Granamyr Arrival Thread - Discussion, Assembly info, QC reports, etc

[darkmoon766]

I don't disagree that a lot of this breakage could be because of people assembling him... but is that really mishandling? It's true that "operator error" can often be an issue. But in this case, they are just trying to put him together as instructed, right? The fact is, this should be engineered in such a way that you don't risk breaking the toy when just trying to put him together. Mattel can do that. They should be old pros at this sort of thing. There really is no way around it. Mine hasn't been sent out yet, but successfully putting a Mattel toy together should not involve heating pieces and applying pressure from both sides. We don't have a great idea of how widespread the issue is, but it's certainly not rare. There definitely seems to be an engineering or materials issue here, no matter what. Even if it only affects a relatively small portion of customers (something we may never truly know) it doesn't make it less of an issue.

My hope is that there are plenty of good ones out there, though. I plan to return it (and keep returning it until I get a good one) if I get a bad one. I do plan on taking every precaution, but it really should not be necessary to take these extra steps, and Mattel's internal safety and product standards would not allow such extra steps to be needed if this was working as it should.

Elegant post that you could cut and paste with many QC issues from Matty. This is what MOTUC collectors have to live with. Poor QC and customer service. It's too bad the toys are so awesome when not messed up, otherwise none of us would deal with any of this garbage. To the void with you 4-Horsemen!!

[Dr Kain]

No it's not obvious, I've seen maybe 10-20 complain all together. Some might even have been broken by mishandling. So let's take an imaginary number, lets say 10 000 units, with 10-20 defect figures. Suddenly "a good number being defective" isn't the case any longer.

We're all working off theories here with no hard facts to go by. A few complaints here doesn't make me believe that there are any more defects then any other line nor figure in this line.

A broken toy is still a broken toy. It does not matter if it is from mishandling or not. That is still bad QC. And 10-20 figures being defective is still MORE than there should be. In fact, for a figure that costs nearly $100 after shipping, there should NOT be any defects like this. Hell, the toy should NOT be packaged in pieces for his price. Mattel decided to go the cheap route.

Or would you be okay if your He-Man had come in a small box and you had to assemble him yourself? I wouldn't, as I can see the joints falling off just like Metamorpho, Chemo, Kalibak, and Despero do.

Oh yeah, and my Elasti-Girl's arm just broke and they want ME to pay for shipping it back to them.

[Howlor]

Seeing the sheer amount of people that are having issues* combined with the fact that (five full business days later, starting on #6) I'm STILL waiting for my return label, I've gotten nervous enough about my chances of receiving a replacement over a refund that I scratched together the money for another one. I'll probably get it before I get my return label, too.

*Quit spitting that "based on how many pictures are being posted, I can only say that it's a small, vocal minority," garbage, Scott! Stop ignoring the evidence all over the place just because it shows what you don't want it to show: that Matty dropped the ball AGAIN! Of course hardly anyone's posting pictures! Where's the pictures thread on Matty's forums? The Fwoosh? Facebook? No, only here and posted days after people have already posted their issues. And what has it ever historically solved? It's not like there can be a running change. All the Granamyrs that will be produced have been produced. It's not like you're going back into production to make this right. "We'll pass it on to the appropriate people to ensure this doesn't happen again." Yeah, that's worked out so well so far, hasn't it?

[Jedi_Master_Jeremy]

It's abundantly clear to me while looking at the plastic in person there's been stress to some of the areas where pegs fit in. The hairline crack that appears in the tail socket on mine was created while trying to fit the tail peg into the socket correctly after using a blow dryer. That clicking sound we're to identify is actually the plastic breaking on mine. It reminds me a lot of the Eternia track for that playset and how brittle those pieces are. And then around the right arm peg one of the clips is missing and you can see stress again in the plastic. IMO someone test fitted this peg, pulled it out and broke it. The clips don't even hold under the peg. They only hug the sides of it. So as far as I'm concerned we have some engineering issues here along with some QC issues. And I do believe a lot more damage is coming. Once these things start getting delivered I expect the flood gates to open. I managed to repair my first one for display only but the second and third one I'm waiting on will be sent back if there's anything wrong with them at all.

