no love for SF figs anymore? just got SFP ryu and ken...

[optimus ineeddrugz]

recently picked up SFP ryu and ken. and i must say, WOW. both really well made figs. i never picked up the earlier ones cuz i wasn't too thrilled with the headsculpts...and since i didn't get ryu and ken, i didn't get the rest. but now i'm scrambling to find guile, sagat and bison.

 

so my first question is, why no more love for these figs? the 2nd question is...what are the chances of SOTA re-releasing sagat, guile and bison with new sculpts? if the chances are slim, i might as well start getting the 3 i mentioned from ebay.

[MUNDO]

There's a lot of love for Street Fighter. Most of it's at Fwoosh though, which has an official forum for SOTA products. You can even ask them your above questions personally via the forum.

 

I'm only needing to get one more figure (Gouken) to have all the characters made. I don't buy every version of every character though; just player 1 versions. Dan was the last one I bought, and he's one of my favorites.

[Snowman81]

Sota had a great toy line with Street Fighter, great sculpts, great paint, solid plastics. I don't know if Sota was just greedy or they just needed a lot of money to pay for the licensing fees, but they really killed the line with so many repaints which generally ended up in the clearance list for most site ands retail shops....which made stores not want to carry the line anymore. They also always seem to have problems getting the next wave out in a decent time frame which meant they lost momentum with shoppers who found something else to spend their money on. I have a few, but I'm not really into them anymore and I'm probably gonna see if I can trade some of them for a DCD Cyborg Superman (wishful thinking I guess). *sigh*

 

These are the figures I have;

 

Sota's Street Fighters

----------------------

 

Ryu (white - Player 1)

Ken (white)

Chun-li (Blue - Player 1)

Guile (Green - Player 1)

Gen (Purple - Player 1)

Sakura (Blue - Player 1)

Cammy (Green - Player 1)

Cammy (Pink)

Cammy (Cannon Spike)

 

M. Bison (Red - Player 1)

Balrog (Blue - Player 1)

Evil Ryu (Black)

Adon (Blue trunks - Player 1)

 

Balrog is my fav. of the lot, just feels really solid and the details are really nice and his has nice bright colors....Sota really knows how to make a nice action figure.

[optimus ineeddrugz]

Sota had a great toy line with Street Fighter, great sculpts, great paint, solid plastics. I don't know if Sota was just greedy or they just needed a lot of money to pay for the licensing fees, but they really killed the line with so many repaints which generally ended up in the clearance list for most site ands retail shops....which made stores not want to carry the line anymore. They also always seem to have problems getting the next wave out in a decent time frame which meant they lost momentum with shoppers who found something else to spend their money on. I have a few, but I'm not really into them anymore and I'm probably gonna see if I can trade some of them for a DCD Cyborg Superman (wishful thinking I guess). *sigh*

 

These are the figures I have;

 

Sota's Street Fighters

----------------------

 

Ryu (white - Player 1)

Ken (white)

Chun-li (Blue - Player 1)

Guile (Green - Player 1)

Gen (Purple - Player 1)

Sakura (Blue - Player 1)

Cammy (Green - Player 1)

Cammy (Pink)

Cammy (Cannon Spike)

 

M. Bison (Red - Player 1)

Balrog (Blue - Player 1)

Evil Ryu (Black)

Adon (Blue trunks - Player 1)

 

Balrog is my fav. of the lot, just feels really solid and the details are really nice and his has nice bright colors....Sota really knows how to make a nice action figure.

 

 

i agree. as soon as i took ryu and ken out of their boxes, i had an urge to collect more. so far i picked up sagat, friggin awesome lookin beast, guile, really cool looking, and evil ryu...sad to say, i'm not too fond of the headsculpt. i got him for the duffle bag to go with previews ryu.

 

now i have an itch to get more. this isn't good man lol. i'm really looking forward to the revolutions line...especially alex and guy!

[Kenny28]

I love these things! I missed out on alot while collecting Marvel Legends and whatnot though.....still, I'm always eager to add more to my collection. I'm still awaiting my Dan figure before I get anything else from this line.....

[Scott]

I think things like lack of quality control, lack of any new product on the shelves, lack of confidence Sota will even be around much longer is what killed people's interest in these figurers and most people moved on to other stuff.

[Blackheart]

It's a shame. I only ever got Series one Ryu and Sodom (both player 1s). And the quality on mine weren't too great but the latter figures were tempting me to buy them. I just didn't want to take the chance.

[RobertDeNitro]

I really want an Alex and a Charlie figure. They'd make a nice team with my Guile.

