The Energon Pub

So I guess I should've been wary when I discovered nearly the entire first wave of Titans Return in one day between 3 stores since im never that lucky. I say this because every single figure I purchased have worse construction than a K.O.!

Wheelie can barely stand he's so loose. Hardhead can't hold his arms up yet his titan master is in so tight im afraid he'll break if I try any harder to remove it. Skullsmasher has extremely loose thighs (and the rubber back plate is already refusing to keep its shape, although that's more of a design flaw than a qc issue). Scourge has floppy wrists, his titan master won't stay connected, it's crest won't stay up, and it's legs fall off of you touch them. Sentinel Prime's waist won't stay together so he can't be posed in any way except standing straight up. Finally we have Blurr, who ALMOST passes for a retail figure, except again his crest won't stay up, his titan master won't detach, and although his legs are ok for now, they aren't exactly tight and I'm afraid any further interaction will leave him floppy like Skullsmasher.

Now I've heard some people had some of these issues so far but come on! I have 6 figures with QC issues in ONE WAVE. That's more than I've had trouble with in the last 4 or 5 YEARS. Has it been like this for anybody else?!

I only have Skullsmasher and yes, his legs are kinda loose. And that flap on his back being soft material is a terrible design.

gantzrunner wrote:So I guess I should've been wary when I discovered nearly the entire first wave of Titans Return in one day between 3 stores since im never that lucky. I say this because every single figure I purchased have worse construction than a K.O.!

Wheelie can barely stand he's so loose. Hardhead can't hold his arms up yet his titan master is in so tight im afraid he'll break if I try any harder to remove it. Skullsmasher has extremely loose thighs (and the rubber back plate is already refusing to keep its shape, although that's more of a design flaw than a qc issue). Scourge has floppy wrists, his titan master won't stay connected, it's crest won't stay up, and it's legs fall off of you touch them. Sentinel Prime's waist won't stay together so he can't be posed in any way except standing straight up. Finally we have Blurr, who ALMOST passes for a retail figure, except again his crest won't stay up, his titan master won't detach, and although his legs are ok for now, they aren't exactly tight and I'm afraid any further interaction will leave him floppy like Skullsmasher.

Now I've heard some people had some of these issues so far but come on! I have 6 figures with QC issues in ONE WAVE. That's more than I've had trouble with in the last 4 or 5 YEARS. Has it been like this for anybody else?!

UW Swindle's panels won't stay together. Same with Brawl and Blastoff. Not mentioning the celarance issues with Blastoff's head.

Meaning? Both versions, Takara or Hb really have issues.

Especially Skullsmasher seems to have universally bad QC in the first wave I've noticed. I hope things will improve a bit with the carryovers in later waves.

Just a note about the heads: the tightness of the clip on the body depends on which way the little head is turned, same direction as the face, or opposite. Just for your convenience:

Hardhead: same
Blurr: same
Scourge: opposite
Skullsmasher: opposite

Galvatron: same (if you don't you'll risk breakage!)

I have the entire first wave of deluxe. Every single one is basically a bobble head. They can't hold their heads up or straight. You can hear them giggle if the fan is blowing. Don't get me started with Scourge's floppy wrists. No locking tab? Really Hasbro?

I have all the titan master heads facing the same way as the big heads when they lock in. Although when I got Galvatron, his head was the opposite and was extremely tough to pop out. I finally did it and realised which way it was meant to be by looking at the connector. He has an extra wide slot for the nucleon head at the rear.


As for QC, I only have Galvatron, Sentinel, Rewind, Apeface, Terri-bull and Squeezeplay. Or whatever he's being called now.Honestly, I haven't experienced any QC problems with any of them. My Galvatron has a rattle, as if some tiny piece is stuck inside and moving around when I shake him, but otherwise, everyone's been fine so far.

I have a very low tech, very low cost fix for Scourge's bobble head. I took a business card, colored it blue with a sharpie and cut little squares. Then slid them down the sides and back of the Titan Master Socket. Now he isn't a bobble head. Best part about it. If you need to redo it at some point, just pull out the old card stock and add new.

Thanks for the ideas. Now I've got something to do tonight. My main problem with scourge will always be his hands. I gave him new weapons, lighter weapons and they will not stay in place.

Cheetron wrote:Thanks for the ideas. Now I've got something to do tonight. My main problem with scourge will always be his hands. I gave him new weapons, lighter weapons and they will not stay in place.

I fixed that too. I popped off his hands and put tiny squares of scotch tape on top and bottom of the "wrists" that are part of the fists. Then popped the hands back on. Much tighter now. Might take some trial and error until you get the right amount of tape.

