Bought mine in January. When he got here I looked him over, showed my son who loves seeing the bots and then boxed him back up. No discoloration. I attached pics of the areas were looking at.

Now my storage area is very climate controlled. 66 degrees or so and no sunlight.

Could temperature have been a factor despite not being subjected to sunlight? It's such a short time frame for yellowing.

 

It hasn't been all that warm where I live, unless being to cold can cause the change to. I wonder if there is something about the plastic clam shell that might have caused it?

Yep it was grey when I first got it.

I had just got in the ebay faceplate and chest set and thats why I pulled it back out of the box.

Yep that's the set I got.

 

Mine has been chilling in the clam shell since January so I don't think it'd be related. I pulled him out of the shell to check for discoloration and take those photos.

Where'd you buy it from and was it sealed properly? Could it have, by chance, been tampered with? Like perhaps a swap performed by someone who preferred the IT release? Just speculating. Not accusing anyone or anything.

 

Just ordered It-01 to replace Mightron on the shelf but those discoloration pics have me nervous. Outside of that, after reading through this thread (and the other) and reading / watching the glowing reviews on him I'm definitely stoked.

BTW long time reader, first time poster. Hi all!

 

Welcome aboard

 

I purchased it from liujunling87_5 on ebay back in January. I don't think it was tampered with because everything was still factory sealed.

I guess its possible I just got one from a bad batch.  

Cause I have LED bulbs in the room it was stored in, it never got above 75 degree Fahrenheit in the room *it did get pretty cold though*, and it was stored in a dark shaded area away from any windows.

 

I doubt it would have anything to do with the cold. The room I store my collection in is climate controlled to counter the Texas heat. It has no heater to combat the cold plus I use an older window AC unit that doesn't "sleep" when the room hits a certain temperature. So when it hit the upper teens and 20s here the AC was still blowing cold in that room. It was pretty damn cold in there. Hurt your hands cold.

The whole scenario is weird. Four months in the winter is an extremely short period of time to produce yellowing especially within the conditions you're describing. I have figures from the last releases of Star Wars (1985, Power of the Force) that I didn't store exactly the correct way when I first began collecting, 18ish years ago now. Those last few waves were produced with cheaper plastic, due to the line was dying, and they have a tendency to yellow and flex. Even taking into account the figures age, the quality of plastic and my improper handling in the beginning....my Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper Disguse) remains a 92-95% white.

To have a modern figure degrade as such in a short period of time is so weird. I'd be fascinated to know what exactly the hell happened.

 

This is unfortunate-  

If I find this is happening to my copy, I might have to return it for MAGTEN.

 

If I had to take a guess, there is something off about the elastomer they used. Because the only parts that are yellowing are ones in high stress area's. Such as the wrists, hinges, and balljoints. In the elbow the separate piece used to hold the rivet changed but nothing around it did.

I'm glad no one else's is effected, but I got to admit, its frustrating that I seem to be the only one having this issue since it makes it seem like it was something I did that caused it. lol

Out of curiosity I would try retrobriting a part just to see what happens, but everything on megatron is pinned down, so it would be quite difficult. :/

EDIT:

Ok so I have been doing some research, luckily classic electronic collectors constantly struggle with this so they have done a lot of work on the topic. But I believe the source of the problem is the bromine used in the high-stress parts on the figure.

See in electronics bromine is added to act as a fire preventive *the real term gets auto-censored*. But bromine can also be added to increase the strength of a part as well, so like joints, hinges, etc.

Now here is the sad part. Bromine has a tendency to discolor even after only being briefly exposed to UV light. So my having the figure out on my desk for a week and getting exposed to light from the window could have been enough to trigger the reaction that continued even after I put the figure back into storage.

As to why it happened so fast... I have no idea... I probably just had the bad luck of the draw, kinda like how SNES's discolor more and faster than others depending on what batch they were in.

My only concern is just the discoloring cosmetic or will my figure also become very brittle over a short period as well? Because if it is just a cosmetic issue I can easily work around that, but no so much if parts snap off.

 

I just inspected my IT01. No discoloration.

Mine has been transformed and handled quite a bit. It has seen high and low humidity, and temps up to around 80*F (about 27*C for those in communist countries).

 

The discoloration of the bromine added parts is actually true. I think it can actually happen without UV light. My Jetfire and the collar of my MIB Japanese G1 Trypticon were discoloured while the were stored away in moving boxes without any light. Only question is, why did it only happen to you. Maybe your parts were just some of the first parts created and had let's say 2-3% more bromine added. That way it discoloured way faster. I'm sure there are more copies that are already discoloured.

 

No discoloration on my MP-36...but I've got other issues with him...

 

Do you think that it is actually bromine? Tetrabromobisphenol A is a plasticizer and a common fire ******ant, but usually is pretty stable. It is usually difficult to get it to give up its bromine moieties, even under UV.

Something more akin to polybutadiene seems more likely, as it is often used in ABS and can radicalize in the presence of UV.

 

Well Im not sure if it's bromine, but its definitly some kind of additive in the plastic. I know bromine additives are used to prevent something from burning (fast). Still only one case? No one else?

 

The site, actually, censored the word r-e-t-a-r-d-ant. That is ridiculous. It is a proper term that should not have any pejorative meaning.

 

Oh boy. That is a shame.   hopefully no one else's have this issue. I checked mine and its still grey

 

Hi, can you pls advise which paint you used exactly, ie which silver for the face and which red for the eyes?

Spray paint or brush?

How did you make the black darker / blacker? Pls specify if paint and which (ie semi gloss, full gloss, matte, brand, spray or brush)

 

BAD MEGATRON,BAD.
It's like the dog that bites the hand of the person feeding it..tsk,tsk

 

When you say that it was exposed to light.. Are you referring to sun light shining directly on the figure?

 

Reluttr,
This is not your fault. You have a defective IT01 and it should be exchanged for a new one. Its Defective, and you should call up, ship yours back and get a replacement.

Now, as far as this being widespread, i think we should definately NOT jump to conclusions. This may be an issue with just that one, (yours may have been on of the initial one producex, or been a proof of concept for instance) or maybe just a small few from initial production. So lets not jump to conclusions..

On a side note, After waiting months, i finnally just received my IT-01 yesterday from tf direct, and it included the extra cannon with purple light and US megatron voice, so i was a happy camper. He is a thing of beauty and probably my favorite TF to date.