I have to admit I"m only on day 2 of ownership so that may skew some things, but I absolutely adore mine. Its fast, the screen is amazing, and the build quality is quite good. Its easily the best tablet I've ever owned in every single category except battery life, and even there its not bad at all.
Do I have light bleed? Yes. However, I've gone through absolute hell with warranty repairs trying to get my previous HP Touchpad's light bleed fixed which eventually resulted in them cracking the screen and my successfully suing them in small claims court (For the crack which they claimed was my fault and warranty voiding, not the light bleed). Following that, I went through four Transformer Infinities, of which three had light bleed. Its just a defect common in IPS/PLS displays, through the three tablets I've owned (all of different manufactures) I've learned its completely unrealistic to expect a perfect one. If its not an absolutely horrible amount, live with it. If you cant, get an iPad or realize that tablet computers are NOT for you.
Do I have the creaking back plastic? Yes. Every tablet made of plastic is going to have some problems. The speakers on the touchpad are notorious for cracking spontaneously. The Note 10.1 is so thin you can actually see it flex. With devices this big made of plastic, its unrealistic to not expect some sort of cheap feel. The Nexus 10 has it pretty good compared to some of the other tablets, so live with it if you can. If you cant, get a metal tablet or realize that tablet computers are NOT for you.
Do I have the thermal throttling? I dont know yet. But realize you're running a 1.7Ghz processor in something slightly thicker than a ball point pen. Look in ANY desktop or laptop computer of equivalent speed (yes, I know x86 and ARM are not directly comparable, but go with it for this) and you'll find a massive heatsink and fan. The Nexus 10 does not have a fan because nobody would buy a tablet with such, and the heatsink is quite thin to keep the dimensions down. You still have one of the fastest tablets on the market. Think of the 1.7Ghz not as a top sustainable speed, but like the "Turboboost" mode on modern Intel i3/5/7 CPUs where it'll ramp up to that speed to complete a task as quickly as possible and then dial back to something more easily sustainable. I'll admit that Google should add something to Android where if it knows a game is running it limits its top speed to prevent this very throttling, but that's on Android and not the device itself. Throttle the CPU back yourself, live with it, or realize that tablet computers are NOT for you.
TL;DR: This is a good tablet computer. Like all tablet computers, or like anything really, you shouldn't have unrealistic expectations.