Man I have a lot to try tonight. Thanks everyone.

Loosen the screw on the titanmasters if the head is too tight

Opened my Skullsmasher (only one I have so far) last time. Overall he is okay. The head is a little wobbling but I found out if I pull it up a little bit, it's tighter and also gives him a neck. The hip joints pop out sometimes when transforming to croc mode.

It looks like some clear nail polish is becoming an essential accessory for all Transformers collectors.

I just recently got the CW Combaticons and I had to disassemble them right away to fix all the loose joints - though I don't know that I can do much about Blast Off's (jet) floppy rattling elbows as they are clearly moulded loose on purpose for some reason. It doesn't bother me enough to try heating them up to reshape them though.

It becomes a bit of a joke that I have to do as much remedial work to the REAL Combaticons to get them working right as I had to do to the Machine Boy KO versions. (which incidentally are far superior toys in ever respect anyway - especially Swindle & Blast Off).

Heck even the gun was loose on Blast Off so loose it fall out of the hand when inverted. The fingers rattle about in the hand/foot/guns too.

It makes me weary of paying a premium for Titans Return toys and very wary of buying online. I still might jump in on the Takara ones 1st though due to the bonus accessories they have... assuming I can even find the things at a decent price.

RAR wrote:It looks like some clear nail polish is becoming an essential accessory for all Transformers collectors.

Nail polish to tighten joints, polish remover to get rid of paint... eventually, some company is going to look at the beauty product aisle and say to themselves "I can rebrand all of this as 'hardware'".



But yeah, ever since Thrilling 30 it seems like every single release has had some quality or design issue. Not that there weren't problem molds before, but now it feels so commonplace I've largely lost interest in the brand.

Thanks for the warnings. I'll be staying away from the limited number of figures in this line I was interested in.

I was of two minds to get anything from this series...im so glad i didn't and with what im reading so far i am going to avoid it like the plague.i do t know what the problems are at hasbro but it's like they just dont give a damn about the brand anymore and are just making them to save face.

Oh I think they think that they are actually doing a "spectacular job" in all regards.

After all anyone who didn't agree got fired.

Masterblaster1 wrote:I was of two minds to get anything from this series...im so glad i didn't and with what im reading so far i am going to avoid it like the plague.i do t know what the problems are at hasbro but it's like they just dont give a damn about the brand anymore and are just making them to save face.

Chalk it up to the bottom line mentality and getting a product out before the investor's boardroom meeting. Btw, not only Hasbro, take a look at MS' Xbox360. From a sturdy Xbox to a cr@ppy Xb360. 'nuff said!

Very true.

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:I have a very low tech, very low cost fix for Scourge's bobble head. I took a business card, colored it blue with a sharpie and cut little squares. Then slid them down the sides and back of the Titan Master Socket. Now he isn't a bobble head. Best part about it. If you need to redo it at some point, just pull out the old card stock and add new.

Yeah this is my issue with Scourge as well with him being a bit of a bobblehead. His whole Titan Master actually is loose in terms of positioning and such. At least with TR Galvy it sits snugly in the port and stays well enough together, but with TR Scourge not so much. I'll probably try this at some point. Just not very crafty myself. Heh.

the transparent green door on titans return fortress maximus has two stress marks below in between the corners. it gets caught there when I open and close the green transparent door. wonder if this is common?

fenrir72 wrote: Btw, not only Hasbro, take a look at MS' Xbox360. From a sturdy Xbox to a cr@ppy Xb360. 'nuff said!

Sony's got a bad track record too, just 360 was so spectacularly bad in the very first version that many people forget the PSXes you had to flip upside down or the PS2's that were lost to DRE's. Even my PSP got some mystery splotches randomly show up and wreck the screen. Fortunately I waited on PS3 and slims don't seem nearly as prone to YLOD.

tldr; buy nintendo


wait what this is supposed to be about transformers???!???!


Galvatron... The head flip up gimmick obviously, but there's also a big problem trying to connect his legs for cannon mode. I'm guessing they used better plastic on a prototype and that worked better, but here, nah, just get them close and hope they don't get knocked out of position. Mine also has the hole for the cannon on his right arm a little too loose. Left arm hole is perfect. I will say, Ape Face looks really cool attached as a head, if he had a mouth instead of plate he might have been perfect.

The wave 2 deluxes. They all have some cheap feel to the plastics in them that wave 1 mostly didn't, but here are my biggest gripes.

