One thing Empress could provide that Pulp Figures doesn't among their US and British sailors is gun crews in action. I would love to have some sailors actually operating the ship's cannon, loading shells, ejecting casings (with heavy gloves), etc. Also, on some ships US Marines operated some of the lighter cannon. And I would love to have some German naval gun crew in action to go with the Tsuba German Revolution sailors.
And I'm not satisfied with the very limited Chinese gun crews produced by Copplestone. Need more Chinese gun crew figures doing the work of actually operating the gun or mortar. I suggest this in case Empress really does a Sand Pebbles line.
I like the way the Empress and Tsuba firing packs include more men actually firing and loading. That's more appealing to me than some of the Copplestone and Pulp Figures packs in which so many men are simply holding their rifles at an angle.