Looks real to me and to be honest, MOP is not very expensive. The only model that comes to mind having Gibson advertise the inlays as Acrylic is the Chet Atkins L-10. Curious what you find out.
Fortunately I love the Epiphone Tree of Life headstock. Goes back a long way and has a lot of history behind it. I understand what you say completely though as one headstock I've never warmed up to is the one found on the Heritage guitars.
They certainly are nice looking guitars body-wise reminding me of the L4CES, but I'm an f-hole kinda guy. When I see the oval hole on an archtop all I can think of is this . . . <_<
All normal. My L4CES is similar, everything but the finish checking around the heal (would like to see a shot around other side inside cutout). No flaking around numbers either, may be polish as stated. Mine is a Custom Shop. Enjoy her!