Op-Ed: I Guess SOTA Doesn't Want My Money
“Make it cheaper and I'll buy it.”
I hate that mentality. I hate it with a passion. SOTA recently stated that they would make the Darkstalkers figures cheaper at the expense of certain accessories. Originally their figures were going to retail for $24.99 but now are set to retail at $17.99. So instead of getting the very best representation of the Darkstalkers characters I’m getting a compromise. No thanks.
Now SOTA is a good company. I like SOTA’s sculpts and their newfound approach to character specific joints. I think they will make great figures. I think they could do incredible stuff potentially. However I don’t like settling for a figure that could have been something great just to save a few bucks. What I don’t get is that fans will complain anyway for not getting enough accessories (while SOTA stated that they will only add the most important and necessary accessories, we’ll see how they define “important and necessary” in time). That’s just how fans are. Fans are fickle honestly don’t know what they want. The latest Street Fighter figures from them look great. Even better than before, but I noticed that Ryu, Gouki and Ken don't have extra heads. I wonder if the accessory/price compromise was used on those figures—just a thought.
This is why toys in the US will never reach the level of its rising sun counterpart. I only shudder at the thought of what could have been had KAIYODO in the 90's had the philosophy of holding back a figures potential (I’m sure the Kenshiro DX would be just as great if he came with only his jacket). I don’t see money being saved, I don't see a bargain. I see me getting gypped for the sake of a couple of bucks due to fan whining. Saving a couple of bucks is important to some (and with good reason, this hobby can suck you dry if you don’t control yourself), but I can't help but be bothered by the fact that these figures were supposed to better. Now each time I see Morgan in her box I’ll have to wonder to myself “What was she supposed to come with? What's she missing?”
While the U.S. has made huge strides over the years in actually making toys that people would collect (and NO, it wasn't always like this) this decision has reminded me that the U.S. collector and Market still have a ways to go.