SOTA Street Fighter

I decided its time to showcase this SOTA SF collection which I've started last February.

The Street Fighter franchise is no doubt a household name. Everyone knows, or at least have an idea, who Ryu or Chun-li is. Even though the franchise is very popular, no toy company has done it justice. Then, SOTA Toys (State of the Art Toys), led by a sculptor named Jerry Macaluso, came along.

Jerry's SOTA made figures by waves/series, with 5 figures per wave. Each wave was referred to as ROUNDS (so series one is called ROUND 1, and so on). It was so successful that SOTA was the first company to be able to dish out so many Street Fighter) figures. But all good things had to end... the company had a falling out with their Chinese molding factory--this is the reason why the factory stole the molds and made "bootlegs" without SOTA's permission. Soon, Jerry sold the company to take a different path. The SF line ended on ROUND 4.

Soon, the new SOTA started releasing figures SF figures under the new series name, Revolutions. Sad to say, they sucked. They weren't in scale to the previous SF figs, the figures had broken parts, bad pain apps... the list goes on, and fans knew its over for SOTA. Heck, the only Revolutions figure I'm planning to collect are Zangief, Dhalsim, and E.Honda--hinuli ko pa kasi ayokong pag gastusan.. antayin ko nalang bumagsak yung presyo! :D

I decided that I will finish ROUNDS 1-4 first. Since this toy line has been around since 2004 pa, trying to find them now is hard! Mahirap hanapin, and kung may mahanap ka, sobrang mahal ng benta! But that's the part of the thrill of toy collecting--the challenge it presents when you are hunting the figures, and getting them for a BARGAIN price! Parang treasure hunt! :D

Now, its time to show what I have collected thus far...

But first, here's a toy collecting terminology list. I'm gonna use terms which is only familiar to toy collectors, so here's a few list of what it means:

*MOC - Mint On Card. It means that the toy/figure is still inside in its unopened package. Hindi pa nabubuksan. Can be loosely called as "brand new" kasi nga hindi pa nabubuksan.

*LOC - Loose On Card. It means that the toy was already removed from the pack, but was returned inside. This is usually associated for collectors who keeps the packaging so that they can sell the toy/figure with the package included, so they can sell it in the future when they bored with it. Second hand.

*Loose - it means na yung figure lang, wala na yung package. Second hand. These definitely sells cheaper than MOCs because they are obviously 2nd hand, and sometimes (just sometimes) it is not in the best condition.

*PLAYER 1 COLORS - this is strictly SOTA SF terminology. It is referring to a figure being in their DEFAULT/ORIGINAL colors as they appeared in the games, or as they are known for. For example, Ryu wears WHITE; Ken wears Red; Chun-li wears blue, etc.

*Variants - this refers to alternate colors of a certain figure. For example, Guile's original color is GREEN, but there are also different versions available such as Orange Guile, Blue Guile, Brown Guile, etc. Those other figures with different colors are called variants.

*Scale - refers to the size (how big they are) of a certain toy line. This particular SOTA toy line is in the 6-inches scale.

*Lot - refers to the whole collection. For example, when I say "Here's my SF lot", I am referring to my WHOLE SF collection--everything I have.

*Butaws - a term coined by Filipino toy collectors. Butaws refers to the least popular characters of a certain wave/series/round. For example in ROUND 1, we have Sagat, Bison, Ryu, Chun-li, and Sodom--the butaw is Sodom since he's the LEAST popular character and would most likely be the hardest to sell since everyone are going for the popular characters. This holds true for people selling their collections. They make a stipulation for butaws like, "If you want to buy (insert popular character here), you must also buy (insert butaw character here)." Of course butaws are sold cheapers, but they are usually bundled with the more popular characters para mabenta rin.