Here you can see that one of the clips is missing in this arm joint. This causes the arm to be loose and even fall out. All around this area you can see stress marks in the plastic. It's almost like someone bent the plastic in some cases and then put it back in place. Other areas it looks like there have been some chips out of the plastic like someone was monkeying around with it. I'm hard pressed to believe that this came from the mold material this way. Someone had to have manipulated this piece to some degree either with a test fit or something else to get these visual results.
Granamyr arm peg 4.jpg
Granamyr arm peg 4 labeled.png

Here you can see the hariline crack in the tail socket. The corners of the socket show a thinning of the plastic and or stress. When I first looked at it my first thought was Eternia Track! I heated this area and then applied the tail into the socket correctly. It clicked in place and then fell out. The assembly clips cracked and now the tail will not stay on without me coming in and gluing it all together.
Granamyr tail connector break.jpg

[He-Kal]

Out of curiosity--has anyone ordered Granny in say the last few days to a week and received shipping confirmation yet?

[ChgoMarc]

My wife ordered mine within the first five minutes and still no shipping notice.

[Jedi_Master_Jeremy]

The way it look is if you didn't order in the first couple minutes you get to wait. I was in and out in under 3 mins and I was in the min the door was unlocked and I have that Granamyr in hand. I ordered another later that day and I don't have a shipping confirmation for it yet. I ordered a third one on the 28th...same result.

[Jinxieman]

Out of curiosity--has anyone ordered Granny in say the last few days to a week and received shipping confirmation yet?

I ordered mine on the 26th and I have not received a notice. I assume they sold through the first shipment within the first couple of minutes and everyone else is still waiting.

[orbles]

I'm going to disagree, this is an adult collector line, and Granamyr is an expensive item as most have pointed out. People should take the necessary precautions.

Does it say on the package that a hair dryer or any other tools are required to assemble the product? I have not seen the instructions, as mine has not arrived, but seriously, does it indicate any tools are required?

[Whiplash7]

This is pretty much the worst arrival thread I've ever seen.

The first one of my 3 Granny's broke upon assembly. The right arm socket doesnt hold tight. The tail socket broke as well.

Don't forget to post pics in the other thread. Scott is expecting 'hundreds' of photos.

[MegaGearMax]

A broken toy is still a broken toy. It does not matter if it is from mishandling or not. That is still bad QC. And 10-20 figures being defective is still MORE than there should be. In fact, for a figure that costs nearly $100 after shipping, there should NOT be any defects like this. Hell, the toy should NOT be packaged in pieces for his price. Mattel decided to go the cheap route.

Or would you be okay if your He-Man had come in a small box and you had to assemble him yourself? I wouldn't, as I can see the joints falling off just like Metamorpho, Chemo, Kalibak, and Despero do.

Oh yeah, and my Elasti-Girl's arm just broke and they want ME to pay for shipping it back to them.

Mattel can't win...if Granamyr were packaged whole, we would have paid more in shipping because of the greater size of the packaging. If he's packaged in pieces, then he could break, due to some factor.

I'm sure big ticket things like SDCC Bruticus, The Millennium Falcon, The Shield Helicarrier and the TMNT Sewer Lair playset have broken on a small amount of customers straight out of package. Some fans do get a defective items.

[Darkkosis]

Does it say on the package that a hair dryer or any other tools are required to assemble the product? I have not seen the instructions, as mine has not arrived, but seriously, does it indicate any tools are required?

I'm sure the instructions were misprinted!
In my case, I used the hair dryer technique before and after assembly, and still it didn't work! I had to use super glue, and it wasn't even supplied!

[bigsexy_j]

I'm going to disagree, this is an adult collector line, and Granamyr is an expensive item as most have pointed out. People should take the necessary precautions.

This may be an Adult line, but some blame still has to be on Mattel. I have every Marvel Legend BAF and not a single one had this issue for me. I'm sure there were some with QC issues, but I don't remember the extent of problematic ones to be as bad as Granamyr has had.

J

[He-Kal]

The way it look is if you didn't order in the first couple minutes you get to wait. I was in and out in under 3 mins and I was in the min the door was unlocked and I have that Granamyr in hand. I ordered another later that day and I don't have a shipping confirmation for it yet. I ordered a third one on the 28th...same result.

Well, I ordered within 5-10 mins tops of him going available--still no shipping notice I sent an email to DR today to see if he will ship soon? Maybe it will be a good thing, and he wont ship until June when it's warm and I wont have to heat up every inch of the figure to assemble it safely

[Jawbridge]

Finally dropped by work to pick up the December lot, and pulled him out promptly upon getting home.

He's pretty great! He assembled with ease, no paint issues, and I'll pack that awesome box away in the closet.

He displays with the statues rather nicely. I tried that with the giants and they just looked silly, but Granny looks goooood!

[Dr Kain]

Mattel can't win...if Granamyr were packaged whole, we would have paid more in shipping because of the greater size of the packaging. If he's packaged in pieces, then he could break, due to some factor.

