New QC issue... Photog lens cracks?

[Sallah]

Dan just confirmed it on twitter... His did have it too.

Weren't the samples produced earlier? With 2 out of 3 having it, that would mean it isn't confined to a certain production run if so.

And for those checking carded samples- You have to look REALLY carefully to spot it when it is packaged. The light doesn't catch it well until it is opened it seems. It will appear as a very faint line, which almost looks like a vertcal swirl line in the plastic. Look VERY closely!

Sallah

[Plantman]

This is simply a disgrace, nobody should have to put up with continuous "QC" issues, its all a load of b0ll0cks.

To try and paper over the cracks that the quality and management of these figures is sub-standard is insulting to the collectors who are spending thousands of dollars on it.

The people who have cracked photog's should get to keep the figure/replacement and get a full refund.

How many more times will this happen using cheap materials and pathetic excuses, quite frankly Mattel should be investigated for releasing these figures and causing so many problems.

Rant over ..

Andy

[NorthCoast]

Mine should be here today or tomorrow and I have 3 coming (2 are mine, 1 for a friend). I'll report on my findings.

[fball13z]

Dan just confirmed it on twitter... His did have it too.

Weren't the samples produced earlier? With 2 out of 3 having it, that would mean it isn't confined to a certain production run if so.

And for those checking carded samples- You have to look REALLY carefully to spot it when it is packaged. The light doesn't catch it well until it is opened it seems. It will appear as a very faint line, which almost looks like a vertcal swirl line in the plastic. Look VERY closely!

Sallah

Im thinking it was a bad mold at this point, they need some better mold makers or its a cheap plastic.

Mattel needs to learn, when they get "cute" with these toys it blows up in their face.

Just make them out of good plastic and stop getting cute with vac metals, foam pieces, clear pieces or moving "action" features

[scott metzger]

my guess is that MOTUC is being given to their worst factory (Mattel owns their factories).

I always assumed that, as well, but then why have there been so many production problems with "vendor changes" the past few years? The vendors they speak of are the factories (have to be, because they mentioned transfering the molds from one to the other, as well as other manufacturing concerns), so at least some of their manufacturing must be done by factories they do not own. You don't refer to your own factories as "vendors."

[Pixel Dan]

As Sallah pointed out, I checked the review sample and it does indeed have the crack. It's real light, and doesn't seem as pronounced as the ones on Sallah's. But it's there, in the exact same spot. You have to look really carefully, because it almost looks like it's part of the sculpt. But once you see it, it's obvious it's a crack.



I'm still waiting on my subscription figures to arrive, so I'll have to check if that Photog has the same issue.

**countdown to Mattel saying "The reviewers didn't catch it!"**

[davidlogan]

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).

You should play the lotto!

[Benedict Judas Hel]

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

I know, C-Smooth. That was my favorite comedy magazine, too...

[Sallah]

You have to look really carefully, because it almost looks like it's part of the sculpt.

Yeah... I can't stress this enough, especially for those with carded samples- The crack is VERY hard to notice when it is still in package! It took us really examining the carded samples to spot it as the light doesn't catch the crack as well in package. It really does appear to be a very faint vertical line in the plastic when packaged. If you see a faint vertical line in the clear portion in the same place as the obvious cracks shown in the carded samples, yours is probably cracked. That line should not be there as it isn't there on my uncracked one. The crack becomes much more obvious when you open him, as it can now catch the light (plus you can extend the lens to see if the crack runs up into the silver).

Speaking of running up into the silver- On of the Photogs which we opened yesterday that had the crack confined to the clear are now has the crack edging into the silver... so they do possibly worsen over time.

Sallah

[TJRules]

We have plenty in stock for exchanges

So he's not actually "sold out" like it says on the site? Big surprise.

Of the 10 I opened at Mattel for QC check

So are you the official QC guy then? NOBODY else at Mattel does this then, huh?

[Poe Ghostal]

I miss Cracked magazine. The website just isn't the same. Though John Severin's art was easily the best part of it.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand--regarding the samples the factory sent to Mattel: what's to prevent the factory from doing an extra-special job on the samples (like a chef cooking a special meal for a food critic), then neglecting the actual production run?

