CaTigeReptile Wrote:
To me, Skarlet is a very contrived and shallow character. I haven't read the comics, which in themselves might not even be canon, but in MK9 I was just very disappointed that she was . . . made to exist.
Which she was. Let's face it, she was created because they had room to make a Red Female Ninja. And that's what she is -- a really, really, really late in the game palette swap. I don't see potential with her. She's just another enforcer, who kind of looks like Kira in a bathing suit. There are so many more interesting and less bland characters out there.
Sonya, on the other hand, oh boy . . .
. . . I have written a lot about Sonya in a lot of different places, so this is literally just something I've written before. It's too bad that people don't read these posts before having already voted.
She’s been a bona-fide badass since 1992. Sure she’s weathered some embarrassing design choices recently (mk8, mk9) but she started out hardcore and remains hardcore. She was one of the first no-holds-barred badass female characters (ok the kiss of death was a little lame) and of course the literally fan-demanded character of MK1 (she was added because the game testers consistently requested a female character to play, and she was based on an actual badass Tae Kwon Do practitioner who was a mixed-gender martial arts champion at the time. In forms, yes, but that counts ok).
She was never a sidekick, never the less important character in a team of two (in fact she’s the MORE important character in a team of two). She was a high-ranking member of the military elite even back in her first appearance when she was in her early 90s workout video gear and her leg warmers. She was never cutesy, never irrelevant, never uninteresting, and has never been identifiable based on a trademark body part (yes this is a direct comparison to Chun Li, who has all the makings of a badass female character but falls short because of these two ‘she’s a girl before she’s a character’ markers common in female characters, fighting games or otherwise). Her rival, her nemesis, her equal, the character she exists to fight and beat up in a climactic throwdown, is male, and has been since 1992. This is so important! In most fictional media, especially visual media (tv shows, movies, video games), female heroes have female rivals. Look at 80% of action movies – there’s the female action heroine and there’s a conveniently female sub-boss for her to defeat, because as we all know girls can’t possibly beat boys, and men should never hit women, because women are helpless and weak even if they are elite soldiers who are martial arts masters. Not so with Sonya. Having a male nemesis means that she and her power are to be taken seriously. No excuses.
Her story is interesting -- on its own -- and relies on nobody except her, her goals, and her nemesis. She's not doing any of this for a man. In fact, I think her MKX story shows a very important thing about family relationships -- one, a divorce, but two, that women can be workaholics who aren't invested in their children that much, either. Not to mention, of course, that her MKX design, while looking like she's maybe 30, is probably her best design yet (except for the fact that she's so tiny, but all MKX females are tiny) -- she finally looks as military as any other member of the military. (Sonya has had both great designs and awful designs, but at least they've been interesting designs).
Not only that, but compared to Skarlet, again, who I really don't see having any kind of interesting storyline (she's almost identical to Mileena in backstory), she has nowhere to go. What is she doing now? What's she been doing for the past 25 years? (Comic, which is again probably not entirely canon, excluded). Who cares? She's another assassin enforcer lady in a bathing suit. Look at MKX designs, especially compared to MK9, where a ton of female characters took huge backsteps compared to their previous designs (Sheeva, anyone?).
I mean I'm all for moving on from the MK1-MKII exclusivity of these games, but . . . if you're going to replace Sonya, do it with someone original, or who doesn't have, like, three other characters almost exactly like her. Skarlet is a palette swap. Unless she gets a major overhaul and redesign in literally everything about her, I would be extremely disappointed to see her in an MK game again, let alone replacing Sonya.
Not to say that if you like her there's anything wrong with that. And hey, maybe I'm missing something really really important and interesting about her.
"She's just another enforcer, who kind of looks like Kira in a bathing suit. There are so many more interesting and less bland characters out there. " No,All she showed in MK9 and MKX comics have become an interesting character of unlimited possibility.
"very contrived and shallow" What ? You speak as if it were a generic character, you are confusing, it is much better than the three new female characters who are more of the same (Cassie, Jacqui and D'vorah)
We've got chicken tonight. Strangest damn things. They're man made. 