I'm sure big ticket things like SDCC Bruticus, The Millennium Falcon, The Shield Helicarrier and the TMNT Sewer Lair playset have broken on a small amount of customers straight out of package. Some fans do get a defective items.

How would the figure being assembled cost more in shipping? It still weighs the same no matter what.

I expect defects in a line that produces thousands upon thousand of units that are being shipped nation wide, to stores all across the nation. This is a small item, with limited quantities, being shipped to one place for sale at one place. There is no excuse for this when these toys are probably not even a fourth of the amount of items produced for WWF or Monster High.

[Bonehead]

How would the figure being assembled cost more in shipping? It still weighs the same no matter what.

Yes the weight would be the same but the package would have to be MUCH larger to accommodate Granny's huge mass. The package alone would have to be at least 4 to 5 times wider minimum. That would result in more packaging materials and would cost more to ship cause it was larger and takes up more space. Weight isn't the only factor when you ship an item. The size of the box actually dictates the shipping cost just as much as the weight.

[Haradrel]

You mean they should go above and beyond the instructions that come with the figure? I strongly disagree with that. I doubt anyone is slamming the peices together when they go to assemble their figure. We all know by now what kind of shoddy craftsmanship goes into this line by now.

Apparently not. Since people did not take some precautions. I'm not talking about going above and beyond, but having a look at the figure before you put stress on it. I cringed when I saw toyguru and pixeldan assemble theirs, as I would never ever put that much force on any toy without checking where things went properly a few times. This is what I believe most people have done, maybe straight out of the box when the plastic is cold.

When the plastic turns out too rubbery it's because of safety precautions for children. When the plastic is too delicate and brittle suddenly it's an adult collector's again ... you can't have it both ways

Actually it's not safety precaution for children, they have standards that they have to meet as it is classified as a toy. So I can have it both ways. And I do remember that it says adult collector on most of the boxes.

A broken toy is still a broken toy. It does not matter if it is from mishandling or not.

Whoa, wait what? So if I throw my ipad on the ground straight after getting it, it's the companys fault? I'm sorry, no.

That is still bad QC. And 10-20 figures being defective is still MORE than there should be. In fact, for a figure that costs nearly $100 after shipping, there should NOT be any defects like this. Hell, the toy should NOT be packaged in pieces for his price. Mattel decided to go the cheap route.

Actually no. 10-20 out of how many, we do not know, but I'm betting it's at least a couple of thousand units. Which puts the percentage of the defective figures way below 10% which is the average for any company (10% and less, some even deal with only 1%). What the cost of the item is has absolutely no bearing on the amount of % for deficient product, at least not until you get up into the 10 000s of dollars. Packing it in pieces saved us shipping, you can't have it both ways here with the price.

Or would you be okay if your He-Man had come in a small box and you had to assemble him yourself? I wouldn't, as I can see the joints falling off just like Metamorpho, Chemo, Kalibak, and Despero do.
Oh yeah, and my Elasti-Girl's arm just broke and they want ME to pay for shipping it back to them.

I think you missed why he came un-assembled. It was to save you money.

Does it say on the package that a hair dryer or any other tools are required to assemble the product? I have not seen the instructions, as mine has not arrived, but seriously, does it indicate any tools are required?

No, but it doesn't say "you should use a lot of strength on this figure straight out of the box when the plastic is cold" either. On the other hand, seeing as this is an adult collectors line, one would think that buying such an expensive item would lead most people to treat it as an expensive item and maybe do some slight re-search before slamming it together.

I'm sure the instructions were misprinted!
In my case, I used the hair dryer technique before and after assembly, and still it didn't work! I had to use super glue, and it wasn't even supplied!

Welcome to one of the 10-20 defects, yours is the first I've heard about that didn't work with any kind of fix, even with glue - you might be the first legitimate claim to a defect I've seen so far.

This may be an Adult line, but some blame still has to be on Mattel. I have every Marvel Legend BAF and not a single one had this issue for me. I'm sure there were some with QC issues, but I don't remember the extent of problematic ones to be as bad as Granamyr has had.
J

Oh I do agree they have the blame for the defects. Bad design is of course one of them. But at this point it really is such a low percentage of their sales that it really doesn't matter, not unless hundreds suddenly show up in the QC thread. This is an estimated loss for them, probably well within the 1%-10% range they operate within.

