info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Zob's Thoughts on Combiner Wars Leader-Class Ultra Magnus
85 views
Skip to first unread message
Zobovor
Jun 25, 2016, 11:40:25 PM6/25/16
to
So, I was originally not really that interested in this toy. On the scale of toy tributes, where one end of the scale is "perfect homage" and the other end is "completely redesigned," this Magnus toy straddles the mark directly at the center. He's just this side of too-different from G1 Magnus and it bothered me a bit. (I quite like the six-inch Titanium Series version of Ultra Magnus and consider it part of my Classics collection.) The point was made largely moot by the fact that I've never seen the toy at retail anyway, so I didn't even have an opportunity to decide not to buy it.
When I was ordering G2 Menasor on toysrus.com, though, I noticed that they had Magnus in stock. Since he was originally released, I've softened on a lot of the aspects of the toy that I originally didn't like (and I think there was a deliberate effort to distance him somewhat from Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, who exhibits the Geewun accuracy I usually crave). The web site also had him on sale, so I decided to splurge since I was placing the online order anyway. (This turned out to be fortuitous, since the G2 Motormaster I got was missing his head. Were it not for Magnus, today would have been a very disappointing day.)
We did kind of desperately need a Generations-era Magnus update, since the original Classics toy was a) just a white Prime redeco and b) a limited-run Target exclusive. I dislike the IDWification of the toy, because I don't read the new comics. I am aware of who Minimus Ambus is and his role in the current lore, but that doesn't mean I want tiny robots with green beards infesting my neo-G1 toys. Thankfully, the Minimus toy isn't required to make the Magnus toy work, so he's just a useless accessory who's going to end up at the bottom of my toy box.
So, Magnus. As a Leader-class toy, he's nice and tall (over nine inches in height), towering over most Classics toys as the character is supposed to. His color mapping pleases me (just about every piece matches his G1 cartoon colors, from which the G1 toy deviated rather drastically). The red paint used on his chest is way too dark, which is strange since they were already using a bright red paint for the missiles on his shoulder launchers.
One of the things I originally disliked about this toy was that the design of its individual parts deviated so strongly from the G1 aesthetic. For example, G1 Magnus had square-shaped shoulders but these are trapezoidal. G1 Magnus had square-shaped launchers with long, round missiles, but this toy has flattened launchers and twin triangular missiles, which look like they belong on a Hero Mashers toy. If you break him down and look at him piece by piece, there's not much that evokes the G1 character. However, when taken as a cohesive whole, it still manages to look very strongly like G1 Magnus, and that's a pretty amazing feat considering the changes. Also, most of the necessary design elements are still there, even if they've been transmuted a bit. His blue chest armor is still roughly T-shaped, though a bit more stylized than before.
What really impressed me, though, was the head sculpt. It's like the cartoon character brought to life in three-dimensional form. A good head sculpt has sometimes been the turning point that determined whether I bought a toy (and some toys I have literally bought just for the head... so I could install it on a different toy and make a better-looking version of that character).
Articulation is really good, especially for an Ultra Magnus toy. His feet are separate parts from the legs and are connected with Masterpiece Sideswipe style connectors. Knees have soft-ratcheting clicky joints, legs swivel at mid-thigh, hips swivel and also pivot outwards using more clicky joints, elbows both swivel and pivot with more clicky joints, shoulders are soft-ratcheting and upper arms can pivot outwards with some good old-fashioned spring ratchets (and the panels to which his shoulder launchers are attached will very politely swing up to get out of the way of the arms). The only really useful joint that's missing is that his waist doesn't turn. Also, due to the way his chest is designed to hold Minimus Ambus, his head swings down on a hinge to act as a helmet. This means his head is connected at the back, not the bottom, and its swivel function is very limited as a result. All in all, though, it's still a very well-articulated toy. The problem I foresee is that the soft-ratcheting joints rely on the friction of plastic parts scraping against each other, so unlike the spring-powered joints, they will wear down over time.
He comes with one gun that looks a lot like the rifle he carried in The Transformers: the Movie, and another that does not. All his weapons (the two guns plus his missile pods) are designed to connect together to form a big hammer. Seems like there was an earlier Magnus toy that also came with a hammer (maybe the one from Transformers: Prime) so apparently that's a thing now.
