Well, good sir, thank you for your kind comments on my modifications! (And to be frank, I have done very little in the way of actual modifications so far, at least compared to what I
want to accomplish!)
The cost is hard to discern. I've had some fabrics hanging around for YEARS, some of which I got for free (discarded old napkins, pillow-cases, or trouser off-cuts, for example). Others, I bought so long ago that I forgot how much they ran me. Still more came off other toys (the loincloths off a 12" Slave Leia I used for another project, for example) and weren't even considered in my fabric budget, but went into the bin out of serendipity. And recently, since there are almost no brick-and-mortar places to get fabrics and such these days anywhere near me anymore (all long since closed), I have to get practically everything off Amazon, and they don't sell anything in less than 1-meter swatches, and I have to pay shipping on them, too. It could easily be in the $200 - $300 range, but spread out over two decades, which could make it less than $15 year.
As for if I thought the line would benefit from soft goods, my answer is -- always has, and always will be -- an unconditional
YES!
I think that plastic capes and skirts are so heavy and restrictive; they make posing and balancing too difficult. (And figure stands take up way too much room when you're trying to fit everyone on a single shelf!) Try putting an original She-Ra on Swift Wind. Try putting Adam in the beloved "By the Power of Grayskull!" pose. Try doing an action pose with Mo-Larr or Queen Marlena. You can't. Not satisfactorily, anyway. If I wanted statues, I would buy statues. I want
action figures. Poseable, fun action figures.
Back in the "Vintage" days, Adam had a velvetoid jacket, all the PoP ladies had cloth skirts and capes, and Scare-Glow had a wicked-cool fabric cape. Ninjor's tunic was, admittedly, a bit naff (especially after some wear-and-tear!), but it was a nice gesture. It would've been nice to have those duplicated in the modern line, but in the case of Ninjor, I'm actually happier with what they ended up doing with him. It would certainly have eliminated the complaints that the PoP ladies' garments are too flat, boring, and cartoony-looking, if nothing else. Heck, the 1978 Jawa 2.0 had a dang good fabric robe!
As for fake fur, I intend to use some in some upcoming modifications. With Vykron, in particular, I would love to recreate his "Prototype Trio" looks, and the type of fake furs I have (not too thick and heavy) could make that possible. And they could also be used as well with other characters, like King Grayskull (for his cape).
I try to use fabrics that drape well and look good at that scale, like the "sheer stretch fabric" I used for Spirit of Hordak's cape (gotta redo that sometime; the effect is what I wanted, but I'm not 100% happy with the
shape of it), or the velvet I used on Horde Prime and plan on using with Masque and Shokoti and others with black or red capes. I've even got some bottle-green velvet for Queen Marlena's gown (when I get around to it), and an opaque snake-print purple stretch fabric for Prahvus' cape (and possibly loincloth).
I know a lot of people will bitch and moan about how soft goods never look right, but I think you just have to look for the right fabrics, learn how to cut and prepare them, and mount them properly. Can't remember if I've ever shared this link before, but here's my
Star Wars-centric custom thread over at Rebelscum:
http://forum.rebelscum.com/t1034528/Some of the earlier stuff doesn't look that great, but I was still experimenting with fabrics when some of those were made (like with Navik the Red's duster-cape).
There are some quite ambitious projects I'd like to do. An all-new Shadow Weaver, Regular and ToD Sorcress capes, Vintage-toy-accurate PoP wardrobes . . . . Yeah, I've got
plans. I just don't know when I'm going to GET to them all! But I'll keep you all updated! };D
