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Forget all of the micron ports on him (they actually don't look bad at all in person): the big bruiser is pretty fragile! This guy does not survive the drop test! I got him in the mail today and put him on my shelf in Truck mode. He fell off about 2 feet and his driver side mirror snapped off. cleanly. I was able to completely fix it with super glue (I noticed that the glue actually absorbed a bit of the blue paint pigment too), but I began noticing all of his frailties.

His shoulders rotate on decently sized ball joints...which are connected to his torso with 3mm wide rods. His transformation calls for bending his arms backwards at the elbows, and I swear to Primus, I thought his elbows were going to shatter from the stress. And before someone accuses me of being a clumsy oaf: I have only ever broken two Transformers figures in my 20+ years (There's a blue Grimlock and green Slag somewhere in my closet) of collecting them! The first was Power Core Combiner Huffer (that little peg that joins his legs together snapped off) and my first Arms Micron Bulo (one of his knee joints shattered during the assembly process)

Maybe it's the plastic Takara cast him in? It feels pretty thin and light. Plus, I'm afraid of transforming Zamu, after what happened to my first Bulo (Buro? Burro? Bullo?). I'm just going to wait for the Dr. Wu hammer before any combat poses are made...

i had heard of its fragility on a couple podcasts

that is pretty tough luck about your drop regardless
good to hear you were able to mend

Hope Hasbro makes a better mold of him in the future. That sounds horrifying.

orangeitis wrote:Hope Hasbro makes a better mold of him in the future. That sounds horrifying.

I would never have even suspected the mirrors being so fragile. They look almost exactly the same as the mirrors on Powerizer Voyager (or AM-01) Optimus Prime! The thing is, the mirrors on Prime are part of a single piece that make up his entire pectoral. Breakdown's mirrors are small pieces molded separately and glued to the side of his door. It broke so cleanly, that there was actually no damage, and I could simply trace the original glue line and fasten it back on.

It doesn't feel like the figure was designed with children in mind.

Gearslide wrote:It doesn't feel like the figure was designed with children in mind.

Not western children, no. More children in this country seem to lack decent parenting. That coupled with certain groups focusing more on censoring and building rules around the things hurting the children, rather than encouraging their parents to discipline them better causes us to get the short end of the stick when it comes to... well anything, really. And by "us", I'm not talking about only adults. The smart, disciplined kids are suffering from it too.

TakaraTomy's products are mainly geared toward Japanese kids, after all. And if they had many problems with those toys, I doubt the toys would be made like that. It's not the product that's the problem, it's the target audience.

Though admittedly, TakaraTomy still could've made the toy better. Accidents happen, after all.

I still remember playing lawn darts as a kid. An "accidental" headshot was seen as a 10 points because you a) hit a very small target and b) it was a moving target at that.

Oh how times have changed...

orangeitis wrote:Hope Hasbro makes a better mold of him in the future. That sounds horrifying.

.....Have you not seen what Hasbro does to molds already made? Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Starscream, and (opinion may differ here) Cliffjumper all suffer from being worse than their original molds. Hasbro is more than likely to screw it up than fix it.

It is frightening to see how thin Breakdown's plastic is. I worry that newer PRID molds will become thinner and thinner. F.E. and early PRID have more weight and solidity than this guy. And I LOVE my Breakdown. I do. But I recognize it's frailties and flaws.

I never expected TakaraTomy to get so cheap.

PrimeStriker wrote:

orangeitis wrote:Hope Hasbro makes a better mold of him in the future. That sounds horrifying.

.....Have you not seen what Hasbro does to molds already made? Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Starscream, and (opinion may differ here) Cliffjumper all suffer from being worse than their original molds. Hasbro is more than likely to screw it up than fix it.