The bat guy (not sure of some names particularly since some are all changed and stuff) seems like about a third of the figure is that soft plastic (like the gator's back hatch was). I suppose it's better for the wings so they don't break, being how thin they'll be, but it's never a good sign when some parts are a bit deformed out of the package.

The wolf guy, lots of ball joints are too stiff and pop instead of move. Also mine came apart at the waist swivel several times while transforming it.

Highbrow, more of a bobble head than any figure yet. Turning the mini head all the way around like on some figures makes the connection too loose to keep the head attached. Turning it halfway (so the head master is looking right or left) seems to be the way to go here.

Chromedome and Stylor... Oh boy the red plastic on these guys is likely the worst, cheapest plastic I've ever seen on an actual transformer. It's like the kind of plastic you expect to see on cheapo no name toys found in a dollar store. I've seen Happy Meal toys with better plastic. I was very disappointed seeing this on something I paid $15 for. Fortunately it's not on CD himself much, just his crotchal area I think, but Stylor on the other hand is pretty much all this junk except his torso and CD's face. The weapons are both made of it as well.

Optimum Supreme wrote:

fenrir72 wrote: Btw, not only Hasbro, take a look at MS' Xbox360. From a sturdy Xbox to a cr@ppy Xb360. 'nuff said!

Sony's got a bad track record too, just 360 was so spectacularly bad in the very first version that many people forget the PSXes you had to flip upside down or the PS2's that were lost to DRE's. Even my PSP got some mystery splotches randomly show up and wreck the screen. Fortunately I waited on PS3 and slims don't seem nearly as prone to YLOD.

tldr; buy nintendo


wait what this is supposed to be about transformers???!???!


Galvatron... The head flip up gimmick obviously, but there's also a big problem trying to connect his legs for cannon mode. I'm guessing they used better plastic on a prototype and that worked better, but here, nah, just get them close and hope they don't get knocked out of position. Mine also has the hole for the cannon on his right arm a little too loose. Left arm hole is perfect. I will say, Ape Face looks really cool attached as a head, if he had a mouth instead of plate he might have been perfect.

The wave 2 deluxes. They all have some cheap feel to the plastics in them that wave 1 mostly didn't, but here are my biggest gripes.

The bat guy (not sure of some names particularly since some are all changed and stuff) seems like about a third of the figure is that soft plastic (like the gator's back hatch was). I suppose it's better for the wings so they don't break, being how thin they'll be, but it's never a good sign when some parts are a bit deformed out of the package.

The wolf guy, lots of ball joints are too stiff and pop instead of move. Also mine came apart at the waist swivel several times while transforming it.

Highbrow, more of a bobble head than any figure yet. Turning the mini head all the way around like on some figures makes the connection too loose to keep the head attached. Turning it halfway (so the head master is looking right or left) seems to be the way to go here.

Chromedome and Stylor... Oh boy the red plastic on these guys is likely the worst, cheapest plastic I've ever seen on an actual transformer. It's like the kind of plastic you expect to see on cheapo no name toys found in a dollar store. I've seen Happy Meal toys with better plastic. I was very disappointed seeing this on something I paid $15 for. Fortunately it's not on CD himself much, just his crotchal area I think, but Stylor on the other hand is pretty much all this junk except his torso and CD's face. The weapons are both made of it as well.

QC issues not only endemic with Hasbro or Takara.

fenrir72 wrote:

gantzrunner wrote:So I guess I should've been wary when I discovered nearly the entire first wave of Titans Return in one day between 3 stores since im never that lucky. I say this because every single figure I purchased have worse construction than a K.O.!

Wheelie can barely stand he's so loose. Hardhead can't hold his arms up yet his titan master is in so tight im afraid he'll break if I try any harder to remove it. Skullsmasher has extremely loose thighs (and the rubber back plate is already refusing to keep its shape, although that's more of a design flaw than a qc issue). Scourge has floppy wrists, his titan master won't stay connected, it's crest won't stay up, and it's legs fall off of you touch them. Sentinel Prime's waist won't stay together so he can't be posed in any way except standing straight up. Finally we have Blurr, who ALMOST passes for a retail figure, except again his crest won't stay up, his titan master won't detach, and although his legs are ok for now, they aren't exactly tight and I'm afraid any further interaction will leave him floppy like Skullsmasher.

Now I've heard some people had some of these issues so far but come on! I have 6 figures with QC issues in ONE WAVE. That's more than I've had trouble with in the last 4 or 5 YEARS. Has it been like this for anybody else?!

