is it just me, or has the quality of transformers toys been pretty bad since after the movie? i never had any problems with any of my movie TFs(i had all of them except blackout/evac and the leaders). but now it seems they all have problems now( my Cybertron Prime's arms cracked when i first moved them, prowl with a huge chunk of paint missing from his face, ratchet being unable to move his arms at all with out those things popping out.) >_<


I hope i'm just getting crappy luck in the toys I bought...and not that the quality of them became crappy >_<


although, my new classics are pretty good and solid, they just seem kinda..meh. maybe i'm just used to te movie detailing ^_^;

I found the Animated toys body parts easy to pull off, but just as easy to put back in. It's because they're on round joints, not ball joints... But apart from that all my broken ones are from G1 and G2... and one BW one... :/

popping of >>> breaking off

FWIW The only big QCproblems I have had were on Classics Astrotrain and Cliffjumper

I've had twice as many QC problems with the past two lines of TFs than I have in all the time I've been collecting, and I haven't gotten nearly as much from the last two lines as I did from the Movie line or even Classics 1.0.

Hasbro's QC has definitely gone down across the board. Reports of problems have been much more common.

its not just with TF it is with the joe line too. OC has gone down on all there lines. i think they switched factory's. it is mainly the paint apps so far... Now with the new classics the worst one i have gotten is glavatron . i touch him or even move him a bit and he is ready to fall apart lol . so i just live him in bot mode .

I hope Hasbro gets it under control soon. if the QC dosent get fixed i see it just getting worse IE missing parts like a arm, head or leg depending on the bot .

I think that HasTakOmy is in such a rush to get this stuff out, that OC has pretty much gone out the window. I noticed not only the fit and finish of each piece, but the detail and overall quality of the items. I really wonder.....

i got 2 matching missile launchers (should be different - left/right) with tracks when i was a kid and i never got over it

Well for sure Animated toys quality isn't as good as previous Transformers but Universe (classics 2.0) is okay. It seems like theres something in the paint with Animated figs that makes them seems brighter and has a lot of paint chips. I never had paint chip problems with my Cybertron figures though.

That's been the bulk of my issues with the Animated is the paint. While I do like the matte finish, it tends to be prone to scratching and wearing away when you transform the figures.

I do agree with you on the Cybertron figures too, as I never really had any QC problems with any of mine out of the box.

I really don't go for animated. I prefer Universe/classics 2.0. But still, I've noticed a general decline in quality.

The only problem I've had with Animated was the first Prowl I got had two right legs, and then the second one I got to replace him had some thing that made it look like his visor had cracked and spilled blue liquid on some of his face. I swapped heads and got the perfect Prowl. However, I do intend on purchasing the Prowl sticker set from Reprolabels and adding the battle mask to the messed head and engaging a swap technique for battle mode Prowl and regular Prowl when playing with posing my Animated figs.

However, otherwise, I really haven't had any issues whatsoever.

And btw, the thing with Ratchet's magnets is that they're designed to flip out when the lower arm is put at a certain angle.

it's just you.

there are always errors in production. figures seem more loose out of the package but that may just be because they are using more ball joints than they were a few years ago.

... it's not just him. Hasbro's QC for the most recent lines has almost assuredly taken a hit. There have been widespread reports of problems right out of the box, not just loose joints. Far more than beforehand.

We all have to realize that material/production costs on these toys have been steadily increasing over the past several years, and that the manufacturers are going to cover their costs any way they can while still maintaining a healthy profit margin.

A couple of ways to do that are:
- make the toys smaller (i.e. less plastic/materials)
- use a thinner paint, spread it out more. I think that they have honestly been using a different paint than they have in the past. It's cheaper, easier to rub off, and more likely to just smear.
- use less paint applications. I didn't realize how naked my TF:A Prowl really was until I saw the reprolabels upgrade set that gives him all of his cartoon-accurate paint apps.

And while this has all happened kind of under the radar, we now have the news that they are also going to be raising prices across the board. yay!

Only problem with my figures is with Megatron. He's lacking the groove in the left side of the cannon plate, and his right hand holds his swords loosely. Both are very minor.

Aside from cruddy paint apps on Universe Prowl and crooked head on my Classics Prime I haven't really noticed much difference in the quality. Then again I haven't really been buying many Transformers lately. Thinking about it though some of the newer Star Wars Clone Wars figs do feel kinda cheapish.

eh, my luck is kinda better


i bought Sentinel Prime and Oil Slick, and they didn't fall apart or anything. But my 3rd buy(Acid Storm)was horribly loose(Hm...maybe there's a pattern here...Acid Storm was bought at K-mart, while the other 2 were bought at Walmart...Hm....)


going to get another TF today, hopefully my luck will be less craptacular

The last wave of Animated and Universe seemed fine (outside of 2.0 SS), but yeah Has/Tak dropped the ball in 2008.

Love em as I do, I wont suffer another year of buying defects. Hence, shape up, or I'm going on a NICE vacation this year.

I haven't encountered anything close to seriously bothering me. Hasbro's production is up due to success of the line, and I think they're doing a good job with all the stuff they're churning out.

I try to inspect everything I buy at the store closely. I imagine I might look a little odd to passers by while comparing toys to each other to try and get the best one on the shelf. You still can't tell what you're getting by looking closely at them, but you can still get an ok idea. I look for panel lines that don't line up, sloppy paint apps, try to make sure there is nothing rattling around in the package, etc. So far so good except for TFA Soundwave which was really loose. I dunno, I guess I'm just lucky and I always check the threads before picking up a new figure just to see what qc issues everyone is having.

I do the same thing.

the only QC problem I see is that we are getting great TF toys now and we'll sadly be force fed a round (months) of movie toys that we don't really want after the first wave.

2.0 SS?

Sun Streaker?
Side Swipe?
Silver Streak?
Smoke Screen?
Star Scream?

Liege means this Screamer: http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsByBra...=23052&PG=1

Well, i just got that 12 pack of minicons from K-mart...no QC problems with any of the 12...awesome XD

Yep, seeming as it was the only SS in the last wave.

But for giggles, outside of Smokescreen who isn't out yet, I've had issues with those other SS's too.

I try to inspect them as well, but as TFs are packaged in alt mode, you can't exactly see any joint problems.


and i wish i had your luck..pretty much everything i've bought past the movie toys have had one problem or another >_<

Honestly, I really haven't had any problems with any of the figures I've purchased as of late. I guess I'm just lucky.

Of course, this doesn't apply to all of us. I enjoy the figures if they strike me, and I couldn't give a hoot if they were in the movie or game or not.

there's only 1 SS...

j/k - it's always starscream!

The "Last wave of Universe" should've been a tip-off.

Oh, i just remembered the Hulk TF i got a while back also had good QC


so it's mostly just animated and universe that seems to have QC issues... *sigh*


((In other news, this is like my most popular topic ever! yay! xD ))