Sammo Hung made a career out of that.

I think we're going into areas we don't really need to. Granted, that broadening is inevitable when a conversation lasts this long but I think we can scale it back a bit to make it a bit more wieldy and focused on what the real issue is.

I've seen confident girls show it all and confident girls cover up like they're going to Siberia. I don't think her outfit speaks to such specific details about her personality.

What I think matters is that it doesn't speak to her character. That is, her character in its most superficial terms. She's a soldier. I wouldn't much appreciate Liu Kang in full clown makeup for the same reason I don't think this costume works for Sonya. It's not about her sexuality or her personality. It's about her role in the context of the game. As Mojo6 said, a female Guile is a really good analogy. Guile isn't exactly literal military. His hair is way beyond regulation. But he's military with creative embellishments. Sonya, on the other hand, is designed in reverse. They don't start with something military and then embellish it from there. They start with "little clothing as possible" and only then do they add a few details that are vaguely reminiscent of an officer.

And, like I said so many pages ago, when you have such little in the way of actual clothing you don't have much to work with as far as creativity goes. You can't really make it look like much. Certainly not make it particularly memorable. It just becomes "oh, a vest with her boobs out."

What's really the endgame? I would like to see some standardization. Scorpion and Sub-Zero have had different costumes over the years but the motif is consistent. The color, the V-shape, the mask, etc. I'd like to see Sonya develop a similar identity. This sure as hell ain't it. It's just random pieces of clothing and they decide to show us her boobs to blind us to that fact.

Worded wonderfully. That's pretty much what has me ticked, among other things, about how these characters are turning out. It seems that the creators just do not care about the characters they have spent years developing, years they are willing to flush down the toilet just for the sake of overt sexuality. That, or they really don't know what to do with their own creations anymore, but I am hoping the creators aren't THAT clueless.

Sammo has that stocky "I'm the tough kind of fat guy" frame. He's more, like, tapping into the Bo' Rai Cho or Kingpin sorts of "fat guy who fights" tropes.
Michael O'Brien had really more of a carrying-a-spare-tire look going on. Like he could have been in shape, but now he's in his mid-30's and it's just all goin' downhill. Just not a good choice to bluescreen a fighting game character.

Tony double posted....my role model has done the unthinkable. why?!

But really it appears sonya is truly the poster girl for Mk I mean look at all the pages.

SORRY, but still sonya's been fucking boring all these years. take a poll and tell me what number out of 100 will want to play as her just cuz she's a military liutenant?

no one cares..


this hot number is 6098503498534098530 times better than the aerobicide outfit. dont you dare let boon think otherwise. boneya's character needs refreshing and if you bitches think she should be fitting in aerobics clothes with a green and white color scheme maybe you are even stucker in the 90s than i am and i thought i was a huge MK fan..


just fucking think that this game needs to make millions and if if sex sells i'd rather they sell sex than overcompenate sex for gameplay.

There aren't 27 pages because she's a "poster girl", there are 27 pages because she has no undershirt.

^^ That too.

I don't think anybody is saying that the aerobics outfit is so much better. Although in all those games, particularly MK3, the spandex costumes were more in line with classic superheroes than straight up exercise outfits. If we're going for superhero tropes then putting her in spandex isn't the most inappropriate angle.

But, even if we accept that the green spandex from the early games was boring, what they've done is just replaced one boring costume with another. Except this time the boring costume is not just boring on its own account due to limited design aesthetic but also is boringly cliche. A fighting game girl with her boobs out? Stop the presses! It's laughably predictable. It's not edgy if everybody is doing it. It's boring.

MK was one of the fighting game pioneers back in the day. Is it really in the game's best interest to now try to be some wannabe DOA or Soul Calibur? How about instead of biting off of Ivy's schtick, design a costume other developers try to bite off?

I've just discovered (thanks to Russian fans) that the Magazine also features a poster of Sonya and Scorpion together.

There is a cool picture of her beating up Johnny Cage.

The picture I saw of her "pushing" Johnny Cage is really bad quality, but, she looks quite intimidating and she's rocking her new costume.

