Like many Transformers collectors, I was thrilled when Unique Toys released the news they were going to make a AOE.TLK Optimus Prime. I pre-ordered the figure the moment they went up. Like so many others that pre-ordered as well, I waited through months of little to no updates from the company and delay after delay. Finally after a very long wait, Challenger was finally released. It didn’t take long for the news of some flaws to start coming to light. After waiting so long, how could it be released with these glaring issues. It was like they were sick of delaying it so just decided to release it as is and fix it later. That couldn’t be though, right? WRONG. After the release a clearly flawed product, they would issue a new and improved one pretty much immediately after the “first batch” went out. My father used to head up a company that made parts for the GI Joe vehicles in the 80’s. His take was that given the way production and design works, the fixes were almost definitely already in the works when the first batch was released. So it would seem that the company paid the loyal customers that spent their hard earned money on a product, they couldn’t hold, couldn’t test and couldn’t even see a finished product shot of by giving us a flawed product that they immediately made better.

I think we need to show companies that do this type of thing that it is not going to be tolerated. The only way to do that is with our wallets. Don’t buy from companies that don’t care about their customers or the product they put out. Unique toys is not the only one. They just happened to be the company I had a bad experience with. Money is tight for many people these days and we are purchasing a luxury item. The companies need to realize this and treat the customers and product accordingly.

Thanks for your time.

 

Did u just now get urs? Should have brought this up months ago if u wanted supportive feedback

 

Bluntly, I think this is a silly question coming from a 40 something year old. At our age, we all know what consummerism is and what it isn't...mostly it is about what it isn't.

 

The problem is, these are all fans trying to make it to the big time and compete with Hasbro and Takara as though somehow their products, aren't just better, but they're perfectly superior.

They aren't, they never will be. Hasbro and Takara have something these companies never will: Power.

The power to design WITHIN the confines of safety laws, the power to make big money by spending big money. The power to reach almost every part of the world and they can dictate who does and doesn't carry their products.

3rd party, no matter how good they might be, will never really be actual Transformers. They're transforming toys based on someone else's ideas, but they're not Hasbro's Transformers and that will always hold them back.

Because of that, it's a fan's delusions of grandeur that just so happens to fund their rainy day accounts and they move on. I love 3rd party, in general because some really impressive stuff has come out of their ideas, but it's over-priced, over-hyped, and an over-waste of time.

You get what you pay for.

 

  What we got is a set of amazing representations of the G1 Transformers we knew as kids. Much better than Takara was doing with the brand and apparently enough to cause Takara to step up their design game, though they seem to be having trouble doing so.

These fans that cared enough to create their own companies to build products based on G1 TFs are not seeking fame and fortune. They don't have first party level of customer service (but neither does Takara oddly enough) but it would be odd to expect that from 3Ps. Your post seems completely disconnected from reality.

 

What was wrong with your Challenger? I bought mine second hand and there is nothing wrong with it. I've transformed him a bunch now and no lose parts or anything broken.

I personally would rather buy 3rd party then official. 80% of the time 3P is better then anything Has/Tak has put out.

 

Several points here. First I don’t have Challenger so I have no clue what these issues are. However, 3ps don’t have the same resources to extensively QC test figures like Hasbro or other main-line toy companies. So, the example of your father’s company isn’t exactly apples to apples. GI joe toys would be extensively tested for safety reasons if nothing else. I doubt UT knew Challenger was that bad during production.

Second, you seem to be upset that they corrected the mistake for following batches. Granted this does rub early adopters wrong, it’s a risk they should be willing to take if not they should wait for reviews. Very few figures need to be preordered these days.

Every company should be expected to improve on production issues. To not do so would be more disrespectful to their fans. XTB, Fans Toys, MMC have all released better versions of figures with various issues. Heck, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple have all done this at some point. It’s poor business to continue making a defective product once identified.

Third, this isn’t really questioning UTs commitment to their customer. The issues mentioned question their manufacturing or development process. Again, I don’t know the story here, but did you make any attempt to contact UT for a replacement part/figure? If it was that bad and they refused to do anything, I’d question their commitment to their customers. However if you didn’t do anything and waited for them to fix it, you’ll never see it. They don’t know that Christopher P had an issue and they need to fix it unless you speak up. And don’t believe they should assume that all the first batch was bad. Again, they don’t have the resources and money to make a decision like that. They have to deal with the issues individually.

