>>10202588Japanese joint set up increases prices exponentially because its far more intricate work. More pieces-more cost. Paint plays a factor too, but Hasbro tries to minimize cost because keeping these figures under a certain price is a goal. Which is why you see companies circumventing limited articulation schemes with different techniques, like sculpting joint cuts to go further with simple hinges. The caveat is that it tends to cut in more.
Initially the whole idea behind Revoltech was to do heavily articulated figures at a cheap pricepoint because they could just mass produce joints and put them on a figure, but I don't think thats the case anymore and individual figures have joints better colormatched to them now.
For reference, look at a Figuart's arm set up vs a Marvel Legends. The ML arm is just deltoid/bicep and forearm, three parts with a large elbow joint and maybe two pegs in the middle. The elbow joint on a figuart is usually much more complex.
FWIW, Hasbro did try mimicing Revoltech when they were new, bit not as good(poor joint clearance, and the joints weren't standardized but made specifically for each figure thus defeating the purpose of making them cheap). The funny thing is you also see Hasbro mimicing older Figuarts set ups like drop down hips(desu I preferred the drop downs myself)
