Yeah, the sculpts on those three bootleg heads are pretty terrible. But they were posted as examples of the kind of hairing that's showing up now, not as examples of great sculpts. I don't think anybody is suggesting that "terrible likenesses" should be the future of the hobby!
Separate issue from the hair question - digital scanning technology has been around for ages and it's only getting better. It's also been used in collectibles for at least a decade. Probably more. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't digitally scanning actors faces for special effects what Gentle Giant's main business was before they got into collectibles? I thought they started in special effects and expanded into collectibles. In fact, if I'm remembering this correctly, wasn't the fact that they were using scans from the real actors for their busts their big selling point for years? (Please, somebody correct me if I'm mis-remembering that!)
In any case, my guess is that, like the movie industry itself, the future of the hobby may be entirely digital.
We're already seeing more and more artists at companies (and among customizers here on the boards) moving away from clay and toward digital sculpting. And we're seeing the same thing with 3D printing of masters. As the prices of 3D printers continue to decrease and their sophistication continue to increase, might we start to see an end to molding and casting?
As the photos that Szklanooka posted show, 3D printers can also print in very intricate color. I wonder ... as the prices come down on these machines, will we eventually get to a point where the heads are printed directly -- fully painted -- without ever going through the molding process?
Seems to me we might get to a point relatively soon where the actor gets scanned ... they import that data file into a modeling program or something like Photoshop to tweak the details and get all the colors right ... and then send the file to the dozens of 3D color printers they have waiting on the factory floor. An hour later ... 1000 heads, fully painted and ready to go.
Maybe?