His transformation is surprisingly faithful to the G1 toy with a few new tricks thrown in. There are a lot of parts that are held in place with plastic locking tabs. Like the Titanium Series toy, his cab is attached to the trailer and does not separate for transformation. Swinging down the front chest plate reveals the truck cab in its entirety, which swings out and then rotates into the correct orientation. It can swivel with respect to the trailer but does not detach. Magnus' robot head stows inside the place where Minimus Ambus is supposed to go, so there's no place to stick him inside for vehicle mode. The way his chest swings open allows it to become part of the car-carrier trailer, which means no separate pieces floating around when he's in vehicle mode. The rear panels on his legs shift, change, and rearrange to form side panels for truck mode, which is how his upper legs can be white but the sides of his carrier trailer are red. It's super clever.
Like the robot mode, the integrity of the truck mode relies largely upon tabbing everything together securely. The missile pods plug into the sides of the trailer (as per the G1 cartoon; not the front as per the G1 toy) and you can plug his other two guns into the rear sections formed by the legs. The cab section is sexy and streamlined, still a COE configuration but not as boxy as his G1 predecessor. (The toy is now more recognizable as the Titans Return Powermaster Optimus Prime, which will be so heavily retooled from Magnus as to nearly be unrecognizable.)
What's really nice is that a lot of the truck-mode functionality of the G1 toy was retained here. As before, the rear ramp sections (the white armor panels on the fronts of his legs) swing down to allow access to cars that will be carried by Magnus, and the top carrier section (the arms) can also swing down to allow cars to drive up on top. The trailer is a little too small to accommodate four Deluxe-scale cars, but you might be able to get away with two Deluxes and two Legends.
There's the usual cost-cutting that we've come to expect from the toy line these days. The robot feet and underside of the cab module are disparagingly hollow, and there are many parts of the toy with empty sections you can literally see right through (the sides of the lower legs, the white mid-arm sections, the trailer support struts). All ten of his Lee Press-On Wheels are black with unpainted hubcaps. I know they're trying to get away with assembling these toys as cheaply as possible, but it's preposterous that a Leader-class toy can have so little heft. It feels impossibly lightweight in my hands.
Overall, though, this is a toy I'd initially planned to skip and now I'm really glad I didn't. In some ways it's a reimagining of Magnus rather than an update, but it's also really faithful to the core ideas in a lot of ways. And, of course, I will certainly been buying the toy again after it's been rejiggered into Powermaster Optimus Prime.
Zob (not thrilled that I have to order a new G2 Menasor now... but as I've always said, if plastic robots are the biggest problem in my life, I must be doing pretty good)
When I was ordering G2 Menasor on toysrus.com, though, I noticed that they had Magnus in stock. Since he was originally released, I've softened on a lot of the aspects of the toy that I originally didn't like (and I think there was a deliberate effort to distance him somewhat from Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, who exhibits the Geewun accuracy I usually crave). The web site also had him on sale, so I decided to splurge since I was placing the online order anyway. (This turned out to be fortuitous, since the G2 Motormaster I got was missing his head. Were it not for Magnus, today would have been a very disappointing day.)
We did kind of desperately need a Generations-era Magnus update, since the original Classics toy was a) just a white Prime redeco and b) a limited-run Target exclusive. I dislike the IDWification of the toy, because I don't read the new comics. I am aware of who Minimus Ambus is and his role in the current lore, but that doesn't mean I want tiny robots with green beards infesting my neo-G1 toys. Thankfully, the Minimus toy isn't required to make the Magnus toy work, so he's just a useless accessory who's going to end up at the bottom of my toy box.
So, Magnus. As a Leader-class toy, he's nice and tall (over nine inches in height), towering over most Classics toys as the character is supposed to. His color mapping pleases me (just about every piece matches his G1 cartoon colors, from which the G1 toy deviated rather drastically). The red paint used on his chest is way too dark, which is strange since they were already using a bright red paint for the missiles on his shoulder launchers.
One of the things I originally disliked about this toy was that the design of its individual parts deviated so strongly from the G1 aesthetic. For example, G1 Magnus had square-shaped shoulders but these are trapezoidal. G1 Magnus had square-shaped launchers with long, round missiles, but this toy has flattened launchers and twin triangular missiles, which look like they belong on a Hero Mashers toy. If you break him down and look at him piece by piece, there's not much that evokes the G1 character. However, when taken as a cohesive whole, it still manages to look very strongly like G1 Magnus, and that's a pretty amazing feat considering the changes. Also, most of the necessary design elements are still there, even if they've been transmuted a bit. His blue chest armor is still roughly T-shaped, though a bit more stylized than before.
