Sonya Blade (1995 Mortal Kombat)
All was not lost in 1994 and 1995 for fans of GI Joe and ninjas after its cancellation. There were two continuations, at least of some Joe molds, in the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat lines.
I recall finding the Mortal Kombat figures at the now defunct Kay-Bee Toys. Generally located in malls, the stores had a history of two things: obtaining older closed out toys, and overcharging for most everything else. Many of the closeouts were marked with “hand written” markdowns prices on their tags, but were actually original printed amounts. The while operation seemed quite shady. I could be wrong, but I recall a class action suit resulting from this practice.
Regardless of the chain’s honesty, they were a source of odd and unusual toys for many years. The movie based Mortal Kombat line showed up unexpectedly, and while I picked up a few choice figures, I kick myself for not buying the awesome Dragon Wing ship. That thing could be a wonderful piratey custom ride for Zanzibar and the Dreadnoks.
Sonya Blade looks at first glance to be simply a repaint of Jinx with a new head. Most of the body is Jinx, but the lower legs are different. Instead of ninja pajama bottoms, Sonya has unique leg wraps, and even some molded in knives. I wonder if these pieces were originally intended for figures from the canceled 1995 GI Joe series. Other movie Mortal Kombat figures utilized parts from the unproduced Ninja Commandos sub-set. Very interesting. The machine gun is a great accessory, since it’s a black remolded version of 1991 Cobra Commander’s weapon.
Not to mention she also comes with a black version of 1989 Stalker’s knife. The lower legs I believe are from the 1994 Flint. Thomas Wheeler did a great custom Sonya Blade that mixed and matched parts from the two versions:
http://www.joecustoms.com/bivarchive/figures/other/tomasw/sonyablade.php
I actually hope to get this figure (two of them, to be precise) so I can do the same thing. I think the head is one of the nicer female sculpts Hasbro did during this time.
I used to work for Kay-Bee in the latter stages of the chain’s existence and your two points are valid. The place I worked at was an outlet location and we hardly got anything worth mentioning. This was also around the time that Episode I merchandise clogged the Star Wars aisles to death and G.I. Joe was barely making its way back through the repaint two-packs.
As a customer, I do remember making out like a bandit back in 1990 at a store in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Stuff usually went for a buck each once a line had run its course although there were countless peg warmers. (You could army build the Robotech Masters in 1989 at bargain prices or hoard several Friar Tuck figures from the Costner Robin Hood film while that figure was still scarce elsewhere.) But if you were in the market for new stuff, Kay-Bee charged twice what was considered “suggested retail.” I only ended up collecting all the various Toy Biz 90’s Marvel lines after the ‘Bee had slashed ’em down to a couple of bucks and I ended up getting every figure I needed, so there were a few silver linings to be found.
The closest thing i got to a KAYBEE haul was in December ’95/January ’96 when my Woolworths was overstocked with unsold Streetfighter, Star brigade and Battle corps stuff.
I recal the figures were fifty cents and the street fighter VAMP was five bucks. I never noticed any mortal kombat stuff though. I wonder if those movie tie in failures were a result of both those films sucking.
The Robotech Master shelfwarming seems to be global. Last time i saw him was at my Kmart in ’94.
As the only ARAH episode i ever had was LASER IN THE NIGHT. My first reaction to this Sonya was Amber [Quick kicks girlfreind]
I don´t like her face-mold. She looks like a cross between a Russian female wrestler and a Swedish female soccer-player. But the MK-figs are really cool overall.
Something about the head, the all black suit, and the boots, that appeals to me.
In my strange world, the 4wd-Rattler/ monster-truck driving repainted-into-Vypra Jinx just didn’t feel like the character described on that file card. (THAT Vypra pretty much assumed the role of “Jinx” since it was awesome in darker colors) As well, the ninja Vypra Twins that came about in support of the Red Ninjas had awesome details, but still, they ended up being Jinx with awesome painted details.
The Vypra name became confusing here on an official level, and on the personal level, I wanted to add more unique characters to my Cobra forces.
This Sonya Blade figure worked out great for that new character. It has been sort of filling the role of Vypra for me, the boots help me imagine this character being that monster truck driving heck-on-wheels persona.
On that personal level, and I may change the name or something, but this is like Cobra Commanders replacement for Baroness and Zarana in my grand scheme. Should I switch it to just blade? Maybe make her a machete-wielding-monster-truck driving mechanic-Cobra commander bodyguard/ assassin/ninja chauffeur?
Her face’d be a perfect Oktober Guard’s Daina.
A great figure: with a Jinx’s head she’d be a great ninja too!
Not a bad headsculpt, especially compared to the GIJCC “Agent Natalie Poole” abomination, and it’s derived from the same mold!
I didn’t care about fighting games until Hasbro made Street Fighter and Mortal KOmbat in GI JOE style. After that, I only cared a little about the games themselves.
DIdn’t another company use enlarged versions of Hasbro’s MK figures some years after Hasbro ended their series? Can’t remember if SOnya was among them.
It was Toy Island, and they did use 5″ versions of these molds, some with reduced articulation. Kitana, Jade, and Mileena were new and less-articulated molds.
Yeah, I have the Toy Island Sonya.
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