Joe can make a figure. You can give him any mesh and he can make anything from it and rig it and light it. He just keeps his work close. His opinions concern what he thinks is best for the community. His runtime is plum full of all custom work.

M2 made a pretty def chick by DAZ who a 3rd party actually shaped and rigged to wear V3 clothes. I use V2 and V3 with Mike textures all the time. The ladies make better male figures than the male figures do in a lot of cases.

Mesh can do a lot if it is modeled and re-rigged. The V2 mesh makes a good man, a good teen, a good kid, and a good ogre. Personally I could stand a base mesh at V3RR resolution shaped every different way with tailor rigs by injection. Any new figure could be distributed as just a FBM and a new rig injection. With morph injection you just have to put in the appropriate morphs. One texture UV for all skins, a mag set to fit the clothes to the re-rig. Not bad. Just need a good flexible groupping and base rig, good poly flow.