Diamond & Painted Flesh

[Tothiro]

Ok so ... when the painted Pike hit the stores the general report I recall was a sort of ambiguous "Woah, how did that happen? Crazy, right?" That was all I recall hearing.

All the monsters have come out with painted flesh tones - to be honest I don't like it. Love the monsters, love the outfits, dislike the final effect.
It's not just that "It's painted! Wah! Pitchfork!" it's the actual texture of what the factory is putting out, it makes it look gummy and off-putting. If they were painted like the AHI monsters - beleeeeeeive me I would be into that. "Hold me back," into that.
If these new guys were Max Headroom, it would work. It might work for Data. I dunno. The Frankenstein and Dracula outfits I re-purposed and the heads and body parts I sold on the forum.

So with Picard - that kind of thing doesn't happen a second time by accident, so I assume every property Diamond produces in the 8" scale will now come with painted flesh, am I right? I'll probably pull the trigger on Picard, but I'm super on the fence and not likely to go many other human retros if this is now the new thing.

it's a little like your parents hyping a summer vacation for months and not telling you it's to the Corn Palace until the last minute, but some people like the Corn Palace. I mean I have the View-Master reel so who am I to talk?

Can anyone go on record as to why this method is preferred now... Was it a deficiency in the factory's ability to tone the vinyl properly? Is there a cost saving angle? What's the what?

[zeedox]

Agreed

I really don't see why the new figures shouldn't be tooled to fit into the line the way Sulu and Chekov were. Also, where is the phaser and belt?

[MEMEGO]

The new trek NG Figures again, look strange, this is due to the dead expression less look on Picards face, he looks like someone just stuck their hand up his behind or worse, lol. The painted on head once again stinks and does not match the skin colour of his body, which is much more pinkish/red. The uniform is not bad at all, looks well done.
As, for the Borg figure,, his head looks a little to small for his body and his Borg arm looks a little to big for his frame, I also believe the figure would have benefited from a little more red/green to make it look like he has wires and circuits in his Borg parts.
I do not like the card art, it looks like a trace or a computer enhanced copy of a real picard and data picture.
for the price range pike is a decent buy, but I expect better from DIAMOND.

[Tothiro]

^I don't know if I'd agree with that. All the original trek were pretty stone-faced except Kirk's little Mr Mxy smirk, so Picard actually fits model there.
The outfits are either loved or hated, and that's going to happen no matter what DST/EMCE did, so that hardly matters. Personally I like them, i'm glad they're later season style, and if someone wants a more retro look just yank the insignia off and replace it with a foil sticker.

Without having any in hand I also think the Borg isn't far off model - the arms were big on the series. They had a black and silver gray color scheme, the ship, the suits, the sets, so I think colored wires would be jarring.

I'm just curious why this production style is the new style, like if it's an aesthetic choice, or production simplicity or whatevs. Maybe confirmation on whether things will be sticking like that (hope not, but it seems we're doomed to two steps forward two steps back).

[Nostalgiabuff]

i believe the change to painted heads was because EMCE had to switch to a different factory. at least that is the reason I seem to recall Doc Mego givign when Pike came out