Antonia WM bends very well and has no few if any JCMs, but she also does not have a mesh that heavily follows muscle shapes and contours.  To support your point, that is one of the main digs about her - lack of suitability for sculpting.  She'll never look like anastasia, but she takes alyson 2 to the cleaners in a pose-off!

 

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I don't know about that. I have managed to rig a toon figure with out a single JCM thus far and he bends marveslously. I think JCM's are needed when the mesh fights against what the rig wants to do. I'd be interested to see a "realistic" Poser human modeled for articulation as opposed to being modeled with every muscle cut out and learn how well it bends without JCM's. I think it'd be doable but would it be welcome by the community? Probably not. So it's a compromise and that compromise forces JCM's on us (in my opinion).