Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip

Wednesday, June 28th, 2017 3:36PM CDT

Categories: Toy News, Site Articles
Posted by: D-Maximal_Primal Views: 55,966

Topic Options: View Discussion · Sign in or Join to reply

With Titans Return Trypticon starting to make its way to store shelves in places like Australia, we have heard word that Trypticon himself is subject to some very scary and potentially bad dino-hips. Basically, his hips are built up so well with the springs and stuff that the plastic cannot take it, and simply spreading his legs or transforming him can damage him.

With this in mind, we bring to you a tutorial from Seibertronian Qwan, who has an awesome picture heavy procedure for how you can prevent your Trypticon from losing his hips! Check it out below, and let us know if this was useful.

Qwan wrote:Okay, so! I've finally gotten around to doing this thing. Time to run through the process of making your very own Trypticon not destroy itself within 48 hours!

---

Before I start the 'tutorial', so to speak, perhaps a little background is in order. Titans Return Trypticon's hip ratchets are, thanks to the incredible size and strength of the ratchets within, self-destructively strong (such that the inner mechanisms of the ratchet will wreck themselves beyond repair if the hips are left unmodded, and moved back and forth even a few times). One way to remedy this is to take apart the hips and simply remove the springs from the ratchets, leaving them as friction joints. If you're like me though and feel the need to still have ratchets to some degree, I'll be running you through the process of cutting the springs down to size - that way the hips can still ratchet softly (and hold the figure up perfectly well!) without being nearly strong enough to pose any danger to the integrity of their own inner workings.

---

Stage 1 of the repair is just opening up the hips. The first thing you'll want to do is take each of Trypticon's legs back out of the locking point on his body that you would have put them in when you first 'assembled' him out of the package. (Or, if you're doing this straight away out of the box, no need! They're already pre-detached for you.)

These are all the tools you should need for this modification. One screwdriver (#1 or #2 seems to work well for all screws involved in this mod, whatever those numbers mean for screwdriver size); one small knife of any kind (I just used my trusty pocket-knife, but anything sharper than 'blunt' will work well enough); and one pair of wire cutters (preferably not as rusty as mine are, though again it's not like you need uber-professional tools).

Unscrew the two screws (one on each side) holding the teal 'bracket' to the black plastic chunk of the hip.

Unscrew the third, sunken screw holding the two halves of the teal bracket together.

And, split the two halves apart and remove them.

Unscrew the two screws (one on top, one on the bottom, both on the same side) holding the two halves of black plastic chunk together.

Split the two halves and remove them. When you're doing this initially, be aware that the springwill launch out at you and the two other pieces of the ratchet will attempt to fly away. Pry these black plastic pieces apart with caution, preferably holding down the inner ratchet mechanism after you remove one half, and gently releasing your hold once you've removed the other.

Remove the top half of the ratchet, then the bottom half. Remove the spring from the ratchet housing.

Use the wire-cutters to cut one of the springs exactly in half. The halfway point on the spring lines up vertically with both 'ends' of the spring, so you can tell pretty easily where to cut.
(You should only need to modify one of Trypticon's springs in order to get his hips functioning well, and you can just leave the other off to the side. Though if you desire slightly more pressure on the ratchets than half a spring would provide, you can of course cut each spring just past halfway and use those pieces instead.)

---

Now, let's take a break from the spring and deal with the other half of the issue here! The little cross-shaped piece of plastic, that's meant to keep the inner half of the ratchet mechanism from rotating, actually is the cause of another connected issue that I've identified. See, that ratchet piece is meant to be able to slide up and down easily on that cross, but it's just a tiny bit too thick, which adds even more difficulty to turning the ratchet.

Since we've cut down the spring, that's not going to be an issue any more, but it still causes a different problem - now that the pressure from the spring is much weaker, it's unable to overcome the friction against this cross piece and the inner ratchet-piece will get stuck inside its housing, making the ratchet hard to use. So, what to do then except shave it down?

Take your knife and shave down every surface on the cross (except the top surface), just a little. Now luckily the plastic it's made of is super soft (which of course, is part of the cause of this whole problem in the first place), so it's really easy to cut and/or shave. To test and make sure it works, push the inner ratchet piece (and the newly-cut spring inside) into its housing and push it down, just a little bit - if it springs back into place, you've shaved it down enough; if not, pull it back out with some pliers or something and shave that cross down a little more!

(Just to show you how soft the plastic is on this part, these marks were made just by holding the pocket-knife in place to take that photo. So, yeah.)

---

Additionally, if you want to add some more strength to the newly-weakened joint (though these half-strength ratchets will hold well enough to keep Trypticon standing and posed), you have two options:

1. Add a little bit of thickening to the contact points of the hip-joint's swivel. In this image I've just put a layer of electrical tape around the contact point, which does add quite a lot more friction! (In fact, it does so to the point where it pretty much overpowers the new weaker ratchet, so I personally chose not to use this. However if it's still up your alley, that's all good for you!)

2. Add an additional layer or two under the ratchet spring. For example I took a circle of cardboard, cut some room in it for it to fit over the plastic cross in the ratchet housing, and put it in place under the spring. Theoretically it should reduce the space that the spring has to expand, strengthening it ever-so-slightly, though I've not noticed much difference with the single layer of cardboard I've been using myself. Regardless it doesn't cause a detriment, and also prevents the sharper 'cut' end of the springs from scratching the inner plastic of the housing, so I'd recommend doing this.

---

Now, back to the ratchet joint! That's right, it's time to reconstruct it.

Put the half-spring back in the inner ratchet piece - personally I put the flat end of the spring inside the ratchet piece, leaving the sharper end out (where the plastic housing can be protected by a layer of cardboard, nudge nudge), but there's no real 'right' way around to put it so make your own decision.

Put the inner ratchet piece back into its housing, with the spring in between. (Ignore the electrical tape: this photo is a holdover from an earlier draft of the modifications, but the rest of it gets the point across well enough that I can't be bothered retaking).

Outer ratchet piece back on. Flat parts of the piece vertical (i.e. a hypothetical line drawn between the two flat parts should be perpendicular to the soles of Trypticon's feet).