[krosfyah]

Mattel needs to learn, when they get "cute" with these toys it blows up in their face.

Just make them out of good plastic and stop getting cute with vac metals, foam pieces, clear pieces or moving "action" features

But it's 2012, if they were able to make toys in 1982 with action features that don't destory a figure there's NO reason they can't in 30 years later. technology has gotten BETTER not worse!

[nanoFatato]

In an ideal world the company would 'fire' such factory and find another one, in real world that would be impossible because it would be pretty cost-effective (and mattel already lose his shirt with sorceress..), maybe send an employee to do QC on site? Haha, I'm too funny.

[PaTrIcKfOgArTy]

Mine is fine, no cracks at all - but you can see inside that it almost looks like a groove is in place for the sliding mechanism to work. I wonder if this is causing stress on that clear plastic?

[Sallah]

Anyway, back to the topic at hand--regarding the samples the factory sent to Mattel: what's to prevent the factory from doing an extra-special job on the samples (like a chef cooking a special meal for a food critic), then neglecting the actual production run?

Or is it possible that some of those samples were cracked too and Scott maybe didn't notice it? No slight meant to Dan or the guy that does the MTV Geek reviews (as it isn't their jobs to catch QC errors so they in NO WAY should share the blame in this)... but 2 out of the 3 samples reviewed were cracked and it went unnoticed, so there is precedence for it being missed. It is admittedly hard to spot unless you know to look for it, especially if the crack hasn't made it to the silver (yet) or if you are trying to find it in package (which it is VERY difficult to spot when packaged).

Sallah

[Hordak]

Mine seems to have a small crack in the lens as well. It is very small and as others have stated it is hard to see when carded. I don't know if I want to deal with customer service. It's always been a pain. Tough call since it is really hard to see on mine .

[fball13z]

So he's not actually "sold out" like it says on the site? Big surprise.



So are you the official QC guy then? NOBODY else at Mattel does this then, huh?

Its not a matter of selling out, they keep Customer Service stock out side of the on sell numbers. they keep them for at least 30 days

and on the QC, if you look at his post he also talks about how they do have a guy in Hong Kong doing checks, but like Sallah said, if you are looking at this figure in the package its really hard to see.

[SCB]

Yeah sold out doesn't mean there's zero in circulation.

[CocoaSmooth]

I know, C-Smooth. That was my favorite comedy magazine, too...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yqJ_tJAEwS...b_CRACK148.jpg

LOL!!!!! But mines really did come cracked ....sad face....

[Odrakir]

It's the Battle Damaged Photog!!!!

[Hordak]

I'll add that this is truly unfortunate. Having the figure in hand I actually kind of like him. Stupid QC issues are really getting to be a drag. Of course what's new right? This kind of topic seems common now for almost every release.

What's next? Spikor's spikes being brittle and snapping off ? Shadow Weaver's cloak ripping over time? I shudder to think of the possibilities.

[The Rook]

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).

Cracks are all on the same location.

I would agree.

I think Mattel needs to scale things back. Quality before quantity. They've mentioned time and time again about having limited resources for this line. It's really no surprise then that when they are putting out 3 and 4 figures a month that there would be issues including delays and quality control. I really feel like Mattel has grown the line a bit too fast. I love having lots of MOTUC figures but with rising costs plus more figures and all the issues that have been occurring on top things, I can see people losing interest and subscriptions being down again this year. I'd much rather pay the $20-$22 per figure, get no more than 2 figures a month and have them arrive on time and be correctly assembled and not damaged.

[DJ_Convoy]

Too... much... logic...!

[TechTrek]

the fact that these are in the same spot, i am thinking that it has to do with the mold, and then maybe the weather change cracks it further. I dont see weather making a crack in the SAME spot on more than .... say two, but as we can see this is in the same spot on all of them so far. i will check mine today. battle damage here we come!!!

[ash]

2012-02-21_21-49-43_664.jpg

Well, this is the one that I think is cracked... what do you think?