lol, wow, lots of info to read.  Didn't realize I could just use the whole figure for editing, I thought I had to export each bod part simply because that's the only way you can use the modded mesh.  And yeah, I know I can only move verts and not add or remove any :D

So, let me see if I got this right. 

Step 1 - Export entire figure instead of just the body parts

Step 2 - Edit said figure as needed

Step 3 - re-import edited figure OBJ file and export each new body part as a morph target

Step 4 - Replace each body part of a new figure with new morph target body parts

Am I close or did I miss something? :P