[AlphaPrime]

I'd say its mainly the way they delay delay and delay hehe, also SFP Ryu Ken and Akuma aren't in my top wants of figures, makes Ryu and Ken to big really, they got the SF3 look kinda but are still really to large and still don't have the right amount of articulation to actually pull off a hadouken pose which IMO should be standard on such characters like Ryu Ken and Akuma.

 

I'm interested in Dhalsim and R.Mika from SF Revolutions round 1 but who knows how many will actually see store shelves etc etc.

 

I'm really doubting Rev round 2 will even come out.

 

Look at Dalkstalkers, they delayed it so long now if they don't get the right amount of pre-orders we can say good bye to that whole line and seriously they aren't gonna make the pre-orders they want for the line, i see SF going down this road sooner or later even though SF is more popular then DS its still bound to happen.

[Kenny28]

Y'know what I bet would help Sota a bit?

 

How about some FUNKIN' ADVERTISING?!

 

A page in Toyfare can go a long way, yeah?

[optimus ineeddrugz]

i agree. some friggin advertising would be nice.

 

see here's what's got me confused. i hear that the line is doing great. i agree with that, cuz everywhere i go, the figs are always sold out. granted, some remain here and there, but overall, i'm under the impression that the line is doing great.

 

on the other hand, i hear that it ISN'T doing so good and sota are struggling to get the next line out. so...which is true? i personally feel the first one is true, based on what i see and at times can't even get.

 

i was lucky that i made friends with the owner of a toy store. which is how i was able to secure 2 preview ryus and 2 preview kens. sold out everywhere of course. the figs are incredible and i'm looking forward to the revolution line. bring on alex! guy! dee jay! hell, bring em all on!!

[Kenny28]

It's financial problems and management changes that've been giving Sota alot of trouble....as for the Street Fighter line, I imagine unsold crap recolors might be the culprit there....I don't know of many individuals out in a hurry to get a recolored variant of Birdie...

[Snowman81]

i agree. some friggin advertising would be nice.

 

see here's what's got me confused. i hear that the line is doing great. i agree with that, cuz everywhere i go, the figs are always sold out. granted, some remain here and there, but overall, i'm under the impression that the line is doing great.

 

on the other hand, i hear that it ISN'T doing so good and sota are struggling to get the next line out. so...which is true? i personally feel the first one is true, based on what i see and at times can't even get.

 

i was lucky that i made friends with the owner of a toy store. which is how i was able to secure 2 preview ryus and 2 preview kens. sold out everywhere of course. the figs are incredible and i'm looking forward to the revolution line. bring on alex! guy! dee jay! hell, bring em all on!!

The line hasn't been doing well for quite sometime now. Most stores had to do crazy sales for waves 3 and 4 to get ride of all the stock they had. I got all 5 figures of wave 3 (player one colors) for 15 bucks....which is really crazy. That's the main reason why they killed the line and are now restarting....I even heard something about a staggered figure release instead of just releasing waves. The simple truth is the line is far from cheap and most people collect more than just street fighter figures and the other lines they collect are more important to them than street fighter. Most people have been waiting for Dhalism, E. Honda and Zangief so I think Sota will do quite well, even with the people that have written off the line, but after.....

[Scott]

Y'know what I bet would help Sota a bit?

 

How about some FUNKIN' ADVERTISING?!

 

A page in Toyfare can go a long way, yeah?

 

I doubt an ad in Toyfare would do much, they get more exposure online then they would there. One of the biggest problems Sota had I think was that alot of the stores that carried their product went out of business or quit selling toys. When places like Tower Records went under I think it hurt alot of the small toy companies like Sota.

[uderay]

I had trouble finding these things even when the line was going good.

 

I agree that now Tower is gone, as well as Hottopic, Gamestop, EB, etc cutting way back on their toys, who's left to sell them?

[optimus ineeddrugz]

I had trouble finding these things even when the line was going good.

 

I agree that now Tower is gone, as well as Hottopic, Gamestop, EB, etc cutting way back on their toys, who's left to sell them?

 

 

i'm fortunate to live in NYC. i have multiple places to get the figs. uderay, where ever you live, you don't have any local comic stores? places like forbidden planet, jim hanly's universe?

[Kenny28]

None of the comic shops I go to sell 'em. I have to get mine from Hastings or online.

[RobertDeNitro]

I have mine from China through Ebay.

[JayC]

I think you can get them at Suncoast stores still.

[Doom Saber]

I had trouble finding these things even when the line was going good.

 

I agree that now Tower is gone, as well as Hottopic, Gamestop, EB, etc cutting way back on their toys, who's left to sell them?

