Is this a known issue?

I just splurged and bought what looked like a well-cared for MIB C-310 Godmaster God Ginrai reissue on Ebay. At the time this came out (2003 or so?), I skipped this one only to regret it in the years since. Back then, I was happy with my childhood Powermaster Prime and it seemed like reissues would just keep coming. I have grown to become ever more fond of this mold and I have long wanted to have a fresh one on my shelf...the right deal came along and I went for it, as we do.

The figure was loose but shows no signs of handling wear and never had the stickers applied. The box and all paperwork were intact and in nice condition.

When taking it out of the tray, I noticed a very slight "stickiness" to the plastic...almost like it was slightly grippier in the hand than expected. This may or may not be evidence of plastic degradation. I can't see any residue or contamination on the toy itself.

Anyway, the God Ginrai/Powermaster Prime mode felt a little bit tight but transformed perfectly and looked great. No signs of yellowing, etc. that my original Powermaster Prime figure has.

When disassembling the Godbomber trailer mode (as packaged), I first noticed that the chrome section has a bit of "orange peel" which doesn't look terrible and likely a factory defect but in retrospect, is now suspect as evidence of degradation of the plastic beneath the plating... worst of all, one of the Godbomber shoulder pegs sheered right off with little effort! I'm obviously totally bummed. So far this is the only breakage but I'm not feeling great about this.

I have no way of knowing how this figure was cared for in the past 20 years but just be aware.

 

The blue plastic absolutely turns brittle. I’ve had two copies break at the cab foot joint. The screw ports in his butt are also fragile and will break if over-tightening the screws.

I’ve also had the super mode hand break because the gun peg was ever so slightly too thick, as well as the tab on God Bomber’s foot because the screw was too tight and I tried to flip out the toe by force.

I haven’t come across the weird chrome, so I don’t think that’s a widespread issue. Looks like a factory mistake to me.

 

To clarify, this is referring to the Ginrai cab itself?

 

I've also seem reports of the feet breaking. Does this issue carry over to the 20 something year old PMOP w/Apex Armor reissue from TRU?

 

It might just be the lighting, but the blue doesn't look right. It almost looks discolored to me.

 

Yes, that's correct.

 

Oh no that's an absolute bummer. I haven't had mine out in years so I couldn't offer my personal experience, other than mine was fine when I last handled it.

 

Bought mine about 10-15 years ago. It was super tight in the hip joint near the cab from day 1 as well as a lot of other spots. One day is finally snapped. Had to crazy glue it back together and loosen the screws which helped some.

 

I have original Powermaster Prime without the apex armor that came out I'm assuming late 80s early 90's? (I got it when I was 4 years at a garage sale in the early 90s). It was actually my very first transformer and is considered a grail of my collection, not that its worth a ton, just special being my first one. When I was messing with it for the first time in years a couple months ago moving that part I thought I heard something breaking inside on that same part, but the part itself didn't like break to where its not usable or no longer attached. Guess I'll just have to be extra careful for now on.

 

I'm going to eat the loss and sell it. Being paranoid about handling it defeats the purpose of owning it for me.

Some input would be very welcome on this.

I have a policy of over-disclosing any problems or potential problems so that nobody is disappointed. I'd rather lose a little on the sale rather than have to pay for return shipping and/or piss of a fellow fan. With that in mind, I'm curious about any opinions on how to properly document this in an ad.

It's not junk. It looks like a new toy. It has missiles on the sprue, sealed sticker sheet, etc...It transformed into "Powermaster Convoy" mode with no problems...it has to be worth something to somebody despite the risky plastic, right?

How would you explain this in an ad? It seems like these things (not accounting for brittle plastic issues) go for $250-$300ish MIB complete...I paid a bit less than that but it was in the ballpark. What's a reasonable asking price for this one?

I agree but I'm 99% sure it's the light. I have warm LEDs on my display shelves and they skew everything a bit yellow in pictures but I will verify. Honestly, a yellowing of the plastic could be a helpful warning to folks who have this thing and are wary of snapping something. In any case, I'll document this in more full-spectrum light before I advertise it.

 

Mine is fine and I take it out of the box and mess with it about once a year.

 

FWIW, other than some yellowing and some joints that have gotten tighter over time, my o.g. PMOP (which I got new back in 88 for my 12th b-day) is holding up ok.

 

I just got the same reissue you have and experienced all of those exact problems. Super disappointed right now for what I paid. I have the poorly applied chrome and everything  

 

I have a reissue ginrai (and a second copy of just the core bot) and don’t have any of the stickiness issues you’re talking about. No breakage either.

I think you got a lemon. I mess with this thing all the time - it’s my favorite figure to fiddle with.

 

My buddy has had copies of both vintage '88 PMOP and the early 2000's reissue of PMOP w/ Apex Armor disintegrate on him. The reissue's blue plastic failed at several points.

 

The joints on mine are so tight I can't do anything without fear of breakage. In fact when I tried to split the legs, it DID break. The plastic sheared completely and the lower half of the leg is now completely detached.

 

Ouch. I’d put some shock oil on the overly tight joints, but I don’t know what to say about the legs. Maybe you can get a old junker trailer to take some parts from? I literally bought another slightly damaged PMOP for 12 bucks off eBay the other day, to make repairs to another copy of the original I own - so it shouldn’t be too expensive to get.

Shock oil is what I add to joints with all the vintage stuff I own, since many ratchet joints get too tight over time. Works exceptionally well and doesn’t damage plastic

 

Thanks for the tip! I'm gonna try to take him apart, butter up some of those joints, and maybe even glue back together what I can. He's such a cool looking figure. I just want to be able to play with him.

 

Just an update. I am starting to think this figure is cursed. Maybe you guys might recognize this as some kind of scam? If so, I can’t figure out how it works.

So I listed the figure on eBay, documented all of the flaws and noted the concerns about future breakage potential, showed close up pics of the broken parts. Nevertheless, it sold for a better price than I expected. eBay fees notwithstanding, it looked like I was only going to lose about 20 bucks. I could live with that.

The buyer (with very low feedback) paid promptly, I shipped the item and felt pretty OK about the whole thing. A couple days later, I saw it was marked as “delivered” and that was that.

A couple more days later, I got a message from the buyer, saying that there was a problem with the shipping and it was being sent back to me via “return to sender“ process through USPS due to “a problem with the address.”

Sure enough, it came back to me. I reached out to the buyer with photographs of the address on the box. Days go by, he eventually confirmed that it was correct. I asked him where he wanted me to ship the item on a second attempt. Days later he said to send it to the same place. I responded and said that I would be willing to do that but since the problem with the shipping was on the receiving end, I don’t think I should have to pay for shipping twice and could he help me out with that…

…Well, it has been weeks since that last communication. No word. The box has been sitting on a shelf.

I don’t really want to give a refund since I’m happy with the selling price, and I don’t believe that I would be able to get the eBay fees back. I did everything I could on my end, fulfilled all of my obligations in this transaction, right? What am I supposed to do if I never hear back from the guy?

I also want the matter closed and I want this thing out of my life.

What would you do?

 

Aww mannn sorry to hear that. I literally just unboxed mine today and had the same exact issue too. I started checking on google if people are having the same issue and stumbled upon your post. Really wish I didn't open it anymore   Any one have an extra arm from their old godbomber I can buy?