I haven't experienced any recent yellow plastic, but this reminds me of the story of Palisades Micronauts toyline, though the problem with those toys was the plastic was very brittle.
The number of factors causing yellowing depend on the type of mix of the plastic, there is no partigular cause. Plastic will yellow and its only a matter of when, depending on: Artifitial-natural light, humidity, package material, temperature, skin oils, sweat, even dirt or dust... Worry if you keep your toys in storage rooms, or exposed to direct natural / artificitial light (putting lights on your shelves is suicide btw), and wash your hands before playing with your toys. But they should not yellow as quick as these examples, in those cases point bad plastic mix and quality
The recent yellowing has very little to do with any of the factors you mentioned, things are yellowing brand new in box, stored in cool dark places. This is a chemical reaction to whatever plastic they are using
I have my collectables room closed off to sunlight. But I have LED lighting that I've used daily for many years now. No yellowing so far. I guess time will tell though.
This was a great video, very well researched! From one business student to another, I loved hearing your take on the supply chain management and why things take time. People forget that MNCs are rather unwieldy and decisions take time to action.
My Netflix Soundwave has turned green... it lives in a cupboard away from direct sunlight and heat. I am based in the UK. It's unbelievable that Hasbro can get away with this...
Hasbro really need to fix the problem with yellowing, I just had my earthrise runamuck few days ago and the back part of the head already started yellowing. And so far I kinda lucky with only my figures that're white or have white plastic yellowing. But they really need to fix this, we are living in the golden age of Transformers toys with great engineering,more accurate design to the source material, but the plastic is the problem
This is a very fair take. As someone with two years of experience dealing with manufacturing, I know there's a lot that goes on and things take forever to get done. I'm very worried about my Victory Saber.
Hi I would like to add my two cents to the discussion, though please keep in mind I am not an expert on these topics. I happen to live in Ireland. Most days of the year its pretty cold here but rarely at freezing point. I haven't noticed this yellowing problem occur to the Transformer toys I find in my local stores. As I am aware, Studio Series Bumblebee Movie Ratchet is an infamous recent victim of this yellowing, with most people finding he yellows while still in his box. However, all versions of him I could find didn't have this issue. Now that could just be my perspective and its possible others in my region could be running into this problem. From what I noticed though the main reports of this issue come from locations like Australia, America and Canada. These regions will generally have much warmer weather than my country the majority of the year. However you mentioned Australia is in its cold weather phase while in my country the weather is getting hotter, yet the yellowing hasn't reared its head much (at least from my perspective). This makes me wonder if maybe it is not just heat playing a role in this but also humidity. As I understand it, in warmer environments the air is likely to have higher humidity levels due to there being more water molecules due to evaporation caused by the heat. So maybe it's possible that since the countries I listed generally experience more warmer weather compared to mine the majority of the year, they also generally have more water molecules present in their air from day to day which could be playing a role in the accelerated yellowing of the plastic. Again I am not an expert on this stuff, so I would appreciate any factual insight anyone has on this matter. Especially if it corrects any errors I have made due to my lack of knowledge.
I'm sympathetic to the difficulties of manufacture and all that, but also for a company as enormous as Hasbro, I don't care about their problems at all. I don't think that it means we all should just accept terrible products. If Hasbro hasn't got any kind of quality assurance written into its contracts then that's not my mistake, they should eat the cost. Maybe not give the responsible executive a bonus this year until it's resolved. I bet it would be a serious priority then. The etiquette is simple, going forward: They don't sell more products they know are faulty. And for stuff already out there a full refund or free replacement is the bare minimum. And if they want to sell discount products with a buyer beware warning, then fair play to them.
Exactly, as a paying costumer it is not my problem how hard it is or how long it takes for a big company like Hasbro to make the necessary changes. I am paying for a product, I have every right to expect a quality product, I have toys that are 20 years old that are still white, meanwhile my Tigatron turned yellow just two months after taking him out of his box. One problem from time to time is expected from mass produced products, but constant problems in figures wave after wave one after the other? Netflix exclusive figures, Buzzworthy figures, generation selects figures, they all have figures with massive problems. That is not acceptable and should not be normalized. I can tell you right now the CEOs of the company will still get their fat bonuses and pay raises by the end of the year regardless of how many people get screwed over by their products and how many complains they get. And it's not like this is a new problem either. This is happening for years now. They can claim they know what the problem is all they want and that they are fixing it but meanhile they are selling defective products. There are apparantly some reports of Shattered Glass Starscreams already breaking on the yellowed pieces. These are exclusive more expensive figures btw. Netflix's exclusive Soundwave was a mess from what I've heard, I really dodged a bullet on that one simply because I couldn't find one at a decent price at the time. I agree that the moment they learned what the problem was they should have recalled all figures that have said problem and somehow someway try to issue replacements, would it be costly to them? Hell yes. But it would give costumers a lot of trust in them and renewed loyaty for the brand. As it stands now we have no trust left in Hasbro and I know people who are already giving up or have already given up on them, myself included. I just hope my Beast wars inferno doesn't have any issue, it's bad enough that I got screwed with Tigatron and Dinobot, after that I'll be done for a long while until we see the quality improving again.
