Body reuse question...

[michaelsummers]

I was just wondering how people feel about huge reuse across the deluxe line, for example the Buffy/Faith body being used repeatedly.

Its just that when there is reuse in the regular line, there understandably tends to be complaints, but I dont think I've seen much unease about reuse in the deluxes.

Is there a reason why It's not as much of an issue with deluxes?

Michael

[ajmets]

No, I believe I've already expressed my frustration with the constant reuse. Especially with this new Kendra figure. We pay a decent amount of money for these figures and when they use the same parts for every freakin' figure it seems like we are getting ripped off. I understand some reuse. Thats to be expected but lately they all have the same body and just a different head.

[JusticeDemon]

You have seen the new Willow figures, right?

[Ouija]

I thought the idea of the deluxe line was to be sort of like the ML figs, generic bodies. That way they don't have to pay so much for moulds and can release a wider range of characters.

But i'm not entirely sure, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Personally, I don't mind re-use on the deluxe line.

[michaelsummers]

I think they have tried really hard with these Willow figures, which is really good news, they all look terrific But the original Buffy body does seem to pop up on alot of other figures.

[xander000]

come on guys we got what 6 willow, a kennedy and at least one kendra and i'm sure there is more... if reusing part cut down cost and is the fact they can make new head sculpt for new carater i say why not!

kennedy and kendra!

[michaelsummers]

I agree with you Xander I dont mind them reusing, I'm just not sure why it doesnt bother me lol. If it were the regular line id be quite annoyed...but it just doesnt bug me with the deluxes...

[Ouija]

I think it's because if you pose say Willow and Joyce next to each other, it would look odd, since they both share the same bodies, and nobody else does. Whereas if you posed Buffy, Faith, Kennedy, Kendra and Chosen Willow there, they'd all kind of match, so it doesn't matter as much.

Thats the main reason I don't mind part reusage in the deluxe line, but do mind it in the regular line.

[ajmets]

justicedemon said:

You have seen the new Willow figures, right?

I saw the Kendra and Halloween Willow but not the rest. Justice Demon, you seem to take offense whenever someone says they don't 100% like what Diamond is doing. I think we are all entitled to have our opinions. You seemed upset on the Plush Spike thread too.

After viewing the Willows and Kennedy I have to say I love them BUT there is still the torso being used at least 4 times in this wave plus all the figures from the buffy and faith wave. The legs from Buffy and Faith that were already used for every single one from that wave are again being used for at least 4 of this wave. That's still a heck of a lot of reuse.

If they are going to save a ton of money by reusing all these bodies to death then instead of making us buy for example, white witch willow and regular Willow with the exact same body, outfit, paint job etc they should've just provided us with swappable heads so we only had to spend $15 instead of $30. For God's sake it's not even a different head sculpt for the two figures they just painted the hair a different color. Sorry but that's a rip off.

[Jinxieman]

ajmets said:

justicedemon said:

You have seen the new Willow figures, right?

I saw the Kendra and Halloween Willow but not the rest. Justice Demon, you seem to take offense whenever someone says they don't 100% like what Diamond is doing. I think we are all entitled to have our opinions. You seemed upset on the Plush Spike thread too.

He doesn't seem upset, he's just telling us to wait for more pictures and to look at the Willows and notice that there are quite a bit of new scupts with them. Like the bare legs and the rubber shirts...heck the Halloween Willow is a completly new sculpt except for the arms...althought I'm sure it will be re-used for a Kendra...or I hope it will be

As for the plush Spike thread, I think he would have a right to be upset, he had a hand in the creation of it and here we are all tearing it apart. I can see that being taken very personally. If you put something that you made up in the custom section and everyone beratted it like we have to the Plush Spike you would probably be upset too.

We do have the right to post our opinions about something here, but that doesn't mean someone else doesn't have the right to be upset about our opinions.

[Wicca]

I am a little dissapointed that the new Kendra and Kennedy figures are just repaints of Buffy/Faith with just a new headsculpt but I have sorta accepted the fact that DST will reuse parts as much as possible to save money. Dissapointing but true.

[Ouija]

I really don't see a problem with parts reuse here. Anyone ever seen a Marvel Legends figure? They have loads of characters released, because most parts are generic. Hey, we're getting Kendra and Kennedy! Would we have got them if they were 100% new sculpts? I'm not sure we would have. Just like how Glory and Joyce reused some parts too. I'd rather have a wider selection of characters than new sculpts personally

I don't think it's wrong of DST to do this. Sure, it's still the same pricetag, but I'm sure they'll land on sale eventually.

But I guess we all have our opinions. Just stating mine, not looking for a major argument.

