Broken Transformer Toys
Chad Rushing
throw it in the trash? Do you use it for kitbashing parts? Do you
bury it in the backyard and give it a little funeral? Obviously,
nobody else is going to want it if it is visibly broken, so giving it
away or selling it is not too feasible. I know that some of you are
handy enough to repair broken plastic parts, but what if the broken
part in question is unrepairable?
- Chad
TigerMegatron
I broke that perfect effect black frenzy toy that was 3 inches tall &
transformed into a targetmaster for the ultra magnus trailer/armor.
the toy was so cheaply made. as soon as i got it out of the box,I
pulled the legs apart very gently. sadly at that second the tab broke
off that connected the legs together. I tried to repair it but it
still looked awful. eventually I gave the toy away to a friend I knew.
Zobovor
I don't think I've just outright thrown a toy away. To me, sometimes
broken toys are eminently as spare parts for projects. Even if I
don't end up hacking it up, I save broken toys because sometimes I've
found the same toy for cheap on eBay, broken in a different place, and
I can combine the two together to build an intact unit.
I try to fix toys whenever possible, and quite often broken toys in my
collection have found new life as kitbashes or repaints (which don't
get played with, only displayed, so it's almost like toy retirement).
I have on rare occasions failed to mend toys that are irreparably
damaged, but usually I'm able to arrive at *some* kind of fix. (I
think Transmetal Megatron is the only toy I ever completely gave up
on. There's just no saving that poor bastard.)
Did you break something recently, Chad? I told you to stop playing
with your toys on the stairs!
Zob
Chad Rushing
>
> I don't think I've just outright thrown a toy away. To me, sometimes
> broken toys are eminently as spare parts for projects. Even if I
> don't end up hacking it up, I save broken toys because sometimes I've
> found the same toy for cheap on eBay, broken in a different place, and
> I can combine the two together to build an intact unit.
>
> I try to fix toys whenever possible, and quite often broken toys in my
> collection have found new life as kitbashes or repaints (which don't
> get played with, only displayed, so it's almost like toy retirement).
> I have on rare occasions failed to mend toys that are irreparably
> damaged, but usually I'm able to arrive at *some* kind of fix. (I
> think Transmetal Megatron is the only toy I ever completely gave up
> on. There's just no saving that poor bastard.)
>
> Did you break something recently, Chad? I told you to stop playing
> with your toys on the stairs!
We always lived in one-story homes growing up, so I loved playing with
action figures on the stairs when I visited my lucky friends who lived
in two-story houses. It was like having a toy-scaled mountain range
in your house. A friend's house even had a built-in intercom system
that worked between floors. How cool is that?
When I switched apartments several years ago, all of my older (pre-
CYB) toys on display went back into their boxes and had not been
touched since. I pulled out an extra ENR Treadbolt the other day, and
one of the rubber treads had snapped inside of the box. That rubber
tread was not stretched very tightly over the wheels, so I have no
idea why it spontaneously broke. Gluing the rubber back together does
not seem possible, so I now have a single-tread Treadbolt which really
leaves something to be desired.
- Chad
Zobovor
> Gluing the rubber back together does not seem possible, so I now
> have a single-tread Treadbolt which really leaves something to be desired.
Treadbolt...that's the Armada Scavenger redeco, right? My Scavenger
toy also had a rubber tread pop apart, and it sure wasn't due to heavy
play (I hate that toy so I think I only touched it to write a scathing
review about how much I hated it). I agree, gluing the treads back
together would be difficult. There's a brand of super glue called
Quick Tite that is sold in a special "rubberized" formula that is
formulated to bond plastics and the like together. I can't remember
if I attempted to repair Scavenger or not, but maybe I'll try it and
let you know if it works.
Zob
Chad Rushing
>
> Treadbolt...that's the Armada Scavenger redeco, right? My Scavenger
> toy also had a rubber tread pop apart, and it sure wasn't due to heavy
> play (I hate that toy so I think I only touched it to write a scathing
> review about how much I hated it).
That's it, the ARM Scavenger redeco. I didn't notice that it was G2
Constructicon yellow like Scavenger is G1 Constructicon green until
recently. I have to wonder if there is a fan out there who just
collects homages to Constructicons, since they pop up fairly
frequently.
> I agree, gluing the treads back
> together would be difficult. There's a brand of super glue called
> Quick Tite that is sold in a special "rubberized" formula that is
> formulated to bond plastics and the like together. I can't remember
> if I attempted to repair Scavenger or not, but maybe I'll try it and
> let you know if it works.
Thanks! If you can't fix it, then I know there is absolutely no hope
of me doing so!
- Chad
Gustavo Wombat
Perhaps you just want to check your other Treadbolts and Scavengers...
You might just have two one-treaded toys.
Chad Rushing
>
> Perhaps you just want to check your other Treadbolts and Scavengers...
> You might just have two one-treaded toys.
I have. =) That's the only one that's broken which is odd since one
would think an older ARM Scavenger tread would break first if any of
them did.
- Chad
robo_rob
disassemble and reassemble.
Onslaught Six
> If one of your TF toys breaks, what do you do with it?
Depends! I had a Torca fall victim to GPS a few years ago (Right after
I just got him, too! I was so gutted, because I've been looking for a
Torca for years.) but he still stood around on my shelf because all
that broke was his neck joint. His head could still sit on his
shoulders, his gimmick was just broken. I've also had a Polar Claw
that's been broken since I was an early teenager, and I've been
looking for a junker to repair him for years...
> Obviously,
> nobody else is going to want it if it is visibly broken, so giving it
> away or selling it is not too feasible. I know that some of you are
> handy enough to repair broken plastic parts, but what if the broken
> part in question is unrepairable?
You replace it with the part from another, similarly destroyed figure.
You could also just sell the figure for parts, because hey--everybody
needs parts, occasionally. I saw a G1 Sideswipe at Steel City Con
yesterday that had its wheels broken off--I'm sure someone out there
has a Sideswipe in need of tires, for example.
Onslaught Six
> Treadbolt...that's the Armada Scavenger redeco, right? My Scavenger
> toy also had a rubber tread pop apart, and it sure wasn't due to heavy
> play (I hate that toy so I think I only touched it to write a scathing
> review about how much I hated it). I agree, gluing the treads back
> together would be difficult. There's a brand of super glue called
> Quick Tite that is sold in a special "rubberized" formula that is
> formulated to bond plastics and the like together. I can't remember
> if I attempted to repair Scavenger or not, but maybe I'll try it and
> let you know if it works.
Man, Armada Scavenger got the shaft so hard. It sucks so much, because
the core design is kind of cool (and by core design, I mean the
animation model that showed up in the cartoon and comics, with
individual legs and everything) and especially the neat Transtech
design he's derived from, and the idea of a Constructicon-looking
Autobot who trained a Prime and switched sides (only to switch sides
again) is pretty cool...but the toy itself just sucks.
Man, Armada had a lot of sideswitching, didn't it? Scavenger,
Sideways, Thrust (switched to Unicron), Starscream...