MP Ramjet recall by Takara

Just received the following email from TF Source regarding a recall of MP Ramjet by Takara:

We’ve heard the rumblings and we want our customers to know that TFSource has been working around the clock, partnering with Takara so that we could provide our customers with the most accurate and up to date news of Masterpiece MP-11NR Ramjet. There was an unforeseen customs delay beyond our control with our shipment, that has now been resolved and a small amount of our stock was just delivered to our warehouse today. Yay!

Upon receiving the good news we were informed by Takara that there is a wide-spread product defect with the toys’ shoulder that many of you may be aware of, but this QC defect is quite severe, in that it prevents the figure from transforming and the majority of the product currently on the market has this issue. Since this issue is so widespread Takara is making the rare decision to issue a full recall on all product in order to fix the problem, which is great news as we know our customers would not like to receive a defective product, especially one as impressive as this. This recall means that our shipment that has not arrived has been sent back to Takara to make the repairs. As of now the anticipated arrival is 2-3 weeks, TFSource will keep everyone update to date with a notification once product arrives.The good news is that enough product has been sent back to Takara to fill all outstanding preorders when it arrives, meaning all of our customers will receive a non-defective piece.

Please note that in order to repair each figure, the boxes will have to be opened and inspected. While we understand that sealed packaging is preferred by some customers we are offering the choice to ship now from a non-repaired piece from our warehouse to customers. Please note that if you do choose this option, TFSource will not accept defective returns on pieces we ship from the warehouse now as the defect affects the majority of products and this is true for all product currently on the market. If you’d like to choose this option please email [email protected] with your order number or email address on your stack account and we’ll be happy to make the change. If you prefer to wait for the non-defective piece, no action is required on your part.

Keep in mind that we have a limited amount of the non-corrected/defective product available now in our warehouse and it will be allocated in a first come first serve basis to those that reply to this email.

Thank you for your understanding.

Your Friends at TFSource!

 

Damn a full recall. That's pretty rare

 

Ouch. What is the flaw exactly?

 

The shoulders were misassembled. It's covered in greater detail in the MP Ramjet thread in the news forum, but basically if the "long" end of the shoulders is in the wrong direction, it'll prevent you from transforming it correctly because it puts some grooves/slots in the remolded arms and the new wings just off that you can't get a proper connection. Fixing it yourself requires disassembling and popping pins to plug the shoulders in correctly. There are correctly assembled versions out there (seems a lot of people getting it from BBTS got correctly assembled versions) but I guess it's a crapshoot overall whether you get a correct one or a misassembled one.

 

How come we haven't heard anything from Takara?

 

dammit...just cancelled my preorder with tfsource due to the QC issues. guess I've gotta wait till they're in stock

 

Agreed.

 

There's not a recall from Takara. TF Source got theirs from Hasbro Asia (as did all the US dealers, Takara was limited to 2k on TT Mall).

I'd guess they're going to open all theirs and separate out the ones with major issues to repair themselves and send out.

Takara didn't recall MP-09, they just did a second "improved" run. They're not recalling this figure either.

 

It's definitely odd. Even if this is TFSource's way of saying "we're opening these up & fixing any incorrect ones ourselves," you'd think they'd just say so. I'd be perfectly fine with that (better they attempt the fix than myself), if that were the case.

If there is an actual recall going on, you'd think it'd be Hasbro Asia doing it (they'd have more stock of this guy anyways) and not Takara itself, so that would be an odd thing to mix up.

As long as I get a perfectly fine Ramjet soon, fine, whatever. I just don't want to deal with any shenanigans to get this thing.

 

Meanwhile over at BBTS their Ramjet listing states the following:

 

To help with the Ramjet News TFSource has these on sale.
TFSource.com - Your Source for Great Prices and Huge Savings!

 

Has anyone received an in-stock alert for Grand Galvatronus? Or heard anything about MP Ramjet?

 

Still no news on MP Ramjet. I'm not normally in a hurry to get my TF's but I do hope everything is OK with this one.

 

Someone posted on their facebook page they had received their Ramjet... no idea if it was one of the corrected ones or not.

At this point I've dropped my Ramjet pre-order and got one from BBTS before they sell out and prices sky rocket. I realize it's just a bad twist of fate and not necessarily their fault, but all the other retailers have gotten there's and sold out (except for BBTS) and now pre-orders are up for Thrust.

 

And now it seems like TFSource may be nervous about the MP coneheads   They put Thrust up for preorder this morning, and he was sold out before 5pm.

 

Fansproject Highbrow is now in stock.

 

I received my Ramjet today from them as well. I've yet to take it out to inspect it, but the tape was cut on the box so this is supposed to be one of the corrected ones.

If they're being nervous about more coneheads, then a bunch of other retailers are, given TCP/CP/TD and other retailers sold out of Thrust just as quickly. It's more weird how long it took them to put up Thrust, given their listing finally went up well after the other major retailers listed it.

 

I wonder if they've only got in enough to process the pre paid orders? I only dropped my pre-order yesterday morning.

  I think they were trying to find out where their Ramjet's were first.
Fortunately I managed to get a Thrust reserved over at the chosen prime before they sold out.

 

So I opened my Ramjet tonight. Observations:

- Tape on the top of the box was cut; double-tape was present on the inner bubble, so I guess that's the indication that you got a fixed one?
- No missing, duplicate or wrong parts
- Shoulders are correct; the "long" end is pointing forward
- I'm fairly certain the wing hinge connector (the pointer upper part of the wing that folds on Ramjet's back, the thing that Jarrod discovered in the Ramjet news thread) are installed incorrectly based on what Jarrod pointed out, but it doesn't appear to inhibit transformation much so I'm not going to try the fix.

All in all it's pretty solid. I'm glad I have mine now after this long wait, and hopefully the rest still waiting get theirs soon.

Hmmm mine wasn't a prepaid order, mine was a stacked preorder.

 

My ramjet was shipped the first day and it also was double taped on the box and the plastic tray. It had no problems