At least on my Optimus and Bulkhead, this is a pretty big exaggeration. Nothing about either feels like they skimped on the plastic. ~Matt Booker
Mine is still plenty solid it's just I've noticed way more stressing concurring on my TFs since the the pre-RTS/yellow-packaging movie line. The stressing may be factored into the design and may just be a cosmetic annoyance.
not sure if its worth mentioning or a real cause for it but the plastic is different on the Canadian FE in those areas. not only in color but feeling...not to say it feels cheap or low quality, just "different" original release version:
I see your point, but stressing of plastic is still stressing of plastic. While there may be some design considerations that account for a threshold of durability, it is still damage to the plastic. Stress indicates just that - the result of excessive force of some amount, and thus is still a concern to those who enjoy these toys and intend to do so for some time.
Awww, I just got mine today and I love him so much, but he has the stressed pieces too. I really hate to return him but I can't even rotate his arms at the swivel because it's so tight there. I'm guessing that might be where the stress mark came from? This stinks.
BBTS emailed me and said they can only exchange Bulkhead for another one, not send me the part. I thought I'd seen other people talk about them doing parts exchanges in the past. Maybe they still do, and all the ones they've opened have stressmarks. Either way, with a person reporting they have one with both arms stressed, I'm not sure I want to exchange it. I think I've figured out the problem, at least on mine. I'll post pictures later on tonight. As for a fix... I'm not sure yet, even if I have some thoughts on it. It might require some asking around in Radicons. Let me be clear on this, though. I don't think the peg is going to break. So if your arm doesn't push off the peg when rotated, I don't think you've got something to worry about. ~Matt Booker
Mine won't turn at all, should I risk trying to pop it out and sand the joint down a little? I'm not to sure about returning it either if the new one will be the same/worse.
If you don't sand it down too much, I think it'll be fine. I say that without having the toy in hand, but I'm pretty familiar with the type of joint, etc. Just be careful with it and remember that it's always better to sand/stop/test instead of sanding down a lot. In other words, it's harder to fix it once you've sanded stuff off than to sand just a little more.
the fix for this should technically be sanding down the hinge on the arm that is problematic. except I don't know what's actually causing it to stress. one of you radicon guys would probably be wiser with that. once that problem is fixed, you could potentially remove and boil the tab with the stress marks. but I'm not going to do that until the piece that causes the stress in the first place is fixed. any ideas on what needs to be sanded/cut? this really seems like a 5 minute fix though once the actual cause is determined.
Considering how fucking tight those things are I'm not surprised. I should really grind it down to prevent this. 'Least now I have an excuse to pull him from the forgotten drawer.
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/creative-general-discussion/704609-second-edition-first-edition-bulkhead-stress-mark-fix.html I found the problem and made a Radicons thread for it. Hopefully now that it's been identified, the Radicons can come together for a fix. ~Matt Booker
thanks man. please update here as well if a definitive answer is found. I don't check radicons too often and it would be nice to know if a 100% fix was determined. like I said though, I think it's gonna be a quick/easy fix once we know what to do. I have no intentions of sending mine back. I've wanted this figure for a long time now, and he's a completely solid figure outside of this one little hindrance.
I'll keep an eye on it. Hopefully now that the problem is clearly shown someone knows an easy fix. ~Matt Booker
OK, now that I see the leaning, it makes a lot more sense. Getting my Bulkhead tonight, hopefully he will be OK. I know this won't happen but if this is a universal issue, maybe Hasbro will own up to it in someway. I dunno what, it isn't the sort of thing that warrents a recall (no danger). But maybe they will offer replacement joints.
If it's just an aesthetic thing, stress marks will usually go away if you dip the piece in boiling water. Just watch out to avoid getting any metal in there. Don't want potential rust problems (though this has never been an issue for me).
Mine maybe has slight stress marks but not very noticeable. The arm stays on and is nice and tight. I've transformed him twice with no problems. Guess it's only on a few. I don't even think you could even tell mine has them unless you looked very closely. So hopefully less people will report this problem.
the problem is that it will persist unless some area either with the attaching arm or the peg itself is cut/sanded down. there needs to be a fix either to the arm attach point or the plastic tab on bulk's shoulder, then boil/hairdry to remove the stress marks. if you only remove the stress marks, the problem will continue.
