The Energon Pub

[Immortal Starscream]

With all the hubbub about qc issues on the new Megatron, I decided to investigate and find a solution for as many of the problems as I can. I restore and repair toys on the side for resale (if I can force myself to part with anything) I will walk you through some of the issues and what I've done to fix them, with pics where I can. the only thing I can't cure on this figure is most of the paint chipping. You can always take megs apart and spray him with clear coat, however this will make his other main issues even worse, so I don't recommend it. Bottom line: if you want to play with him at all, be prepared to loose paint. given that hes grey plastic underneath, its not too bad.

now on to the things that can be fixed. we will start with the easy stuff. some of this you might figure out on your own, but best to cover the bases. first off is panels and pegs not lining up/warping/too tight etc.

this is simple. the plastics that are being used now in all of our figures, masterpieces included easily warp in package from time, and heat. this can lead to minor warps, bends, panels not lining up, or in the case of the titans return: really loose joints. all you really need is heat, pressure, and patience. for this I recommend a hair dryer. the boiling water method will just make the paint issue worse. heat the offending panels just slightly and hold into place until it cools. seriously, this fixes soooo many problems, and not just on megs. my TR skull cruncher that everyone gets super loose hips on, i did this to and hes rock solid. no floor polish, super glue, or nail polish required. one thing to note: not all warping can be fixed. case in point, my silencer shown in the pics below came deformed.

this guy also has a lot of extra pegs everywhere to try and hold him together better, and all of them and their respective holes are coated in paint. this leads to tolerance issues/ difficult transformation and peg breakage, the greatest offenders being his hips, which I will talk about in a sec. I recommend taking a blade and gently scraping the layer of paint off all pegs and peg holes. if need be you can shave a little more, but dont take too much of the pegs will be too loose to use!

[Fox Thiagarajan]

This is very helpful. Mine is on the way so I'll apply some if these cautionary measures when I have him in hand keeping patience in mind. Thanks for the insight.

[Immortal Starscream]

Next lets talk about the Silencer. the real culprit for the silencer issues isn't the barrel of the silencer, but a large peg inside it. if you silencer feels so tight that you are afraid to even try to put it on, you probably have a deformed peg, similar to mine. it might be hard to make out from the pics, but this peg is hollow with round braces and tracks on the top and bottom meant to slide into the groves inside the barrel. just like before the pieces are coated in paint, adding to tolerance issues, but also is likely misshapen causing the fit to be too tight, and off center, which will eat the paint much worse then it would if the peg was normal.

to extract this peg you need to remove the screws from around the attaching end of the silencer, and one screw from below the little flap in the middle of it. there is another screw in the end of it, but it is hidden under the silencer end, which is glued on. very gently and carefully twist the attachment end at its swiveling joint to loosen it all up and pull it out. the peg itself is threaded through the center screw hole post. gently wiggle it loose then pull it out. From here with will need to doctor the peg with a blade. i cannot stress enough, be extremely cautious with this part. no matter how expensive he is, no megatron is worth a lost finger!.

in the case of my peg, the mold that was used to make it was screwed up.it was like the two halves of it were not aligned and off center, and the tracks that need to thread into the barrel were being covered by the rings of the peg, making the whole thing needing considerable force to attach. I shaved down the uneven portions, and carved the rings down to expose the tracks. this made the peg enter into the barrel quite easily., no force required at all. while i had it loose, i also tested the connection of the "slip cover" and found that without the peg, it is extremely loose with lots of wiggle room. I still shaved down the paint inside just to be sure.

once you have everything finished, gently wiggle the peg back onto the post and re build everything. you should find everything fixed. I cant promise you won't loose any paint. but i have removed and reattached mine 8 times with no paint scratching. now i will say the peg is now not as tight as I would like it to be. it holds on quite well, but I can shake it off with a little effort. I may go and add a thin later of plastic to the tracks to fix it, or I may not. i don't really shake my megatron guns regularly.

I am working on the hips now. i will post fixes for that and more pics tomorrow!

[Immortal Starscream]

just a couple more pics for now. I like the silencer as a shoulder cannon like ol' green tank megatron. Ill keep the scope on his arm, and leave the gunface for lockdown