[trebleshot]

Nicely done, Snow.

A couple things to add:

Each design team are their own division within Hasbro and act independently of each other (all reporting to higher-ups), as Snow said. And sometimes designers will be inspired by other designs or innovations (either from within Hasbro or outside the company), but the influence is not immediately apparent due to the time frame for toy manufacturing (about two years from concept art to mass production). And even then, other factors may prevent one designer incorporating certain ideas into their own designs.

Also, each team has a specific budget laid out based on licensing, materials, price point and labor costs. Keep in mind the factories that produce MU aren't necessarily the same ones who do G.I.Joe, Transformers, or any other Hasbro product.

Also, the Hasbro-owned properties don't have any licensing associated with them. Since they're in-house, more of the budget can be put towards design and manufacturing. Combine that with reusable parts and accessories and that is why Joes are usually armed to the teeth and have better design construction across the board.

You may notice that both Star Wars and MU only have a few accessories per figure (and they tend to be generic and/or repetitious).