Setthotep wrote:
I'm sure that WW looks nice and all but it doesn't change the fact that we now have a pilot in a red snow suite.

Alot of these figures really could have had their own sculpt. Sadly we the collectors and fans are falling victom to the corporate bottom line. This is why we are getting second class cittizen figures and not the first class stuff the we deserve. Don't get me wrong I will get the figures...but it will be bitter sweet. We truely deserve better, after all Hasbro works for us.
I really think someone needs to run the numbers for us, to show the cradle-to-grave cost of designing a figure. From the designer's time drawing a concept picture, then engineering the parts, sculpting it in clay, to creating and resizing all the 20! molds used within a 25th figure. This cost is important, because you can then compare the cost to make 100,000 figures from one mold, painted 50,000 as one character, 50,000 as a second, versus the cost of running 50,000 of one set of molds, then 50,000 from a second set of molds.
There's also a difference between slapping together a repaint and designing a part with multiple, contrasting uses in mind. Chad_ghost points this out with WW especially, that the molds are designed as much, if not more for WW than SJ. Does RAH Snow Job have map pockets -- or front thigh pockets
at all? (No) How about the ankle zippers? (No.) The wrist radio maybe? (WW v1 has a longer black glove in the yojoe.com pic, while SJ does not) Or the shape of the backpack connection? (Definitely similar to WW, not SJ).
Also, Hasbro doesn't work for us -- not unless you own stock in the company. Hasbro, like any corporation, works for its shareholders. So, if they can save money, yet still put out an impressive product, I'm all for repaints. Yes, slapping out repaints for the sake of repaints is dumb. (Arctic 6-pack, anyone?) I'd like to think the disappointing sales of items like that made them learn their lesson.
Finally, repaints are nothing new. Hawk, Breaker, Grunt, Snake-Eyes, and Stalker all shared the same body -- as did Flash and Grand Slam, as did Zap and Short-Fuze. Breaker, Clutch, and Rock n Roll all shared the same face, as did Zap, Grunt, and Grand Slam, as did Flash and Short-Fuze and Hawk. And that's just from memory of the original 13. No toyline is immune (Ratchet and Ironhide for instance).
I just think it's unrealistic to expect "one mold, one character".
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