There are many animations to do though - there's still a lot of extra female ones to do to even get to the equivalent of what we have in 2D - never mind any extra character models. In many elements of the 3D stuff, Karpov's work has generally been great across all fields, but we can all practice, learn and get better - and feedback through these forums is a great way of doing that. The modelling, rigging and texturing I've done more recently hasn't been brilliant, but compared to the stuff I was making prior to joining the forum (Only a little over a year ago) it's a massive improvement.
I think any work being done on other models and characters is essential, even if it's at very early stages. One of the great things about the 3D stuff is that we can import, adjust and re-export most things at any stage in the development, so we can put something together and it can be improved later, either by someone else, or ourselves as we get better.
You're probably right regarding appreciation - it's not so much a surprise though, as it's been in a "sort of nearly done" state for quite some time. There's plenty of background work being done, but on the surface it's much the same as it was half a year ago - obviously the initial excitement of such a thing diminishes over time, as people are simply waiting for the "it's done, you can play it now"
