I've stated multiple times that Mortal Kombat is stuck in the past, from a stagnant roster
that's relied heavily on the first two games for the last decade, to nostalgia costume
being almost exclusively from the original trilogy, to releasing a movie costume pack
based on a twenty-seven-year-old movie instead of either of the two films released during
that game's lifespan.
But MK's merchandise also has this issue, as well as has a general lack of variety.
I'm going to take you through MK's action figure output from the last two decades to
highlight how stagnant and unimaginative many areas of the MK franchise have become.
I'll be ignoring variants like recolours, maskless and x-rays and just focusing on the
characters themselves, unless there's something noteworthy about the variants.
The first MK figures I ever came across were the four 6" figures made by Jazwares for 2004's
MK Deception.
Being the first MK figures since, like, MK Trilogy in 1996, it's understandable that
they'd want something classic to start the series, rather than something that's Deception-specific.
That's why I'm fine with them having Scorpion and Sub-Zero, Deadly Alliance Raiden instead
of Dark Raiden, and Baraka who had been absent in the last game and whose return was so eagerly
awaited by fans that he was in both cinematic trailers.
It's a shame there were no newcomers in this set, but it's fine as a starting point for
a new line of figures.
The next set was for 2005's Shaolin Monks, giving us the titular monks, naturally, and...
Scorpion and Sub-Zero...
One can maybe argue that this Sub-Zero is Bi-Han, and maybe it was done because these
are the four characters you can play the campaign as (please give us the multiplayer characters
in the campaign too if you ever remaster the game, Ed), but it does kinda feel like just
an excuse to do Scorpion and Sub-Zero in more classic designs than their respective Champion
and Cryomancer looks.
It's borderline acceptable.
Kintaro was also planned but never released.
For 2006's Armageddon, we got Goro, Reptile, Kano, Noob Saibot (meaning we definitely have
a Sub-Zero here twice now), and...
Shaolin Monks Johnny Cage?
That's weird.
Even weirder?
They aren't labelled as Armageddon, but Deception for Noob, Goro and Kano (even though Kano
wasn't in Deception) and Shaolin Monks for the other two.
And they just threw in weapons from the Shaolin Monks set like the broadswords for absolutely
no reason.
So the characters chosen aren't the issue, it's everything else that's either weird or
lazy.
Jazwares stuck around for the series relaunch in 2011 with a new set.
Being the first figures for the series in five years, there's some leeway for redoing
certain characters, but we have Scorpion and Sub-Zero AGAIN; Raiden, Johnny Cage, Kano,
Baraka and Reptile for a slightly less emphasised again, and Shao Kahn, Goro, Nightwolf and
Jax, making this the most extensive toyline aside from the current McFarlane Toys run.
I believe there were plans for Sonya, but the line was cancelled and Jazwares never
touched MK again.
At the same time, there was a "Klassic" line by Jazwares, which was just a series of 4"
UMK3 male and cyber ninjas, and 6" MK1-styled Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Smoke and Reptile based
on the MK9 rendition of the design.
This is where Funko comes in and things get a whole lot worse from here.
Not because #IDislikeFunkoPops, but because a new company means a line-wide reset on which
characters have been done.
Plus, Funko is either bound by Netherrealm and WB or are likeminded in their lack of
originality.
First, for MKX, there was a set of five pop vinyls: default Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and
Tournament Raiden, Liu Kang and Kitana.
There were also limited edition Mileena, Goro, 8-bit Raiden and, of all things, Deadly Alliance
alternate costume Scorpion.
I love it, but why?
As a set of five characters to start off your line, they're fine, but none of MKX's new
generation were included, nor any of the Cages.
It's a general MK set using MKX designs.
The main five were also the characters chosen for these weird buff boi figures.
So, not off to a great start.
Their next set was an MK1 series, consisting of...
Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden and Liu Kang.
Let's put aside the fact that these characters have already all been featured in the line.
Let's put aside the fact that there are already two Sub-Zeroes and three Scorpions.
Why the hell would you pick Raiden for this when the MKX Tournament design is already
based on MK1?
Why would you pick Liu Kang from the game that precedes all of his classic physical
identifiers?
Why would you not at least swap those two out for Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade?
Ridiculous.
Then came the 2021 movie series.
The largely absent Scorpion has three variants when it could've easily just been two, Sub-Zero
is there with a glow-in-the-dark variant, and we also finally have something Sonya-related
for the first time since the pissing nineties, and Cole Young.
I don't mind Cole being here since he's the movie's protagonist, but you couldn't at least
drop a Scorpion variant to make a version of Cole that glows orange like in the film?
All told, ignoring minor variants, the Mortal Kombat Funko Pop line consists of twenty individual
figures, with a total of only nine characters.
Nine.
Fucking... nine.
Imagine how many iconic and popular characters they could have done if they'd filled those
extra eleven slots in with other characters.
