The Energon Pub

[Emerje]

Just a word of warning, there's been a LOT of reports of the abs on Prime breaking and cracking, sometimes right in the box. Apparently the gray part that slides up and down the body has too much friction cracked on assembly. Some people have opened up the body and found the fins that cause the friction all bent out of shape.

Emerje

What's more, there is a doable fix for this.

I saw those pictures, but for a lot of people it seems to be too late before they even take it out of the box.

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for a first email...

Emerje

[Sabrblade]

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for a first email...

Emerje

Me too. The last email I got from Hasbro Pulse was an announcement of a new She-Hulk figure. Not exactly the email I was hoping for.

[Immortal Starscream]

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for a first email...

Emerje

Me too. The last email I got from Hasbro Pulse was an announcement of a new She-Hulk figure. Not exactly the email I was hoping for.

I got mine over the weekend, came shipped in a box packed in a box with corner guards on all the nested boxes. then I got the shipping notice from hasbro, followed by the "your package has been delivered" I'm filming some reviews now.

[ScottyP]

Just a word of warning, there's been a LOT of reports of the abs on Prime breaking and cracking, sometimes right in the box. Apparently the gray part that slides up and down the body has too much friction cracked on assembly. Some people have opened up the body and found the fins that cause the friction all bent out of shape.

Yeah they messed up the measurement on something by the tiniest degree, but when 90% of the assembly work is plastic on plastic, that can have nasty effects.

When the toy comes in, partially transform the cab of OP to inspect it but don't use the torso slider. At all. Don't try it. It has the high ground.

Assuming it isn't cracked already:
Tools you will need

• Small phillips-head screwdriver
• Sandpaper or sanding sticks, maybe something around 400 grit
• Optional - a second sandpaper or stick at a higher grit to do final cleanup. I used 1,000 grit
• Towel or cotton swab to cleanup any plastic dust

Steps for Omega Prime Preventive Maintenance

1. Remove the head + backpack assembly. This is three screws. There is a pin in there, but it doesn't matter because only one end of it is gnarled. It will split down the middle.
2. Look at OP's back. Remove the two small screws from the back of the gray piece that connects to the arms. These two are smaller than the others, so set them aside in a different pile.
3. While still looking at OP's back, remove the four screws holding the torso together and separate the front and back sides.
4. Look at what's still assembled. The dark gray piece that was partially inside the torso is our target for this mission. This is where you should put the torso parts back on, but only one at a time just to get a feel for the fit. Notice how that dark gray piece feels way too tight? That's our problem. Those red inner teeth are going to be the minimum of what gets destroyed without doing this fix.
5. Hopefully obvious but just in case - set both torso parts aside again.
6. Optional but helpful - Remove the two screws from the middle joint that holds the pieces which slide in bot mode/fold over each other in cab mode, then separate the red middle piece and remove the gray part that is inside the torso when assembled.
7. Sand down the sides of said dark gray part a little bit.
8. Test fit it in the front and back of the torso to see if the dark gray piece can sit snugly without having to apply excessive force.
9. Test sliding action as best you can to see if the dark gray piece can slide snugly but easily without a massive amount of friction.
10. Repeat step 7 until satisfied with steps 8 and 9. This will take some iteration and you may have to judge it on vibes. You can do it.
11. When satisfied you've sanded enough, grab a high grit and polish up the sides a but, then remove any extra plastic dust. Don't breathe this! Remember, you're only cleaning up edges here, not grinding down further.
12. Put things back together, curse Hasbro, put it all down for a few hours, then come back and enjoy. Or skip some of those steps, up to you.

It's an easier fix than all that text makes it look. Annoying, but easy. Good luck out there y'all.

[First-Aid]

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for a first email...

Emerje

Me too. The last email I got from Hasbro Pulse was an announcement of a new She-Hulk figure. Not exactly the email I was hoping for.

I got mine over the weekend, came shipped in a box packed in a box with corner guards on all the nested boxes. then I got the shipping notice from hasbro, followed by the "your package has been delivered" I'm filming some reviews now.

i never received the "warning" email. I just got a shipping notice. it arrived today and I'm already at work so I can't call in sick. Apparently patients get upset when you randomly take a day off work...

[First-Aid]

Just a word of warning, there's been a LOT of reports of the abs on Prime breaking and cracking, sometimes right in the box. Apparently the gray part that slides up and down the body has too much friction cracked on assembly. Some people have opened up the body and found the fins that cause the friction all bent out of shape.

