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Knightsword wrote:The recall rumor was retracted the same day by the same people that posted it initially.
https://tformers.com/encore-god-fire-co ... /news.html

Or just a polite way of saying there won't be anymore figs to be sold anymore.

Amiami is supposedly the largest online JP store. Just a day after the report of recall, their GodFireconvoy stocks which were aplenty is now "not available"

hlj is order stop

hobbysearch is "sold out"

The last two have limited quantities in their catalog( no offense intended for the two as they are my go to suppliers if the first fails)

The first one, Amiami going "unavailable" in just a day after the recall rumor....very interesting.

A bit of tough love towards Takara. The QC supervisor for this project needs to commit sepuku for this clusterf'ck! This reminds me of Yamato's exploding shoulders in their 1/60 Valkyries due to the misplaced pins. Only this one, concerning the electronics, misassembled parts, mold degradation(?) is like x 3 clusterf'ck!

Will this be a big write off on their part? Y 30,000 a unit is no laughing matter! What is the % of the lemons sold?

Not every stock will be sold for a flat Y30,000 ( give or take their domestic TAXES). So just round it off to Y 30,000. Then, multiply that by 10,000 units which let say is Takara's minimum manufacturing capacity ( 5,000 is a yardstick for a small company consider it a profit for a figure release in Japan)

The total would be Y 300,000,000 or US$ 2,800,000+

If the target was 20,000 units sold, that would be US$ 5,600,000+

This is a big ouch if the lemons are more than 10%!

I hope this won't affect Takara's financial ability to make more of our plastic crack!

If you're going to swear, just **** swear and let the swear filter do it for you. As far as I'm concerned, self-censoring is just a blatant attempt to by-pass a part of the forum software.

Hey, maybe there is a silver lining here. Maybe after they screwed up this release so badly they'll finally make that Masterpiece set they've always wanted to make but didn't without the incentive to try to out do the original. Now that the original is off the board maybe it's time to give that another look.

Emerje

Just opened mine. Damn. I have 2 right arms for Fire Convoy’s Super Mode. Not possible to transform into the fire truck. If anyone has 2 left arms, we can parts swap!
Thanks!

Holy cow, I was curious and went to Amazon Japn to see what reviews this toy qas getting. Over 60% are 1 star reviews.

william-james88 wrote:Holy cow, I was curious and went to Amazon Japn to see what reviews this toy qas getting. Over 60% are 1 star reviews.

I'm hoping they're from people who are already familiar with these molds and recognize the shortcomings specific to this release, rather than people who have had no experience with these molds and might possibly instead be deriding them for their complexity level and curious stability that some--but not all--took issue with back when the molds were originally released.

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Holy cow, I was curious and went to Amazon Japn to see what reviews this toy qas getting. Over 60% are 1 star reviews.

I'm hoping they're from people who are already familiar with these molds and recognize the shortcomings specific to this release, rather than people who have had no experience with these molds and might possibly instead be deriding them for their complexity level and curious stability that some--but not all--took issue with back when the molds were originally released.

Yo can read them if you wish. It seemsits eople familiar with the toy

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%BF%E3%8 ... iya-konboi

What I don't understand is how the mold can be so damaged ?
Or is it a change of plastic plastic/quality which creates all these issues ?

The mold is not so old (compared to G1) and has not been reused so much (compared like.. Classics Optimus, classics seekers.. even some of the cars brothers have been repainted more..)

ExciKaiser wrote:What I don't understand is how the mold can be so damaged ?
Or is it a change of plastic plastic/quality which creates all these issues ?

The mold is not so old (compared to G1) and has not been reused so much (compared like.. Classics Optimus, classics seekers.. even some of the cars brothers have been repainted more..)

They're 18-year-old molds. Even several younger molds from the Unicron Trilogy are said to now be mush from age.

ExciKaiser wrote:What I don't understand is how the mold can be so damaged ?
Or is it a change of plastic plastic/quality which creates all these issues ?

The mold is not so old (compared to G1) and has not been reused so much (compared like.. Classics Optimus, classics seekers.. even some of the cars brothers have been repainted more..)

