Transformers quality control issues of 2011

[TwinTwistR]

Universe Prowl head was detached and fell away from the car and out of the package as soon as I opened it.

Also, regarding issues that several people seem to have with aparent damage to "sealed" items. I picked up the universe 2pk with roadbuster and dirge at Zellers a while back. When I got it home and was about to break open the supposedly new MISB figures I noticed a couple small rips on the flaps that tipically happen when most people open a box. When I broke the tape and got it open the instructions and comic were missing. It was obvious that it had previously been opened, pillaged, resealed and then returned or left on the shelf. Fortunately, Zellers has a really good return policy and I got my money back the next day. Similar thing happened with a Fallen I got at WalMart, although this time nothing was missing. It had obviously been opend due to a couple of twist ties missing, which I had never heard of.

I think stores really try to squeeze every mile out of the products by putting the returns back on the shelves regardless of the condition they are in. This is fine if the buyer is aware up front that it was a previous purchase, but not when someone retapes it and tries to sell broken or incomplete as brand new. In those cases I always insist on getting my refund.

[GDkitty]

glad to see i wasnt the only one with prowl head problems.

[raptorhead]

A while back, I also bought a ROTF Swerve and for some strange reason, his head was weird and didn't go onto his neck.

[Iron Moose]

...there never was a comic, was there? Mine didn't include it...

[Dark Rage]

You don't get these problems when you buy quality Takara-Tomy products. Ah haha.

[justprime]

The problem goes even back to G1 have a target master kup with two left hands,..beast wars I had a rampage that in package the claw looked like some thing had chewed on it ,recently animated swoop,...head fell off and is hard to keep attached, won't even talk about miss applied paint, etc,.. I agree with Rage buy Takara/tomy,... I have yet to have any problems with there product and this spans the last 20 + years for me ......

[Scrapper6]

Originally Posted by justprime

The problem goes even back to G1 have a target master kup with two left hands,..beast wars I had a rampage that in package the claw looked like some thing had chewed on it ,recently animated swoop,...head fell off and is hard to keep attached, won't even talk about miss applied paint, etc,.. I agree with Rage buy Takara/tomy,... I have yet to have any problems with there product and this spans the last 20 + years for me ......

Not all of us can afford the wonders of Importing an entire toyline from over seas, plus why on Earth would anyone do that because of a few QC issues?

Minor Quality Control is to be expected in this day of mass-producing, if it's missing a piece, exchange it. (Happenend to me only once. Cybertron Mini-Con Thrust was missing his arm straight out of the package, I exchanged it and was happy with that.) If it has two of something, learn to live with it, exchange it if you must or perhaps try to find someone with two of the opposite. (Cybertron Wreckloose has two left hands on mine and it's never bothered me. Anybody got a Cybertron Wreckloose with two right hands and needs to swap?)

And Takara is not without it's share of QC issues... Just look at Encore Bruticus as one example, rather than repairing the mold they chose to use it as is and we wound up with an inferior quality representation of G1 Bruticus. (Of course I'll probably still buy it regardless because I'm not obsessed with having everything G1 Vintage.)

To assume that Takara's TFs come out smelling like roses while Hasbro's are full of manure is actually quite illogical and impractical. QC is universal, just because it says Made in Japan doesn't mean it's the best stuff, hell I believe they've switched to Chinese manufacturing these days as well, so they use the same factories that Hasbro does.

Just because we don't get the QC problems most of the time doesn't mean that they aren't made, most likely some kid in Japan has a Movie Ironhide with two left feet or perhaps some collector who doesn't frequent English speaking message boards picked up an Animated or Henkei release with inferior (IE Sloppy) paint apps.

If you're going to be a perfectionist in this hobby then perhaps you need to step back from yourself. I mean returning a fifty dollar toy just because a few minor paint splotches were accidentally made? In my view there is nothing wrong with the toy, it still functions as advertized, it has all of its pieces and isn't broken or defective, so it has a wierd look due to the paint splotches, so what... That just adds a little charm to the toy. I mean if I went around letting that sort of thing bother me I wouldn't have Animated Soundwave today, I mean he's got paint splotches up the wazoo... But it doesn't bother me. He Still Functions. LOL

[beretta]

ROTF Lockdown..the left arm just keeps on popping off. I've just got it in a pose in robot mode now and not planning on touching it.

G1 paint scheme Classics 2.0 Starscream, launchers keep on falling out of the shoulder pegs and under the wings. They only stay in place in his hands.

Animated Prowl...legs keep popping off when I try to transform it into a bike. Luckily Samurai Prowl was much better minus a crack on one wingtip of the samurai helmet..I say Battle Damage.

[Shepp]

Quite the opposite of this thread's purpose, but I have to say that I just got Animated Shockwave (the gray one) and the thing is a solid figure. I was worried that it would have the same quality issues that had me bring back purple Shockwave after like a week.

Man, that purple Animated Shockwave is just a rag doll of a figure, and the plastic felt like fragile crap. The mass of the figures is significantly different too. I know this isn't a quaity issue, as all purple Animated Shockwaves were like this, but really, Hasbro should have done better.

[Dark Rage]

I hardly buy Hasbro stuff and buy mostly in Takara Tomy since I'm almost always getting better value for my money. It's not about a minor paint job or QC, it's just that it generally has an overall higher quality. I'm also more selective in what I buy so I'm spending less than the average Hasbro/mall hunter and just buy what I like/need from imported TFs.