...or something like it anyway.

A few months ago, I noticed that one of Energon Scorponok's arm joints had a small crack in it. I really didn't think anything of it, as it was an old toy.

And then a week ago, I picked it up, after not even touching it for months, and noticed that it had a several serious cracks in the plastic. I considered reporting this, but it didn't really seem like a widespread issue. But then I saw that Blaster Prime on here actually had the same problem as me, except his arm had come clean off.

So, just thought I'd warn you guys to be careful when fiddling with this mold, as you might break the arms off.

Here's a pic to show where specifically the problem areas are.

 

Hmm... I still play with the Cybertron version, and he seems to be fine (which is somewhat ironic, as the cyb one is based on Black Zarak, one of the worst GPS cases. Plus, the cyb one actually -has- gold plastic).

 

Mine has cracks in the exact spots, I never noticed it until one day when i was transforming it. I have never transformed him again.

 

I'm sure I heard something about Energon Scorponok being a possible GPS victim a while back; I don't remember if it was confirmed or not. Looks like it might well be now.  
I do hope that Hasbro steers WELL clear of gold plastic in the future. If they haven't been able to solve the problem since G1, they're clearly not going to be able to solve it in the forseeable future.

 

What is GPS?

 

Rather than explaining it poorly and probably wrongly here is a link.
Gold Plastic Syndrome - Teletraan I: the Transformers Wiki - Transformers 2, Revenge of The Fallen, Animated, Toys

 

Global Positioning systems.........he can find his way back home through the desert.....


No, Gold Plastic Syndrome. Gold Plastic Syndrome - Transformers Wiki I didn't know about it until last year!!

 

I don't know if this is actual GPS, so much as a having a thin piece of plastic connected to an extremely tight joint that gets a lot of movement during transformation. My Energon Scorponok has one of those cracks on the right arm and it looks like a fairly clean break, like a normal stress fracture. There's none of the crumbling and such that typically happens with GPS and the leading edge of the crack has white stress marks.

Either way, though, it's disappointing. E-Scorponok is one of my favorite toys from the Energon line.

 

well lovely, i have been wanting one but not im a bit leery of buying one....maybe ill get the Cybertron version instead.

 

I wonder if mine has it. I'm gonna have to dig him out of storage though.

 

Could be some manner of more rapid embrittlement as opposed to the decohesion/catastrophic void nucleation associated with GPS. What's the plastic like? Is it clear plastic? Is it plastic that bears a lot of weight while displayed, or that takes a lot of force during transforming?

Can you guys post closeup shots of the cracks/fracture surface? It would give us a lot better idea of what's going on.

 

funny the superlink mega zarak version has gold plastic it seems but his arms and joint areas seem fine...torked around on him a few months ago with no issues...

 

Wow! So it's not just mine then. I was working on customizing mine a little a few weeks ago when I noticed the one side cracked EXACTLY where you're talking about. That sucks!

 

Not the best pictures in the world, but this is the right shoulder of mine, showing the crack:

It's opaque. It appears to be the same colour as the tan pieces that allow the claws to open and close. Kind of hard to tell, but it doesn't appear to have any metal flake in it.

The latter, definitely. On mine, at least, the joint closest to the crack is extremely tight and the arm needs to be swung down 90 degrees at that joint during the transformation to jet mode. The piece of plastic that cracked on mine is also only ~1 mm thick, so it's a fairly thin area that needs to withstand a lot of force during transformation, due to the tight joint.

 

Thank goodness his repaint doesn't seem to suffer this problem so far.

Or does he?

(Goes to check His Dark Scorponok)

No GPlS.

 

I had a very similar break on mine a couple weeks ago when I transformed my E. Scorponok. On one side it just felt very tight and broke all the way through while moving that side into position. I wondered if it might be GPS, but that part didn't look like gold plastic to me. It is the first one of mine I've had that happen to, but I have the G2 figures with gold plastic somewhere in storage and haven't messed with them in years.

+-MWG-+

 

Hmm, well, the fact the crack is almost straight (only one redirection) with no branching, and that you said the crack surface is smooth would seem to indicate a brittle failure. This would mean that the crack grew all at once, or at least most of it once a critical nucleation length was reached. I'd need a closer look of the fracture surface to make more detailed conclusion, but its possible that either due to plastic aging, work hardening, or fatigue, that over time the structure weakens such that the single catastrophic crack occurs.

In short, it just gets old and isn't designed to take that kind of force. Its more poor design than poor materials selection, most likely. There is a possibility that given the timeframe and the color, that its the same problem that plagues transmetal megatron, however, where the plastic just gets extremely brittle over time. Is anyone seeing this in figures that have only been transformed once or twice over their lifespans?

 

Yeah, I don't think it's actually GPS either. It isn't really a crumbling like my Laser Rod Electro. It's a straight crack. Mine's in almost the exact location, on the same side as Scantron's there. It's kind of ironic how several people seem to have had this happen within the past few weeks though.

 

I was about to buy one. I'm not so excited about it now.  

 

oh crap, i just was reading up on GPS. i have Serpentor out of the ones listed on that wiki. i dont want to go into my old joes to find him. if i dont see him broken he isnt broken.

i hate reading threads like these, i start getting concerned about my toys.