I forgot/didn't think to clarify what I meant by 'safe'.
The minute S4 was chosen, there were four sculpted figures. Three of which are George's sculpts. Fossil Freak will be George's scult, so four out of five are in-house OT work.
So "safe" point #1 is the idea that all but one figure are already finished and three are things George personally liked enough to sculpt already. There's less work to do now and less toy splitting to figure out.
The "classic" part... keep in mind I love MiMP and classic monsters/figures. That said, it's "Outlandish" Mini-Figure Guys, and from Series 1 forward the majority of the figures have been "outlandish". Yes, some were 'classic' or whatever people call that on a case by case basis, but most were inventive. Robot baby might not be everyone's cup of tea, but with a missile for a rattle and a bottle for a "life pack" or whatever you'd call it, doing such an off-kilter pose that WORKS... well, you get something new.
So "safe" point #2 is that we're not seeing anything risky with S4. There have been multiple figures where people worried "Will that even stand?!" and it was kind of cool to learn the answer was yes. There were also ideas where you wondered where TF that came from. Dr. Decay, Crawdad Kid, etc. Designs that defy logic, and once you see it - you want it real bad.
Anyway... I'm not trying to rip the series or the creators at all. If anything I'm just ripping on the ejection of Killer Kone and Brain Waves. Mostly because it would've been a risk to try working with their creators and sculpting things that might've been unexpectedly awesome. Instead the risk was averted.
I feel like the waves of OMFG got weirder and weirder and more and more controversial and messy until OT made the decision to have a safe S4 because of all the complaints about past figures, how they got in, what they look like, etc.
In which case, as I jokingly pointed out, for S5 we should submit sheet ghosts and Draculas so it appeals to the most people, etc.
Killer Kone... imagine George and the creator agreed on some tweakes that amped up the design, and imagine the ice cream and cone being different parts like Puke Knight and his Puke. Tell me collectors wouldn't have been doing their own "Ice Cream Shoppe of Horrors" thing swapping flavors and cones around.
Thanks for the kind words on Crypt Golem! He and Peninja will be back in other releases.
Edited by slimebeast, 30 May 2013 - 11:01 AM.