I am systematically disassembling this guy and going over the entire robot with plastic weld. Every single gray piece that they shot a pin through has a hairline crack, I am discovering. There was an especially egregious one in the mid-bicep that was already beginning to disintegrate, and a hairline moving through the entire component that holds the torso together.

I’m using plastic weld everywhere, so I won’t have to wait for anything to break. I’ve never used this product before, so hopefully it works as-intended and melts all these cracks back together. If anybody has any experience with plastic welders, feel free to chime in with advice. It is supposed to seep into cracks exactly like these using ‘capillary action’ and it is definitely capable of melting surfaces... but if it is doing its job I will never actually know, because it just means that the hairlines won’t grow any bigger and nothing will disintegrate. That could also just happen because the hairline is stopping at the pinhole...

Now that I have him apart.. near as I can tell, they molded this thing with the pinholes ever-so-slightly too small for the pins, so they’re essentially designed to doom the toy the moment it’s assembled. This isn’t the kind of thing they can change without remolding or drilling out nearly every single part, so don’t expect other batches to be any better.

If you have some pin punches and tiny files, you can bust your guy down, weld all the cracks like I am doing, and then file out the pinholes a little bit so that the pins will no longer put pressure on the repaired components. I’m also throwing some shock oil into the joint before I pass the pin back through it. Provided the welder is actually working, this is the only way to keep this guy from eventually, inevitably breaking down.

 

That is crazy to hear. Looks like he’s going to be more or less a statue figure on my shelf now. That’s 2 for 2 with these MPM inspired movie figures for me..

 

What kind of plastic welding you are using?

I found new cracks on the shoulder joints. I don’t believe I ever did anything hard on the arms.

 

really wish they had an update on some of their other stuff. it's been over a year since an update on their prime

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FDFWJD8?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I have found a ton in the arms so far. The worst one I found on the entire robot was in the elbow. The heavy, flat-pinned swivel in the shoulder has a big crack and I can’t remove that kind of pin. I had to risk applying welder while it was still attached.

**I feel like it is worth mentioning that while I did transform him back-and-forth town or three times when I first got him, he’s never suffered any sort of impact, accident, or craziness. he has lived on a bookshelf after that first couple of days.

If I had known of all these issues, I might have tried to apply shock oil everywhere.. but that would’ve actually made repairs harder later on. Like I said, I’m basically doing forensics on this toy as I make repairs, and I have a hard time believing that this isn’t going to be a problem on every copy. The pinholes are just too small all over the figure; a mistake at the CAD-file level, and it has turned all the steel pins into wedges that put nutso pressure on ABS that already looks like it has mild GPS to begin with.

 

Funny thing is, they're getting KO'd by their own company

 

I'll probably do the shock oil approach when he first shows up. But that is only if I don't see cracks right out of the box.

 

Damn, that sucks. Can they use a slightly thinner pin, or is that not possible?

 

Well I picked a lousy time to try another third party figure. I had figured I was out of collecting for good but I love the Bumblebee movie, and I wanted a more accurate Bumblebee. I saw Emgo’s review of this toy and was blown away by the transformation and he didn’t mention any issues with his. Mine arrived the other day, didn’t see any cracks in the joints, parts have been pre-lubed, it all seemed good. Transformed him to car with no issues. I picked him up a few minutes ago and transformed the lower body with no issues, and then went to untab the arms from each other. The upper body moved a little on its rotational joint and this happened:



One side of the neck hinge had cracked in half at some point and the entire lower body fell right off. I never heard any cracking or snap when handling this guy and didn’t even feel anything resisting in an odd way. He just came apart in my lap and I stared at him with a dumb look on my face.

If I can fix this, if, it is never getting transformed or even posed ever again and I still half-expect that I’ll come home and find that an arm will be lying on the shelf. Otherwise I’m giving it to a friend for parts and quitting again. Ugh. I wish I’d bothered to check this thread before buying one or I never would have thrown away a hundred bucks on it. I feel like a gullible tool. I should’ve just bought the damn 3A figure and stuck it next to a die-cast Beetle and accepted that it can’t transform and moved on with my life.

 

A thinner pin would certainly be possible, but the difference is ever-so-slight that I don’t know how they could possibly order pins that are like, a fraction of a millimeter smaller. When I went to test-fit the pin after welding the first crack, I could feel how flush it is and understand how the plastic is cracking when they fire the pin during initial assembly. The hole and the pin are exactly the same diameter, it’s pretty clear that they just neglected to factor in tolerances when modeling everything. It does not take a lot of filing before you removed enough material for the pin to slide easily, but retain enough friction to stay in place.

Hopefully, there is still enough friction to hold everything firmly in place once he is back together, but that’s why god created Kiki’s..

 

Has Trans Craft spoken about these issues? Seems like just about everybody is going to have a broken figure after a while.

I'm thinking I should get a refund on my preorder if I can, unless Trans Craft has spoken & said they're fixing the issues.

 

I am still waiting to hear about parts. I might just sell mine though.

 

I just don't get why they couldn't have used strong plastic. If this figure used high quality plastic and more die cast I'd genuinely consider it the best transforming figures ever made. It came so close to perfection.

Why did they let this happen?

ShowZ are sending a replacement shin to me at least, but now I'm expecting more to break if I ever transform it again.

 

Mine also broke similar to yours.
But at a different Chest Spot.

The Figure can still hold together
at the Belly / Mid Torso Area, I also can still pose him. But will never Transform him again.

Transformation is an absolute Nightmare even with Youtube Instructions.

I am....not so sure if I want to buy
TransCraft BB Movie Optimus Prime.
If they even ever Release him.

No more TransCraft for me; I will go
and see what TMT can do.

 

Should I at all be optimistic that ShowZ is now showing “pre-order”? Version 2?

 

After what I have learned from taking it apart, I doubt there will be any difference between this version and others.

 

Like I mentioned, it’s not really the plastic. It’s how they modeled the holes for the pins. They are too small, and the steel works as a wedge to split the pieces as they are driven in. It’s because the plastic quality is so high is that it takes so long for cracks to appear and the parts to disintegrate, which is why nobody caught this before production. It’s also why I don’t have much hope that new batches will correct the problem.

 

So you are saying, like with GPS, it is inevitable that the figures will fall apart, based on design? Mine seems fine for the time being, but that doesn't sound optimistic.

I'm nearly an entirely beast wars kinda guy, but enjoyed the bumblebee movie and this figure looked amazing. I guess I'll just stick back to Beast Wars from now on. I haven't had any issues from them...

 

Well, unless they've tweaked the design, yeah? Which, I dunno if they did - I don't know if TC knows or cares that their toy is cracking in people's hands - but I don't think we can know for sure that the next batch will be completely identical.

 

I am quite sure they are aware of the issue.