Motormaster - Yellowing Plastic?

[Grimlocked]

Hey everyone, after Gamestop accidentally sold my pre-order on Motormaster but was able to get me a new one (After 2 weeks) I realized the one I bought has one of the affected batch codes with yellowing plastic.

What exactly does yellowing plastic indicate and is it something that is worth the hassle in trying to find a new one?

Thanks.

[Dark Rage]

From the Motormaster Yellowing thread on TFW:

U.S. batch numbers: 20521, 20831, 21131, 21171, 21231, 21271, 21321,
Canada batch numbers: 20911,
U.K./Germany/Europe batch numbers: 20831, 20881, 20891
Australia batch numbers: 20521, 20831, 20911, 21011, 21091
Japan batch numbers:
Shared batch numbers: 20831,

In addition, I will be separating the batch numbers by if they have pre-yelllowed out of the box or not.

Pre-yelllowed batches: 20521, 20831, 20891 (slight discoloration), 20911 (slight discoloration),
Still-gray batches: 20521, 20831, 20881, 21011, 21091, 21131, 21321, 21171, 21271

As for Yellowing, I'm not sure. People have reported their Cyclonus's and Netflix Soundwave have started to yellow. Oh, also the blue on SS86 Spike (but a bit more subtle).

[GotBot]

Some say the yellowing makes plastic more brittle but I have not experienced that. Hasbro stopped doing QC checks for 2 years, claiming Covid travel restrictions (not sure why they didn't have staff in the country of production already) and changed plastic suppliers. Now that is catching up to them. The list of characters known to yellow is large and ever expanding. The list I know of have all been confirmed with photographic evidence and includes, Siege Jetfire, Artfire, Cyberverse Arcee and Hammerbyte, Netflix Soundwave, Netflix boxset Megatron, ER Megatron, G2 Sandstorm, SG Starscream, Cyclonus, Kingdom/Legacy Blaster, ER Starscream, Soundblaster, ER Quint judge, Kingdom Tigatron and, as of yesterday, one single report yet of titan Cybertrron Metroplex. It affects white, grey, blue and beige plastics. Had nothing to do with sunlight or humidity. Hasbro knows the problem but have not fixed it. They have "tried to find the root cause" and as of yet don't seem to have done so (?). I mean, it's easy, stop using the cheap plastic you switched to lol. It is a massive problem that Hasbro is trying to downplay and sweep under the rug. I can also confirm 5 reports of people contacting Hasbro customer service to only be told "yellowing does not affect functionality and therefore a replacement will not be issued." And, 2 more who were told to send the item back, at their cost, to verify the issue claimed and then a cheque will be mailed....MAILED! LOL.

[JonoPrime]

Whole thread over at TFW2005 on it.

Not quite sure what to make of it myself as it does seem to be affecting certain bots, but hard to say if it's fully widespread or not.

Either way, if you're interested in what others have reported check out this link;

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threa...ickly.1219262/

[Grimlocked]

Hey guys, thanks for the links - what I was trying to get at however was understanding if yellowing actually does anything (e.g. increase the chances of breaking?) Since I already know the batch code to the one I bought.

If it's really just a visual issue then on a practical level it's probably not worth my time to get a new one.

[Dark Rage]

Just wondering, anyone who's recieved their Motormaster from Amazon, has theirs come in yellowed already?

[Melomeca]

My amazon mm has the slightest yellowing, of one shade off, with a batch code 21231. It's not enough to complain, but noticeable if you look for it.

[Magnimus]

Originally Posted by Grimlocked

Hey guys, thanks for the links - what I was trying to get at however was understanding if yellowing actually does anything (e.g. increase the chances of breaking?) Since I already know the batch code to the one I bought.

If it's really just a visual issue then on a practical level it's probably not worth my time to get a new one.

It's just not known at this time. We still don't know what is causing this kind of discolouration (which is occurring sometimes right out of the box or over time after a figure has been available). Unlike "Gold Plastic Syndrome" where we had years of evidence and examples of products disintegrating, this current "yellowing" hasn't resulted in any known breakages yet, but there's no telling what the future might hold, unfortunately. At the best, you'll have an ugly figure on your hands. At the worst, it might develop into a breakage issue. It's just not possible to tell right now, and Hasbro is doing us no favours by refusing to address the consumer concerns about this.

[xueyue2]

Originally Posted by Magnimus

It's just not known at this time. We still don't know what is causing this kind of discolouration (which is occurring sometimes right out of the box or over time after a figure has been available). Unlike "Gold Plastic Syndrome" where we had years of evidence and examples of products disintegrating, this current "yellowing" hasn't resulted in any known breakages yet, but there's no telling what the future might hold, unfortunately. At the best, you'll have an ugly figure on your hands. At the worst, it might develop into a breakage issue. It's just not possible to tell right now, and Hasbro is doing us no favours by refusing to address the consumer concerns about this.

Agree. And personal experience Yellowing figure is not a big issue,as long as yellowing evenly. I have a Robot Spirit Zeta Gundam had yellow only in front, so I had to give it sun bath in the back for 2 month until it become all yellowish. Then it looks great again.

[delrue]

From my understanding it tends to be the harder plastic they use for the joints and friction points (and then whatever else they use to fill that mold.) Makes me wonder if there's a resin mixed in with the plastic or something to that nature.