MakeToys SolarFlare Crowdfund

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Discussion' started by Spence, Jul 25, 2018.

  1. autotronprime

    autotronprime I like to make cool things!

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    I'm glad some of you are happy with your copy. I'm pissed. This is the cheapest yellow plastic I've ever seen in am MP styled figure. Mine is completely missing the knee ratchets. The chest intake in the left side broke off when I tried to move it. The hands spin freely and are extremely loose. All the screw heads are stripped. Over all its a floppy mess compared to the standard releases. I don't get it. This mold was already production ready. The 3 I already owned are nice and tight. What happened? I feel like MT licensed this out to someone that used an extremely cheap factory, didn't pay for QC, and used inexperienced assemblers to put them together. This feels like a bad KO.
     
  2. robwhit1

    robwhit1 Well-Known Member

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    Mine was shipped the same day as yours and just arrived yesterday. I had delays in customs and at the local distribution center. It should arrive soon.

    However if you don’t see any movement out of HK, you may want to check with MT. I was able to see what was going on the whole way. No movement at all would be concerning.


    Wow. Sorry to hear you got such a bad copy. Sounds like the quality is very hit & miss with this guy.

    I got mine in and it’s very nice. No paint issues nor floppy joints. I did have one of the tail fins missing some glue where it connects to the leg. This was an easy fix.

    Oddly enough, I was planning to comment about how cheap the plastic felt on the Hasbro Sunstorm when I replaced it with Solarflare. Clearly relative to the quality you receive.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 17, 2019
  3. ChromeMagnus

    ChromeMagnus Well-Known Member

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    Wow. Sorry to hear about that. I noticed there were others who had similar issues so you're not alone.
    I hate when I think about the fact the other MT Headmasters and Targetmasters got pushed to the back burner for this.

    I highly recommend Yes Model BB7-02 Sunstorm as a better quality alternative. Plus KFC has fully articulated hands for it.
     
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  4. calubin175

    calubin175 Well-Known Member

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    Sorry to be a doomsayer, as much as I love Maketoys, if there is mould degradation with their Seeker MOuld and Striker manus mould, then they can't even do repaints.

    My TF hobby is over without Maketoys. Not going to start Siege or MS Toys.
     
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  5. autotronprime

    autotronprime I like to make cool things!

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    Update, i got an email this morning. They are going to let me send it back for repairs. At least they are stepping up!
     
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  6. metalwar2010

    metalwar2010 Well-Known Member

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    Great to hear that and they should do that, considering they held the orders for QC issues. I just hope others can get that support, even if they have lesser issues than what you have.
     
  7. MP Collector 001

    MP Collector 001 Well-Known Member

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    Finally had the time to transform mine.

    The only issue I have with my copy is the loose wrist rotation. Everything else is fine.

    20190716_173704.jpg
     
  8. Sixshot666666

    Sixshot666666 Ninja Consultant

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    I neeeeddd one of these
     
  9. Todd

    Todd Well-Known Member

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    3F6074F9-25B1-4EC3-AEDA-CE4EC7309A01.jpeg F1E7F66A-ADBA-422D-8176-D46F41A81AC6.jpeg E78C0CDD-79B9-464C-9AD3-6A8B90652E8F.jpeg 692AF7FA-84D6-47FD-88B0-0A2A6692BFC6.jpeg B71E78C1-131C-4B7F-B339-5011D21E0EB0.jpeg Quick review.

    Still going to support the purple one.

    Still happy with mine overall.

    Paint chipping on the white on the legs right out of the box

    Right arm can’t hold its own weight in a T pose

    Comes with wing fillers installed!
     
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  10. SkywarpsGhost

    SkywarpsGhost Well-Known Member

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    Yours doesn’t have knee ratchets because none of them do. I have all the releases so far, and none have this ratcheted knee you speak of!

