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Post by Randy13 on Mar 21, 2005 14:38:49 GMT -5
For those of you that regularly shop for toys, and check many places--please let me know if you can pick one of these up for me, and at how much. The toy is out of production, but is still sitting around some stores at markdown prices. I can pay a (small) finders fee if necessary.
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Post by Jagermaster on Mar 23, 2005 2:22:56 GMT -5
i can get one of these, unfortunately it is still at retail price and has not been discounted.
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Post by JeremyMarcGirard on Mar 23, 2005 10:30:41 GMT -5
I haven't seen ANY of the SOTA Street Fighter stuff on markdown prices! Hell, I have barely even seen any of it at all! In my area they are selling really fast, and Ryu was the first to sell out from series 1 up here.
I have seen the new Jazwares Street Fighter figs at KB though. They have 2 versions of Ryu, 2 of Ken, and 2 of Akuma. Not sure if you've heard of these, but they were supposedly sculpted by the guys at SOTA, only with limited articulation, etc. so they could be sold at toy stores like KB for cheap (they were $6 each at the KBs I saw them at).
As for the SOTA stuff, I just saw series 2 this weekend, but they were like $15 each at the comic shop.
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Post by DarkJoe1990 on Mar 23, 2005 11:13:14 GMT -5
I hate it when comic stores overprice. My comic store was the first to get ML 8, sold for 20 each! Street fighter was the same price. - Dark joe
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Post by JeremyMarcGirard on Mar 23, 2005 11:39:49 GMT -5
The problem with comic shops and pricing is that they are small operations that pay WAY more than stores like WalMart do for their stock. I used to own a toy/comic shop and it is hard work. WalMart sells Marvel Legends for $7, they probably pay less than half that for them. Comic shops can't order direct from ToyBiz because the minimum orders are HUGE (trust me, we tried to order direct from Hasbro, McFarlane, and Toy Biz, and in all 3 cases the minimum orders per year were so high that there was no way we could afford them). So comic shops basically have to order through a distributor, most likely Diamond. They charge almost what WalMart does for the figures, so comic shops can't compete price wise at all.
What makes it even tougher is when companies short pack figures, which Toy Biz is notorious for. Take Marvel Legends series 6 for instance. Deadpool and Phoenix were 1 per case, and Juggernaut was 2 per case, while Wolverine, Cable and movie Punisher were 3 per case. The comic shop in my area got 2 cases of these and sold out of Deadpool and Phoneix immediately, and Juggernaut sold within a day or being stocked. Of the remaining figures, they sold one or two of the other characters, and after a week they had like 5 movie Punishers, 5 Wolverines and 4 Cables in stock. If they sold the short packs for a low price, then they actually won't even make back what they paid for the cases, because those common figures, which can easily be found at WalMart or TRU for $7 or so, will hang on the pegs. Do this enough times and you're out of business (remember, I said I USED to own a store...I speak from experience).
So they only way for these little guys to survive is to charge more for the hard to find figures. Granted, some places charge WAY too much, but most charge a reasonable amount...enough that they can make their money on the rare figures and then mark down the common ones to compete with the big stores, yet still make the little money they need to make to survive.
It is a tough business to be in. I basically say that you shouldn't go to a comic or specialty shop looking to get cheap prices on figures. You go there for tougher stuff and to buy from somone who is a fan of the stuff (if you are willing to deal with the hassles of this business, odds are you are a fan, because lord knows there are easier ways to make money than trying to run a comic shop!).
That's my comic shop pricing rant....take it or leave it!
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Post by Randy13 on Mar 23, 2005 12:28:09 GMT -5
The most successful toy/ comic store 'round here basically specialized in stuff you couldn't find at Target: Japanese imports, discontinued product, stikfas, etc. They had some mcF. and Toybiz stuff, but they probably bought them singly, rather than by the case, since they didn't have many commons. It was a pretty good formula. I went there last month, and the place had simply vanished. I was very sad.
