To me, how close depends upon what you're comparing a Star Wars figure to.
For instance, BBI and 21st Century's figures in the same scale are decked out in tons of gear, some with removeable belts even, and they have removeable helmets, and articulation is unreal on some of them (18+ points, 16 at a minimum).
That's pretty ultimate... But no Hasbro figure is close to that either really.
To me, the CT Stormie is the best work Hasbro has done... Just imagine if it had a working holster, wrist articulation, a pin/swivel elbow and knee articulation though? That's a lot more than it DOES have though, so how "Ultimate" or even close to ultimate could it actually be?
You add all that to it though, and you have a figure that just simply blows everything away... I mean, his wrists would move, his knees would be hinged like they are now but ALSO would pivot. His boot tops would swivel too, due to the pin at the knee... His elbows would have a full range of motion just like the knee area then.
And on all that, his gun goes in its holster... That's a LOT of improvement though...
Funny though, simply giving him wrist articulation adds more than people realize to it. I've put some hands on one in an attempt to get them ready for casting (doing a lil preliminary testing is all) and it adds to the figure immensely. He can hold pretty much any gun perfectly now.
I agree though, if Hasbro wants to do ultimate figures, they really can do them well. I think Hasbro hides ball/socket joints better than anyone, and they're definately good at doing the holster thing. Ball/socket knees, elbows, shoulders, neck, and then simply adding wrist and boot/shoe-top articulation makes ultimate figures though... Hasbro definately can do that, and do it with very well hidden joints.
Now all we need is to actually see that put into practice.
I think some of the figures mentioned though, are definately some of the best figures of the Star Wars line, for what it is... Bespin Han, Bespin Guard, Sandtrooper, CT Stormtrooper... These are all as close as Hasbro's ever gotten to "perfection", IMO. Each is still lacking in areas though.
