HAHAHAHA

Probably returned copies.

 

I still don't buy this narrative. The issue here is not something that could have been fixed if the bots were built in one place any differently. If you gotta throw parts away and do re-runs it doesn't matter where the assembly is done. Qc on sub assemblies is not about where the other bits are... qc on final assembly is not about where the bits came from. If they had a problem and knew it... where parts came from should not impact their decision to press forward anyway. This is not the kind of stuff that needed to be rejected and reworked... but could not. It needed to be rejected and replaced.

 

Came in from BBTS today. Was pretty careful during transformation minus the wheels and shoulders as they were quite stiff. No broken hinges or pins. One paint goof but it's hidden in bot mode. Only other issue I saw was on the right light there's a small scratch.



Luckily it's small so not noticable.

All in all, great figure and can't wait for next month as I get the triple whammy of Prowl+, Streak+, and Smokescreen+.

 

That's the thing, I don't want to believe what phamduc said actually happened. However he's reliable and has come through with legit info in the past. And I can see this happening unfortunately. And from what he said, once parts got to China, they had to put together what they had and release it anyways. Yea it's stupid, no one is arguing that.

And if it really is true, I did make a comparison with bread pages back and that shows how stupid I think this whole mess is.

It's possible we may never know the real reason why this all happened. I'm just thankful we have people who have posted fixes and information on how to prevent further breakages.

 

Why do you think companies tell you NOT to return items to the store and contact them... and why in part stores are easier to make returns to?

Because the big retailers force arrangements where the vendor has to accept liability for defects and returns. And when return rates get extra ordinary the retailer may stop carrying the product, require higher margins, etc.

That kind of problem in distribution very much is seen by the sales side of the company.

 

It's a very unique situation. The listing got pulled by Amazon, which doesn't usually happen. There were other 3rd party sellers on the same listing before it got taken off. They had to resort to making a new listing to continue selling the product.

Typically, when AMZ runs out of stock the listing remains active, with 3rd party sellers selling their own stock (either Fulfilled by Amazon or Fulfilled by Merchant).

This hasn't happened before for any MP products that I know of.

While we don't know for sure why the listing was removed, I think it's not unreasonable to assume it was because of rampant returns.

At the same time though, it's interesting this never happened with MPM4, which also had many QC issues and terrible reviews. Perhaps it's because MP44 was such an expensive figure?

Nah, Amazon Japan doesn't really sell returns like they do in the US. Just Amazon clearing out their final inventory, like they did with Bee and Blackarachnia.

Great price!

 

Lol - pun intended?  

 

Sure, but most of what was said was opinion of how certain things influenced the outcome (and motivations). Not necessarily specific citable things.

But that kind of decision is completely independent of the idea of where assembly is done. That decision to press onward would not have been different if all the stuff was local. Play the scenario out again in an all local factory situation... how does it change? It doesnt really... the same decisions and impacts are there.

Sure you can say things like sourcing out components to remote sites lead to a lack of oversight meaning problems were caught too late. That means your qc management was bad... not simply because stuff was done in another building. The decision to accept the parts or start over can happen in a single integrated factory too.

Point being... its not simply “splitting up the work” or some counter espionage thing that lead to this getting to our hands this way. Its the same qc and management decisions that ultimately failed the customers.

Unless of course someone wants to say the final assembly place is where all the idiots were who simply couldn’t catch the problems. Yet we have dozens of examples how people doing just minutes of handling exposed the problems. So its either negligence or gross incompetence.

 

Retailers pick and chose what products they carry. They do that based on their ability to make money on that item. That means analyzing THAT product and the relationship they have with that supplier. They don't decide which books to carry based on diaper sales... each product has its own demand, costs, margins, etc.

The idea that amazon is big so they don’t care is actually the exact opposite of reality. They are so big because they are so good at figuring those things out and doing so at scale. Automation, metrics, analysis.

The point was never that hound will steel bezeos’ next meal... it’s that amazon will re-evaluate this supplier and product line compared to its expectations of that kind of prouct... and if it doesn’t stand up as it should... they could abandon it, change their pricing, or who they sell to.

 

You get yours yet brother?

 

Well the end result is that there are much more broken copies than expected. You seem to want to know what exactly went down just as much of any of us do. I don't think we will ever really know nor do I think we will ever going to get anything citable from the factories involved or Takara themselves.

 

Don’t be so sure. When Amazon had MP-45 at 50% off after Xmas, I jumped and bought a second copy. It arrived double taped, which is fairly common, but all the tape on the inside try had been clearly removed and re-taped. It was definitely a return.

At first I thought it could have been a customs check, but it arrived in an Amazon Japan box with a pull-tab perforated opener, and the box was 100% in tact and undisturbed.

 

I don’t either... but you don’t see me repeating the story or referencing it as why we are here... which u have several times  

You know how the mob works.. people see it written enough times they take it at face value. I just voiced my lack of faith in the narrative as told — so it doesn’t just keep going uncontested and work its way into lore..

 

Or, more extreme, but possible, is that AJ stops shipping internationally.

Australians already can't buy direct from AJ.

 

Soon we are going to have to open a go fund me for Bezos over returned Hounds.



                

 

Ok and you're quoting me so you're indirectly adding to that.

 

I was sitting here thinking about the "never going to Transform him again" thing and thought "You guys just spent around $150 on a figure that will not Transform and just sit on your shelf forever. HAHA".

Then I looked over at my $200 Persona 5 Panther statue and sighed because she's so beautiful.

 

Good that your entire set is with zero issues. Hope mine holds up.

 

I don't have any updated pics, but sometime after or during my third transformation from Jeep to robot and back, my Hound developed a hairline crack on the neck armature joint. It didn't actually break apart like some have, so I unscrewed the joint, took out the cannon piece and glued the crack just to be safe. However, I discovered the center column of that joint that holds the screw also had several small cracks (I don't know if that means it's slightly too small for the screw, or what). So I glued all those and reassembled, but also went ahead and started a return with AJ to see if I can get a better replacement copy. If the new one's no better, I'll still be happy enough with my repaired version to keep it, but I'll kick myself later if I don't try!

 

Well... Mine seems to have a hairline crack on the back of his calf hinge... Looks like I'm not touching it anymore.