Several other companies have released figures designed for this kit. Here's a link to the ones Squadron Mail Order carries; I suspect there are others: http://www.squadron.com/SearchResults.asp?offset=0 . That list highlights the big virtue of the Italeri set: price.
Von Berlichingen's comment about the skills required to design figures vs. those to design mechanical devices made me think of the old Renwall military vehicle kits. Olde Phogies like me probably remember them fondly; they were big, complicated, and well detailed (at least by the standards of the time), and had lots of moving parts. And Renwall had some interesting ideas about assembly methods. (Remember those plates that covered up the big holes in the hull bottoms - after you'd attached the various exterior parts by putting glue on them from the inside? Or the little coil springs that made the suspension of the Walker Bulldog work?) And the crew figures, even to an eight-year-old like I was at the time, looked like mutant zombies.
I particularly remember the Renwall Patton tank. It had two crew figures attached to the gun breech, so when you lowered the muzzle the guys would pop out of the turret hatches. One of them had a look on his face that probably would make you stuff him back in as quickly as possible. The first time I built it I didn't have a bottle of Testor's gloss flesh color (the standard for figure painting) on hand (or the dime necessary to buy a new bottle), so I used "aircraft cream" dope. The dope, of course, ate mercilessly into the styrene - but in this case that was an improvement.
Those kits sure were fun. I'd love to see them come back on the market - figures and all. (I think my first choice would be the "Skysweeper" anti-aircraft gun.) They do show up on various websites now and then, but at prices that are too much for the likes of me.
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.