The one improvement I'd really like to see for 1:6 bodies, especially fully clothed ones, would be to have a greater range of motion in the shoulder/chest area to achieve a folded arm pose.
The only figures I've seen to be able to do this were Toybiz's 12" Marvel Studios line. They had very ugly shoulders because of this, but they could move their arms enough forward to be able to get a close facsimile to the folded arm pose.
(pic from Michael Crawford)
I think there could be a way to make the shoulders/shoulder blades and pecs moveable so you don't end up with an ugly cut out of the body like this. Basically, the figure's joints need to move and be shaped like actual muscles. Some kind of piston system to mimic the stretching an contracting might be needed. It would be advanced for sure, but I think that's the point of this question - how can the current bodies be pushed and improved upon.
I think adding a joint below the elbow that would allow you to rotate the forearm would also help get a more accurate pose as the arm doesn't just move at the wrist. The forearm isn't a symmetrical cylinder so when rotated it is thicker in some areas than others, which can also prevent this pose from being achieved. This would also be taking into account the elbows are double jointed and not the single joints of muscle bodies.
I'd also like to see more movement in the abs area. You can either get a slight hunch or have deep, chucky toy cuts in order to achieve greater crunches in the current bodies. I think multiple separate ab joints might move more realistically, I guess kind of similar to the HT Iron Man abs. The abs should be able to move side to side as well as crunch and arch - just like our torsos.
I honestly think the bodies need a near complete over-haul. A great study of anatomy and engineering is needed I think. Study how our bodies movie and figure out how that can be replicated in plastic. Our butts do a lot of moving, but hardly any figure has butt joints. They have hip joints, but the butt is just one solid piece. I want moving butt cheeks! Its over looked things like that that could greatly improve mobility. Just because we haven't had a joint at a certain spot previously doesn't mean that's been the correct choice all along. All of our muscles do something and all of those muscles should have a representative joint on a figure. That's how we move and that's how a figure should be designed to move as well. They should move like us in addition to looking like us.
And another thing - people seem to love the anatomically correct female figures. Well, as squeamish as it is for some, male bodies should too. I'm not saying we need articulated *****es (although I suppose some people could possibly find that useful) but having genitals would have clothes fit on a body more realistically. The standard Ken doll smoothness makes the crotch area off, even if we don't consciously recognize it.. If you see an underwear mannequin without a bulge, it looks off. I know its not something a lot of people like to discuss, but icky areas like this do need to be studied in order to replicate the human form more realistically. Just because something isn't going to be actively seen in a standard figure/outfit doesn't mean it should be overlooked or left out entirely.
We've had the same types of joints for years now and that doesn't mean they are perfect.That might mean throwing out the industry standards and coming up with new peg systems. If it works, it would become the new industry standard and everyone else would adapt to make their systems more compatible with the new system - just like when HT took over. Their system was different from Sideshow and dragon, etc When they became the undisputed champion of the 1:6 world, everyone's redesigns mimicked theirs and were more or less compatible. If a true improvement is being looked at, I don't think backward compatibility with other companies' soon to be out-dated systems should be something to worry about. If some things already work as best as it can be done, then fine, keep those, but don't feel the need to keep things just for the compatibility. You can't worry about what the other guys are doing if you're trying to re-invent this wheel. Its got to work for this new system. Nothing else should matter than that.
Some of the things I would keep are interchangeable hands. Unless it a robotic type hand, I don't think so many little joints would look good on a humanoid hand. So unless a sturdy under skeleton over a pliable flesh covering can be done without fear of damage to either paint or the flesh material or the skeleton armature, this should be avoided in favor of the standard interchangeable hands. And pegs should come with each of those hands - that is one thing Sideshow has mastered that not even HT has. One peg for each hand. And I'd personally throw in an extra pair beyond that just in case of any breakage (basically combing HT and SS's peg theories).
I'm hoping this question is coming to use because a company is looking to come up with a new design for a body. And if that's the case, I can only hope they really look at how a human's skeleton and muscles work to move. I'm not saying we need a skeleton under a figure's plastic muscles, but the joints should be designed to work how the bones and muscles work together to achieve the range of motion.