As you put the two halves of the plastic chunk back together, make sure the half with the screw-holes (as pictured) faces the back of the leg. This actually does make a structural difference, so be sure the right piece is on the right side. Screw the chunk back together. (The screws you'll need to use, if you haven't kept track, are the slightly smaller pair without the 'brim' round the edge.)

Same as the previous step, as you reconstruct the teal bracket make sure the side with the screw-hole faces the back of the leg (same direction as the screw-holes on the black chunk). Screw it back together (with the odd screw out if you need to know, it's the only one that doesn't have a pair), then put the last two screws in to hold it to the leg.

---

And there you have it! Reattach those legs to your Trypticon and enjoy your new, slightly more wobbly but still functional and significantly less prone-to-self-destruction Trypticon! Obviously there are a few steps in here that can be played with a little bit to get the ratchet strength exactly as you desire, but as a baseline, exactly half a spring in each ratchet joint (with or without a layer of cardboard) works perfectly well enough to sustain posing an transformation without endangering the ratchet joints. Best of luck, and have fun with your newly-safe-to-play-with Trypticon!

(Phew, it's now half-past-midnight by this point. I really should've just written this out tomorrow. Probably gonna come back and edit it a bit when I'm less over-tired, to make sure it makes sense, but I think it seems good enough for now. If there's anything anyone needs/wants clarified or explained further, let me know and I'll do my best to elaborate at some point tomorrow!)

Credit(s): Qwan @Seibertron

News Search

Got Transformers News? Let us know here!

Most Recent Transformers News

Twincast / Podcast Episode #350 "Oops! All Optimus"

Posted 1 day ago

Energon Universe, Transformers #8, Facsimiles, X-Men 97, New TF toys + more @ Seibertron Store

Posted 3 days ago

RUMOUR: Transformers Earthspark to be Cancelled / Replaced by New Transformers Animated Show

Posted 5 days ago

Transformers Earthspark Season 2 Trailer Confirms Hashtag's New Form

Posted 6 days ago

Repacks Confirmed for Studio Series ROTB Wheeljack, WFC Sideswipe, BB Megatron, 86 Swoop and More

Posted 6 days ago

Click here to post your comment about this news story!

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1892942)
Posted by Stuartmaximus on June 28th, 2017 @ 3:38pm CDT

Burn wrote:
Qwan wrote:(Speaking of, I'm starting to think maybe I should make my own thread for the full tutorial. I'll obviously give a quick-if-functional run-down here, but with all the explanation and images I'm planning to include, I don't want to clog up this thread too much with a gigantic planet-eating post. Chances are I'll run through the process in brief, then include a link to the new thread for anyone who wants a more detailed explanation of how I did it. Either way, expect that pretty soon probably - I have my new Trypticon, I've cut his springs down to half size, and though he's a tiny bit wobblier now he also feels significantly less like a ticking time bomb. )

It's the sort of thing we'd like to News so everyone knows what to expect when he gets a broader release.

Are you able to give me measurements of the new cut down spring? I'll have a look and see if we have something similar in stock or if we can get something similar in.

do you own or run a store :-?

(just in case anyone else on here reads that & wants to order springs from you?)

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1892946)
Posted by RAR on June 28th, 2017 @ 3:52pm CDT

The Irony of this is that it's the opposite of what is needed to make the Previous two more functional.

I wonder if you can simply swap the springs over between Fortress Maximus and Trypticon's leg to benefit them both ?

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1892956)
Posted by zatara1701 on June 28th, 2017 @ 5:02pm CDT

I think it kinda sucks that we spend that kind of money and have to do any kind of modifications at all :BANG_HEAD:

Surely Hasbro has some robot kid or Man-child tester that would've figured this out BEFORE putting it into production?? :HEADHURTS:

That's just me...

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1892987)
Posted by DeathReviews on June 28th, 2017 @ 9:03pm CDT

This hip repair tutorial will come in handy, thanks. I was just going to slice it open with my sickle...

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1892988)
Posted by dragons on June 28th, 2017 @ 9:08pm CDT

ToysRus trypticon free shipping at Toysrus preorder is up limit two per costumer

https://t.toysrus.com/product?productId=113716876

Thanks for tip for fixing his problem

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893017)
Posted by Terrsolpix on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:22am CDT

Can we get some reports of other people having kamikaze Trypticons? I want to know if this is a widespread issue, a few early production sets, or an Australian bad egg.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893029)
Posted by Nemesis Destron on June 29th, 2017 @ 5:27am CDT

zatara1701 wrote:I think it kinda sucks that we spend that kind of money and have to do any kind of modifications at all

That's just me...

Thank you!!! :APPLAUSE:

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893046)
Posted by Shinkyuseishu on June 29th, 2017 @ 8:05am CDT

Hopefully there are persons who can dig into the issue and provide us with functional solutions to manufacturing problems.
I totally agree with the "How is it that I need to fix a toy right out of the box before I can use it, with all the money I've spent" comment.
I've already done this with MP-36 Megatron, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth (can't imagine what it would have been if I had broken it).
It never happened with any of my Soul of Chogokin bots.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893056)
Posted by joevill on June 29th, 2017 @ 9:16am CDT

I hope this issue is fixed before it hits the states.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893097)
Posted by Evil Eye on June 29th, 2017 @ 12:31pm CDT

Great to see there's a way to fix this. However...
INCOMING RANT
...the fact a product this expensive will literally destroy itself through NORMAL OPERATION without fairly heavy modification is absolutely unacceptable. Not just disappointing or irritating, this is flat-out unforgivable. It's bad enough with Deluxes, but with a Titan class figure? This sh!t shouldn't make it past the prototyping stage. The fact it seems to stem from horrendously cheap and rubbish plastic isn't exactly promising either. Hasbro should be ashamed.

My advice would be not to buy this figure, especially not at full price. Either wait for it to go on clearance (when hopefully there will be pre-manufactured 3P replacement parts available) or spend the extra cash on a 3P alternative. This kind of quality on a product that costs this much is not acceptable and Hasbro needs to learn that. Sadly, it seems the only way to teach them not to make sh!tty products is to not buy those products.

