Clint-Green
Epi Les Pauls can be awesome with a pickup upgrade (especially the bridge pup, I find they lack low-end and are pretty low output) and a decent setup. I've replaced the bridge pup on my Standard with a Seymour Duncan Invader, levelled the frets and shaved down the neck and then Tru-Oiled it, and it honestly plays like a high-end Gibson now. And it's Made In China so it's supposed to be lower-end than it's Korean-made counterparts! That said, I had a Korean Epi LP Studio which I bought brand new that didn't even come close to this one in terms of playability and I also had the issue mentioned before with the earth wire on the bridge post, so I believe that they are hit and miss (as I suppose even high-end guitars can be).
I must say though, these guys are definitely just blowing smoke regarding the Tokais, the ones I have played are stunning guitars. The action on one was so low that the strings were practically sitting inside the neck, and not a trace of fret buzz (I pick pretty lightly, but that's still amazing for a 12" radius fretboard). The necks are just a little chunky but I have big hands so that isn't too much of a trade-off. My Epi has a nice thin neck which, as I said before, I've shaved down even further to give it a very fast profile. Now if I could just reach those top frets without contorting my wrist in weird and wonderful ways...