What really impressed me, though, was the head sculpt. It's like the cartoon character brought to life in three-dimensional form. A good head sculpt has sometimes been the turning point that determined whether I bought a toy (and some toys I have literally bought just for the head... so I could install it on a different toy and make a better-looking version of that character).
Articulation is really good, especially for an Ultra Magnus toy. His feet are separate parts from the legs and are connected with Masterpiece Sideswipe style connectors. Knees have soft-ratcheting clicky joints, legs swivel at mid-thigh, hips swivel and also pivot outwards using more clicky joints, elbows both swivel and pivot with more clicky joints, shoulders are soft-ratcheting and upper arms can pivot outwards with some good old-fashioned spring ratchets (and the panels to which his shoulder launchers are attached will very politely swing up to get out of the way of the arms). The only really useful joint that's missing is that his waist doesn't turn. Also, due to the way his chest is designed to hold Minimus Ambus, his head swings down on a hinge to act as a helmet. This means his head is connected at the back, not the bottom, and its swivel function is very limited as a result. All in all, though, it's still a very well-articulated toy. The problem I foresee is that the soft-ratcheting joints rely on the friction of plastic parts scraping against each other, so unlike the spring-powered joints, they will wear down over time.
He comes with one gun that looks a lot like the rifle he carried in The Transformers: the Movie, and another that does not. All his weapons (the two guns plus his missile pods) are designed to connect together to form a big hammer. Seems like there was an earlier Magnus toy that also came with a hammer (maybe the one from Transformers: Prime) so apparently that's a thing now.
His transformation is surprisingly faithful to the G1 toy with a few new tricks thrown in. There are a lot of parts that are held in place with plastic locking tabs. Like the Titanium Series toy, his cab is attached to the trailer and does not separate for transformation. Swinging down the front chest plate reveals the truck cab in its entirety, which swings out and then rotates into the correct orientation. It can swivel with respect to the trailer but does not detach. Magnus' robot head stows inside the place where Minimus Ambus is supposed to go, so there's no place to stick him inside for vehicle mode. The way his chest swings open allows it to become part of the car-carrier trailer, which means no separate pieces floating around when he's in vehicle mode. The rear panels on his legs shift, change, and rearrange to form side panels for truck mode, which is how his upper legs can be white but the sides of his carrier trailer are red. It's super clever.
Like the robot mode, the integrity of the truck mode relies largely upon tabbing everything together securely. The missile pods plug into the sides of the trailer (as per the G1 cartoon; not the front as per the G1 toy) and you can plug his other two guns into the rear sections formed by the legs. The cab section is sexy and streamlined, still a COE configuration but not as boxy as his G1 predecessor. (The toy is now more recognizable as the Titans Return Powermaster Optimus Prime, which will be so heavily retooled from Magnus as to nearly be unrecognizable.)
What's really nice is that a lot of the truck-mode functionality of the G1 toy was retained here. As before, the rear ramp sections (the white armor panels on the fronts of his legs) swing down to allow access to cars that will be carried by Magnus, and the top carrier section (the arms) can also swing down to allow cars to drive up on top. The trailer is a little too small to accommodate four Deluxe-scale cars, but you might be able to get away with two Deluxes and two Legends.
There's the usual cost-cutting that we've come to expect from the toy line these days. The robot feet and underside of the cab module are disparagingly hollow, and there are many parts of the toy with empty sections you can literally see right through (the sides of the lower legs, the white mid-arm sections, the trailer support struts). All ten of his Lee Press-On Wheels are black with unpainted hubcaps. I know they're trying to get away with assembling these toys as cheaply as possible, but it's preposterous that a Leader-class toy can have so little heft. It feels impossibly lightweight in my hands.
Overall, though, this is a toy I'd initially planned to skip and now I'm really glad I didn't. In some ways it's a reimagining of Magnus rather than an update, but it's also really faithful to the core ideas in a lot of ways. And, of course, I will certainly been buying the toy again after it's been rejiggered into Powermaster Optimus Prime.