Even back in 2002, the FireConvoy HB version already had some tilting issues. So even by 2 years, there was a frickon degradation already when HB started releasing it for the USA market.The JP releases, mine
anyway which was pre owned, does not have any tilting issues despite having such a narrow center of gravity in the design when in God Fire Convoy mode.

So the degradation and maybe, just maybe, a greenhorn QC Takara employee being assigned a job bigger than he can chew is the reason for the fiasco.

Quite sad

There has been a lot of noise regarding an actual response from Takara rearding the issues expressed with the recent Transformers Encore God Fire Convoy (which is scoring terribly on Amazon Japan). Well, Takara has indeed posted an official apology on their site and will accept these sets back and give customers refunds (rather than a fixed version). This is of course only applicable to customers in Japan.

What does come as a surprise is the highlighted reason for the voluntary recall. From what is written in the text, it seems principally based on the sound clip issue where they swapped the activation sounds for “Magna Laser” and “Magna Vulcan”. They also highlight an error on the box where there should be the combined mode rather than an image of the sword.

The molds are made of steel, if they aren't being stored properly it doesn't take much for them to get damaged.

So I was taking pictures of my Encore God Fire Convoy, noting some of the changes and where the problems are... then one of my lights fell over the bulb broke. I'll pick up a new bulb Friday, in the meantime here are a couple things worth pointing out.

First off the box is MASSIVE!


Easily dwarfs the God Ginrai box and it's packed full. But it's also relatively flat, being based on packaging from a time when bigger packaging in Japan was supposed to be more attractive. They could have easily done them in a layer rather than stacking them on end and cut the height in half.

Out of the box the most glaring issue is Fire Convoy's chest.


Bunch of problems with the chest. First it's molded in clear plastic now and they painted the back side blue making the screw holes and molding points now visible through the back side. No idea why they would choose to do this, it's not like you could see through his chest in the cartoon so being clear is entirely pointless. Also notice that the red parts that stick into the clear parts are just a blob of paint where the original had sharp lines between the blue and red. In fairness this is cartoon accurate, but the figure isn't molded for that. They should have molded this in red like the rest of the figure, painted the chest windows glossy light blue, and kept with the silver painted abs.

OK, so the big sticking point is his feet, but it's actually just his right foot.



Can you see what's wrong here? There's actually two problems here thanks to a botched repair job. First off the gray part the foot is connected to, the hole isn't aligned properly. If you follow it from left to right they made the hole crooked. And it's not warped, the plastic is actually thinner on the right end and mine has a very small hairline crack in it even though the hole maintained its shape. It's likly the part of the mold that makes that hole was bent and not realigned. This is why you're supposed to do test molds!

Second problem is on the red part just to the right of the hinge. Do you see how you can see the clear plastic on the side of the joint where it connects to the red part? This is from a poor repair job, that red part is supposed to be a tiny bit longer if you compare it to the original to prevent the gap. The hinge actually slides side to side now thanks to the gap.

OK, that's all of the negative things I've noticed this far, here are a couple interesting observations. First, all of the screws are now black instead of silver, and on the battery door they've added an arrow showing which way to unscrew it.



Second, and this is a big one, the hips are much, much tighter compared to the original which was the biggest problem this figure had. I just hope the joint can withstand the tightness.

More later.

Emerje

Dammit. Now I need to open mine.

Emerje, about the feet: I've noticed that they're attached to the clear window piece. Isn't it possible that the figure has two windows of the same side, if the rod the panel is on isn't in the exact middle?

do you really think people are going to send them back
if this set wont be fixed and are not making anymore wouldn't this set be worth something

I got my Encore God Fire Convoy a few weeks ago but I wasn't planning to open him any time soon. But after all the reports on QC and then the actual recall, I decided to find out how mine was.

I have an original, and honestly he feels slightly better in some places and slightly worse in others. But nothing I'm terribly worried about. You know what I am upset about? He's missing his **** foot!!!!

