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| Last Updated: May 16, 2008 - 5:53:21 PM |
Since Sota Toys has begun releasing its line of Street Fighter action figures, a few things have changed. Although the line is very popular and covered extensively, here at The Comic Book Bin. The most obvious is the switch from brick and mortar distribution to exclusive Internet distribution.
According to Jerry Macaluso, president and founder of Sota Toys, “The future of Street Fighter is online only. We are pulling it out of brick and mortar stores as they are destroying its value by the huge price gaps that happen when one store sells it for the suggested retail of $14.99 and another decides that they will only charge $10. This causes the perceived value of the figure to decrease and many fans then wait for markdowns.”
Prices for Street Fighter action have always fluctuated from store to store. Beginning with the fifth round of Sota Street Fighter action figures, consisting of Zangief, Rolento, Juni (Juli), Dee Jay and Guy, each store selling Street Fighter action figures will be approved by Sota and will be required to respect a specific price point. Those who don’t accept this will be cut out from Sota’s distributors’ list.
Although, some collectors had problems ordering the round four Street Fighter action figures from their comic book stores, according to Macaluso, Diamond Comics ordered large quantities of the fourth round of Street Fighter action figures. Nevertheless, this has not stopped each succeeding sound of Street Fighter action figures “decrease with each round.” Macaluso isn’t surprised as he feels “only the diehard fans are buying it and they will follow it to the web to complete their collections.” Causal collectors probably chose only favourite characters.
The other major change noticeable can be seen on the Gouken action figure. Macaluso says that “we switched factories because the previous one was ripping us and Capcom off by making and selling bootlegs of the Street Fighter figures behind our backs.” While the new plastic is cheaper according to Macaluso, ” What I found was that the slightly cheaper plastic actually made a better figure. It was a happy unexpected result. It’s also molded in color instead of all being painted. That causes fewer stuck joints.”
View 10 last articles by Hervé St.Louis
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