The problem is not that Aiko4 doesn't look like a toon, the problem is that V4.2 does.

When I first saw V4 I thought immediately, gee, her body looks like Akio 3.
The proportions are all wrong and she has no details like kneecaps or shoulderblades.

Now it's clear that V4 was "toonified" so that DAZ could pull this little stunt off:
Reduce AIKO to a mere set of morphs for V4 and call it an "improvement" because both can now share clothing (If you buy the additional magnet set)  and morphs.

But...you end up with two figures that once each had a distinct individual character that now look just the same.
Sorry, aside from all the technical issues (Tons of JSM magnets, multiple layer ERC, hidden scaling dials  and "morphforms"), V4.2 looks way too toonish to me to be of any use.
And now AIKO 4 looks way too "generic" to me to be of any use.

Hardly anyone in Poserland takes the time to truly rework the DAZ meshes from the ground up.
Almost everything is just a quick spin of dials, that's why everything looks the same.
Now V4 and AIKO 4 look the same right from the start,
so why bother anymore with giving them individual names ?
Step aside Vicky and AIKO, here comes VAIKO.

I looked at all the Aiko 4 products and there wasn't a single one that stood out as really "new".
Each could have been easily done with standard V4 and a bit of face morphing.

Because AIKO 4 IS just a new facemorph now, nothing more.

Guess this wonderful new "concept" saves DAZ a lot of money and the PA's a lot of time because they now can sell the same clothes twice.

If you want a truly individual figure then morphing is not just enough. You ALSO need to create new joints.
DAZ did this for each and any of the "old" Unimesh figures.
But why bother anymore when folks buy it anyway ?

I hope they don't.
Seriously, I hope people resist the urge to flock to the "new and shiny" and demand QUALITY instead.
Sorry.
But that seems to be the only way to stop this crap going on.

I shudder when I think about Michael 4 or a fourth generation child/teen mesh.

Will they also be just a quickly made morph set for V4 ?
I mean, let's be honest here:
Compared to M2, David or even M3, those "new and exciting" V4.2 "male morphs" look like a pre-op transsexual.
They look WRONG and are just plain BAD.

DAZ used to be all about improvement, about giving artists better tools to do their art.
But now all they seem to want to improve is their bottom line.

It's the same old, same old.
First a company makes a new product and uses all their energy to make it GOOD.
But once they grow big enough, someone suddenly has the bright idea that true improvements cost money and "good enough" will sell just as well.

DAZ has ZERO real competition ATM, and that's the big problem here.
V4 was no real improvement over V3 because they didn't had to make one.
Despite V3's obvious flaws, folks bought her anyway, so all what was needed was "something new" to rack up sales, but not something "better".

I only hope Smith-Micro gets their act together and we finally see some GOOD new POSER figures in Poser 8.

Until then I happily stick with the old Unimesh figures.
(And the Poser 7 morphbrush to make them bend and look WAY better than any of the "new" DAZ stuff)
:biggrin: