Takara employs engineering well ahead of their rivals but what sinks great toys that they make and botches grand releases like MP-44, is their lack of qc and I really think they've been skipping final qc checks since 2017 specifically. Yes we know production was kept in China for MP-44 since China has the more experienced factories but was the specific factory that made MP-44 one that Takara always used? Or was it a new one, or old one with new management and new employees? Bad qc will sink any great design/release, I collected Yamato/Bandai Macross toys for far too many years to not know that.

I get that production is in a different country than the designers but for a top of the line release, for THEE Optimus Prime of all characters, more attention really should've been paid to tolerances and qc before pumping these out on the final production line. I mean, if this is how Prime turned out, what more for other figures of characters not as popular as Prime that make it into the MP line?

Anyways I'm trying to help the guys who have Prime in hand, come up with ways to fix it. I'm just becoming less proactive in becoming a first adopter if this is a sign of things to come. I'm all for DIY fixes, just disappointed it's come to that point.

 

Takara QC ftw.

 

That looks horrid. Time to boycott Takara lol

 

maz25 appreciates good sarcasm  

My final cost was $327.

 

This may be the last official masterpiece I buy. If I had paid retail for this thing, I would be sending it back. But it's amazon.jp. I am not even sure how that would work. I know there are Takara shills here, so I won't get crazy, except to say for my money, Transform Element utterly crushed MP-44.

 

Part of Bandai great QC is they only do X amount of those releases at one time. Id guess a TT typical MP run is considerably larger than a Bandai Macross run.

 

What happened to the boycott Takara reply I just posted? LOL. I'm not mad, but wow the timing!        

 

I just can’t fathom why people are shocked over we issues. Have people not been following TT MP releases.

How much they charge has never been a sign of improved or tighter qc.

People setting themselves up for their own disappointment

 

Unless they move production to Japan or do considerably smaller runs, sadly theres always going to be something to find wrong. Even though SS was about perfect.

 

Man, I am old enough to remember "Made in Japan". Those were the days. Would it be 100% perfect? No, but 99+%, absolutely. I would hear people complaining about price, but never quality.

 

Received my MP-44 this evening, after DHL tried to deliver yesterday when nobody was home.

Upon opening the box, one could directly smell that a lot of paint was used on this toy. It reminded me of when I was littel and build/painted plastic models  .
After a first inspection there diblt seem to be any visble paint issues.
I have one issue in truck mode, though. One side (the left one) will not stay in place and is sticking out quite a bit -warping the truck (not all wheels make contact with the floor). I currently attribute this to some mistransformation out of the factory (or because of the clear plastic foils) that will hopefully resolve itself after I have transformed him once, but we'll see.

I won't transform him today since it is already late and I am a bit under the weather.

 

At the end of the day, people fail to realize that MP44 IS A MASS PRODUCED TOY.
OF COURSE A SMALL % MADE WILL NOT BE PERFECT.

 

I would love to see the opposite universe where these are small batch, cost more, and sell out before people can get them. The complaining would be so much worse than it is now.

 

I would quit. I dont see how people do that with Bandai. Thrill of the hunt I guess, personally I found it exhausting, virtually running from store to store.

 

Guys some quick questions...

1) Can someone summarize the knee issues and how to avoid them?

2) Does anyone have a link to a good Youtube video that will help me transform him safely since I don't want to look at the instructions?

 

There's a blue piece beneath the knees that's supposed to fit into a space beneath the upper leg, after the upper knee ratchet is bent all the way and when the lower knee ratchet is unlocked and starts to move. On some copies, that blue piece goes in just fine, in others it doesn't budge.

Not sure if there's a quick video of the transformation yet, Wotafa has a long review and a Chinese user had one with fast forwarded parts IIRC.

Refer to here for possible fixes:
Minor/Repaint: - MP-44 Knee Fix

 

My video shows how to move the knees so that you don't break the lower ratchet.

 

Thanks for the reply. Looking at that thread it seems nearly 50% of buyers have a faulty knee or two.

Let's hope it isn't as widespread and people are trolling.

 

Thank you Chockey88.

 

I'll be digging up my yellowed Zeta as it doesn't show up anywhere in google reference. It isn't a kit btw.