*Groupbuys - When a toy collector sells his collection, he doesn't sell it by piece! Lugi siya pag ganoon. Siyempre yung bibilhin lang ng tao is yung mga popular characters, so malamang maiiwan yung mga BUTAWS (see above). So the practical way of selling and making money off a certain collection is by selling it as a LOT. Kunwari ako, ibenta ko, sasabihin ko: "I'm selling it as a LOT. All for 20k. All or nothing. Everything must go." This is where GROUPBUYS comes in. Since its too expensive for most people to buy everything, specially when they only like a particular figure, they organize a groupbuy where the organizer lists all the available figures from the lot individually (complete with price), so that people can bid on the figures that they like from the lot. The groupbuy only ends when every figure from the lot gets a buyer--a meetup is held with all the said buyers, they meet up with the seller, pay him, and then get their respective figs. In the end, everyone is happy. :D

*Bootlegs - these refer to FAKES. Usually has bad characteristics (broken parts, bad paint, etc) as compared to the original. But with SOTA SF's case, bootlegs are more of a "re-issue", than actual fakes, since its manufactured BY THE SAME FACTORY--so hindi nagkakalayo yung quality sa original. Regarding SOTA kasi, they had a falling out with their China factory. So the China factory manufactured new figures without SOTA's permission, as a way of getting revenge at SOTA--reproducing the rarest figs (ryu, sagat, bison) and making money out of them.

RYU and GOUKEN

I found both of these in Singapore while Rix and I are roaming the Chinatown malls. Ryu is from ROUND 1, and is a bitch to find since he's practically the most popular character from the franchise. Gouken, Ryu and Ken's master, is a toy con exclusive. Gouken doesn't really belong to any ROUNDS since he's an exclusive character.

I had to say, I got lucky finding these figures in Singapore. Ryu is so rare that you'll probably thank yourself even if you got the bootleg one (which I probably did). I can still remember what Rix said when she saw me overjoyed finding the figs: "Fil, nag-sesecond child hood ka na!" Hahaha! :D


M.BISON and IBUKI(red variant)




Philippe and Che gave these to me!! CHELIPS points for the win!! Hahaha! Pilep surprised me with them when we had a webcam chat when I was in Singapore! Tulo laway ko eh! Hahaha! Bison is a ROUND 1 figure--another fig which is a bitch to find! Try finding one now is HARD. With it is Ibuki from ROUND 4! She's not in PLAYER 1 color, but in a red variant (a better color than the original, in my opinion). Ibuki is loaded with accessories.. she even have that raccoon pet of her as an item! Really, really great items! I owe CHELIPS for these! ;p


SAGAT


The bad ass figure! Definitely the most expensive SOTA figure I have, together with the Bison that CHELIPS gave me! This time, I paid half the price, then my ate contributed for the other half! Hahaha! This guy is so big! Like I've said, bad ass! :D


ADON, CHUN-LI (pink variant), BLANKA (glow in the dark variant)


I found all these in Greenhills while toy hunting with Richard and Verge. I was only planning to buy Blanka, pero I saw Chun-li (which is fucking rare), and even though Chun-li was pink, I still bought her! Rare eh! And it was cheap for the price I got it for. Then while browsing around more, I found Adon which is in player 1 color! The price was also great kaya I bought it narin... mejo kinulang na ako ng cash that time (nasa ATM yung money ko) so Verg offered to let me borrow money para sa kulang. Hehehe! About Blanka, this variant is the glow in the dark figure. Cool, pero siyempre mas astig parin yung may color. *Since I still don't have PLAYER 1 Blanka and Chun-li, I'm still looking for them.


EVIL RYU


Most likely a bootleg because he's smiling so profusely! LOL. But seriously, it is a bootleg/re-issue since the original smiling Evil Ryu is only included with the Pyscho Bison 2-pack. The original single Evil Ryu is the one with the serious face--I found one in GH selling for 1k! Fuck that.. this one looks better anyways, and I got it DIRT (yes, dirt) CHEAP! :D


GEN, T.HAWK, IBUKI


After some time, I joined an all Filipino Toy collecting forum called PTK! And what a big help! I learned a lot just by lurking in the threads, as well as asking a lot of questions from the veteran toy collectors there! By this time, I started joining the forum's groupbuys! Ang saya.. I've'meet nice people (fellow toy collectors) because of it.

