I'm sure that locals can get some sort of support but I'm not sure?

 

Lol ..........

Sorry didn’t mean to laugh.

If you buy state side, your local retailer will very likely take care of you. If you raise a stink about it, and overseas dealer probably would too. But no, not really — Hasbro/Takara will not email/message you specifically or send you parts. As far as I know.

But you know - there are companies that do that for you on another part of this board : ). In fact, you can even talk to actual toy designers! ... on *that other* part of the board :3


I got somehow very Lucky with my Hound. No single QC error.

 

Many thanks to @Gamerlingual for the recent info (and thanks also to @Xcandescent for the link earlier).

I was however quite saddened by the attitude of the TT rep.

Mistakes happen, and i was quite willing to accept a 'we made a massive (and maybe silly/unforseen) mistake, we wont be using the plastic / factory responsible again, and we are reviewing our poor QC / testing procedures' from TT.

But this does not sound a bit like what this TT rep said...

Sadly, if this is their attitude, I do not think i will be pre ordering any more New TT products until I am happy they have solved their issues properly, and a potentially very thin plastic / small and fragile arcee is definitely out for me.

I also do not buy their reasons of massive increased figure costs either - parts count and materials, and i have been getting uneasy about their prices for a while now.
(For the absence of doubt i am not disputing @Gamerlingual 's info, but TTs excuses).
Other 3rd party figures have very large part counts and good materials, in much (much) higher amounts for the same figure price.

 

Well, I am glad we have 3rd party options. I will not preorder Takara MP figures any more and won't buy their products until reviews are in. Sad, high prices and low expectations are not a good business model.

 

pretty much sums up where I am with them.

 

With this figure, it is not easy to swap parts out unless you are good at popping pins.

I have a crack at the rotating part behind the head. That part is essentially the front windshield...not an easy part to replace.

I still don’t know why it cracked, doesn’t seem like there is a lot of pressure there. Definitely seems like a case of weak plastic.

Really, what is stopping it from just breaking again? I think the only solution is a new figure being produced. Maybe Ill get a toy deco version down the road that is fixed.

 

The right of every consumer.

 

Hmm...I don't think I'm reading it the same way. It could simply be the Rep just doesn't have that info, or know what's going on in the future. As opposed to, "We know there's an issue, but I don't know if we'll address it"

TT most likely has the next full year of releases planned, and a schedule is most likely already in place for each item in a specific time line. Hound has only been out for just months, and there was likely no reason for TT to think he'd need a reissue so soon. So, while TT is well aware of his issues (actually pretty refreshing to hear that), there's most likely just not a decision yet on how they're going to correct it for the future, since their production scehdule is already too full. Or that decision hasn't been passed down to that Rep yet. I actually don't think that's very unreasonable at all. Of course, like I said, thats how I'm reading it.

@Gamerlingual could you elaborate more on what you meant by him "talking out of his ass" instead of listening to what you said? Based on your post, I thought you made him sound very receptive and informative, and like he was actually taking your concerns to heart.

Likewise, it's possible he's only allowed to give out so much info, even if he knows more, simply because it's not intended for public knowledge. I have to do this a lot at my job, like not promising certain things will definitely be fixed/corrected in a specific timeframe.

And just as a reminder, let's not forget that Anime Smokescreen was released after Hound, from the Vietnam factory, and is stellar QC wise.

 

Yeah, I'm with you. That's how I interpret it as well.

 

Well mines developed another crack just sitting on the shelf. Not happy.

 

Well said, @Jarrod. A relief to hear at least one reasonable voice in this ocean of tfw hyperbole.

Sorry to see a crack on yours, @Virtual Venom. Two of my copies had cracks as well and both were sent back to amj. Down to my last copy without cracks, but I expect they’re coming sooner or later.

 

Will be posting later my last updated images of Hound (1 month and still no cracks).

 

What really got me was when they said they didn't know Hound would turn out the way it did. That to me, confirmed what a lot of us were thinking; that qc checks are being skipped or possibly not being done at all. It wasn't the fact that I could say "I KNEW IT, SHIT!", but moreso disappointment that this company botched a release for a potentially great figure. Especially since this isn't the 1st time in recent years. I won't go after them like an investigave reporter with an axe to grind. It's just sad that Takara has become this way. There didn't seem to be any urgency on their part to fix Hound.

AFAIK all the breaks are on green plastic pieces. Smokescreen has the benefit of having largely been made before so Takara wasn't running into anything new(aside from a few new parts and deco) and wouldn't have any excuse to screw that up. They've reused the Datsun mold multiple times with success at this point, so Smokescreen+, maybe, could've gone without qc checks and been alright(not to say a qc check should've been skipped). Hopefully Hound's green plastic isn't the new GPS. However...there's some copies that have yet to break, so it's difficult to isolate what's actually causing the breakages.

At this point I still want Hound, just not until it's fixed for sure. I don't doubt that Takara plans to inevitably rerelease it and possibly make a + release to make use of the G1 toy gun they showed and recoup more of the investment they put into tooling. I actually wouldn't be surprised if we see more than 1 repaint sooner than later, to make up for the losses of this current release.

The fact that Smokescreen+ turned out so well with no mold degradation despite being from a mold that's been reused many times over, is a great thing. Wish the same thing could've been said for Hound, since it's all new and really shouldn't have been breaking the way it has.

 

Given like it took Sunstreaker to be re-issued in 2 years 5 months (December 2017 due this May 2020), 2 years will just be over before you know it.

P.S. G1 toy gun? You mean the long toy version? I didn't know that! Nice to know.