The Energon Pub

I just got this guy and I love him except for two things that I initially thought wouldn't bug me but they really are starting to after about a week.


1. His shoulders, the large, square-ish gun metal pieces that actually rest in his body that connect the arms to the body, they flop about extremely loosely on my figure.

I thought this was just an issue of one arm being looser than the other, but both arms are in his state, and his shoulders keep collapsing 'inwards' into his body. I didn't seen this mentioned in any youtube video reviews, so I don't know if it's just an issue with both joints on my piece (but both arms having the same amount of looseness is weird, it's usually one or the other).

Is anyone else having this issue, or am I forgetting a step in his transformation? I noticed two black pegs on the back of said shoulders, maybe something with those?

2. His sword.

Love the design, but mine can't hold the unless it's placed in a certain way in his hand (where the bottom of the handle is flush wit the bottom of his fist. Otherwise it flops around his hands. And it's like this on both hands. I've checked the figure for any wear etc, but it's not a cosmetic damage issue to the hand or the fist holes.

Is this an issue for anyone else?

and am I just late to the party on all of this?

No problems for me.

You know, when a factory has to churn out a million of these things, there are bound to be a few that aren't perfect. It doesn't mean it's a larger "quality control issue". It's just a plastic toy for kids; they don't have the same QC standards as, say, a drug manufacturer.

(I don't mean to pick on you, personally. Just seems like every time someone buys a TF that has a missing paint app or a loose joint, it's like "WTF is wrong with Hasbro's QC? ")

GuyIncognito wrote:No problems for me.

You know, when a factory has to churn out a million of these things, there are bound to be a few that aren't perfect. It doesn't mean it's a larger "quality control issue". It's just a plastic toy for kids; they don't have the same QC standards as, say, a drug manufacturer.

(I don't mean to pick on you, personally. Just seems like every time someone buys a TF that has a missing paint app or a loose joint, it's like "WTF is wrong with Hasbro's QC? ")

This. It's actually starting to become a pet peeve of mine.

Having a toy be affected this much is a bit peculiar, with me the problems are just limited to the occasional loose hinge or ball joint. Still, get a new one and you should be good, it's still a one-off thing.

The internal hinges are the same way on mine, I had just assumed it was a thing endemic to the mold. Of course, maybe they're supposed to lock in and I just didn't swing them over far enough, lol.

The shoulders on mine are loose but not floppy. Try the nail varnish thing.

I opened the joint and it's pretty solid without the arm itself attached. It's the weight of the arms, but it's still, unusual that both would be like this. I might try the nail varnish trick, but getting to that joint might be a little tough without taking the pins out.

I noticed one of the dino arm joint is also getting stress marks, but I don't really move them around much so I don't think it'll be a problem.

Also, I think I used the wrong word when I said Quality Control. I was actually just checking to see if this was normal in every Grimlock or not, I hear the stress mark on the arm is, otherwise I'll probably just embrace it for what it is. Loose joints are an easy fix, so that never bugs me, but it's more about the floppiness of his shoulders that's bugging me than how loose they are, the rest of his joints are nice and tight and I'm glad Hasbro/Takara got this guy out. I really love this guy! He's the best Grimlock I've owned (I don't own the Masterpiece version though).

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:This. It's actually starting to become a pet peeve of mine.

Having a toy be affected this much is a bit peculiar, with me the problems are just limited to the occasional loose hinge or ball joint. Still, get a new one and you should be good, it's still a one-off thing.

Well now, let's be fair. The QC on the Generations line hasn't been stellar, so far. Good, but not like it used to be. There are a lot of flaws, and not just Grimlock.

NOTE: Not all of what I'm about to say pertains directly to QC, itself. I'm just trying to make a point.

Blaster/Soundblaster/Soundwave: Notches in the chest chamber prevent data disc minions from either being loaded, or launching, correctly. If you do it just right, just a certain way, it works. However, there's nothing telling the consumer that. They just assume you place object a inside object b to make the gimmick function work. That's not the consumer's fault.

Grimlock: This is the first time I'm hearing about this problem, but it sounds like it's affecting more than one figure.

And then we have Blitzwing and Springer.

Blitzwing is a well known failure, with almost everyone who owns it having tremendous problems. It took me taking two figures to make one good one to make it work. Once I put in the effort, he turned out to be a fantastic figure. Why should I have to do the factory's work? Why should any of us? I get that he's a $23.00 toy, I do, but I think a little quality goes a long way.

Springer just doesn't work in some ways. His robot mode is fantastic. Looks like he stepped off the page and that headsculpt screams G1, so it's like he came to life out of the screen, as well. His helicopter mode isn't terrible, but that back panel doesn't peg into the back of his legs, it just rests there. If it weren't for his tight joints, he'd flop apart. His armored car mode just absolutely refuses to hold together unless you get really lucky. Like Blitzwing, I had to fix Springer, too. His left fender/shoulder spur wasn't sitting right, preventing him from tabbing in all the way. Kept gapping and coming loose. It was a simple fix, just involved me taking a screwdriver to it, but again...should I really have to? Should any of us?

The only one that seems to be pretty much trouble free, so far, is Sandstorm. And it's because they corrected all of the problems with Springer to accommodate the mods needed to change him into a new toy.

Plus, other Generations/FOC toys aren't exactly winners. While I love my G2 Bruticus, he's hollow and flimsy in spots. Jazz is just an eggshell with a face. Sideswipe is that same eggshell in red and his arms pop off during transformation every time. Without fail. Ultra Magnus's waist doesn't tab in, so he wants to fold in half backwards. (Yay.)
Starscream seems to be pretty much alright, along with Kickback and Shockwave. None of those three really bother me.

I know they had to cut corners in some places to pay for more in others, I really do get that, but QC could go a long way to helping a so so mold become an almost good one. At least let it function as it's supposed to.

It looks like the upcoming IDW Deluxes are pretty rock solid. I've yet to hear anyone complain about QC on those, in the few scant reviews I've read/seen.

Metroplex is another good example of really good, but slightly flawed figure. His chest ramp doesn't want to lock in place all that well. The video reviewer had to keep messing with it as the recording went on.