Thank you for opening the topic to a wider audience so that others understand more in depth the intricacies involved with in production and maintaining the issues in question.
Thanks fir making this video. Basically all of my siege, Netflix, and kingdom figures with Grey plastic are greenish gold now. Even the gen selects g2 Megatron, which really upset me
Imo in some cases I think the yellowing can add a cool look. Like on the shattered glass starscream it gives a 2 tone white look. Some pure white and a creamier white. Kinda similar to how some Gundam kits get painted
The joke that motormaster is only out in Australia is absolutely hysterical. Needed a good laugh like that today. IDK if its actually true in practice, it'd certainly be surprising if it was because hasbro seemingly hates Australia and hates releasing their products here, but its funny either way.
They’ve fixed a lot of the problems with the later releases so I wouldn’t say there’s a huge problem atm, from late 2019 to about March of this year it was a bit of a problem though. And as far as Motormaster is concerned, well those are in Australia and that’s one of the hottest and sunniest habitable places on earth so that’d probably be why.
It's winter here in Australia and where I live it gets pretty cold. In the very short time that I had Motormaster the temperature wouldn't have gone above 15 degrees celcius (about 60 degrees fahrenheit I think) and got as low as -2, and guess what? The figure was showing signs of yellowing in the telltale spots after less than a week. I went and got a refund and will definitely think twice before buying any more Hasbro Transformers. I have over 100 figures on display and of those only Kingdom Cyclonus, Netflix Megatron, Studio Series BB Ratchet are badly yellowing.
I mean for your starscream experiment I wouldn’t say heat for sure cuz you did leave it there for 2 weeks vs 2 days. So while you could be right I’d say the experiment should go for an equal amount of time in each scenario to know for sure
From what I understand, some materials are more reactive with UV light (exposure over long periods of time in the sun, on a windowsill for example), there are ways to reduce/reverse the amount of yellowing with a little effort. Some art conservators use special topcoats and varnishes that aren't as reactive to UV light so as to not distort the colour of the painting underneath, because they get displayed for long periods of time in big well lit rooms, or places where they might have prolonged exposure to sunlight. I believe there are a few videos on the retrobrite method of restoring yellowed plastics.
Another issue I'd like to see covered is the gold plastic syndrome most transformers suffer with, as for some reason, the particular "gold" plastic they used on older toys becomes brittle over time, to the point where it can snap or literally crumble away, because of the manufacturing process where the plastic used isn't properly finished.
I’ve been getting into gunpla recently and there’s a lot of white plastic in those builds especially in the armor so I thought I’d cross reference a bit. From what little I can find it definitely doesn’t effect those kits as bad probably because a different company makes them meaning they’re also hiring a different manufacturer. But it very much still happens. Interestingly enough from what I’ve gathered the community has figured out a preventative measure that will help it resist that change. In gunpla we often put a clear coat of paint over the kit to affect the finish, this clear coat usually protects coats of paint from scratching and chipping but clear coats even when not used on painted plastic can prevent the yellowing a bit if you’re ok with doing modifications. I know that in the plamo sphere this is much more acceptable and is even expected in some cases. I know a lot of people have an aversion to it but if you don’t I say why not? Just make sure you know what kind of plastic you’re painting on, PS is generally safe but ABS plastic will crack if painted even if it’s just the clear coat.
Well, now I just noticed there are spots on my Jetfire that have yellowed after watching this video. Mainly on the upper body with the shoulders, top of the torso, and the elbow joints. Must be a sunlight and heat issue for me since I have LED lights in my room. Though I don’t open my blinds that often. And I have him stand on top of my shelf.
I'm glad someone else as well talked about this problem because my figures so far like Kingdom Cyclonus, Cyberverse Arcee and pointed out by Optibotimus, Netflix Soundwave haven't had the yellowing problem at least not yet because my room alters temperature a lot and I mean A LOT it goes from cold to hot immediately depending on the weather, so I'm praying that Star Saber isn't made of that kind of plastic.
