I had some grease or lube residue in small amounts here and there. But they were easy to clean up.

 

Great review. You might want to loosen the pelvis scew a bit. Two turns could save you a lot of uneeded stress to the figure in future transformations.

 

Thanks.
Yeah I was thinking the same. Some of the other tight joints have loosened up after a few transformations but these just wouldn't budge.

 

That feel when you're browsing these threads, chomping at the bits because you still don't have a HLJ Payment request.

 

you dont have to have it on him to own him

 

My problem is after transforming him carefully I have two scratches on his shoulders. The only other problem I had is I did not realize when transforming him back from gun mode that the two pieces that fold out to form the top of his gun in his chest only rotate one direction. I attempted to rotate them the other direction which bent the plastic as it is very soft. So not a QC issue but something to look out for as it can easily cause damage. Sadly mine is now damaged

 

The orange cap is to allow online retailers to sell the figure in the US, though not all of them put one in to the gun barrel. You don't need it in to own the figure. (and even if you kept it in there, I still wouldn't go waving the figure around in gun mode in public, especially in front of police officers) I don't know what you mean by the silencer, though.

 

TCP sent out the following email this morning:

 

I received the same email from TCP. I am concerned now since they warn not to put the silencer on because it will cause extensive wear and black scuffing on the die-cast barrel.

Has anyone encountered the exact issues that Chosen Prime refers to about in that email message? I'm wondering if I should cancel my order now.

 

Well, do you plan to use it as a toy gun or do you plan to pose a robot on a shelf like most of us?  

 

I'd like to transform it cleanly without losing paint on it. So you're saying you won't transform yours at all? Is that what "most of us" do? I don't exactly play with my Transformers, but I do like to be able to transform them back and forth from time to time.

 

It's debatable whether adding on a separate piece is necessarily part of transforming this figure, but I do get what you mean about it not damaging the figure.

 

Is it possible that with subsequent reissues Takara Tomy will amend these issues? If so, I'd be willing to wait on the next batch or so. While I would keep him displayed in robot mode 99.9% of the time, I do want to transform him to see him in gun mode from time to time, yenno?

 

Ugh...
Mine is still MISB. I don't even know how much it would cost to return it to Amazon.co.jp.

Roll the dice and open it or sell it sealed?

 

Possible, but it's by no-means guaranteed. When the original version of MP Starscream (MP-03) was updated to MP-11, they did work in some durability fixes, particularly with the wing hinge. Other problems, such as the non-locking chest, persisted through the later iterations of that mold.

MP-09 Rodimus had a second-run that tried to address some of the durability problems of the initial release.

I distantly recall some mention of later runs (TT Asia?) of MP Sideswipe having somewhat better paint? Might end up corrected on that one.

I don't recall any other examples of TT making fixes.

 

I'm hoping that maybe this is just a small sample of figures that have this problem. I can't imagine Takara Tomy not doing QC for this. I would expect a firestorm of backlash from the mass group of collectors who have been waiting for this MP to release only to have the silencer be unusable due to paint chipping.

 

I feel like they should have engineered the silencer part to have a felt of foam lining to avoid possible plastic on paint scuff and scratches.

...but, alas...it is what it is

 

If you flip down the back of the silencer and look in it, the part that rubs is flat instead of rounded.

 

Sweet Jesus did aliens design this thing?!??!? Just completed my first transformation to gun and back to bot.....I'm floored. I just can't fathom how the engineers at Takara figured this out.

Just blown away. Truly.

Side notes:

Future your gun tip.
...and if you're really concerned about paint scuffing when using the silencer, open up the end cap of it, and dremel out the inside a bit. The rest of the barrel is long enough to still keep a snug fit, and the amount of plastic on gun barrel contact is reduced significantly.