As a kid, I hated clear plastic windows because they expose robot junk. As an adult, I hate clear plastic windows for the same reason, and because I am more aware of the dangers it poses for my figures.
Depends on who you ask. Some people really hate the dark grey used. Imo, it's Siege Optimus. The frames are great and the details helps hide the insides
@@jarodnole4618 you're entitled to that opinion, but if there was anywhere on that figure you'd be fine with clear plastic, it's most likely be either there, or somewhere else non-integral to the build quality.
or hell, the 2007 Bayverse deluxe Jazz. it uses clear plastic on a hinge, but the clear plastic isn't actually holding any weight. I have the G1 repaint and final battle versions. Both have black plastic used for the interior of the Solstice mode as the main hinge. the clear is just there for spacing. Also his light piping just refuses to be dim.
have to agreed to that hasbro really need to stop with clear plastic does break a lot and same problem with studio series 86 jazz windshieds was made out of clear pastic , this is a problem with hasbro is cuting cost of everything now
Clear plastic should only be used if its not load bearing, being used in a ball joint system, or is durable enough to hold up over time. The stuff on transformers just doesnt work most of the time unless its beast wars.
Even then, I've heard stories of Beast Wars figures breaking at the clear plastic parts. While my Cryoteck is from RID 1.0, it IS the Transmetal 2 Megatron mold, with clear plastic in the same places. Those wings will not hold up to much in the long term, and in the case of my Croteck, his left wing has broken on two segments about two thirds of the way to the tips. He wasn't even rested up against anything, just leaning forward and they've snapped. Now they're just hanging by a thread and I'm not even sure if they're still attached as I haven't touched mine since the early 2010s when I discovered that. Easy fix, I know, but still...
@@dragon1130 I'm a lego collector mainly and the colours that I've had the most issue with is lime green pieces from 2007, Brown and dark red pieces from 2008-2011 and regular blue pieces from 2016 to the present. Translucent pieces i haven't had break nearly as much as those.
Clear plastic is fine so long as it isn't used for joints. Honestly the real issue isn't clear plastic, but cheap plastic. All of my new figures feel so flimsy.
From War on Die-Cast to War on Clear Plastic. You seriously treat this as serious business. I wish clear plastic are for non-joint areas, and metal for joints, not vice-versa.
I would only use it for decorative puporse, for example as a weapon, lightpiping but never as a structural part of a figure, unless it is really thicc.
I discovered an interesting thing that shows an interesting way Bandai handled it: Power Rangers RPM had a line of figures with a kinda 'battlizer' mode, the battlizer components being all clear plastic. The interesting thing, which might be why mine hasn't broken on its own yet, is the parts of the clear plastic portion that bare stress, that being ball joints, are connected to a clear...SOFT plastic on one side of the joint. The wings being the ball itself, while the legs have the socket. This seems to provide the friction needed for it to hold its position, but doesn't put as much stress on the clear plastic. I've had my RPM Red Ranger wearing his battlizer for over a decade and it hasn't broken because it seems doing it this way is a lot easier on the clear plastic. Granted, it has the drawback the second type of plastic has a different look and color than the main translucent plastic (though as one of them is the wings, it gives them a more fiery look and the legs are normally behind the Ranger)...but if you're willing to paint as much of a toy as they do to get that clear plastic in there, this wouldn't be an issue. Now yes, this isn't a perfect fix, but I think you could manage it on a couple of Transformers where the clear plastic connects to a single piece you could mold in this softer plastic. Regardless, it at least shows that Bandai put more thought into it than Hasbro did.
Honestly that is my biggest concern with the new legacy series . Blaster comes with a 70% translucent eject figure and the others are getting translucent weapons.
Short tragic story: -all the Prime fans were waiting for a good KnockOut toy -announced Prime KnockOut for Legacy -we find out, through comic books, it's going to be G1-ified -it'going to be a recolor of the oh-so prone-to breaking-in-the-translucent-parts SS86 Jazz -that means that Prime fan would be so disperate to buy another G1 toy prone to breaking -realizing that KnockOut has black windows in the show but Hasbro is going to make it translucent "bEcaUse iT'S MoRe ReaLiStIC!"
@@thesardonicrenegade look for the panels from IDW comics, they tend to use the current model of the character as a base for how they appear in their stories, in the present IDW continuity Knockout is clearly a SS86 Jazz repait... And I agree, it doesn't make any sense but you know Hasbro's motto: "G1 or F***K OFF!"