Of course they'll probably go "Oh, well they obviously don't want Titans anymore seeing as they aren't selling" but you know what? If this is the sort of crap we're gonna get given under the Titan class label, I'm fine with that. Hopefully the 3Ps will fill the void as they usually do- MakeToys' Metroplex, whilst smaller, is infinitely better than the official version, so maybe they'll do a decent Trypticon.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893101)
Posted by CarelliCollectables on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:06pm CDT

Black Hat wrote:Great to see there's a way to fix this. However...
INCOMING RANT
...the fact a product this expensive will literally destroy itself through NORMAL OPERATION without fairly heavy modification is absolutely unacceptable. Not just disappointing or irritating, this is flat-out unforgivable. It's bad enough with Deluxes, but with a Titan class figure? This sh!t shouldn't make it past the prototyping stage. The fact it seems to stem from horrendously cheap and rubbish plastic isn't exactly promising either. Hasbro should be ashamed.

My advice would be not to buy this figure, especially not at full price. Either wait for it to go on clearance (when hopefully there will be pre-manufactured 3P replacement parts available) or spend the extra cash on a 3P alternative. This kind of quality on a product that costs this much is not acceptable and Hasbro needs to learn that. Sadly, it seems the only way to teach them not to make sh!tty products is to not buy those products.

Of course they'll probably go "Oh, well they obviously don't want Titans anymore seeing as they aren't selling" but you know what? If this is the sort of crap we're gonna get given under the Titan class label, I'm fine with that. Hopefully the 3Ps will fill the void as they usually do- MakeToys' Metroplex, whilst smaller, is infinitely better than the official version, so maybe they'll do a decent Trypticon.

Whoah, there, buddy...
Maybe it's best to hold your "RANT" off until there's more than a single person on the planet reporting this issue. It's certainly good to know that someone's experienced this, but that hardly qualifies as proof that it's some wide-spread problem. Instructing everyone not to buy a figure based on a poor experience from one single individual who owns it is WAY premature and pretty alarmist. There have been plenty of issues with toys like this in the past that did not end up being as wide-spread as people assumed, so you should really tone down the rhetoric until we've got an actual reason to be spitting venom at Hasbro and trying to get people to boycott one of their products....

As for your statements about third parties - why do we always need to re-hash this same nonsense? YEa, it's great if MakeToy's Metroplex is "infinitely better" (subjective) than the official version. It's also about three to four times more expensive, so that's a bit like telling people to go buy a Ferrari instead of a Honda because one person had a problem with their steering wheel falling off.... Seems like you've got some of your own past experiences clouding your ability to remain composed here. :HEADHURTS:

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893103)
Posted by Evil Eye on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:16pm CDT

You could probably have been a bit more condescending and patronizing if you'd tried. Probably.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893105)
Posted by CarelliCollectables on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:22pm CDT

Black Hat wrote:You could probably have been a bit more condescending and patronizing if you'd tried. Probably.

ROFL. Sorry if pointing out the amazingly overblown reaction you just displayed hurt your feelings, but after the post you just wrote I'm not sure how mine is the issue.

The bottom line remains - we've gotten multiple pictorial and video reviews of this figure so far, and not a one of them has mentioned this problem. It makes no sense to act like one single person having a problem negates all those who haven't had the problem.

That's not to discount Qwan's experience, and it's pretty lame that happened to him, but to assume it's going to happen to anyone else - let alone everyone else - just doesn't make any sense yet. Maybe if we start getting more confirmation of this issue from other people it's fair to start treating it like some Gold Plastic Syndrome part 2, but until then you're just putting your cart way ahead of your horse. Making people aware that this happened and that it MIGHT happen to them is fine - but why go beyond that until we have a damn good reason to pull out the pitchforks?

Has/Tak makes TONS of these toys. They're bound to have some issues here and there. No mass-produced product is immune to that reality. So far we've got more examples of this not being a problem than we have of it being a problem, and there's any number of factors that could have caused Qwans specific experience to occur - not all of which are even Hasbro's fault....

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893109)
Posted by partholon on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:31pm CDT

joevill wrote:I hope this issue is fixed before it hits the states.

Ditto for europe.

its gonna cost the guts of 200 euro here FFS.

The very least you should expect is a toy fit for purpose !

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893110)
Posted by Stuartmaximus on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:31pm CDT

CarelliCollectables wrote:
Black Hat wrote:You could probably have been a bit more condescending and patronizing if you'd tried. Probably.

ROFL. Sorry if pointing out the amazingly overblown reaction you just displayed hurt your feelings, but after the post you just wrote I'm not sure how mine is the issue.

The bottom line remains - we've gotten multiple pictorial and video reviews of this figure so far, and not a one of them has mentioned this problem.

Erm....not one?

you need to have a look again pal! >:oP

william-james88 wrote:Titans Return Trypticon is the biggest toy release of the year and while we already have a gorgeous pictorial review, we have a video review for those who prefer videos. Plus it offers new things like highlighting breakage points and how to avoid them.
Hopefully this helps!

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893111)
Posted by Chriphord on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:32pm CDT

It's not just Qwan that's having the issue though. Multiple people who have gotten early access on the figure have stated having issues with the legs not moving. I can find the exact sources if you need me to, but basically they've been incredibly tight all throughout the early release of Trypty. One of the first video reviews for him mentioned how tight they ratchet was, and they ended up replacing it with a makeshift friction joint. While I think it's totally fair to say it's too early to say it's a product ruining problem, so far there have been a lot of issues with it. I think (and hope) it might be a similar situation to the Nintendo Switch's initial release, with a lot of QC issues (like 27% on release I think) but then after more of the product started coming out, it went down to 5% last I checked (those specific numbers are based on a very loose memory of the actual statistics). So hopefully with more of them releasing, you will be right, and the won't all have this problem.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893113)
Posted by Evil Eye on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:36pm CDT

CarelliCollectables wrote:
Black Hat wrote:You could probably have been a bit more condescending and patronizing if you'd tried. Probably.

ROFL. Sorry if pointing out the amazingly overblown reaction you just displayed hurt your feelings, but after the post you just wrote I'm not sure how mine is the issue.

When in a hole, stop digging.

The bottom line remains - we've gotten multiple pictorial and video reviews of this figure so far, and not a one of them has mentioned this problem. It makes no sense to act like one single person having a problem negates all those who haven't had the problem.

