[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kernel

I wish they would go back to the old bucks, like the Jim lee cyclops buck, she hulk, Hyperion, and firestar buck. Those were the best and they still use them for certain upcoming figures like 1st appearance daredevil. I wish they would use them for all of the figures, or at least have some torso articulation (diaphragm over waist if not both).

For me it's a figure by figure basis.
The amount of new parts some characters need, I can see the usage of the new style on.

For others that don't need that kind of amount of new parts, the old style can work.

Like Daredevil for example, his red costume and his red and yellow costume can use the comic pack sculpt easily enough. For armored daredevil though, we needed the new sculpted parts.

My main gripe is on areas where we don't need certain articulation.
Looking at X-23 for example, she has 3 swivels in each leg. There's no need for the calf swivel while she has ankle swivel. It's there because of the ease to switching parts to use that leg for other molds though. Same to the Jim Lee Cyclops sculpt that uses the same base figure as Commander Rogers and Comic Pack Daredevil. What the X-23 figure really needs though is a new hip leg joint for her upper thighs. The oblong shape they used hinders her articulation and poses. (Could new Thor have been done using She-Hulk's base figure? Or would the amount of new sculpted parts be too numerous? And she is more a height between Carol Danvers and She-Hulk as opposed to someone like Titania that is She-Hulk's height.)

It's a character to character thing overall. The original Ms. Marvel sculpt was near perfect, but the waist to torso articulation seems almost redundant overall. It provides some great poses, but much of that can still get achieved with the torso swivel without the waist. For the ease of sculpting new parts though, it comes in handy. Really depends on having the foresight of how many figures you can get out of one base figure. With assembly factoring into the cost though, they do have to find balance somewhere to keep the costs from reaching even higher.

It is a good question though. How much are we willing to spend for a high grade figure? Expert level paint apps, high amount of accessories, and full articulation across it all similar to the X-23 base figure or She-hulk figure. With the potential to swap the parts as needed for new sculpts, or even webgear add on to help bolster it, They can do a lot on figures, but again it comes back to cost of production. So if they upped the amount of accessories to offset the cost, would fans be willing to pay a slightly higher amount?

Would we buy figures that have an unmasked head, many accessories as character specific, and more? Or is the old pattern of one accessory per figure and civilian clothes figures for the normal head version more market possible?

Maybe it's something for Hasbro to try in the future.
Like a spider-man release that has 3 heads (unmasked, masked, and partial unmasked), several web accessories like a web shield, webline, and webgloves, a camera, and his web backpack. Though spider-man himself is so over-saturated in the market that might not be the best test either. And market speaking, every variation of a figure sold separately instead of in that type of bulk pack, is a figure sale they could have done by itself. The typical mindset is each head of a figure that is a variant is potentially a figure that could have been carded by itself with an individual accessory. So I'd lean more on maybe making that a deluxe pack to test it like XMO: Wolverine did. Like a comic pack, but instead of two different figures, it's spider-man and peter parker and a half unmasked head, plus all those accessories. Maybe an exclusive release test would work best for that. Start off with Peter Parker, then Miles Morales, and maybe even All-New Wolverine since her coat variant would need an additional figure unto itself.

Someone like Machine Man would need a ton of accessories and expansion on the same arm mechanic that the Cobra BATS use and the Zombie Vipers. So he'd benefit from a deluxe pack like that too, but he also doesn't have the same recognition as headline characters have yet.

It's a matter of finding the right balance, but I do really like the idea of a figure that has a lot of figure specific accessories to enhance it with like many GI Joe releases have done too. Cost is the issue though. If they up the level of craftsmanship too much, we're starting to look at 15 USD per figure or more. Does that still keep them within purchase range for idle everyday shoppers?

Mega bloks is really pioneering the lower scale. Seems Hasbro is looking into that overall with their addition of smaller mashers figures. Which means they do see the potential in customizing figures, but are trying to find the right balance to not make parts too small. So maybe replacement hands for the 3.75'' figures has potential too in deluxe packs like mentioned above.

It's a matter of finding that cost of production to retail cost to customer willing to still pay.

So I'm willing to give Hasbro the benefit of the doubt as they test out new methods to see what works and what doesn't. Considering how many costume variations each character has, we could still see more.

Like a new Bishop figure based on his Messiah War attire using the Commander Rogers base figure. 90s Bishop wasn't as bulked up as his later appearance in Messiah War, so that'd make sense too. 90s bishop needed more sculpted parts than Messiah War Bishop. Messiah War Bishop really only needs cable's arm or winter soldier's, a new head, and some minor web gear accessories like a belt. Everything else is all paint.