@@brotquel1592 yeah I'm not seeing it. I don't know what exactly you're looking at but it's probably some other character, because all recent forms of Knockout in IDW are nearly spot on to his look in Prime
You know what's strange? I have had several Transformers with clear plastic break on me. But I never had any of the Hasbro lightsabers break on me and I would bash the hell out of them, so it's clear Hasbro can make sturdy clear plastic just not at a smaller scale?
Lightsaber plastics, to my memory, also tend to be more supple, less rigid. Not exactly the material you want for transforming figures that need to hold their shape.
It's because it's Polycarbonate instead of clear ABS. Polycarbonate is on of those plastics that never get brittle. The only downside to Polycarbonate is that is susceptible to scratches.
Same here I have had of my minimal transformers collection, to breakages of some joint animated jolt and the windscreen of alternators optimus but of all the hundreds of bionicle (majority ccbs) I had only one crack
I would agree if my G2 Bionicle figures aren't cracking for no reason. My Gali has cracked pins, Protector of fire has broken his ball hinge on his head cracked and cannot stay on no matter the type of glue that I use and the less said about the Skull spider legs the better. Yet the clear plastic pieces are somehow Okay? So yeah Lego silver and black pieces are bad quality.
@@Iceykitsune Engineering issues here and there, but Clear Color kits have reports of being more brittle. However, they only crack if you try anything stupid with them. Otherwise, their clear plastics are durable as well.
I remember fruitlessly slathering my Swindle’s clear plastic arm with nail polish to try to tighten that joint…and then his arm would never attach again.
Not Transformers but my DST Enterprise-E has clear plastic used for its nacelles. Ive gone through 4 of them because the plastic has a habit of cracking near screw holes or other points.
I'd say animated swindle is the poster child; between weird proportion and the pure amount of clear plastic... also, the selfdestruction mirage from the 3 vote pack
I've rarely seen any clear plastic from Lego break. Even the ball joints were pretty good for the most part. It was ironically the lime ball joints that were prone to breaking more. Granted from 2008-2010 the joints got redesigned and they were all prone to breaking. And the clear ones for the heads had it worse. But in late 2011 they were redesigned again and much stronger this time. No ball joints I've owned have broken not even the clear ones. Either it's cause Lego's ball joints are much thicker. Or they are using a process that Hasbro hasn't considered.
I always like to think that Lego has a good amount of QC. For one, Legos usually don't break when you step on them. As painful as that is, it shows that Lego planned for it so that it doesn't get broken very easily and is built to last. Also, they have specific instructions on what NOT to do when designing a build.
I was about to say, my Matoro Inika from 2006 used clear plastic for just about every single one of its high stress joints and it's held up fine. This isn't a problem with clear plastic, it's a problem with Hasbro.
The lime-green plastic parts from that era of bionicle is infamous. As you said, it was very prone to break, so much so that lego had to come out to explain what happened because many people complained about the broken parts. Long story short: They cooled the lime-green plastic wrong when they moldet it which caused it its structural integrity to become the same as clear plastic, hence why it cannot handle stress like regular plastic.
The Cybertron clear plastic has passed the test of time. Quickmix ankles and Crumplezone legs have not broken yet. I think the problem is the clear plastic is way too thin and the joints too tight for it to endure transformation and hold its weight in the long term without breaking. Thank you for this vídeo. Great content by the way.
one thing I find baffling about MP Skids and honestly most Masterpiece figures in general is the use of structural clear plastic. You have virtually unlimited parts budget, there is virtually no reason not to have the windows as a separate, glued/screwed in piece like in a Hot Wheels car.
It has everything to do with the tooling budget. Making the tooling for a figure can cost 50k to 100k. Making the tooling for the windows separately would add 10s of thousands more. So Hasbro/Takara goes with the cheaper option and makes it all a single piece. The better option would be just to paint on the windows and not use clear plastic at all. But that doesn't sell as well because it looks cheaper and more childish.
@@mpsorrentino Because Hot Wheels cars are made out of about nine parts or less on average, have barely any articulation outside of the wheels and have a fraction of the engineering costs. Plus most HW car molds get produced in exponentially higher runs than Transformers molds and repainted dozens of times over the course of several years before the mold is retired. tl;dr You're comparing apples and oranges.
