Jesse Wittenrich aka @RID_NightViper on Twitter, who represents Fun Pub, posted up a quick how-to for fixing Botcon 2013 Hoist. Some figures were mis-assembled at the factory. By following these instructions, you can rectify the problem which hinders transformation.
Check out the pictures after the break or follow it in full over at the Twitter account. So many of you probably have noticed that something is wrong with @BotCon Hoist / Electro’s torso. There’s a #BotConFix for that.
How he looks out of box (for some of you, some didn’t have this problem). This is a factory misassembly #BotConFix
There is a small piece inside of his chest that has been placed in there backwards. Thankfully, it’s a really easy fix #BotConFix
To start, take out the three screws in the piece that forms the center of his back #BotConFix
Then remove that piece, as well as the chest piece from which you have just unscrewed it #BotConFix
See that little piece of black plastic with a spring underneath it? That is what is backwards #BotConFix
This little bugger here is the cause of all your problems. #BotConFix
There are those little notches in the ends of the piece. You want to stick the piece back in so that those are still visible. #BotConFix
In other words, you want to stick the piece back into the chest with it going in this direction #BotConFix
Screw it all back together and that’s it! just one little piece was put in the wrong way. #BotConFix
The fix let’s his chest swing into proper place and also give him more head clearance for transformation. #BotConFix
G.B. Blackrock
For me, it was that I didn't see exactly where the spring WAS before it was disassembled, and then realizing that the pictures demonstrating the fix were of limited use in figuring out how to put it back in the same place again. It wasn't too hard to figure it out again, but it caused me some concern at the time.
Boardwise
Did the fix this morning and didn't have any trouble with the spring. I was able to use tweezers to compress it down allowing it to slide in.
The trouble I had was getting the chest back on the arm connections.
And then realising the screws are different sizes.
Still, all done now. Electro looks even better.
Now Just have to find a suitable sword for him.
Thundershot
Oh God, I forgot about that spring.. I was lucky with Electro, but it took a while to get it snug under for Hoist.
G.B. Blackrock
My only issue was to watch out how that spring fits back in. Once that was done, the rest was no problem.
Thundershot
It was pretty easy.
Boardwise
Just received my Electro from Sol Fury and after checking I need to do the chest fix.
Looks relatively easy from the guide and pictures in here.
videriant
Did we ever find out if this shoulder problem was on all of them are just some?
I'm usually on the it's-not-all-FP's-fault side but I think it's too extreme to say they are faultless. Due to the nature of the business we are NEVER going to get all the information and I think the back and forth discussion in these threads are useful. If someone's theory is "asinine", "backseat businessman" or "crazy" then it's better to form a proper rebuttal. Calling it "crazy" or "asinine" just fuels the fire.
For instance, I've heard the rumors that thundercracker was supposed to glow in the dark and electro was supposed to be gold. I can imagine they would have sold a lot better if that had happen. But it's just as insight-less to assume that FP got screwed. Glow-in-the-dark and gold sounds expensive. For all we know, FP's price reflected the lack of paint.
And I do realize that you only meant your comments to some (i.e. 2 or 3 people) but the threads are like a shotgun and inflammatory comments are going to hit more then you intended.
See above. We don't know how much the figures would have cost. So we don't know if FP actually DID or DID NOT already mark down the price.
It's also easy to say they should have told everyone but the reality is that it's not that simple. If they had sent an email, twitter, posted a sign out there would still be people who missed the message and be pissed. Furthermore, sending a message out may have the negative effect of attracting too much attention. For me, if I didn't already know there was a problem with hoist, I never would have noticed it.
And as posted, they let everyone at the convention know about the problems so they weren't hiding it. Maybe that contributed to the lack of sales (I still think it's other reasons). They problem FP has now is their long standing tradition of not offering the toys for cheaper then the people at the convention had to pay. They'll have to figure an innovative way around this similar to what they had to do with their loose 05 sets to move the items.
They definitely need better QC. But we as fans are also cheap. And with QC cost not being free what's the fine line between charging more to get better QC, risking irking and losing customers with bad QC, or eating the QC cost to keep the customers happy and coming back. It's not an easy question to answer even if you are on the inside.
Boy Blunder
Thing is, it never transformed incorrectly, as far as the arms go. The assembly flaw doesn't impede the transformation. Hell, the chest error causes more of an issue, and that's just as far as locking robot mode fully.
xZAOx
As you said – the pin popper is the way to fix it "correctly", although I'd assume it's gnarled on one end, so I'd question how well it'd go back in? I'm not sure.
