Thought it'd be interesting to see what people value most in what could be considered a more special point of articulation on a figure. 'Special' being defined as something that isn't quite as commonplace between the huge variety of 3p figs out there.

Standards differ depending on the line, ex. Legends vs. MP, but regardless, the question is what you value most if you only had to pick 7. I know we would like all of the above, but curious as to what's most essential to your desires in a transformer.

I had to squeeze a few options together due to the poll option limits.

 

I seriously don't need robots with an ab crunch, or maybe even individually articulated fingers.

 

Yeah those seem like special bonus points to me. I actually have come to realize I really like double elbow joints personally, but they are far from being the norm when I think they should be, haha. Maybe I should have labeled this poll as articulation points you wish were a given.  

 

I haven't added ab crunch but if it's in conjunction with high forward thigh movement then I'd take it filor near perfect kneels.

Sideways wrist, butterfly shoulders and ankle rockers are all essential for me

 

For a time, I really wanted individual finger articulation but I think now I'm more on board for swappable posed hands.

 

I agree there should be no doubt about giving a figure double elbow joints. And if possible butterfly shoulders.
I'm actually always wondering about robot finger articulation. I feel they should have them, but I don't really know what to do with them when figures have them.

 

Lol, I hear ya. I generally either ball them up into a fist or take the time to make a natural looking open hand hanging/resting pose. Anything else requires a good hand pose to work with the rest of the figure's pose. I do love the Akira esque anger/powering up hand pose though. Hands are very expressive, which is why I think adding the ball joint or splay joints really do provide a lot of potential for expression.

 

If only I could add one more poll option, it would be the high thigh. No idea where I could squeeze it into the other options. I agree it is a very cool articulation range that isn't commonplace.

Maybe I should replace ankle tilts since I think EVERYONE wants those without a doubt Haha (edit: I can't). That said, I think ankle rockers are so important, I always want it as a statement to all tf makers going forward: just make it happen.

 

Yup lack of ankle tilt is why I can't abide anything other than Masterpiece style figures. It seperates the 'high end' look from the toy look to me. Closed permanent fists are another bug bear of mine.

 

Wrist and waist swivel are pretty much standard. Very few figures, at least of the higher quality ones, are lacking those and, if they are, it's due to complicated engineering that makes it difficult to achieve. And even those exceptions are often derided: MP Magnus and FT Rouge come to mind. Ankle rocker is pretty much standard too, for anything higher than chug and I think even most of those have it these days.

Some of these should be standard, not "special" though the trends of figures seem to suggest they're special. Forward/backward ankle tilt - if a figure doesn't have that, it means they screwed up, yet for some reason, there are an awful lot that don't. It's odd because it's more fundamental to posing than the rocker is yet it's less common.

As for articulation that I consider "special" rather than standard (or should be standard) and that I value for more interesting and dynamic posing, wrist tilt, ab crunch, and butterfly shoulders are my votes. If your bot has those, it goes a long way toward giving them the ability to achieve natural poses. Finger articulation is another but I didn't vote for it because I consider finger articulation without splay to be almost useless - looks way too stiff and unnatural. And besides that, a bent wrist goes further in making a pose look natural than any finger articulation could. I also didn't vote for deep elbow and knee bends because I feel like those should be standard at this point.

I'll add that ab rocker doesn't need to be overly deep - 10 to 15 degrees is mostly sufficient - and it's much much better if it's like FT Road King where it doesn't leave a gap that makes the bot look broken (for that matter, waist swivel doesn't need to be super deep - 30 degrees in each direction is plenty). Butterfly shoulders should come close to 90 degrees and should preferably have some sort of filler that hinges out with the shoulder so it doesn't leave a big glaring gap where the shoulder used to be. Also, ideally the butterfly shoulders will end up slightly in front of the chest rather than out to the side. I like wrists to have forward and backward tilt, especially for characters with swords, but side to side tilt it usually more important to good poses, especially relaxed ones. I'll add that a nice thing about transformers is their wrists will often have an unintended tilt in at least one direction due to transformation if you leave something unpegged, so that's nice.

 

Ab crunch > Fully articulated fingers

Wrist tilt > Fully articulated fingers

I can get more expressiveness out of a figure with typewriter fingers but with waist movement and wrist tilt that one with fully articulated fingers but no wrist or ab crunch.

 

The head and neck movement is the most important, to me, to get an expressive figure. You can communicate an incredible amount of emotion and expression with head movements alone.

 

Head, double jointed knees/elbows, and hands are where it’s at. Expressiveness is important. Though of course I must admit, I voted for all but 3 of the ones listed.

 

Full ankle articulation should be mandatory at this point.

 

Of all of the things listed, only articulated fingers seem like they would involve any real additional cost. So why aren't all the others simply standard?

 

for me its a figure by figure issue. I want it all always, but thats not realistic

Just having a butterfly doesn't make it a good butterfly. An ab crunch that destroys the mold is useless

 

Ankle tilts aren’t special at all. They’re very basic. I can’t think of any figure that doesn’t have them. I guess I’m looking through the lense of mp

 

For sure, most MPs have them. That said, some only have limited ankle rockers and I guess if nothing else, people voting for them expresses how important they are for all figures possible and the importance of it providing a good amount of tilt. I dig MMC Fraudo but I am a little bummed his ankle rockers are limited.
As some others have said, some of these should be mostly standard, but perhaps our expressed opinions will help designers who frequent this thread realize what points are most wanted, so we might actually get them more often.  

 

Not so much articulation, but "how the ratchets are designed"-----WAY too many figures have the following issue:

Legs together-----calves are touching, and little stability.

Legs ONE CLICK OUT-----way too far, spread eagle, about to do the splits.

A "natural-looking, subtle A-stance" is way too rare. Too many figures look bad/odd no matter what you choose---legs too close together, or too far apart. A "happy medium" is annoyingly rare. (I'm looking at you, MMC and TFC)

(Also, one leg straight and one moved one click out rarely works to fix the issue----that leaves one leg way shorter, and they'll tend to lean and the ankle tilts rarely can compensate---it'll still look odd most of the time)

 

I agree that if thigh outward ratchets are employed, it is so very important to have enough clicks to get some poses between straight down and a stance. This problem has completely ruined some good figures for me in the past. Super important imo. Bare minimum, there should be a good amount of friction to keep the legs poses anywhere while in between clicks. Not sure how good that is long term, but yeah.