has besides Shadow Jago.
• Downloadable Content: Spinal has been announced as the first DLC character for Killer Instinct 2013, releasing January 31, 2014.
• The Dragon: Used to serve as one to Kan-Ra, cutting off the flow of resources to the city that the King Kan-Ra served under ruled over.
• Evil Feels Good: He grew to love the chaos and insanity that came with his life of piracy as an undead, to the point where he's only seeking out the mask that used to bind him to increase his power even more.
• Evil Laugh: The freak's infamous for it. Ugh...
• Eye Pop: A totally ridiculous one if Orchid uses her Breast Flash No Mercy finisher on him.
• Genre Motif: Very drum-driven music for his stage, with some industrial metal/orchestral vibes thrown in alongside Ominous Swedish Chanting.
• Ghost Pirate: A skeletal pirate who is often fought upon an undead pirate ship.
• Leitmotif: "Ya Ha Haa", "Spinal", and "Warlord".
• Mana Drain: His Flaming Skull Fireballs in KI 2013 can leech off his enemy's Shadow and Instinct gauges when powered by a skull. Normal Skull Fireballs drain Shadow meter, Shadow Skull Fireballs drain Instinct meter. The rate of drainage can be stacked up with subsequent uses of the fireballs in combos, but the effect stops the moment Spinal is hit. This was changed in Season 3 to where they simply stop his enemy from getting Shadow and Instinct meter, instead of leaching it, and causing subsequent curses to require more hits to remove.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: His floating skull mechanic requires replenishment in order to gain certain perks for his special moves. These skulls are only gained via certain specials, throws, and his special manuals that summon skeletal hands to strike.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: In his KI 2013 Leitmotif, although it's Swedish rather than Latin.
• Pirate: Took up a life as one after being brought back to life as a skeleton. He even has a ship and a huge crew of fellow skeletons! He definitely looks the part of one in KI 2013.
• Power Copying: He could include copies of his current opponent's moves in his combo finishers in earlier titles. The first game even allowed him to temporarily imitate his enemy.
• Psycho for Hire: Pretty much what he was when he was still alive, being the leader of a network of bandits throughout ancient Babylon.
• Psychopathic Manchild: His dialogue in Shadow Lords, when not revolving around death or killing, comes across as very juvenile.
• The Punishment: The Babylonian king who also appears in Kan-Ra and Aganos' backstories bound Spinal to the Mask of the Ancients due to rebelling against him, effectively turning him into a zombie, and then ordered the poor bastard to jump into the flames so that only his skeleton remained.
• Shield Bash: Taken to ridiculous extremes in classic Killer Instinct games. He can stab, levitate, and electrocute people with his shield there. In KI 2013, he just bashes you with it.
• Say My Name: Holds the distinction of being one of the only characters the announcer will say the name of during their intro animation.
• Shout-Out: Along with Eyedol, to The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, as well as Jason and the Argonauts.
• Skeleton Crew: His KI2 stage features a ship with a crew of skeletons.
• Sub-Boss: He is always third-to-last on the ladder in the first game.
• Super Mode:
  • His old Instinct Mode in Seasons 1 and 2 gave him infinite skulls. Not only did activating it instantly summon every skull he could, but he was also able regenerate skulls over time as well. Considering that he could drain an opponent's Instinct Meter, it lead to him staying with infinite skulls for, at most, ten seconds longer.
  • His Instinct Mode in Season 3, dubbed "Agent of Chaos", instantly grants him 3 skulls and gives him double the amount of skulls from skull-generating moves. Additionally, any Flaming Skulls fired during his instinct will bounce off of walls, the floor, and blocking opponents, as opposed to being destroyed, and they are only destroyed if they hit a blocking opponent 3 times or if Spinal himself is hit.
• Teleport Spam: His Skeleport. Downplayed in the second game, where the move is much slower and less practical for spamming. The third then ups it a bunch, with an invulnerable shadow teleport and letting skulls make his heavy teleport (which puts him behind his enemy) special-cancelable.
• Villain of Another Story: He only crosses paths with Ultratech and ARIA on his search for the Mask of the Ancients, and as soon as he gets it from them he's off on his own adventures again. At least until he joins the Alliance during Shadow Lords.
• War God: The Swedish lyrics to his theme have the chanters refer to Spinal as a god multiple times. He probably isn't actually a deity, but might be worshipped as one.
  Vakna, vakna, mäktiga gud! (Awaken, awaken, Mighty God!)
  Kallar på Spinal, krigarguden! (Calling for Spinal, the Warrior God!)
  Fräls oss, fräls oss, mäktiga gud! (Deliver us, deliver us, Mighty God!)
  Med guden Spinals krafter och mod (With the powers and courage of Spinal the God)
• Win Your Freedom:
  • His story in the second and third games involve him breaking out of servitude. The main pull is that he is being resurrected and controlled by a mystic artifact, the Mask of the Ancients, and that by breaking it, he may finally be free.
  • The third game puts a different spin on it. Spinal is looking for the mask in order to use its power to wreak havoc across the world, though in order to get it he needed to meet ARIA's demands first, those demands being participating in the Killer Instinct tournament.

