Ok 2 things:

@oku tightened the knee joint - cracks the housing. Don't tighten the knee - find a tougher spring

For the ankles, I don't have cracks, but do have stresses- removed the stress marks using heat, but now it's super loose. I guess I'm removing these rivets too then and replace them with screws...

 

Hope they go back to screws as those flathead pins are prevalent in the Earthrise line. I’m guessing they’re less labor intensive to install but there’s a higher chance of a permanent screwup compared to driving a screw. At least with a screw, if you’re driving in at the wrong angle you’ll know right away and start over. With the threaded pins I’m guessing it’s heat up, fire through, call it a day.

 

Mine arrived super-fast from AmiAmi (4 days Japan to UK!) - thankfully no issues at all (maybe one slightly loose ankle). I'm surprised at how well storing things in the wings works - it feels really solid and has a nice heft. Transformation is a bit fiddly, but not nightmarish.

Overall very pleased for £150 shipped and no customs interference.

 

Yeah robot kingdom sent me a junker 36+ to fix a broken part on one I ordered from them. First of all I have a pretty good report with some of the staff there so that might have helped. 36+ is an expensive and low-production figure, so I am sure they would have asked me to pay half shipping and ship the toy back for a refund. I was more than pleased to get a broken piece and to be able to fix mine to be like new.

as far as amazon goes I’ve had several run ins with them. So far they’ve always done what I wanted as long as the item was purchased from amazon and shipped by them as well. On returns they even refunded my entire shipping cost with standard Korean EMS shipping.

there’s even been a few times where some IDW Hardcover books arrived beat up pretty bad and they correctly assumed shipping back to them was more expensive than the book, so they told me to keep the book and they’d send me another free of charge. Maybe 5 times that’s happened. Fucking books always arrive mangled   I’d prefer to not use them actually. But their customer service is unbeatable. I’m not sure why I get ‘free returns’ and whatnot. It seems different users get different options. Maybe it’s a logistics thing. Maybe they know I’m really really sexy? *shrugs*

 

I ordered from AE and am missing the smiling face. You think it would help to contact them about it?

 

Have had the same experience with Amazon UK re. books. They’re happy to just send a new one and let you keep the original. Maybe because books are cheap enough, relatively?

if Korean EMS was still under 12,000 Yen then that could be why they refunded it all. Or maybe there is some truth to this sexy theory…

 

I wouldn’t mind a 3rd party add-on set for Starscream, Thundercracker & Skywarp that could include:

— six non-transforming solid arm guns/null rays
— additional faces
— launching/firing effects for the chest missiles
— the slingshot Starscream used in More Than Meets The Eye, Part 2
— Coronation Set
— small Reflector camera
— small Soundwave cassette player

Any other things I missed?

I get why Takara went with the transformable null rays but the way they look in bot mode is less than ideal. I’d really like to see a solid set of them in any potential add-on set

 

The Good: Probably the best Masterpiece ever second only to MP36 (I haven't handled 44 yet however). Starscream is absolutely incredible, wasn't sure I wanted to keep him as I was more interested in Thundercracker. Pictures don't do his proportions justice, he is absolutely perfect.

I will be taking a few pics this week.

The Bad: My copy has two duplicate faces and a crack on the right ankle hinge making his foot a little loose. One of his stabiliser fins is missing a rivet & he cannot hold his Megatron gun.
Hated twisting his nosecone during transformation as it was ridiculously tight, had to watch Tmans video to make sure I wasn't going to breka it.
Tailfins are ok and his paint is probably the most perfect of any MP I've had, knees are fantastic.

I've messaged Nippon Yasan about it and will see what they can do, partial refund or maybe some spare legs would be ideal. The figure is so amazing even with these little flaws.
9/10 for me

 

Can you share how to get the rivets out after you do it? Thanks if you do!  

My ankles could be stiffer but i'm more worried about my right tail fin being extra tight but I have no idea how to go about getting them out or loosening them.

 

I'm getting really worried about my replacement now, my figure was good apart from one crack that effected nothing and a face without a nose. Now I'm working about multiple cracks and wrong accessories in box sometimes this thread gives you so much anxiety     

 

Sure! I will describe two different ways here with a little bonus:

1. Heat up the rivet with a soldering iron for a few seconds and remove with a magnet
Refer to this video:

2. Hammer out the pin using a sturdy metal rod in the opening of the pin hole and a rubber mallet
(what I tend to do, since I'm scared of using a soldering iron at times)

3. Use a power drill and mutilate the pins
(I did this to take out the faux cockpit from starscream, since I also had to clear up a little bit of the plastic for modifications (I replaced a few pins inside starscream's body with screws for self-satisfaction the day I got it pretty much.)

 

Can someone please post a comparison pic with MP Red Alert?

 

Yes! Autobot Berserk! Loved that episode! One of the best from season 2!

 

Your post gave me a good opportunity to better analyze the problem. The cracks are there because the plastic is not elastic enough to handle stress due to pressure (tight joints), it behaves more like a brittle material. Something similar happened to Hound's plastic.

 

As already mentioned by @BrutiKing, I'm getting a second Starscream from Amazon Japan as a replacement. Then I can compare the two and keep the best one. If required, I can mix and match parts where possible to make one good copy, and then send one back.

 

I think at this point nearly all the cracks we’ve seen are caused by faulty installation of rivets by the factory. I hate to say this but given how much more careful you had to be with MP-03/11, it’s outright disappointing to see this happen to MP-52. Those weren’t perfect, you had little room for error during transformation for MP-03 due to minimal clearance, MP-11 was more forgiving but you still had to be mindful not to overextend pieces. You can tell had the rivets been installed right on MP-52(and/or if screws were used instead), the cracks would’ve possibly not even been an issue.

If you’re on the fence and still want this, it’s a gamble, YMMV. Most copies with cracks haven’t had parts fall off but the cracks really still shouldn’t have happened to begin with.

 

So I dissembled Starscream's leg to see if you can fix the issue. The part that "clicks" is a molded plastic gear ring. There is no spring. You can probably wedge something inbetween the open spaces if you want. What I did find was, if the screw wasn't in the back of the waist part at all, you got a louder clicking noise. As you tightened the screw the sound would be more and more muffled. I found unscrewing the waist screw about an 1/8 of a turn gave me a more audible click (not much, but at least something) and actually made the resistance closer to the other leg. I also had a shoulder ratchet not make any noise. It's three screws and all I did was pull it a bit to lengthen it and now I have a ratchet noise.

 

Wait for the second run.

 

Are you using the normal Gorilla Glue, or the epoxy kind that you need to mix the two parts first?

I plan to use the epoxy on any spots when I receive mine.