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Sadly, only time will tell.

I'd guess that softer plastics can suffer the same issues as rubber over time. Dries out, becomes brittle, cracks, and falls apart.

Actually, that's not a case of GPS at all. It's simply the inferior plasticizer that causes it to harden while it shouldn't. It does look like GPS, but occurs way sooner. It's well documented on TFWiki.

GPS does rear its ugly head in more recent figures, as recent as 2004.

No, Sir! Not GPS.

It's one of the many reasons why I HATE PVC!

PVC, or "garbage plastic" as I less than affectionately refer to it, is the cheap, bendy vinyl that has infected the toy industry for many years and shows no sign of diminishing in its use. It is the reason why there won't be a lot left of most of our toys 30 years (or even 10!) from now, unlike older 70's and 80's toys that were made of good old solid ABS. It's cheap as heck to produce, which is why our illustrious toy companies choose to use it. It strips a toy of both quality and any kind of longevity.

I've gone on and on about this in prior posts. If there's one thing I despise as much as wasps, it's PVC. The plastic is made of several powdery compounds that are mixed in a vat at high temperature. You never get exactly the right mix of plasticizers and oils from batch to batch, so it breaks down in different ways over different periods of time. But rest assured, it WILL break down.

A prime example would be Power Ranger figures. Several of mine have had their joints simply disintegrate, despite hardly ever having been touched while they sat on their display shelves. And the timing is different each time. Newer figures have cracked in one to five years, while others from older seasons have not. Many of them start secreting their plasticizer oils, thus making the figures dusty or sticky. Many times this breaks down the paint job as well. And let's not forget how "garbage plastic" bends and deforms out of shape without provocation. Bandai makes pretty much all of their Ranger toys out of PVC, and it's one of the reasons I just gave up and stopped collecting PR altogether. Well, that and horrid distribution during RPM, but that's another story.

One of the reasons I refused to buy into the newer 3 3/4 inch GI Joes was because Hasbro had switched to PVC in their construction. The figures are beautifully detailed, but not long for this world, as they will eventually start to exhibit the effects of PVC breakdown. Several of them are bent out of shape right out of the package.

The use of "garbage plastic" in TFs, a trend that started back in the Cybertron era (Megatron's spikes and foot parts, Vector Prime's sword and wings) quite frankly has me terrified.

Sorry for your loss, man, but I hate to say there's more to come.

My crossover millenium falcon has suffered from GPS and it was made in 2006. Unfortunately I think leader class Starscream has the same plastic on it. Which has me worried since I really like that figure.

Evil_the_Nub wrote:My crossover millenium falcon has suffered from GPS and it was made in 2006. Unfortunately I think leader class Starscream has the same plastic on it. Which has me worried since I really like that figure.

What has GPS on the Falcon...?

RAcast wrote:

Evil_the_Nub wrote:My crossover millenium falcon has suffered from GPS and it was made in 2006. Unfortunately I think leader class Starscream has the same plastic on it. Which has me worried since I really like that figure.

What has GPS on the Falcon...?

Some parts on Chewbacca, like his upper arms and legs.

It's even mentioned in gallery here. http://www.seibertron.com/toys/gallery. ... &start=101

The arm broke on mine, luckily it doesn't affect the millennium falcon mode, which is where it's staying from now on.

Evil_the_Nub wrote:

RAcast wrote:

Evil_the_Nub wrote:My crossover millenium falcon has suffered from GPS and it was made in 2006. Unfortunately I think leader class Starscream has the same plastic on it. Which has me worried since I really like that figure.

What has GPS on the Falcon...?

Some parts on Chewbacca, like his upper arms and legs.

It's even mentioned in gallery here. http://www.seibertron.com/toys/gallery. ... &start=101

The arm broke on mine, luckily it doesn't affect the millennium falcon mode, which is where it's staying from now on.

_____________________________________________

I've never experienced GPS myself, but this is my 4th time hearing about the subject, and I'm getting paranoid about my Cybertron Defense Scattorshot for some reason.

These are the most recent confirmed cases in Modern TF lines (RiD and later):

RiD Megabolt (2003)
The teal, green and gold repaint is a milder case, the only parts that can go kablooey are the peg holes in the cannon, and possibly the arms.

Armada Super Base Optimus Prime (2002)
This case is a bit debatable. It's not just the possibility of GPS in his regular robot mode arm hinges, but also the construction itself. You be the judge.

Universe Micromaster Superion (2004)
Just be careful with the gold-colored hip part, especially the peg the that Ro-Tor attaches to.

One to look out for is Movie Protoform Starscream. He does have gold-colored plastic, but not all such plastic is prone to GPS. Only time will tell.

PrimeStriker wrote:

Evil_the_Nub wrote:

RAcast wrote:

Evil_the_Nub wrote:My crossover millenium falcon has suffered from GPS and it was made in 2006. Unfortunately I think leader class Starscream has the same plastic on it. Which has me worried since I really like that figure.

What has GPS on the Falcon...?

Some parts on Chewbacca, like his upper arms and legs.

It's even mentioned in gallery here. http://www.seibertron.com/toys/gallery. ... &start=101

The arm broke on mine, luckily it doesn't affect the millennium falcon mode, which is where it's staying from now on.

_____________________________________________

I've never experienced GPS myself, but this is my 4th time hearing about the subject, and I'm getting paranoid about my Cybertron Defense Scattorshot for some reason.

I'm a proud, if sad, owner of G2 Slingshot. I now have a ziplock baggie dedicated to his poor golden bits. It really is a shame, poor guy. When I got into collecting and dug him out of my basement, I was quite surprised that he was almost all in one spot, and he's still in pretty good shape, relatively speaking.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:These are the most recent confirmed cases in Modern TF lines (RiD and later):

RiD Megabolt (2003)
The teal, green and gold repaint is a milder case, the only parts that can go kablooey are the peg holes in the cannon, and possibly the arms.

