Got mine today. Picard is such a hero, and Next Gen is my favourite Trek, but I've been umming and ahhing because he looks off in some photos, and because of the neck staining. Popcultcha had a sale, and there was a discount on the exclusive, and so I caved.
Glad to say that as soon as I saw him in the box I thought, 'Oh he looks much better in person.' Then I fiddled for ten minutes and found myself getting annoyed. I padded out his shoulders, which is a trick I saw here, and now I love him again. Gives him those broad Picard shoulders, and pushes his collar up a bit, which looks nice ... though I can't stop there being a dent around where the collar connects to the shoulders ... I'll futz. I also haven't been able to zip his shirt back all the way.
Mine has the neck staining, of course, despite the protective plastic. I've contacted Popcultcha to ask if they do replacement heads or whether I should contact QMX directly. Obviously I would rather an unstained head because of the price the figure costs, but at least the staining doesn't show in museum poses. If I want to have him reading, or using the phaser rifle, then the staining is visible, because he has to turn and crane his head for both.
The very first time I used the phaser rifle hands the ribbing on the rifle handles scratched up the paint on the hands, leaving ugly white patches. Unfortunate. One hand is only really for the rifle, and so the damage would never be visible, but the other can be used for the PADD, and I do like him with PADD and tea.
Overall, though, damn. I love it. The character is a real hero from my formative years. It's a thrill for me like getting the 1/6 Tom Baker Doctor Who or '89 Michael Keaton Batman was (and those were the figs that got me into 1/6 collecting). My love for the character and my awe at the fact someone made a figure of him and it's on my shelf helps me overlook any minor issues. If you're still on the fence like I was, get him. SO MUCH LOVE has clearly gone into all these Star Trek figures. They are all great. If I met anyone from QMX I would give them a pat on the back. Hell, I wanna have a beer with them (or a tea, earl grey, hot) and talk Trek.
This is definitely a case of a 'better in hand' figure. Imperfections you obsess over in the photos you hardly notice in person. The eye glosses over and focuses on different things. I reckon I am going to have to cave for Khan now ...
You come at the king, you best not miss.
Space adventures.
Adding some patented Picard manliness to the shoulders.
Eh, maybe my shoulder adjustment made no difference. I feel better about the figure after, but maybe that's just my brain tricking me. 'You did something! Yay! An accomplishment!'