I have to disagree on multiple accounts. One, the eyes as they are painted now do not resemble De Niro's in that pic; they are way more stylized. They are like dollish or anime or doe-ish. Two...
you did have more to complain about aside from the lack of accessories in the PF thread. You've made several posts like "not really seeing Jackson in there at all 
" and things along those lines.
Qbomb took the thoughts right outta my head and posted it before I got a chance to. It boils down to inconsistency. You're reference about the Dam Toys figs is not even in the same ball park here. People who collect stuff like that and 3A know what it's all about and are collecting because they like that stylized interpretation. People collect SERANG for the same reasons. With lines like that you know what to expect release after release after release. The inconsistency here leaves people very confused.
Some say that it's an intentional style. I personally disagree. Every sculptor and painter leaves their signature or fingerprint on their work but I feel that it's nearly completely involuntary. If it's intentional, how do you rationalize his track record? Let's leave his early work aside and just chalk that up to him honing his skills. Let's say after year 2 he got zoned in.... and he's been mixing "stylized" sculpts with one's with truer likeness ever since. How do you make sense out of that?
Wake's (and some others here) first reaction about likeness says everything about todays 1/6 collecting mentality. Unless you're into the 3A type thing, the large majority in the hobby is looking for realism and likeness in a sculpt. The general consensus of RM's sculpts seem to be the ones with the least style are the most popular. Why is that?
When Rainman shows you that he can pull off sculpts like Dude, Doc, Bill, Plainview, Anton and that BWE custom (hell, even Stansfield makes that cut IMO) you're led to believe that he can achieve true likeness. When he sprinkles in other releases in random order that didn't ring the bell the same way the aforementioned sculpts did.... then that's where the blurred lines of how to chalk it all up come into play.
If he always produced something stylized like Serang and it was clear-cut then I guarantee you that 80% of the people that frequent his threads and chase his releases wouldn't be around anymore. I know that I for one wouldn't. I'd pop in as I do in the Serang threads, admire the work for the top shelf craftsmanship that it is, drop my comments and praises and keep it moving; I wouldn't be in the market to buy though.
The inconsistency has drawn a mixed clientele here. For the most part I see 2 collectors here (I'm not talking about the sculpt only peeps
). The ones that will buy basically everything and anything that RM releases because they are die-hard RM fans (mixman, Mags & a small select few others) & the likeness fanatic crowd that were drawn in by the best of his sculpts. All groups know what to expect in the outfit and accessory dept. but the likeness-heads sit here from release to release hoping that the next one will be up there with the rest of his best.
. Travis doesnt wear his sunglasses at night.
