Articulation is overrated!

[El Chuxter]

Who's with me?

Two reasons why I say this:

1) Some characters just do not need more than the basic articulation. This is not to say a salt-shaker abomination like ROTJ Mon Mothma is acceptable. However, who really wants to position Malakili doing the hokey pokey? The guy just stands there! That's all he does! He's lame! There's no reason to make him do anything but stand there! I could say the same about so many other characters. Does Sio Bibble need to breakdance? Do you need Uncle Owen practicing the flying crane kick from The Karate Kid? If you answered yes to either of those questions, I pity you.

2) Articulation simply does not work on some figures, particularly females and figures that have exposed skin on joints. Yarna suffered because exposed flesh looks awful when joints are added. Period. There is no exception to this. Slave Leia is a beautiful sculpt, but the joints look like crap, and bring the figure down several notches. The only part that looks great? The one-piece alternate lower body, which has how many points of articulation? Zero! Don't even get me started on that abomination that was SOTE Leia, or how jacked-up both Bultar Swan figures look.

All figures, except when not practical, should have a minimum of neck, shoulder, wrist or elbow, waist, and hip articulation. If possible, tack on some knee articulation. But, if any joint looks like crap, lose it. I don't like pre-posed, scene specific figures, but I'd take them over figures that look like garbage because of too many breaks in the figure. Older figures should be re-made based on shortcomings in the sculpt, rather than lack of a couple of articulation points compared with what's coming out now.

[Droid]

There were many characters with the six points of articulation that I thought looked better than modern characters with all the articulation they pack in there now.

There are so many characters whose arms never quite look right because they can swivel all over the place.

I would like figures shown sitting in the film to have jointed knees. I would like pilots to be able to sit correctly in their vehicles.

However, I would be perfectly fine with MOST characters not having jointed elbows or knees.

I would prefer a sturdier figure that can stand well with less ugly joints.

Oh, and I hate soft goods. That is all.

[gba88]

My main want/needs are: neck, shoulders, elbows & knees. I don't care a whole lot about hip, wrist or ankle articulation at all. I feel that all characters should be able to:

1. hold their respective weapon or accessory properly while standing.

2. sit down.

That's it. Oh, and I HATE plastic clothes, but LOVE soft/cloth goods! The molded sleeves on the recent amidala are God awful.

[DarkJedi5]

I disagree. The line is for kids, so the goal is to make the best toy possible. What good is a figure that only achieves one stance, even if it is a film accurate stance? You can only play with that toy in one context and that makes it a pretty worthless toy. Kids know that the more ways to bend a figure the more fun it is and frankly I agree.

Who says that just because Ponda Baba was standing at the bar in the cantina his figure doesn't need to be able to sit? Who says that just because Malakili never rode a speeder bike in ROTJ he shouldn't be able to? If you are a toy maker and you want to make your toys sell, you need them to be interactive and allow for imaginative play. Limited articulation minimizes that and makes for a less competitive toy.

[Devo]

The new TPM Amidala? Awful sleeves? I doubt softgoods would look any better there, they'd be sticking out in gravity defying directions everywhere. Sure if you insist on posing the figure with her arms parallel to the ground the plastic sleeves defy gravity because they're obviously fixed in position but why would you want to pose any Queen amidala figure like that?

Anyway, I don't mind articulation. I just hate the lack of consistency in how they execute it. Why are the balljoints on some figures massive and on others a perfectly acceptable size? Why are they recessed and concealed more on some figures than on others? Why are they increasingly using these ugly hinges in the shoulders of some figures where the use of the articulation causes the hinge to jut out in an unsightly manner? Why did it take so long for Hasbro to realise that cutting off a figures lower jaw to facilitate a ball-joint in the head was not an acceptable compromise? They seem to have gotten better at this lately but will it remain so?

I agree with two, no three, of your points, that some figures simply do not need to be SAed, that old figures with great sculpts don't necessarily need to be updated just to add a few joints such as Saga Dengar and I also share your hatred of softgoods.

[gba88]

The new TPM Amidala? Awful sleeves? I doubt softgoods would look any better there, they'd be sticking out in gravity defying directions everywhere. Sure if you insist on posing the figure with her arms parallel to the ground the plastic sleeves defy gravity because they're obviously fixed in position but why would you want to pose any Queen amidala figure like that?

That's the one! Look at this link: http://www.rebelscum.com/photo.asp?i...ala/LC-537.jpg ...and tell me that looks good..... I'm not saying soft goods were the answer, but the sculpted sleeves weren't either.

I actually think the *best* execution is a combination...plastic goods underneath and soft goods over top. It's not a matter of wanting to pose her in different ways, it's a matter of it looking more natural. I just personally think that (if done right), soft goods can look much nicer than attempting to sculpt plastic to "look" like cloth.

[autumnsdescent]

I passed on the 30th anniversary release of Lando because his elbows were 45's instead of ball joints. Once Hasbro started adding the articulation, I actually felt somewhat "jipped" by previous figures. For me, the articulation outweighs some of the aesthetics. The added articulation is a strong selling point for me, though, and I pass on most figures today if they don't have at least head, elbow, knee, wrist, and ankle articulation. If Hasbro went back to less articulation, they would lose me as a collector. And I've been collecting since '78.

[gba88]

I passed on the 30th anniversary release of Lando because his elbows were 45's instead of ball joints. Once Hasbro started adding the articulation, I actually felt somewhat "jipped" by previous figures. For me, the articulation outweighs some of the aesthetics. The added articulation is a strong selling point for me, though, and I pass on most figures today if they don't have at least head, elbow, knee, wrist, and ankle articulation. If Hasbro went back to less articulation, they would lose me as a collector. And I've been collecting since '78.

This is a good point. We've seen about every figure possible over the years in less than stellar articulated incarnations. They need to do *something* in order to keep re-releasing year after year. The added articulation is definitely welcome in most cases. I've also bought several versions of figures that I've previously had just because the new versions weren't in "frozen" poses.

There are decades of figures to choose from if you like the semi/limited articulated figures. At this point, I'm fine with *any* figure hasbro wants to add articulation to.

[DarkJedi5]

Even more disapointing was that it was a "new" Lando, the smuggler one if I'm not mistaken. They used the arms from the VOTC Lando but repainted them and they wound up looking awful.

[elvandrik]

Articulation is the bomb-diggity! I do agree with the initial statement that characters with lots of exposed flesh sometimes look worse with articulation, but remember that innovations in joint and materials technology will be developed and in a few years someone at hasbro will come up with some genius idea on how to make balljoints look awesome even on exposed skin. Articulation has its aesthetic drawbacks sometimes, but overall the line is better with it.