A few points. First the quality and abundance of freebies and items in the marketplace has improved dramatically in the last year. Alot of these things, poses, lights, preset cameras and textures allow users to easily put together a decent looking render by using just presets without actually considering anything except what pieces to use: Texture from Al, Pose by Bob, Lights by Cathy.... Creating this kind of finished looking art is an amazment to someone not use to being able to draw even the simplest figure. So they get proudly posted. The problem is not that we all use the same tools, but that many of the posters are using the same pallet. Give 10 people clay and you'll get 10 different things. However include a few molds, some standard paints and your going to start seeing alot of repetion. Blame the merchants, blame a society that revels in instant gratification, whatever. The amazing thing is not that we see so many cookie cutter images, but every once in a awhile someone manages to make something special using those same cookie cutters. Face it. Talent is a rare thing, just because you increase the membership by 10 fold does not mean your going get even one more talented person. I look at just about every thumbnail in the gallery. I'm looking for one of two things: A really neat image that appeales to me or something that I believe I could make some contribution to, through my critisim. So no I don't things are getting any worse, maybe it's cause I don't expect that much to beging with. But I love being surprised. Just my 2 cents Jon