Likewise they progressed the line, gradually, to include new features, new articulation standards ever-increasing, new paint details and techniques, tampo designs, deeper crisper sculpting, sculpting styles to hide articulation, and so on.
These figures were here... they exist already, for the most part. Likewise, most of these exist in what people who like articulation better consider superior figures... I've seen people cite Jedi Luke, as superior to his vintage figure... he's not even out yet, but I really can't see that point of view. More power to a person, but that Vintage figure was damn near perfect in height, deco, detail, likeness... If anything I felt the new 5 POA figure looks a little too large and the face/hair details seem a little less than the TVC figure.
My interest stays that only "new" has caught my eye for the most part. That Rex, and Maul, are about it for me right now... And even then, I'd probably want to modify them into better figures ovearll, ultimately. Debating the Vader Droid still. These are just starting to surface here right now. The price is about good for what you get... I can't say great because you get so much less of a figure than you would with the $10 figure, but it's tough to argue that the price makes compulsive purchases easy enough.
Likewise it's easier to buy at $6 and not regret the purchase in theory, compared to $10 and feeling ripped off which the $10 price point certainly can make you feel that way sometimes about what you got there... With the Skiff Guard great. With a Clone I already have 30 of I was pretty happy with, not so great.
If this is how things go completely for 3.75" though, that will hurt... Took a long time for the line to get to a high quality overall level, where it is now, and I'd have a hard time filling in future new figures I really wanted that were so significantly inferior to figures I bought over the past almost 10 years.
That's a direction I hope they don't go, though 2002 was a direction I really hoped they weren't going, and they certainly did, because of the same basic reasoning; Cheap + Kids.
Though I'd be completely happy to see the $10 Black Series stuff down to at most 30 figures a year, and maybe a little better character selection and fewer Clone repaints and Prequal do-overs... If it's a collector line, make it that, and focus on the OT primarily, maybe an EU bone now and then, few and collector-targeted PT figures (Office Duel Palpy), and slightly better, more collector-focused case-packs. If the 5POA figures do what they're supposed to, they should certainly cover any "slack" those wishes for the collector figures could create.