Finally, I agree 100% that you should speak with your wallet if you feel a company has done wrong. For years I refused to buy KFC/XTB due to poor quality. Since making that decision, they've made significant improvements and I’ve added them back to my shopping options. Did my decision help drive that change? Probably not. However it felt good knowing that I was not supporting their poor practices.

 

UT are very hard to contact.
Replacement parts for my Unslaught took ages.
Especially that my seller ( Netclow ) woudn't do anything about it.
Really fak that guy!
After i contacted UT myself 2 times.
The second time was answered, and i got my replacement parts.

So 1: don't buy from Netclow.
2: don't buy UT at all.

I'm done with Netclow and UT.
Never buying anything from Netclow again.
Also no UT figures anymore.
Since DX-9 is the same company, sorry DC-9 not buying you either.
If you wanted to know how much my pain was.
Netclow kept me on a line for half a year till e-bay protection was no more.
Then i contacted UT for the second time, and got it replaced at the end of last year.
Really i litterly got my parts at 31 of December.
And i've waited for them for 11 month.
Good thing UT answered me.
Just never buy on e-bay from Netclow.
This is a warning!

 

Tut tut. *shakes finger* What we got were SOME amazing representations of G1 and other eras, but there were quite a few missteps throughout the years. Still to this day. 3rd party is treated like some magical cure-all and they're not. I can only admit that, now, because hindsight is 20/20. You have to fail to learn and I failed to see 3rd party for what it truly is. Takara-Tomy has the ability to make fine figures, they CHOOSE not to. There's a difference. I'll give you points for this post when it comes to companies like/designers like Transform Element. Their Optimus Prime is top notch and makes Takara-Tomy's look like a badly made knockoff. Generally, though, TT and Hasbro have clever designs up their sleeves, they choose not to use them for one incredibly stupid reason or another. They're only doing it now, merely because they're forced to compete and keep the doors open, but don't think 3rd party has it all in the bag. While build quality and paint issues are prevalent, I'll give Takara their due on figures such as MP-36 Megatron and Sunstreaker. With better materials and paint (Infinite Transformation) they'd be pretty much the defacto figures to beat.

Again, I say, I'm a 3rd party fan and I own a good portion of their products and yes, they were and still are good, but Takara is capable and now they're being forced to do it. (Even Hasbro is really starting to impress.)

No, no. My post is deeply rooted in reality. I know both official and 3rd party don't give two craps in a Dixie Cup about us past our money. None of this is for the fans, not really, it's all about exploiting our nostalgia button and they smash it with a hammer every chance they get. So when we have delays of interminable time, QC that's sometimes questionable and fixed for the second run (like WTF?), blurred out pictures, a lack of communication, upgrade kits for items that shouldn't need them right out of the box and it's costing us more and more with each new figure and now companies like ToyWorld are using BAF... Yeah, I'm a little worn out with the fakeness that is 3rd party and starting to see it for what it is.

Hasbro and Takara-Tomy have dropped the ball in recent years. No doubt. It's clear they do what they want, when they want, and it's the 3rd parties that have basically forced them at gunpoint to actually put the effort in. (The fact that HasTak can release figures like the aforementioned Megatron and Sunstreaker, plus Siege and some of the newer Studio Series stuff shows they're capable and have been but just didn't have the incentive to do so until now...) That said, they're starting to step up (for some it's too little, too late, understandably.) and it's starting to hurt 3rd party. I've cut back on my 3rd party purchases and we can look all over this board, others and even Facebook and see that it's not just me. People are starting to get tired of paying ridiculous sums of money for a single figure when you can get more of HasTak's current offerings (Siege, to be precise with this comment) and they're actually pretty solid and look good. (And yes, they're even getting tired of paying Hasbro money, too.)

Look, both sides are going to have fans and some weird form of loyalty (mind you, these companies don't care if you live, die, or grow grass out of your crack if you're not opening your wallet...) They both cash in on your childhood dreams finally coming true and none of them have a great track record with service after the sale, but to crow on and on about 3rd party without looking at all of the facts is indecent. It's dishonest. Not just to me, but to yourself.

So, when someone asks if a company cares about their customers, I'm going to be honest and tell that person "no". To think otherwise is utterly daft.