Guys I'm really not enjoying the sarcasm and "witty" comments on my opinions here. I'm sure there are some legitimate QC issues, and bad design within this figure, but it really is a vocal minority that is screaming at the top of their lungs so far, and this happens every time there is even a hint of something close to defective. I'll respect the people with their opinions on QC and how bad it is and what should be done, but isn't it a bit late to live in the dream world that matty will fix every single problem that arises? Technically every figure is a new entity that will have some defects, they are not making just 1 figure over and over again, if that was the case I would completely agree with all your outcries for QC control and whatnot, but this is getting ridiculous.

Show me cold hard numbers on the amount of defects vs the ones that are not. Heck we could even do a mini survey here on the org (which does not encompass every single sale they have mind you), to see how low the number really is.
Again, some of you have legitimate QC problems and faulty merchandise and that really sucks, but try to be a bit realistic with your ideas of what matty should do. This is a numbers game for them, and as long as they keep their sales up to a point, and the returns to a certain percentage, they still win.
I personally think that it is rather pointless to do a thread about the QC problems, because the figure will never be re-made. We could however do a thread about how many had the problems and if hitting a high number bring that to matty in a more proper way then just randomly have outbursts that hold no value monetary or otherwise for matty.
I'm with you as a fan that it really sucks to have a broken figure, but I also like to keep my expectations real here. This is and always will be part of the game when they do one off figures.

[yodafreakmaster]

It has been said many times that Granamyr is the size of a small child; Well here is the proof!!


Here he is with my new little girl!!! She is almost 3 months old and they are the SAME SIZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DSC05682.jpg

DSC05684.jpg

[horseman1981]

Apparently not. Since people did not take some precautions. I'm not talking about going above and beyond, but having a look at the figure before you put stress on it. I cringed when I saw toyguru and pixeldan assemble theirs, as I would never ever put that much force on any toy without checking where things went properly a few times. This is what I believe most people have done, maybe straight out of the box when the plastic is cold.



Actually it's not safety precaution for children, they have standards that they have to meet as it is classified as a toy. So I can have it both ways. And I do remember that it says adult collector on most of the boxes.


Whoa, wait what? So if I throw my ipad on the ground straight after getting it, it's the companys fault? I'm sorry, no.


Actually no. 10-20 out of how many, we do not know, but I'm betting it's at least a couple of thousand units. Which puts the percentage of the defective figures way below 10% which is the average for any company (10% and less, some even deal with only 1%). What the cost of the item is has absolutely no bearing on the amount of % for deficient product, at least not until you get up into the 10 000s of dollars. Packing it in pieces saved us shipping, you can't have it both ways here with the price.



I think you missed why he came un-assembled. It was to save you money.


No, but it doesn't say "you should use a lot of strength on this figure straight out of the box when the plastic is cold" either. On the other hand, seeing as this is an adult collectors line, one would think that buying such an expensive item would lead most people to treat it as an expensive item and maybe do some slight re-search before slamming it together.


Welcome to one of the 10-20 defects, yours is the first I've heard about that didn't work with any kind of fix, even with glue - you might be the first legitimate claim to a defect I've seen so far.


Oh I do agree they have the blame for the defects. Bad design is of course one of them. But at this point it really is such a low percentage of their sales that it really doesn't matter, not unless hundreds suddenly show up in the QC thread. This is an estimated loss for them, probably well within the 1%-10% range they operate within.

Guys I'm really not enjoying the sarcasm and "witty" comments on my opinions here. I'm sure there are some legitimate QC issues, and bad design within this figure, but it really is a vocal minority that is screaming at the top of their lungs so far, and this happens every time there is even a hint of something close to defective. I'll respect the people with their opinions on QC and how bad it is and what should be done, but isn't it a bit late to live in the dream world that matty will fix every single problem that arises? Technically every figure is a new entity that will have some defects, they are not making just 1 figure over and over again, if that was the case I would completely agree with all your outcries for QC control and whatnot, but this is getting ridiculous.

Show me cold hard numbers on the amount of defects vs the ones that are not. Heck we could even do a mini survey here on the org (which does not encompass every single sale they have mind you), to see how low the number really is.
Again, some of you have legitimate QC problems and faulty merchandise and that really sucks, but try to be a bit realistic with your ideas of what matty should do. This is a numbers game for them, and as long as they keep their sales up to a point, and the returns to a certain percentage, they still win.
I personally think that it is rather pointless to do a thread about the QC problems, because the figure will never be re-made. We could however do a thread about how many had the problems and if hitting a high number bring that to matty in a more proper way then just randomly have outbursts that hold no value monetary or otherwise for matty.
I'm with you as a fan that it really sucks to have a broken figure, but I also like to keep my expectations real here. This is and always will be part of the game when they do one off figures.

