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Is it fair to say most Pokémon are being now designed with merch in mind instead of the game or is that off-base? And is that a good thing or a bad thing for the franchise?
The most recent examples being Bellibolt and Greayard
>Low articulation (no visible joints)
>Circle or oval bodies
They seem to have plushes and plastic injection molding toys in mind first. Think like the cheap McDonalds toys where you just melt plastic into a mold. You don’t need articulation for that.
Plushes can be made faster when you’re not stuffing limbs.
The designs seem to primarily focus on what can be mass produced faster. Like Bellibolt needs to hop because it has no articulation.
Armorouge and Ceruledge are obviously the higher quality, traditional action figures with high articulation. The ones for $25-40 in box stores rather than Happy Meal Bellibolt.