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Post by JeremyMarcGirard on Mar 23, 2005 12:56:30 GMT -5
The thing that basically did in my store was eBay. We opened before eBay became huge, back when the only way to get 'rare' and exclusive figure was to head to toy shows, toy shops, or get them through classified or ads in toy magazines. Stuff that was really hard to find and fetching big money at toy shows suddenly became much easier to get with eBay. You could go to multiple shows and shops and never find a certain figure, but bring up eBay and there were 5 of them or more. We couldn't compete so we had to close....it sucked. Having the shop was awesome. Basically get to talk to collectors who are into the hobby and want to talk about it. I collect so much stuff that I could talk about Star Wars, Marvel, McFarlane etc. with various customers. We had good prices too. We got most of our stock by buying entire collections, so we had lots of the toughest stuff for less than they were selling in price guides or at shows. Still, once eBay took off, we realized that our prices couldn't compete, so before we lost tons of money, we shut the doors. Still bums me out to this day.
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Post by Randy13 on Mar 23, 2005 15:26:08 GMT -5
i can get one of these, unfortunately it is still at retail price and has not been discounted. (PM'ed)
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Post by DarkJoe1990 on Mar 23, 2005 15:51:46 GMT -5
Jeremy, I was unaware of the situation comic stores have and now I can understand why the prices are like that. Mabe if habro direct is created other companys will follow. - Dark joe
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Post by JeremyMarcGirard on Mar 23, 2005 16:17:27 GMT -5
Yeah, that's how it is for the 'small guys'. Big companies like Hasbro don't want to deal with a store that wants only a case or two of an item, they want to deal with big orders, and since Toys R Us, WalMart, etc. order for their entire chain, not per store, the orders are huge. The small guys can't do that. I forgot the exact minimum amounts that companies wanted, but they were impossible for a small store. Diamond is a nice alternative and you can get the merchandise cheaper than trying to hunt it out at retail (which sucks anyway when people hunt stores down just to mark prices up at their store a mile away), but like I said, to make it worth it, the stores have to make their money where they can, on the tougher short packed figs.
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Post by DFReaper on Apr 6, 2005 20:52:11 GMT -5
I have a question about the Street Fighters, are they worth my time, effort, and money? Somebody give me the lowdown.
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Post by Randy13 on Apr 6, 2005 23:09:11 GMT -5
The Streetfighters are the best action figures I've personally ever owned. They are more functionally articulated than Marvel Legends--in other words, their joints are actually tight enough to hold their poses. The sculpting is unparalleled, and the paint is very nice and clean--extremely professional. A real artist's line. Now, I personally am not even a fan of the SF franchise--I like these merely for their qualities as toys.
If you are unsure, I would recommend trying just a single figure. Sagat and Vega are the best ones by a large margin, and I think the best intro to the line, and what SOTA is capable of.
The heavy pvc these guys are made of is tough, flexible stuff, but still, be very careful loosening the joints, etc., once you get it out of the package. Get a Vega or a Sagat, and if you don't like it, I might be able to buy it off your hands. (Just don't pay some crazy scalper price. 14 bucks is average.)
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Post by Grayfox on Apr 7, 2005 1:10:08 GMT -5
Are these SF figures in scale with Marvel Legends?
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Post by Randy13 on Apr 7, 2005 8:49:23 GMT -5
Are these SF figures in scale with Marvel Legends? Yes--they are perfectly in scale with ML, not counting those ML figs that have been sculpted out of proportion, such as inflated head Beast, Tall Wolverine, relatively short Juggernaut (Sagat is taller, I think). Ryu and Spidey should be about the same height. The SF figures--the males at least--have slightly oversize hands and feet, for a more powerful appearance and sturdiness, but you don't notice it really when comparing the two lines. Also, the SOTA articulation is hidden far more successfully than the Toybiz style (McFarlane Spidey being the exception). I look at Daredevil, Beast, or Modern Armor Iron Man, and I see a strange amalgam of Joints, Pegs, Separated Shoulders, and Seams. On the SF toys, you just see muscles...
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RyanH
Skull Jack
Posts: 14
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Post by RyanH on Apr 26, 2005 13:26:58 GMT -5
I look at Daredevil, Beast, or Modern Armor Iron Man, and I see a strange amalgam of Joints, Pegs, Separated Shoulders, and Seams. On the SF toys, you just see muscles... I look at Iron Man and see how the pieces of his suit fit him. The problem I've encountered with the SF figures is that they're fragile. I rotated Evil Ryu's arm, it snapped off. I moved his legs and his entire pelvis reigon exploded. Which reminds me to re-contact customer service since they haven't sent a replacement yet.
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