Tyler-Johnson "T.J. Combo" Garrett

"I took the easy route, once. It got me fame, fortune, and glory. But it was all hollow. When I fell, I fell hard. I lost everything. But I'm back now, and this time, I'm doin' it right. And don't think for a moment that I'll let anything get in my way, 'cause if you give me that moment, I win!"

Voiced by: Patrick Seitz (KI 2013)

TJ Combo is a former boxing champion who was banned after being exposed for using illegal cybernetic implants. Without fame or wealth, he turned to Ultratech's tournament and their promise to restore his title if he could best the competition. TJ survives the tournament and is pulled into the past in KI2, where he desperately looks for a way back home, humbled.

In the reboot, his backstory was mostly the same but after being banned, TJ ripped out his implants and restored his natural strength and goes to Ultratech looking to restore his honor too, getting caught up with Orchid along the way.

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• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the original series he never removed the cybernetics from his arms that got him kicked out in the first place, and fights to prove the world wrong; in the reboot he's gotten them removed and now fights for redemption against his old cheating ways.
• Adaptational Heroism: Combo was pretty much an unpleasant cyborg jerk who fought sponsored by Ultratech in the first series of games. In KI 2013, he's gotten a severe attitude adjustment and is now ready to prove to the world that he can fight under his own power and take the fight to Ultratech.
• Arch-Enemy: His theme declares that he is personally gunning for Ultratech's leader ARIA.
• Badass Normal: He could appear to be just a boxer in a tournament where the competitors are an ice alien, a cybernetic killing machine, a genetically engineered dinosaur, a skeleton, a werewolf, and a man who's made out of fire in the original arcade game if one does not read the backstory. The few normal humans besides him all either have weapons or special powers. (Energy projectiles, turning into a flaming cat, etc.). Combo just uses his FISTS (and the occasional knee.) However, his backstory in the original arcade games shows that he is a Cyborg, and in the 2013 reboot, even though he removed his cybernetic implants, he was also secretly genetically engineered, causing this trope to be subverted.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Even though Jago is an actual monk, T.J. fits this particular trope better as a heavyweight boxer and the only fighter without an obvious weapon or superpower. His arms formerly contained cybernetic enhancements, but he's often overlooked in favor of the flashier characters despite his strengths.
• Bio-Augmentation: In his backstory for KI 2013, he found out that Ultratech performed genetic engineering on him when he ripped out his cybernetic implants after being exposed as a cheater due to him becoming a cyborg when his arms healed way too quickly for the healing to be natural.
• Blow You Away: Cyclone in KI 2013 indicates that Combo is strong enough to drum up small twisters.
• Boxing Battler: He's a boxer after all, despite being a Combat Pragmatist. His reboot moveset strays away slightly into the MMA territory.
• Brought Down to Badass: Come KI 2013, he has his implants removed in an attempt to "do things right" and prove to the world that his skills are truly his own.
• Camera Abuse: He has a finisher in the first game which smacks his opponents into the screen.
• Character Development: He went from a cheater who used augmentations to better his boxing (who then fought for Ultra Tech to regain his former glory) to The Atoner who desires to go straight in KI 2013.
  T.J. Combo: I took the easy route, once. It got me fame, fortune and glory. But it was all hollow. When I fell, I fell hard. I lost everything. But I'm back now, and this time, I'm doing it right. And don't think for a moment that I'll let anything get in my way. 'Cause if you give me that moment...I win!
• Character Song: "I'm Back (To Rise!)" for 2013, which doubles as an "I Am" Song showing how he's doing his best to win on his own merits rather than through Ultratech's cybernetics with lyrics provided by OmegaSparx.
• Combat Pragmatist: His backstory shows that he formerly used cybernetic implants and was banned from boxing because of it. He is also known for fighting dirty: one of his finishers in the first game involve breaking the opponent's neck; in the second game, his No Mercy was shooting the opponent with a machine gun. His 2013 redesign plays up this pragmatism more with more noticeable grabbing. Then again, he is shifting his fighting style from Boxing to MMA.
• Cyborg: He is one of these in the first two games, and was one in the backstory for the 2013 reboot until he removed his cybernetic implants.
• Downloadable Content: He is the first Downloadable Character to be announced for Season 2 of Killer Instinct 2013, with people able to get him in advance by pre-ordering Season 2 and by buying the boxed release of Season 1.