It always starts with one. I was the first to mention the Alpha Bravo mold's fragile HFG port, and sure enough it turned out to be a widespread issue.

That's not to discount Qwan's experience, and it's pretty lame that happened to him, but to assume it's going to happen to anyone else - let alone everyone else - just doesn't make any sense yet.

Look at the break. This is clearly the result of inferior plastic. It's not a one-off QC error, it's a straight up design flaw. I will be very surprised if this isn't the first of many such breakages.

Has/Tak makes TONS of these toys. They're bound to have some issues here and there. No mass-produced product is immune to that reality.

Perhaps, but at that price point I would expect it not to destroy itself through normal handling. This is a very expensive figure, and for the amount of money customers are paying for it, it shouldn't suffer that sort of issue.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893115)
Posted by CarelliCollectables on June 29th, 2017 @ 1:46pm CDT

Stuartmaximus wrote:
Erm....not one?

you need to have a look again pal!

william-james88 wrote:Titans Return Trypticon is the biggest toy release of the year and while we already have a gorgeous pictorial review, we have a video review for those who prefer videos. Plus it offers new things like highlighting breakage points and how to avoid them.
Hopefully this helps!

unicron1200 wrote:It's not just Qwan that's having the issue though. Multiple people who have gotten early access on the figure have stated having issues with the legs not moving. I can find the exact sources if you need me to, but basically they've been incredibly tight all throughout the early release of Trypty. One of the first video reviews for him mentioned how tight they ratchet was, and they ended up replacing it with a makeshift friction joint. While I think it's totally fair to say it's too early to say it's a product ruining problem, so far there have been a lot of issues with it. I think (and hope) it might be a similar situation to the Nintendo Switch's initial release, with a lot of QC issues (like 27% on release I think) but then after more of the product started coming out, it went down to 5% last I checked (those specific numbers are based on a very loose memory of the actual statistics). So hopefully with more of them releasing, you will be right, and the won't all have this problem.

Fair enough - so a few. That's still not a large enough sample to really conclude how common or widespread the issue is here. There are a ton of people who have complained about the hips on FortMax as well, and that didn't translate to ALL of the copies of that figure having hip problems. Again - mass produced items will suffer from these kinds of things, and it's an issue of how common they are when the whole load is taken into account. It sucks for the people this happens to, but I still don't see any reason for the "shame on Hasbro, how dare they, everyone boycott" kind of attitude. Everyone was being pretty rational about discussing this issue up to that point, and I just don't think the sky is falling quite yet... Hell, it's not even like we have any reason to think this issue doesn't exist on Takara's copies, so it's all a shot in the dark at this point. I'm as excited for this figure as anyone else might be - and I'm bummed to hear there might be issues with it. Can't we leave it at that until we know how widespread this issue is?

unicron1200 wrote:It's not just Qwan that's having the issue though. Multiple people who have gotten early access on the figure have stated having issues with the legs not moving. I can find the exact sources if you need me to, but basically they've been incredibly tight all throughout the early release of Trypty. One of the first video reviews for him mentioned how tight they ratchet was, and they ended up replacing it with a makeshift friction joint. While I think it's totally fair to say it's too early to say it's a product ruining problem, so far there have been a lot of issues with it. I think (and hope) it might be a similar situation to the Nintendo Switch's initial release, with a lot of QC issues (like 27% on release I think) but then after more of the product started coming out, it went down to 5% last I checked (those specific numbers are based on a very loose memory of the actual statistics). So hopefully with more of them releasing, you will be right, and the won't all have this problem.

Yea, fair enough - I've only watched a small number of reviews and seen picture reviews. If more people have reported the legs having issues, then that's even more lame, but I still have only seen this one person talking about the plastic inside getting wrecked. Especially when we're dealing with first-run or early-release copies, it's hard to know how representative of the normal retail product those will be. I'm not at all saying this is not a product ruining problem - for those who actually have the problem, I'm sure it ruins their toy both in terms of their enjoyment and the literal functionality of the parts. My issue is more not knowing what my (or anyone else's) chances are of having our own display this issue when they finally roll out for mass release. I'm one of those Switch owners who got the crappy JoyCon, so I totally get what you're saying - it sucks to dump a bunch of money on something and have it show up borked. But it would also suck for a bunch of people to skip/miss out on this product for an issue that might not have impacted them. If I avoided every toy other people had QC issues with half the toys in my collection I consider favorites are things I wouldn't have ever picked up at all.

Considering how good Hasbro usually is at fixing or replacing items for people when they have these kinds of problems, I'm not even that concerned about it happening to me. Worst case I return it for a new one, or wait a month for Hasbro to get some replacement parts in stock. Still I'd rather buy it and have the issue than skip it and pay a huge markup when it's out of stock - I made that mistake with Metroplex and I still can't track down a copy of him without paying WAY too much for it.

I would love to think they won't all have this problem, just as I hate to think they will all have this problem - but for now the only thing I can rationally conclude is that some of them have this problem. That's certainly not a GOOD thing, but it's also not the end of Transformers as we know it.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893119)
Posted by CarelliCollectables on June 29th, 2017 @ 2:00pm CDT

Black Hat wrote: When in a hole, stop digging.

Listen, man. I'm not here to protect your feelings. If me criticizing what I see as an overblown reaction offends you, that's not something I can control. You decided to come into an otherwise rational discussion guns blazing, and you got the reaction that justifies.

It always starts with one. I was the first to mention the Alpha Bravo mold's fragile HFG port, and sure enough it turned out to be a widespread issue.

That's weird, since I have every single version of that mold released in Combiner Wars and didn't experience a single issue with any of them - again some people having an issue (even a lot of people having an issue) does not mean most or all will have it. Sometimes this stuff is a bit of a gamble, and if you don't want to risk it that's your call - but that still doesn't necessitate the level of doom-saying your first comment contained.

Look at the break. This is clearly the result of inferior plastic. It's not a one-off QC error, it's a straight up design flaw. I will be very surprised if this isn't the first of many such breakages.

