Figure Manufacturers

I've personally seen GSC and Max Factory at work and can see that they have a lot of passion for making quality figures. The challenge for them is that they have to trade off quality with cost. If the figures cost too high then less people will buy. If the quality is too low then less people would buy. They do a lot of hard work to strike a balance of quality and cost for the consumer.
One of their figures I'm particularly impressed with is Figma Saber - you can see the prototype in one of my previous tours of the GSC office below.

Megahouse do great figures from the Queensblade series too although they still need to improve their know-how about paint transfer.

Original text from BandAiD below.

I know many here on this site collect figures of their favorite characters and the sort, and often times the companies that are mentioned by Danny are Alter, Max Factory, and Good Smile Company. Not sure about Alter, but I do know he has some sort of relations to GSC and Max Factory. While I definitely do see the quality of their works in the pictures he takes, I'd say I'd be pretty confident in purchasing a figure from them should they have a character I like.

However I've yet to own a single figure, and as some may already know here, I'm pretty stubborn about getting one because often times I have a hard time justifying the expensive price tags they have. However after being an active member here at DC for who knows how long, I'm getting tempted more and more each passing day to get one.

Anyways the point of this post is pretty easy, I made this so I can get input from other members here from DC. What are some of your favorite figure manufacturers, most importantly ones that you swear by for the quality of their works? My biggest concern is paint job, if I'm going to be putting down cold hard cash for something, I expect near Resin quality work.

I am considering this Haruka figure, as I absolutely love her as a character, but "Toys Works" isn't a company I know much about, as well as many others such as Enterbrain, Mega House, Orchid Seed, wave, etc.

Your favorite high quality figure companies be? Favorite sculptor? Hopefully others in the same position as me will find use in this post.