BBTS and TRU have re-released the Transformers Prime First Edition figures. That's great. Except the new Prime FE's aren't exactly prime. Optimus Prime is missing paint in vehicle mode, and Bulkhead... Well, Bulkhead is a bit more complicated. It may not be affecting all of the figures, but several have already reported stress marks on Bulkhead's right arm. The one on mine is so bad that it will stay tightly in place until even gentle rotation causes it to push off the peg. I don't think the peg is in danger of breaking. It's a thick peg, but the stress mark does extend about halfway around it... which could also mean halfway into it. A person posted that they used a hairdryer to get rid of the stress mark, but when they put it back in the stress mark reappeared. At first glance, that would indicate that it's the slot that's the problem. However, I don't think that the slot is what's causing the problem, but the peg itself. I think the slots themselves are fine because if the arm is moved to the other arm's peg, it slides on easily and does not come off when rotated. It's also a bit looser than the other arm, but not to the point that it flops around. The problem is that the peg is warped, and bends towards the stress mark. The peg fits so tightly in the slot as it is, that with that much of a variance it slides off when rotated. GET ON WITH IT ALREADY HOW CAN THIS BE FIXED? Sorry about that. I was just typing what some of you were thinking. Honestly, I'm not completely certain. It's a thick peg, so I don't even know why it got bent in the first place. I think the slots are not the cause because they both work fine with the unwarped peg. You could probably do something similar to the 'boil and pop' method used for softening up action figure joints to get the piece warm enough that when slid into the arm slot it would form back into the proper shape. How hot would the plastic have to be? It's not a thin piece, so I'm not sure. Honestly, that method is just a guess. BBTS isn't sending a replacement part for this like I requested, but said if I return the figure I can get another. The way it sounds it will likely have a stress mark as well. At this point, I may just ask for store credit. However, I'm posting this here in case any of the more experienced Radicons want to offer suggestions. Maybe you've even got an exact way to fix it. If you do, post it here. There's a lot of people that have been waiting to get a FE Bulkhead and it sounds like a lot of them are going to need it fixed. ~Matt Booker
Yeah, looking at the problem, I'd recommend heating it up to get it back to the original state as much as possible, then using a rotary tool to sand down either the joint and/or the socket for a tight, snug fit rather than the fit that's stressing the joint.
Thanks, Superquad7! Hopefully yours doesn't have any stress marks when you get it, but if it does please post some pictures of your progress. I'm just going to return mine for store credit. I don't feel bad about it, because it's going towards MP Soundwave. ~Matt Booker
