I think I'm over the whole "autobots v decepticons" thing, both narratively and with my collecting habits. I think I'll try just autobots for a while. Easier to display.
If its the word finger i think one thats a bit of a stretch and two you are finding issues in nothinf
QC on Hasblo figures overall ever since moving to Vietnam has been Trash. Also the figures continue to shrink while getting more and more expensive, while materials used get shittier and shittier.
Ok, it needs to be said, so I'm gonna say it. Walmart.ca is an absolutely terrible site. First of all, the majority of the listings on the site transformers wise are from third party sellers who think it's reasonable to upcharge to an insane degree. I'm talking $60 for a Sparkless, $80 for Dinobot, etc. They also never stock anything themselves. The netflix figures never got official listings through walmart Canada, so I'm limited to either hunting one down in my understocked stores or buying a scalped one online. Their search bar barely works either, basically brining up the same listings no matter how you phrase your search. Really, it's only the first two that bother me. The fact that a major retailer can have a genuinely terrible website baffles me
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I don't find the QC to be that terrible, certainly not worse than China. That being said because China ripped them off all the time, plus they moved out of there for reasons I can't discuss due to board rules. If they weren't getting KO'd all the time, and if they had better control over their manufacturing partners, things would still be made in China (aside from those issues not spoken of). Vietnam was a necessity and it kept the production going, even during the pandemic, so Vietnam isn't a problem and the QC isn't complete trash. The shrinkage, the materials, that's a Hasbro problem, not a location problem. (Maybe the accessibility of plastic in Vietnam isn't as good as it is in China, but aside from that...) In the end, it's ultimately all on Hasbro's shoulders, not the location.
I have personally found QC to be pretty bad lately. For the first few months of 2021, every figure I purchased had some glaring QC issue. Now I'm certainly working with a larger sample size than I would have been with the Prime Wars trilogy, but even then I've found that QC got worse between Siege and Earthrise. It is possible that it's just been my luck, but I'm not certain
I notice the biggest problems with Gen Selects redecos. Especially the partsformers. Seems like when you use a different plastic color to mold a character whose ports and posts need to interact with good tolerances, you sometimes get parts that don't behave the way they did in the original character's design. And of course, like you, I see that Hasbro does fairly poor work removing parts from sprues and their painting is often fairly haphazard. And any CHUG figures with stickers, I see a lot that they get put on awkwardly or even askew.
I still don't think it has anything to do with location, I firmly believe it has everything to do with design and materials. Neither of which would be the fault of the factory, the workers, or its location.
I've personally found that the worst aspect lately has been joint and connection tolerances. Lately I've found that more figures have loose joints. It's not even across the board, either. It's usually limited to one joint on the figure that flops around. Yeah, it definitely doesn't have to do with location. I'd say its more the specific companies their dealing with, or perhaps even what they're paying. I've noticed it with MPs too. I personally don't buy MPs, but it seems like lately every MP has had some major, widespread QC issue. The only MP I have is the latest reissue of MP Soundwave, of which his neck joint is loose to the point that he can't even look up, and the tape mechanism that allows for multiple cassettes to fit in at once just doesn't work.
For SG repaints and retools, a retool (new head) of SS86 Hot Rod into SG Goldbug. That's it. This idea didn't want to leave me alone since morning.
I'm probably not the only one being annoyed by the fact that, some figures, in the wfc line have all/accurate accesories and other have not.
I know I just talked about it last week, but I really need to be blunt about this. Transformers QC has gone to complete shit in the last year. This is all coming to ahead after my purchasing of an SS Blackout which, thanks to poor tolerances, what I can only assume is flashing, and bad connection points, is now stressing and nearly breaking itself when I transform it into helicopter mode. Now, if this were an isolated issue, I'd be fine. However, this has been an ongoing issue for me. It feels like every figure I purchase nowadays has some sort of major issue with it (which no one else is having) that ruins the figure for me. TFs are kind of in an unacceptable state for me right now. I mean, my reissued MP Soundwave I got last year can't even escape the curse, with a loose neck and a spring loaded gimmick that won't even work! Just so I'm not giving purely anecdotal evidence, I decided to do what I'm good at and do a little math. Of the 19 figures I've purchased this year, 11 of them have had some sort of QC issue. That 57%. Over half. That means I'm statistically more likely to pick up a figure at the store, take it home and open it, only to find it has a loose knee, or it can't transform, or it's missing a piece, than I am to have a figure that's perfect right out of the box. Now I am working from a somewhat small pool, so I will likely redo these calculations at the end of the year when I have more figures. But all I can say is that this is completely inexcusable, and if the price increase goes into fixing this issue, than I will be happy
How many of those 19 figures were released within that last year you mentioned? Soundwave and Blackout are at least a couple years old
That's a fair question. How about I give you my whole list? Distribution is a bit poor here, so figures that show up here may not have been from this year. Also, I should mention that some figures, like Astrotrain, showed up here in late 2019 at my Toysrus, sold out, and then appeared again late 2020 and early 2021 War For Cybertron Siege Red Alert - January Astrotrain - April - QC War For Cybertron Earthrise Hoist - February - QC Runamuck - February - QC Sunstreaker - May Snapdragon - February Grapple - March - QC Soundwave - May - QC War For Cybertron Kingdom Rattrap - February Core Megatron - March Core Starscream - March Core Optimus - March Warpath - February - QC Megatron - March - QC Ultra Magnus - April Studio Series Blitzwing - March Shockwave - April - QC Blackout - May - QC Studio Series 86 Grimlock - March - QC
I can’t stand the current packaging inside the box. Those little plastic circles are all over my place!