Yeah they messed up the measurement on something by the tiniest degree, but when 90% of the assembly work is plastic on plastic, that can have nasty effects.

When the toy comes in, partially transform the cab of OP to inspect it but don't use the torso slider. At all. Don't try it. It has the high ground.

Assuming it isn't cracked already:
Tools you will need

• Small phillips-head screwdriver
• Sandpaper or sanding sticks, maybe something around 400 grit
• Optional - a second sandpaper or stick at a higher grit to do final cleanup. I used 1,000 grit
• Towel or cotton swab to cleanup any plastic dust

Steps for Omega Prime Preventive Maintenance

1. Remove the head + backpack assembly. This is three screws. There is a pin in there, but it doesn't matter because only one end of it is gnarled. It will split down the middle.
2. Look at OP's back. Remove the two small screws from the back of the gray piece that connects to the arms. These two are smaller than the others, so set them aside in a different pile.
3. While still looking at OP's back, remove the four screws holding the torso together and separate the front and back sides.
4. Look at what's still assembled. The dark gray piece that was partially inside the torso is our target for this mission. This is where you should put the torso parts back on, but only one at a time just to get a feel for the fit. Notice how that dark gray piece feels way too tight? That's our problem. Those red inner teeth are going to be the minimum of what gets destroyed without doing this fix.
5. Hopefully obvious but just in case - set both torso parts aside again.
6. Optional but helpful - Remove the two screws from the middle joint that holds the pieces which slide in bot mode/fold over each other in cab mode, then separate the red middle piece and remove the gray part that is inside the torso when assembled.
7. Sand down the sides of said dark gray part a little bit.
8. Test fit it in the front and back of the torso to see if the dark gray piece can sit snugly without having to apply excessive force.
9. Test sliding action as best you can to see if the dark gray piece can slide snugly but easily without a massive amount of friction.
10. Repeat step 7 until satisfied with steps 8 and 9. This will take some iteration and you may have to judge it on vibes. You can do it.
11. When satisfied you've sanded enough, grab a high grit and polish up the sides a but, then remove any extra plastic dust. Don't breathe this! Remember, you're only cleaning up edges here, not grinding down further.
12. Put things back together, curse Hasbro, put it all down for a few hours, then come back and enjoy. Or skip some of those steps, up to you.

[*]Trudge exhaustedly to your home bar, pour three fingers of a good 12 year old single malt (or some cheap-a$$ burny whiskey) and down it in a single gulp while letting all the tension flow from your body.

I fixed the last step

[Immortal Starscream]

thankfully mine has not had this issue. Seems to be a tolerance issue as opposed to a full defect. I posted my review of the optimus on youtube and in the review forums https://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/haslab-omega-prime-p2190208.php#p2190208

[Counterpunch]

I successfully did the fix on my two copies. One had pristine internal tabs, the other was wrecked on one side.

Scotty's write up is on point. It's easy to do, just need a little patience.

Don't compress the spine until you've done the fix. It's not worth the heartburn of a busted toy.

All that aside...

The figures are really impressive and its nice to have an Omega Prime that stands tall and doesn't wobble at all.

[-Kanrabat-]

Is it just some "lightning in a bottle" situation, when only a dozen of cases out of 20000 get reposted, making the problems bigger than what they are, of is it some genuine, TRULY mass-produced missasemblies?

[Ironhidensh]

Just a word of warning, there's been a LOT of reports of the abs on Prime breaking and cracking, sometimes right in the box. Apparently the gray part that slides up and down the body has too much friction cracked on assembly. Some people have opened up the body and found the fins that cause the friction all bent out of shape.

Yeah they messed up the measurement on something by the tiniest degree, but when 90% of the assembly work is plastic on plastic, that can have nasty effects.

When the toy comes in, partially transform the cab of OP to inspect it but don't use the torso slider. At all. Don't try it. It has the high ground.