The first SF groupbuy, I got these figures: Gen, T.Hawk, and Ibuki (in player one color). All LOOSE though... mga second hand. A good catch still since some of the figs are hard to find (T.Hawk, in particular, is hard to find and EXPENSIVE as a MOC). No brainer, the prize catch here was T.Hawk from ROUND 2! Since I got him as loose, its way CHEAPER. And then there's Gen (from ROUND 3)! I just got him para dagdag collection pati kasi he was being sold cheap! Once I started checking the figures after I got home, I was so impressed with the Gen figure. Ang ganda! Good catch. And then there's Ibuki. You can say that she's the BUTAW fig this time since I already have a MOC Ibuki (red).. you can say I bought this loose Ibuki so I can have a player color. Again, its cheap. The bad thing though is that the joints of the figs are so loose na--the fig looks like a rag doll if you move her around, with the legs swaying all around because of the loose joints. tsk.


BALROG


I got this from another PTK seller. Butaw sa isang Groupbuy kaya sinalo ko nalang! Maganda kasi yung sculpt ni Balrog eh. IMO, everything from batch ROUND 3 (Guile, Sakura, Balrog, Adon, and Gen) was great:D


VEGA, SAKURA, GUILE, REMY


A product of another groupbuy! Since I made friends from the previous GB, they helped me this time to acquire the characters that I want. May heads up kumbaga para hindi ako maunahan ng iba sa selections! :D And this time, the seller included the cards. They are LOCs kumbaga... the figs were removed from the package para i-display, then was returned after! Still in good condition! All in all, GOOD BUY!

Finally, Vega from ROUND 2!! I've been searching high and low, MOC or LOC, for this masked psycho! I finally got him via the GB thanks to my PTK friends. My Shadaloo bosses (Bison, Sagat, Balrog, and Vega) is finally complete. And Sakura? Great fig! It's probably the best SOTA SF female character, in my opinion! I also took Guile because mine was a loose and bad conditioned one without accessories (which I sold later). Pretty lucky to have scored a good conditioned Guile this time! :D Both Guile and Sakura are from the fantastic ROUND 3.

And then there's Remy of ROUND 4! This sad fuck is the butaws of the butaws! This fig is so ugly that I was planning to buy it last. Unfortunately, we set a "buy one-take a butaw system" in this particular GB. And Remy, ugly as he is, was the only figure left in the butaw section which I still don't have. Still a good buy pa rin naman since dagdag sa collection, and he was in good condition din.


AKUMA


Definitely the star of ROUND 4--I already had a loose Akuma (without accessories) as my very first figure, but told myself that if given the chance, I would buy a MOC one complete with the accessories. It so happened that Richard and Verg found one in Megamall--reserved it by paying half the price, then told me to pick it up the next day! Aaaawww, it so pays when you have such great friends! Haha! :D


KEN


This IS SOTA Ken from ROUND 2. This guy is one of the rarest characters to find! I asked Mark to find me one from Singapore kaso yung nabili niya is yung NECA version (I'll write about that later). I was so glad when I found SOTA Ken thru.. guess what.. thru MULTIPLY! Haha! I had to meet up with the seller as far as Robinson's Place in Malate! It was fulfilling though, finding him.


FEI LONG


Together with AKUMA, the PLAYER 1 color Fei Long is one of the rarer figures to find for ROUND 4! Nagkalat lahat ng kulay: yellow, red, blue.. pero wala akong mahanap na player 1 color kahit saan (black). I saw one in GH recently, when I asked for the price, 1,200 pesos binebenta! GAGO! Hahahaha! Nakita siguro na sobrang excited ako, akala niya maloloko ako bilhin yun. Haha.

And so I waited a bit more, then lumabas sa PTK forum na may nagbebenta nung Fei Long player 1 for CHEAP! Hindi na ako nagdalawang isip since rare nga talaga. Actually, may nauna nga sa akin eh, buti nag-cancel kaya nakuha ko. ;p

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NECA STREET FIGHTER 4 - KEN


Mark bought me this one straight from Singapore! I was asking for the SOTA Ken though, but he happened to bring NECA KEN instead. I was one of the people ridiculing the wacky face sculpt of these NECA line based from SFIV. Imagine my surprise after I got the fig personally! Ang ganda! It's even better after I opened it up! VERY good figure! In terms of quality, this is even BETTER than SOTA's SF. I vowed to collect this line too since then. Buti nalang bagong line ito so madali pang hanapin. Yun nga lang, they're pricey compared sa SOTA... mahal talaga kasi ang NECA.