 

Seein as you live in Daly City, you should visit SF since I believe Cody's Comics and Things from another world still has them, though they are 17 bucks.

[Doom Saber]

I think Sota, a relativly new company, was completely riding off the success of their SF line without having a backup plan in case the line dwindles over time. I think finance, as well as ego was the cause of the line's downfall.

 

When the first wave came out, Sota was shocked that they sold out so quickly, including the repaints. I think from there on, they decided to go overkill with the repaints; in wave 1, I think grey Ryu and a blue green Chun-li were the only repaints. The other repaints for Sagat, Bision, and Sodom came out later. As snowman have already stated, the line was consisted of countless numbers of repaints, which most likely hurt Sota. What is shocking is that with the exception of Sodom, at least one character has three repaints over the spam of three years.

 

Because of the line did so well from wave 1, the old company has developed the mentality that their company is second to none, which I believe didn't give them much room for damage control; as the line progressed with repaints, exclusives, long delays, and empty promises (there were things Sota have promised the fans, but have yet to flourish such as the sf accessory pack and cancellation of the initial round 5 wave,) fans of the figures became more picky in what figures to buy. Distribution was also an issue, though if I recall, stores like Suncoast and Towers eventually had the toys on clearance, which affects Sota since they lose profit over clearance items.

 

Other than repaints, I believe Gouken was also a major factor in the company losing money. What I remember from another thread, on another forum is that the cost to make Gouken was expensive despite being a retooled toy; I recall the old CEO of Sota saying how his accountant didn't want the company to produce the toy because of cost and when they did make Gouken, they had to pay from their own pockets. I think them making so many different and unnecessary variants of the unseen sf character was done to cover cost of the mold. Unfournately, the fact that one can able to get any of the Goukens below cost on ebay, as well being able to still buy 3 of the 5 at toyrocket is indication that the Goukens didn't do so well.

 

With that said, I partly believe that the internet community has some play in the lost of revenue. What I mean is that the communication between company and fandom was strong, a bit too strong for the company to handle. Strong to the point where a lot of the Sota fans ignored the business ascepts of Sota and believed that the line was specially makin them toys just because; one can disagree with me, but I believe having the line being entirely in polls and having Sota considering obscure, but popular internet characters like Poison and effie from some random fanboy(s) who wants nothing but freak characters is part of the reason why the line became stale. The polls, in my opinion, made the entire series unbalanced with one wave consisted of nothing but sf2 waves (wave 3) and another wave with the majority of characters that an average sf fan may never heard (wave 4.) I think the majority of people who were voting for figures were voting because they can and not because they are plannin to purchase them. Lastly, the wants for characters like Posion may seem a lot online, but in reality, how many people are actually goin to buy a transexual character that mostly appears as a bg character? As much as I want Posion, I don't think at this point in Sota's situation of revamping everything, that they should make her unless they reuse some old molds like say, a body from their Charm line.

 

Posion reminds me of the film, "Snakes on a Plane," where while it may have a lot of internet popularity, it doesn't mean it will be a success in terms of profit.

 

This figures was also the last figure to be released before the head of Sota sold his position. Although, it is not confirmed, it is believed that several employees, including the owner of Sota, left because the financial problems the company has.

 

Lastly, for Sagat, Guile, and Bision, ebay is the best way to get these figures. However, they are all bootlegs; long story short, the old factory that produced wave 1-4, were no longer making toys for Sota and because of that, were asked by other online vendors to make unlicense toys. They agreed and as a result, it is common to find wave 1 figures. This happened right before Gouken was released via SDCC exclusive.

[EvilHayato]

I have never wrote off this series. Im a humongous SF fan and capcom fan. I ve just been waiting and waiting for their waves to come out. I ve bought all the individual original characters from all the waves, including a few unique variants along the way. I had what was once wave 5 on preorder since 5/05. Theyve kept me in hopes of its release for a long time and yeah its starting to aggravate me. I do agree that after the first wave of SF figs, they kinda went overboard in mass producing so many gdamnvariants!!! No one bought all 4!! versions of all 5 characters so why the hell do so damn many?!?! They did that all the way to the end! and there is still so many reminants of those variants spanning all the waves except for the ever so amazing first wave.