Awesome.

It would be awesome if we can take a look at the pics. Sonya owning Johnny: that is an absolute must-see, haha

First off, it's lieutenant, second of all, who the hell is Boneya? Are you trying to inform the community here that you're getting boners off of a fictional character? Grow up then. Lastly, stucker is not even a word.

Personally, I dont play as characters based on their appearance, I play as them if their moves and fighting styles suit my preferences. Speedy, fast characters have always appealed to me for example, but regardless how *erotic* Mileena looks or how heavy Sektor looks, it wont bother me, I'll still play as them. I'd like to think in this case that most fans will look past Sonya's outfit if they like the look of how she plays.

We have 27 pages of opinion on this topic, and I stress the word OPINION (which we are all entitled to), because regardless whether it's a thong or a pair of pyjama's she's wearing, it's still Sonya Blade. Sonya being the original female fighter in the series and one of the most respected female characters in video game history. Her fans have every reason to dislike, or like her outfit, but they are still entitled to their opinion. It doesn't mean they are stuck in the 90's just because what she's wearing does not appeal to their tastes.

This game does not NEED to make millions, it needs to keep it's fans happy, and that's the one thing NRS have consistantly promised it's fans since we first heard about this game. Even the biggest Sonya fans have agreed on this thread that her outfit does not reflect who and what she represents and they are right to express that opinion because feedback is what NRS want.

If you'd rather sex than gameplay, well then your probably on the wrong forum. This is a video game, not a porno, and as scripted and ficticious as they both may be, there is a huge difference.

**hugs love hugs love hugs love**

.........

.......(+ sex in just a bit)



100% Agreed.



Exactly.

And once again: after seeing those screenshots of her (and even the HQ render) you can clearly see she's not showing as much as we all (me included) originally thought.

But yes, a freaking shirt would make her feel complete and it would really add more to her design.

Once again, very well said and perfectly worded. I love reading all your posts for many reasons, one of them being that you truly know how to express yourself in an intelligent and polite way. You always have something posituve and smart to say no matter what the situation/discussion is all about.

You rock.



Thank you.

Sonya herself has awarded you her "I APPROVE" stamp:

I'll just leave this right here...

Why do they look like Woody and Buzz from Toy Story?

Because that's who they're actually based on.

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/X_Everywhere

Good catch. :3

Congratulations! This thread has reached 666 posts. (667 including this one)

I haven't seen anybody argue that her aerobic gear would be better, most of the dissent is that her new look doesn't suit her personality or doesn't suit her profession, even the more fringe opinions of her being a "slut or "whore" don't come out in support of her aerobic gear.

I still think she looks awesome, but I fail to understand how giving her high heels( like the rest of the females in this game have) and making her show cleavage would make her less boring, if anything the fact that she has what all the other girls have is well...boring and unoriginal. What made Sonya stale to some wasn't that "oh shoot she's not wearing stilletto boots and showing cleavage snore " It had more to do with story as opposed ot anything else because I think her moves have always for the most part been well received.

Again, I'm not outraged by the costume (I'm glad she's got the awesome dark green going on and she looks pretty and fierce as well, just some minor changes, like ditching the high heels would be preferred. I think all the "she's a whore, slut" etc comments are extremely uncalled for and unneeded though.


Sex sells isn't an excuse for making a character dress "out of character". There's nothing wrong with sexual characters or sexuality, it's a natural part of life, but to think that every female needs to be showing her boobs and wearing high heels is boring, unoriginal, and it sends a bad message to me. You've got a soldier and an Edenian Assassin, but they both dress in revealing clothing and both wear high heels? I'm not saying to make her into a prude, but seriously, she doesn't need to be just like Mileena.

What's most ironic is that I'm pretty sure "sex sells" isn't really true anyway in most cases. Dead Or Alive doesn't exactly top the charts. I'm pretty sure it sells worse than all of the major fighting franchises. And that Rumble Roses game? Seemed to sell moderately well at best. So, really, what is NRS or WB getting out of this?

