The Energon Pub

I've ordered Hercules and supposedly the version I'm getting has all the problems fixed but I'd like to know what they all are so I can look out for them. Can you guys give me a list of all the issues surrounding these figures please?

The only ones I'm aware of are:

Exgraver: the ratchet joint at the base of his excavator arm, the initial release was too tight which caused the housing the stress, crack, or break

Heavy Labor: bad hip ratchets, initial run's were too stiff causing the teeth to get striped from the ratchet cog

Mad Blender: weak combiner knee joint, not enough resistance

If you're getting a new set, the biggest thing to look out for is that Long Haul's leg gears are lubed. TFC's fix was to add vaseline to the gears and from what I've read, they didn't pay the greatest attention to doing so. Personally, one side of mine looked to have very little to no grease. Had I moved that joint without correcting it, I think I woulda wound up with a second stripped set of hips.

There have been reports of other issues, but they seem more QC issues than design flaws. A couple reports of Scrapper's arm joints stripping. An issue with Bonecrusher's chest part that forms the blade...and if you want to go there, Bonecrusher's blade is shitty-ass black...but you're good at painting so you can fix that. There's also a Shapeways set that can get the blade up on Herc's shoulder that I highly recommend.

Have a watch of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cv34uvv ... re=related

Mykltron wrote:I've ordered Hercules and supposedly the version I'm getting has all the problems fixed but I'd like to know what they all are so I can look out for them. Can you guys give me a list of all the issues surrounding these figures please?

Congrats!

The issues have been covered.

There's no way you'll have the Exgraver issue. That's long since past. If you do, I have an extra scoop.

I have not seen anyone who has actually liked Herc talk about the Mixmaster issue. I suspect haters blew that one out of proportion.

The Heavy Labor thing? Move his legs front to back a few times. If it makes an awful, awful sound, you had it. No way to know otherwise.

You should be fine though.

I know Herc's is an awesome figure, no doubt. However that said, doesn't it worry you paying so much money for a set with so many engineering flaws?

Counterpunch wrote:The Heavy Labor thing? Move his legs front to back a few times. If it makes an awful, awful sound, you had it. No way to know otherwise.

Besides opening it up and looking at it... If it's used and you're looking for the problem, the gear teeth will be chewed up, stripped, indented down the center of the gears, something of that nature...not to mention it'll make that noise and/or be loose. If it's new though, like I said, I would take it apart and make sure they're lubed up before even moving the legs. If you 'test it out' first, it's now too late if they weren't already properly addressed.

MightyMagnus78 wrote:I know Herc's is an awesome figure, no doubt. However that said, doesn't it worry you paying so much money for a set with so many engineering flaws?

Half the latest Hasbro Transformers come apart in you hand mid transformation, masterpiece Rodimus had alot of problems too and that was a $200 figure ..it seems the issues have now been fixed with Hercules, only hearing good things from owners, still a little expensive though

Trust Kibble about the hips. He helped me fix my Heavy Labor. That was my only issue. Although, I just display my Herc. I dont really fiddle with it. Ive been very lazy to apply the Reprolabels I bought. I have the crazydevy head and purple barrel waiting in my pile of loot. I must admit, removing the original Devy head by the ball joint looks a little scary. It's connected to another thin piece that doesnt look too strong if put under pressure when popping out the head. I hope the new head comes with that piece so I can just screw it on with the new head.

Counterpunch wrote:

Mykltron wrote:I've ordered Hercules and supposedly the version I'm getting has all the problems fixed but I'd like to know what they all are so I can look out for them. Can you guys give me a list of all the issues surrounding these figures please?

Congrats!

The issues have been covered.

There's no way you'll have the Exgraver issue. That's long since past. If you do, I have an extra scoop.

I have not seen anyone who has actually liked Herc talk about the Mixmaster issue. I suspect haters blew that one out of proportion.

The Heavy Labor thing? Move his legs front to back a few times. If it makes an awful, awful sound, you had it. No way to know otherwise.

You should be fine though.

I would agree about the Mad Blender knee issue, to be perfectly honest I haven't implemented any of the fixes. My Exgraver has his original excavator arm, though it does have a hairline crack in it's housing. I've never swapped out Heavy Labor's hips. I have yet to open up Mad Blender and add any resistance to the knee joint. I have all the revised parts in storage of course, but considering I don't really repose my figures that much I doubt I will ever need them.

It seems to me that the black/gunmetal plastic they use on some of the bits like Neck Breaker's blade/shovel (or whatever it's called ) is a bit soft and could be prone to breaking if you aren't careful. It's almost like a really hard wax. It's the same plastic that always breaks on Exgraver's shovel so I'd advise caution when messing with any of the bits made of that plastic.

Thanks for all the input. I'll read these through properly later when I have it. I shall certainly be taking one of them apart instead of testing it!

MightyMagnus78 wrote:I know Herc's is an awesome figure, no doubt. However that said, doesn't it worry you paying so much money for a set with so many engineering flaws?

I only paid £320.99! It's unopened and supposedly the fixed version. Also, if I can spot the problem before failure I can probably fix it.