I have looked at the break - it's impossible for us to know exactly what caused it, what he was doing with it when it happened, etc. Just looking at a picture and pretending like you can accurately guess exactly what the issue is doesn't convince me. Maybe there was a bit of flashing stuck in the mechanism that prevented it from moving, and cause it to bend the plastic cross instead of turn properly - I certainly don't know, and I don't buy that you can know from a couple photos that this is a major design flaw. If it's the first of many such breakages, that sucks - rant away - but until then, what's the point?

Perhaps, but at that price point I would expect it not to destroy itself through normal handling. This is a very expensive figure, and for the amount of money customers are paying for it, it shouldn't suffer that sort of issue.

Well, the world doesn't really function on what "should" be. Obviously in a perfect world, every product regardless of price would arrive perfect and entirely functional - but that's simply not the case. The trade-off for having mass produced items that don't cost thousands of dollars to own is that they can't always get the individual attention and QC examination needed to maintain perfect quality for every single copy. You can expect a product not to have any defects for anyone who buys them, but unreasonable expectations will only leave you feeling bitter when they're not met. It's far more reasonable to expect the number of impacted items to remain low than it is to expect them to be nonexistent.

Anyway - if you had made your point the way you did in this comment instead of all the

this is flat-out unforgivable, Hasbro should be ashamed, not to make sh!tty products, If this is the sort of crap we're gonna get"

kinda stuff.

I don't think anyone here WANTS this to be a widespread issue, right?
We're all fans. We're all upset to hear this is a possible issue we might have to face. Still makes the most sense to wait until we know just how likely it is for us to face that problem, which I still prefer to hold out hope for until it's proven otherwise.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893122)
Posted by Kurona on June 29th, 2017 @ 2:09pm CDT

I must say I've never heard about the HFG port problem with the Alpha Bravo mold myself - and I've got 5 of the things between Alpha Bravo, Vortex, Blades, Skyburst and Stormclash. Has anyone else experienced this because it's legitimately nothing I'd ever heard of.

And... yeah, guys, let's cool it a wee bit. No need for it to escalate, and no need for the smug and smarmy jabs. Just have a civilised conversation.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893130)
Posted by TF-fan kev777 on June 29th, 2017 @ 2:33pm CDT

Kurona wrote:I must say I've never heard about the HFG port problem with the Alpha Bravo mold myself - and I've got 5 of the things between Alpha Bravo, Vortex, Blades, Skyburst and Stormclash. Has anyone else experienced this because it's legitimately nothing I'd ever heard of.

I have, sort of. I have some stress marks where Delta's AB broke on Blades and Vortex, but not any of the others. But I've also been extremely careful to not push the HFG in any more than needed once I saw what Delta went though.

As for Trypticon (to keep on topic), I'm waiting to see more. As an engineer, what I've seen so far does not look promising, but I also want to see for myself first before passing any judgement. I want to know more not only the rachets are held together, but the other parts that they connect to and what positions they are normally in for dino mode where they will be bearing the most weight. Basically too haard for me to make an informed judgement through pictures or video. I need to see and feel how tough everything is to move normally myself. I'm probably still buying it, but now I'm not sure if I jump at the first sighting, or hold back and wait for a hopeful revision before they hit saturation.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893135)
Posted by CarelliCollectables on June 29th, 2017 @ 2:52pm CDT

TF-fan kev777 wrote:
Kurona wrote:As for Trypticon (to keep on topic), I'm waiting to see more. As an engineer, what I've seen so far does not look promising, but I also want to see for myself first before passing any judgement. I want to know more not only the rachets are held together, but the other parts that they connect to and what positions they are normally in for dino mode where they will be bearing the most weight. Basically too haard for me to make an informed judgement through pictures or video. I need to see and feel how tough everything is to move normally myself. I'm probably still buying it, but now I'm not sure if I jump at the first sighting, or hold back and wait for a hopeful revision before they hit saturation.

So, AS an engineer - are you seeing anything that might explain why this happened/happens, or possible suggest that it's something other than a design/QC/Manufacturing issue?

At first glance it seems like a complicated part, but further inspection kinda discounts that. Someone else said earlier it's basically just an enclosed mushroom peg with some teeth - so in your estimation is there anything else that could potentially cause the plastic to bend/warp like that? Being in IT I always have to consider User Error, but given the way the part seems to be designed I"m not sure how that could have been the problem in this case.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893160)
Posted by Prowl4 on June 29th, 2017 @ 3:59pm CDT

Just throwing in an observation but is it possible to transform the figure without moving the legs/hips? From the reviews it looks like you can have it standing upright and while transforming the legs remain in the same stance throughout with only the knee downwards moving.

I noted that the reviewer said legs move forward but not backwards and to be honest I doubt highly I'd move them forward.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893172)
Posted by Qwan on June 29th, 2017 @ 5:27pm CDT

Prowl4 wrote:Just throwing in an observation but is it possible to transform the figure without moving the legs/hips? From the reviews it looks like you can have it standing upright and while transforming the legs remain in the same stance throughout with only the knee downwards moving.

I noted that the reviewer said legs move forward but not backwards and to be honest I doubt highly I'd move them forward.

You don't have to move the legs to transform Tryp to spaceship mode, but for city mode you do need to move the hips three clicks 'forward'. That's actually when the issue made itself known to me, to answer another question that's been floating around; I'd transformed him into city mode maybe 3 times by that point, posed the legs a click forward or back a few times too, when suddenly it just... stopped ratcheting between dinosaur and city positions. It still seemed to ratchet fine the rest of the way round, just not between the points where I had mainly been moving it to that point. (It wasn't just that it stopped ratcheting either, it swivelled "regularly" but it just felt wrong, like something was tearing inside the joint.) And that's when I opened it up, and... yeah, we know the rest.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893176)
Posted by CarelliCollectables on June 29th, 2017 @ 5:47pm CDT

Qwan wrote:
Prowl4 wrote:Just throwing in an observation but is it possible to transform the figure without moving the legs/hips? From the reviews it looks like you can have it standing upright and while transforming the legs remain in the same stance throughout with only the knee downwards moving.

I noted that the reviewer said legs move forward but not backwards and to be honest I doubt highly I'd move them forward.

