I know it's somewhat of a controversial series/toyline, but I've enjoyed a lot of RID 15 Warriors. while admittedly some of them have been hit or miss, (I WANT to like Optimus but I just can't,) there have been several that have been sublime. From the earliest samples, Grimlock was great if a bit small, and Bumblebee is like my favorite Bumblebee toy of all time.

So I got some of those early RID toys back out, and was startled to discover that even a time frame as small as two years have taken it's toll on the figures. I discovered my grimlock now had a lot of loose joints, making him floppy and hard to stand and transform. Strong arm was okay, but to my horror a small tab on one of Bumblebee's leg panels snapped of at some point, meaning his right door assembly no longer tabs in correctly, and his door kind of hangs down a smidge in car mode. It's a small thing, but as it's one of my favorite toys, it practically broke my heart, and has me considering replacing him. (or giving me the excuse I need to splurge on that premium two pack with the Voyager Grimlock.)

This was all a bit surprising because it seems like it hasn't been that long. It seems like toys I got from a handful of years prior are still holding up better, (though I did wear out my PRID voyager Optimus, I toy I loved unreasonable. His hips got loose.)

Have any of you ever had a favorite that noticeably deteriorated over the course of time?

 

Most of the toys from the Armada series.

 

My Movie Protoform Starscream had his knees snapped off a few years ago. Damn you GPS.

Also, my Deluxe IDW stealth bomber Megatron's shoulder has become extremely loose and can't hold a position.

 

BW Transmetal Megatron aged REALLY ungracefully.  

 

I don't know what you're talking about, because my hand-less Protoform Starscream- oh. Yup.

 

Fall of Cybertron Jazz, because of those damn ratchet joints his legs are floppy as hell now. Hasn't happened on Sideswipe yet though, oh boy.

Speaking of floppy legs, Thrilling 30 Blitzwing another victim of that. Overtime I found his legs have loosened greatly too.

Overtime the spring loaded arm gimmick of my Movie Barricade (my first TF by the way) has weakened and its all kinds of floppy. Hasn't happened on ROTF Interrogator Barricade though.

The ball joints on Animated Deluxe Optimus Prime (from the two pack) have worn down and the guy is basically a rag doll.

Of course your mileage may vary.

 

rts lugnut, has loose legs, and loose well lots of things that isnt the arms, or head or waist

 

The nosecones on a lot of earlier Classics Seekers are starting to get dangerously stiff. My friend has the nosecone on his 2006 Classics Starscream break off while transforming it, and on my Skywarp the nosecone came off with next to no resistance when I attempted to transform it out of jet mode after I got it a few months ago.

 

Combiner Wars Menasor xD

 

...gold plastic syndrome is a heartbreaker...

 

For me, out of the bunch of bots I have I feel it's the first MP Megatron...

It seems so fiddly, the joints on mine are firm, but I don't have a confident feeling about transforming it. The feet have discolored quite a bit.

But it's okay. For all it's faults, much progress was made in the 3P world to eventually bringing about an improvement to Takara going back to the designing 2.0. Summer '17 should be awesome for posing 2.0 in the natural outdoors.

 

I was going to say this, you beat me to it. Honestly, a lot of figures from the Unicron Trilogy haven't aged well. Not all, but a lot.
I still love the gimmick Optimus, Jetfire and Overload have in Armada, making one giant electronic Optimus Prime figure with badassery written all over him.
Figures like Hot Shot, while still retaining some of that goofy charm, are just horribly held back by terrible articulation.

We had nothing but blocks in G1, sometimes a head or an arm would pivot, but that was it. It was great for the time, but that was it. Then, we got Beast Wars and holy moley, these things could MOVE. Even Beast Machines with all of it's crazy designs, a nice range of motion.

RID (2001) more of the same, but finally it was vehicles that could move and articulate and it was groundbreaking for us. We all loved it a ton. (The idea, perhaps not the line)

Then comes along Armada and we're all "WTF?" RID was like 10 steps forward and Armada was 20 steps back. Worse than G1, really, because G1 was shackled by the time it was in and how toymaking was done back then. Armada came at a time when we could do more, much more and they chose to cripple a good portion of the molds to make way for the new Mini-Con integration gimmicks.

