This article is about a monster in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. |
King Sphinx was an Egyptian sphinx-themed monster who served as the main antagonist of the episode "A Pressing Engagement".
History
Mighty Morphin
King Sphinx is initially mentioned by Finster as a monster to use as a way of separating Jason from the other Power Rangers to destroy him and leave them leaderless and easy to destroy.
Finster supposedly creates him from a handful of Egyptian sand which he threw into the clay mold whilst making the monster's model.
At Rita's request, King Sphinx deploys with the Putty Patrol so Zack, Kimberly and Jason arrive at the Children's Theater to fight them but King Sphinx flaps his wings hard enough to send Kimberly and Zack away to the Angel Grove Youth Center. After doing so, with all his Putties gone, King Sphinx blasts Jason with fire but he is unfazed and jumps at the monster and slashes the monster with his Power Sword but King Sphinx is unfazed and he has to roll away from a swing. After two more slashes that do nothing, they blade lock but Sphinx leaps into the air and teleports himself and Jason to the quarry and they roll down a hill before fighting again. King Sphinx quickly takes out Jason's legs but the Ranger blocks a swing to his neck and kicks away the monster before they jump at each other in mid-air, Unfortunately, it is at this point that Goldar arrives and forces Jason to dodge towards King Sphinx though Jason then slashes him away.
Unfortunately, Rita then enlarges the two villains and Jason has to retreat from their giant footsteps even as they blast him down. Fortunately, despite King Sphinx blasting him, Jason is able to retrieve a bag filled with the new Power Crystals and use them to teleport the other Rangers in before he summons the Dinozords. Forming Tank Mode, they blast the two villains but they are unfazed and blast the formation with devastating force so they have to enter Battle Mode. Goldar and King Sphinx are smacked aside with Goldar getting punched back twice and Sphinx punched away. Though Goldar's counterattack forces them into Tank Mode again, they ram down him and King Sphinx and blast them with the Cranial Laser. Enraged, King Sphinx leaps at them and slashes the Megazord but they deflect three more slashes and punch him away so he tries to blow them away instead. However, it barely pushes back the Megazord and Jason summons the Power Sword and they finish off King Sphinx with its energized slash. As he flails and cries out, King Sphinx face-plants and explodes.
The Lost Episode
King Sphinx was seen in archive footage, along with various Villains and Rangers, when Austin St. John and Walter Jones related about the Power Rangers' team from Mighty Morphin until the recently Lost Galaxy. TV STORY-The Lost Episode
Angel Grove News report
When Bulk reports the daily report on Angel Grove, mentioning the first incident that Rita Repulsa cause in Angel Grove and her quest to conquer the world, with her monsters, King Sphinx is seen briefly in a flashback during Bulk's report. COMIC STORY- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 1
Godzilla vs. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
When Rita Repulsa apparently defeated Tommy Oliver, she reveals her malefic plan, after destroying this world, she to betray the Xiliens in her vision, using the multiversal focus to return her dimension with the Toho Kaijus under her control combined with her monsters including King Sphinx to destroying Zordon, the Power Rangers and Angel Grove. COMIC STORY- Godzilla vs. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Issue 3Personality
King Sphinx was a wicked monster who took great pride in destroying the Rangers and stopped at nothing to help Rita take over the Earth. However he was also arrogant and confident and it was his weakness as he lost to the Rangers.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Teleportation: King Sphinx could teleport to any location at will by jumping into the air and fading away and could even take others with him, such as Jason.
- Cobra Beam: King Sphinx could unleash a large clear light yellow colored energy beam from the golden and blue cobra statue mounted on his head. Although this was only used once, when he was made giant, it was powerful enough to blast Jason off of the hillside whilst he recovered the Power Crystals.
Abilities
- Strength: King Sphinx was easily able to overpower and out-muscle Jason with no trouble whatsoever and three hits on the Rangers were more than enough to take him down.
- Durability: King Sphinx shrugged off a slash across his waist from Jason's Power Sword who cut downwards whilst jumping, and a follow-up also had no effect. When giant, neither Tank Mode's eye blasts nor the Megazord's Cranial Laser could make a scratch on him.
- Weapon Combat: King Sphinx was able to overwhelm Jason alone and nearly destroy him completely when Goldar pitched in.
- Extraordinary Leaper: King Sphinx could leap about twenty feet in the air with a single jump.
- Wind Blast: King Sphinx's signature power where he could blow opponents away with the flap of his wings. They were strong enough to blow both Kimberly and Zack all the way back to the Youth Center and cause them to demorph.
- Mega Wind Blast: When King Sphinx grew giant, his regular wing blasts got upgraded and became much stronger. They look identical to the original version but were able to blow the Megazord away.
Weaknesses
to be added
Arsenal
- Sphinx Scepter: King Sphinx wielded a large blue-yellow scepter with a gold question mark on the end in combat.
- Question Mark Fireball Barrage: From the question mark atop the Sphinx Scepter, King Sphinx could emit a barrage of flaming fireballs in shapes of question marks.
Behind the Scenes
Portrayal
- King Sphinx was voiced by Richard Cansino and was the first monster of the week to not be voiced by Tom Wyner.
Design
- He is based on the Sphinx of Egyptian mythology.
Etymology
- His name alludes to his powerful "King-like" nature and that he is a Sphinx.
Notes
- Despite only appearing in one episode, King Sphinx was featured on much of the early merchandise for the show.
- King Sphinx was the first monster of the week to grow and be destroyed while giant.
- Though he would not be seen again on the show again physically, an illustration of King Sphinx would be featured in a page of Finster's monster book in the season one episode, "Happy Birthday, Zack". In "Island of Illusion, Part II", a flashback from "A Pressing Engagement" is shown when Jason recalled his fight with King Sphinx and beating the monster in order to keep from fading away into nothingness.
- Though King Sphinx only appeared in his debut episode, footage of the Goldar/King Sphinx fight from that episode can be seen in a few season one episodes, including the pilot "Day of the Dumpster" and "Crystal of Nightmares". Sometimes when the Megazord attacks Goldar, King Sphinx can be briefly seen with Goldar being struck with a shower of sparks.
- King Sphinx's head, as a mask/headpiece, can be seen, at Zoom Comics, in Big Bad Beetleborgs.
- King Sphinx was originally named Fly Guy in the unaired pilot for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which would later air as The Lost Episode.
- King Sphinx appeared in three different Mighty Morphin Power Rangers video games. He appeared in the Game Gear version of MMPR as the first boss of the game. In the Game Boy version of the MMPR game, King Sphinx appeared as the second boss. He also appeared in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle as the first boss.
- According to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers CD-ROM, King Sphinx's hobby was burying Power Rangers up to their necks in sand and leaving them to their fate. His weakness was listed as rain, which could dissolve him into a puddle of sand.
Appearances
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 1)
- Episode 4: A Pressing Engagement
- Episode 29: Island of Illusions, Part II (flashback; archive footage only)
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Official Fan Club Video (flashback; archive footage only)
- Power Rangers: The Lost Episode (archive footage)
- Power Rangers (Boom! Studios)
Power Rangers Legacy Wars
King Sphinx appears as alternate skin for Goldar, who feature in Power Rangers Legacy Wars.
Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid
King Sphinx appears in the board game Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid as an opponent in the expansion "Villain Pack #3: Legacy of Evil". He is classified as a Monster.See Also
- Dora Sphinx - Super Sentai counterpart in Zyuranger. See comparison page.
References
Footnotes