 

In response to your post Doom Saber, I agree with a majority of what you stated. However i may get alittle anal about some things you said. When it came to waves and the online polls, they made sure to put at least one very obscure character into the wave. R. mika is that one in revolutions wave for example. As well as put at least one well known and/or popular character. In wave 3, the majority of those figs were from the street fighter alpha series. (which added to the original sf2 cast). As for wave 4, 2 were from SFIII, and 2 from ssf2 turbo. The series has a very huge fanbase and its gone far beyond the beloved sf2. Only problem is the majority of people only seem to recollect the original sf2 for some reason yet they know who akuma is. I do agree that having a character like poison be in the vote is a bit not necessary as she was never in an actual sf game. She was only in the storylines due to some final fight characters joining the rosters. I think people just wanted to see other capcom game characters in figure form and somehow merged into the SF line. Now im rambling...

 

also with what you said about the bootlegs, i wonder if thats why the shotty jazzwares sf figures had very similar to almost identical features. I kept thinking that somehow they were getting like sotas head molds or body molds yet crappy ass quality and articulation.

 

As for the Darkstalkers line, AlphaPrime, They said the wave is still coming out even if they dont reach their preorder quota. They mentioned that all the current preorder holders will still recieve their figs so as to not "screw" them over. But they want everyone to preorder so that they raise awareness of the line and so that it could do better since im sure they feel the series might not last the first wave. Since theyve delayed that series for more than 2 years with a few roster and price changes that can significantly dwindle peoples already faded interests in the line.

 

 

sorry the long entry... i havent been on in forever and i guess this was a way to let it out...

[Doom Saber]

In response to your post Doom Saber, I agree with a majority of what you stated. However i may get alittle anal about some things you said. When it came to waves and the online polls, they made sure to put at least one very obscure character into the wave. R. mika is that one in revolutions wave for example. As well as put at least one well known and/or popular character. In wave 3, the majority of those figs were from the street fighter alpha series. (which added to the original sf2 cast). As for wave 4, 2 were from SFIII, and 2 from ssf2 turbo. The series has a very huge fanbase and its gone far beyond the beloved sf2. Only problem is the majority of people only seem to recollect the original sf2 for some reason yet they know who akuma is. I do agree that having a character like poison be in the vote is a bit not necessary as she was never in an actual sf game. She was only in the storylines due to some final fight characters joining the rosters. I think people just wanted to see other capcom game characters in figure form and somehow merged into the SF line. Now im rambling...

 

 

I have a strong dislike for R Mika so I may sound harsh, which I am sorry if I offend, but R Mika was only picked because she got the majority of votes for round 5 because of her huge ass and titties; the last slot was for any sf character to be made.

[Kenny28]

I liek grappler characters (except in Tekken) so....along with her over-the-top personality, I've always liked R. Mika. Bonus for bein' a Capcom chick She's still really weird to use though.....I even use Birdie more than I use R. Mika...

 

Anyways, I just got my Toyfare exclusive Dan from Toywiz today and.....I love it....but I've got a couple problems with it. The interchangeable hands are made out of a plastic that's softer than what they've previously used and the holes are kinda small so I'm very afraid of breaking something. Some of the joints are totally stuck cuz of the f'n paint too. I can't move his left leg at all! Plus, the paint is cheaper too! Some of the paint from his ponytail has rubbed off on his back!

 

But what REALLY bugs me is....the scale! Jesus, Dan is taller than Guile! Is the scale changing for the whole line?! I can't display this with me other figures I guess in that case, I can pick up Honda and Zangief without much bitching....

[Darren]

I think SOTA's character selection polls were a great idea to keep communication between the fans and the company strong, but it gave the company another few months or so to sit on their @$$ as they waited for the poll to end. They should've just made the choices themselves instead of sitting around...that time from the polls could've really helped in getting the figures out closer to the original release date.

 

It's all been said before so I won't repeat it, but SOTA has basically dug their own grave. While the Gouken figures are great for fans, I think Jerry did it because he knew he was jumping off a sinking ship and really had no qualms about it. Considering SOTA's financial state at that time (and who knows how they are now)...no CEO/Owner/President would have made the decision to create a figure with such a short turn-around and expect to make a profit off a figure that was more widely known to fans of the series ONLY.

 

As for the Darkstalkers figures....I was excited at first but now I don't care...kind of like the Street Fighter line. Back when SOTA first showed the figures...the Morrigan figure they showed was certainly one of the BEST designed female figures I had ever seen. But at this past SDCC they showed some *NEW* Morrigan that looks like a Jazwares figure or something.

 

I still have some SOTA SF figures but I really have no interest in the line at all anymore. I am happy for the fans, and I thought about getting the Preview figures of Ken & Ryu but I heard too many stories about bad paint (which I am a stickler for) and other issues...so I passed and I am passing on SF altogether unless they got something that wow's me.