LOL! By the time it gets returned it'll be a special edition of parked-in-the-wrong-side-of-town Prime!

 

Honestly, I would just wait it out. As you said, it's pretty minor and something you went months without noticing. The DIY part of me would tell you to craft a similarly-shaped piece out of styrene to fill in the gap, but I assume your GF paid $250-300 for it. And as a consumer, you should get high-end quality when paying high-end dollars.

I wouldn't judge you if you bought the TRU version solely to replace the part on your Takara copy, but you'd essentially be taking a popular exclusive off the local market and passing a defective one onto someone else (assuming TRU re-stocked it despite you alerting them of the defect).

 

Cracka J, what's up man been a while!

I had a similar problem with MP Grimlock. I had to switch out the figure because there were stress marks in the T-Rex hands (got marked as a defect). However, his sword wasn't in the box on return. The lady looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to add it in after the fact, so I disregarded. Grimlock can dual wield LOL!!!!!

Found it funny that my SRK fam showed up in this thread LOL!

I rather not go that route honestly for the reasons you say. Frankly thought about fabricating it or making a mold. I am doing some prop stuff for something else, and thought about doing it for this.

 

Hah...

You know, once you've "parted it out", I'd imagine that you could sell the leftovers to a customizer for a decent price. No, you won't make all of your money back that way but...

I don't know, seems better than taking it back to the store, I'm sure TRU would just put it back on the shelf for the next person to buy. I know Wal-Mart certainly does.

And maybe you've already mentioned doing it, but I'd look over the box and display area heavily. May've just popped off.