Zob (not thrilled that I have to order a new G2 Menasor now... but as I've always said, if plastic robots are the biggest problem in my life, I must be doing pretty good)
William A. Rendfeld
Jun 26, 2016, 10:33:11 AM6/26/16
to
On Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 11:40:25 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> Zob (not thrilled that I have to order a new G2 Menasor now... but as I've always said, if plastic robots are the biggest problem in my life, I must be doing pretty good)
Some sites do sell the individual combiner components from the box sets online - I managed to get the G2-themed Powerglide for a decent price from Dorksidetoys.com. Try them for G2 Motormaster.
> Zob (not thrilled that I have to order a new G2 Menasor now... but as I've always said, if plastic robots are the biggest problem in my life, I must be doing pretty good)
If nothing else, it's cheaper than getting a whole other set.
No One In Particular
Jun 26, 2016, 12:51:51 PM6/26/16
to
I love this toy, myself. (I'm not current on IDW either, for the
record.) All in all he's one of my favorites from 2015. My only real
gripe is the open hand pose that seems common to most Transformers these
days, but in this case it means that Magnus has a problem holding his
guns properly. Other than that, pure love. Currently he is in car
carrier mode with G1 Huffer, CW Blackjack, and that white Optimus
repaint Legends Magnus from Dollar General currently being hauled
around. :)
The hammer thing stems from TF:Animated, where Ultra Magnus wielded a
hammer that could control the weather on a local scale. TF:Prime also
had a hammer, but that was actually a call out to Animated.
Brian. The package for Animated Magnus called it the Magna Hammer or
something like that, but for reasons I cannot even explain to myself, in
my head that weapon is called Maxwell's Silver Hammer. I can't help it,
I can't think of it any other way...
record.) All in all he's one of my favorites from 2015. My only real
gripe is the open hand pose that seems common to most Transformers these
days, but in this case it means that Magnus has a problem holding his
guns properly. Other than that, pure love. Currently he is in car
carrier mode with G1 Huffer, CW Blackjack, and that white Optimus
repaint Legends Magnus from Dollar General currently being hauled
around. :)
The hammer thing stems from TF:Animated, where Ultra Magnus wielded a
hammer that could control the weather on a local scale. TF:Prime also
had a hammer, but that was actually a call out to Animated.
Brian. The package for Animated Magnus called it the Magna Hammer or
something like that, but for reasons I cannot even explain to myself, in
my head that weapon is called Maxwell's Silver Hammer. I can't help it,
I can't think of it any other way...
Zobovor
Jun 26, 2016, 9:50:22 PM6/26/16
to
On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 8:33:11 AM UTC-6, William A. Rendfeld wrote:
> If nothing else, it's cheaper than getting a whole other set.
Oh, I went to the brick-and-mortar Toys "R" Us today to return it, and I reordered a new set off their web site. I don't eat the cost of defective toys. What, do I look like I'm made of money?
> If nothing else, it's cheaper than getting a whole other set.
Zob (has officially earned the right to espouse Dad-isms)
Zobovor
Jun 26, 2016, 9:57:57 PM6/26/16
to
On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 10:51:51 AM UTC-6, No One In Particular wrote:
> My only real gripe is the open hand pose that seems common to most
> Transformers these days, but in this case it means that Magnus has a problem
> holding his guns properly.
I think they were trying to copy the style of the hands on the Masterpiece toys. Giving him hinged fingers was the only way to allow him to hold a traditional gun as well as grip the hammer in the center of the handle.
> My only real gripe is the open hand pose that seems common to most
> Transformers these days, but in this case it means that Magnus has a problem
> holding his guns properly.
Come to think of it, G1 Ultra Magnus had some trouble holding his gun, too. Hmm.
Zob (maybe it's genetic)
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
Jun 27, 2016, 3:30:01 AM6/27/16
to
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
Jun 27, 2016, 3:50:42 AM6/27/16
to
On Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 8:40:25 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> So, I was originally not really that interested in this toy. On the scale of toy tributes, where one end of the scale is "perfect homage" and the other end is "completely redesigned," this Magnus toy straddles the mark directly at the center. He's just this side of too-different from G1 Magnus and it bothered me a bit. (I quite like the six-inch Titanium Series version of Ultra Magnus and consider it part of my Classics collection.) The point was made largely moot by the fact that I've never seen the toy at retail anyway, so I didn't even have an opportunity to decide not to buy it.
