It's absolutely a design flaw. That same piece broke on my Chromia while she was just standing on the shelf.
Oh man, I did not know it was a common flaw. Kind of wondering if there's anything I can do to try and prevent it happening on my Chromia? Hmmm.
I always was gentle, it's why it surprises me when things like this happen :/ but I'll make sure to take extra care with Chromia (or Cobalta as I dubbed my Siege one) in future. It's weird as the only other major breakage I've suffered was one of the side pods on T30 Chromia. Again a clear plastic hinge. Stop using clear plastic for joints HasTak! Anyhoo, used some sticky tape as a crude hinge and it seems solid enough in vehicle mode. I've not tried it for extended period in bot mode yet.
Yea there's really nothing you can do to prevent it. Like I said, mine just broke while in bot mode on the shelf. I got a refund from Pulse for mine so I could buy a new one but I wouldn't be surprised if the new one and my Nightbird end up doing it as well.
I've joked in the past that Optimus Prime could easily be a woman, I personally see the Prime Optimus Prime design as looking feminine, but this takes the cake! Bustimus Prime!
It's the way the waist tightens in though I should have added in my original post that he'd still need some changes to really look more feminine as by default he has more of the heroice triangle bodyshape - very broad shoulders and comparatively small waist and legs. If he had wider hips the design would look more feminine. This is what I get for writing a reply quickly without really thinking it out
Sorry to hear that I'm happy to report that using a strip of tape as a replacement hinge works well though and stays sturdy in the vehicle mode and doesn't seem to end up dangling in robot mode and as it's in a disrete location you only really notice it while transforming. Seriously though, stop making hinges out of translucent plastic Hasbro, especially when it's painted opaque! >< You must know it's more brittle!
Really hoping we get a new Strika/Alphastrike sometime, a retool of Clobber would be enough for me, but a full new Generations figure would be even better...