First of all, opinion may differ on all of them, not just ol' CJ there. Second, the FEs are originally Hasbro's too. And what else is Hasbro's? CHUGs, the figures from the movie trilogy, the Animated line... their track record is just as good as it is bad IMO. I don't see how there's more of a chance of Hasbro making a crappier figure.

orangeitis wrote:

PrimeStriker wrote:

orangeitis wrote:Hope Hasbro makes a better mold of him in the future. That sounds horrifying.

.....Have you not seen what Hasbro does to molds already made? Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Starscream, and (opinion may differ here) Cliffjumper all suffer from being worse than their original molds. Hasbro is more than likely to screw it up than fix it.

First of all, opinion may differ on all of them, not just ol' CJ there. Second, the FEs are originally Hasbro's too. And what else is Hasbro's? CHUGs, the figures from the movie trilogy, the Animated line... their track record is just as good as it is bad IMO. I don't see how there's more of a chance of Hasbro making a crappier figure.

Hasbro isn't releasing Breakdown here, so it's a moot point, really. And Hasbro's toys are getting thinner and cheaper in terms of quality. No reason to be tooting Hasbro's horn. I bought FOC Jazz today and it feels like junk.

Out of curiosity, how long have people been claiming current toys feel "cheap" (much less "KO cheap"). I swear I must've heard this every time a new line comes out, and I haven't even been here that long.

I'm still scratching my head as to why Hasbro has no plans at all for a mainline Breakdown. He's a fairly popular supporting character in a series that's nowhere near over. Cliffjumper's gotten 3 distinct molds and he literally only lived for 5 minutes.

Then again, the original Arcee never got a G1 toy and has yet to get a Classics-style update...

Autobot032 wrote:Hasbro isn't releasing Breakdown here, so it's a moot point, really. And Hasbro's toys are getting thinner and cheaper in terms of quality. No reason to be tooting Hasbro's horn. I bought FOC Jazz today and it feels like junk.

Actually Hasbro DID release Breakdown here in the states... Cyberverse Breakdown. And if you're talking about the same mold, well we weren't.

And so what about FoC Jazz? He disappointed me too, but the Shockwave I bought with him didn't. It don't matter either way though, liking or disliking either is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

I just said that I hope Hasbro releases a better Breakdown mold. I know Hasbro said they aren't bringing that particular mold over here, but that's not what I want, I want a brand-new mold. And since Cyberverse Breakdown is out over here, you can't say we aren't getting a Breakdown at all.

Wow. You surely do have an argumentative streak in you the size of Texas. Good grief.

orangeitis wrote:Actually Hasbro DID release Breakdown here in the states... Cyberverse Breakdown. And if you're talking about the same mold, well we weren't.

First of all, bringing up Cyberverse/Legends Breakdown is pointless. He's not the figure we're speaking of. We're talking about the Voyager. You know it, I know it, we all know it, now you're just reaching for the sake of doing so.

orangeitis wrote:And so what about FoC Jazz? He disappointed me too, but the Shockwave I bought with him didn't. It don't matter either way though, liking or disliking either is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

...irrelevant? If a figure breaks due to subpar construction and materials quality, it's going to lead to disliking the figure. Plenty of people, myself included, in this thread, like the figure. If we didn't like it, we wouldn't own it. If it wasn't relevant, there wouldn't be a justified complaint about the figure breaking. (If one doesn't give a damn, they're certainly not going to post a thread about the figure.)

orangeitis wrote:I just said that I hope Hasbro releases a better Breakdown mold. I know Hasbro said they aren't bringing that particular mold over here, but that's not what I want, I want a brand-new mold. And since Cyberverse Breakdown is out over here, you can't say we aren't getting a Breakdown at all.

Oh, for goodness sake. You're really going to go THAT far? "You can't say we don't, cuz we do. Even though it's not the figure we're talking about. Even though I'm bringing it up for no good reason. You still can't say it, because some form of him does exist. Etc, etc, etc..."

