Xenophonz, seeing he specifically mentioned 2001 in the paragraph you replied to, we need to assert that no, he really didn't seem to be implying that.

This is to miss my point.

He seemed to be implying that Star Wars was some sort of a totally unknown quantity at the time -- territory where no one else had ever trod before. Well -- they had. Sure, not with the numbers of Star Wars: but I would submit that no one could have predicted that sort of phenomenon in advance. The producers of Star Wars certainly didn't.

It was a golden B-B. Or a golden arrow. Take your pick. Star Wars just happened to hit in the right place at the right time. But from the point of view of the movie's creators: it was largely a chance occurance. Not something that they had specifically planned for. Their goal at the time was to make a modestly successful sci-fi movie. Instead, the thing jumped right out of their hands -- and took on a life of its own far, far beyond their wildest expectations.

This did not happen because George Lucas figured out in advance that the public "needed" Star Wars. It simply happened because it happened. Not because of Lucas being some sort of a prophet.

BTW - the Star Wars phenomenon which we are discussing so thoroughly is notable because of its very uniqueness. Few others have come close to duplicating it. Even other wildly successful movies like Titanic haven't had anywhere near the long-term pop cultural impact that the original Star Wars trilogy continues to have to this day (Note that I said the original Star Wars trilogy -- not what they've done with (to?) the franchise since then.).

Boxoffice sales, adjusted for ticket price inflation, don't show a single pre-"Star Wars" science fiction movie in the top 100. There was little reason for anybody to expect "Star Wars" to become the phenomenom that it did.

Very true. And I indicated pretty much the same point in my previous post; outside of the "top 100" issue which you've mentioned here.

You are correct -- no one could have predicted that what happened with Star Wars would happen. Not the entertainment press at the time; not the Hollywood insiders; and not the people who produced the film. It just hit a spark with the public -- because the time & the place had come for it.

But it wasn't due to any sort of prophetic foreknowledge on the part of George Lucas. Sure -- he worked hard at it. So did the producers of countless other well-done movies. But unlike the others, Lucas just happened to land in the right place at the right time. Good for him. But he never once sat down in advance and figured out that the public "needed" Star Wars.

V1 & V2 went out of style when V3 was released and the same will happen to V3 when V4 comes out. They're all evolutions of the same figure and you're right that they're sure bets for clothing sales, but I wouldn't want to make my bets that a half dozen years old Poser figure has enough of "all of human history" behind it to gauge what's popular for the rest of human history.

OK -- now this really is totally missing my point. Obviously, you didn't quite catch what I meant.......

I was using "V3" as an archetype. An archetype for female beauty in all of its incarnations throughout the ages. And no......she's never gone out of style. Not once.

Bring on V4! Bring on VENUS! I'm all for obsoleting the currently-popular mesh known as V3.

But the concept behind "V3" will always be there -- in one form or another. And always as popular as ever.

If there were only a single-minded obsessivenes in only making Vicki products, the Poser market would choke itself to death. Fortunately, there are content creators providing other products, different characters, props, environments, etc. that allow artists to readily create full-fledged 3D scenes. It's that variety that keeps Poser interesting. DAZ used to have a listing of their top selling products, that I can't find anymore, but they weren't all Vicki products.

We have no argument on this point. I agree with you 100%. We all need good cities, houses, spaceships, automobiles, boats, etc.....etc.....etc.... to stick our V3's into. After all, no scene would be complete without the appropriate background supporting the central figure of V3.

;)

Look -- this is my beef here: I frankly get tired of the repeated whining coming down from those who constantly complain about V3's dominance of the Poser market.

Typically, one tends to hear from the unhappy. Not from the 95% of the satisfied. The satisfied tend to express their humble opinion by buying things en masse from those merchants who are smart enough to take advantage of the natural flow of things -- and not from those unhappy individuals who constantly (and unsuccessfully) are always trying to buck the public's obvious taste. It might not happen to be the individual merchant's taste -- but it IS the majority of the public's taste. So it's what sells.

Learn the rule, or not -- it's all a matter of individual choice. But at least in THIS case, while the results might never be 100% predictable....nothing in life ever is.......but this is the way to bet. shrug Sometimes, "safe bets" don't pay off. But they usually do.

I like the thought of a lot of the independent Poser content creators banding together to create an alternative marketplace that gives their wares better visibility. The independent artists, in virtually any medium, tend to be the ones stretching what can be done in their creative fields. Large corporations tend to play it safe. Anything that makes it easier for independents to flourish is a good thing. It's always fun to seeing creative mavericks bucking the system.

That idea is fine with me, too. Go for it. I'll probably buy things from them.

Who knows? Perhaps they'll end up creating another Renderosity..........with themselves in charge of it. So that others can then rebel against the "old guard" (who were once known as "mavericks") for being "too big & successful" on down the road.

It's all in the principle of the thing, you see....... Message edited on: 02/09/2006 12:24

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