I think I'm really starting to agree with this:



Not necessarily because I'm particularly looking to see any of the characters nude but because it seems like we're going through this same song and dance every damn game from every damn publisher. We had this exact same discussion about Catwoman in MK vs. DCU. And it's like it's a cycle that won't break unless something gives. If you're itching to do something and bits of it keep creeping into your work, just fucking do it already and get it over with. Then everybody can move on.

It's like...what's the endgame here? Is there a reason that Sonya can dress completely inappropriately, out of character, and whatever other criticisms work but at the same time actually showing full nudity (of Sonya or otherwise, in whatever way, be it a story sequence or whatnot) is somehow crossing a line?

It makes me wonder why. What is it about Sonya's side boob that's A-OK? Or her visible nipples in MK vs. DCU? But combining the two, actually topless, is weird and just...not...right?

I kind of "get it" in a sense. That we can do the whole "almost sex," that Maxim Magazine kind of PG-13 fare, because then we have plausible deniability. "It's just a game." But the second we cross that line and a girl (be it Sonya, Mileena, Ivy, Mai Shiranui, Kasumi, etc.) actually shows up topless, then we no longer have the plausible deniability and we're essentially playing a hentai game, getting our kicks from naked video game girls. Becoming one of those people. Because if dad walks in the room and Sonya's side boob is out it's no big deal but if he walks in and she's topless then he starts wondering if his son is having girl trouble.

But it all just sounds stupid once you realize that Maxim Magazine is garbage and this "almost sex" isn't doing anybody any good. It's not helping sell games in any significant number, it's not attracting fans (as evidenced by this thread), it's not helping advance the genre, and it's not enough nudity to be sexually stimulating.

And since it's not edgy anymore because everybody does it, it's not garnering any attention, other than ironically negative attention from the game's core fans.

I honestly think that there would be less of a backlash if Sonya were wearing a rather conservative, appropriate costume in the game but had a full frontal shower scene in the story mode. It might be corny and maybe a bit "lulz" but at least then you can have your cake and eat it too. You keep most people happy by giving her a legit costume, get the "sex sells" angle if that's what you're going for, and do something that is genuinely edgy that not too many games do, particularly not for such a famous character from a famous series.

I just think it's so ironic. If NRS and WB had bigger balls and were willing to show more of Sonya's body in a reasonable context they'd actually face less criticism. I guess that shows it's really the "how" of it more than the "what."

I'm not really concerned too much about dignity. This is a game where you can tear people apart in a notably undignified way, after all. In fact, that's the point. The battle damage, X-ray attacks, fatalities, are all specifically tailored to that. Nobody in MK is treated with dignity upon hearing the familiar "Finish Him!" One of the issues with MK vs. DCU was specifically because the heroes had to be treated with dignity. But this is MK proper so, for better or worse, that's out the window.

I don't like Sonya's costume. That being said, I don't necessarily agree with other people's reasons for not liking the costume. If we're just talking about showing Sonya's body, well, like I said...you could show her fully nude and depending on how you do it there might be less to complain about.

Oh I don't care about dignity in this game either. I just treat it as a game. Like I do with every other game I own.

The argument I stated in this thread is that I don't think she looks military-like whatsoever with what she has and the heels make it worse for me to figure out if she is still apart of a military-like agency or if she's just fucking with our minds and trying to have us figure out exactly what she belongs to.

Do you agree with that argument or is that one of the arguments you don't agree on? Just wondering.

And on a side note, not sure if this is true or not, I don't think too many people here probably knows that she is a lieutenant... Like I said, I doubt that this sentence is true, but one never knows.

Ps. I can't believe I actually spelt lieutenant right without right clicking on the error and turning it into the word. Yes, I did cheer my heart out as I am a good speller, I just could never freaking spell that word right. Damnit! i can go to be knowing that I spelled that word right.

I agree that the costume is bad because it doesn't look very military but that's only part of it. I think it's bad because it's just uninspired, even if it did look military. My reason for not liking it is because it's just plain boring.

i just dont see it as that out of character when you look at her MK4 costume.

my only complaint is that she does look very nina williams esque.. maybe its the hair and the face.