Like many of you, I've caught the 3P bug as these companies are churning out some of my favorite obscure characters that I don't expect to see from TT/Hasbro. Many of these companies are Chinese, and we know Chinese safety and health regulations are considered lacking (or enforcement is lacking, semantics). Do we have community members who routinely test for carcinogens in paint apps? What about questionable plastics? I'm sure there are other potential safety hazards that I can't think of right now. I don't know a lot about the 3p companies, and most information seems difficult to find for someone like me who can't speak anything but English. I know most things we use are manufactured in China, but I would hope that a company like Hasbro at least looks at safety of the imports. With 3P, we're getting them directly through a distributor. Additionally, am I intentionally supporting companies that subject individuals to toxic substances and processes? I realize we as Americans do this routinely with almost every product we buy, but this just feels closer. Tl;dr, how do I know that these toys are safe for my children to play with?
They aren't. Almost every 3P toy I buy says something like "intended for adult collectors" or "for age 16+"
Seriously. Short of using it as a pacifier you shouldn't get enough toxic content from it to worry about it. If you're that concerned, just wash your hands before you eat.
I wouldn't buy third party toys for kids simply for the fact that you're spending waaaaay too much on any/all of it just to hand its fate over to an eight-year-old in the end. Stick to Hasbro's stuff on the principle of money spent if nothing else. Honestly though, in regard to all that "safety" stuff, as an adult, you're probably not going to eat/chew/choke/poke your eye out with anything made by a third party.
Plus, there's no way I'd let my toddler destroy a $500 combiner or even a $60 Arcee. My third party stuff is hands off for sonny boy.
Go down to Walmart and buy your kid a $10-$15 Hasbro retail figure. Probably will stand up to more play and you know it went though all the safety tests for paint and shattering into knives. Also proabably save yourself more then $50 to get the 3rd party item of the same size.
I think 3P's are intended for people over 18 anyway. Unless you are fairly wealthy or have a permit job at over 16. These are adult collectibles not toys. The G1 fans that appreciate G1 the most lived through that era or were introduced to it later. But these younger fans just see a shiny robot toy & want it. We G1 fans have the emotion of wanting accuracy bc we are emotional to those characters & how they came about. Now for safety. I haven't seen enough 3P toys but the KFC Sencho Barbosa comes to mind as probably the most dangerous & that is not a MP style toy.
Buddy, everything you touch or consume is harmful or has chemicals in them. Hell pvc plastic is bad for you but its everywhere. Cancer is the wave of the future
I think pretty much all of the paint used on TT/Hasbro Transformers is toxic until dried, then it's fine.
I actually think that's a fantastic and totally valid question. I don't have any answers, but it's perfectly legitimate to be concerned about what materials you and your kids are encountering when you touch these toys, as well as what conditions the workers in the factories who made them might have been subjected to.
I don't have kids, that was more of a hypothetical for the future. I read one toy paintjob was tested for lead, but I appreciate the responses. I also don't plan on eating the toys. I'm considering things like lead paint, carcinogens that leech from the plastics, or radioactivity from radioisotopes mixed in the plastic and/or paint. also trying to be somewhat conscious of the labor force that brings me my consumables.
Easily googled subject. Taken from the first ping toy factories cancer... How Do Toys Pollute The Environment? Find out About Battery Operated, Wood or Plastic Toy Pollution oops... You mean end user and not the ones manufacturing your toys... My bad; disregard.
Asking about 3P safety standards is like asking about black market fireworks safety standards. Meaning: there are none.
Most of the toys we had as kids would fail today's standards for safe consumerism. Ninja Turtles, G1, GI Joe, M.A.S.K., Terminator, Ghost Busters, Starcom, Visionaries, Go-Bots, all them muddaf***kas had some kind of toxic plastic or paint or the screws where made from cheap metals that corroded and exfoliated, yet here we are 30 years later still buying toys. Unless the 3rd party community starts getting rashes or burn marks after manipulating these toys, I honestly wouldnt even think about it.