• Embarrassing Nickname: T.J. was originally going to be named Mr. Fist when the original KI was being developed. Fortunately, somebody realized how terrible this sounded and it was changed. Cinder, however, seems to have taken a liking to the name. He mocks T.J. with it in his trailer and even has it as one of his profile taunts.
• Empowered Badass Normal: His implants improved his already nigh superhuman strength and speed. Even after having them removed he can draw on their latent effects to trigger his Instinct.
• Extremity Extremist: He's a boxer, after all. However, he does have a flying knee move. His redesign is looking to stray from this route even further.
• Eyepatch of Power: His second appearance does have him sport an eyepatch for dubious reasons. It's off for the third game. However, since the third game is a separate universe from the other two games, he did not have to have a missing eye for the third game.
• Fallen Hero: He fights sponsored by Ultratech in the second tournament to get his heavyweight title back. Later pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
• Genre Motif: A hard-hitting rap number befitting the more urban atmosphere of his stage and his roots. The lyrics reflect on T.J.'s pride and his desire to show everyone who doubts him that He's Back! (To Rise).
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Is a good guy by the time of 2013 and his arms are covered in scars.
• Heroic Second Wind: If he loses both health bars while having full Instinct in 2013, he will get back on his feet, using up his Instinct Meter to restore a tiny bit of health (almost like Jago's Spirit ability in 2), and uses a Ground Pound to emit a powerful shockwave. After that, he'll have the rest of the meter to use as if he triggered his normal Instinct Mode.
  "I ain't done yet!"
• He's Back!: Left penniless and humiliated after being revealed as a fraud, T.J Combo is coming back to the tournament, no implants this time, to prove his fighting skills are his own.
• Hunk: He's got the muscles, the looks and the attitude.
• Leitmotif: "Yo Check This Out!", "Combo", and "I'm Back (To Rise)".
• Neck Snap: One of his finishers in the first game.
• Power Glows: His Instinct Mode starts making blue light glow from inside his veins, caused by him drawing on the aftereffects of his implants.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His Auto-Barrage combo trait invokes this by allowing him to link all of his unique doubles together, leading into a massively powerful damage ender.
• Recursive Reality: Score an any sort of finisher with him in 2 and the cinematic that plays after the match shows him tossing a Killer Instinct 2 machine.
• Sociopathic Hero: In the comic book, he's not above quite brutally maiming foes, threatening non-fighters to get what he wants and cheating in tournaments. He also reacts with confusion when he sees Jago choosing not to kill an opponent. He's one of the protagonists. Averted in 2013, Combo seems to be less arrogant and nasty, but he's still the Boisterous Bruiser we all know.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of his customizations in the 2013 game makes him wear Kick's outfit, fitting since Iron Galaxy made Divekick before getting moved to KI Season 2.
  • His premium costume makes him look like Blade.
  • T.J.'s retro costume accessories really dare you to say "Combo! You son of a bitch!" or "You done f***ed up now!"
• Super Mode: His Instinct Mode for 2013 grants Combo a small speed boost, cutting the recovery of all his moves. Additionally, he gets a Heroic Second Wind if he gets KOed with Full Instinct Meter.
• Throwing the Fight: In 2013, Ultratech's price for giving him his strength implants is that, when they arrange a publicity match between him and their newly-released Fulgore, they want him to take a dive. When he refuses and beats the robot, they destroy his career by publicizing his deal with them.
• Time-Passage Beard: In contrast to his clean-shaven earlier designs, his new design gives him a short beard. A few people say that this makes him look like former NBA star Patrick Ewing. Some of his accessories remove the beard.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: One of his finishers.
• Virtuous Character Copy: He started off similar to Balrog - both being disgraced African-American boxers who joined a criminal organization to regain their wealth and glory. But while Balrog remains an unrepentant criminal who only turned on Shadaloo because he was offered money, Combo eventually saw the error of his ways and turned on Ultratech to prove that he has gone legit.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: His boxing shorts in the first and third games are patterned after the American Flag. The second game makes his tank top flag-patterned, while his pants become camo.
• World's Strongest Man: Is considered to be the greatest human fighter in the world by Ultratech.