Out of roughly 300 transformers toys I'd say 80% of them have clear plastic and I transform them daily and a lot. I've had yet to break any of it because of clear plastic. Maybe I'm just lucky but don't have an issue from my experience. I've had breaks that weren't clear plastic though. I do agree that it shouldn't be used as hinges or ball joints though just in case.
I think they should do what ROTF Lockdown did. He has clear plastic windows but they are all separate pieces attached to him. The roof has the windshield connected by two screws underneath so it stays in places and the doors have the translucent connected by some small tabs that sit on the insides of the doors. So the guy really has no parts on him that is made out of translucent plastic, they are their own pieces attached to opaque plastic. The same thing can be said about Energon Scorponok's cockpit. Both are two separate pieces and the translucent plastic piece that are meant to be the windows are screwed on to the cockpit itself. That way you can avoid having joints being made out of it. I would like to point out my Transmetals Waspinator is made out of translucent plastic but there are just no cracks on him whatsoever. Maybe he's too sturdy to break?
It's too expensive to make toys like that anymore (It's sad but true, trust me I know it hurts) Hasbro is just as guilty as the gaming industry in regards to game preservation only in this case it's toy preservation. Rather than focus on long term satisfaction they want an excuse to keep people buying the same garbage over and over so people keep buying there products. I almost wonder if this was done on purpose to keep people buying new figures because the old ones break, but that pretty much on levels of conspiracy at this point so who knows anymore.
Load bearing or not. Clear,gold,ect plastics do look fantastic. However, they did not engineer it properly. Did they not consider possibly making it to were it has a outer shelling around it to allow it. Now clear plastics only work as stated in previous comments. However, some parts can hold if they include a solid metal tubing for the metal, hard plastic, or hinges to set in instead of using the plastic as the hinge. Doesn't fix but still still prolongs it by alot!
I had that Animated Swindle. I transformed him ONCE. Got the cold sweat. Then sold him. Then some months later, I bought Animated Safeguard. Am I a masochist?
My animated safeguard has been manhandled and thrown around. I had the thing since I was a kid. Now yes he's currently missing an arm a leg, and 3 of the skirt pieces, but all of the clear plastic is perfectly fine. Maybe I'm just lucky
The worsts placement for clear plastic are: elbow joints (my TFP Voyager Starscream elbow's cracked and broke into 2 pieces), 5mm pegs (Crack and break by plugging a weapon or removing weapons).
Figures like Dreadwing and Breakdown were fine since the clear plastic parts were not on any moving joints. After what happened to my starscream, never bought another TFP voyager again. (stuck with my FE Prime and Bulkhead and APC Megatron).
That one guy broke their Evasion Mode Prime in the same spot my friend did. You can still hold the piece in place with the surrounding tabs but yeah it sucks
I think I'm the only person who's got no issues with clear plastic on his figures. Shoutouts to the Studio Series 86 Jazz I have that fell off my 2 or so metre high shelf four times and is still keepin' on chooglin'.
When you were talking about Prime Abonimus I immediately went to go check on my set. Thankfully they are all still in one piece but they haven't been combined or transformed in years. Now I don't even want to touch them. I remembered when they announced Ghost Starscream and most of the toy is clear plastic.
I noticed some spiderweb cracks on the minicon armada toys, specially the star saber guys as you mentioned. which is odd to me as Lego does transparent parts and they're generally really strong compared ot the ABS plastic of the normal bricks.
The plastic addict Cusade TJ VULT! Jokes aside I agree with TJ on this don’t use clear plastic on stress regions use it sparingly and make sure it’s decoration ONLY
Finally, someone says it. Prime FE Terrorcon Cliffjumper is a prime example of a fantastic figure suffering from my main TF toy collecting pet peeves, the fact that someone thought it would be a good idea to make his NECK SOCKET, a part which will receive lots of movement out of infamously brittle clear plastic baffles me. Titans Return Hot Rod’s windshield will stress over time, and DOTM Leader Bee, one of my all time favorites, had his clear windshield ports break over time, I tried to reinforce the other one but had to break off the excess clear plastic and it broke too. SO many fantastic toys suffer from this, and get this, there’s a version of ROTF Leader Prime made entirely out of clear plastic, who thought of that?! Hasbro should fix the formula of their clear plastic or just quit using it entirely. I’m curious if other people have horrible experiences with clear plastic ruining great toys, please feel free to tell your stories.
Clear parts of my Energon Scorpinok and Energon Megatron snapped off. Scorpinok's chest cannons specifically and one of Megatron's shoulder cannons. and I was never rough with them.