You know why I didn't mention the Cyberverse? I forgot it existed. The dang thing is so ridiculous, so small, such a letdown to the name Breakdown, it's completely forgotten. I didn't mention it because I truly and honestly forgot that it existed. That's how unimportant Hasbro's offering has been to me. TakaraTomy gave us the real deal figure, not some cheapass attempt.

So, yeah, I can say we're not getting a Breakdown at all. Some people like Cyberverse. Some people prefer the full sized figures. I'm one of the many who prefer the real deal. It's factual that Breakdown was released here as a Cyberverse. It's my opinion (and quite a few share it) that it's a pointless figure and therefore doesn't matter.

And you want a new Breakdown mold? Seriously? Until you've held the TakaraTomy figure in your hands, you can't make a fair judgment. Lemme tell ya, that figure is A+, F.E. quality, all the way. (Well, almost all the way. The plastic is too darn thin. But, aside from the plastic, the rest of him is Ah-Maze-Ing.)

You are welcome to your opinion, but remember that this is a public forum and when you voice your opinion for all to see, someone's going to respond. Whether it's positive or negative, they're going to respond. I personally don't agree with your opinion.

"So what about FoC Jazz?"

That's the kind of thinking that lets Hasbro get away with giving us crap. No matter how much of a fan you are, even you could be on the side that says "Okay, Hasbro. You've done it. I'm done. You suck." And if we keep letting them do this, if we say nothing, then that's the path we'll go down before it's all said and done.

When even TakaraTomy, well known for it's catering to the collector fan base, cuts corners and uses thinner plastic, well, that's a sign the times they are a-changin' and not for the better.

That's all well and good, but please allow me to respond to him in a logical, rational way.

Autobot032 wrote:Wow. You surely do have an argumentative streak in you the size of Texas. Good grief.

Autobot032 wrote:

orangeitis wrote:Actually Hasbro DID release Breakdown here in the states... Cyberverse Breakdown. And if you're talking about the same mold, well we weren't.

First of all, bringing up Cyberverse/Legends Breakdown is pointless. He's not the figure we're speaking of. We're talking about the Voyager. You know it, I know it, we all know it, now you're just reaching for the sake of doing so.

It's your opinion that Cyberverse Breakdown is pointless. And you are talking about the existing Voyager. I was not. I want a new Voyager mold for Breakdown. One that don't break when he falls down.

Autobot032 wrote:

orangeitis wrote:And so what about FoC Jazz? He disappointed me too, but the Shockwave I bought with him didn't. It don't matter either way though, liking or disliking either is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

...irrelevant? If a figure breaks due to subpar construction and materials quality, it's going to lead to disliking the figure. Plenty of people, myself included, in this thread, like the figure. If we didn't like it, we wouldn't own it. If it wasn't relevant, there wouldn't be a justified complaint about the figure breaking. (If one doesn't give a damn, they're certainly not going to post a thread about the figure.)

Yes, it is irrelevant. This is about Breakdown, not Jazz.

Autobot032 wrote:

orangeitis wrote:I just said that I hope Hasbro releases a better Breakdown mold. I know Hasbro said they aren't bringing that particular mold over here, but that's not what I want, I want a brand-new mold. And since Cyberverse Breakdown is out over here, you can't say we aren't getting a Breakdown at all.

Oh, for goodness sake. You're really going to go THAT far? "You can't say we don't, cuz we do. Even though it's not the figure we're talking about. Even though I'm bringing it up for no good reason. You still can't say it, because some form of him does exist. Etc, etc, etc..."

You know why I didn't mention the Cyberverse? I forgot it existed. The dang thing is so ridiculous, so small, such a letdown to the name Breakdown, it's completely forgotten. I didn't mention it because I truly and honestly forgot that it existed. That's how unimportant Hasbro's offering has been to me. TakaraTomy gave us the real deal figure, not some cheapass attempt.

It's irrelevant that your forgot that the Cyberverse version of Breakdown existed, and it is merely your opinion that "Hasbro's offering" is unimportant, or that "TakaraTomy gave us the real deal figure, not some cheapass attempt.". You're welcome to your opinion about it, but your opinion holds no weight when presented to someone else in an argument.