My Kingdom Grimlocks joint parts are yellowing and on the one hand it sucks but on the other hand the eventual beige they'll end up isn't so bad when his other colors are white and brown Some of my others are less okay, like Earthrise Soundwave sure has some bits turning vaguely greenish
Another factor is what is mixed in with the plastic. One thing being a flame retardant called Bromine. It has been said to cause the chemical breakdown that turns our cherished toys a nasty yellow.
Here are problem I recently found. 1. Rubber band damaging painted color, It ruin my misb premium optimus prime. So If you want keep misb just check they didn't used rubber band in packaging. 2. Rubber melting hard plastic, It happen almost every toy that use rubber. Rotf jetfire, CW megatron etc. This is like GPS in modern day. 3. Soft plastic bent permanent.
3:19 i got one of the first motormasters released over here in australia and it still hasn’t yellowed (its been exposed to MASSIVE amounts of sunlight)
It makes sense that it would be only certain parts. Parts are manufactured in batches. If there was an issue with the plastic used in a batch, the whole batch would have issues. I'd keep in mind that all plastic needs a flame retardant added to it. Yellowing is caused by that chemical breaking down and reacting within the plastic. That plastic probably has too much of that chemical added to it. Hasbro's cost saving measures probably don't help.
“Car companies have had many recalls” I feel like Ford, ford did something really bad in the 70s and created the Ford Pinto of which blew up if you rear ended it, and despite many people suing them they REFUSED to recall ._.
Heat, sunlight exposure, and *air moisture* are all factors w/ yellowing. get silica gel packets and put them on your shelves, not foolproof but it definitely helps.
I don't have yellowing plastic in my transformers figures but it happened with my megazords from power rangers with white plastic. Of course, my megazords were made by Bandai in the 2000's so yeah, they take too much time to get the yellow coloration in his white plastic (more than 5 years so it was great see this durability). I get the Japan's version of this megazords and the only thing I can do is put them in their boxes out of the sunlight. Of course, the light colors have the big problem again the fluorescent lights and UV from sunlight so be careful with your figures
Great video! I personally haven't had the yellowing issue but I've heard of the problems, and this review basically explains it the best. Also, one of my grindors arms is loose, it's a pinned joint, anyone know a quick and easy fix to, well, fix it?
Even pinned joints can usually be tightened a little if you paint some floor polish on them (just be careful where you put it). Should be doable without disassembling it. Baltmatrix often mentions Pledge.
one of the techniques I use is to tap out the pin, then cover the holes in a thin layer of superglue. wait for those to dry (preferably overnight) then tap the pin back in. a little more complex but it works well
The legs of my netflix Megatron is awful green now... That was my favorite figure, it's located right in the center off collection... I'm so upset about this
@4:50 what toy is that? looks pretty badass. uv light is a huge culprit in this. i had an mmpr tigerzord sitting at the top of a box for years and it got direct sunlight - it only yellowed where the sun hit it. luckily, it's fairly cheap and easy to remove yellowing: disassemble the toy, put it in a container, fill with hydrogen peroxide (the higher % the better - i use 30%, which is industrial), wrap a strand of uv lights around it, leave for 4-6 hours, check the yellowing, and, if it's still present, give it some more time. i put my container in a cabinet so it gets the most uv light possible. i just de-yellowed a g1 galvatron and, with the addition of new stickers, it looks brand new. also did the same with that tigerzord and the keys from an old keyboard (music keyboard, not cpu).
I’ve not had too many issues. However Earthrise Megatron’s elbows, thighs and neck area are COMPLETELY yellow. He’s never been in direct sunlight since I bought him new. I’m in the U.K. and my room ends up being the hottest in the house since there’s no ventilation and my PC is a part time star. So definitely a heat thing with him, he’s even covered from my light due to how my shelves are
Yellowing plastic is not a new thing and more often than not you will experience it regardless of the product’s age or manufacturer. In fact i have my fair share of yellowing issues, my MG Rx-78-2 Gundam 2.0, MG GM 2.0 and PG Gundam Mark II have really bad yellowing where the nubs used to be, now since its a small area its simple to fix it only really needs some sanding and polishing and the yellowed are is gone but it is still something and i’ve noticed that when it comes to Gundam models the only instances of yellowing is in pre 2012 kits as well as ABS plastic parts
Thank you for the info I’ve had my figures for a very long time ever since 2014-2015 and My room has LEDs, curtains closed, and is very cold and my figures have not yellows at all I looked at my soundwave and mine looks similar to one that’s just made from differently colored plastic but I didn’t know about the sweat thing
This is personally why I'm alright with closed boxes. Sure some people are weary of stolen figures, but if my knowledge on yellowing is correct, it would help if the box was closed rather than having a plastic window or an open window
I don't think it will help, this is a problem with the plastic. I've had some figures for decades that have never yellowed, yet half the ones I've gotten over the past 2 or 3 years have severe yellowing.
the problem is not just light based but also temperature/however they are handled once opened. I think it may help if the stores lighting is a concern but otherwise no. Edit: oh and if you are the type that keep it MISB and whatever conditions do cause it to yellow in box then you basically have a schrödinger's cat situation on your hands lol
I recommend something like keeping your figures on shelves in a room with no heaters, windows, or fluorescent lights. I do this and I have very few cases of yellowing in my collection.
