Tamiya v. DML/Dragon

I use to think Tamiya made a good 1/35 figure kit. After opening my first Dragon figure kit today I?m beginning to think differently?

I'm doing the Tamiya "Modern Army Infantry" kit right now. Well, actually it's the "US Modern Military Figures Desert Storm" one, which I thought was going to be a new kit but in reality is nothing more then the "Modern Army Infantry" re-boxed with 2 new figures. When I got it I thought I was getting an updated version with M12 bayonets, M16A2's and such. No. Just the same all thing.

Anyhow. I notice the Tamiya kit I'm doing is significantly less defined then the Dragon kit I got? The Tamiya is just as detailed, just not as defined. For instance there is very little demarcation between load baring straps and flack vests. You can barely tell the difference between the packets on the flack vest and the flack vest itself. Some times a certain detail may just fade away into nothing. Facile features seem to be hard to distinguish. The neck just melds into the color of the flack jacket without any try demarcation. The gear doesn?t fit right.

Everything on the Dragon kit stands out. Its well molded. Well defined. The facial features are much more pronounced. The gear is better detailed. The flack jacket stands out better.

Is this normal? Are Tamiya figure kits just not that good and DML/Dragon?s are just that much better?