The Energon Pub

[EmirateXaaron]

Shockwave and Ultra Magnus are both very solid figures, literally and figuratively. Neither of them have any "Oh my god how did they engineer THAT" moments like some other entries in the line but they both get the job done perfectly well. I love the two but some other people have raised some small complaints: UM's trailer doesn't turn into a smaller white Optimus Prime (instead it integrates into the transformation, to the extent that you don't need to partsform anything during his transformation) and SW is a paler shade of purple than some people expected and the logo on his chest is a (owner-applied) sticker rather than a tampograph.

Thanks for the feedback! I don't mind the lack of a white OP with UM, and I actually like the stickers on Shockwave, as it lets me put the Sunbow decals on. As much as I hate to say it, the alternatives are sounding better and better.

[Mindmaster]

My Megatron came in this morning. After handling and transforming him, I haven't had any major QC issues aside from very, very minute scuffing of the barrel from applying the silencer. I'm just in love with this thing.

I would've waited an eternity for this [display]...

Did yours have the barrel plug? If so, can you comment on it? I see it's not there in the photo.

My copy did not come with the orange cap. Anyone that ordered from The Chosen Prime (like I did) did not get hit with it.

[ZeroGFrame]

My Megatron came in this morning. After handling and transforming him, I haven't had any major QC issues aside from very, very minute scuffing of the barrel from applying the silencer. I'm just in love with this thing.

I would've waited an eternity for this [display]...

Did yours have the barrel plug? If so, can you comment on it? I see it's not there in the photo.

My copy did not come with the orange cap. Anyone that ordered from The Chosen Prime (like I did) did not get hit with it.

Wow, lucky. I wonder how they managed to get it through customs... well, here's hoping the HLJ version is as easy to remove as the original MP Megatron's plug. ^_^

[Immortal Starscream]

My Megatron came in this morning. After handling and transforming him, I haven't had any major QC issues aside from very, very minute scuffing of the barrel from applying the silencer. I'm just in love with this thing.

I would've waited an eternity for this [display]...

Did yours have the barrel plug? If so, can you comment on it? I see it's not there in the photo.

My copy did not come with the orange cap. Anyone that ordered from The Chosen Prime (like I did) did not get hit with it.

Wow, lucky. I wonder how they managed to get it through customs... well, here's hoping the HLJ version is as easy to remove as the original MP Megatron's plug. ^_^

usually if your just buying 1 it will pass customs just fine. just like buying something off ebay from overseas. unless its something blatantly illegal, like loaded firearms, bombs, toxic material, un-certified foods etc, shouldn't have any problems. at least in the U.S. but bulk imports, particularly to a resale shop, like Bigbadtoystore, will be checked and confiscated if they don't meet american toy laws.

not saying its not possible to be confiscated and fined, because it is still possible, just unlikely.

[Bumblebee21]

And this is one reason that puts me off buying the few Masterpiece figures I do like the look of (such as Shockwave, does he have any QC issues?) You'd think for the crazy costs of these figures they could have great quality control.

shockwave had no issues
it started with ratchet with paint flaking
mp-31 and 32 have none afaik
mp-33 has none either
mp-34 breaks easily
mp-35 has paint chipping on the crane and mp-36.... well you know

[Evil Eye]

Oh christ. Well that decides that- Despotron it is.

[dragons]

Oh great another glass megatron master piece figure I don't care about paint chipping as long figure stays in tact in one piece that be my mains concern paint chip who cares it's no stature it's figure it breaks my main problem main concern Takara should found this out before figure was made.,

Sounds like apple iPhone ordeal people who work with metal know copper is and alumnimun is soft metal to be able bend with bare hands what are iPhones continue to made of aluminum people always boast about apple but there products over priced and cheaply made and shouldn't put phones in pockets or they bend use phone case safer

[RiddlerJ]

Another fragile Masterpiece Megatron

[Emerje]

Shockwave did have two issues, they just weren't as prevalent as other figures mentioned. The die cast swing arm that connects the barrel is capable of paint chipping (however minor). But many of us complained about an issue where the leg halves wont tab together properly. They'll stay together through the friction of the joint, but wont lock in place. For most people it wasn't an issue, for some people like me only one leg had this problem, and there were some reports of people with both legs not tabbing.

If a new out of the box product breaks during normal usage, that's a defective product that the manufacturer needs to fix the issues with and replace.

Takara Tomy is at no obligation to repair or replace exported items, that obligation is only to people within their sales region (Japan and parts of Asia). It's a risk we take in importing, but if someone buys from a Japanese shop they have a better chance if they contact that shop instead. I know HLJ has been good about that and I think AmiAmi changed their policy a few years ago (they used to outright refuse to replace damaged products, there would be a card in your box saying so).

