I don't know why we all have to complain about the articulation in the figures this year. By quality, I am assuming that articulation is what you are referring to, because the detail has been nothing but great on all of the figures this year.
Regardless, why is articulation such a huge issue? I do not mean to get off topic here, but I just want to know. For main characters and troopers I want a lot of articulation, but for other characters, a lot of it really isn't necessary.
In the same respect, why is articulation so bothersome to you when people want it?
I mean, seriously this has been a couple times now that people wanting something more for their money has "bothered" you enough to mention it Shawn so it seems articulated figures are a nuisance to you on some level... Is wanting more/better that bad though?
Fact is the figures have gone up in price and really they haven't gone up in quality at all in any respect, and regressed in quality in others... So that's where the main complaint lies with me personally. For $5 retail I'd probably be citing the poor articulation a lot less on any of the figures and praising it more on figures like the AT-AT Driver or Coruscant Firefighter...
Quality on a per-figure basis in other terms is very relative to each and every figure... One's sculpt may seem sub-par to even a line from 6 years ago, or the quality of materials used, or paint applications may be sloppy compared to even a POTF2 figure... It's possible on any figure really, so I wouldn't say we're getting the best we ever have with the new Saga line all the time either, it just depends on the figure at hand... Ultimately this year's line-up aren't better though than 2005 or 2004 even to really be giddy about an increased price for getting the same (or in lots of cases) less out of the toy.
That said though, articulation is a point of the overall quality of the toy... One of several. Since they are toys and not statues like GG or some other company is inclined to produce, I'm more interested in the articulation on them to cite it as a flaw in its "quality" overall when there's less, especially with the price increases we saw this year from just a year ago.
For me, articulation isn't limited to main characters, secondary characters, troopers or what have you... It should be limited by the nature of the costume only when the price of figures goes up to $7 and change each... The line, to me, is still going to be judged by comparable boy's toys products on the shelves it shares, and right now the basic line's lagging behind in articulation compared to where it even was a year ago unfortunately. Even the figures with less articulation often were littered with a complex inner-mechanism for an action feature so you still were ultimately "getting more for less" as it were...
As a consumer of this line, I think articulation then is a huge deal in terms of what I collect and want out of the toy. Give me knee joints on figures over a stand and mini-holo any day for sure.
As far as the Kir Kanos 2-pack, I love it but the price is right along the lines of what we've come to expect out of exclusives... It's not great. It's better than a $15 Clone repaint at Target though... Plus the figures have lots of "new" elements to them that really make you feel like you're getting something superior to a repaint too for the price... The comic, to me, is irrelevant, but it's something to consider somewhat with the pricing... Either way the figure we've seen looks great and I'm really curious to see the next one... The price is the expected inflated exclusive price at this point though.