Imagine how many more they could have sold to people who don't want to buy the same character
twice, even if it's a different version.
Hell, imagine if they'd done their usual and made a mould for a classic ninja and done
all the palette swaps.
Absolutely ridiculous.
But Funko wasn't the only company to touch MKX.
Mezco also took a crack at it, delivering a 6" line consisting of the obligatory Scorpion,
Sub-Zero, Kitana and Raiden, along with Quan Chi and Kotal Kahn, marking the first characters
introduced after the MK3 series to receive a figure of any kind.
Think about that.
Much as I dislike him, it took Quan Chi, a popular and long-standing character in the
series, eighteen years after his game debut to get a proper figure, not counting that
super-deformed one for MK9.
That's just modern MK in a nutshell, really.
Mezco also did 12" Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
Then, we have the currently ongoing McFarlane Toys line for MK11.
This is pretty much part of the deal if you want Spawn in your fighting game.
This line has all sorts of oddities, like Past Liu Kang having his revenant gauntlets
or the shirtless variant only being for the Bruce Lee colours and not the default; Baraka
only now getting a version with his shirt on when he was one of the first four released;
Johnny, Sub-Zero and Raiden being unreasonably difficult to find in their normal colours
in the UK; and Kotal having less accessories than his Mezco counterpart; but let's focus
on the chosen characters.
Naturally, we have Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden and Kitana.
But we also have Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Shao Kahn, Kotal Kahn, Baraka, Kabal, Noob Saibot,
three different Spawns, the Joker, and the upcoming Nightwolf.
A decent selection and it's nice to see characters like Nightwolf and Kabal get some love for
once.
Storm Collectibles also has a line of figures, consisting of MK2 and UMK3 versions of all
the male ninjas; MK2 Raiden, Baraka, and Kung Lao; the MK3 cyber ninjas and Sub-Zero; Goro,
Kintaro, Motaro and Shao Kahn.
No girls allowed...
And they fully unveiled the MK3 Liu Kang figure right as I was finishing up this video.
They come with a bunch of accessories and are very highly-detailed, but they cost a
ridiculous amount, which you'd think they could bring down based on the reduced manufacturing
costs from over half the line coming from only two moulds.
The kollector's edition stuff is always Scorpion and/or Sub-Zero, from MK9's bookends and little
diorama, to MKX's two different Scorpion statues, to the massive unwearable Scorpion and Sub-Zero
helmets for MK11 (Sub-Zero's being unavailable in the US because Ed Boon does hate Sub-Zero
no matter what he tells you) to the Scorpion's Revenge 4" figure of Scorpion that the sequel
never got an equivalent of.
And finally, we have miscellaneous stuff: there's the statues from Iron Studios (MK2
Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Shao Kahn and MK1 Goro) and Diamond Selects (MK11 Scorpion,
MK1 Raiden, and MK2 Sub-Zero and Kitana).
And there's been an assortment of SD stuff over the years, most just being Scorpion and
Sub-Zero and one line having Shao Kahn, Kabal and Quan Chi.
And MK9 and X had some bobble heads, with 9's even including Shao Kahn.
And there's also the very rare plushie.
Now, let's go back to my earlier point from the Mezco section.
Looking back over everything I've discussed here, how many of these characters were introduced
after MK3?
Quan Chi, who has one figure and one SD thing; Kotal Kahn, who has two figures; and Cole
Young, the movie OC with one pop vinyl.
No Kenshi, no Shinnok, no Havik, no Skarlet, no Cassie, no Takeda, no D'Vorah, no Geras.
For all anyone's talk about characters like them or Jacqui Briggs being these super popular
characters, no one at Netherrealm, WB or any of these companies seem to have any faith
in those allegedly popular characters' ability to sell figures.
And even icons like Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade and Shao Kahn struggle to get representation,
with a constant focus on Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden and Kitana.
There are so many other popular and iconic characters you could use, even from the original
trilogy, that haven't had anything here like Jade, Sindel or Shang Tsung.
SHANG TSUNG!
TJB Raiden: "Shang Tsung!"
Everyone involved in MK seems to be content calling the post-3 characters garbage while
making no attempt to make people like them with a reinvention in a game or a cool figure.
Like, how the hell has the McFarlane line, limited to MK11 only by some fool's choice,
done three different Spawns, two Barakas and the goddamn Joker before Sonya Blade, Cassie
Cage, Kenshi or Cary Tagawa Shang Tsung?
ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO MONEY, TODD!?
If you liked this video, then please prioritise buying figures of characters that don't get
much attention over the big four to send all these companies a message.
If not, then you probably love Scorpion just a little too much.
...Mr Boon.
I'm sure he actually has little-to-no say in the figures, it's just a bit.
Today's recommended video is The Problem With Sonic Toys by Splash Dash, which hits on some
similar points to this video, but for Sonic instead.