I'm going to just throw this out there, but aren't we forgetting about Scarlet?  She looks to have lots of potential, even enough to overtake V4 as the go-to figure for Poser users.  I've been salivating over her since she came out and am seriously considering adding her to my runtime when funds allow.  Vendors not only need to expand support, but users need to be willing to go out on a limb every once in a while and support new figures by purchasing them and sharing their experiences.  More buyers equals more vendors supporting the figure in question.

While I purchased Scarlet, liked her, and continue to use her I fear the roasting that the figure got on launch has probably limited the figures future.  Also Scarlet was produced by a two person team, as far as I understand, and they are not going to compete with Hivewire3D. I have not written off Dawn and I do feel the figure has potential but there is nothing I have seen done with Dawn that cannot be done with V4WM.  I accept that V4 is older but I don't see that has any relevance in regards to a mesh, other than the fact I have been able to work with it for a long time and know what I can and can't do.

Lots of content is a two edge sword, yes a new figure needs a lot of content but then there will be those that complain that they cannot afford to buy new content for any figure.  

I also think there are some users that want the market to be as it was with V4 but with a figure that is not V4.  I don't think this is possible and for all her age and her faults I do not think we will see the likes for V4 again as regards a 'go to' figure and much as I like V4 that may not be a bad thing.

As many people, for better informed than me have said, Rpublishing has far better ways of making money, with far less risk, than producing another figure.

 

 

I use Poser 13 on Windows 11 - For Scene set up I use a Geekcom A5 -  Ryzen 9 5900HX, with 64 gig ram and 3 TB  storage, mini PC with final rendering done on normal sized desktop using an AMD Ryzen Threadipper 1950X CPU, Corsair Hydro H100i CPU cooler, 3XS EVGA GTX 1080i SC with 11g Ram, 4 X 16gig Corsair DDR4 Ram and a Corsair RM 100 PSU .   The desktop is in a remote location with rendering done via Queue Manager which gives me a clearer desktop and quieter computer room.