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I think omitting common victims of GPS and GPS-like syndromes would have made for a much more interesting list, as the common GPS victims kinda go without saying. The others in this list I felt were more original and creative as well as informative. Otherwise, this whole list could have been comprised of casual GPS victims.

Though, that Supreme Cheetor in that honorable mentions pic doesn't look "broken" to me. He looks more like he just has several of his pieces popped off that could easily be popped back on.

Zeedust wrote:Mine never did that.

The entire lower leg cracked off instead.

Andrius wrote:Oh, the waist on Classics Mirage/Liger terrifies me. The exclusive clear one broke straight out of the package.

This mold is one of my absolute favorites, but I'm nervous every time.

Same thing I feel every time I transform mine. It is only made worse since my G1 Mirage broke at the waist(see photo on first page) when I was a kid That and a broken G1 Inferno were my only kid TF breaks.

g1 silverbolt leg hinges!

i just transformed generations whirl and his chicken leg hinges are very stiff and i feel like his knee fins will break off pretty soon...

All of my Wreck Gars are fine and so is my MP-09. Why is the MP-05 not on the list?

omega666 wrote:All of my Wreck Gars are fine and so is my MP-09. Why is the MP-05 not on the list?

Because different things happen to different people.
What broke on your MP05?

Speaking about Starscream and GPS...

Back in 2007, I received Protoform Starscream as a birthday present from a relative who had come from the other side of the world to visit. It was my first movieverse figure. A few days of minor play seemed fine, until his thumbs popped off, and he couldn't wield his gun anymore. Not a good sign, so I stopped playing with him for a couple years but went back to find him to put him on display ...and his plastic seemed somewhat gooier than before. Then when I tried to move his gorilla arm a veeeery slight notch, his arm popped off. He is now buried under a pile of other much sturdier TFs in a box, crying silently as he knows he will never be played with again...

Dr Va'al wrote:Most likely to? No.

Did it happen? Yes.

Did I cry? No.

Did Alpha Bravo? Oooh boy.

LOLOLOLOLOL

Also, my picture made the top 5!!

I have a couple to share:

Firstly, Energon Demolisher. Most likely a victim of clear plastic, as you can see by the attached pic it broke at the elbow after normal transformation. I got it second hand, so I'm not sure if that elbow was over posed or what, since the other is intact...for now. And the cloth twist tie is not the prettiest thing, but it works.



Second is Armada Terradive. The clip that holds the nosecone section on just kinda started cracking on one side and disintegrated off over time. The circled parts have cracks in them too. Could have just been mine. Still a bit of blue tack holds it on well enough.



And perhaps that could be the topic of another list, "Top 10 Transformer Fixes/Repairs". Could be a few ingenious ones that will give others ideas.

In over 30 years of TF fiction I have yet to see Mirage split in half, or a convertible Prowl as a nod to their toy's issues. we fans deserve more.

2 entries for GPS stuff yet not a single entry for G1 Prowl/Bluestreak/Smokescreen? I had all three, all three broke. Everyone I knew who had any of those in the 80's wound up with the windshield cracking off. Didn't matter how careful you were, if it was out of the box, it was gonna happen sooner or later. I was super careful with Prowl after the other two, but nope, it still happened.

Sabrblade wrote:I think omitting common victims of GPS and GPS-like syndromes would have made for a much more interesting list, as the common GPS victims kinda go without saying.

Fair point, but it would have been a silly list to NOT include the most popular GPS figures in my opinion. In my MP list, I didn't include MP10 for that same reason, and I was met with similarly confused replies.

Windsweeper wrote:I've had Device Label Tigatron, Cheetus and Ravage all have their lower jaw break. It's a pity because it's my favourite Ravage mold ever. I ended up buying a 2nd Tigatron as I loved it so much. Cheetus broke within minutes of opening.

YES! THIS!

I was actually trying really hard to think of my most disappointing breakage and completely forgot about my DL Jaguar. Ravage is one of my all time favorite characters, but I wasn't a huge collector when he first came out so I didn't nab him when the price was right. Years later I bought a spot on knockoff, but it only gave me a hankering for the real deal. So I knuckled under and grabbed the real from an eBay scalper. He arrived, I ripped him open, and that jaw fell right off.

It was upsetting because he's a beloved character, it was expensive, and (in total agreeance with Windsweeper) it is my favorite Ravage mold ever. That includes the MP (that's not saying much) and even the recent Ocular Max Jaguar (nothing against it though). DL Jaguar is the perfect C/G modern reimagining.

Luckily though, the KO I bought comes back into play, as I simply just put the KO jaw on the real guy.

What's the problem with Cheetor Beast Machines???

You know does not have GPS and translucent plastic.

Sabrblade wrote:I think omitting common victims of GPS and GPS-like syndromes would have made for a much more interesting list, as the common GPS victims kinda go without saying. The others in this list I felt were more original and creative as well as informative. Otherwise, this whole list could have been comprised of casual GPS victims.

