>>6755087>Figma is a high quality line aimed at collectors, small details can be important to characters so it's important for that to be captured in figures. A lot of US companies go for profitability over quality, so reusing the same moulds and slapping on different heads and paint jobs is seen as "good enough".It's not even just that.
Japanese lines like Figma, Figuarts and Revoltech aren't "toy" lines in the sense that the Japanese see it. You can't wander into a toystore aimed at kids in Japan and buy a wide assortment of Figmas. Usually they have some collector stuff but a very small assortment. Collector figures are mostly sold in the "direct market" IE Japanese hobby and toy stores aimed straight at adults. This kind of business simply doesn't exist in the US, the most you get are collector stores that sell a wide variety of stuff here and there, and those are rare. Meanwhile Japanese toys that are actually aimed at kids are mostly sold in what would be the equivalent of "retail" stores in the US.
Now in the states, that collector market store situation is kind of skewed. There are some figure lines aimed at collector stores like comic book shops, but they HAVE to deal with Diamond distribution to be allowed to be sold there, which is a huge issue for toy distributors. The Diamond chokehold on the specialist "nerd" stores is really oppressive to what can get in and not. So instead a lot of US companies aim at general interest stores where they don't have to deal with Diamond and where more people go, since comic book stores also have a reputation. Gamestop, Toys'R'Us and similar are the most reliable ones, of course.
It's basically only in recent years that a market for direct to consumer collector toys has even appeared in the states, but it will probably overhaul the system in the future. But yeah right now the retail situation is really fucked up.
