New QC issue... Photog lens cracks?

[The Mound]

Mine is good!

[Darkspecter]

I'm starting to think Mattel should stay away from translucent plastic as well (which sucks, because I LOVE translucent figures and accessories!). I collect Ghostbusters and one of my MOC Scoleri brother figures looks SEVERELY cracked all over the place. He looked like that when I first got him from Mattel. It has to be a fragility issue or something. None of Mattel's translucent flight stands or DCUC and JLU stands seem to have any kind of problems though. Are they made of a different type of plastic?

[Bonehead]

My Photog has a cracked lens but it's only on the end and very small. In fact if it wasn't for this thread I likely wouldn't have noticed it.

My Photog is fine (thankfully), but I just went to check my Roboto. UHM... 2 cracks in his chest that weren't there before. He's never been dropped. He has never fallen off the shelf. He's been standing on the shelf and hasn't been subjected to abuse.

Wow! You must have one of those Limited Edition Robotos that doesn't fall over every other day due to the loose ankle joints like mine.

[skeletom]

Mine looks fine, thank goodness! Can't believe we've got another QC fun hour already!

[Darkkosis]

I just found this thread and I ran to check on my Photog, and thank Goodness his lens is in a good shape (so far!), otherwise I would be really ******! I'm sad to see some of you had to encounter more QC BS. This line never fails to endure more growing pains, just amazing!

[Uncle Jake]

I keep mine carded, but had to open mine to check. No crack, but I can see where it could have or will occur.

[Jobber]

You fools... its not a QC issue... it's a Chase Figure!!

[Give In...]

So in 5 pages of this thread, how many Photog's are actually an issue?
Mine arrived fine..
Maybe there was a box or two of figures they were knocked over during shipment?

[rex_tech]

Mattel, please don't assume the Photog's lens damages caused during shipping. It is very obvious damaged lens from a particlular assembly/production line (cracks formed during injection molding or during assembly).

Please check the review online: (http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/01/23/...figure-review/)

Cracks are all on the same location.

[benzie-man]

My Goddess is now a staction thanks to superglue... Perhaps my Photog will follow same...

[nanoFatato]

Oh Come on!
The head is supposed to be his gimmick!

Please Toyguru, do something! I don't know what (heck, I don't work at mattel) but do something! We can't play at WTNFBQC (Will the Next Figure Be Quality Controlled) anymore.

[Marvelous0ne]

Again, anytime they use clear plastics there are issues! Goddess, Roboto, Jewelstar, now Photog! There are issues! But then again, they won't do anything other than say return him or her to get a replacement or refund cause they're too cheap to go back into production to fix these issues! If this was Hot Wheels or Barbie they would have recalled the figures or would be working right now to get these issues resolved!

[MOTU_Maniac]

That's exactly what Mattel wants, complacency. If nobody cares about their shoddy work, they have even less incentive to do anything about it and it will only deteriorate further.

Agreed... But dealing with their customer service is difficult at best. And even if you manage to initiate an exchange, once you send back your item you face 2 possible negative scenarios- that your replacement is worse than your original item, or that they will run out of CS stock without alerting you and you will simply be refunded.

Both unacceptable alternatives for me.

Sallah

Well said Sallah. That is exactly why I am just going to deal with it. I care that many of these figures have QC issues month after month, BUT I don't want to risk getting a refund when I really just want an unbroken figure. I sent a figure back before and they told me they were out of CS Stock AFTER I had already shipped the item back. So, now I pick and choose my battles. I REALLY like Photog. I think he is really cool, so I am going to live with the cracked lens for fear of missing out completely.

[Lulu-Berlu Reg]

So in 5 pages of this thread, how many Photog's are actually an issue?
Mine arrived fine..

Well, after reading there could be a quality control issue, I decided to check my Fearless Photog figures I received before shipping them to my customers. Out of 96 figures, only one seems so have a slight crack (about 1 millimetre only) inside the lens. I'm not even sure it qualify as a crack. Anyway, I kept that one for my own collection.

So my guess is that, hopefully, this lens cracking problem with Photog is not widespread.

That, or I've just been lucky so far because honestly, in the last 3 years, I only had problem with one figure (a Beast-Man figure that was missing an armband). Out of thousands of MOTUC figures (including Goddess and Roboto).