    Do you have Hasbro MP Sunstorm? That’s some ugly yellow plastic right there :) 

    I must have got a good one.
    He’s tighter than all my others. Shoulders hold up fine.
     
  11. metalwar2010

    metalwar2010 Well-Known Member

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    Try tightening screws. Someone posted that as well and did it on my one arm, which wasn't really loose that it couldn't hold a pose, just not what it should've been and it improved.

    Outside of my wing tabs not going into the back all the way but still holds, I'm happy with my copy.
     
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  12. Pessimus Prime

    Pessimus Prime Slackerbot Commander

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    Finally got mine in on Monday, after him being off the tracking radar for a long stretch of time, then being inexplicably delayed twice by USPS. Some of the earlier posts here had me dreading what I would find inside but, happily, my copy seems to be free of significant problems. I have some of the same loose areas others have mentioned, mainly the wings where they fold up against the back, the hands, and one of the arms, but all are ultimately tight enough to remain in place and hold a pretty dynamic pose. I can also tell where the extra paint has made stuff not fit or move as well as it ought to, but nothing that a little persistence couldn't cure.

    From the sheer number of comments criticizing the QC though I'm going to count myself lucky I didn't get something worse, though what @autotronprime got sounds truly busted, more like a defective piece that somehow made it into a box. With such a limited production run there's no excuse for something so broken to have made it past inspection and to a customer, so I hope MT fixes him up.

    All in all Solarflare looks great. I still think that the 'toon deco is pretty plain compared to the so-called "vintage" Sunstorm look, but nevertheless he is a sharp dressed 'bot. Yellow is not all that common a color scheme among G1 figures so he really helps add some visual diversity to the collection. I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out overall but not being a huge Seeker person I doubt I'll be interested in any further repaints. I'll likely pick up Dirge and maybe Thrust (wavering because I do like my Yes Model Thrust a lot), and be done.
     
  13. solarstorm

    solarstorm Well-Known Member

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    Mine is a piece of shit. Bought it in the aftermarket for nearly 100 over the original cost and it has loose joints, a wing that fell off right away because it was poorly glued, and a misassembled cockpit, which makes transformation impossible.

    Wing that fell off
    20190717_163357.jpg

    The way the hinges are supposed to be assembled. The top hinge has a flat top with a groove on the underside. My Solar flare has the groove facing up. This thing is pinned upsode down/incorrectly in two places. Need to figure out how to remove/reinstall pins now
    20190717_163249.jpg

    The way mine came (groove pinned facing up)
    20190717_163239.jpg
     
  14. Skrunklemin

    Skrunklemin Well-Known Member

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    Mine was crap. Came with a bunch of assembly errors like not having mirrored parts on both the leg fins and main wings, so certain parts can't transform correctly since the hinges aren't oriented properly.

    I'm sending it back for repairs and then selling it. What the hell happened to Maketoys?
     
  15. solarstorm

    solarstorm Well-Known Member

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    Fixed the cockpit issue. Thanks @REDLINE for the pin removal tutorial
     
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  16. Mentasm

    Mentasm I check in, but I don't check out.

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    Wow, such QC issues are inexcusable on a crowd-funded limited run like this. What happened to Maketoys indeed...
     
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  17. calubin175

    calubin175 Well-Known Member

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    ARGH, WHY, WHY, WHY!

    Maketoys is dying? I also heard that extensive use of the Manus mould had mould degradation.

    *sighs.
     
  18. MP Collector

    MP Collector Well-Known Member

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    At least they are going to try and take care of you...but it really does suck that you have to deal with these issues. I would be really upset if I backed a crowdfund and then had issues like these so long after I put up my money.
     
  19. divinecomedy

    divinecomedy Board Certified Fans Trollar

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    Doesn't bode well for the Coneheads.
     
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  20. razingstorm

    razingstorm Well-Known Member

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    Ten bucks says Spence screwed them outta a ton of money so they had to switch factories to keep a budget, and that factory blows. S'why we aren't seeing shit from them.