I want to overcome my fear of flying,jump on a plane and shake your hand. You make way to much sense.

I should receive mine Wednesday,I hope he is fine,if not,I will just get a replacement. I refuse to let a broken toy ruin my life,let alone my day.

[Rakashian Calamari]

I got mine around Christmas and did not have any problems putting him together. Everything worked fine and nothing was broken. The paint is nice and all looks good except one thing...in other's pics I notice how the helmet is flush on both sides of his head. My Granamyr has part of his helmet that came unglued I guess is the best word. It still sits nicely and looks okay but it's noticeable different to what everyone else has posted and it does stand out from the other side of his head. It's a relatively small issue but thought I would mention in case others have the same issue. At least he's not like King Grayskull for me...I tried to pop the guys head off and his hair came off. Hopefull this is an isolated incident and the guys at the factory didn't pump enough glue on his head.

[Darkkosis]

Whoa, wait what? So if I throw my ipad on the ground straight after getting it, it's the companys fault? I'm sorry, no.

What are you talking about? Some (or many) of the Granamyr units were simply defective out of the box, people just followed instructions and they got broke. The design/engineering of the joints and/or the materials used weren't sufficient enough for this figure. No body broke their $100 figure deliberately and then claimed it's Mattel's fault!

Welcome to one of the 10-20 defects, yours is the first I've heard about that didn't work with any kind of fix, even with glue - you might be the first legitimate claim to a defect I've seen so far.

Please go and re-read some of people's problems with the right or left arms popping out, the clips that hold the pegs were not just brittle, but also don't go underneath the pegs of the shoulders. I had to glue mine because heating the sockets/clips didn't work! Super glue fixed the problem only for now.

Oh I do agree they have the blame for the defects. Bad design is of course one of them. But at this point it really is such a low percentage of their sales that it really doesn't matter, not unless hundreds suddenly show up in the QC thread. This is an estimated loss for them, probably well within the 1%-10% range they operate within.

And may I ask how do you know the problem is within the 1%-10% range???
We all know that Mattel won't tell us the numbers of the actual units produced, and certainly they won't tell us how many people claimed their units were defective. So if you wanna go by our available reported data in this poll, so far we have 47 untis total, of which 27 units had no defects opposed to 20 units with defects, which we can translate into 57% without problems vs 43% with problems.
This is only what was reported through a fan's poll here at the Org. It's not scientific because we'll never have the actual real data. But if you/we wanna go with what we have so far, that's a significant amount of damaged units statistically.

[JimPansen]

I see, its ok now that i have to glue a figure that costed me about 100€. What a magnificent attitude. At least Mattel is happy

Ps. still did not get an e-ticket to send Granny back. 6days now. Hope its because of the holidays.

[yodafreakmaster]

This is pretty much the worst arrival thread I've ever seen.


Don't forget to post pics in the other thread. Scott is expecting 'hundreds' of photos.

I did post in Scott's thread today. The one pictured with my little one on this page of the thread was the second one I opened. For that, I used a hair dryer to heat up the joints prior to insertion. That seemed to help, as the second one is holding together ok. That being said, I'm not going to move his tail or arms around at all as I fear the joints will break like my first one with VERY MILD pressure.......

[Dr Kain]

Which puts the percentage of the defective figures way below 10% which is the average for any company (10% and less, some even deal with only 1%). What the cost of the item is has absolutely no bearing on the amount of % for deficient product, at least not until you get up into the 10 000s of dollars. Packing it in pieces saved us shipping, you can't have it both ways here with the price.

So are you saying that because Microsoft had a 7% fail ratio on their initial 360s, that was okay because it was less than 10%? I'm sorry, but anything above .5% if unacceptable in my book.

No, but it doesn't say "you should use a lot of strength on this figure straight out of the box when the plastic is cold" either. On the other hand, seeing as this is an adult collectors line, one would think that buying such an expensive item would lead most people to treat it as an expensive item and maybe do some slight re-search before slamming it together.

But people shouldn't have to. They should not be paying for an $80 toy they have to assemble themselves, let alone have to treat it like a precious mineral. Mattel claims they still have regulations and standards they have to follow, which is why we get soft as **** weapons and hands, but when it comes to QC, they can do whatever they desire without a care in the world.

How about those Voltron sword holders? People followed Mattel's instructions and got their swords locked into the holders because there is no way to get it out once you put it in without breaking the holder. Are you okay with that or are you going to defend Mattel on that too?