Eyedol

"I…serve… NO ONE!"

Voiced by: Henry Sterchi & Isaac Marshall (KI), Zachary Quarles (KI 2013)

Eyedol is an interdimensional warlord who was cast into Limbo by Earth's warriors millenia ago. Now Ultratech has released him as their ultimate champion, and he is the final challenge of their tournament. In the end he is killed by Orchid, and his explosive death causes a rift in time that hurls Ultratech's facility and most of the fighters 2000 years into the past. His defeat also allows for his old rival, Gargos, to return unchallenged and threaten the world again.

His depiction in the reboot is quite different. He was once a Watchman, an immortal warrior tasked with defending the Earth from monsters such as Gargos. However, he let his pride consume him and was corrupted by the Astral Realm, morphing into a brutish ogre. He was then captured by fellow Watchman Tusk and imprisoned in the Astral Realm. When Gargos began his conquest of the Astral Realm, Eyedol was freed in the chaos and attacked Gargos; in the battle, his head was cloven in two and he was killed. His mangled corpse lingered for years, until the arrogant sorceror Kan-Ra sought to use him as a secret weapon to fight Gargos' invasion. The resurrected Eyedol, his head still split, refuses to follow Kan-Ra and instead sets out to face Gargos on his own terms.

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• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the original series he is an ancient "Warlord" who was sealed in Limbo by a warrior clan and later brought back by Ultratech. In the reboot he is a former Watchman (like Tusk) who went mad with power and attempted to take over the Astral Realm, only to be killed by Gargos and later resurrected by Kan-Ra.
• A.I. Breaker: Fairly easy to do despite his SNK Boss traits. Trying to fight him straight-up is suicide, but he can be easily baited via proper spacing into jumping or dashing. As long as the player is on their feet, he's completely vulnerable during either and he can even be combo'd if the player responds to his dash with an opener; this is largely useless since he'll always break combos almost immediately, but it makes it easy to land an ultra for bragging rights. Exploiting his dash is also much easier if he's fought on the Lava Bridge where the extra space gives the player more time to react.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: Like Aganos, his entire model flips when he turns around, so the side with the mage head holding the club is always facing the screen. It's a bit jarring with some of Eyedol's alternate costumes.
• Back from the Dead: Is resurrected by Kan-Ra after being beaten and having his head split open by Gargos in KI 2013.
• Body Horror: Rather than having two heads in the 2013 game, Eyedol only has one head that's vertically split in half.
• Carry a Big Stick: His weapon is a large spiked mace, which also doubles as a Magic Staff and is decorated with skulls in KI 2013.
• Cast From Hitpoints: In the reboot, he can force a stance change by punching the dormant head repeatedly, which takes off a bit of health.
• Character Song: "A Shattered Eyedol" for 2013, with a menacing drumbeat and shrieking vocals to remind everyone why he's so fondly remembered as That One Boss, followed by a frantic techno beat to get the blood pumping.
• Developer's Foresight: Eyedol's main gimmick is his head switching- but how is it decided which head is active at the beginning of a match? Why, through random chance. As such, Eyedol actually has two intros: one where the Warrior head activates and one where the Mage head activates.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Eyedol is both one of the game's strongest rushdown and zoning characters combined into one, though the fact that you can't actually fully control what stance he's in at any given time, sans the move which can force a stance change at the cost of health, makes him a bit unwieldy. Proper use of him not only requires you to know the ins-and-outs of what is essentially two different characters, but also be able to adapt to which one you're using on the fly.
• Downloadable Content: Season 3's final character, he's set to be released on July 22nd.
• The Dragon: Ultratech likely sees him this way, since they freed him to fight in their tournament.
• Dragon-in-Chief: He would also be Dragon with an Agenda if we saw him ever having one.
• Evil Is Bigger: Is utterly enormous in the reboot.