Optimus is okay in his cab bot mode, but Superpants mode is just a fancier and IR controlled Star Convoy with some dumb gimmicks.
Hot Shot is probably the worst of the molds, followed by Scavenger. Hot Shot is just oddly articulated from the hips down, but the entire upper body is a bar of soap with swing out arms and a molded in face. Scavenger is just a steamroller wheel with a partially articulated figure atop it. Just so dumb.

The line got somewhat better as it progressed, but Energon tried a little harder, but still suffered because of gimmicks. Even Cybertron and Classics were kind of missed opportunities when it came to the articulation aspect. It wasn't until the movie toys came out that they really knew what the heck they were doing and what was possible on the cheaper level that wasn't Alternator or Masterpiece.

On top of that, the Star Saber is so full of cracks and fractures because the bots are made primarily of translucent plastics, and the other figures have loosened joints, pins that are too tight from just sitting, etc.

The early oughts were a weird time for Transformers. We gobbled them up in a frenzy, but man were they weird. The 2010's have been leaps and bounds better overall.

 

Classics Starscream. In 2006, Classics Starscream was a shining light of everything G1 amidst a sea of unique designs. I initially loved it, but over time I have come to realize that it is a poor design; It can only use its arm articulation by comprising the looks of its wings, it has no waist articulation, Starscream really ought to be a voyager figure, and the facesculpt is pretty generic. There are a lot of things I like about it, but given 11 years, Classics Starscream just does not have a place on my shelf.

 

I have actually come to terms with the classic seeker mold. I still love the transformation but the articulation is subpar. I wouldnt say the seekers need to be voyagers, i think deluxe is more appropriate but these things are personal.
I will agree they where ridiculously undersized compared to the universe carbots but the CW carbots fixed that (if only they would finish the set).
I doubt i will ever replace my classic seekers but they definetly could do with improved articulation.
All the classics molds are great toys, but subpar actiinfigures by todays standard.
Jetfire maybe the only exeption.

 

Some of you guys didn't read the original post.   While figures that didn't hold up aesthetically or in terms of their engineering is a worthwhile topic, slochmoeller is talking about figures that aren't hold up well to wear and tear or materials aging.

Interesting feedback on these guys! Lots of folks, even many who enjoy this line, have talked about increasingly hollow figures and cheap feeling plastic...I wonder if this is the result. How are your Grimlock's elbows? I loved that figure but was scared off from buying it because of all of the reports of that ratchet joint breaking.

So as for my own examples, Myrrh took the words right out of my mouth! Many figures simply have an expiration date where their gold plastic (or other metallic plastic) breaks down and crumbles in your hands. The most heartbreaking example in my own collection was Transmetal Megatron. I adored that figure...now it's permanently in T-Rex mode. Since then, Beast Wars Grimlock (deluxe class Dinobot repaint) has also broken.

Secondly, I'd offer up any of the other Transmetal and Transmetal 2 figures that couldn't hold their chrome. This doesn't seem to affect every figure. Most of the larger ("Mega" class and up) seem to generally be ok.. but the ones that get hit, become hideous in a very short period of time. I preemptively coated many of my figures (with Future floor polish) and I think that may have done the trick.

Lastly, I'd offer up MO-09 Rodimus/Hot Rod. Sure, the styling and engineering of that figure were a bit controversial...but I personally really liked it, were it not for the fact that this figure is known to have self-destructing shoulders (that have literally popped off while standing unattended on a shelf!), as well as knee joints that grind themselves to a pulp simply from being posed.

 

Guess I did jump the gun there

but in that case, Universe Prowl. Jesus christ that thing shouldn't be allowed outside of its packaging.

 

LOL... I didn't mean to reprimand ya there...and I TOTALLY agree with your comment.

 

Titans Return Overlord, its a brick with GPS and its completely hollow

 

Are you trolling us or what?
It's ok to not like a figure...but you're making shit up about the GPS on a figure that virtually nobody has handled yet.

 

Most of early CHUG stuff (universe and classics) hasn't aged that well. A lot of them have weird proportions (prowl and sideswipe) or issues with kibble (classics Megatron and prime).