Check out the line for yourself over at
www.simpsonscollectors.com
The line has only one variant that's really off, Kamp Krusty Bart. He came out early in the line, and he was at least based off of an episode.
I would say if you want Playmates to listen to fans on the line, the first thing to do would be alert them to this board. I know they're interested in what the fans want, because last year they were asking around on the
www.action-figure.com forums for opinions on how to make Baxter, and if comic accurate figures should be made. They didn't really get much response(because there aren't a whole lot of big TMNT fans there), and well look what happened. Baxter's way off, and we've heard nothing since then about comic based figures.
Playmates has the tendancy to overdo it with variations and secondary characters. Like for turtles and simpsons, they made secondary characters only in 1 ep.
It's entirely possible that if they know about this board a better connection with the fans can be made. It worked with The Simpsons, we had well organized polls to decide on some of the figures in the line, and at one point had Playmates answering 10 questions a month(which were created and selected by voting, by the collectors). The playset designer for the line even posts on the forums over there... and now that The Simpsons line is done, he's moved on to design work for TMNT.
I will say if I were Playmates I wouldn't want to come here. Every time something new is shown, all they ever get are complaints. The TMNT variants are pretty pointless, especially when the ones in the show haven't been made, but I can understand why they make them. As long as the selection of secondary characters remains as good as it has, and they don't become too hard to find, I can't complain.
Actually, I think Playmates might already read this board. After all, look at the articulaton complaints that are now being addressed. The new variants shown don't have the hinged hand joints(with one exception), and the needed articulation points are being expanded.