Autobot032 wrote:So, yeah, I can say we're not getting a Breakdown at all. Some people like Cyberverse. Some people prefer the full sized figures. I'm one of the many who prefer the real deal. It's factual that Breakdown was released here as a Cyberverse. It's my opinion (and quite a few share it) that it's a pointless figure and therefore doesn't matter.

Okay, technically you CAN say it, but it would be wrong. And about your opinion, see above.

Autobot032 wrote:And you want a new Breakdown mold? Seriously? Until you've held the TakaraTomy figure in your hands, you can't make a fair judgment. Lemme tell ya, that figure is A+, F.E. quality, all the way. (Well, almost all the way. The plastic is too darn thin. But, aside from the plastic, the rest of him is Ah-Maze-Ing.)

Yes, I can judge the toy without holding it in my hands if enough evidence suggests that I would dislike it. And several cases of it breaking, and even more of it being brittle makes me dislike it.

Autobot032 wrote:You are welcome to your opinion, but remember that this is a public forum and when you voice your opinion for all to see, someone's going to respond. Whether it's positive or negative, they're going to respond. I personally don't agree with your opinion.

Same to you. If you quote me implying that your opinion takes precedent over mine, I'm gonna have to respond telling you that it doesn't.

Autobot032 wrote:"So what about FoC Jazz?"

That's the kind of thinking that lets Hasbro get away with giving us crap. No matter how much of a fan you are, even you could be on the side that says "Okay, Hasbro. You've done it. I'm done. You suck." And if we keep letting them do this, if we say nothing, then that's the path we'll go down before it's all said and done.

When even TakaraTomy, well known for it's catering to the collector fan base, cuts corners and uses thinner plastic, well, that's a sign the times they are a-changin' and not for the better.

But I don't share your opinion that Hasbro sucks, so why would I do that?

I'm sorry, but even if you have such a strong hatred of what Hasbro's doing to you, that don't mean that everyone else is in the same boat as well.

I'll say it again. I'd prefer it if Hasbro released a new Voyager mold for Breakdown. That would be spiffy.

Goodness. All I wanted to point out is that this particular mold wouldn't be suitable in an American market, and that I understood Hasbro's reasons for not bringing it over! This wasn't supposed to be a Hasbro bashing thread or anything.

Based on my experience with the figure, I strongly feel that Hasbro won't ever release it or any iteration of it in this market. It's just too fragile for the rough-housing a lot of kids will do with it. MAYBE if Hasbro beefed up the plastic on it, it could pass as a First Edition (or equivalent) figure.

I do think, however, that Hasbro will release their own mold. Considering that the Prime series isn't a filler line, like Fall of Cybertron, I'm sure Hasbro will take designing a Breakdown figure seriously.

the engineering of the toy is great, it's just the darn plastic. I even like his micron, can't say the same for the rest of the takara line. so beef up the plastic and get us one stateside I can trust my neice to play with.

I can't really tell if it is too fragile or not; guess I'm not too good with this kind of stuffs.

But thanks for the heads up, I will put my breakdown at a more safer place.

njb902 wrote:the engineering of the toy is great, it's just the darn plastic. I even like his micron, can't say the same for the rest of the takara line. so beef up the plastic and get us one stateside I can trust my neice to play with.

I LOVE Zamu. I thought Bulo (with Skywarp) was okay, and Jida (Terrorcon Cliffjumper) was great, but the assembly of Zamu impressed me. Heck, I even liked applying the stickers on him! And ironically, Zamu feels more sturdy to me than Breakdown himself!