[Sword-of-Grayskull]

So the question is ... why can't Mattel make sturdy translucent plastic like every other toy company on the planet? Hasbro uses translucent plastic all the time on their Transformers, and in the nearly ten years of its usage, this has never been an issue for them. Yet not even ToyGuru can deny the clear pattern that every MOTUC figure with translucent plastic cracks with little to no handling.

[TheFallen]

I doubt it's the cold weather. All of my Goddess figures, and now my Roboto figure have been in a climate controlled room. They've all cracked

But this is about Photog and he was not delivered to you in climate controlled conditions. That is what I meant so it wouldn't matter how you have him stored as the cold has already got to him by then. I am only discussing this new issue, not your previous ones. I don't have an answer for them

[Sallah]

I have been trying to look through the online reviews to see if any of theirs were cracked out of curiosity. The Fwoosh sample seems fine. I figure Pixel Dan would have chimed in on his through twitter so I think his is fine, but I'll re-watch the video later. It doesn't seem like Action Figure Insider ever put their review of Photog up (though I do recall them posting a preview pic I believe).

The MTV Geek review sample, however, does have it. And it is in the exact same spot-



Not sure what that tells us... but I did find it interesting.

Sallah

[Killian]

I haven't recieved mine yet. I was planning on giving him a different head to make a custom original character, so I suppose it won't be the end of the world if mine is cracked. It's still a troubling issue though.

[Metron]

So the question is ... why can't Mattel make sturdy translucent plastic like every other toy company on the planet? Hasbro uses translucent plastic all the time on their Transformers, and in the nearly ten years of its usage, this has never been an issue for them. Yet not even ToyGuru can deny the clear pattern that every MOTUC figure with translucent plastic cracks with little to no handling.

I've got a JLU Martian Manhunter that's totally clear, uses a few different types of plastics, and despite being 8 years old still looks and feels brand new.

Of course, it's from the days when Eddie Hayden was in charge. Once Nietlich came in, the QC on the line went down the drain and that's true of every brand he's managed.

Coincidence?

I suspect that in the cases with the clear plastics (among other things) over the last few years he's got some ideas about how certain materials can be manufactured in more "cost efficient" fashions that just don't jive up with the manufacturing capabilities of the factories Mattel allots his lines. That's of course 100 percent speculation on my part, but it's the only logical explanation I can find for this pattern I've seen now across multiple toy lines he's managed.

[Sallah]

After re-watching Dan's video, I think his might have it too. It is tough to tell (especially since I am doing this from my phone) but it does appear to be cracked in the clear part at least-



I am going to send him a message to see if he can check it for us...

If his is, that is 2 out of the 3 samples with reviews posted that had cracks.

Sallah

[Tallstar]

A cracked lens would actually make me angrier than reversed shoulders. Reversed shoulders is annoying, but a broken figure, especially 3 out of 4, would make me really mad.

My thoughts exact. Man, I really hope I don't have these cracks when mine arrive.

[scott metzger]

Oh... And PLEASE note that the lens was made with TRANSPARENT plastic. Sorry to say so, but every MOTYUC item that had transparent/translucent plastic had problems so far (Goddess's explosive pelvis, Roboto's cracking torso, and now Photog's lens).
Pathetic !

Kind of hard to make an argument there isn't something flawed in the translucent plastic when there's been a fairly widespread cracking problem with every figure that's made with it. One could be a random problem, two could be a very big coincidence, but three is either shoddy materials or some obscure, ancient curse making its presence known. I think it's going to be extremely hard for TG and company to convince folks now that there is nothing wrong with the plastic being used here this time around, though I'm certain they will try.

I genuinely am starting to worry about whether there is going to be a 2013 for this line. I can't see any way that subs are not going to dip in a major way just based on what's happened so far this year, and it's only February; they have 6 more months to figure out new ways to foul things up. This is not good, and all the usual excuses and showing shiny objects are not going to make it go away.

[jibernish]

I vote we send Prahvus to hand-check each and every figure as it is packaged and send mekaneckpain to supervise and complain about the job Prahvus is doing.

Sad to say, but even if these issues were caught before shipped, Mattel doesn't have the resources for such a tiny line to fix them.

[CocoaSmooth]

cracked damn............

[NorthCoast]

I wonder if there was a bad batch (if they do these in multiple batches, I don't know). I does seem like a issue that developed during the plastic injection.

Can anyone think of other figures that could potentially use transparent plastic? Sir Laser Lot, look out!