That's what I was getting at- at least they can prevent future issues if they become aware of it now like they did with GPS

 

I just cut off all of the treads on my rotf bludgeon. Use an exacto knife to cut them off. Be careful though.

My GDO megs is fine except for where the treads connect to the small tread pieces. They are soft enough on the inside edge(were rubber meets plastic) that I can make an indent with my thumbnail. I'm waiting before I cut up Megs. Maybe I'll lift some treads off a tank model or something

Sucks about G1 megs... maybe stripping the paint off the wheel will be enough?

 

So, not sure if anyone has caught this... but a similar thing happened with Joe collectors a long time ago.

Basically people liked to store joes in sandwich baggies, as it provided a cheap solution for bundling a figure with all of its tiny accessories in a sealed container.

Well people quickly discovered that the plasticizers used to make the baggies flexible would cause the paint to become tacky and in some extreme examples it would cause the plastic itself to deform and melt.

That is essentially what is happening here. Hasbro is using a plastic that utilizes the same plasticizer to make flexible parts. Probably because it is far cheaper and more durable than using a proper rubbery material like silicone.

That being said, obviously the more flexible a material is the more of the plasticizer is used, therefore the more of a threat to plastic it will become as time passes.

Here is an example I found on reddit. It is an eraser embedded into a pen and pencil.

​

 

Was ROTF Bludgeon ever KO-ed?

Because if it was and this problem is not present with KOs... I'll be laughing very, very hard.

 

It is not a surprise to find better quality in some KO companies and 3P companies. Actually, the current low quality of official products and the cheap hollow plastic syndrome are the reason why some fans are migrated to 3Ps.

Even knowing this, it is a surprise to see this issue with CW Megatron, considering the current low standards of official products, it is not a bad figure and then this happens...

 

I don't know if it was ever KO'd, but the DNA Designs Susanoo is heavily inspired by ROTF Bludgeon, and uses linked plastic track sections instead of the "rubbery" pieces the Hasbro toy uses.

 

Guys, I need to ask something;

Does anyone else have a problem with their aging ROTF toys where there seems to be a chemical reaction between a certain type of rubberized plastic acting as a catalyst to liquefy the surrounding plastic in contact with it?

I'm talking about the kind of rubber used on ROTF Demolishor and Bludgeon; the rubber basically softens the plastic in contact with it while being unchanged itself, so as a result the plastic turns all goopy or soft and "melts away" from the rubber, ruining the figure in the process. It also makes Bludgeon's treads impossible to bend out from his shoulders.

As of this moment I only know Demolishor and Bludgeon to be affected by this.

 

Pictures?

 

There was a thread in here posted a while back about ROTF Bludgeon and CW Leader Megatron. I’ll see if I can equip you with a link.

:::Edit:::

@Mojom, here it is:

PSA: New toy plastic condition discovered (abandon all hope)

 

Yup. Got no pics handy but yeah this is a thing. As someone said there was a thread about it a few months ago. Plasticizer is leaking out of the rubbery parts due to age. Its actually pretty common and scale cars with rubber wheels have long suffered from this.

 

I thought Bludgeon's shoulder tracks were glued in! Fortunately, that's been the extent of my experience with this issue.

 

Bah, that's disappointing to hear. I mean I have the evidence right in my hands but still.

Demolishor was always a weird toy but his unique look was the core of his charm. And now there's literally no way to replace him because it's safe to assume that every Demolishor in existence has been melted by the rubber treads. And to think the treads were because Hasbro decided to skimp on costs. Sigh

Oh well, thanks for the answers.

 

I wouldn't know cause I'm too much of a wuss to open any of my ROTF figure collection

 

My Demolisher and GDO Megatron are fine.

 

In case anyone missed the link I shared a few posts up:

PSA: New toy plastic condition discovered (abandon all hope)

It might be best to merge these threads.

 

At working trying to think of toys with rubber parts off the top of my head... Doesn't the Silverbolt CW combiner head have either rubber or soft plastic horns? (same with Menasor)

 

I don't know if it's the same kind of rubber. The original seekers (and the reissues...and the CHUG seekers) have rubber nosecones and there was never a problem with melting...so obviously, not all rubber is the same. It seems to be worst with treads, which makes me think there might be a second chemical being used to "slick up" the interior treads that might be causing the reaction.

 

That would make sense since the big examples involve a LOT of manipulation of the rubber parts for transformation...

An immobile nosecone or pointy 'ear' bits that just rotate 90 to 180 degrees or so could be a more "standard" rubber. If it was the same formula in all cases, we would probably have a much larger list of "melting" figures... @_@

 

Damn, now this is weeeeird.

I gotta go check my Demolisher and Bludgeon when I get home

 

This is literally like some kind of genetic Cybertronian virus that affects Cybertronians with certain kinds of rubber.
It’s also harmful to ones who come in contact with the infected