So the side panels finally gave up. Since one of the breaks is a hinge, I can't repair it. Trying to arrange an exchange through BBTS since I can't get my money back, though I have zero expectation of the replacement holding up either.



Good thing I picked up that Gundog. Flawed as it is, at least it freaking works.

One of the things I noticed on this figure is that a lot of the joints are just way too tight for no reason. That + shit plastic probably accounts for a lot of the stress, not to mention the side panel transformation which is just poorly toleranced.

I've been thinking this as well. The panels being that thin isn't an accident -- it's most likely cost cutting. Same for whatever garbage plastic they used in this batch.

This is also why I'm thinking a KO won't necessarily fix any of this, unless they at least slightly upsize the mold and thicken up the panels, in addition to using better plastic. They'd also need to do something about the side panel transformation, which seriously has no room to function properly without stressing the panels.

He absolutely is. I have him out now, and the panels are way thicker than on MP Hound. He did suffer one break: the "claw" that the windshield uses to hold onto the vehicle armature broke -- but that's a design failure, because the windshield should've been glued to that armature in the first place. Lo and behold, gluing it back was an easy fix, and everything else has been solid.

-XCN-

 

Damn that’s rough! Good luck on the exchange. I’ve been getting the silent treatment from chosen prime on returning this pile. I actually opened another contact form after the first one was left hanging. I get they’re probably pretty busy but how hard is it to say hey just send it back we’ll take care of you since it’s defective? They’ve been good to me so I'm being patient but after two weeks I’m getting tired of sitting here with a broken hound.

 

    with all sincerity! Last time this happened to me was when my vintage Bigconvoy's left translucent red arm broke. But it was yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaars after purchase. Primus please bless me that my copy holds up.

Good luck with the replacement.

 

It's not cost-cutting. The amount of plastic saved by shaving down half a millimeter off the panels is negligible. It'd save pennies.

It's really down to the design and scale. He's packed tight in both modes.

 

So what’s the solution in a situation like this? If the space restraints won’t allow for more durable construction by adding mass?

 

Mine now has 3 cracks. He is literally disintegrating right before my eyes.

 

The problems with Hound seem to stem from something other than thin plastic. Not that thin plastic doesn't potentially contribute, but the fact that the breakages seem to happen spontaneously, rather than as a direct result of manipulation probably means there's something at work other than shear force. Even with the breaks my copy has, nothing feels like it's stressing when I manipulate it. Usually when you have cracked hinges, you can see the cause of the stress when you move the broken hinge and it stretches open. My Hound doesn't do that.

 

Agreed. The info provided to @Gamerlingual by TT suggests that the plastic was actually experimental. If they'd told us that up front, there wouldn't be the same uproar. It's the fact it's been done, gone wrong, and nothing official has been said.

To be honest, I think it's one of those perfect storm scenarios where the design, engineering, plastic properties, factory, staff, etc. all combined to make this the best and worst MP at the same time. I reckon that if one or two of these precise components wasn't there, it wouldn't be the ticking time bomb that it is - eg if it wasn't so tight for space, or the plastic was the usual stuff, or the factory didn't rush or cover up, and so on.

I just think all these things combined led to an unfortunate result. The problem is that there are too many ifs, buts and ands. We leave it to TT to work out what needs to happen in that melting pot so that the figure can come out better next time...

 

Just transformed mine for the first time and boy was it scary and took forever. Used some shock oil on one of the foot double hinges that was so tight. Anyway I can see a hint of a crack forming on the shoulder armature. I tried loosening the screw but it was too tight. Is it a JIS screw? If so that's why I couldn't turn it, because I I don't have JIS screwdrivers.

 

Doubt the plastic was "experimental" this is more like a case of customer speak, somebody screwed up, that's what made it experimental.

 

TT confirmed it to one of our mods. They tried something out to see if it worked. It didn't...

 

you really would expect/hope that they would have realized this before hand though. It’s inexcusable. Honestly now. Especially when it comes attached to a 160 price tag

 

Typically the reason would be to save money on production. Perhaps material cost. So, cheaper plastic.

Agreed. It’s hard to justify the cost increased price, when the overall plastic quality has declined. MP Sunstreaker is just as intricate, but not once did I feel like the plastic was brittle. Right out of the box I felt that way with Hound. I still haven’t even transformed it yet. I can’t defend Takara.

