Please don't misinterpret my original post. I am most certainly going to stay with S, and I do know of the less expensive options that exist. In fact,I think part of the allure of S scale is the "thrill of the hunt"; you really gotta look for this stuff!
I guess my intent was to make an observation about the current state of affairs regarding the "new" releases,and to maybe get some other points of view.
I do find it interesting that, so far anyway, no one has mentioned any QC issues; maybe it's not as bad as I thought...
Mark in Oregon