I'm pretty pissed off, and feel like returning it just for spite. But at the end of the day, I bet this version will become pretty rare, and I can buy a junker Magnus for that foot. But Jesus Christ Takara. Get your **** together

shajaki wrote:I'm pretty pissed off, and feel like returning it just for spite. But at the end of the day, I bet this version will become pretty rare, and I can buy a junker Magnus for that foot. But Jesus Christ Takara. Get your **** together

The fact that many people are thinking this will be rare, and thus keeping theirs, is gonna do the opposite effect. Since people are keeping theirs (and no non-Japan based retailer has any incentive in returning them to Takara), there will instead be a bunch of overpriced sets that no one wants due to QC gathering dust for years. Speculation routinely fails in these hobbies, like how the Combiner Wars toy to be the most expensive right now is Optimus Prime (a figure people didnt care about much) and the RID 2015 line is selling for way more on the secondary market than any mainline Titans Return toy.

Can I just say how happy I am that canceled my preorder for this?

william-james88 wrote:The fact that many people are thinking this will be rare, and thus keeping theirs, is gonna do the opposite effect.

Even if that's true, my decision isn't based on profit or reselling. It just means that, mine is secured, and I don't have to (possibly) pay an inflated price later on. Because I want this set for the differences it has from the original.

shajaki wrote:

william-james88 wrote:The fact that many people are thinking this will be rare, and thus keeping theirs, is gonna do the opposite effect.

Even if that's true, my decision isn't based on profit or reselling. It just means that, mine is secured, and I don't have to (possibly) pay an inflated price later on. Because I want this set for the differences it has from the original.

I can completely get behind that. Its one of my main reasons when I debate getting something or not, I weigh how much I might have to pay later in case I want it then.

Knowing this set is damaged doesn't make it collectible, it makes it a lemon. I wouldn't pay more than $40 for this set.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Emerje, about the feet: I've noticed that they're attached to the clear window piece. Isn't it possible that the figure has two windows of the same side, if the rod the panel is on isn't in the exact middle?

The problem isn't the clear part, it's the gray part it goes through. It isn't warped, the shape is fine, but the hole is offset instead of straight through leaving the part opposite the window dangerously thin on one side.

BTW, I got an email from AmiAmi offering to take mine back on recall for a full refund and cover the shipping. It's nice to see them extend the recall outside Japan, but I'm going to pass on the offer.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:BTW, I got an email from AmiAmi offering to take mine back on recall for a full refund and cover the shipping. It's nice to see them extend the recall outside Japan, but I'm going to pass on the offer.

Emerje

HLJ goes one step further. If you bought from them, and want to keep it, they're offering a 25% refund anyways.

shajaki wrote:

Emerje wrote:BTW, I got an email from AmiAmi offering to take mine back on recall for a full refund and cover the shipping. It's nice to see them extend the recall outside Japan, but I'm going to pass on the offer.

Emerje

HLJ goes one step further. If you bought from them, and want to keep it, they're offering a 25% refund anyways.

Wow, nice. Here's AmiAmi's response:

Dear Customer,

This mail has been sent to all customers who have purchased the following item:

FIGURE-033857 Transformers Encore - God Fire Convoy

We regret to inform you that this item has arrived with a defect. According to the maker, the wrong photo was printed on the product box. Furthermore, there is an issue with the editing of the sound gimmick.

We understand this to be a mistake on part of the maker, and for this reason, we would like to confirm whether or not you wish to return this item for a refund. The return shipping fees will be covered by AmiAmi, and a refund for your order will be processed once the item arrives at our warehouse. Please note that all refunds are processed via PayPal, and they may take up to two weeks to process. AmiAmi can only provide refunds through PayPal (we do not refund via AmiAmi points).

When the item is delivered, please confirm if you would like to return this item, so that we may provide you with the return instructions.

Please make sure to include your order number when replying to this e-mail.

We apologize for the inconvenience.
Thank you for shopping at AmiAmi

Best Regards,
AmiAmi

Emerje

william-james88 wrote:

shajaki wrote:

william-james88 wrote:The fact that many people are thinking this will be rare, and thus keeping theirs, is gonna do the opposite effect.

Even if that's true, my decision isn't based on profit or reselling. It just means that, mine is secured, and I don't have to (possibly) pay an inflated price later on. Because I want this set for the differences it has from the original.

I can completely get behind that. Its one of my main reasons when I debate getting something or not, I weigh how much I might have to pay later in case I want it then.

wouldnt the fact that this set comes with the matrix sword be enough