Good points Avenger. That's pretty much what's happening to McFarlane toys. They were great at first and I especially loved the Sports Pick lines. It was like having 3D football, baseball, hockey cards. Then as more customers started coming in, they dumped the lines that didn't sell as well (which were the lines that brought them the noteriety to go mainstream to begin with), and on the SPs they just used the same bodies over and over again and the paint apps looked like grade schoolers had taken over. That company ____ on the loyal fans that got them to where they were and didn't give two ____s about it. Now SSC isn't doing the extremes that McF did, but it seems they're trying to do too much with too little and the end product is suffering.
Meanwhile 1/6 (soon to be also 1/4) figure companies are improving in quality and adding more lines. Sure the prices are going up, but at least you can see where your extra $75-$100 goes. Interesting era for collectibles...