Energon Megs (the smaller Takara Galvatron mould) is famous for that. That is why the Hasbro Ultra specifically retooled that shoulder-mount connection part out of opague plastic. Even my original SuperLink one suffered the same fate as yours, sadly...
I got one that happened recently. Got the full RID Build Team set. Was transforming Landfill, and being a little quick and not thinking, I pulled up on the truck-bed section that goes under where his head rests before moving the truck cab to the side. I DIDN'T pull on it hard, mind you, just a little tug, and boom! Entire cab and head section breaks off, because guess what the cab section was made of? Yep, clear plastic. Had to get a new one
Cyberverse Ultimate Grimlock has transparent blue shoulder and hip joints. But it's not the same kind of plastic seen in windshields and such, it has flex and everyting. I will report back in a couple of years about how it ages, and if it does well we can request for them to use it more often.
My Studio Series Barricade broke as well. Got an extra one sealed though. Scary to see a lot of the recent figures having this problem. I guess just enjoy them while you can.
One thing that truly baffles me, he’s not broken but the ENTIRE torso of SS32/SS44/SS05 Optimus Prime is translucent plastic, and so is his (get this) front grill.
Also, if you REALLY want to drive home this message to Hasbro, here's what you do: STOP BUYING TOYS WITH CLEAR PLASTIC. LET THEM WARM THE SHELVES. Hasbro is a corporation, therefore, the only language they speak, is $$$$. SPEAK WITH YOUR WALLET. There is no point in complaining if you're still gonna buy the toys. It's like how Nintendo rarely listens to complaints because for all the complaints fans make, their fans STILL buy their games and consoles. SPEAK WITH YOUR WALLET.
There's an easy way to tell Hasbro not to make any more toys with clear plastic used inappropriately. Stop buying them! Vote with your wallets. If you see clear plastic on a toy in part of its engineering, you leave it on the shelf. I've seen a lot of cool toys outside of Transformers that I'd buy in a heartbeat if they didn't have clear plastic. Yes, it looks cool, but it's not worth the stress of coming home to find it broken on your shelf.
I've had two instances of clear plastic syndrome: Siege Mirage: I knew those clips on his legs would eventually snap off when transforming him and indeed they did. And I didn't even notice. Hence why I ditched him. Siege Springer: Pretty minor, but one of the clips on the middle section that secures the arm hinges partially broke off while I was trying to get him into copter mode. Sucks, but still functions. I have also seen figures such as ER Hoist suffer the same issue as well. Mine is good to go, but oof.
My original animated battle begins megatron snapped at the biceps. They were just fully clear plastic. Luckily I have a replacement that isn't being touched again, but it's a shame.
The only time I ever had an issue with clear plastic, I got an RID Side Burn & the next day, I accidentally sat on it (being paralyzed ain't easy at times) & broke part of the hood. If I was aware of this video sooner, & knew where it was stored, I could show how it looks, hopefully, glued together to fix it. I'm not rough on my toys so even with clear plastic, I never knew of the issue with it until the first time you ever mentioned it, TJ
Recently got SS ROTF Sideswipe and Jolt and they're both terrifying to transform. Really shouldn't be the case. However, a good example of utilizing clear plastic in a safe way are the windows of both Siege and Earthrise Optimus Prime. The clear plastic pieces are simply separate and inserted to the spot where they need to go. They don't take any pressure during transformation or general handling and do their job well enough. Would love to see more of that.
I’m gonna add on to this list: I have the Legacy Wreckers Springer and his back section that forms the cockpit is made of clear blue plastic. This section holds an important hinge with a pin and it broke there without me using any excessive force. I was able to put it back together with plastic cement but I know that’ll only do any good for a while.
I agree with you. We pay too much for these toys to have them self-destruct like this. Whether it's white plastic turning yellow, or GPS or yes, even clear plastic... why can't they simply understand that there are collectors that buy these toys and hold onto them for years ( sometimes never opening them ), and factor that into the design and manufacture of these expensive items, and know that it's not always some kid that owns these for a short time only to lose or get rid of it shortly after the initial purchase is made. - Gets hard to want to keep supporting them ( they keep cranking out every conceivable figure don't they? and we keep blowing our paychecks on them ) if they keep giving us stuff that self-destructs like this. Seriously, make it better, stop using shoddy materials, give us our money worth!