I have him standing right next to Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, and I am always way more likely to pick up the Masterpiece than the CW toy.
> So, I was originally not really that interested in this toy. On the scale of toy tributes, where one end of the scale is "perfect homage" and the other end is "completely redesigned," this Magnus toy straddles the mark directly at the center. He's just this side of too-different from G1 Magnus and it bothered me a bit. (I quite like the six-inch Titanium Series version of Ultra Magnus and consider it part of my Classics collection.) The point was made largely moot by the fact that I've never seen the toy at retail anyway, so I didn't even have an opportunity to decide not to buy it.
I dislike the cab. The weird, tiny-windows design bothers me. And I really wish that the cab was a robot of its own (for both the toys, really).
> We did kind of desperately need a Generations-era Magnus update, since the original Classics toy was a) just a white Prime redeco and b) a limited-run Target exclusive.
>I dislike the IDWification of the toy, because I don't read the new comics. I am aware of who Minimus Ambus is and his role in the current lore, but that doesn't mean I want tiny robots with green beards infesting my neo-G1 toys. Thankfully, the Minimus toy isn't required to make the Magnus toy work, so he's just a useless accessory who's going to end up at the bottom of my toy box.
> The way his chest swings open allows it to become part of the car-carrier trailer, which means no separate pieces floating around when he's in vehicle mode. The rear panels on his legs shift, change, and rearrange to form side panels for truck mode, which is how his upper legs can be white but the sides of his carrier trailer are red. It's super clever.
> There's the usual cost-cutting that we've come to expect from the toy line these days. The robot feet and underside of the cab module are disparagingly hollow, and there are many parts of the toy with empty sections you can literally see right through (the sides of the lower legs, the white mid-arm sections, the trailer support struts). All ten of his Lee Press-On Wheels are black with unpainted hubcaps. I know they're trying to get away with assembling these toys as cheaply as possible, but it's preposterous that a Leader-class toy can have so little heft. It feels impossibly lightweight in my hands.
> Overall, though, this is a toy I'd initially planned to skip and now I'm really glad I didn't. In some ways it's a reimagining of Magnus rather than an update, but it's also really faithful to the core ideas in a lot of ways. And, of course, I will certainly been buying the toy again after it's been rejiggered into Powermaster Optimus Prime.
David Connell
Jun 27, 2016, 9:27:59 AM6/27/16
to
On Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 11:40:25 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> Overall, though, this is a toy I'd initially planned to skip and now I'm really glad I didn't. In some ways it's a reimagining of Magnus rather than an update, but it's also really faithful to the core ideas in a lot of ways. And, of course, I will certainly been buying the toy again after it's been rejiggered into Powermaster Optimus Prime.
>
I picked up the Takara version, which has a more toy-based color scheme, and more importantly, redecoed the pointless Minimus Whosis into a nice WST Alpha Trion, who currently lives in my N-scale train layout advising WST Optimus.
>
Overall, like you I found I like the toy a lot more than I expected to, in spite of the excessive IDW influence. The mobile suit element, despite being do integrated into the design, is quite easy to ignore. I think I've had AT in Magnus 3 times since I got them. I still prefer the Classics Albino Optimus + FansProject City Commander armor combo as my primary Classics Magnus, but this guy does have his nice elements.
If some 3rd party would make an add-on kit to make Mobile Suit Magnus more GeeWun, he might surpass City Commander Magnus, but the IDW influence is just too strong for him to be a real contender for the top spot.
Zobovor
Jun 27, 2016, 6:59:38 PM6/27/16
to
On Monday, June 27, 2016 at 1:30:01 AM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> I hope he was returned missing a head, and missing Breakdown or something --
> maybe those pipe weapons, so the Wildrider and Deadend can each have two
> exhausts. You know, for your troubles. It's not like they can resell a set
> with a headless Motormaster.
I thought about it briefly. But then the little Zob sitting on my shoulder in the white robes and halo prevailed. Doing that sort of thing tends to invite bad karma.
> I hope he was returned missing a head, and missing Breakdown or something --
> maybe those pipe weapons, so the Wildrider and Deadend can each have two
> exhausts. You know, for your troubles. It's not like they can resell a set
> with a headless Motormaster.
