The Energon Pub

I was excited to have found TFA Electrostatic Soundwave at Y'All-Mart yesterday, however, the excitement turned to rage when I opened him and Ratbat's head promptly broke off. All I had done was twist it AS IT'S MEANT TO BE TWISTED into robot mode position and boom...decapitation.
I returned it to Y'all-Mart today and was relieved to see just one more on the pegs, so I exchanged them. Upon inspecting it at home, though, I could see that the ball joint post was already twisted and ragged looking. I decided not to mess with it but, as I was positioning Ratbat on Soundwave's arm, his head broke off yet again. I can see the problem-those monkeys at the factory jammed a ball that was too big into a socket that was much too small. Then they gave it a lovely twist so that the head was in the right position to fit in the package, thus twisting the ball post almost completely off. This part is supposed to move freely as per the instructions, but it comes already half destroyed in the package due to defective and incompetent engineering. I have no doubt that they are all like that, so watch out.

Here's the ironic punch line: When the second Ratbat broke, I, in my fury, threw him across the room where he zinged off a wall and disappeared. A while later, I found that he had ended up on my Beast Machines shelf IN THE ARMS OF NIGHTSCREAM. I have Nightscream's arms crossed across his chest and Ratbat was splayed open and wedged beneath them like Nightscream was holding him close. What the heck are the chances of that happening?

Mine seems fine. It's a little tight, but it moves freely and the post shows no sign of stress. The Soundwave figure on the other hand didn't really fit together very well in alt mode. I didn't really care though I only bought the figure for Ratbat.

El Duque wrote:Mine seems fine. It's a little tight, but it moves freely and the post shows no sign of stress. The Soundwave figure on the other hand didn't really fit together very well in alt mode. I didn't really care though I only bought the figure for Ratbat.

Well, that's encouraging. Maybe I got part of a bad run. I think I'll try one more time, but from a different store. That might break the cycle.

The only problem I had with the original Animated Soudwave was extremely loose leg joints. Some time, a screwdriver, and a little bit of superglue fixed that problem.

I bought the Electrostatic one a couple days ago, but I haven't had the chance to free him from his plastic prison yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can dodge this particular QC bullet.

Almost every Animated figure I bought had to have something done to it to fix rampant QC issues. For some reason, I still love the Animated line.

My Ratbat is fine too. The neck is a little tight, but it's not showing and stress. The only thing that bothers me it's too thick it looks weird when Soundwave holds it.

Okay, looks like this is going to end up being a saga, or maybe an epic. A short novel at the very least.
Just got my THIRD one home today and just the process of opening the package resulted in the pitter-patter of Ratbat's head hitting the floor, pre-twisted loose courtesy of the factory. I can't really tell despite close examination if this issue exists at the store, so it makes it impossible to tell until I get home.
Ah well, after composing a stern letter to Hasbro customer service, I'm on my way to taking him back yet again.
And in another QC related issue, I just noticed that my Energon Kicker has fallen apart on the shelf due to a snapped O-ring, and there is no way to open him up to fix it.
Sometimes this hobby just SUCKS.

Cobalt Prime wrote:Okay, looks like this is going to end up being a saga, or maybe an epic. A short novel at the very least.
Just got my THIRD one home today and just the process of opening the package resulted in the pitter-patter of Ratbat's head hitting the floor, pre-twisted loose courtesy of the factory. I can't really tell despite close examination if this issue exists at the store, so it makes it impossible to tell until I get home.
Ah well, after composing a stern letter to Hasbro customer service, I'm on my way to taking him back yet again.
And in another QC related issue, I just noticed that my Energon Kicker has fallen apart on the shelf due to a snapped O-ring, and there is no way to open him up to fix it.
Sometimes this hobby just SUCKS.

Hey man I feel your pain really, I bought 2 ALternity Convoys and they both got the stomach problems whereas my ALternity Megatron seemed fine even now.. I managed to repair one but the other is broken 4ever so I put it in alt mode.. the repaired one stays in bot mode with me not gonna mess with him at all unless something random happens.. hes gonna stay in bot mode.. and yes I was in a really HUGE rage when my 2nd one broke just moments after the 1st did.. yeah this hobby does SUCKS... sometimes

freaky777 wrote:Hey man I feel your pain really, I bought 2 ALternity Convoys and they both got the stomach problems whereas my ALternity Megatron seemed fine even now.. I managed to repair one but the other is broken 4ever so I put it in alt mode.. the repaired one stays in bot mode with me not gonna mess with him at all unless something random happens.. hes gonna stay in bot mode.. and yes I was in a really HUGE rage when my 2nd one broke just moments after the 1st did.. yeah this hobby does SUCKS... sometimes

Bummer, dude!
Don't those Alternity figures cost a small fortune too? Don't know much about them but I have heard they're on the expensive side, and that makes it even worse in your case. Takes me back to the horror of the American release of Microman a couple years back with all the disintegrating ankle joints and parts cracked and rattling around in the unopened packages.

At last, closure!

I picked up ES Soundwave at the Sears I work at and upon getting him home found the Ratbat head to be tight, yet moveable, and the peg to be stress and damage free.
What a relief! Glad it's over, seeing that I have enough aggravation trying to locate the last few pieces of the Power Rangers RPM series and don't need TF troubles too.
I'm thinking that the run of ES SW that Y'All-Mart got was all defective. Watch out if you happen to buy one there.