Emerje

[william-james88]

Shockwave did have two issues, they just weren't as prevalent as other figures mentioned. The die cast swing arm that connects the barrel is capable of paint chipping (however minor). But many of us complained about an issue where the leg halves wont tab together properly. They'll stay together through the friction of the joint, but wont lock in place. For most people it wasn't an issue, for some people like me only one leg had this problem, and there were some reports of people with both legs not tabbing.

If a new out of the box product breaks during normal usage, that's a defective product that the manufacturer needs to fix the issues with and replace.

Takara Tomy is at no obligation to repair or replace exported items, that obligation is only to people within their sales region (Japan and parts of Asia). It's a risk we take in importing, but if someone buys from a Japanese shop they have a better chance if they contact that shop instead. I know HLJ has been good about that and I think AmiAmi changed their policy a few years ago (they used to outright refuse to replace damaged products, there would be a card in your box saying so).

Emerje

Amiami will help you if its not a widespread issue. meaning they would be willing to give you a replacement figure if your figure had an isolated defect. If its a widespread thing, like all megatrons paint chipping, then no since the replacement figure they give you would end up with the same problem.

And yeah, what you write about takara's policy for customer service is 100% right. They will only deal with customers belonging to their area of operations, hence why their customer service department only handles issues in japanese.

[g1transformers]

They don't make them like they used to in the 80s. Design has improved. Quality is a toilet that can't stop flushing. Sigh. Changes mind about getting him...moving on.

[Big Grim]

I've also been debating on picking up Ultra Magnus, as he's one of my favorite Autobots.

Ultra Magnus is a fantastic figure both looks and build wish! He also has an incredibly fun and clever transformation. I love him.

[claborn]

Some people tend to wreck their cars, some people replace their gaming consoles and controllers multiple times and some people tend to break their transformers.

I've never had issues with my figures to the extreme others tend to so with that said, i'm about to place my order right now!

[Bumblebee21]

Shockwave did have two issues, they just weren't as prevalent as other figures mentioned. The die cast swing arm that connects the barrel is capable of paint chipping (however minor). But many of us complained about an issue where the leg halves wont tab together properly. They'll stay together through the friction of the joint, but wont lock in place. For most people it wasn't an issue, for some people like me only one leg had this problem, and there were some reports of people with both legs not tabbing.

If a new out of the box product breaks during normal usage, that's a defective product that the manufacturer needs to fix the issues with and replace.

Takara Tomy is at no obligation to repair or replace exported items, that obligation is only to people within their sales region (Japan and parts of Asia). It's a risk we take in importing, but if someone buys from a Japanese shop they have a better chance if they contact that shop instead. I know HLJ has been good about that and I think AmiAmi changed their policy a few years ago (they used to outright refuse to replace damaged products, there would be a card in your box saying so).

Emerje

Amiami will help you if its not a widespread issue. meaning they would be willing to give you a replacement figure if your figure had an isolated defect. If its a widespread thing, like all megatrons paint chipping, then no since the replacement figure they give you would end up with the same problem.

And yeah, what you write about takara's policy for customer service is 100% right. They will only deal with customers belonging to their area of operations, hence why their customer service department only handles issues in japanese.

you would think hasbro would be able to help but no. they give you some weird website that says takara but cant get you any contact information.

[sol magnus]

but honestly MP figures aren't meant to be "played" with. They're for collectors, and meant to look good and that's all.

MP 10 and Wheeljack are a blast to play with and are as durable as any other TF figure.

yeah. these are toys. if they werent meant to transform then they should be statues.
they are called transformers for a reason.

A toy, any toy, whether or not it is a "Transformer" is meant to be enjoyed as it's owner chooses to enjoy it. Any outside instance of telling someone how to play with their toys is intellectually dishonest.

[Diem]

They don't make them like they used to in the 80s.

Toys have always had design flaws and breakage issues, it's just more noticeable when it's an expensive figure and there's more knowledge of widespread issues thanks to our good friend, Johnny Internet.

Some people tend to wreck their cars, some people replace their gaming consoles and controllers multiple times and some people tend to break their transformers.

I've never had issues with my figures to the extreme others tend to so with that said, i'm about to place my order right now!

It is tempting to believe that the people reporting issues have hands made of balloon animals and live on active fault lines, and I'm certainly not above jumping to the conclusion that these breakages come at least partly from hamfistedness. That said there are some toys that are destined to just break (Sentai fans will instantly know where I'm at when I bring up Gobusters and Kyoryuger) whether you're transforming them in a sanitized lab with tweezers or on a roller coaster as part of an elaborate dare.

