Suggestion for possible MM "customization"

[JKPhage]

Okay, so I've been around since the start for COH, and I know MM pet customization is a big thing that people ask for and the devs explained why it wasn't feasible. The explanation we were always given was that the powers were hard-coded to summon a specific creature/model. Changing the pet models through the customization menu just wouldn't have been possible, because it would have required a completely different power, where other customization just changed particle effects and colors. So hear me out on this:

 

Would it be possible to "clone" a MM primary and alter the power to summon different models? By this I mean, for example, taking Mercenaries, creating a copy of the powerset, then altering the pet summon power to call pets that are the same creature from a coding standpoint but with say Longbow or Arachnos Wolfspider models, thus making another MM primary that's 100% functionally identical to Mercenaries, but is called "Longbow" or "Arachnos" in the menu? It would require creating a separate powerset for each set of "new" minions, but take a look at the Scrapper primaries list and tell me a long list of powersets is a problem. If this is possible, we could see such things as Necromancy being reskinned with Banished Pantheon zombies, Ninjas being reskinned as Tsoo, the aforementioned Longbow or Arachnos hit squads, or even robotics masterminds with Vanguard heavy models, various sizes of Longbow cataphracts, or PPD enforcer robots as they all use the same exact skeleton/model base and would just require putting in versions that are scaled down to the same sizes as MM robots, so we could have heroic Masterminds running around with a squad of PPD or Longbow mechs, or a villain with his own elite squad of Arachnos soldiers.

 

I know Thugs is a different beast all together as it summons random models from a pool, but even then, might it be possible to clone the powers and set a new pool to select from? This would open up the potential option to summon from a model pool of Hellions, Skulls, Trolls, Outcasts or Warriors, maybe even PPD/RIP cops. This is the real stretch goal on this suggestion, I know, but if I'm gonna suggest the idea then I might as well go big and scale back expectations.

 

So what say you various coders? Is this a feasible and workable solution? It wouldn't be "customization" per se, and once you select the minions, you're stuck with them, but it would breath a whole new life into Masterminds and open up hundreds of new concepts by just creating cloned versions of the existing powers and changing which creature they call. I for one would love to have a Longbow agent commanding a squad of Cataphracts then augment it with the matching Lore pet at high level. Is this something that is even in the realm of possibility? It might make the primary screen for MM's a little cluttered, but I'd rather be spoiled for options with a list to scroll through than locked into "this is what you get" with a barren one.

[Eidolor]

Ten thousand times yes! The pipe dream is still to be able to choose models in power customization but any henchman customization would be a huge win.