You don't have to move the legs to transform Tryp to spaceship mode, but for city mode you do need to move the hips three clicks 'forward'. That's actually when the issue made itself known to me actually, to answer another question that's been floating around; I'd transformed him into city mode maybe 3 times by that point, posed the legs a click forward or back a few times too, when suddenly it just... stopped ratcheting between dinosaur and city positions. It still seemed to ratchet fine the rest of the way round, just not between the points where I had mainly been moving it to that point. (It wasn't just that it stopped ratcheting either, it swivelled "regularly" but it just felt wrong, like something was tearing inside the joint.) And that's when I opened it up, and... yeah, we know the rest.

So, I have to ask - In your original write-up you said of his hip ratchets that yours were "very resistant to movement, to the point where it felt like there wasn't actually a joint there. You said you "disassembled his hips, and confirmed that there was a ratchet there when it launched a positively huge spring at [your] face." I state is was "easy enough to reassemble, albeit with a modicum of constant force to keep the spring from exploding out again..."

1) You said you disassembles his hips - do you mean you opened both up, or opened one up and assumed both were the same? If you only opened one of them, was is the same one or the opposite from the one that has now bent?

2) How confident are you that nothing you did when originally disassembling or reassembling his hip(s) caused the bending afterwards? If you only experienced this issue after taking one or both of his hips apart, is it possible you put the spring back differently, or something else that might have complicated things?

3) You said also in your write-up that you found the best way to move his legs was "to not be delicate." Then, in your later "Just a word of warning" post you stated that his hip had stopped ratcheting properly, and that with "a lot of force" rotates in place with a bad feeling. Did you attempt to disassemble the joint again before forcing it?

Thank you for offering us all insight to what happened, I hope you understand the nature of my questions to be informational and not accusatory. For those of us who will still buy this item, it's good to know exactly what to avoid doing.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893182)
Posted by Qwan on June 29th, 2017 @ 6:13pm CDT

CarelliCollectables wrote:
Qwan wrote:[snip]

So, I have to ask - In your original write-up you said of his hip ratchets that yours were "very resistant to movement, to the point where it felt like there wasn't actually a joint there. You said you "disassembled his hips, and confirmed that there was a ratchet there when it launched a positively huge spring at [your] face." I state is was "easy enough to reassemble, albeit with a modicum of constant force to keep the spring from exploding out again..."

1) You said you disassembles his hips - do you mean you opened both up, or opened one up and assumed both were the same? If you only opened one of them, was is the same one or the opposite from the one that has now bent?

2) How confident are you that nothing you did when originally disassembling or reassembling his hip(s) caused the bending afterwards? If you only experienced this issue after taking one or both of his hips apart, is it possible you put the spring back differently, or something else that might have complicated things?

3) You said also in your write-up that you found the best way to move his legs was "to not be delicate." Then, in your later "Just a word of warning" post you stated that his hip had stopped ratcheting properly, and that with "a lot of force" rotates in place with a bad feeling. Did you attempt to disassemble the joint again before forcing it?

Thank you for offering us all insight to what happened, I hope you understand the nature of my questions to be informational and not accusatory. For those of us who will still buy this item, it's good to know exactly what to avoid doing.

No problem man! I'll do my best to answer to the best of my memory.

1) I opened one hip up, and assumed both were the same. Unfortunately I didn't think to keep track of which one I had opened up, so I don't know for sure whether the one that broke was the same or different from the one I disassembled initially. However...

2) I'm absolutely certain that I didn't do anything to alter the mechanism when I originally opened it up. It did fly apart quite spectacularly that first time which meant I didn't get to see how it went together for certain, but all the pieces had a pretty logical arrangement, and when I more carefully opened up both hips later on (after the right hip broke) I was able to confirm that both were still assembled the exact same way. Since I'd only opened and reconstructed one to that point, one can conclude that I reconstructed the previously-opened one correctly and wouldn't have altered the mechanism to potentially cause breakage. I suppose it is possible that just the act of disassembling and reassembling the joint could have messed with it in some unforeseen way, but given the simple function of the ratchet it seems unlikely that would have been the case.

3) I didn't disassemble either of the joints between that initial disassembly and the breakage. Since I had already confirmed that joints did exist, albeit very strong ones, I was content to let them do their thing (though I will stress again that it requires a lot of force to move the joints as they are initially, which I had thought was the way they were meant to be, but now believe may have been fatal overcompensation for potentially-loose hips in the design stage). It was only after forcing those joints (as "designed") for a while, and then feeling that something had gone wrong in the right hip, that I opened both hips up again and found the breakage.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893185)
Posted by TF-fan kev777 on June 29th, 2017 @ 6:15pm CDT

CarelliCollectables wrote:So, AS an engineer - are you seeing anything that might explain why this happened/happens, or possible suggest that it's something other than a design/QC/Manufacturing issue?

It is really hard for me to tell based on what I've seen so far. The joint does seem to be a bit different than any other TF ratchet joint I've seen, so I really need to be able to see how everything fits together and feels.

What is not so promising is how soft the plastic is based on Quan's photos and experience. That is honestly where I will start my examination once I have Trypticon in hand.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893191)
Posted by Prowl4 on June 29th, 2017 @ 6:43pm CDT

Qwan wrote:
Prowl4 wrote:Just throwing in an observation but is it possible to transform the figure without moving the legs/hips? From the reviews it looks like you can have it standing upright and while transforming the legs remain in the same stance throughout with only the knee downwards moving.

I noted that the reviewer said legs move forward but not backwards and to be honest I doubt highly I'd move them forward.

You don't have to move the legs to transform Tryp to spaceship mode, but for city mode you do need to move the hips three clicks 'forward'. That's actually when the issue made itself known to me, to answer another question that's been floating around; I'd transformed him into city mode maybe 3 times by that point, posed the legs a click forward or back a few times too, when suddenly it just... stopped ratcheting between dinosaur and city positions. It still seemed to ratchet fine the rest of the way round, just not between the points where I had mainly been moving it to that point. (It wasn't just that it stopped ratcheting either, it swivelled "regularly" but it just felt wrong, like something was tearing inside the joint.) And that's when I opened it up, and... yeah, we know the rest.