 

That's okay, my response was to your two comments: That they aren't really Transformers (perhaps because they don't have the actual logo on the box or symbol on them?) and that "we got what we paid for", which I agree and feel I did but I'm pretty happy with the end result: A display of Transformers that hits the nostalgia vibe near-perfectly, and with very few holes remaining to be filled. I maybe should have highlighted those two parts of your post when I quoted it so it would be clearer what I was disagreeing with. Apologies.

That applies to Takara as well, so moot point.

No, I just disagree with the two comments you made (listed above). Please don't mistake it for a complete disagreement with everything you said. I agree that expecting amazing customer service from 3Ps is silly. Though I also see none from Takara either, just for different reasons (i.e., too big to care).

Me too, and aside from the high prices, I got what I hoped for - a collection of modern representations of the G1 toys/toon/comics I experienced (and in some cases with the toys, never had) as a kid in the '80s. I'm quite happy with the outcome; you apparently less so. Different strokes.

Yes, Takara -could- put their budget toward making amazing masterpiece figures and complete the set in a reasonable timeframe but they choose not to. 3Ps stepped in and started to do just that (hits and misses acknowledged). I see Takara's sin as the greater of the two, unquestionably so. i.e., To have it within one's capability to do something good and yet to choose not to, vs the outsider stepping in to do good when they legally were forbidden to (well, not where they are located, but here in the U.S. they would be).

My pushback assumed the best 3P version available of each figure. Clearly it would be silly of me to defend the trash-tier 3P figures.   We're at a point now where there are pretty good versions of most Season One and Two figures, and '86 Movie figures.

Looking at MP-44 OPv3 I'd say they still aren't doing a very good job of it. Neither the price nor the design aesthetics like the shoulders being a bunch of panels stuck together instead of cohesive smooth surfaces or the backpack or [insert whatever other commonly disliked elements of the design].

True. But it is in combining Takara and 3P products that one can achieve a pretty nice collection.

Agreed, even though I think Urkel-pants Megs and Harlequin-faced Sunstreaker have some glaring flaws, they are overall the best-available products for their respective characters.

I think we're on the same page then, aside from not seeing where Takara and Hasbro are doing anything really interesting in the MP space. Safe to assume you're referring to the Siege line?

Agreed. In particular, the stream of repaints and reissues coming from FT recently that are pushing back more desired releases has dulled my enthusiasm, to say the least.

BAF?

Arguably the 3P slowdown has been more on the supply side with the fewer releases and fewer new moulds being released over the past 18 months. If 3Ps had spent that time producing and releasing the remaining G1 first wave Headmasters (two Autobot and one Decepticon), FT's Blurr, XTB's Motormaster, the MMC Autobot cassette foursome, and an MP Defensor/Protectobots combiner team, it would have felt just like the former glory days of 2015-2017, as we'd have gotten most-all of the remaining S2/'86 movie characters to complete that portion of an MP collection and a good start on Season 3.
Instead, we got significant delays between releases, more than the usual amount of reissues, unrequested and non-critical repaints, a third Menasor, a second Superion, a third Bruticus, another (5th?) Springer, etc.

I don't disagree with you on that. I was more looking at the end result on the shelves and liking what I see, which is a fairly complete and almost all really well done visual representation of the G1 Transformers, regardless of what the packaging said.  

 

BAF = Build A Figure

 

Does anyone have a contact email for UT?

 

i regularly buy from netclow, he's great. Iron factory hound is on the way from him.

 

I tried along with TCP to get parts for my UT onslaught due to poor qc and complete manufacturing error and still haven’t gotten any response or replacement. I ended up having to buy a new one cause he couldn’t be used at all in combined

 

Yeah no one's gotten replacement parts from UT and so far they seem unwilling or unable to produce a redesigned waist ratchet part that doesn't break when used.

 

What? A 3rd party company that has delays? One that has some QC issues?
Doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary.

 

"Unique Toys hates Collector People!" --Kanye Prime

 

Gaw! Beat me to it.

 

For me I put the responsibility on me to not get burned by bad QC. I don’t pre-order and wait for reviews before I decide what I spend my money on. Then when I buy a new figure I mostly buy from sellers I know will cover bad QC.

If I buy something from a seller who may not cover QC (usually a low cost figure) then I realize I’m playing the odds that the figure will be ok. But I also keep in mind that every company will make a lemon from time to time and will just make the best of it (has happened to me like once).

 

I ordered UT Challenger through ShowZ and it arrived with a damaged chest. He was able to get new replacement parts pretty fast. He's always going to be my #1 seller from now on...