Though, that Supreme Cheetor in that honorable mentions pic doesn't look "broken" to me. He looks more like he just has several of his pieces popped off that could easily be popped back on.

It was important to include GPS in the list at least once, since not everyone is familiar with G1 and G2 and it's an important thing to be aware of. Also, statistically speaking the two made almost exclusively of gold plastic are indeed most likely to break.


Spreaking of Gold Plastic Syndrome...
As someone who owns a repaired G2 Slingshot, the little guy is not beyond hope. After repairing him I carefully disassembled him. Then, I gently filed down all the surfaces on the gold plastic that experience friction during transformation and posing. This combined with delicate handling has allowed me to reliably transform him back and forth without him breaking again. And I am happy for that.

Also, for the love of Primus DO NOT USE HIM AS AN ARM! I don't care what the directions say or that it's his default position in the combination, DO NOT USE HIM AS AN ARM! The combination sockets in Silverbolt's shoulders have extremely tight ratchet joints and are likely to be too much for the gold plastic.

RacerCheetor wrote:What's the problem with Cheetor Beast Machines???

You know does not have GPS and translucent plastic.

You know what your right. I was just putting random pics to inspire people to do the same (and I thank everyone who has posted pics of their broken TFs, Group HUG!) but its not working that well. So I'll just put something that makes more sense.

And ZeldaTheSwordsman thanks for your kind words and understanding! Something tells me writing a list called "Top 5 Transformers Toys Most Likely to Break" and not including G2 Slingshot would have gotten far more criticized (and also be severely lacking).

william-james88 wrote:Something tells me writing a list called "Top 5 Transformers Toys Most Likely to Break" and not including G2 Slingshot would have gotten far more criticized (and also be severely lacking).

Unless it had been titled something like "Top 5 Non-GPS Transformers Toys Most Likely to Break", with a brief explanation of what "Non-GPS" means.

I think it would have just been better to combine G2 Slingshot and Electro into the one spot, because it's not particularly interesting when they have the exact same issue. I mean yeah they're by far the most infamous cases of Transformers crumbling to dust, but they have the same problem and you're really just repeating the same points aside from the fact Slingshot happens to be a combiner.
Just make the number one spot "GPS" in general.

That's how I'd have done it anyway; still a nice list regardless

Kurona wrote:That's how I'd have done it anyway; still a nice list regardless

Thanks man!

I do have a question for both you and Sabr. Is the only reason TM2 Megs doesnt cont as GPS because the colour isnt gold? Because I find it to be a very similar issue.

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:That's how I'd have done it anyway; still a nice list regardless

Thanks man!

I do have a question for both you and Sabr. Is the only reason TM2 Megs doesnt cont as GPS because the colour isnt gold? Because I find it to be a very similar issue.

It is a similar issue, yes, but it seems to be a different yet eerily similarly fragile kind of brown plastic.

I imagine if a figure made of blue or purple plastic were to be discovered to have the same kind of GPS-esque crumbling problem as GPS victims, it too would be categorized as a very similar but still different case by virtue of the plastic being different (and would likely be nicknamed something like "Blue Plastic Syndrome" or "Purple Plastic Syndrome" in this cases ).

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:That's how I'd have done it anyway; still a nice list regardless

Thanks man!

I do have a question for both you and Sabr. Is the only reason TM2 Megs doesnt cont as GPS because the colour isnt gold? Because I find it to be a very similar issue.

It is a similar issue, yes, but it seems to be a different yet eerily similarly fragile kind of brown plastic.

I imagine if a figure made of blue or purple plastic were to be discovered to have the same kind of GPS-esque crumbling problem as GPS victims, it too would be categorized as a very similar but still different case by virtue of the plastic being different (and would likely be nicknamed something like "Blue Plastic Syndrome" or "Purple Plastic Syndrome" in this cases ).

Yeah, I think the TFWiki GPS article mentions that "Sparkly Plastic Syndrome" would be a better name. (BTW, that's where you'll find a good GPS figure list; or is there a more complete one elsewhere?) TM Megs is one of my fav BW designs, I even went out of my way to pick out the rare-ish pink/purple chrome variant when stores were overflowing with him in '98, and then years later, the exact same hinge in the pic broke on mine when I was attaching that Golden Disk reader accessory to show a friend. Got the Metals version, but still sealed in the 2-pack, and kicking myself for not buying the KO 2-pack I saw in a K-Mart Easter basket back in the Armada days; the colors were off, but it might still hold up today.

Slingshot's more topical now, but no one's mentioned the full depth of the tragedy that is Electro: all 4 Laser Rods raised the bar for TF articulation in '94, but I considered Electro to be the epitome of crazy poseability, the (sob) gold standard. So glad I played with him so much back in the day, as mine never broke (except for his LED wire fraying), and I don't dare transform him out of truck mode again. Will always love him despite gold being my least favorite color, as I associated it with decay even before I knew of GPS.

OH! I just remembered one that no one's mentioned: Flamefeather!