Assuming it isn't cracked already:
Tools you will need

• Small phillips-head screwdriver
• Sandpaper or sanding sticks, maybe something around 400 grit
• Optional - a second sandpaper or stick at a higher grit to do final cleanup. I used 1,000 grit
• Towel or cotton swab to cleanup any plastic dust

Steps for Omega Prime Preventive Maintenance

1. Remove the head + backpack assembly. This is three screws. There is a pin in there, but it doesn't matter because only one end of it is gnarled. It will split down the middle.
2. Look at OP's back. Remove the two small screws from the back of the gray piece that connects to the arms. These two are smaller than the others, so set them aside in a different pile.
3. While still looking at OP's back, remove the four screws holding the torso together and separate the front and back sides.
4. Look at what's still assembled. The dark gray piece that was partially inside the torso is our target for this mission. This is where you should put the torso parts back on, but only one at a time just to get a feel for the fit. Notice how that dark gray piece feels way too tight? That's our problem. Those red inner teeth are going to be the minimum of what gets destroyed without doing this fix.
5. Hopefully obvious but just in case - set both torso parts aside again.
6. Optional but helpful - Remove the two screws from the middle joint that holds the pieces which slide in bot mode/fold over each other in cab mode, then separate the red middle piece and remove the gray part that is inside the torso when assembled.
7. Sand down the sides of said dark gray part a little bit.
8. Test fit it in the front and back of the torso to see if the dark gray piece can sit snugly without having to apply excessive force.
9. Test sliding action as best you can to see if the dark gray piece can slide snugly but easily without a massive amount of friction.
10. Repeat step 7 until satisfied with steps 8 and 9. This will take some iteration and you may have to judge it on vibes. You can do it.
11. When satisfied you've sanded enough, grab a high grit and polish up the sides a but, then remove any extra plastic dust. Don't breathe this! Remember, you're only cleaning up edges here, not grinding down further.
12. Put things back together, curse Hasbro, put it all down for a few hours, then come back and enjoy. Or skip some of those steps, up to you.

It's an easier fix than all that text makes it look. Annoying, but easy. Good luck out there y'all.

I got mine in the mail today. Beautiful box, and the vehicle modes look great! I haven't checked the chest of Prime yet, but once the kids are in bed, I'll be sitting down to do this fix tonight, just to be safe.

Looks straight forward enough, and I've done more complicated fixes in the past.

[ScottyP]

Is it just some "lightning in a bottle" situation, when only a dozen of cases out of 20000 get reposted, making the problems bigger than what they are, of is it some genuine, TRULY mass-produced missasemblies?

I think every copy should have the preventive sanding maintenance done to it. It's an engineering issue, assembly issue, or a little bit of both.

I am genuinely worried that folks saying things to the effect of "oh my copy's fine and it slides ok" 1) got a non-cracked chest out of the box and 2) are probably using their man-strength without realizing it while the insides of the torso are getting shredded to bits.

Don't trust Hasbro to do the right thing here, they got their money 18 months ago. Take the extra 30 minutes to open it up and save yourself the heartbreak.

[-Kanrabat-]

I didn't paid attention to HasLab Deathsaurus. Did it too, had issues?

If yes, this is a very bad prospect for the upcoming Liokaiser and all future Haslabs.

's reputation is on the line.

[ScottyP]

I didn't paid attention to HasLab Deathsaurus. Did it too, had issues?

Nope, Deathsaurus was great. Honestly one of the nicest quality TF toys I've handled in years. I'm sure there were some folks that had problems, but they were the handful-out-of-20,000 sorts of things.

[First-Aid]

Got mine yesterday. The sliding mechanism is a little tight but moved nicely. Prime's abs are perfect.


MY abs....not so much...

[ScottyP]

The sliding mechanism is a little tight but moved nicely.

Probably because it's grinding the teeth down inside ><

[Sabrblade]

Yeah, people need to actually look at the photos of what the inside of the toy's torso looks like. The engineering design of those teeth holding the spine slider in place looks like a disaster waiting to happen on every copy. It was a very bad design choice. I don't know what they were thinking not putting in a more securely designed rail for the slider to move along.

[william-james88]

There is a major issue with the torso sliding mechanism on the Haslab Omega Prime, which is causing internal breakage and cracks on the abdominal area. While the severity of results will differ from copy to copy, it is a structural issue, and anyone with the toy will see that this specific area of the toy requires more force than it should. Some people have opened up the body and found the fins that cause the friction all bent out of shape. We have images from various fans like Optionzero showing that.








Fellow Seibertronian ScottyP has a detailed fix below that should be done before attempting to transform the toy.

