What SM needs to do is concentrate on the software itself, and contract out new figure development to another 'Zygote' like content maker. Then have the new figures beta'd in the community under NDA, with permission to create content to be allowed live at release.....and give the vendors about 6 months to play and create and have items for the program release and items for sale as their own. The markets would explode literally overnight, and =that= kind of advertisement is what a new figure needs. And frankly, I'd have 2-4 faces and leak them to the community, see how they react, before I decided on a 'look' for the new kids.

Also, I would basically forget about backwards compatibility....as in use animateable joint centers, weight maps, and scaling. Maybe even softbody. Build for the new program features, make the figure appealing and compelling, and you would get a lot more upgrades. Those who complain that the new goodies don't work in their perfectly good P4.....well too bad. Time marches on, and it makes no sense to hobble content to a decade old program whose only distribution channels now are the binaries groups on usenet and warez sites. Its gone, its dead, time to move on. Or else deal with the limitations.  Oh and please make the figures anatomically correct. With sufficient polygons to allow any needed work from morphing instead of the barbie look. Place a toggle to hide the naughty bits if you must, but have them there.