Exactly this. I’ve been collecting 1:6 for 9 years now, and I can’t speak for everyone but I feel like at a certain point the quality of the figure becomes just as essential to your buying decision as does the actual character. Absolutely no way I’m taking up another spot in my limited remaining space for that completely half-assed Mace Windu or 89 Batman (not to mention the added storage space for the boxes) whereas I probably would have been more forgiving and gotten both in my earlier years of collecting.
It does get a little hyperbolic with the “well this is the best version we’ve ever gotten and likely will ever get” takes for figures. I always think of how gamers in the 90s thought that every new console was the best graphics it could ever get. JND for sure will make an Aragorn. Who knows what new company will come around within the next 3-5 years and also do LOTR figures. The floodgates have basically opened on WB stuff at this point.
I’m personally still very much looking forward to getting my rooted Aragorn, but it’s still only like 80% Viggo. I dunno, maybe younger collectors just haven’t watched and lived with these movies as much as some of us. But it still looks really good! My *main* complaint is the obvious downgrade from the proto and the fact that, personally, I don’t think companies should be showing off/advertising products that there is zero chance of it looking like the final product. I have lots of issues with EXO-6 but at least their promo pics are basically just the final production figures so you know really well what is going to end up in your hands.
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