BotCon 2013 Machine Wars Hoist Chest Fix

These QC issues... and FunPub continues to blame it on the factory.

I realize not every crappy thing happening this year and last is FunPub's fault, but they're awful quick to blame "the factory" for any problems with their figures.

This would have to be a factory issue. It would take a lot of stupidity to reassemble X number of figures after being shipped overseas.

Now as for lateness - yeah, that's a FunPub scheduling issue.

Well, it's not FunPub themselves assembling the figures, it has to be something at the factory that went wrong with Hoist (but not Electro, what's with that?!). At least that part is easy to fix. Now the shoulders are a little harder, but it can be done if you know how to knock out pins.

The two I messed with seemed ok, except for the shoulders, but apparently that's every last one of them that has that issue.

datguy86 wrote:Now as for lateness - yeah, that's a FunPub scheduling issue.

If, by this, you're referring to the subscription figures, that was due to the manufacturer thinking those were meant to be an additional BotCon project instead of coming out sooner, and so the Club kept pestering them about it, but it didn't click with the manufacturer until it was too late. Thus, we're stuck with Scourge coming just before BotCon, and the rest coming after.

datguy86 wrote:This would have to be a factory issue. It would take a lot of stupidity to reassemble X number of figures after being shipped overseas.

Now as for lateness - yeah, that's a FunPub scheduling issue.

Actually, there's a very good chance that FunPub has passed the buck on a few issues of their own, but the factory will do what the factory will do. FunPub is a very small operation, and there's only so muvh a factory can do at o ne time. If Hasbro owns theoir own factory, then that plant is Handling not only FunPub's stuff, but the mainline TF, the Marvel Line(s), TMNT, heck, half the toy aisle. And there's a very good chance that like the model railroad factories, Hasbro may actually be renting out the production along with Mattel or TakTom or whomever. And if that's the case, then not only is Funpub trying to squeak out a measely five thousand figures between the production runs of ONE major toy maker, but they may well be trying to do it between TWO or THREE. Your all quick to say its FUnPub's fault, and things like website issues, ordering problems, yeah. Those are, but anyone who's ever worked anywhere, an office building, construction, restaurant, they'll tell you when a big project comes down the line, its gonna take more resources, more manpower, more burners, and little projects tend to fall bythe wayside.

One more case in point: My other hobby is Model Railroading. One company, who is incredibly good about talking to their customers regularly through facebook, newsletters, etc. commisioned from their factory a complete twelce car train with three engines on it. Full detailing, this is not your father's Christmas train but lightx, interiors painted, all the plumbing you'd expect to see o n a real car, everything. It was a fully working train that could easily be a collector's piece. That project was two years behind schedule, because of delays in Tooling (Inciental issues, sometimes afactory goof, sometimes its just like trying to sight a new gun, you'll be off a few shots) and then it was delayed again because the factory was running other things. This company was lucky, they had their own factory, ( alot of the big names in trains for a long time didn't, they leased buildings, and when factories started changing focus for other projects, contracts, and clientsd, they were told to pay up more or get out, the model railroad hobby came to a screeching halt for a few years because the big players in the game lost 80% of their manufacturing power. Could you imagine if Hasbro was told b their factory they'd have to find anew place to assemble the TFs? Cast the parts, do the packagingm everything!) but this big collector's train was going to pull every resource they had, and NOTHING else was going to get through.

FunPub could easily turn in an order for 5000 figures, be told six months, and pass someone in the hallway from Hasbro who's going to tell the factory "We need a half a bilion Iron Man figures by the movie in eight months." Guess who's getting the boot on that?

@ Sabrblade - In that case, it sounds like FunPub didn't send over a job manifest with scheduling and other information about when figures should arrive. So that's a communication error on FunPub's side. Seriously, how do you not mention "I need these six figures by February."

Which brings me to my next point,

@ Flashwave - Big projects do take up a more resources and tend to get ahead on the queue. What we're most likely looking at with the Hoist issue is the factory trying to get FunPub's order out the door too quick.

In terms of subscription figures being late; again it sounds like FunPub didn't send over a proper job manifest. Yes, big projects bring in more cash than FunPub's little operation, but that's why production factories plan out what product is going to be made, often months in advance. Small jobs may get delayed a week, but to delay a project months is only poor business and planning on the factory end. Especially if the company is already running Transformers figures.

Assuming the 5000 figures you mentioned is per figure on FunPub's end: It's easy to say 5000 figures is not a lot, but think about figures which are shortpacked on their initial run. There might only be the 5000 of those figures until the first reprint. Especially store exclusives - there are only 875 Toys R Us stores in the US. Even factoring in the online store, a shortpacked figure may not see over 5000 at all. Heck, even if it's not shortpacked the figure's run may not be over 5000. If FunPub is asking for the same amount of toys as a major US retailer, and FunPub's money is just as good, then guess what? FunPub's order is not going to hit the crapper as quick as you'd think.

