So, in case you don’t remember, I went to an estate sale last year and bought a bunch of carded GI Joe figures from 1994. There were some 1993 figures in the lot as well, but almost all of them were from the Street Fighter 2 sub-line. I’ve been in a Street Fighter mood lately (like literally [figuratively] everyone else in the entire world), so I thought it would be fun to take a look at a figure I don’t have much experience with.

That brings us to today’s review– we’re looking at 1993 GI Joe Street Fighter 2 Sagat!

I had a fun time playing around with this figure and analyzing all of its various intricacies. I hope you enjoy this review as much as I enjoyed making it for you.

The Menace of 1993 GI Joe Street Fighter 2 Sagat

As I’ve alluded to in a couple of previous reviews, Street Fighter 2 was a big deal for me as a kid. And, as it so happened, one of my favorite childhood toy lines happened to catch Street Fighter Fever in 1993, as well.

When I was eight years old, it seemed impossible to me that my favorite Street Fighter characters were joining the GI Joe toy line. I almost believed it was too good to be true. But they were real! And they were also somewhat phoned-in. That was something I could figure out even at the age of eight years old.

I only had a couple SF figures of my own as a kid. I had Ken Masters and the Sonic Boom Tank with “Championship Edition” Guile. some of my friends owned various other figures and it was fun to pit out collections against each other and stage one-on-one fights.

I’m not sure why I didn’t own more of the SF2 GI Joe figures as a kid, but I remember them being kind of hard to find in stores at the time. Plus, I was slightly losing interest in GI Joe at the time– I still really liked it, but other toy lines were becoming more exciting to me.

Street Fighter 2 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was one thing I was not losing interest in. My friends and I played it all the time. We eagerly awaited each new Nintendo Power article that explained why the next, newest, full-priced iteration of the same old Street Fighter 2 was a Must Purchase Game of the Year. We watched the crappy cartoon series and learned all the lore about all of the characters.

I never found Street Fighter 2 to be an easy game, even though I played it a lot and learned all the special moves I could. Once I got through the regular characters and got to the bosses, I often found Sagat to be almost impossible to defeat. And, in the lore and story of the game, he was supposed to be almost impossible to defeat. He received the large scar on his chest from Ryu, who was the only man to ever humble him.

That in-game difficulty, coupled with the character’s backstory, gave Sagat an undeniable amount of credibility in my young mind. He was huge, he was scary, and he was a menace.

In the 1994 Street Fighter film, Sagat was a crime boss and arms dealer. He was also M. Bison’s right hand man. He was the movie’s version of Destro, basically, which built him up even further into a sort of mythical bad guy. I watched that movie at least a dozen times as a kid, so Sagat was a larger-than-life presence to me.

I desperately wanted all four of the bad guy “boss” Street Fighter 2 GI Joe figures as a kid, but never ended up owning any of them. So Sagat just stood there menacingly on the screen and in my imagination, but never in my toy box.

A few years ago, I got the SF2 movie version of Sagat in a mixed lot. And, while I was happy to have him, I never spent much time with the figure. I figured that opening this carded 1993 Sagat would be a good chance to become more acquainted with the figure and give it an objective review.

1993 GI Joe Street Fighter 2 Sagat Review

Sagat was released in 1993 as part of GI Joe’s Street Fighter 2 sub-line. The figures featured larger card backs than regular Joe toys and, from what I understand, were slightly more expensive, too. That extra cost must have come from the licensing, since the SF2 figs were comparable to average Battle Corps or Ninja Force figures in most every respect.

Here’s the packaging:

The figure’s file card is very well written and perfectly explains why Sagat is such a compelling character. His pride forces him to align with M. Bison’s evil legions, but he is a decent man otherwise.

I also really like the artwork on the front of the card. In my opinion, it ranks up there with some of the best packaging art in the entire vintage GI Joe line. The little video game tip section on the back is a nice touch, but the cross sell art is kind of funny to me. All of the illustrations are technically very well done, but pretty much every single character looks sick, deranged, or full of despair. Except for Sagat and E. Honda, who both look quite handsome and dashing. I associate many things with Sagat, but being extremely attractive is not one of them.

