The thing about Hasbro's answer that doesn't register as satisfactory to me is that yes their ball-jointed style costs more to produce however it's like damn near everything else in life where if it's costing you more there's usually a cheaper way of doing things.
I'm all for articulation in a general sense, obviously... I think Hasbro's ball/socket articulation is without a doubt among the tops in this scale, hand's down, but it's a process of injection molding that costs more during production, blah blah blah... It's great on army builders though and characters you'll sell assloads of because you're going to diminish all the fixed costs to practically nill over time as you sell more and more units. Sure you'll still be sinking $ into production of the figure, but your mold toolings will cost (in theory) $0 eventually as you'll have earned enough off the toy to offset that fixed total.
Now, my opinion is that if your ball/socket joint is costlier during production... drop it for the less costly style. I personally would like a straight hinged knee joint with a pin holding it in place over NO knee joint... Or how about going the route other companies chose by having a hinged knee where the lower leg simply "pops" into a groove/peg built into the figure's upper thigh? Fairly well conceiled, sturdy if properly designed,
incredibly cheap to produce by comparison...
I'm ok with angle-cut elbow joints too... They work for me on most figures. Save the ball/sockets for the figures you're gonna do well on like army builders and main characters, but don't cut articulation all together on figures you CAN do better on... Just cut the style of articulation.
Did Garindan need ball/socket shoulders? No... Give him straight shoulders and ball/socket knees then. Did he need his boots to swivel? Hell no. Give him hinged knees instead maybe.
Does he need ANY of that articulation? Say what you want, but I believe he does. He's a $7 freaking action figure... He should be poseable if all he did was walk in a pile of **** for a split second of screentime.
As far as stands and holographs, I personally have to disagree that they're a minor cost Rob, but that's just my POV. That's 12 mold toolings just for the holo's... The stands require their own plus the decoration (minor point on the deco but it is sort of a particular paint ap and a cost). For my money, that's better put into the toy, as the stand and miniature holograph mean jack to me...
Anyway, I think Hasbro can do a tad better... When we have a company slapping ankle joints on a figure like Sora Bulq, or Bacara, and they're points of articulation you can't even USE, let alone the costs involved (supposedly) in them being there in the first place... Well I just know by that, that Hasbro's capable of better for collectors.
Personally, while I know the molding process for the ball/socket joint is costlier, I don't believe it's as costly as they let on... That's me though. I've always felt that Hasbro plays the "poor us" game at times when it came to how they portray their efforts with the line... When they're the ones making the money and we're the ones spending though, I really don't look highly upon their POV and feel they can do better by me, and my wallet.