I'm talking straight out the package flop-city. I've never understood it. I can see figures having their joints wear down over time, it's just natural, but a brand new figure? It just irritates me that I gotta worry about buying a figure I've been anticipating (and especially with things its hard to find), getting it home, and having it barely stand or something. I had to tighten my Drift's leg joints none too long after picking him up, and I'm gonna have to do the same with my WFC Prime. I can't really see it as a problem with a mold because it would be a common issue then, like Brawl's shoulders.

 

It's just a QC issue you're going to encounter every once in a while. It's easily fixed, but if you don't like fixing your Transformers out of the box then you can always return exchange it.

Sometimes a socket just isn't as tight as others. It happens when you mass produce a product on such a scale. Not every piece of plastic is going to turn out identical.

 

I've encountered loose joints in brand new figures twice, one was a TFTM Deluxe and another an ROTF Scout. Made me wonder too how this happens...

 

What Wollstone said, molds aren't always going to produce 100% perfect plastic casts. Hell, I'd argue that it's a 100% chance that every piece isn't going to be perfect.

 

Bad QC, extremely loose figures shouldn't really make it out.

 

crazy glue is a easy way to add a extra layer on the ball joint. to tighten up the joints. I did this a while back & it worked.

 

Ball joints are always going to be hit or miss. They have to have just enough friction to hold the pose and move easily but not be too tight they're hard to move and might break. So the tolerances are quite small. Look at how a thin layer of nail polishoften fixes the problem. That's how small. All it takes is a tiny difference from the intended norm during molding to make the joint useless. Despite what some may think the injection molding process doesn't make 100% accurate/identical pieces everytime. No machine runs exactly the same every cycle. And there's variance in the plastic to consider too, perhaps due to the mix, machine temperature, the actual injection itself or the cooling of the plastic. Mold degradation can bugger it up as well.

Thinking about it it's amazing every figure produced doesn't have floppy bits.

 

Just to reiterate what has been already said. The factories are producing tens of thousands of ball joints and sockets for each Transformer. Just like anything, over a long run like that your going to have imperfections. Blatant ones get noticed and scrapped. When they are piecing these together, they probably stick the ball in the joint and just make sure it doesn't pop out. And repeat this process for every joint on an indiviual toy. then multiply that times how many toys are produced. Probably then after that an inspector grabs random toys of fthe line and checks them out. there is no way to check every single toy to see if the joints are stiff. Add all that up and that is why we get loose ball joints fronm time to time. It isn't bad QC, it's just the process of mass production.

 

i reckon they get loose beacause there are so many moving joints for articulation that they get worn out

 

I wish i knew the definitive answer, but I guess QC can only be so selective on huge runs. However, my Botcon 2010 Pyro's right arm is down right floppy, and that wasn't a huge run (only 1000 or so)...

 

same with my inferno, but if you think about it, these factories might make those 1000 in a day or two, but how long would it take them to check each figure before packaging/bagging to make sure it is tight, and not to mention how much it would cost them to rework every figure that was slightly loose?

 

My PCC Huffer and Skyburst have loose elbows, but my biggest problem child is ROTF Lockdown. His arms pop off if you even look at them funny. My challenge with him is transforming him without anything popping off... I've put a few coats of clear nail polish on his balls, but he still keeps popping apart. Is super glue better to use?

 

Could high temperatures also factor in to this as well?

 

I guess they could, but heat would only cause very minimal expansion of plastic (and anythine else except water), so if you're saying that QC examines the toys at higher temps and then they are cooler in the packages and at home, then that COULD lead to slightly looser joints, i guess

 

I'm assuming that was made using the existing Inferno mold, in which case it would've already run off a huge number of figures for that before being pressed into service for the Botcon repaint. I doubt the Botcon figure had an all-new mold made to produce it. Unless it was a specially produced cheaper grade metal tooling of the mold than the mass production one Hasbro used. But then if that was the case a cheaper tool would account for lesser quality on smaller runs.

 

I don't really think you understand how QC works.

 

Yeah, get what ya'll are saying.

It's just kinda annoying, I genuinely expect a figure I get nowadays to have SOMETHING wrong with it, and its usually loose joints (hell I've had figures with loose ratchet joints out of the package). At least 1 figure from every TF line I've bought from has had loose joints, hell well more than just 1 figure in most cases. I don't remember that happening nearly as much as a kid back in the Beast Wars days.

 

my bw inferno came with loose legs, with is big ass already made him hard to stand lol

 

This is true, and indeed a headscratcher. Maybe there had to be a change in the type of plastics since back then for some environmental or health and safety reason and the newer plastics just don't form as well for joints.
Not that I'm trying to make excuses for Hasbro. Sometimes they just produce things which are a bit poop.  

 

But did you have Internet access in the mid-90's, and did you talk to a lot of people about your Transformer figures?

I'm guessing no.

(You could have had Internet, AOL or something, but I'm sure as a kid- just as I was, you weren't really spending your time on Forums.)