Yeah they messed up the measurement on something by the tiniest degree, but when 90% of the assembly work is plastic on plastic, that can have nasty effects.

When the toy comes in, partially transform the cab of OP to inspect it but don't use the torso slider. At all. Don't try it. It has the high ground.

Assuming it isn't cracked already:
Tools you will need

• Small phillips-head screwdriver
• Sandpaper or sanding sticks, maybe something around 400 grit
• Optional - a second sandpaper or stick at a higher grit to do final cleanup. I used 1,000 grit
• Towel or cotton swab to cleanup any plastic dust

Steps for Omega Prime Preventive Maintenance

1. Remove the head + backpack assembly. This is three screws. There is a pin in there, but it doesn't matter because only one end of it is gnarled. It will split down the middle.
2. Look at OP's back. Remove the two small screws from the back of the gray piece that connects to the arms. These two are smaller than the others, so set them aside in a different pile.
3. While still looking at OP's back, remove the four screws holding the torso together and separate the front and back sides.
4. Look at what's still assembled. The dark gray piece that was partially inside the torso is our target for this mission. This is where you should put the torso parts back on, but only one at a time just to get a feel for the fit. Notice how that dark gray piece feels way too tight? That's our problem. Those red inner teeth are going to be the minimum of what gets destroyed without doing this fix.
5. Hopefully obvious but just in case - set both torso parts aside again.
6. Optional but helpful - Remove the two screws from the middle joint that holds the pieces which slide in bot mode/fold over each other in cab mode, then separate the red middle piece and remove the gray part that is inside the torso when assembled.
7. Sand down the sides of said dark gray part a little bit.
8. Test fit it in the front and back of the torso to see if the dark gray piece can sit snugly without having to apply excessive force.
9. Test sliding action as best you can to see if the dark gray piece can slide snugly but easily without a massive amount of friction.
10. Repeat step 7 until satisfied with steps 8 and 9. This will take some iteration and you may have to judge it on vibes. You can do it.
11. When satisfied you've sanded enough, grab a high grit and polish up the sides a but, then remove any extra plastic dust. Don't breathe this! Remember, you're only cleaning up edges here, not grinding down further.
12. Put things back together, curse Hasbro, put it all down for a few hours, then come back and enjoy. Or skip some of those steps, up to you.

It's an easier fix than all that text makes it look. Annoying, but easy. Good luck out there y'all.

[Blackstreak]

The high ground...that's hilarious. Especially when having the high ground in actual combat is not an advantage. Aside from this Star Wars inaccuracy, I am sorry to hear such an expensive piece of plastic is engineered badly. All those counting on this being a future investment (i.e. profit for resale) must be disappointed.

[Bumblevivisector]

And here I still haven't gotten around to drilling out that slot on Star Saber. That should be a nice warm-up for all this.

In a way, it's fortunate this is an toy that will only be bought by collectors who might actually have the patience to perform this level of plastic surgery, rather than a mass release. Still, I'm suddenly really worried about the future of LioKaiser.

[Sabrblade]

Additional images from OptionZero, particularly pertaining to carrying out the fix:

[Cheetron]

This was my biggest fear. Spending that much on someone I wanted so bad only to find issues that shouldn't have been missed.

[Ironhidensh]

The sliding mechanism is a little tight but moved nicely.

Probably because it's grinding the teeth down inside ><

This. This right here. I can't say this loud enough, DO THE FIX!!!!!





This is mine, directly from the box, and never attempted to transform it. I directly took the back off to do the fix. As you can see, my ridges are all bent, and again, I've never transformed it.

The fix takes less than 30 minutes. Just do it.

[Sabrblade]

The sliding mechanism is a little tight but moved nicely.

Probably because it's grinding the teeth down inside ><

This. This right here. I can't say this loud enough, DO THE FIX!!!!!





This is mine, directly from the box, and never attempted to transform it. I directly took the back off to do the fix. As you can see, my ridges are all bent, and again, I've never transformed it.

The fix takes less than 30 minutes. Just do it.

Image is broken. Here it is:

[TK415]

Thanks for the steps Scotty. Thanks for the pictures and info everybody else.

If anybody wants to film a video and post it on YouTube with a link to it that might be cool

[TK415]

Thanks for the steps Scotty. Thanks for the pictures and info everybody else.

If anybody wants to film a video and post it on YouTube with a link to it that might be cool