I've seen the dragon head they printed at the 26C3, and I was quite disappointed. It is still a cool toy, but not by far what I would have expected.
Still, it can only get better - I guess if you know what to expect, you can also pick things to make where the quality is adequate. Won't be printing sleek iPhone casings for now, though.
The bet uses of it I've seen have been related to projects where aesthetics didn't matter much. ex. I know a student who used it to prototype chassis for a robotics class. The MakerBot let him quickly and cheaply iterate his design and the final finish didn't really matter. You are right that the action figure market has nothing to fear in the short term.
Still, it can only get better - I guess if you know what to expect, you can also pick things to make where the quality is adequate. Won't be printing sleek iPhone casings for now, though.