[JusticeDemon]

For the record, I'm not upset at all

I was just trying to point out there are a ton of new parts in this wave. If anything, try to read my comments as being funny, not hostile

[SlayerLover34]

Why the re-use of the bodies? The answer is very simple ...If DST did not re-use the bodies. You would not be getting any of these fantastic new Willows or Kendra, or Kennedy. They would not exist. Kennedy is NOT Lara Croft! DST does know what the hell they are doing and have done the best they can at taking what everyone said was a dead license and have turned it around and given us almost every single figure that we have ever asked for, since like, 1998-1999. MAC stranded us with about 17 promised figures to go. DST has given us every single one of those figures and more, The only promised figures they have not given us is RILEY and ADAM. I don't count The Judge because he was never sculpted. They are doing the best they can do with the budget that they have to work with. These people are amazing and JusticeDemon has every right to take offense, if he wants to, but it is probably like water off a ducks back at this point, when people basically trash his hard work without even laying their eyes on it. DST please keep up the hard work until we get GUNN, DOYLE, CONNER, and HARMONY. Please and Thank You!

[ajmets]

justicedemon said:

For the record, I'm not upset at all

I was just trying to point out there are a ton of new parts in this wave. If anything, try to read my comments as being funny, not hostile

Fair enough Justice Demon. I will.

I see that Halloween Willow is an entirely new sculpt however that seems to be the only one. I'm assuming the skirt from that figure is used for the other skirted Willow. Aside from the head sculpts on the other Willows, Kennedy and Kendra they are all the same body from the Faith and Buffy wave.

Perhaps I should clarify, if by reusing the sculpts we get the one offs like Kendra and Kennedy that's great. BUT that doesn't mean we need to reuse the sculpts for all the multiple Willows also and every single other deluxe figure. Like I said the legs and lower torso have been used on about 8 figures so far. The torso has also been used on about 8 figures. That's excessive reuse.
As for the Marvel Legends that is the chief complaint among collectors or that line as well so using that and holding it up as an example might not be the best one.

[sometimesjoan]

I can't care even a little bit about the reusing of body parts.
I'm just glad that there's a way for them to keep making new figures-and I think they're looking better than ever.
But I probably won't get both Chosen Willows because they're so similar. I just won't need both of them (unless they're 2 packed; at which point I'll live and get them anyway).
That's an easy choice to make-buy if you like it and don't feel ripped off by it. Don't buy if you don't like/d feel ripped off by it.
Now, I'm off to try and figure out how to make and attach a pic border.

[willbueche]

On this line I do not mind the reuse. My understanding was that there is one female body, and one male body, and each is such an engineering marvel that it probably took months to develop. I'm not even sure if Diamond developed the ultra articulated body themselves or if they bought the rights to it (the same body also appeared on a Batman line, I think).

[Haephestus]

Sculpts take a LOT of money to produce. I cannot accurately recally, but I think SOTA have commented that the moulds for each sculpt cost over $10,000.00. Or it may have been $100,000.00. Anyway, its a LOT of money.

In order to make the figures at all and more importantly, to make them as affordable as possible to the fans, they have to re-use parts.

I guess the re-use isn't a MAJOR factor for me with the deluxe figures because they can be posed in individual ways which detracts from the obvious similarities of their body sculpts. For instance, stand "Smashed" Willow next to Joyce and its pretty obvious they use the exact same body.

BUT stand a deluxe Buffy next to a deluxe Faith, but pose them in different ways with their legs positioned uniquely and their arms and maybe one with a jacket and the other without and there isn't a striking resemblence because "overall" they look different.

Also, DST have said that they are working on building up a catalogue of new parts. Angel and Spike have slightly different sculpts based off MWC's reviews with Spike being a touch thinner. With the Willow wave with have new "bare leg" sculpt (in boots and trainers presumably) as well as a new "bare torso" sculpt. They also have the "jumper piece" from Vampire Willow (but I cannot really see that being re-used). With each successive wave, DST will introduce new "pieces" to build up a rather large library of pieces. Admittedly, this won't really start paying off until later in the line when they'll be able to mix and match and produce a wide variety of "looks" but I think they're doing the best they can in a very demanding and very challenging action figure market.

Even SOTA's Charmed Series 2 action figures all used the same arms and basically the same legs (other than the boots) with the individual details (like gauntlets) added on separately. Same for Marvel Legends and many other super-poseable toy lines (I think Street Fighter is an exception). The "tooling" for the super-poseable pieces costs more money, so they have to be used repeatedly and can be with great effect.

At the moment, my major issue would be Kennedy. I have to re-watch Chosen, but I'm hoping she has some sort of "individual" element to her, perhaps when it comes to her jacket. And I'm waiting on a "What's My Line" Kendra to differentiate her from the Buffy/Faith figures (unlike the Becoming figure which is VERY similar).

Cheers,
Haeph.

[willbueche]

They also have the "jumper piece" from Vampire Willow (but I cannot really see that being re-used).

I thought maybe that was a reuse of the maternity-shirt-like top that Zombie Buffy wears (on the regular line). It didn't look good there either.

[Browncoat]

For some reason, reuse on deluxe figures doesn't bother me at all (yet it's a totally different matter in regards to the regular line). I think it's cos the deluxe bodies are weird looking anyways, so you don't pick up on the fact that they don't really represent each actor's physique.