So I finally got around to getting the Gladiator version up and in the display. Overall, I'm happy to have it displayed with "The General" version.
Things I like about it..
The all metal armor and weapons. The figure itself is really weighty and having everything metal (minus the shield) is a nice touch.
I wasn't quite sure what I'd think of the base. After seeing it in person I like it a lot. It's pretty heavy and is in 2 pieces that slide up against each other. It gives a nice presence and is something different than the first one.
Things that are just ok..
The body and likeness. I wasn't expecting the best of either so it doesn't bother me as much. I plan to have the helmet on all the time anyway. I can also add a different body or headsculpt if I decide on something different down the road.
Things I do not like...
The size and sculpt of the helmet. Having it metal is awesome, but the sculpt of it isn't as correct and as such doesn't sit on his head correctly. At least it doesn't give as "menacing" of look as in the movie. It has to be bigger to fit over top the headsculpt, but imo the eyes (not by much) and "fangs" have too much space between them. I took a pic comparing it to the metal version I already had on display, which is closer to the movie version. If you look back to the proto pics, the fangs were also slanted like the movie, where the final ones aren't.
edit: Actually, now that I'm looking at it the box art has a more correct version than the final.. so that's annoying.
The other thing is that there is almost no head tilt up. A lot of the shots in the movie with this outfit are him in a lower position looking up, so these poses you aren't able to do unfortunately.
Like I said, I'm happy to have him as I wanted to at least get the outfit being all metal. I will still be on the lookout for a proper helmet. Or trying to find a smaller HS that fits in the other one I have. It IS a pricey figure for being 3rd party however.
For me likeness is always key in my decisions to get a piece. I don't know if I'd still buy him again given the "likeness" with the helmet is off (and off a lot for me). Hope that makes sense.