Armada Super Base Optimus Prime (2002)
This case is a bit debatable. It's not just the possibility of GPS in his regular robot mode arm hinges, but also the construction itself. You be the judge.

Universe Micromaster Superion (2004)
Just be careful with the gold-colored hip part, especially the peg the that Ro-Tor attaches to.

One to look out for is Movie Protoform Starscream. He does have gold-colored plastic, but not all such plastic is prone to GPS. Only time will tell.

Could have sworn that I read somewhere about Movie Protoform Starscream suffering from GPS.

WolfDawg wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:These are the most recent confirmed cases in Modern TF lines (RiD and later):

RiD Megabolt (2003)
The teal, green and gold repaint is a milder case, the only parts that can go kablooey are the peg holes in the cannon, and possibly the arms.

Armada Super Base Optimus Prime (2002)
This case is a bit debatable. It's not just the possibility of GPS in his regular robot mode arm hinges, but also the construction itself. You be the judge.

Universe Micromaster Superion (2004)
Just be careful with the gold-colored hip part, especially the peg the that Ro-Tor attaches to.

One to look out for is Movie Protoform Starscream. He does have gold-colored plastic, but not all such plastic is prone to GPS. Only time will tell.

Could have sworn that I read somewhere about Movie Protoform Starscream suffering from GPS.

I dunno. I realize they degrade at different rates but I just had a look at mine & moved his limbs about. No issues to be found. I hope it stays that way >.<

My protoform Starscream's little shoulder blade thing did break off a month or two ago. I don't know it it was GPS or because it was so thin and delicate. Might be a little of both.

The thumb on my Protoform SS snapped clean off (no jagged/stretched edges, no smaller chips) with no obvious warning. Not sure if that's GPS or just something like Animated Arcee. The joints in the limbs on Proto-Screamer are so absurdly strong I can see him breaking apart regardless of plastic quality.

I really hope Leader Starscream isn't prone to GPS. He's, like, one of the best figures in a long time.

camzilla51 wrote:

I just checked mine and he's fine. Perhaps because I painted mine he won't suffer the same fate?

Heh, ironically the tail of the mini-blackout-scorponok on mine did break... I forgot how it broke... but I was probably messing around too much with it...

camzilla51 wrote:I did do that with the tiny one that came with 2007 Blackout, so it's not all bad.

So did I!

Yeah, the Protoform Starscream has records of breaking. It's rare, but it does happen.

The plastic in Leader Starscream has a slightly different feel than other GPS prone items, so there's a good chance he'll survive.

The current problems are the aforementioned rubbery plastics and another thing that's been rearing it's ugly head is TPS Translucent Plastic Syndrome. Figures with clear plastic, especially those used on joints are breaking. A good number of A/E/C trilogy Mini-Cons are literally falling apart as we speak. My Star Saber Minis are afflicted.

I think something is very wrong with my leader Starscream. ALL its screws have rusted, and looks really ugly. The ports where you put the missiles in Jet mode have cracked too... I have transformed him around 5 times back and forth max.

Stored in the same conditions as every other leader figure, including the much older Movie 1 Prime/Megs. Both who are still perfectly fine.

The rust is really looking bad, at least it's not too visible in either modes, unless you are looking for it.

Autobot032 wrote:Yeah, the Protoform Starscream has records of breaking. It's rare, but it does happen.

The plastic in Leader Starscream has a slightly different feel than other GPS prone items, so there's a good chance he'll survive.

The current problems are the aforementioned rubbery plastics and another thing that's been rearing it's ugly head is TPS Translucent Plastic Syndrome. Figures with clear plastic, especially those used on joints are breaking. A good number of A/E/C trilogy Mini-Cons are literally falling apart as we speak. My Star Saber Minis are afflicted.

Now that you mention it I have noticed that translucent plastic is prone to cracking pretty easily. I've never connected the dots, but I see it now. My RiD Prowl, Armada Star Saber, and Universe Hot Shot have all had their translucent parts crack or break. That's just what I can recall off the top of my head, it's probably happened to a few more figures.

Evil_the_Nub wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:Yeah, the Protoform Starscream has records of breaking. It's rare, but it does happen.

The plastic in Leader Starscream has a slightly different feel than other GPS prone items, so there's a good chance he'll survive.

The current problems are the aforementioned rubbery plastics and another thing that's been rearing it's ugly head is TPS Translucent Plastic Syndrome. Figures with clear plastic, especially those used on joints are breaking. A good number of A/E/C trilogy Mini-Cons are literally falling apart as we speak. My Star Saber Minis are afflicted.

Now that you mention it I have noticed that translucent plastic is prone to cracking pretty easily. I've never connected the dots, but I see it now. My RiD Prowl, Armada Star Saber, and Universe Hot Shot have all had their translucent parts crack or break. That's just what I can recall off the top of my head, it's probably happened to a few more figures.

You may not have noticed it, but although translucent plastic looks prettier on some toys, it's way less bendable than conventional plastics, meaning it'll crack sooner under stress. It's like bread: new bread is bendable, but old stale bread is hard and thus breaks into chunks. That's why on most clear toys, the major joints are actually opaque.

The Gold-plastic mix problem on Armada OP is also evident on Energon Scorponok and its Takara counterpart, on the blue-painted gold front connecting piece between the shoulders and the torso. The worse part is that it is exacerbated by poor design, being too thin to support the stresses of transforming to Jet Mode, and results in both pieces snapping off clean and stress breaks on various areas of the part. I don't know though if it was fixed for Cybertron Dark Skorponok, as I've never owned one and only broken the other two.