I agree with Gary. The issue is lack of imagination.
Because of Euro, we've seen a pile of interesting sculpts recently. Even during the summer, it seemed we were seeing much better new sculpts on a regular basis.
Hey, I have Andrea figures on my shelf and in my grey army, and I'll undoubtedly add to the stash in the future. I'm not being hypocritical here.
One of next month's releases may become my favorite figure - who knows?
But for this month, I think they made unimaginative choices - the Roman is similar to sculpts already in the marketplace, and the Speaker is . . . not something I would ever consider purchasing. I understand that there are folks who will buy this, and that Andrea has to cater to the buying habits and wishes of its customer base. I just can't believe this product is what they chose to put their name on.
So, the press release informed me of coming products. Mission accomplished.
Most new figure release announcements generate a few "Hey, that's nice" posts, followed hopefully by a review, and eventually, a painted piece in the galleries.
This one generated a conversation, some opinions, and perhaps a little tarnish for a company we can all agree has done more than its share to advance the art and technology of our artform, and no one's even seen a copy yet.
Maybe Andrea guessed that they would get this type of reaction, but feel confident that both pieces will meet sales expectations. For their sake, I hope they're right. The alternatives are too depressing to consider.
Don