First off, the Hem photos are great and I really love that he has an all-new blaster sculpt to FINALLY give us an accurately sculpted/scaled Ponda Baba blaster. This is especially cool to me because Ponda's pistol was a common Rebel blaster on Hoth too so I consider it sort of the second "Rebel Blaster" behind the one seen used by the RFT's and Death Star Troopers...
That said, about articulation, I think everyone's said what I would in reply to JediShawn's points...
That's fine you don't "play" (pose, whatever) with your toys like some of us may do, but the fact remains they are toys nonetheless and Hasbro charges a lot of bones for these little action figures comparatively speaking to other toy lines. So from a competitive level that's one reason I think Hasbro can do better by the fans for articulation. Hasbro's behind the times on articulation while other toy lines are decades ahead, literally in some cases.
The next point I'd make is that Star Wars figures have gone from as low as $5 to as high as $7+ in the span of a couple years... That'd be fine and dandy by me if EVERY figure leaped in quality and Hasbro's "standard" or bar they set for action figures was matched by 90% of them... I'm leaving 10% for "Senators" and other type figures that have a long plastic skirt piece or robe that inheritly inhibits articulation... But on Cantina aliens, when we got 3 at the tail-end of 2004 with 12 points of articulation as a minimum, I'm as disappointed in seeing lacking articulation as I am when we get a Commtech Stormtrooper recarded instead of the VOTC... Hasbro CAN do better for $7+ a figure, so why not expect it out of them? I mean, one doesn't settle for buying a brand new car these days without an air conditioner in it, ya know what I mean? You paid the same for the car as you would for one with it, so don't you deserve the A/C unit? It may run fine without it but I'd want it.
I'm a firm believer that even if a character stands around for 2 seconds of screentime, that doesn't mean articulation SHOULD be shorted. In actuality, the only way I feel articulation should get shorted is when, as I noted earlier, a robe/skirt piece interferes... Softgoods on everything is asking a lot, so I'm cool with say Mas Ameda not having leg articulation for the sake of his outfit... Though I do think a cloth skirt would be cool, cloth's a costly expense itself, much less cloth on top of articualtion... But anyway, when nothing's there to interfere, I do think that wrists, knees, and elbow articulation are ALL must-haves for a new "standard" to this line.
For Momaw to lack all 3, well that just sucks... And it's a flaw on Hem Dazon and Garindant then as well, though obviously they're better than old Momaw there.
But yeah, anyway, that's my thinking on it... I firmly believe Hasbro can do better, and a character's place in the films shouldn't dictate whether he gets 6 or 16 points of articulation to me... It should get something better than articulation we saw in 1995, and barely better than what we got in 1978 (focusing on Momaw here, but the thought applies across the line IMO). I just want a better toy that's more fun to open, play with, and enjoy... To me that's better not just for me as a collector with a kid's heart, but for kids who enjoy the line as well.
As far as Hasbro throwing their hands in the air and saying it's a dead line, I don't agree with that at all... Not just for the contract extension but for the fact LFL's got plans for Star Wars... Hasbro won't abandon anything so long as there's money to be made. If they honestly thought this was dead, there wouldn't have been a wave a month till May this year... You'd see far less being offered I think.
