Eamon, I have about 40 statues (just went and counted what's on display--I have even more in storage!) from various makers: Sideshow, ARH, Bowen, DC Direct, Playmates Toys, First 4 Figures, and Roku Toys. Not one of those statues has cracked paint. Sure, there are patches where the paint is applied sloppily or maybe unevenly, or maybe there's a little ding on a few of them, but none of them have cracked paint. My feeling is that I can live with the cracks, but I don't trust the paint to hold. My fear is that a month, or six months, or a year down the line the paint will just start flaking off, in which case I'll need to pay to have the statue repainted, and that won't be cheap.