Yes, vehicles were supposed to remain realistic, which makes sense since you wouldn't want a split collecting core on something like the AT-TE... That'd be disasterous for that item in particular I think. That's pretty cool then...
The figure's styles are what they are... I see the "realistic" aspect of the bodies on some of them, but definitely not all. The Yoda in particular is 100% animated looking... The heads are all 100% animated, but not on the clones (go figure), which look like the body of the basic clone is more animated than the head...
Yet, if you look at Rex, his body and head look like he'd actually fit in a little decently with the regular line, and doesn't look too animated... There's a "lean" look to all of them including Rex, but it's just less noticeable on him. The buffness of the regular Clone though seems to really imply animated style...
On the battledroid though, while I see the animated element, it also has a realistic look to it as well everywhere except the headsculpt. It's definitely thicker for standing up I'd say too.
Obi-Wan's armor looks pretty realistic to me as well, however the heads on all of them are really a major turn from the design aspects of the regular line, so they're easy enough to pass on. I may get Rex and call it a day then... The battledroid's head will bother me way too much to buy it I think, as I like the body sculpting a bit, but just can't get past the noggin.
It does appear that there is some hybrid work going on with these though, however I would say that they were aiming for the animated look moreso, and ultimately any realistic looks to them are fairly limited, and are more dramatic on some figures rather than others (Rex most noticeably). I won't be buying most, if any, but I think they really satisfy animated fans, and maybe kids (we'll see there), while they're easy passes for the rest of us.