A funny thing happened on my way to the First4Figures Collectors Club Page today, I was quite surprised to see tons of posts from multiple posters lamenting the cancellation of the Sonic line. Quite baffled by this I looked into it a little more and found even more people saying that the Sonic line was to be cancelled or ‘in danger’.
After doing some research, it seems that in a recent Q&A video, First4Figures strongly hinted that the Sonic line was indeed in danger, specifically future releases being cancelled unless the next statue sells very well.
The comments in question are made in this video (April 7th, between 46:00-48:00), a user asks about a ‘Modern Metal Sonic’ statue and the staff respond that it won’t happen unless the 25th anniversary statue sells very well. At first the tone is jokey, but then it changes to a more sombre and serious one, with them finally saying “Make sure that sells well or… forget about Modern Metal Sonic,” at which point one of them even shakes their head.
Now whilst there has been no official confirmation (that I can find) as to the specific reason as to why the Sonic line is in danger, but many long term fans of F4F have been stating on the Facebook page that what’s happening is very similar to what happened to Kirby and a few other franchises.
It seems that future lines can suffer depending on the sales of a previous statue, even if in the past the line had done very well. Fans have been citing Kirby as a prime example, which had a previously announced statue cancelled due to poor sales over an earlier release.
So if that’s indeed the case, who was the last character in the Sonic series that got a statue? This guy.
Yup, Silver is being cited by many on the F4F page as being the reason for these comments, checking the exclusive statue, it seems that only 375 were made in response to orders… Compare that to the Exclusive Tornado statue which cost $45 more had 425 made… that’s… not good.
More information as and when we get it.
Source: First4Figures Q&A
UPDATE: A F4F staff member responded on our Facebook page with the following
Hey all. Let me chime in. that 425 number isnt the real number. That was just a random number selected before we moved to the 2 week preorder system, where you get a more accurate number for Silver at 375. (We usually round it up to a nicer number) So sales arent just based on Silver alone. Tornado sold way less than the 425 number suggested. For many years, the company only had 3 members, so those ‘low’ numbers were ok to get by however with growth now in these last couple of years. Things need to be improved at all levels. Our prices have remained relatively very low and competitive in the same market and we continue to improve the way we make our products accessible with flexipay options. Hope that helps abit more with the story. Thanks
So what we get from this are a number of things.
The first is that the Tornado sold even lower than the 425 quoted here, combined with the fact that F4F has expanded it’s business means that we now have two statues in a row which might have both fallen far below expectations which suggests that the line really is at risk.
Glad i got my modern super sonic statue when i did. Didnt see the silver statue though. Hope the 25th anny statue does good. Maybe i’ll get one.
Oh dear. Looks like another creator of good Sonic products might be going away, at least in terms of licencing. Which is…irritating. Granted I never bought a statue myself – they’re too expensive, I don’t have the space nor do I have any real use for such a thing. But it’s a shame that their stuff might just vanish because they previous stuff didn’t sell enough. Sounds more like a pure-profit decision from up-top, if you ask me. “It hasn’t make us three hundred trillion dollars. BIN IT”
Don’t worry, I’m sure the statues will get MUCH better when the permission to build them is given to TOMY.
…That was sarcasm by the way. Screw TOMY.
Yeah, Tomy is trash. But it’s also for kids….anyone older than 12 buying those needs an intervention.
I liked the Sonic Boom figures they came out with a few years back. I picked up Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckes and thought they were cute 🙁
I’m a little sad about this… Comic cancellation, statues… how much the Sonic franchise still doing good on sales (games, comics, etc.)? Somehow I fear the franchise cancellation (Because I had a dream that this shit happen).
Well, it’s not like the movie will be cancelled. If that happens, and the Sonic series ends with Sonic and Amy marrying, then Shadow is gonna be relegated to being a Full-Time Butt Monkey on Daimando’s Youtube Channel.
If they want sells, stop being so expensive. It’s their own fault and I’m not really sorry if they don’t make any more. The prices are ridiculous.
Commission a sculptor and painters to produce a game-accurate, hand painted figurine in porcelain and let me know how that goes. Or better still go to Sideshow, Gaming Heads, Pop Culture Shock (or pretty much any high end collectible producer) and see their prices and then get back to me. These prices for these kinds of things in this scale are cheap in comparison.
As a proud owner of two Statues Classic Tails EX and Megaman X I can tell you that they are worth every penny of the cost. I understand your thoughts on the cost but these are literally the highest level of Sonic and gaming goods you’ll find so of course they demand a premium
Well, the Silver one probably isn’t going to do very well. I love these statues, but I have 0 desire to get a Silver one…
Shoulda gone with Modern Knuckles, or hell, even Amy. I don’t even LIKE Amy, but people seem to forget that most Sonic fans really love her! Or I dunno…..do Blaze the Cat. It was at the top of the polls right up there with Modern Knuckles. How Silver got a Statue before Modern Knuckles, Amy or Blaze, I will NEVER understand.
The only reason anyone bothers with Silver is because he completes some imaginary trifecta of hedgehogs. Sonic and Shadow are the Goku and Vegeta of the series, and while Silver’s story lends itself to similarities with Trunks, he’s no where near as popular. He debuted in a shit game and has had no worthy roll in any games since.
A Blaze statue? If the Silver statue didn’t sell well, a Blaze statue wasn’t going to sell better. She’s not that popular in comparison to the characters they have already done. She was in that dreaded Sonic 06 game as well.
Not to mention they didn’t make Amy because she didn’t get enough support according to the Q&A.
This is sad news if only Sonic, Metal Sonic, Tails, Shadow, and Knuckles can garner enough fans to continue this line.
I am 99.9% sure Blaze is a much more popular character than Silver, with male or female fans. Silver is a contrived excuse for a character, and I’d say his fandom is more of a cult following than anything. Blaze has two successful handheld titles behind her as well, and is just an all-around more interesting character. [/end opinion]
Being sure doesn’t make you right. I highly doubt Blaze more popular than Silver, and I’m not sure where you came up with that, but evidence suggests Silver is indeed a favorited character. Sonic Team themselves claimed Silver is a popular character, but say even if Blaze somehow was more popular, it wouldn’t be by much. Besides, wouldn’t they have made a Blaze statue first if the majority of people actually wanted one more?
It doesn’t really matter much because Sonic Team only pays attention to a select few characters. Blaze nor Silver are among those because they aren’t that popular in comparison. If you really wanted to, you could look around at character polls.
Sorry, but I find Blaze very bland. I could call her contrived as well, for she is basically Sonic in feline form. A copy and paste character if you will. Silver may have debuted in a terrible game, but I see him as the more unique and interesting character. It is tactless to say Silver’s fanbase is some sort of cult BTW. As much as it may displease you, you can’t just write off an entire fanbase as a cult.
You do understand the concept of “cult followings”, right? It doesn’t have to do with a cult. It’s a figure of speech.
Considering how overpriced these figures are, it’s not really a surprise. It’s a shame though, they were real nice figures, but $400 is far too much for one figure.
Why is SEGA getting rid of the best parts of the franchise?
Are they that hard up or just the usual piss-poor management?
Sega have nothing to do with this.