I'm all about the people keeping hope alive for what it is they want... I want super articulation, or at least an increased standard, across the board... It happens in some ways but fluctuates so I'm not 100% content, but I keep my hope alive... That said, like I mentioned earlier in this thread, I don't ask a question weekly about an increase in articulation because I know the answer to that question.
Now, I was gonna quote something here but it's so incredibly extensive and long-winded that it'd screw this page completely... It's the Playset portion of the Q&A Archive that Matt puts together around the forums. There are questions from every site (including here) on playsets... There's almost every variation on playsets within this grouping you could imagine from little interlocking playsets to subcontracting playsets to another better company for it... You name it and it seems asked in here. Please, check it out as there's a lot:
Categorized Playset List Of Q's & A's From HasbroNow, honestly... Totally serious here...
Did the question asked at Yak innovate on ANY of those ideas at all? A single one of them?
I think when Hasbro answered our question about EU and in-depth questions and such, they're talking apples and oranges in comparison to playsets... Playsets don't have the variety to discuss even. They are what they are... EU, as per my interpretation of the answer, is something so broad that they get this or that brought to their attention from a source they didn't think of...
Looking through the Q&A archive though, I don't see how you can get more involved in asking a playset question and get them to stroke their beards in contemplation and think about the topic at this point. I'm sure if that question existed and got asked, it really wouldn't get this kind of a reception when people talk about the Q&A... I'm sure it'd get some interest and discussion going, it would have put some light on at Hasbro.
But we're here talking about this specific question that was asked, and there was not one innovative thought in that question, it didn't make anyone think "wow, that's a good idea that Hasbro is sure to listen to!". It just fell flat...
Hell, take away the condescending attitude, and I think it still sucks... It didn't ask a single variation on anything already answered. It's just repetition, and repetition gets old when you've laid out a clear answer to the query. It just isn't a go for them. The closest to positive Hasbro has ever said, is that "If ______ is important in the cartoon, maybe", which is hardly a positive towards getting playsets.
The irony of it all is that in this thread I think even the people who think the question sucked, also feel that they would love a nice playset in the vein of what I've heard you talk about in the past. I mean, how many of us were stoked when we saw the Attakus resin dioramas? I know I was... Then I saw the price and realized that was a pipe dream.
Nobody's squishing people's toy dreams by criticizing this thread, I think people are just being realistic as to the question's validity at this point. It has none... If I see it expanded upon so it's really innovative, I'd gladly applaud the sly wording and innovative thinking. That question just basically told Hasbro that they are mistaken, and that they should abandon their data and listen to whoever the guy was that asked that question.
Anyway, that's about it... I don't know what more to say that makes sense on the matter other than I hope at least that future playset questions somehow take a turn nobody thought of yet in all those myriad of questions I linked to above...
About Bob's quote though, there was a lot of response to his quote... namely, this one point:
A figure is feasible at this point, no matter how obscure. Hasbro's track record is past precedent for that, and they have said in the Q&A themselves that even our obscure support of the ICMG is something they are "looking into". It's a low-risk action figure like any other they can mix in with army builders and main characters to make sure it doesn't hurt them in the long run...
Playsets aren't figures though...
Nobody here wants to squash playset dreams, and most of us want a cool playset too... I know I sure do. But the question is just so dead... If we were told by Hasbro that the ICMG wasn't going to happen ever, because he's just too obscure a character and they won't waste money on him or something, we'd have quit asking them to make him as one of our questions any given week... We'd still be pushing for one here, but ICMG would really have a death nail in him at that point. The Playsets seem to be at that point, and I see no way of rewording the question to make Hasbro suddenly agree to make this stuff. Thus I see questions pertaining to it as fairly wasteful when something else could've been asked. That's me though, and I still want a playset, I just don't hold out hope for getting one... Nor do I hope to see SA a standard for this line either. Just not gonna happen.