It has been a long time for me. (Lots of reasons) But..

What makes a good figure?

1. There needs to be lots of GOOD content available for it. (To help fuel the market for it.)
2. A figure that is easy for experienced creators to work with so that Good content can be produced. (So quality-content can be highlighted.)
3. Brand Stewardship. (Usually completely lacking on Renderosity. There's a seven dollar coffee cup for sale in the marketplace...Seven bucks. Coffee cup. And, it doesn't even look like the handle is decent on it...)

You want a good product?

You have to act like that is what is desired to be produced?

Everything in that matters, from topo to joints to available morphs and any special Bells&Whistles you want to add to it. IT ALL MATTERS. People have to stop thinking that "the one thing matters" and start thinking "everything matters."

A recent figure has wtfbad topo. Sorry, that's the truth. And, just looking at it makes it apparent that certain things just can't be well done for it. That's the truth, too. Sorry. But, it will get its defenders because... Well, every figure has it's draw and die-hard fans because that's what they use. Even the P4 Baby mentioned above is gonna have it's "one fan that will jump out of the trenches of obscurity to defend it."

Here's the same constructive criticism I have always put forward, never flagging from this "One Thing" that could make everyone's experience with Poser content and the Renderosity marketplace offerings "much more betterer:"

Brand Management

Renderosity doesn't steward its offerings appropriately and, IMO, hasn't done so in a long time. If you can put together something that sort of works, regardless of its ultimate quality and how that reflects upon the item you're making the product for, then you can sell it! Yay?

A "Bad Figure", if it's not broken out of the box, is usually the result of a quality failure somewhere along the line. But, nobody wants to criticize that because they're too enthusiastic about some possible future "potential." Someone sitting at the table during the construction phase did not speak up and appropriately say "this sucks and we are not going to allow portions of our product to suck." They just hit the submit button and hoped for the best...

A marketplace will not act to correct errors of quality. None of this works like that...

I got resurrected due to an IP license change. OK, so, now I'm awake. I go to the indicated page and it no workee. I go to Renderosity, looking for important infos and get a press release with no highlighted link for current owners and any critical questions they need answered by the new license holder. I post my question and got a great response, but I had to put in extra effort to do that, right? Then, I decide to see what Renderosity has to offer for its new flagship IP and... there's a seven dollar coffee cup that doesn't even look well made sitting there in the Poser Marketplace staring at me.

Owning a brand is a responsibility to the shareholders and the customer base. Does Coca-Cola "taste great?" ... not really. But, it's through Brand Management and diligent and constant stewardship that has turned it into what it has become. There is a company in this spectrum of products that has always put forth that attitude and has also coupled it with aggressive, sometimes a bit psychotic, gorilla marketing tactics. Well, Renderosity doesn't have to go that far. ALL it has to do in order to put forth a "Good Figure" and to make that successful is... Manage Their Brand.

If they accept or create a "Good Figure" with everything that entails along the entire production and marketing process, then.. guess what?

As its stands, the only truly "Good Figure" in recent, post P11 release, that I know of is Project E. What I have seen from every other offering from S.M. on down the line is substandard work and evidence of limited dedication to quality or capability. Even so, PE isn't "perfect." But, it's light-years better in terms of completeness and quality than anything else in the recent Poser lineup of exclusive figures.

Note: V4 is a darn nice bit of work and, considering the tech/capability at the time and even stretching into today, it's still an awesome bit of work and hard to exceed in terms of topo and Poser-standard rigging. Yes, i know all about its issues, but its longevity is due to its quality, not its pitfalls. To supplant it, wholly, requires MORE quality and work than went into creating Victoria 4. That includes participatory Brand Management efforts from the marketplace provider. (Renderosity) That's... just the way it is. (There isn't better topo for rendering static images in the current marketplace, including all the competing programs. There just isn't. Friggin' awesome topo, even with the symmetry issues.