Danny Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 So... Chuck from DST says "To be honest these have not done as well as we would have hoped so I can't say for sure when wave two will come out." So, we've heard nothing on wave three, and now wave 2 looks in doubt? What happened? I thought the Street Fighter franchise was on an upswing. SOTA have had 4 or 5 waves of action figures with a lot of variants, and their line has been a big success. How can the SF2 Minimates be under threat after one wave? The character choices? I think there were some real well known faces in wave one - Ryu, Chun-Li, M.Bison. The sculpts? First time in AGES we got new pieces, and they were all great, especially the energy blast accessories. The packaging? Blister card window, easily able to see what was in the package? Smart packaging if you ask me. The quality? I had no problems at all with the joints etc on my figures, and the paint apps were spot on for the most part. So, how did a line based on a successful franchise, with no real glaring flaws in the concept and execution tank at retail? I don't get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdyCarter Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 They were everything I want Minimates too be. Well made Well packaged Well thought out Sensible Variants and Exclusives Bugger Perhaps the Japanese Market & TRU will save them. I hope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reideen1313 Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Where were they at retail? I've never even seen a 2 pack. I think that's the problem. I can find the SOTA figs at Hot Topic, Spencer Gifts, Suncoast, Tower, etc, but I cannot find the 'mates anywhere. Now, this could be a result of them selling out everywhere, but based on Chuck's statement, I don't think that's the case. Sure I can get them on line, like I do everything else, but I quit being interested in SFII, oh, 10 years ago. Couple this with the fact that minimates are a very 'niche' market and they aren't going to sell like the Marvel stuff. AA needs to learn from this misstep. When BSG rolls out, they need to advertise on SciFi (and make sure the 'mates are available at retailers). They need print advertising in whatever the current sci-fi mags are. Same with Speed Racer and DC 'mates. Yes, advertising is expensive, but, you've got to spend money to make money. You can put out fabulous product. It can even be leaps & bounds above what you've done before as far as accessories and sculpts, but if people a) don't know it's out there and can't find the product easily, none of it is going to amount to a hill of beans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdyCarter Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Yes, advertising is expensive, but, you've got to spend money to make money. You can put out fabulous product. It can even be leaps & bounds above what you've done before as far as accessories and sculpts, but if people a) don't know it's out there and can't find the product easily, none of it is going to amount to a hill of beans. Very true. Never saw these in the UK anywhere aside from Ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antacost Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I think it was a problem with too many Street Fighter lines in general... Other than the SOTA figures, there's a couple of other lines that always seem to have figures in Previews as well. Too many choices as to where to get your next Chun-Li... Plus, to a non-Mini collector, the SOTA figures are a bit more appealing. If I didn't love Mini's, and was looking for a sweet Street Fighter figure, I'd be going with the SOTA figures. Also might be a bit of a problem with finding these... I don't recall seeing them in any of the video game stores around here, other than the Game Crazy / Hollywood Video exclusive "Wave"... If these had been in EB or GameStop, hell, even in Best Buy next to the PS2 accessories, they would have sold a ton more I think... I'm truly sad that we might not see the second wave. I agree with Danny that they're some of the better Minimates, but I'm not sure they're some of the better Street Fighter toys... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jatta Pake Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 One word: Darkstalkers. The first wave should have rocked the house with the most popular Street Fighter 2 characters. Darkstalkers are clearly NOT popular characters. Note how they are not included in the new upcoming TRU 4-packs. (I'd never even heard of them before this release). I don't understand this, but DST always seems to want to "hold back" with Minimate character selection. Wave 1 should have had Ken, Ryu, Bison, Chun-li, Blanka, and Guile. Frankly, I also think Chuck should not be so forth coming and honest about how new lines are doing. If collectors think a line is in danger they stop buying the line. Who wants a stupid player 2 variant of Lilith if the line is going to be cancelled? I think a lot of collectors who were on the fence about collecting this line will say, "Gee, I'm glad I didn't jump onto that sinking ship!" I wish DST would consider dropping Darkstalkers before they dropped SF2. Then they could add E.Honda, Sagat, and Dahlsim to the Wave 2 line-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdyCarter Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Wave 1 should have had Ken, Ryu, Bison, Chun-li, Blanka, and Guile. But then a second Wave would have probably sucked and bombed. Obviously seen as the second wave probably wont happen I wish the Wave 1 we got was your version. Guess its time to make me a Custom Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke314pi Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Yeah, if this line is really dead, I will have some serious customizing to do to finish up the SF2: Turbo Edition line-up. I agree that Darkstalkers should have been a seperate line. I personally have no interest in Darkstalkers, and I can't help but feel they contributed to the lackluster sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdyCarter Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Personally Im not sure DalkStalkers was a factor, its not like the packs were intermixed. You could quite easily avoid all the DarkStalkers stuff if you wanted too. (But who would, Morrigan/Lillith were great!) Gah, I hope Wave 2 comes out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amazing.JL Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 They were everything I want Minimates too be. Well made Well packaged Well thought out Sensible Variants and Exclusives Bugger Perhaps the Japanese Market & TRU will save them. I hope I agree. ================================== I also believe Dark Stalkers may have something to do with this. I was a vivid fan of SF but my interest trickled down as Dark Stalkers came on board. Most people don't even know who the Dark Stalkers are and in turn aren't interested in picking these up, including myself but had to. They are minimates. Dark Stalkers as a Previews exclusive doesn't pull much weight and imo became a waste. Wave one should have been all street fighter and imo they can make three waves without doing DarkStalkers. If anything they should have been added later in the line. Darkstalkers wouldn't survive on their own. DST was trying to be smart and take our money by stretching the line with Darkstalkers. Don't think it working. Just because they are minimates, doesn't mean everyone is a sucker - Here that DST? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fujis Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I agree that the Darkstalkers doomed the line although we still might see Wave 2 right? Man, I need a Guile minimate! And when news like this comes out that the future of a line is unsure wouldn't it make sense for people interested to preorder as many sets as possible to insure production instead of jumping ship? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 My 2 cents is availability... Where were they? How could you find them? Most of us are web savy and can track them down, but what about people who don't know they exist? What about the younger folks and those who just aren't as active on the net? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I love the SF minis but I too chalk it up to the Dark Stalkers Factor. While I think DS is ok, and I did buy the previews exclusive. I think it shoulda just been straight Street Fighter. I would love for wave 2 to make it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted August 22, 2006 Author Share Posted August 22, 2006 I think Darkstalkers may have had something to do with it. They should have concentrated on the SF2 big guns before wheeling out Demitri and Morrigan. But Morrigan is so hot, they couldn't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Yeah and who wouldnt buy a Felicia? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amazing.JL Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 My 2 cents is availability... Where were they? How could you find them? Most of us are web savy and can track them down, but what about people who don't know they exist? What about the younger folks and those who just aren't as active on the net? You have a great point Shanester. I was going to add to my earlier comments that I don't know of any comic shop in my area that ordered these. Besides the Game Crazy exclusive I have never seen a 2-pack in any store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted August 22, 2006 Author Share Posted August 22, 2006 So distribution is a factor. DST couldn't get them out into stores other than LCS? But that didn't stop the early Marvel releases, did it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amazing.JL Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 DST couldn't get them out into stores other than LCS? Being StreetFighter, LCS did not order these as much as they do Marvel. I never found a StreetFighter pack anywhere. But that didn't stop the early Marvel releases, did it? What do you mean? I found these in just about every LCS I went into starting from series 1. I also found these at all Tower stores. Streetfighter I could not find any. Streetfighter is just not as popular in Comic Shops as Marvel is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drgnrbrn316 Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 So distribution is a factor. DST couldn't get them out into stores other than LCS? But that didn't stop the early Marvel releases, did it? True, but at the same time, comic book stores are more likely to stock comic book related characters on their shelves. Street Fighter didn't have that luxury. At the same time, Street Fighter is a dated product. With who knows how many companies trying to jump on top of the "bubble" of opportunity for a SF line, the minimates just got bumped off. Should be interesting to see how BSG and Speed Racer fair though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurch77 Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I think the main problem was the distribution. My comic store didn't even order these. They should have had these in every major video game store (EB, Gamestop, etc) and the same places that sold other SF toys (Hot Topic, Spencer Gifts, Suncoast, Tower, etc). Best Buy would have been hard to get into (they're not big on selling toys), but if they did, these figures would have done great. Of course they're not going to sell if the product is not readily available to those that would buy it. I can see how the Darkstalkers could be a deterrence but they did pick good, popular characters for the first two waves. If you've heard of Darkstalkers before you more than likely know Morrigan, Demitri, Felcia & John Talbain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcastick Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I have to agree with Shanester as well.... since all Media Plays and Suncoast stores closed in this area, I haven't been able to find Minimates (not including reissued stuff) anywhere. Especially the Street Fighter series, some were supposed to be at Hollywood video yet that apparently changed to Game Crazy and I have never even heard of that shop! To me, it just seems like an availablity issue. I know I was very happy to hear that Street Fighter characters were coming to minimates, and then when the release date came and went.....I saw absolutely none anywhere! The Darkstalker characters aren't BAD characters, they turned out really well......I think it is just the fact they are more Obscure characters. I personally have been a fan of the series for a while and was happy to see some of them in the SF line....I personally would have rather seen Anakaris and Sasquatch then Demitri and Tolbain.....but I definately like the Morrigan and Hopefully soon to be released Felicia. So i don't think anything went wrong with it, the figures were great....I just think they should have been more widely available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murderofcrows Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 As much as I hate to say it, I think we may love a dying toy line here. It is obvious they can not get the mass retail support , and are unwilling to call these a specialty item. I don't want to piss on the flower garden. but it seems like every day we are handed more bad news about this line. I don't really think that darkstalkers is the nail in the coffin on this line, I think it was availablity. I know we all bought what we could find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyd Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I never found the Street Fighter Minimates at retail back when I lived in Austin. I could find LOTR mates, Marvel mates, even the old Star Trek mates. But outside of the GameCrazy exclusive, I never found a store that had the Street Fighter mates. I ended up trading or ordering the figures I needed. The lack of availability really hurt this line. I'm interested to see if the new 4-packs at TRU help the line, or make a convenient way for AA to get rid of excess stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadpool Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 my comic carnival has the SF2, but no marvel. that sucks. marvel are very hard to find for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amazing.JL Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 my comic carnival has the SF2, but no marvel. that sucks. marvel are very hard to find for me. Strange Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.