Great answer thank you. I've the legends version ordered so I hope takara see this issue and make a change. Thank you for highlighting and commenting on this issue. I appreciate it.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893238)
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on June 29th, 2017 @ 8:54pm CDT

This concerns and disappoints me greatly, it also reminds me of the Legacy AT-AT debacle. The toy couldn't support its own weight and Hasbro had to offer replacement legs that not everyone was able to get.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893361)
Posted by Agamemnon on June 30th, 2017 @ 9:08am CDT

I wonder if a bit of automotive grease on the ratchet might help...

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893363)
Posted by CarelliCollectables on June 30th, 2017 @ 9:10am CDT

Or perhaps sanding down the actual ratchet teeth a bit so they have less space they need to travel when sliding over eachother.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893425)
Posted by galvatron00 on June 30th, 2017 @ 12:57pm CDT

Agamemnon wrote:I wonder if a bit of automotive grease on the ratchet might help...

My first thought when I read about that issue. I know I've got plenty of bushing grease that will be just fine for this..after I put those super springs in Metroplex!! :lol:

I thought I was on TFW here for a minute with some of those posts..! :lol:

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893452)
Posted by Stuartmaximus on June 30th, 2017 @ 2:10pm CDT

Prowl4 wrote:
Qwan wrote:
Prowl4 wrote:Just throwing in an observation but is it possible to transform the figure without moving the legs/hips? From the reviews it looks like you can have it standing upright and while transforming the legs remain in the same stance throughout with only the knee downwards moving.

I noted that the reviewer said legs move forward but not backwards and to be honest I doubt highly I'd move them forward.

You don't have to move the legs to transform Tryp to spaceship mode, but for city mode you do need to move the hips three clicks 'forward'. That's actually when the issue made itself known to me, to answer another question that's been floating around; I'd transformed him into city mode maybe 3 times by that point, posed the legs a click forward or back a few times too, when suddenly it just... stopped ratcheting between dinosaur and city positions. It still seemed to ratchet fine the rest of the way round, just not between the points where I had mainly been moving it to that point. (It wasn't just that it stopped ratcheting either, it swivelled "regularly" but it just felt wrong, like something was tearing inside the joint.) And that's when I opened it up, and... yeah, we know the rest.

Great answer thank you. I've the legends version ordered so I hope takara see this issue and make a change. Thank you for highlighting and commenting on this issue. I appreciate it.

Me too!(i've also ordered LG-43) so i'm also hoping that this problem doesn't carry over to the Takara version! or they can at least fix it

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893515)
Posted by Mr_Autobot411 on June 30th, 2017 @ 6:01pm CDT

thats F%$king pathetic, ur telling me that passed their qc tests. :HEADHURTS:

What a shame. This is why im partically done with collecting, things are so expensive yet the plastics used etc dont justify the cost at all.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893568)
Posted by Chriphord on July 1st, 2017 @ 2:22am CDT

The main thing you're paying for with Transformers these days are engineering and paint (T. Tomy) or sticker (lookin at you Hasbro.... -_-) application. While they do price gouge, they do have to pay the people how design the toys and the children who make them. And while this Trypticon issue (if widespread) is rediculous and shouldn't happen, they do have some reason to have these silly yet beautiful things so expensive.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893612)
Posted by Nemesis Destron on July 1st, 2017 @ 11:39am CDT

I think that a few cases is a few too many!!

Takara please hear your faith servant when I say that you can make things right! :PRAY:

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893697)
Posted by Va'al on July 1st, 2017 @ 9:14pm CDT

Via the official Transformers Facebook page, we have a new Designer Desk clip - featuring Hasbro's John Warden - showing off the creation and presentation of the latest Titan class offering in the Titans Return line, and including Titan Master Necro, deluxe Full Tilt, and the main dish itself: Trypticon! Check it out embedded below!

THE WAIT. IS. OVER. The fans spoke, and the Titans Return Titan Trypticon figure is HERE and ready for preorder at Toys “R” Us. No more needs to be said.

How to Share With Just Friends

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893721)
Posted by Sabrblade on July 1st, 2017 @ 11:04pm CDT

"Monstrous articulation of his legs" is certainly an apt description.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893740)
Posted by Deathsaurus1 on July 2nd, 2017 @ 1:07am CDT

I hear this figures legs will snap off?
Is there a way to fix it?

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893746)
Posted by Va'al on July 2nd, 2017 @ 3:20am CDT

Deathsaurus1 wrote:I hear this figures legs will snap off?
Is there a way to fix it?

Ish: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... hip/38720/

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893750)
Posted by Qwan on July 2nd, 2017 @ 3:57am CDT

Sabrblade wrote:"Monstrous articulation of his legs" is certainly an apt description.

(Note also, that he didn't move the legs at all and just sort of pointed to the general area of articulation.)

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893794)
Posted by Stuartmaximus on July 2nd, 2017 @ 11:54am CDT

Deathsaurus1 wrote:I hear this figures legs will snap off?
Is there a way to fix it?

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893860)
Posted by OptimalOptimus2 on July 2nd, 2017 @ 7:25pm CDT

I just sent a complaint to Hasbro about Trypticon. There have been multiple people claiming that this is a real issue (multiple means more than one), so it has to be acknowledged by the big H.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893930)
Posted by BERSEKAEL on July 3rd, 2017 @ 12:23am CDT

if they recall this item to fix it and/or we get an updated version, they also include a re-scale, so he wont fell that short next to metroplex, he is missing 6 inches

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893935)
Posted by Qwan on July 3rd, 2017 @ 12:41am CDT

BERSEKAEL wrote:if they recall this item to fix it and/or we get an updated version, they also include a re-scale, so he wont fell that short next to metroplex, he is missing 6 inches

I doubt this'd happen, unfortunately(?). It'd be a tough sell getting them to even recall or update Trypticon's mold to avoid potentially toy-breaking issues, let alone convincing them somehow to upscale the mold to better match the height of their other citybots. (Bear in mind that to upscale Trypticon, even a little bit, would require literally every single piece to have an entirely new mold made for it - hence very significant extra cost on their end. On top of that, Hasbro (less so Takara, but still to some extent) is really hardline on the amount of money, plastic, paint etc. that can be sunk into any given figure. Any size increases to Trypticon would probably put the whole thing way past what Hasbro is comfortable with for a Titan-class figure.)

