Robots, little monsters, giants, snake tail figures, etc... offer a diversity of very different figures, to make it more interesting.
All those figures you find "cheap" require more design work and new molds making them more expensive than a minifigure...
So calling it "cheap" is not the right word... :)
Look at a playtheme as a kid would do. Stop counting parts and looking if a figure got legs or not...Is the figure cool?
Does it open imagination? is it never seen before? This are the good questions. Kids will remember it to you...
Uniformity is the biggest ennemy of imagination.