My Earthrise Wheeljack was yellow right as I took it out of the box. It looked like a smoker had it for a decade. I hope my Legacy Wheeljack doesn't arrive like that or I'll have to throw that one out too. :/
hasbruh has had this issue for years. Im a star wars collector and figures have yellowed since the very begining. The only solutions I've found are either sanding the yellow off since its only surface deep or bathing the figure in hydrogen peroxide.
I'm glad that SG Soundwave was made after the change because hot damn if Hasbro fucked up the Netflix cassette mold twice, let's just say things would get nightmarishly ugly.
Holy shit, someone actually _looking at this with a level headed perspective?_ Good on ya, mate. Still upset that this is such a widespread issue though. My Nemesis Prime came *out of the box* with a huge yellow splotch on his backpack strut.
I don't really see this much because I don't really get figures that are white and the kingdom wheeljack that I have I painted over it with a better white unless there isn't an issue with him but yeah. But I have heard and seen this through people I watched, but this hasn't personally happened to me. So it kinda sucks for people who've experienced this.
I keep mine in a 2 door previously refinished cabinet all together so they stay package fresh,every time I open a door a blast of new plastic hits my nose from 25 war for Cybertron figures.Its about a 4ft square 2 level and it's portable/just setting on chester drawers,holds all the deluxe,voyager and leader class boxes of as well.
I have a few stormtroopers from recent years that has some yellowing on there torsos that i bought used after cleaning the yellow i have had no further yellowing cause i keep them in a dark cool temperature in a closet. Only display them for a short time then back in the closet. And all i bought that are white when bought stay the same so darkness and cool temperature has the best protection i have experienced.
Two things. One, I don't think skin oil is a significant factor here given the way it's happening with specific parts. Maybe the brown splotches on Soundwave and Megatron could be related to that. Secondly, I am more than patient and sympathetic with Hasbro, both in terms of this likely not being their fault and in terms of how long it takes to change something in the manufacturing chain. I trust them to eventually get it fixed and that future figures will be ok. My problem is, what are they going to do to make this right for people who have "ruined" figures (and yes I know that is a very subjective description of what's happening.) Let's say I had Kingdom Cyclonus, Netflix Megatron, Netflix Nemesis Prime, Siege Jetfire, Shattered Glass Starscream, and Studio Series Jazz all starting to yellow. That alone is upwards of $250 retail worth of product that is failing to meet reasonable consumer expectations. If I had every single figure which has been reported to be prone to this, who knows? It could be double the amount of product affected, $500. As a consumer, am I just supposed to eat the cost on this? The problem is, there's not really any viable solution on Hasbro's end which wouldn't be enormously costly for them. Even if they decided to replace any affected figure from say the past 3 years, they would have to do new product runs of these figures to ensure that they wouldn't just be giving us a replacement which would still be prone to the same issue. They could offer a trade of equal monetary value, but then you'd be talking about getting a random figure in exchange for one that you wanted, and it would only be the MSRP value rather than current after-market value. Or, Hasbro could offer to send coupons towards future purchases (probably the most practical option), but then they'd need some way to validate who is affected and determine the $ amount of product impacted for each person. And yet, even if there is no really good option on their end, it doesn't excuse them from responsibility towards consumers for selling faulty products. If there was a class action lawsuit over this, they would likely either lose the case, or they would settle to avoid the sizable legal fees incurred were they to take the case to trial. I'm glad I am not in charge at Hasbro and that I'm not responsible for the issue or for figuring out how to respond. Honestly, their best option is to just ignore it and try not to comment any further, and just hope that people forget about it and continue buying their products. Even if that's morally or ethically questionable. I hope they elect to take care of their customers rather than protect the stockholders, but I'm not Optimus-tic about seeing any further response from them.
I feel it's definitely a temperature thing. My Kingdom Cyclonus sits in the back of my bookcase, which is dark, yet his silver parts have started yellowing. My wife and I always fight over the temperature of the house. She always sets it to 65° while I prefer 70°. So I feel the constant back and forth is what caused it. That or just hella cheap plastic.
