Barbie was 40 this year and has made her owners a fortune. It has been a long life of extortion and profit, extracting vast amounts of cash from generations of helpless parents who would sooner surrender to the powerful marketing campaign than face the dreadful wrath of disappointed little girls. It looks like Vicky is already her apprentice and will eventually inherit Barbies golden mantle in the world of 3D dolls. Why? Well just add it up, Vicky $99.95, 2 texmaps $24.95, Fantasy texmaps $11.95, PonyTail hair $14.95, Flip Hair $19.95 and clothing Pack 1 $34.95 = a total of $206.70. I hope I got all the figures and names right. Please correct me if any of the above are wrong. I can't help comparing and contrasting the wonderful reception all of this is getting here (not to mention the huge amount of free sales publicity for Zygote) with some of the critical threads on fellow Artists from this community selling their stuff in the Renderosity Online Store. Here we are questioning and debating the morality of commercialism and its effect on Free Stuff and this Place or even if the Store should be here at all? At the same time we happily pump out publicity for Zygote and pour money into their coffers for a model that is "apparently buggy" and seems to need a great deal of FREE correction and repair from talented members of this community before it works properly. I don't criticise Zygote, if they can make lots of cash from this community, good luck to them. But I can't help noticing that my upgrade to Poser 4 cost about the same as Vicky and her various bits and pieces. And just like Barbie, Vicky is going to need more cloths and hair and possibly a pony (with a transmapped mane and tail?) and that should bring the cost to well over $250. Oooh I nearly forgot, she is going to need a "Ken" Boyfriend, .... roll on Victor. After he arrives I wonder how many of us will be able to afford Poser 5? What I just don't understand are the completely contrasting reactions (my own included when I questioned commission levels) to the Online Store and to Victoria. Please do not get me wrong, I am not attacking Zygote. But perhaps as consumers we should look at our spending habits and what we are being charged. And like consumers of other goods elsewhere, perhaps we should use our purchasing muscle as a community to influence manufacturers and the cost of their goods. After all Zygote relies on us to survive, not the other way around. Just a few thoughts on the matter that have been bugging me lately. STORM