However, some have just taken an exacto knife and made a grove down the other side to match, so then at least it transforms correctly.
xZAOx
We don't know that they will ultimately sell anything. And them "sitting on them" DOES screw them up some. Taking a long time to sell these toys holds up the money that was put into them being produced. No retailer wants that.
Granted, the reason they're sitting on them is because it's a "meh" set, not because of this silly shoulder issue.
My main point was people are wanting to mob FP over minor issues, and seem to BLAME FP for these issues. FP has no control over this stuff, and is just as unhappy about damaged / incorrect product as us. It happens more than anyone would like. In a typical market, FP would take their business elsewhere, to a factory that knew how to not screw shit up – but they don't have any alternatives due to how things work. Just as we don't have any alternative to buy these toys from someone else.
And you snipped out the stuff right around where I said that. Context is important, guys and gals. I was more talking about the OTHER issues with the addons, things that would've helped Electrons and Thundercracker sell better. The odds of them finally selling all of those sets is pretty slim.
barrelks
Fixed both of mine, first one took me a little while, cause the spring was jammed in there weird, and I didn't know where it was actually suppose to go, but the second one took 5 minutes. If anyone has some suggestions (didn't dig through this whole thread), on the shoulder issues, please let us know, my Hoist has the backward ones (not that it is that bad the way I have him posed). When I get a pin popper, I may operate on an extra Kup before I destroy Hoist.
Jazz1992
Now I just have to fix the arms, and then I can finally enjoy this beautiful piece of plastic
cobra zartan
Never heard about the issue until this thread was made and it's my fault for not checking the toys at botcon, ive never had an issue with fubpub toys until this set. So far my hoist/electron have the issues, megaplex's right head horn is molded weird and sticks out to the side and my thundercracker has a pin that hold the leg on that just falls out.
G.B. Blackrock
That must have been someone else. I did talk to folks at the info desk, but they never promised me that they'd post any kind of fix online. So far as my own knowledge is concerned (and that I picked up from others), the only fix they EVER promised online is the one we've been given (i.e., I know of no online fix promised for the shoulders).
People were told early Friday morning (if not earlier) about the problem. All of us in line waiting for the doors to open would have heard it. They might not have caught literally EVERYONE, but they certainly weren't keeping things a secret.
warriorpriest
Well said.
optimusprime24
I can’t believe I just read that.
Fun Pub got screwed? Are you kidding me? You aren’t Brian Savage in disguise are you? (For the record that was a joke.)
Fun Pub will ultimately sell every single one of those toys. The only way they could be getting screwed is if they end up putting a large amount of them on deep discount to get rid of them because people didn't buy them because of the flaw or paint errors, and to my knowledge, other than the 2005 box set and last year’s Spinister/Deep Dive set, what few Botcon toys they have had after the con sell out on the site pretty darn fast.
They may have not been happy with the product not being the way they wanted, but the only way they get screwed is if they lose money they would have made if not for the manufacturing issues.
Boy Blunder
Oh, I'm not saying you're out of line. But the transactions happened months ago, at least for the box sets, so that part is moot. As for telling people, I don't know what the most effective way to let everyone at the convention know all at once and make sure they knew, you know?
Dragonclaw
But they DID know as soon as attendees started bringing them up to the customer service booth, which usually starts hapening on day 1 when everyone starts checking their figures, and they knew well enough to talk about having a fix that they would be posting online once the show was over (like they told GB Blackrock), so they most certainly knew enough early on in the show that maybe they couldn't tell ALL the attendees before they recieved their figures, but they certainly were still selling them knowing they were flawed without telling people. I'm sorry that several here feel like I'm out of line for saying it, but IMHO as someone who has a business myself, that from a customer service standpoint it would have been the right thing to do to tell people before taking their money rather than waiting until they went to the service desk and the transaction was over.
Boy Blunder
There's no evidence thus far that they knew about the error(s) before the sets were in attendee hands. For all we know, the test pieces that were shown to them were correctly assembled.
Dragonclaw
I don't think it's assinine at all, or being an armchair businessman, to simply say that if you know your product is defective or flawed you should have an obligation to tell your customers BEFORE you take their money for it. Would it change anyone's minds on if they were going to buy it or not? More often than not no, because it's the only version of the toy we're going to get. This is really the ONLY part of this that I put on FP at all, and really had they simply done that and said "we'll be posting a fix after the show" I'd have nothing but good things about how they handled the situation.