Hi,

So I was transforming my Fox Kids Dinobot this weekend for the second time in almost a decade, and I noticed his joints were very stiff. Not the ball joints, but the Dino hip joint at the top of the leg which becomes the robot's shoulder. It's big and somewhat of a half-circle, and it's supposed to twist. It just would not twist, although I put a lot of force on it. I was afraid to force it much more out of fear it would break, but eventually I was able to twist it. It seems to me that this is way stiffer than normal, and I was wondering how to go about loosening it without having to resort to force, or just as bad, resorting to never transforming him again?

I looked up other threads about this issue but they all seemed to do with ball joints, not the kind I was having trouble with.

 

I know a guy that had an old Go-bot figure, he hadn't transformed it since he was a kid, as soon as he tried, he couldn't move the joints. It broke under the force he gave it. I think this happens to figures that are not transformed in a while.

 

This is simply a case of age and not being used. If you leave the figure where it can get coated in dust, as harmless as that may seem, dust can settle in gaps in joints and have the result of a blanket or cushion layer that make said joint stiff. In certain cases there is no way to get to the build up of dust to clean it out because of where it is.

Dust: harmless when doing nothing (unless you have asthma then it's a pain in the chest out right) but clogs when slightly moved.

 

Sadly my Beast Wars TM Megatron suffered a major decapitation when I bought him 5 or 6 year ago,I was trying to raise his robot head up and snap the whole head and post broke off.I glued it back on but it just sucks that it was designed that way from the get go.I have read other stories on here about that problem,so it ain't just mine that it happened to.

And with TM Megatron being one of my fave TF's I just wish Hasbro had made it so the head could move and he would have been perfect.

 

So, is there anything I can do to un-stiffen the joint, except for more, regular transformation?

 

I almost thought you were talking about Dinobot getting high... lol

You can run it under warm water.. not only will this help clean the dust and stuff getting caught in the cracks but, it should technically make it expand, giving you more clearance to move the parts without them breaking.

The hotter the water, the quicker and faster the plastic will expand but, if you put it in something like boiling water, don't do it long or you can ruin your figure.

If your figure really will not move, I suggest taking it apart and giving it a good cleaning and then put it back together and try to transform it again.. maybe transforming or moving each piece as you put it back together..