 

Hmm, I gotta disagree here. I don't think the thickness of the plastic really has any baring on the breakages. If that were the case, why is the hood not breaking in half? Or the outside wall of the foot? The common, most frequent, almost guaranteed to crack spots are all hinges, or the two side "door" panels. All of hinges are fairly robust, especially the ones on the doors. In fact, they might be the thickest parts of the figure. I've got LOADS of figures with similar thickness plastic, mostly Japanese "high end" type of stuff and 3P figures, and they're not all falling apart. Except for the tailgate hinges, all of Hounds hinges are pretty standard sized, and nothing I'd think I'd really need to look out for.

Furthermore, if these parts were all breaking while under the stress of moving past an indent, or flexing the part, or load bearing, or something like that, I feel there would be more weight to just the "it's because the plastic is too thin" reasoning. But the majority are breaking from literally just standing there. Simple, swing hinges, not engaged in any kind of stress, movement, or bearing any kind of weight. Just spontaneous cracking. This is different than say, the hinges in the wings of the MP Cassette birds. Those have very strong indents, which you need to move to move the joint past. Cracking here is not surprising, and has happened because of how much stress is on those small hinges.

But more importantly, is the way the parts are breaking. There's no stressing first, none of that white "stress discoloration" you normally see before, after, or during a plastic break. No "tearing" of the plastic. Just a sudden, glossy, super smooth break. It's incredibly similar to the old GPS breaks. Comparing to MP BW Megatron, another recent figure that had complaints of "thin, cheap" plastic: He's got a lot of small hinges and tabs in his whole backpack set up, all on relatively thin panels of plastic. And a number of those hinges, and tabs, have white stress marks, but the breakages are not nowhere near as frequent. And, if I remember correctly, those that reported them had the stress marks first.

However, even comparing to more recent, BB V2: He easily has just as thin plastic as Hound, and lots of small hinges in his whole roof/hood set up, the feet, and his arm panels. Why isn't he falling apart? There have definitely been and handful of reports ( I wanna say mostly on the clear plastic, which, ironically, is thicker and has more robust hinges), but not even close to the almost universal cracking of Hound.

I think, at least how I understand it is, what they (myself included) mean is: If it's gonna break, it's gonna break. No amount action, or inaction on our parts will change that. In other words, that tailgate door was probably already cracked, or would have fallen off on it's own anyway. It just happened to when you transformed it, but not because you transformed it. I transformed my Hound at least 10 times in the first few weeks, no breaks, cracks, nothing. It only started to crack when left alone. It's not the stress of moving the part during transformation that does it, but rather the plastic itself.

 

As a mechanical engineer in the medical devices space I am fairly certain that the "experimental" plastic was shot with too much humidity. Each formulation of PC-ABS requires specific drying temperatures and excessive moisture coupled with imprecise holding and cooling times can cause microfactures and voids. All this present in tiny thin parts and preloads from the pins provide multiple avenues for things to go wrong. Stress during transformation, temperature and humidity flux, fracture propagation from the preload alone, etc.

Also, I don't think it's some crazy new material. They probably blended more ABS, hoping to give the parts a little more flexibilty and they fucked up the calculations for the rest of the process not considering how much ambient water ABS absorbs.

Same thing happened when I was shooting thin ABS PC parts for a device in Taiwan during the summer. Started disintegrating in packaging.

 

So too much humidity. Their factories should be climate controlled. But they aren’t. Interesting

 

I think you posted this before, right? Regardless, still the most logical, realistic, and believable reasoning I've heard yet.

Yep, agreed here too. I think most are reading too much into "trying something new" quote. It's now turned into "experimental, never tested before" plastic, when it's most likely much closer to what you described.

 

Honestly, this was my first thought even before the TT rep said anything...I still don't personally believe that the plastic in any way feels "cheap" or "brittle" compared to other releases, but if there is any detectable difference, it's that there seems to be a tiny bit more flex than usual (almost a "bendy" quality, sort of like the side panels of MP-44's cab). My guess is that if they indeed tweaked the plastic, it was intended to stand up better to stress than past figures and avoid cracking (but they obviously f'ed it up).

 

I don’t know about cheap...it does feel different...and not a good different at that. It just feels flimsy when compared to....I dunno...mp12.

 

Same here. There's no doubt he feels more lightweight than I'd expect, but that's fine. I think as a community, and totally guilty of this myself on occasion, we just associate thick, heavy plastic as "quality", so by default, thin and lightweight must be "cheap". Until you compare it to a toy made from actual, cheaply made plastic, and see the actual difference.