Again, this sounds like a communication error on FunPub's part because (judging by Sabrblade's post) they may have never clearly stated when the figures were needed by. The factory needs planning, and it doesn't seem like that's FunPub's thing as evidenced by the website problems you mentioned.

Also, model trains? Awesome.

Edit: Awkward cut and paste made the original post more RAR than needed. Also fixed incorrect numbers.

@Flashwave: That's a whole LOT of speculation. Hasbro is not your train industry, so its hard to say how much of your expertise applies here.

TMNT is not Hasbro. You can tell by how much kids actually like TMNT! As I said elsewhere, when u look at TMNT vs TF, it's clear that Hasbro is doing it wrong!

It's reasons like this that I don't do Botcon stuff anymore.
Last year's set really disapointed me:

Treadshot was assembled with two left feet ans One of Soundwave's hip screw was missing, appart from Ultra Magnus ans Tracks being all flimsy and Gigatron having his soft rubber canon all messed up.

I understand that in a production line, some flaws can be overlooked, but really! at the price we pay these set are we in our rights to expect something of Top Quality?

If you aren't checking your figures at the con to exchange any QC issues, that's on you. They'll gladly swap out any screw ups at the convention at no extra cost. It is up to you to be responsible and check your figures. They don't have any control over what the factory screws up in assembly. You can't blame them for that.

Flux Convoy wrote:If you aren't checking your figures at the con to exchange any QC issues, that's on you. They'll gladly swap out any screw ups at the convention at no extra cost. It is up to you to be responsible and check your figures. They don't have any control over what the factory screws up in assembly. You can't blame them for that.

It's good when you're on site, but when you don't pick up the set from the convention, you need to pay mail fees to send them the faulty figures and the returning fees to get the good ones.



I still think that its their responsability to give us top notch quality stuff.

Flux Convoy wrote:If you aren't checking your figures at the con to exchange any QC issues, that's on you. They'll gladly swap out any screw ups at the convention at no extra cost. It is up to you to be responsible and check your figures. They don't have any control over what the factory screws up in assembly. You can't blame them for that.

Tons of people checked their Hoists and Electrons at the con and approached the Club about it. They said that they could not fix the problems at the con due to the issues being on such a wide scale. Thus, they posted this how-to-fix-it guide on Twitter instead.

Sabrblade wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:If you aren't checking your figures at the con to exchange any QC issues, that's on you. They'll gladly swap out any screw ups at the convention at no extra cost. It is up to you to be responsible and check your figures. They don't have any control over what the factory screws up in assembly. You can't blame them for that.

Tons of people checked their Hoists and Electrons at the con and approached the Club about it. They said that they could not fix the problems at the con due to the issues being on such a wide scale. Thus, they posted this how-to-fix-it guide on Twitter instead.

Better yet, have a more flexible timetable for the figures which allows enough leeway for the factory to send a random sampling to TFCC so TFCC can QC and tell the factory to check X figure for problems.

@fluxconvoy - It is always the company's responsibility to ensure quality. Imagine driving off a lot with a brand new car only to find out later the vehicle has a fatal flaw in its brake system which will randomly appear in the future. Whose fault is that? The customer for not checking? Or the company for skipping QC?

It's one thing of the customer is armed with knowledge of the defect. It's another if knowledge comes after. Regardless, it's still the company's responsibility to provide a working product.

Sabrblade wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:If you aren't checking your figures at the con to exchange any QC issues, that's on you. They'll gladly swap out any screw ups at the convention at no extra cost. It is up to you to be responsible and check your figures. They don't have any control over what the factory screws up in assembly. You can't blame them for that.

Tons of people checked their Hoists and Electrons at the con and approached the Club about it. They said that they could not fix the problems at the con due to the issues being on such a wide scale. Thus, they posted this how-to-fix-it guide on Twitter instead.

I was addressing the poster before me. I was there, I checked my figures. I'm fully aware of the issue and why the info was posted. I fixed Hoist and Electron days ago. Just have to make time to fix the shoulders on Hoist.

datguy86 wrote:Better yet, have a more flexible timetable for the figures which allows enough leeway for the factory to send a random sampling to TFCC so TFCC can QC and tell the factory to check X figure for problems.

@fluxconvoy - It is always the company's responsibility to ensure quality. Imagine driving off a lot with a brand new car only to find out later the vehicle has a fatal flaw in its brake system which will randomly appear in the future. Whose fault is that? The customer for not checking? Or the company for skipping QC?

