Here's a list of the TFs I've gotten with the sticky paint plague:
TFU Prowl
TFU Ironhide
TFA Soundwave

Now, I actually contacted Hasbro about Prowl, and they had me ship him to them for a replacement, but I don't recommend it. They took nearly 2 months to get a replacement to me, saying that they didn't have him in stock. So, bad idea.

Next, with Ironhide, his windshield/engine cover/unsightly backpack is SO sticky and unfinished that holding him by it for more than 5 seconds causes the paint to melt onto my fingers, leaving a fingerprint-smudge on the paint. It basically ruined my opinion of this figure (until I get my hands on a clearcoat).

Finally, Animated Soundwave has it on the roof, which is extremely unfortunate, because it's going to ruin that wonderful "power button" he has there.

So now, I have a question for all you paint experts out there: is this stuff dangerous? Somebody with a chemistry set, let me know!

 

The paint is - by law - non-toxic, so you don't need to worry about getting poisoned from paint coming off on your fingers.

 

Has anyone tried exposing the paint to a UV light and/or heat source?

I'm guessing it was just improperly cured, in which case it's just a matter of properly curing it... Maybe.

 

The current revision to my theory is that a component of the clear plastic is preventing the paint from fully adhering and setting correctly, due either to a change in paint or plastic formulation. It's not a new thing in general. It's long been known that some plastic and paint combinations will result in more or less perpetually tacky items. It's just that so far as I know, 2008 was the first year where it has been an at all consistent issue with Transformers.

Hasbro may have caught on a little too late to fix Universe, but I'm betting that if a solution is possible they'll have it in place for the movie toys.

 

My Prowl was tacky too. I ended up removing most of the white paint and redoing it with acrylic paint and Future. I'm a lousy painter, but I think it'll look better than it did - what with all the stuff that stuck to the paint, the paint that scratched off, etc.

My Silverstreak seemed fine at first, but it's showing symptoms too - some of the paint on one of the windows is coming off. I have no idea how I'd fix that.

 

*knocks on wood*

Both my Universe Prowl and Animated Soundwave don't seem to have a problem, thankfully, though Prowl does seem semi-messy and "unfinished" looking on his sides, where the doors become his wings..almost looks kinda dirty, but the paint doesn't seem to be coming off of him at all. Do feel bad for those that do have the issue though, I had the police decals on my movie Barricade rub off..and it just ruins the look of the figure, and I loved his alt mode.

Also thankfully never had the paint issue on the nose/cockpit of Animated Leader Megs that I recall hearing some people having.

 

I've had on-and-off problems with sticky paint on clear parts - the most recent being Hound (one bought through HTS got tacky when touched, another store-bought one was perfectly fine) I have some toys I don't technically know if they had stick-paint or not, as I fixed em up before finding out for sure.

If paint appears to be going south on you, I recommend clear coating. On Peaugh's advice I use Future (or "Pledge with Future shine") floor finish. It goes on easily with a brush or airbrush, dries smooth and quickly if laid on thin., and a six-dollar bottle can coat a floor or about a thousand toys.  

 

That's what I did with my Universe Ironhide - I gave him a blast of clearcoat before I even transformed him for the first time. It's always best to check threads here to find out beforehand if a certain figure may have the sticky paint problem. My Universe Prowl had it before I picked up some clearcoat, but since I knew it was a possibility after reading about it on this site I was really careful with him anyway so his paint wasn't ruined before I coated it. My Animated Soundwave seems to be fine, but I may give him a coat anyway just in case. And perhaps Animated Leader Meg's black paint parts too.
Hound has problems too? Hmm... always good to know in adance. Just a pity that we can't buy with confidence and have to employ damage limitation ourselves just in case.

 

To be honest, I've NEVER had any sticky paint problems whatsoever. Either I'm incredibly lucky or I have no idea how to tell if my toy has sticky paint.