Stryker2011 wrote:Aside from the hand-painted versions you presented, it would be virtually impossible for a company to mass-produce realistic eyes. As far as I know, Hot Toys uses proprietary eye-decals to make their eyes, and not hand-painted. Adding a raised area to the eye just to accomplish a more realistic eye surface would be, for the most part, also highly impractical -- since the average viewer isn't looking at these things under a microscope (or necessarily a macro camera lens) so would it be entirely necessary. The biggest problem I see with the way eyes are done on these figures has more to do with the size of the iris and the blank/zombie expressions of 98% of the sculpts -- by pretty much everyone. I think having the eyes look off to one side or the other, or up or down, adds more character than the dead-eye straight ahead look provided by the majority.
I agree with all your points. Holding one of my spare heads in hand made me realize just how small we're really talking about. It's definitely a custom artsy thing and not a commercial possibility at the moment. However when it comes to that zombie look most figures have Facepool is definitely ahead of the curve imo. Hottoys, Sideshow, and some TBLeague sculpts are up there as well. It's mostly the standalone sculpts that seem to have this blank emotional stare that I find unsettling, and not even 3D eyes could fix that.