Bring back Hot Sagat!

Much to my surprise, a couple of other items were included with the figure. I bought or received many GI Joe toys in 1993, but don’t remember anything about these things.

First up, we get a trading card. It shows Cyber Viper as he appears in the live action toy commercials. It’s honestly a really cool little novelty.

The next item is a little mail away booklet, offering a poster. The poster features the cast of those live action Joe commercials. This is something I’d really love to track down, as those commercials were very fun and the costumes were brilliant. Seeing Snow Job hang out in the jungle is always a treat, as well.

And let’s just say that “GI Joe wants to hang out in your room with you” would likely not be approved as ad copy in 2023. The world was a more innocent place 30 years ago.

Now, onto the figure itself.

1993 GI Joe Street Fighter 2 Sagat was one of only three figures in the SF2 sub-line to feature all-new sculpting. Most figures in the line featured body parts reused from older GI Joe figures, along with brand new head sculpts.

Of the 12 single carded Street Fighter 2 figures, only Sagat, E. Honda, and Dhalsim received totally unique molds.

Here’s the figure:

As you can plainly see, Sagat is fuckin’ swole, bro. He features an extremely muscular build and he is wearing almost no clothing, which is appropriate for his status as the world’s best Muay Thai fighter.

His head sculpt is very, very good. Sure he’s ugly, but the eye patch, the harsh facial features, and his intense expression give him the perfect amount of menace. This is a dude who will mess you up. The star of the show is the scar on his chest, though. This has to be one of the most grisly and gruesome details featured on any GI Joe figure. It looks more like his chest has been freshly slashed open, revealing the inner musculature, than it looks like a traditional scar. Regardless, it’s awesome and you can tell the sculptors had a great time making this figure.

The effort and care that went into this toy is also pretty clear when you look at the sculpting on its arms and legs. The wraps around Sagat’s hands and feet are expertly done, and this absolutely looks like something a Muay Thai fighter would wear.

The veins on his bulging biceps look great, too. And although Sagat doesn’t feature a ton of extra painted detail, the blue and red on his shorts pop nicely and the paint for the wraps is vibrant and applied almost perfectly.

The only real weird thing about the figure’s sculpt is that his shoulders seem set a bit too low. And he doesn’t have much of a neck. But that’s maybe just because his traps are so dang yoked that they’ve edged out everything else. Regardless of this minor oddity, the sculpt of Sagat’s absolutely ripped upper body is second to none.

Sagat is also taller than most GI Joe figures, which is appropriate for the character. To illustrate, here he is with the other three “boss” characters released in 1993.

Sagat’s body parts were re-used a few other times. In 1994, the figure was recolored for the Street Fighter movie line. He was packaged with the Devastator (a repaint/retool of the classic Snow Cat) and named Viktor Sagat.

Also in 1994, the single-carded Johnny Cage figure from Hasbro’s Mortal Kombat line reused Sagat’s entire lower body. It looks like Cage’s torso may be a slightly modified version of Sagat’s, but I have no way of confirming this theory.

Lastly, Sagat’s head was used for the 2004 convention exclusive Dreadnok Demolishor figure. I don’t own that figure, and likely never will, so I can’t show you a comparison. Sorry about that.

Onto accessories!

Sagat’s weapons tree is here to celebrate Grimace’s Birthday.

This exact weapons tree was widely used in 1993 and 1994. It’s honestly pretty fun to get these weapons in purple. Sagat’s not really a guy you associate with using edged weapons, but he had to come with accessories anyway. So let’s take a look.

Sagat came with a purple scimitar, which was also available with figures such as Chun-Li, Ninja Force Snake Eyes, and Ninja Force Scarlett. I really like this weapon. He also included a purple version of Ninja Force Storm Shadow’s sword.

He also came with Dojo’s short sword and a dagger that was new for 93 (but also came with Chun-Li, Scarlett, and Snake Eyes), both cast in that same purple plastic.

