Do Masterpiece knock-offs exist?

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by Cromwell, Sep 17, 2007.

  1. Cromwell, Sep 17, 2007
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    Cromwell

    Cromwell New Member

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    Hi everyone,

    I'm a long-time TF fan, but new to collecting. So far, I've chosen to focus on the Masterpiece line, and have purchased MP-01, 03 and 05.

    Because I came into the hobby late, I had to do a lot of legwork to find the above pieces, usually grabbing the last one in the shop. Generally, I'm very pleased with them, but for the price I paid, the quality control is a bit disappointing. (e.g. the gap between Convoy's chest plate is a little irregular, Starscream's display stand insignia had poor paint application, the plastic on SS's left shoulder where it meets the jet intake actually had a small stress fracture)

    My biggest gripe is that my Megatron's die-cast parts (feet and the metal bars under his shoulders) seems to be rusting... or at least developing a brownish sheen. I can clean most of it off with cotton wool.

    Did I purchase a knock off? Has anyone had the same problem, and if so, does anyone know of a solution?

    Thanks for reading this.

    Cromwell
     
  2. Prisoner1138, Sep 17, 2007
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    Prisoner1138

    Prisoner1138 TFW2005 Supporter

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    No you didn't purchase a knockoff, yes, it's a known issue(huge thread about it here), and it's apparently just tarnish.

    Considering the resources it would take to start producing knockoff MP's, I really doubt it would make sense since the retail(ebay or whatever) price would need to be lower than the real MP's to actually sell, and I doubt they can get their cost per unit low enough to justify spending the time on it.
     
  3. twee, Sep 17, 2007
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    twee

    twee Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, the rusting issue's actually been reported recently, and as such, a lot of collectors are pretty pissed.

    As for SS, stress marks/fractures are supposedly a pretty big problem with that, as are stiff joints due to assembly of parts before the paint even dried, and other sloppy QC mistakes. Apparently MP Skywarp fixes most of those problems, so if you were apprehensive in purchasing that, know that it's a considerable improvement over SS.
     
  4. Rodimus Major, Sep 17, 2007
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    Rodimus Major

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  5. Getter Eagle, Sep 17, 2007
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    Getter Eagle

    Getter Eagle Banned

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    Go to Target and pick up some Method brand stainless steal polish, and a microfiber cloth (same aisle.) This works wonders with cleaning the cloudy tarnish off of old Die_Cast metal, and that brown rusty-colored oil from Masterpiece Megatron's metal. I've been using it for almost a year now, so I'd say that it's safe to use on TFs.
     
  6. aussiehippy, Sep 19, 2007
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    aussiehippy

    aussiehippy Au contraire, Blackadder.

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    I think there is a knock off of MP01, but it is vastly reduced in size, has no diecast and has a slightly simplified transformation.

    Don't think there's any chance of that being mistaken for an original.