• Evil Versus Evil: In his backstory, we find he was imprisoned while fighting another warlord. This is revealed to be Gargos in KI2. The rivalry carries over into KI 2013.
• Fat Bastard: He has quite a pot belly in the reboot.
• Final Boss: For the first game, at least.
• Genre Motif: Industrial techno.
• Humanoid Abomination: Besides his two-headed cyclopean appearance, he is also described as a mystical warlord from ancient times. His reboot appearance is more ogre-like.
• I Am Legion: Well, maybe. When he speaks in his ending he first uses "I" and "My", but then at the end switches to "we".
• Leitmotif: "The Extreme" and "A Shattered Eyedol".
• Killed Off for Real: By Orchid.
• Multiple Head Case: Somehow manages to be one with only a single head, albeit having it split in half. The "Warrior" side of his head his head is emotional, wild, very, very angry, and has a more beast-like appearance and a broken horn, while the "Mage" side is intelligent, methodical, calm, and looks more human and has an intact horn. This reflects in his playstyle as well. When the Warrior side is in charge, Eyedol is an aggressive rush-down character that overwhelms you at close range. When the Mage side is in control, he becomes a zoning character that controls space on the screen from far away.
• Our Ogres Are Hungrier: In KI 2013, he's a demon lord that looks like an ogre.
• Purposely Overpowered: Gets the unique ability in Shadow Lords to become Immune to Flinching to Omen's and Gargos' projectile attacks, as well as those of Gargos' summons. Since Omen and Gargos are the midbosses and Final Boss of that mode, respectively, Eyedol is a Game-Breaker, if only for Shadow Lords. He even has his own ending, a trait he only shares with Gargos.
• Put on a Bus: Didn't appear after KI1 for over 20 years. In fact, by the end of Season 3, he was the only character not yet confirmed to be returning for the third game, with even fellow boss character Gargos making a playable appearance before him.
  • The Bus Came Back: Finally revealed as the very last entrant in Season 3
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Ultratech breaks him out. In the reboot, it's Kan-Ra who revives him, again trying to tap into forces that are beyond his control and, naturally, repeating his mistake with Gargos.
• Secret Character: Only available through a secret code in KI1.
• Shock and Awe: He uses purple electricity in the reboot.
• Shout-Out: In the first part of his ending, a woman in purple approaches him claiming that he's her long lost son Billy, lost in a car incident. This is almost the same scene which mirrors the ending of Blanka. (Also note that Blanka's real name is Jimmy... Billy? Jimmy? Anyone?)
  • It also doubles as a shoutout to Billy Idol.
  • He also really resembles the cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, something that did not go unnoticed at the time.
  • His new appearance reminds of the Ogre Magi of Warcraft, Cho'Gall in particular.
  • His fighting style, which involves both parts of his head using different fighting styles that change either at random or by hitting himself, is the exact same fighting style of Tira.
• Slap Yourself Awake: More like punching, but he can do this to try and cause brain activity to swap to the currently inactive head on-command at the cost of some health.
• SNK Boss: A pretty merciless bastard between his healing taunt and his insane attack priority.
• Stance System: His gimmick in KI 2013, his moveset and several of his attributes change depending on which side of his head is in control, with the Warrior side being focused on rushdown, possessing a run in lieu of a forward dash, and having a command grab, while the Mage side is focused around zoning and controlling screen space and has a teleport, though it loses the run and walks slower. However, you're not entirely in control of which side you're playing as. You have a chance to switch every time you do a special move or combo ender, the chance increasing the more you do without switching, or you can punch the other side to make it wake up faster at the cost of taking a small bit of damage.
• Super Mode: Eyedol's Instinct mode allows him to use both of his heads' movesets at once, giving him a powerful rushdown playstyle combined with zoning tools. Comes off a bit silly regarding Eyedol's condition.
• Was Once a Man: His KI 2013 backstory reveals he used to be human before the corruption of Astral energy turned him into...that.

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