Ah I see FVB - we have contradicting sources. That's not unusual for Star Wars unfortunately. I guess I'll simply say, we went with the newer book's information
As to finding this insulting, not at all, no worries there Tint. He asked a legitimate question, brought up actual evidence, and did so with respect. A very different experience from other similar questioning of the designers that has been done
I also greatly appreciate making a new thread rather than taking over that guy's custom thread. That too demonstrates to me that FVB is being quite respectful about his question, and I very much appreciate it. I can't say that enough.
The reality is, no matter how much Star Wars any of us knows, none of us knows it all. I remember briefly checking Wookiee for the MCTS, and it looked fine to me. Added in that the figure is one of the few "Tech Specialists" and isn't highly used in competitive play, and it made good sense to make it the OR TS. I can certainly see your side though, given the knowledge of other sources that I didn't have at the time of accepting the recommendation. Personally, I don't spend a ton of time debating the RM, because the concerns for what the RM is have issues that I put before canon. Let me try to explain the order of significance as I see it for the RM.
1. Preventing Confusion - this means not using minis that are likely to be played in the faction with the new mini. So for example, using Clone Troopers and Stormtroopers to represent new Mandos. Of course it's not canon exactly to do so, but it's the best fit to prevent confusion. You could call this the "out of faction" rule as well, although we haven't totally gone out of faction in all cases.
2. Not requiring customs - While we recognize a lot of us want to customize our minis, we want to ensure that no one ever has to in order to play.
3. Little used minis - This one might be higher than 3 in actuality, because we are trying to make use of as many of the unused or little used minis we all already have.
4. Looking like the actual mini - I put this fourth because while we are trying, it's not always possible and the above two concerns trump this one.
5. Canon - Whenever possible we will be as true to canon as possible, but quite honestly, it simply isn't possible to be 100% without customs.
6. Cost/Availability - I don't use this one a lot, but it is something that we do consider. We've tended to stick to the, "It's just the RM and not necessary to play" line instead of worrying about this too much, but that's not to say we don't consider it.
With that list of concerns, that hopefully explains our decision.