Zob (trying to set a good example for my kids... and I was also worried the customer service person would look inside the box and see that pieces were missing)
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
Jun 30, 2016, 3:09:16 AM6/30/16
to
What type of example are you trying to set for your kids? Poor product quality control makes you spend hours of your time driving to some store to return something, and then buy another copy, and you get nothing for it? If Hasbro is going to offload their quality control process onto you, you ought to get something for it.
This isn't like returning him with a Power Rangers Zord inside, or a few random old toys you don't like anymore...
Zobovor
Jun 30, 2016, 11:40:24 PM6/30/16
to
On Thursday, June 30, 2016 at 1:09:16 AM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> What type of example are you trying to set for your kids? Poor product quality
> control makes you spend hours of your time driving to some store to return
> something, and then buy another copy, and you get nothing for it?
Wow. I think perhaps you're the only person who's ever taken me to task for not being dishonest!
> What type of example are you trying to set for your kids? Poor product quality
> control makes you spend hours of your time driving to some store to return
> something, and then buy another copy, and you get nothing for it?
Zob (got my second G2 Menasor set today, which is thankfully complete)
Zobovor
Jul 23, 2016, 1:06:22 PM7/23/16
to
On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 7:50:22 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:
> Oh, I went to the brick-and-mortar Toys "R" Us today to return it.
Funny story about this.
The wife and kids and I went up to the Layton Surf N' Swim last night and while we were in town, we stopped into Toys "R" Us. I was very excited to see a Combiner Wars gift set on the shelf. I didn't know they were carrying them at the store. I hoped for an instant that perhaps it was G2 Bruticus, until I realized it was actually G2 Menasor. It figures that the one that they would have in stock was the one that I had already ordered online. Then it occurred to me: It was clearly the EXACT same one that I had ordered online.
The package had been taped back up, but I slipped the plastic tray out of the box long enough to confirm that it was the defective set that I had previously returned to the store, sans Motormaster head. I was a little miffed that they'd just stuck it back on the shelf... not so much because it affected me personally, but because somebody else could easily have bought it and taken it home and then been stuck with a defective toy.
I took the set back up to the front desk and explained that I was the one who had returned it, and showed them exactly what was wrong with it. I'd explained it the first time, of course, but apparently a visual demonstration was required. See how this is where the little panel flips out? See how there's no robot head?
I guess the worst-case scenario would have been that somebody else would have bought it, realized there was a piece missing, and then had to return it to the store themselves. It's also possible some younger kid might have gotten stuck with it and, not quite realizing how the world works, begrudgingly accept that he was the proud owner of a defective toy.
Related to this is another story: My son does not like to read. He considers it a chore. Over the school year, part of his homework was to read 20 minutes every day and he seriously spent 45 minutes a day arguing with me about it. I started buying him small toys and things as incentives to actually do it, and since then he's been a little better about it.
We've been doing this over the summer, too, and sometimes instead of a tiny toy I get him a bigger toy to serve as a reward after an entire week's worth of reading. I found a LEGO General Grievous set on clearance that I thought would make a good weekly reading incentive, but he refused to read that week so I was just going to take it back to the store. It sat tantalizingly on the kitchen counter for a few weeks and last week I finally gave him one more chance to earn it. He actually followed through, and he got to open it a couple of days ago.
Except instead of parts to build General Grievous, inside the carefully resealed baggies were random LEGO pieces of every conceivable color... pink, green, orange, brown... many of them covered in dirt. Some were KRE-O parts. There were also broken crayons and at least one drywall anchor. Very, very disappointing. I didn't think anything was amiss when I bought the set. It appeared to be factory sealed, and the weight and sound of the box didn't tip me off to anything out of the ordinary. The little baggies had been carefully glued together. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to rip off the store where they'd returned it, and to a lesser degree, rip me off as well.
What's more, when we tried to return the set and explain what had happened, they gave us such a hassle. They said they were super strict about LEGO sets and that we could only exchange it for the exact same set. Well, I had gotten it on clearance so there weren't any left in the store. (Besides, I think we'd be hard pressed to find another set with crayons and drywall anchors inside.) I questioned the strictness of their policy since, clearly, they weren't strict enough when this set had been returned to their store in the first place. (He ended up with the Gorilla Grodd Goes Bananas set instead.)
