We all know Hot Toys is THE high end kid on the block when it comes to posable action figures. Their sculpts, paint applications, accessories are always top of the line above everything else and justifiably rakes in a premium in what these things cost.
Sideshow is still trailing to catch up... more so in pricing than the rest... but they are severely improving, or the fan base will eventually teach them that price must equal quality.
However, with the endoskeleton line - especially the T-800 series, Hot Toys have lacked in certain ways in terms of getting it right. The figure, the articulation, the whole deal is way over the top cool, but overall, the proportions are slightly off and things could be improved. Well, the moment is NOW as they are planning a new sixth scale endoskeleton based on the first movie version. However, what they have shown so far is still the T2 version... and still the same old ill proportioned sculpt with the too large legs compared to the rest. It seems they attempted to rework the skull, but other than that it is the same figure like the previous releases, as well as apparently incorporating inaccuracies from other licensed products, such as the abnormally long lower teeth and over-sized chip cover from the Sideshow endo skull bust.
What they need to do is go search out authentic Stan Winston Studios endoskeleton. There really is NO substitute when it comes to gathering reference. They need to go to the source and get the proportions right. I want an endoskeleton that looks like it's the Schwarzenegger endoskeleton, not the endo that fits inside Marcus or whatever other weird terminator came later.
Below are a few photoshop attempts to correct some of the proportional errors in the Hot Toys endoskeletons.
First is the fourth scale endoskeleton. I altered the size of the legs to correspond more with the overall proportions of the figure, as it was easier to change those than change the rest.
And following are some comparisons with the Hot Toys T-700, which is basically the same as the T-800, only with rough surfaces. This time I altered the torso: pelvis, spine, chest and head, and pulled out the arms. I even lowered the chest down a notch on the spine as it was sitting too high. I attempted to match the look of the authentic endoskeleton that resides in Japan, which has T1 legs (possibly T1 head) and the rest being T2 parts. But all authentic Stan Winston Stds endoskeletons share the same basic proportions, so just matching and referensing THAT particular endoskeleton would be a better endoskeleton than previously released.