[Actar]

I'm sorry, but how is this a wide-spread issue if there are only less than a handful of reports? Not to mention, the breakage points are all different in each case.

Regarding the paint, you can't expect the paint on a transforming toy, that's premised on parts moving and rubbing against each other, to stay pristine, can you? Especially not when the figure has 99% of its surface area painted... This is one of the reasons I was an advocate of flat matte grey plastic, but then people would have complained about how "cheap" he was, just like they did Shockwave...

[R-850-A]

Hi, too bad that my first post is about this , there goes the "long life design", I really liked the Megs design, but I wanted to get first the MP5.

Any way, I have the MP 1, and I had an issue six years ago, I don't know if that happened to any of you, a piece of the MP 1 Convoy's knee broke, and it took me more time finding a solution than fixing the problem , I use one of the plastic locks of the MP to make a patch and not only get repaired well, it was and is still funtional, even when the other side of the same knee broke almost a year ago, I had to made a larger patch. As a result, the knee is still operational, and less hard to move, I add a picture if you want to know.

As a chronicle, in some other products case, a friend of mine give as a present a couple of Gears of War figures, in this case, Marcus Fénix with a Locust drone, the problem was that Marcus's elbow was broken, and it had a plastic equivalent to a rivet, when I fix it, I had to cut off the head of that rivet, put the elbow back, and the rivet's head too, and even when the piece became fully operational again, I discovered that the elbow was too hard to move, as some Masterpieces figures. In another case, when I bought the collectors edition of the Batman Arkham Origins game (the one that comes with a Joker led statue) I saw pictures of trouble with the circuit that melted the batteries box, in my case I didn't had that problem, instead I broke the switch two years later, but I was able to repair it.

The problem with some of this figures, is that some of their pieces are too hard too move, and or maybe, the material is not good enough, and that is why they broke. Anyway, I got an idea, let's make a broken pieces database, to not only prevent this tragedies, but also how to fixed, what do you think?

Greetings

[huryochagi]

Thanks a lot for this info, Chosen Prime. My MP-36 arrived today. Megatron's left shoulder already had a paint chip and his nose has very tiny ones. I transformed him to 80%. His legs were completely stuck and I didn't want to break him. I checked out if there was some early user feedback on the site and saw the warning thread from Chosen Prime. I was shocked to see that his leg joint, shoulder joint and loop all broke in the photos.

I won't take any risk so I transformed him back to robot mode and use him to pose. That was my original intention anyway. I wish they would use die cast for all the joints and fragile parts to make him unbreakable. I would have no problem paying more if they did.

[william-james88]

They don't make them like they used to in the 80s.

Thank God

[Bumblebee21]

optibotimus got his megatron from bbts
heres what the orange plug looks like
https://twitter.com/optibotimus/status/ ... 2086913026
heres what he said about it^^


pic below v

[g1transformers]

They don't make them like they used to in the 80s.

Thank God

LOL! Yeah clearly I played with my toys with a lot more respect than that! LOL! Also put into perspective a $10 toy from the 80s vs a $200+ MP-36. I would not cry about the $10 toy.

[Diem]

They don't make them like they used to in the 80s.

Thank God

*image of broked transformies*

LOL! Yeah clearly I played with my toys with a lot more respect than that! LOL!

Don't forget the king of 80s breakage:

[DeathReviews]

Thanks a lot for this info, Chosen Prime. My MP-36 arrived today. Megatron's left shoulder already had a paint chip and his nose has very tiny ones. I transformed him to 80%. His legs were completely stuck and I didn't want to break him. I checked out if there was some early user feedback on the site and saw the warning thread from Chosen Prime. I was shocked to see that his leg joint, shoulder joint and loop all broke in the photos.

I won't take any risk so I transformed him back to robot mode and use him to pose. That was my original intention anyway. I wish they would use die cast for all the joints and fragile parts to make him unbreakable. I would have no problem paying more if they did.

That being the case, I intend to wait for some non-transformable uber Megatron figure to come out like unto Hero of Steel Optimus. If I'm going to leave him in robot mode anyway, I may as well get one designed for that

[Kurona]

They don't make them like they used to in the 80s.

Thank God

Oh lordy, somehow that's a lot harder to look at than any case of GPS or modern toy breakage; and these aren't even figures I've ever played with! I think it's the extra rust and dirt on them, gives them an extra nightmarish feel. Like I'm staring at a field of Cybertronian corpses.