I've worked retail for a long time so I know this sort of thing happens every once in a while, but it's rare that I experience it from the "other side" of the customer service counter, so to speak. Makes you wonder how often this actually happens, though.
Zob (has nothing clever to add here)
> Oh, I went to the brick-and-mortar Toys "R" Us today to return it.
Funny story about this.
The wife and kids and I went up to the Layton Surf N' Swim last night and while we were in town, we stopped into Toys "R" Us. I was very excited to see a Combiner Wars gift set on the shelf. I didn't know they were carrying them at the store. I hoped for an instant that perhaps it was G2 Bruticus, until I realized it was actually G2 Menasor. It figures that the one that they would have in stock was the one that I had already ordered online. Then it occurred to me: It was clearly the EXACT same one that I had ordered online.
The package had been taped back up, but I slipped the plastic tray out of the box long enough to confirm that it was the defective set that I had previously returned to the store, sans Motormaster head. I was a little miffed that they'd just stuck it back on the shelf... not so much because it affected me personally, but because somebody else could easily have bought it and taken it home and then been stuck with a defective toy.
I took the set back up to the front desk and explained that I was the one who had returned it, and showed them exactly what was wrong with it. I'd explained it the first time, of course, but apparently a visual demonstration was required. See how this is where the little panel flips out? See how there's no robot head?
I guess the worst-case scenario would have been that somebody else would have bought it, realized there was a piece missing, and then had to return it to the store themselves. It's also possible some younger kid might have gotten stuck with it and, not quite realizing how the world works, begrudgingly accept that he was the proud owner of a defective toy.
Related to this is another story: My son does not like to read. He considers it a chore. Over the school year, part of his homework was to read 20 minutes every day and he seriously spent 45 minutes a day arguing with me about it. I started buying him small toys and things as incentives to actually do it, and since then he's been a little better about it.
We've been doing this over the summer, too, and sometimes instead of a tiny toy I get him a bigger toy to serve as a reward after an entire week's worth of reading. I found a LEGO General Grievous set on clearance that I thought would make a good weekly reading incentive, but he refused to read that week so I was just going to take it back to the store. It sat tantalizingly on the kitchen counter for a few weeks and last week I finally gave him one more chance to earn it. He actually followed through, and he got to open it a couple of days ago.
Except instead of parts to build General Grievous, inside the carefully resealed baggies were random LEGO pieces of every conceivable color... pink, green, orange, brown... many of them covered in dirt. Some were KRE-O parts. There were also broken crayons and at least one drywall anchor. Very, very disappointing. I didn't think anything was amiss when I bought the set. It appeared to be factory sealed, and the weight and sound of the box didn't tip me off to anything out of the ordinary. The little baggies had been carefully glued together. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to rip off the store where they'd returned it, and to a lesser degree, rip me off as well.
What's more, when we tried to return the set and explain what had happened, they gave us such a hassle. They said they were super strict about LEGO sets and that we could only exchange it for the exact same set. Well, I had gotten it on clearance so there weren't any left in the store. (Besides, I think we'd be hard pressed to find another set with crayons and drywall anchors inside.) I questioned the strictness of their policy since, clearly, they weren't strict enough when this set had been returned to their store in the first place. (He ended up with the Gorilla Grodd Goes Bananas set instead.)
I've worked retail for a long time so I know this sort of thing happens every once in a while, but it's rare that I experience it from the "other side" of the customer service counter, so to speak. Makes you wonder how often this actually happens, though.
Zob (has nothing clever to add here)
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
Jul 29, 2016, 11:41:17 PM7/29/16
to
On Saturday, July 23, 2016 at 10:06:22 AM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 7:50:22 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:
>
> Related to this is another story: My son does not like to read.
Just tell him: "Reading opens a word of imagination!" -- that will change his tune pretty quick.
> On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 7:50:22 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:
>
> Related to this is another story: My son does not like to read.
> He considers it a chore. Over the school year, part of his homework was to read 20 minutes every day and he seriously spent 45 minutes a day arguing with me about it. I started buying him small toys and things as incentives to actually do it, and since then he's been a little better about it.
> Except instead of parts to build General Grievous, inside the carefully resealed baggies were random LEGO pieces of every conceivable color... pink, green, orange, brown... many of them covered in dirt. Some were KRE-O parts. There were also broken crayons and at least one drywall anchor. Very, very disappointing.
0 new messages