I own over 100 Hot Toys figures and I have never experienced any breaking parts, plus they are not notorious for breaking parts as you have said (Enterbay, Sideshow are, though). Plus where are you pulling this $500 price tag from? Ebay? They cost maybe half of that new and only recently have they got that high. Granted, a few of their deluxe size figures and die-cast ones are $300 to $400, but those are few and far between. These are not dolls or toys, either. As I have stated before, these are pieces of art. Hand painted faces, hand stitched clothes, superbly tailored clothes and shoes, you get what you pay for.

I agree with everything you said.
Both figure and packaging are always high quality art pieces. Those that say otherwise have never seen one in person.

Sideshow’s Vader is from Jedi, hence the alternate head. Hot Toys is from A New Hope (different armor). The scale of SS’s is all off, skinny arms, wonky height, etc. Plus the helmet is not removable. Go ahead and try to put it on and you will ruin you poorly done figure. SS’s is a cheap imitation that cost way too much (bad paint, terrible fake leather, poorly put together, the helmet stand looks like it was glued together by a 4 year old and isn’t even straight, I could go on and on). Who cares if it has light up features? How often do you use that feature? I love it when people compare Hot Toys to SS. Have you ever held a Hot Toys in you hand? They aren’t toys, they are art. Even Hot Toys boxes put everything else to shame.