NY opened shortly after the holidays and they shipped other stuff (including Smokescreen+) before Hound, so I think the issue was that they didn't get enough stock.

 

Well it just got here. I’ll give it a quick look over but I’m not transforming it until it’s acclimated because everything is really cold. I don’t see any codes stamped on the box. If anyone can help tell me what to look for there.

 

It should be in that big white space... not sure what the lack of one 'means'

 

Apparently not much. First casualty...
That’s all I can see for now. I’ll get more into it later today.

 

That looks like the neck armature. The screw will be way too tight...

 

Well it warmed up fairly quick since the panels are so thin and there’s no die cast.

First transformation was a success. the only crack I’ve seen was on the base of the shoulder missile assembly.

I think I see why there have been so many issues with broken hinges. Some of the ways you have to move things and you don’t have a solid anchor point to move them effectively so the stress gets put on other fragile parts potentially causing breaks. Especially in the upper body.

With the legs however I feel like there could be tension added with the folding tires/weapons storage against the thin panels and hinges where over time it could cause stress fracturing. So now I do the periodic shelf checking.

 

That sucks about the crack you found. Did you find the number on him indicating his build?

 

It's a little weird that this is effectively a feedback thread when there's no such thread in the feedback forum, but OK.

I haven't been following the thread too closely, but apparently people are submitting codes for their figures to keep track of issues? Anyway, I order from BBTS, and my figure came inside an extra black box:



I guess this is Hasbro's way of saying it's a legal import? Whatever.

The actual box inside did not have a printed code:



The figure itself had a whole bunch of codes on it:



So far, I've been able to transform him repeatedly with no issues (so far) ... except for everything feeling completely wrong and fragile, and a foot issue we'll get to shortly.

One day, there will be an oversized knockoff of this figure, and my prediction is that it will solve most of the breakage issues, simply by virtue of being larger and less fragile. I really do admire the transformation scheme, love the idea of everything storing away properly in both modes ... but I just don't think it works at this scale. There are way too many thin panels with tight joints on this figure, and those two things are a bad combination. It's hard not to see this as the continuance of a cost cutting trend that's been in force since around Combiner Wars, and is now affecting everything HasTak touches.

So people have been noting that the feet are difficult/impossible to close properly without stress. On my figure, the side with the spare tire is fine, but the side with the gun and gas can is definitely not -- you can see it physically bulge in bot mode. Removing the gas can fixes this, which confirms that something's off. Attempting to squeeze the can further onto the peg does nothing, which I thought that the peg is too tall. I was thinking over possible fixes to this, when I noticed a weird stop on the bottom of the peg:



I figured that's probably just a safety stop to keep the can from getting stuck. But then I looked at the peg hole on the can, and saw this:



Notice how there's a weird quarter circle cutout on the top edge? If you match that up with the peg stop, it looks like a design meant to help you properly twist the can for transformation. Playing around with it confirmed that actually the peg is fine -- it's just that the can is hitting the stop when transformed properly, and sinks further in when you turn in to match the cutout.

Which is a huge oops, because that means that the cutout is molded in the wrong position. If you orient the can according to the peg and stop, it's upside down and physically can't fit in the foot. In fact, it completely contradicts the actual instructions. (Which, to be fair, these instructions shipped with an extra sheet of patch notes, which is also not a good sign.)

It gets worse: turns out that stop does also work as a safety stop, because pushing the gas can all the way down makes it way harder to twist off (which in turn potentially stresses the joint that panel is attached to). There's also the molded "frame" detail around the peg, which might also affect getting that gas can crammed in properly (hard to say).

My current line of thinking is I'll probably trim the peg hole down to the height of that quarter circle cutout. If I mess it up, it won't show in either mode (as opposed to trimming things on the actual figure proper). Might also trim down the post inside the peg hole to the same height, to reduce friction. We'll see.

-XCN-

 

Pretty much how I feel. I didn’t transform the figure with all the accessories on it to hide them away and I still feel the tolerances with the thinness of the plastic might still be an issue.

 

A quick follow-up: I trimmed down part of the edge of the post hole on the gas can, and it worked out shockingly well.



Basically, I trimmed off the edge where the quarter circle cut should be, but left the rest intact so that I can still use the safety stop as leverage to get the gas can to pop off (by turning it).



I suspect there's going to be enough variances in tolerances and assembly that this fix might not be necessary, depending on your figure. But it's an option if you need it.

-XCN-

 

I think it is stamped on a spot in the waist area. Some area that is folded under. Not sure exactly since I never got to transform mine (just returned it since it had a crack on the outside).

 

Yup inside the torso, stamped in yellow. Once you flip the Jeep front forward during transformation you’ll be able to see it.

 

They’re actually the same as Xcandescent’s.

 

Ah ok so the "Hasbro" code. Darn that yours has the crack then.

 

In case you missed it on the front page, we have confirmation that different (worse?) materials were used in MP Hound:

There's also a bit on how they're increasing prices due to both parts count and materials cost, which is further confirmation of cost cutting incentives.

Anyway, tl;dr: don't bother waiting for a V2 fix, just wait for the inevitable OS KO.

-XCN-

 

Just KO would be enough for most people. Though, I wouldn't be sure either. Perhaps the plastic quality is due to the color of the plastic itself. While Hound is coated in paint I think most of the parts are still molded in that green color. I've heard of some colored Lego bricks degrading overtime or being brittle due to the different materials used to achieve certain colors.

So there's a possibility they haven't made a decision not because of some bureaucratic or financial reason, but rather for the time being have not discovered a better manufacturing process for the plastic used for Hound, it seems like the only plastics brittle are the green parts - though to be fair, most of him is green so the chances of breaks is much more likely. Otherwise why the hell wouldn't they change their materials for later runs? I could be wrong though.

 

The easiest way to avoid breaking thin panels is to make them thicker. Ergo: OS KO.

 

The statement made by Takara is saddening. It confirms that we were the guinea pigs for a new plastic trial. 

 

If they really want to make money, regular-size KO is the way to go.