Quote - The mesh could have been subdivided then retopo'd, most likely to get rid of the triangles before rigging it for poser. The bigger question is, if its an original mesh, why not have one figure and multiple costumes for sale rather than the multiple figures with different costumes as it is found in the store? That should be a big red flag.

To be fair, and I make no claim whether this is the case here or not, a character modelled with clothing is lighter on the hardware than one where you model the character and stick the clothing on top, simply because you're only modeling what's needed.

There's been assorted times when I've been using my own characters where I've considered frankensteining the head on the costume the character is otherwise always wearing because you never see the body underneath. That's the case with the Liara character shown; you don't see anything other than her head/neck, so there's no reason to model the rest of her.

I doubt that's the actual reason, but it's one that's at least somewhat plausible.