UW Swindle's panels won't stay together. Same with Brawl and Blastoff. Not mentioning the celarance issues with Blastoff's head.

Meaning? Both versions, Takara or Hb really have issues.

Consider yourself lucky with looseness on your UW Bruticus, when I opened mine up Onslaught's left elbow was GLUED IN PLACE. Even worse, BBTS had already sold out of them so I couldn't replace him. I ended up having to unscrew his left arm and force an x-acto knife in between the joint and arm shell to separate them. Considering this is a $140 toy, it was the single most terrifying mod I've ever had to do. A few of the other Combaticons have some minor issues but now Onslaught is fine.

As far as Titans Return, I've had pretty good luck for the most part. I had to return a Scourge because his head literally wouldn't stay in. I got Highbrow yesterday, and while his head is a bit loose the sideways Headmaster head trick works fine (though I'll be trying the business card head mod later). I think there's a design issue with the Scourge mold rather than QC in that the neck insert needs to be surrounded with plastic for a tighter fit. All my other headmasters are pretty tight whatever direction I have to put the heads, and the necks are all designed much better. I also got the Takara Galvatron, he has fairly tight pegs all around.

I think if I had to make a judgment here, In my opinion wave 1 had some serious issues and wave 2 (on my figures) fixed most of them. I don't have a single problem on my Chromedome (thank goodness) or Weirdwolfwire. I had to fix some joints on Skullcruncher, but a bit of glue and you'd never know he had problems. Hardhead I just had to put his head on the other way.

Autobot Roadburn wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

gantzrunner wrote:So I guess I should've been wary when I discovered nearly the entire first wave of Titans Return in one day between 3 stores since im never that lucky. I say this because every single figure I purchased have worse construction than a K.O.!

Wheelie can barely stand he's so loose. Hardhead can't hold his arms up yet his titan master is in so tight im afraid he'll break if I try any harder to remove it. Skullsmasher has extremely loose thighs (and the rubber back plate is already refusing to keep its shape, although that's more of a design flaw than a qc issue). Scourge has floppy wrists, his titan master won't stay connected, it's crest won't stay up, and it's legs fall off of you touch them. Sentinel Prime's waist won't stay together so he can't be posed in any way except standing straight up. Finally we have Blurr, who ALMOST passes for a retail figure, except again his crest won't stay up, his titan master won't detach, and although his legs are ok for now, they aren't exactly tight and I'm afraid any further interaction will leave him floppy like Skullsmasher.

Now I've heard some people had some of these issues so far but come on! I have 6 figures with QC issues in ONE WAVE. That's more than I've had trouble with in the last 4 or 5 YEARS. Has it been like this for anybody else?!

UW Swindle's panels won't stay together. Same with Brawl and Blastoff. Not mentioning the celarance issues with Blastoff's head.

Meaning? Both versions, Takara or Hb really have issues.

Consider yourself lucky with looseness on your UW Bruticus, when I opened mine up Onslaught's left elbow was GLUED IN PLACE. Even worse, BBTS had already sold out of them so I couldn't replace him. I ended up having to unscrew his left arm and force an x-acto knife in between the joint and arm shell to separate them. Considering this is a $140 toy, it was the single most terrifying mod I've ever had to do. A few of the other Combaticons have some minor issues but now Onslaught is fine.

As far as Titans Return, I've had pretty good luck for the most part. I had to return a Scourge because his head literally wouldn't stay in. I got Highbrow yesterday, and while his head is a bit loose the sideways Headmaster head trick works fine (though I'll be trying the business card head mod later). I think there's a design issue with the Scourge mold rather than QC in that the neck insert needs to be surrounded with plastic for a tighter fit. All my other headmasters are pretty tight whatever direction I have to put the heads, and the necks are all designed much better. I also got the Takara Galvatron, he has fairly tight pegs all around.

I think if I had to make a judgment here, In my opinion wave 1 had some serious issues and wave 2 (on my figures) fixed most of them. I don't have a single problem on my Chromedome (thank goodness) or Weirdwolfwire. I had to fix some joints on Skullcruncher, but a bit of glue and you'd never know he had problems. Hardhead I just had to put his head on the other way.

If y'all are familiar with me here, most if not all my TFs are from Takara. That being said, I'm not blind to their "QCs" I call a spade a spade. QCs are endemic in all products, not just Transformers. And us importers are more at risk with having defective non returnable products.

Good for you you were able to do some surgical engineering with Onslaught, I did some filing to with Blastoff's head. Just a little. I really know the feeling kimosabe