Got mine on Friday and it has a little paint bleed too. But I truly can't see it unless I have my nose up to it and am actively looking for it.
Overall I'm extremely happy with it. For me, it's a vast improvement over Sideshow's, without a doubt. The blue color of the panels, the white of the body and the weathering are all much better. The blue especially. And of course the metal dome makes an enormous difference. So with the dome and the blue alone, it's head and shoulders above Sideshow's. The overall size and proportions just feel closer to the real thing. It's a little weightier than Sideshow's, which notoriously felt feather-light and cheap, but it's certainly not heavy.
It's funny, I recently sold my Sideshow version with the intent of upgrading to the HT version, but I've been dragging my feet. I have the Sphero R2 which is really quite fun--the sounds and lights are great, and I love how it pops the third leg out to start rolling. It's a little marvel! So I put the Sphero next to my Tama Threepio when I got rid of the SS one, and I've thought, "it looks pretty good there! I don't know if I even need to get the HT after all!" Boy was I wrong! I don't know where my head was at, but there is really no comparison at all.
I'm not bothering with the batteries, so I can't really comment on that. If I really need to see lights and hear sounds, I'll turn on the Sprero because despite how toy-ish it looks, it still makes great lights and sounds.
One nit-pick: the legs are ratcheted, so they click into place in 2 spots, half way to leaning back, and fully leaning back to activate the third leg. I think the full lean back position is a little too far back. Honestly I haven't compared it to the movie or stills, so maybe it's just my perception, but to me it looks like he leans too far back. I would have liked if the legs weren't ratcheted (like Sideshow's wasn't) and you could choose how far back you wanted to pivot him. Also, the panel where you plug him in to the lamp is pretty tight so the magnet it comes with can't open it. I have to use my own stronger magnet to get it open. But I'd rather have the panels be too tight than way too loose like Sideshow's were.
I do recommend this as a significant upgrade to the Sideshow version. I feel it's a must have for any SW collection. R2 is such an iconic character of the franchise, I can't imagine not having him as part of my SW collection. And this is from someone who does NOT have any Lukes in his collection!