It's one thing of the customer is armed with knowledge of the defect. It's another if knowledge comes after. Regardless, it's still the company's responsibility to provide a working product.

You're comparing apples and oranges to the nth degree. It is the responsibility of the factory to ensure quality. Do you truly believe the handful of people that comprise Fun Publications have the time or manpower to hand check thousands upon thousands of toys? If so, you expect far too much.

nevertheless, you'll agree its a huge bummer to have a defective figure for the inflated price.

still we nee to be realistic

there's too much for a handful of person to check everything mys question would be why are there so much defect figures if they used the same parts form the original figure, who happens to be sargent kup, who had a perfect run (to my knowledge)

You're forgetting that toys have to be assembled. By hand. Mistakes happen. It sucks sometimes but you fix it or deal with it and move on.

Flux Convoy wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:If you aren't checking your figures at the con to exchange any QC issues, that's on you. They'll gladly swap out any screw ups at the convention at no extra cost. It is up to you to be responsible and check your figures. They don't have any control over what the factory screws up in assembly. You can't blame them for that.

Tons of people checked their Hoists and Electrons at the con and approached the Club about it. They said that they could not fix the problems at the con due to the issues being on such a wide scale. Thus, they posted this how-to-fix-it guide on Twitter instead.

I was addressing the poster before me. I was there, I checked my figures. I'm fully aware of the issue and why the info was posted. I fixed Hoist and Electron days ago. Just have to make time to fix the shoulders on Hoist.

datguy86 wrote:Better yet, have a more flexible timetable for the figures which allows enough leeway for the factory to send a random sampling to TFCC so TFCC can QC and tell the factory to check X figure for problems.

@fluxconvoy - It is always the company's responsibility to ensure quality. Imagine driving off a lot with a brand new car only to find out later the vehicle has a fatal flaw in its brake system which will randomly appear in the future. Whose fault is that? The customer for not checking? Or the company for skipping QC?

It's one thing of the customer is armed with knowledge of the defect. It's another if knowledge comes after. Regardless, it's still the company's responsibility to provide a working product.

You're comparing apples and oranges to the nth degree. It is the responsibility of the factory to ensure quality. Do you truly believe the handful of people that comprise Fun Publications have the time or manpower to hand check thousands upon thousands of toys? If so, you expect far too much.

I never said they had to hand check thousands and thousands. I said random sampling - which may be a couple hundred; tops. And yes - a handful of people do have the time. It happens every day at responsible small businesses. If you do not have the time to check, then you did not prepare accordingly. Yes, the factory misassembled the toys. In a regular situation, that factory would owe FunPub X number of Hoist toys, including shipping. But FunPub runs a bad business and it's easier to pass blame on a factory with no US presence than it is to fix a problem.

Seriously, if FunPub submitted a bid to produce a toyline for a company I owned the answer would be no. From a business perspective, fixing the potential mistakes would be a PR disaster.

If you don't own the figures, why are you even complaining? What should it matter to you? I've attended 8 years straight and own nearly every figure they've produced. Each year I have to exchange a figure or more. I couldn't possibly care less about it. Check your stuff, get it sorted or fix it yourself. There are so many bigger things to waste that much energy on. Having said that, I'm done. Derailing for the sake of arguing isn't what I intended.

Flux Convoy wrote:If you don't own the figures, why are you even complaining? What should it matter to you? I've attended 8 years straight and own nearly every figure they've produced. Each year I have to exchange a figure or more. I couldn't possibly care less about it. Check your stuff, get it sorted or fix it yourself. There are so many bigger things to waste that much energy on. Having said that, I'm done. Derailing for the sake of arguing isn't what I intended.

I'm very thrifty. Spending a lot of money on a luxury item only to have it not pass muster due to quality issues a little communication would have fixed smacks of bad business. I'm part of the subscription service, and this is a worry for me, since I may get a jacked up Ultra Mammoth and subsequently told to eat it.

Has anyone thought of hitting up someplace, such as Encline, to see if they've produced a good step-by-step video on how to fix the shoulders? The tools are relatively cheap and a decent investment if you do other stuff, such as models or modding.

Flux Convoy wrote:If you don't own the figures, why are you even complaining? What should it matter to you? I've attended 8 years straight and own nearly every figure they've produced. Each year I have to exchange a figure or more. I couldn't possibly care less about it. Check your stuff, get it sorted or fix it yourself. There are so many bigger things to waste that much energy on. Having said that, I'm done. Derailing for the sake of arguing isn't what I intended.

hum... freedom of speech?
or maybe I'm a potential customer?