Dear to my heart for being one of very few '88 toys I actually got that year, and still tied with Grimwing and his repaints for the closest we've gotten to a Griffon alt, so imagine my horror when I transformed him into robot mode about a decade back only to have his chest just plain shatter as I spread the arms! ... Okay, so Firecons are probably cheaper to replace than anything else we've brought up, but if this is an internal stress issue they all suffer from by their very design, their longevity could be shorter than we think.

Hmmm, maybe a non-GPS breakage list could be, "TFs you're most likely to break due to counter-intuitive design"? Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue, but someone mentioned G1 Hook, and I think he's a perfect example of what I mean. I too broke a leg off, but that was because at age 5, I just didn't get that you had to extend him out as though changing to Dev-component every time you transformed the legs, so I just forced it until it broke. But then my replacement's head-pin just dislodged a decade later, so he does have multiple issues.

As for Construct Bots, is the biggest problem the rubber on the ball joints? Many predicted crappy longevity on those, like the rubber tires on big ol' RID Op and Magnus. If Shapeways still doesn't have snap-on replacements, someone needs to get crackin'--URGH! Sorry, bad term for this thread.

I'm also surprised no one mentioned G1 Powerglide. Losing the pins for his wings may be his signature issue (mine has one replaced with a severed Lego walkie-talkie antenna, my first repair/kitbash at age 7), but he'll break in so many places (mine had a tailfin successfully glued back on but lost the landing gear for good) that I used to call him the first Brittle-Master...again, before I knew about GPS.

In fact, I think Powerglide is one of the title toys in Bi Shumin's "Broken Transformers" short story (unclear who "The Giant" is, but always guessed Omega Supreme). Not already crying hard enough about our community's shattered plastic dreams? Well, just give that a quick read, and you'll also feel like a horrible person with your new perspective on how the same beloved toys that give us our first-world problems might just cause more serious financial grief in their native China. Not taking a self-effacing swipe at our hobby, I just couldn't not think of it in a thread about Broken Transformers.

The first figure that ever broke on me was G1 Jazz , and it happened the day I got him, which was my 11th birthday way back in 1985. Sad fact it was a friend of my Mom that did it, and before hand I only Transformed him once.
Another one that sucked for me was G1 Blitzwing I got for Christmas 1986, yet another one of my Mom friends broke him.
Being a collector for over 30 years, and one that has moved a lot, I have had a lot of figures break on me, most of them I have fixed.
Some that really hurt was the Mini-Con Safeguard when I connected him to Vector Prime . The arm peg of Optimal Optimus from Beast Wars broke off.
Now about the one thing.....the only thing I hate about Transformers.....Gold Plastic Syndrome ......
I have had many cases happen to me, like my Beast Wars Grimlock that every piece of gold either cracked or broke on him, to my Monster Pretenders , or the Ultra Pretender Roadblock , also some G.I.Joe figures I have has succumbed to this curse also.
But I have been very very very very lucky with my G2 Electo ,so far he is doing fine. I even tempted fate and Transformed him like a year ago, just to see if I could. I was very very very careful. One thing I did do was cover little lines I have seen on him with a very light coat of clear nail polish....maybe that helped, maybe not, who knows.

Prime Twinstrike is a good example of bad design coupled with sub-par materials leading to a one way ticket to sadtown. The thigh armour that swivels around to cover his shins doesn't quite have the clearance to get past his knees, meaning it has to flex a bit. This wouldn't be so bad if the piece wasn't also clear plastic. The result is that one of the thigh covers snapped off when I tried transforming him, and so now his legs are permanently in the beast mode configuration, giving him a case of thunder thighs.

Not that I mind thunder thighs of course...

More tragically is Animated Arcee and her dainty thumbs, which will snap at the drop of a hat. GlauG was working on replacement forearms with balljointed wrists, but last time I checked he had to take them off sale due to, ironically enough, fragile thumbs. The really annoying thing is that her hands are 5mm compatible, so if they'd just given her regular 5mm sword grips then she wouldn't have the problem.

I also forgot my first casualty of war: G1 Grimlock's tiny T-Rex arms! Oy vey, azohen tuchus!

Given my comparatively brief time in collecting, I can name all the ones that have broken for me.

First: Transformers 2007 Movie Deluxe bumblebee. The automorph in his chest broken within a month. Now I need to manually reach up into his chest to help transform him. Very delicate process.



Next up: Jazz from the same movie and line. The chest compartment does not work. Broke the internal mechanisms. Mainly sticks to alt mode now as that looks the coolest and it is a chore to transform him.


Haven't had any real issues besides these 2, but then again, only been collecting them since 2007

Wow I never knew the G2 Slingshot was a universal defect. Sure mine crumbled early on, but I just never bothered to get another. Eventually I sold my G2 Superion several years later.

But I've heard the gold pieces on Black Zarak are particularly vulnerable as well. Also, as a kid, I remember one friend having Swooop, and another breaking his chest piece in attempting to transform him. My other friend (who's toy it was) did not cry, but instead decided to punch my other friend (who broke it) square in the gut. Because it was at my house, there were parents involved...man was that a mess