He also featured two of the claws that originally came with 1988 Storm Shadow. They’re purple, too. If you remember, the 1993 Vega figure didn’t actually come with claws (which is absurd), and these actually look pretty god with that toy. I find that Chun-Li’s yellow claws look a bit better, though. And it’s really not important, but I have to mention it anyway– Sagat can’t use these claws very well, as the clips are too small for his massive forearms. It takes quite a bit of effort to make them stay on the figure. But Sagat isn’t really a Claw Guy, so it hardly matters. Give them to Vega or another ninja figure.

Lastly, Sagat comes with a purple battle stand and a purple version of 1992 Nunchuk’s nunchaku.

Let’s briefly talk about Sagat’s action feature. Since he has an internal spring-loaded gimmick, he is built differently than the average GI Joe figure. There is no screw on his back, so he cannot be easily disassembled and his o-ring can’t be replaced.

Basically, it’s the same as Ninja Force Storm Shadow’s action feature. When you move one arm up, the other arm moves down. This can replicate punching or slashing with weapons, but it’s not very effective. We should be thankful Hasbro didn’t saddle Sagat with a kicking action feature, so he retains most of the standard GI Joe articulation. You can “click” both of his arms into different positions to pose him how you’d like. I don’t love the action feature, as it mostly makes Sagat look like he’s Johnny Bravo doing “The Monkey.”

Ah well. Win some, lose some.

1993 GI Joe Street Fighter 2 Sagat is a figure I ended up really liking, despite the action feature. His unique sculpt makes him a very nice representation of the video game character, which is more than enough if you’re a Street Fighter fan. But Sagat is also a GI Joe figure, and I’m also a GI Joe fan.

So how does he work in the world of GI Joe?

Well, to be blunt, the figure really only works as a martial artist. He can be an enforcer, a body guard, a mercenary, a pit fighter, a wise sensei, a ruthless assassin, or a Muay Thia master. GI Joe is full of ninjas and other hand-to-hand fighting types, so there’s lots of room for this figure to fit in, but he’s not very versatile.

I think most of Street Fighter 2 fits into the world of GI Joe with very little effort. There can be underground fighting tournaments happening while Cobra is plotting to control the world’s microwave ovens and Shipwreck crashes his third Skystriker of the week.

So Sagat, the character, can fit into GI Joe pretty easily, too, but his role is limited. He can plot with M. Bison and kick the snot out of Duke or Banzai. But, even though he can throw fireballs generated by his own innate karate energy, Sagat isn’t really at home on the battlefield or in a firefight. And that’s fine. Sagat is a Street Fighter and he doesn’t need to be more than that.

If you want to use this figure as someone other than Sagat, I already laid out some pretty good options for you. But, if you like to stick to the Real Ass Military aspect of GI Joe (*yawn*), then this figure might not please you as much as it pleases me.

But, at the end of the day, 1993 Sagat is a thoughtfully-made, well-sculpted figure with a totally unique mold. And that counts for a lot in my book.

Overall: As one of the only uniquely sculpted figures in Hasbro’s Street Fighter 2 toy line, Sagat stands out. He basically has it all– a great mold, good colors, and a fearsome appearance. But he’s also a video game character with a built-in action feature, and he may have limited use in most GI Joe collections. If you’re a Street Fighter fan, then you need this figure. But, even if you’re just a GI Joe fan or a toy fan in general, this figure is still Recommended.

Additional Resources:

• Sagat at 3DJoes
• Sagat at YoJoe.com
• Sagat Video Review by Pegwarmers
• Sagat at Joe A Day

Closing Thoughts on 1993 GI Joe Street Fighter 2 Sagat

Thanks for joining me! I had fun with this one. I hope you enjoyed it, too.

As I said earlier, I have a bad case of Street Fighter Fever. I find myself really wanting to buy Street Fighter 6, even though I’m not very good at fighting games. We’ll see if my current hyperfixation wins out over practicality and common sense. You can probably already guess how it’s going to go.

Who’s your favorite Street Fighter character? What’s your favorite Street Fighter game? How would use use Sagat in your own GI Joe world and/or collection? Let me know in the comments!