Honestly, I would prefer if ALL clear plastic was eradicated entirely. Legacy bulkhead’s torso is entirely made of clear plastic and on my copy, the port for the transformation has stress marks and won’t stay in tightly. The sword that came with legacy skyquake came cracked OUT OF THE BOX. I don’t need light-piping, clear windows/cockpits, and ESPECIALLY not clear joints or accessories. Clear plastic sucks. All of it must go.
Thank you for taking up the cause. I have found BONDIC 'plastic weld' to be a good fix or preventative measure if used to reinforce load bearing pieces that are clear.
Those pictures are breaking my heart. This just sucks to see. And so many Animated Swindle. Last time I had mine out it was fine but it has been a while and I love that figure. He is doomed clearly.
I have a SS 86 Jazz and only just now his backpack/roof is cracked. My jackpot figure broke completely, but not at the clear part. My Jackpot got 2007 Jazzed.
Gonna have to agree with you about this. Transparent plastic is fine, but only if its for something that does not undergo torque or any type of flexing. i think its fine for it to used in windows, eyes or small inlayed details on figures. it should never ever be used in hinges or any sort of joint or peg. I wish hasbro would recognize this.
It's happened to me a lot, but there are 2 cases in particular that really frustrate me. One, Studio Series Barricade. That clear socket joint that holds the hood on split in half the first time I tried to transform it. Two, my First Edition Prime Cliffjumper. You may remember how borderline impossible it was to find in the US, luckily I found someone in Canada who was willing to trade one for a Human Alliance Mudflap. It was fine at first, but after a couple months his head broke off. After all that trouble I went through to get one, it fell victim to clear plastic syndrome.
My power of the prime dinobots keep falling apart for the clear plastic crumble and heck just have it in volcanius mod make things break by just standing.
For me I find it odd that I only have problems with Translucent Plastic when it's Hasbro. I have a Jazwares Clear Espio collected and he has some nice articulation works just fine and hasn't disintegrated. I think the issue is mainly with Hasbro and the way others use it not with Translucent Plastic as a whole and even then I just think Hasbro's Translucent Plastic may as well be GPS under a different name.
@@zippolighter4903 Sweet lord Mata Nui, don't get me started on Mahri Hahli and lime green joints at the time. Those were like the one thing worse than translucent or GPS pieces.
Well thanks for using TFA Swindle as a thumbnail as that got me worried about my figure, carefully checking the joints, but one upper elbow swivel was stuck fast and now one arm can't be twisted back without fear of breaking... Not that happy now.
Oh hey, I sent you that Energon Demolishor. Dang, sad to hear even that replacement broke on you. It stinks how much translucent plastic destroyed so many great toys
So I just transformed my First Edition Cliffjumper after many years, there might be a stress mark on the clear plastic used in the neck socket and the head is loose now. But I can't say for certain if this was the clear plastic's fault a the hinge used to bring the head up in robot mode was tight so lifting it up by head was probably not a good idea. Though I did just break the normal plastic that holds the bull horns and the grill to the rest of the hood. Didn't even apply much force.
Had the same issue! Plasticizer effect from the rubber of the horn seeping into the solid plastic. The metal pin holding them together worsens this as metal expands & contracts with temperature change. Even the Classic Seeker nose cones can break in this exact fashion (like any of the Deluxe Wreck-Gar bike handles). Rubber parts (like Mindwipe's wings/bot legs) are actually 'timebombs' sadly...
That is the reason why I bought a metal watercooker without translucent windows. Back in the days I remember my brother broke one side of the clearplastic rear window from g1 smokescreen. It was partially painted to cover the whole backpanel of the car. It is quite fragile from designwise.
One other thing Hasbro should stop doing, STOP PUTTING PINS THROUGH THIN PLASTIC HINGES, that metal will inevitably stress through the hinge and break, again, FE Cliffjumper and his bumper.
I noticed a lot of comments in the video mention RID Prowl, but the comment I saw about Beast Wars Inferno just flat out broke my heart. So far mines is still standing strong up on the shelf...with his weapons stored inside of the ant head/ robot chest of course.
As the photo of that Studio Series Barricade showed up, that prompted me to look at my copy and sure enough he's got a massive crack at the ball joint for the hood. I've also got cracks in the hinges of my Studio Series Concept Camaro Bee, '86 Jazz, Beeverse Beetle Bee, and some small cracks on my bootleg Unique Toys Peru Kill. I'm very thankful my other figures don't have issues quite this bad
