How to repair MOTU action figures broken legs?

[Strong-Dar]

Hey Everyone, does anyone know how I can fix the legs of the original figures?, when the rubber bands inside lose their strength. My Faker Figure's left leg rotates to the right and he can't stand up. Any suggestions?

[ZEMOSMAN]

VIDEO SHOWING HOW TO FIX MOTU FIGURE LEGS

[Arkangel]

nice, but has anyone tried simply using rubber bands from other figures? I fixed a few in such way, it's not that difficult and the final result gets better every time.

[okydoky]

Great instructional video! I've seen He-bro's website using the same method, but always wanted to watch an actual video of the process.

Hey Bruno, you should also upload a youtube video of your process.

[josh]

That weird leg twisting issue isn't always an issue of the band rotting.

I noticed with figures from later in the line -- Spikor especially -- it seems as if the bands are trying to return to what's probably their original shape. The bands may very well have been straight/I shaped, but it's also possible they were U or V shaped (which, had these been meticulously hand assembled, would have helped, but they weren't). The middle piece get's twisted (because these were mass produced in outrageous numbers), and while in a package or toy it's forced to hold a certain shape, but the less constrained the legs are, they're inclined to untwist.

EDIT: And to anyone trying this, it may not hurt to wrap some athletic or medical tape around the screwdriver to help keep from gouging the leg holes when it's putting pressure on them.

nice, but has anyone tried simply using rubber bands from other figures? I fixed a few in such way, it's not that difficult and the final result gets better every time.

The issue I've always had is that so many of the bands have been caught in the furries when they were assembled, so other than having to get them out of the legs in good shape, the furries also have to be destroyed (which may not be an issue with some figures, admittedly).

[Arkangel]

The issue I've always had is that so many of the bands have been caught in the furries when they were assembled, so other than having to get them out of the legs in good shape, the furries also have to be destroyed (which may not be an issue with some figures, admittedly).

getting them out of the legs is the easy part, you simply use an exacto knife to cut through the legs by the seam, the cut will be near perfect and the rubber band will come out intact. After that you use a plier to squeeze out the rubber band through the furries.

@oky

i've repaired all my broken figures so, no chance of doing so soon

[josh]

getting them out of the legs is the easy part, you simply use an exacto knife to cut through the legs by the seam, the cut will be near perfect and the rubber band will come out intact. After that you use a plier to squeeze out the rubber band through the furries.

I'll have to try cutting the seam sometime, though that still doesn't help when the band is actually pinched between the front & back sections of the furries (compromising the structural integrity), as most of the figures I've had in my possession have been.

[Arkangel]

hmmm i've done this a few times and never noticed something like that, but i see what your point is

[captainamerica]

I'm with you Arkangel. Swapping leg bands is the right way to fix your MOTU figs. That whole O-ring/eye screws technique seems like a rough patch-up at best to me.

Wait, you cut your donor figures legs??? I just heat them with a hair dryer and work them loose with a small flat-head screwdriver. I use the same screwdriver to push the one end of the band through the gap in the furries.

Of course this technique requires you to have donor MOTU figures. I now have a giant ziploc bag of disassembled Jitsus and Fistos that have sacrificed themselves.

nice, but has anyone tried simply using rubber bands from other figures? I fixed a few in such way, it's not that difficult and the final result gets better every time.

[He-bro]

VIDEO SHOWING HOW TO FIX MOTU FIGURE LEGS

I've done this many many times, use smaller o-rings and screw-eyes and it will work better,





you can seat the screw-eye all the way into the leg socket:



Use thi method to tighten it:


And again seat it fully into the leg hole at the top of the leg:


It will give the figure much more mobility, the screw eye won't hit the inside the the shorts at all.

P.S. Donor figure parts for the ruber-band is the best way to go, if you have them. Whenever I do custom figures now, I use a donor figure leg band.

[josh]

Of course this technique requires you to have donor MOTU figures. I now have a giant ziploc bag of disassembled Jitsus and Fistos that have sacrificed themselves.

Poor legless Jitsus & Fistos.

[Rioblast]

OK, I recently contacted one of the customizers that sells figures on ebay and asked how he creates things like slime pit He-Man and what he uses in the legs. He replied that he has NEW rubber pieces for the legs, cast off old ones, and for ten bucks he could take the old rubber out, replace with new, and bam...instant fix. So, I took him up on his offer, excited to see how it turned out and it arrived today!!!! INCREDIBLE. I won this He-Man carded on ebay and was disappointed to see the loose legs inside so I opened him and his legs are just simply perfect. There is NO WAY besides the rubber looking shiny and new that you could tell. And the person I dealt with...absolutely TOP NOTCH. He did the job immediately, emailed me right away, sent it back same day. I had this puppy send and received back in like four days. He even emailed a picture AND a video to show me what it looked like while I waited for it to arrive. Incredible service, cost, and experience. Just letting you know that there is an alternative to drilling into the legs.

So is this guys still around and doing this service? Anybody know?

[He-bro]

So is this guys still around and doing this service? Anybody know?

Try this guy:

**Please do not link to sites selling illegal bootlegs. Thanks! **

[dorrmann]

So is this guys still around and doing this service? Anybody know?

Sorry, but the person in question sells illegal casts of Mattel's products, which we do not allow on this site. Our owners and members are creators themselves, so we do not allow copyright infringement.

[Rioblast]

Sorry, but the person in question sells illegal casts of Mattel's products, which we do not allow on this site. Our owners and members are creators themselves, so we do not allow copyright infringement.

Sorry about that. I didn't think replacement/custom rubber pieces for Motu figures would be that different from replacement/custom GIJoe o-rings.

I soooooooo wish Mattel had used a similar system with the vintage figs.

[cobrakahn]

This is a great thread and useful information besides all the *****ing. Just got into my brother in laws He-man collection. It has been sitting in a tupperware box in a garage since 1990 in Florida. So everyone is broken and sticky and Dragon Blaster Skelletor has rusted onto every figure. But on the positive side they are almost all complete. A couple of characters I have never held in real life like Snout Spout and DB Skelletor. So to keep myself from dying of boredom I might try to take this challenge.

Also there is a TMNT tub as well, but I can already hear my wife arguing with her mom so back to that situation.

[erisk]

How do you replace a rubber band using a donor figure. Years ago I bought replacement rubber bands, but I'm not sure how to install them. Any suggestions?

[mrguardia]

Hey guys, wondering what methods, if any, do you guys use to remedy the loose legs issue that most MOTU vintage figures suffer from. Any quick fix available? Is it even worth going through the trouble? Share your thoughts with me.

[Eternian-King Paul]

I find that the problem is the same as getting them to stand up, especialy the girls, especialy Purfuma.

I also found that securing their feeties to a platform made it all good, of course I was making a chessboard of 32 characters so I wanted a magnetic platform anyway.

..my vintage Masters can stand on the side of the fridge door if I want them to.

[mrguardia]

How to fix loose legs on vintage MOTU figures using the updated He-Bro method.

[Lich Leech]

I just fixed a Skeletor using the o-rings and screw-eyes method. Worked great!

[Cosmitron]

I know it's been done before but a friend asked me to do a video of this myself.
So here it is:

[hoover]

As many of you know, it is custom to have figures with rickets-legs that are out of whack and no longer stand up. Short of buying replacements is there any method to fix this problem? Can the legs and bands be changed out?

[He-bro]

http://he-man.us/Innovations/BrokenLegs.html

[dchimpy]

Does the He-Bro method work for fixing loose legs on a Teela figure? I'd take to take her apart only to realize the construction is different.