>>6314020I don't think there can be a "high quality" 3P version of GI Joes, considering a lot of the companies who produce 1:18 figures for a lot more money than GI Joes aren't really that much better.
Probably the nicest of all the higher priced 1:18 figures are Toy Notch's Lost Planet figures, but their paint isn't as nice as Hasbro's.
MGR already makes their generic soldiers line and it's what a lot of GI Joe collectors want in the first place: customizable army builders.
There's a lot of companies already that make GI Joe-type figures, so they're already filling that niche that 3P lines would be making.
So a 3P line making generic Vipers and Snake Eyes rip offs would just be another drop in the bucket of other 1:18 lines out there.
3P Transformer lines fill a nice niche because there is a complete dearth of Transformer-wannabe lines and Hasbro/Takara is really really cheap on paint and transformable/moving pieces.
There has always been a lot of room for improvement with Transformers (Masterpieces can't fill that niche fast enough).
1:18 lines are way more straight forward, just like 1:12. A lot of people already don't go after collector lines like Figuarts and REvoltechs for Marvel characters, because the Hasbro figures are already good enough (read: the 2-4x price increase isn't worth the upgrade) or better than collector lines (usually in likeness).