The only issue with the Arms Microns are the darn hinges that they use! They have these octagonal rods as the basis for the hinge, and rely solely on friction to maintain a pose. I'm terrified to transform any of my Arms Microns, since I've seen how weak the rods can be with my original Bulo.

orangeitis wrote:it is merely your opinion that "Hasbro's offering" is unimportant, or that "TakaraTomy gave us the real deal figure, not some cheapass attempt.". You're welcome to your opinion about it, but your opinion holds no weight when presented to someone else in an argument.

Uh his opinion is not wrong, it is his opinion. Plz read the post I made about opinions..

I am tired of PM's complaints about you..

Cyber Bishop wrote:

orangeitis wrote:it is merely your opinion that "Hasbro's offering" is unimportant, or that "TakaraTomy gave us the real deal figure, not some cheapass attempt.". You're welcome to your opinion about it, but your opinion holds no weight when presented to someone else in an argument.

Uh his opinion is not wrong, it is his opinion. Plz read the post I made about opinions..

I didn't say his opinion was wrong at all, especially in the section you've quoted.

Cyber Bishop wrote:I am tired of PM's complaints about you..

And with all due respect Mr. admin, I'm tired of hearing about them when I'm apparently not doing anything wrong. If I did do something that you deem wrong, then just cast the mod hammer at me and get it over with. If I haven't done anything wrong, then maybe you should look toward those frivolous PMs you're getting, rather than me.

I was being as kind and respectful to my fellow posters as I possibly could in this thread, while being as rational and logical on the topic as possible. If you're gonna call me out for the PMs you've been getting, please specify what they're aimed at and exactly what I've been doing wrong so this can be peacefully resolved. I'll be happy to explain myself or edit my posts of whatever content you wish, but I can't do anything when you point something out that I just didn't do, such as me claiming that another poster's opinion is "wrong".

Mr. orangeitis I replied to your PM (and was hit with a few telling me what you posted here)... And since you blurted this out in public then I will blurt this out, You need to respect others opinions instead of constantly arguing and making others feel that your opinion is the only one that matters.

Last warning.

C'mon, really? All this arguing over a toy? There will always be anomalies with designs. Sometimes Hasbro does a better job than Takara (Paint vs. Stickers) and sometimes Takara does a better job than Hasbro (Exclusives vs. Retail). You can't just slap a label on a company because a few figures irk you.

Autobot032 wrote:

orangeitis wrote:

PrimeStriker wrote:

orangeitis wrote:Hope Hasbro makes a better mold of him in the future. That sounds horrifying.

.....Have you not seen what Hasbro does to molds already made? Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Starscream, and (opinion may differ here) Cliffjumper all suffer from being worse than their original molds. Hasbro is more than likely to screw it up than fix it.

First of all, opinion may differ on all of them, not just ol' CJ there. Second, the FEs are originally Hasbro's too. And what else is Hasbro's? CHUGs, the figures from the movie trilogy, the Animated line... their track record is just as good as it is bad IMO. I don't see how there's more of a chance of Hasbro making a crappier figure.

Hasbro isn't releasing Breakdown here, so it's a moot point, really. And Hasbro's toys are getting thinner and cheaper in terms of quality. No reason to be tooting Hasbro's horn. I bought FOC Jazz today and it feels like junk.

I wonder if Hasbro/TT is going to reserve the good plastic for MP figures from now on, leaving the standard releases lighter and more fragile. The issue with figures getting smaller is a problem across the board.

Cyber Bishop wrote:Mr. orangeitis I replied to your PM (and was hit with a few telling me what you posted here)... And since you blurted this out in public then I will blurt this out, You need to respect others opinions instead of constantly arguing and making others feel that your opinion is the only one that matters.

Last warning.

And I just PMed you back. I clearly explained that have never ever asserted that only my opinion matters, and I have never ever argued with subjective opinion over objective facts. It is my principle as a rationalist and a skeptic to argue with only facts, try to help others when I feel that they aren't, and correct my arguments when I am found to be wrong.

If you, or my peers have something wrong with my 'opinion' that facts take precedence over opinions in arguments, then I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna be bullied into changing what I post.