Sota Sodom Street Fighter - Mobile Edition

Street Fighter
Sota Sodom Street Fighter
By Hervé St-Louis
December 19, 2004 - 15:57

Sodom is the American Street Fighter obsessed with Japanese culture. It's amazing that a character that debuted much later than others, got a figure so quickly from Sota. Sodom first appeared in Capcom's 1989 Final Fight arcade game where he was a boss for the second level. In the US version, they called him Katana. He joined the Street Fighters gang in Street Fighter Alpha One to avenge a past loss to Guy.

Likeness

The main point about Sota's Street Fighter line is accuracy. With Sodom, it's not very difficult. He looks thicker than the cartoon version, but right the suit is dead on. Sodom's Final Fight origins means his design and looks are not standard Street Fighter's fare. Yet, the "Die" type on his chest is accurate and the gold crest on his head points in the right direction.

Sculpt

Sodom is large, like a football player. It's funny how Sota captured the essence of the character. One hand, he's an American who wants to be Japanese. However, physically, he's nowhere near a Japanese built! Sodom's has an exchangeable left hand with an opened flabellum. As he wears a mask, his face is expressionless. There are wood patterns sculpted under Sodom's soles. His head crests falls constantly.

Paint

The paint job is not the best. Be careful about not to rub his chest logo too often for fear of erasing it. The white paint around his abs does not cover the base plastic sufficiently. The paint on the straps around his calves bleeds all over the place. There's some cool blush on Sodom's hands though, that give them a natural look. The gold paint used around many trimmings and the crest is the type that fades fast.

Scale

Sodom is bigger than Ryu, shorter than Sagat and Bison. He fits very well with other Street Fighter characters and of course, other six-inch characters such as Marvel Legends and DCDirect. Being thicker than a regular man, Sodom looks very imposing.

Stability

Stability is Sodom's main weakness. He is very top-heavy. Although his feet are flat, they cannot line up properly to support his weight. Also, the ball-joint hip articulation is too loose to support the torso. Sodom falls forward constantly. One must lean his legs and hope the ball joints at the hip will hold. A major criticism of Sota's Street Fighter line is the lack of action figure stands and peg holes in the figure's feet.

Articulation

Sodom has 27 articulations at the neck, the abs, the waist, the ball-joint shoulders, the biceps, the elbows, the wrists, the hips, the thighs, the knees the ankles, the feet and the toes. His head has cool rotating ball joint. There are double articulations at the wrists and the knees. Many articulations are stiff, especially the abs' crunch, and the soles. The figure is very movable, but so top heavy that fancy posing is difficult.

Plastic

Sota uses heavy plastic. It adds a lot to the figure's weight. Although of a very good quality, it also makes Sodom extremely top heavy and difficult to pose. However, as the figure constantly falls, the higher stock has proven very beneficial. This toy will endure the trauma caused by kids. Sodom's sleeves are in rubber.

Props

Sodom comes with two sais with fabric ropes attached to them. He also has a Japanese-styled hat with a blanket made of fabric. The glue that holds the blanket is not resistant and the blanket was almost completely off when I opened the package. The hat can fit non the character's head, but one must remove the crest first. However, with his hat on, it's impossible to see Sodom's head.

Packaging

Sota's packages are entirely in plastic. You'll need scissors to open the package. It's the same package for the entire wave, except the small paper header that they added with a picture of Sodom and his name. The back has images of the figures in the first wave. Sota added the slogan "First Round" underneath. The packaging is very resistant and assures collectors that no one played with the contents prior.

Cost

Sodom goes for about $12 at better venues like Quicksand collectibles and much higher elsewhere. At $12, the figures compete well with stuff like DCDirect and Marvel Legends. Considering all that Sota includes in the package and the quality of the plastic, fans wins on this deal. Many fans prefer to purchase this Sodom and the other Street Fighter figures of this wave as sets, to lower the price.

Availability

Availability is a problem for this line. Sota has already announced that they had sold out of their initial stock way before the figures arrived in North America. Several stores are already announcing that the figures are no longer available. Another issue is that many gaming fans were not aware of the figures quickly enough. Expect many folks to hunt down this line of figures. Buy fast and quickly is the word.