Regarding ******* vs. the world. We definitely won’t profit from one more slanging match. At the same time, it would be foolish to discuss creating a new electric car without discussing Tesla and Volt.  Can we not defenestrate the malefactors without padlocking the building - preparing my parachute?

Personally, I think the *** Generation 3 figures were in some ways, the high water mark – scoff if you will. They were reasonably sized for a modest system, morphed fairly well, mostly shared skins and to some degree morphs. They didn’t have the technical complexity of the Gen 4 figures and offered a nice range of looks from Aiko to the Girl to Stephanie, Maddie, Matt etc. I would use them as a benchmark. Add weight mapping and SSS or whatever BUT also make ‘conventional’ versions that could be used in DS and older versions of Poser, easily be imported into Vue etc. I may be a Luddite but I doubt I’m the only one who still likes the idea of discrete figures.

I’m not saying that ******* isn’t the wave of the future – it may or may not be – only that there are likely enough Non **4/Non-P9/2012 users out there to make a substantial market at least for now.  I’m not against the idea that this figure should be a techno tour de force, a dazzling (NPI) new creature, but you have to walk before you can run and you have to work the kinks out of a new venture. Establish a brand first. Maybe I’m insane but I think there is a nice market out there amongst those who want their fix post V4 and are for whatever reasons not committed to getting on either the ******* or Poser WM trains. Establish trust with them and work on the Uberwench wanna be.

As an interesting exercise, what are two or three most successful 3rd party figures? Why did they succeed and where did they fall short? I always cite Maya Doll. She wasn’t especially pretty in her default state. She was created by a single fairly unknown Japanese artist. In her day, she manages to generate a lot of free support and even some commercial stuff as well. Was it because she was an Asian figure – pound for pound, she probably out did Miki. Was it because there wasn’t that much competition at the time? We all know that RDNA put a lot of effort into Dina V and that whatever her other shortcomings, her face and physique were major stumbling blocks. What about Natalia? Perhaps Antonia is still to recent for objective evaluation but where and why has she succeed or failed? We can’t get beyond personal opinion and less than informed speculation here but I think before jumping off into the wild blue, it might be helpful to look to the past.

I think that we all know the basic objectives necessary to achieve the goal. Some may disagree but I think that pretty female with a lot of clothes. OK, flakey computer enforces brevity (cheers from the Church). You need X vendors guaranteed Y dollars to create Z amount of content. Insert numbers of your choice. Calculate the total and find someone to pony it up along with sustained advertising on the major Poser oriented sites, solid plans for related figures and provide her free to the best free content makers. If you can sell it at DAZ, go for it. That’s the beginning – no guarantees but you have a fighting chance. No go it alone, no build it and they will come, no only for the most advanced users or only Poser users, just a good, solid, attractive figure with a central professional entity behind her. With that, even the modern day equivalent of Posette would stand a better chance than all of the ‘superior’ figures that have essentially failed.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken