I imported all of the 2001 CR autobots back in the day, and they've mostly been on display ever since. I'm finally going back and watching the series and absolutely love it, and I'm inclined to take some of my fingers off the shelf to mess with them. The only problem is, I'm afraid of them breaking and I recall hearing that certain figures have become brittle over time. Can anyone clue me in on what to look out for? Also wondering, does Fire Convoy's chrome become brittle and flake off like the transmetals Beast Wars figures, or can that be handled without it coming off? Thanks!
Mine are in storage but prior, they were fine. But that was in 2010. Some figures do have chrome plating and mine started to flake off on Prime and Magnus.
Oooh, that's good to know. Once I discovered flaking on my Beast Wars figures, I haven't touched Magnus or Prime. Isn't there some clear plastic breakage issue on one of the Trainbots?
I think the biggest issue will be as always, clear plastic pieces that are stressed when transforming a figure. Sideburn's roof comes to mind. I also had several breakage on my JRX set, of which I recall at least the connecting pieces for the train that form the weapons breaking. I think that's more a Hasbro issue. Hasbro made some changes to the wheels and/or the fake rubber formula and as a result Hasbro releases like Optimus and Magnus suffered greatly from cracking tires. But I don't think the Takara ones do, or at least not to same degree.
These guys were pulled out of storage when HasLab Omega was announced. Aside from a few tires (which have since been replaced thanks to a shop on Etsy), Prime and Magnus held up like champs. I did have a Landfill in storage as well that didn't suffer any issues. Rail Racer was a floppy mess though because of the crap engineering of Midnight Express using sliders for the knees. Also a powered up Sideburn had to be replaced outright since so many of the joints were worn to nothing though the tires were strangely pristine. Others who dug out their OG RiD figures in the HasLab thread had similar luck with the big bots being mostly fine save for a few tires. Likewise the Car bros seemed to be fine across the board aside from general looseness. Rail Racer's knees just don't hold up. The picture above are the OG Prime and Magnus with replaced tires and the replaced Sideburn.
Thanks for sharing! It's interesting what differences there were between the US and Japanese releases.
My issue with flaking was the small Prime, before the combined mode. I remember even in 2010 that his chest was flaking. Your Magnus has paint fade on his blue grill piece. I don't remember mine like that. It flaked too on my copy instead of fading.
Mine are fine. Common-ish breakage points seem to be the joints on Mach Alert’s doors and Speedbreaker’s roof. Being that they’re made out of clear plastic, they’re a bit more fragile than opaque plastic. Same thing with JRX. I’ve only really seen that damage on copies that were heavily played with by kids though, so shouldn’t be an issue if you’re just mindful and take care. Don’t yank on those kinda parts. Rubber wheels can split, but that would happen regardless of if you’re handling them or just have them on the shelf. If it happens it happens. Happened on my RiD Optimus almost immediately back in the day. Got sent replacement tires by Hasbro and they’ve held up great. Only other one I had the issue with was Super Wildride, and those I just replaced with Hasbro tires as well. No issues since. So to reiterate, just don’t smash them into a wall and you should be fine. If you notice any joints being particularly tight, lube them up with some silicone oil.