And on top of that, he's actually still got a lot of mass, and is certainly not undersized compared to the Maxtroplex base mold if you take all dimensions into account. He may be shorter than Gen Metroplex, but Metroplex was super skinny in basically every other direction whereas Tryp is bulky, chunky and extremely long. Seriously, his tail is somewhere between a quarter and a third of his total volume; it just so happens that because he's a dinosaur, you can't see that significant portion in a straight-on height comparison.

Man, sorry for the wall of disagreement. I totally get wanting Trypticon to be a bit taller, and hope is by no means a bad thing to have - it's just that, in this kind of case, it's worth tempering those expectations somewhat to fall in line with Hasbro's current ongoing pattern of behavior. (And yeah, as I mentioned just above, he's by no means undersized even if he's a bit vertically challenged. Trust me when I say that he still makes a very imposing foe for Fort Max, and presumably for Metroplex too if I had him.

)

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893950)
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on July 3rd, 2017 @ 2:23am CDT

BERSEKAEL wrote:if they recall this item to fix it and/or we get an updated version, they also include a re-scale, so he wont fell that short next to metroplex, he is missing 6 inches

A recall? That's only done when a product is potentially dangerous enough for a person to be sent to the hospital under normal intended use (Note that using it as a melee weapon does not constitute intended use

), which this is not unless small pieces start breaking off for no reason. At best we'll get a running change later down the line, but given the limited runs Titan Class figures have, the chances may be relatively slim.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893988)
Posted by MadProject on July 3rd, 2017 @ 9:06am CDT

I already read about "several people" with a broke Trypticon, but so far I can find only the one who posted the tutorial to fix the hip spring.
Also, I found just one videoreview done after that tutorial that mentioned that problem, and made another video about how to change the ratchet joint into a normal joint.

There are actually other people who already got Trypticon and it broke after they transformed it, and can personally write about the issue?

None the less I'll probably customize mine (when I'll get it) to avoid the risk from the start, but I'd like to know if it's actually a widespread issue or just a single bad copy.

My hope is that in the end this will be just like MP Megatron barrel issue,that broke just because it was wrongly forced by people, and not actually a design flaw.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893989)
Posted by Qwan on July 3rd, 2017 @ 9:50am CDT

MadProject wrote:I already read about "several people" with a broke Trypticon, but so far I can find only the one who posted the tutorial to fix the hip spring.
Also, I found just one videoreview done after that tutorial that mentioned that problem, and made another video about how to change the ratchet joint into a normal joint.

There are actually other people who already got Trypticon and it broke after they transformed it, and can personally write about the issue?

None the less I'll probably customize mine (when I'll get it) to avoid the risk from the start, but I'd like to know if it's actually a widespread issue or just a single bad copy.

My hope is that in the end this will be just like MP Megatron barrel issue,that broke just because it was wrongly forced by people, and not actually a design flaw.

I'd love if it was just a semi-isolated issue too, but from my experience (being the guy who posted that tutorial) it's a combination of too-strong springs, and really soft plastic used on a piece where said plastic needs to resist a lot of force. I can't be certain that I didn't do something wrong - and it'd be great for other people if that was the case, so they could avoid it themselves - but in my totally-non-professional analysis of the problem, it looks like more of an engineering/materials choice issue than a consumer-end one. I'm sure we'll find out more once Trypticon gets a wider release; for now, relatively few people actually have the toy so it's hard to build a complete picture as to the nature and extent of the problem.

(Also, just a note that I'm pretty sure that video you mention came out a little before I posted my tutorial. I noticed the issue just before the video was posted here, but I didn't get around to actually making a proper tutorial until after the video had already been put up on these boards. It's worth noting that it seems the other guy and I had a totally identical issue with Tryp's hips, so that also pushes me slightly closer to 'design/execution flaw' over 'user error'.)

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893991)
Posted by MadProject on July 3rd, 2017 @ 9:54am CDT

Qwan wrote:
MadProject wrote:I already read about "several people" with a broke Trypticon, but so far I can find only the one who posted the tutorial to fix the hip spring.
Also, I found just one videoreview done after that tutorial that mentioned that problem, and made another video about how to change the ratchet joint into a normal joint.

There are actually other people who already got Trypticon and it broke after they transformed it, and can personally write about the issue?

None the less I'll probably customize mine (when I'll get it) to avoid the risk from the start, but I'd like to know if it's actually a widespread issue or just a single bad copy.

My hope is that in the end this will be just like MP Megatron barrel issue,that broke just because it was wrongly forced by people, and not actually a design flaw.

I'd love if it was just a semi-isolated issue too, but from my experience (being the guy who posted that tutorial) it's a combination of too-strong springs, and really soft plastic used on a piece where said plastic needs to resist a lot of force. I can't be certain that I didn't do something wrong - and it'd be great for other people if that was the case, so they could avoid it themselves - but in my totally-non-professional analysis of the problem, it looks like more of an engineering/materials choice issue than a consumer-end one. I'm sure we'll find out more once Trypticon gets a wider release; for now, relatively few people actually have the toy so it's hard to build a complete picture as to the nature and extent of the problem.

(Also, just a note that I'm pretty sure that video you mention came out a little before I posted my tutorial. I noticed the issue just before the video was posted here, but I didn't get around to actually making a proper tutorial until after the video had already been put up on these boards. It's worth noting that it seems the other guy and I had a totally identical issue with Tryp's hips, so that also pushes me slightly closer to 'design/execution flaw' over 'user error'.)

understood. I love the design of this Trypticon, so I'll still get it, and I'll use your way to fix the hips.
Small question about that tutorial:
other than cutting the spring, is there a way to "flatten" a bit the last part, to make it looking like the actual end of the spring?
This way, it should avoid any eventual scratching on the plastic.
I'm not an engeneer, or a mechanic, so I don't even know if what I'm saying is doable.

Re: Guide to Preventing Your Titans Return Trypticon From Breaking a Hip (1893993)
Posted by Cobotron on July 3rd, 2017 @ 10:00am CDT

Nipping that wire leaves a pretty sharp tip. I bet one could use a rasp or file to file that tip down so it's not so destructive. Also thought alternatively, you could wrap the end in a generous amount of electrical tape.

Click here to view additional comments about this topic at the Energon Pub Forums ...