Mortal Kombat Creator Ed Boon Shares Fan's Impressive Skarlet Cosplay
The world of cosplay continues to flourish, despite the lack of in-person conventions and events where fans tend to show off their most elaborate creations. One such cosplayer has done such a successful cosplay of a Mortal Kombat character that it's caught the attention of the series' co-creator Ed Boon.
The character, or "kombatant," in question is none other than the blood-bending Skarlet. Introduced in 2011's Mortal Kombat 9, the Outworlder was created by Shao Kahn from the blood of many warriors, and was the first-ever DLC character for any Mortal Kombat game. Skarlet is now a base game character for the franchise's most recent entry, although fans are still vying for even more Mortal Kombat 11 DLC.
The impressive Skarlet cosplay that caught Boon's attention belongs to Armored Heart Cosplay, an established cosplayer based in Los Angeles. All of the elements in the Mortal Kombat cosplay appear to be inspired directly from visual assets found in Mortal Kombat 11.
Armored Heart, whose real name is Kirstin according to Instagram, managed to create a near-identical look to the gruesome fatality death dealer. The body portion of the costume is a spitting image of Skarlet's Blood Pixie Kosmetic, along with the signature dagger replicating the Krimson Vein Slicer. Also included is Skarlet's Red Death Mask, featuring a red star reminiscent of Cold War-era Russia. Boon posted the photos himself the same day they went online, wowed at the "next level" cosplay.
While the cosplayer's mask is reminiscent of the USSR, a Russian Cold War-era version of Skarlet exists. Initially a pre-order skin exclusive to Russia, the Kold War Skarlet cosmetic finally became available to fans in North America after well over a year. The variant for Skarlet is a continuation of Cold War skins that were released for Mortal Kombat 10, which saw the likes of Sonya Blade, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero receive Cold War variants that gave each fighter a decidedly different, Cold War-era Russia look.
Armored Heart Cosplay isn't the first fan to get a recent shoutout from the hyperviolent fighting game's co-creator. Earlier this year, Ed Boon complimented another MK fan on his low-budget recreation of Jax's fatality. Hailing from 17-year-old Nigerian filmmaker Ayo the Creator, the "zero budget" recreation faithfully captures the same camera angles and movements present in the character's finishing move, albeit with basic visual effects.
Cosplayers are about to get a whole new wave of inspiration in the form of the new Mortal Kombat movie, releasing on HBO Max and in theaters in a few weeks. Especially considering that NetherRealm Studios released skins for the 1995 MK film, it stands to reason a similar action will be taken upon the reboot's release. It should be interesting to see what kind of impact the movie has on gamers, cosplayers, and the franchise as a whole.
Mortal Kombat 11 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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