My Motormaster (purchased last week) has only one part discolored. One of the spring loaded panels on the leg piece to create Menasor is discolored. Not totally brown or anything, but visibly darker on one panel. Everything else is fine. From what I have seen that is a lot worse I am just going to live with it. But, yeah, it needs to be addressed.
my tigatron's hands, leg joints and the joints on his foot did yellowed but bot much. i still dont even understand that and how they always...ALWAYS use clear plastic that can suffer breakage and paint ship
Extremely sad when I found out the sg starscream I had on the shelf, got very yellowed at certain areas. On a contrast, my Combiner Battle Core Optimus didn't get yellow that much at all. WEIRD
I have the Netflix 2 pack (Skelivore) version of Siege Megatron that is known for yellowing. I have it for a year now, and it doesn't seem to have that change. Strange. Time will tell.
One of my transformers has recently been victim to yellowing, Earthrise Megatron's joints, worse still is that he was at the very back of my transformers selve and my Windows don't even shine on that selve. I had to do some complex work replacing the joints with some I had from a spare siege Megatron to get him looking right again
it's just down to recent poor quality plastics and possible loose quality control i'm glad that hasbro is addressing one issue, but everyone other little thing makes this hobby stressful.
Wait does thundercracker yellow? I haven’t noticed it on mine, but I keep mine in two areas when I choose to display it. My room is a little colder than most even though I live in an area where it’s usually hotter.
If ever I wite toi is becoming yellow then why is mi combiner wars breakaway still wite? O jea because in Italy the temperature is less high and high temperatures and outer factors cause the yellowing not only the plastic quality
i honestly dont really care about yellowing, but i understand is a big problem, maybe if i had more pure white figures id be freaking out about this but hopefully theres a fix that isnt trimming plastic
Oh no modern Lego is yellowing too!? I haven't bought a set since 2020 so I haven't experienced it myself but damn that's a shame. Sorry your set yellowed
My Shattered Glass Starscream finally started yellowing. Damn shame as long as he was on display I had no problem. Out him back into his original packaging in a closet in the same room. Really sucks.
It's the plastic. I have an old Apple Extended Keyboard having two different white plastics. Only one yellows over time. The one that doesn't yellow is expensive and difficult to produce.
My soundwave and netflicks skywarp (same model as shattered glass starscream) have yellowed, skywarp isnt as noticable but soundwave looks bad now, i dont smoke around them but im worried bout my jazz and ultra magnus.
My SS Jazz has yellowed. It's in a dark room, but it is in Australian heat... its the only one of my Transformers that have yellowed. I never transformed it that much either.
A friend just bought the Dinobot Grimlock/Sideswipe pack of Golden disk Collection, his Grimlock is already yellowed in those conections joints pieces.
I haven't experienced any recent yellow plastic, but this reminds me of the story of Palisades Micronauts toyline, though the problem with those toys was the plastic was very brittle.
Yes I’m so mad as my Jetfire has yellowed everywhere & it’s driving me nuts! Also we know they went cheaper to save money while making us pay more!
Jetfire Siege has yellowing problems?
I bought Siege Jetfire last 2019, there's no yellowing in my toy
@@Elshiem yup I must of got a later run but mine is yellowing & I have seen others too
@@grassmango7127 your one of the lucky ones but for some reason mine is! It sucks as it’s only the parts that you can’t paint
@@grassmango7127 your one of the lucky ones but for some reason mine is! It sucks as it’s only the parts that you can’t paint
The number of factors causing yellowing depend on the type of mix of the plastic, there is no partigular cause. Plastic will yellow and its only a matter of when, depending on:
Artifitial-natural light, humidity, package material, temperature, skin oils, sweat, even dirt or dust...
Worry if you keep your toys in storage rooms, or exposed to direct natural / artificitial light (putting lights on your shelves is suicide btw), and wash your hands before playing with your toys.
But they should not yellow as quick as these examples, in those cases point bad plastic mix and quality
The recent yellowing has very little to do with any of the factors you mentioned, things are yellowing brand new in box, stored in cool dark places. This is a chemical reaction to whatever plastic they are using
I have my collectables room closed off to sunlight. But I have LED lighting that I've used daily for many years now. No yellowing so far.
I guess time will tell though.
This is by far the best take I've seen on this, thanks for being smart about it and not just going "Hasbro bad grrrr"
legends says that all sg Starscream's turned into cheese now
This was a great video, very well researched! From one business student to another, I loved hearing your take on the supply chain management and why things take time. People forget that MNCs are rather unwieldy and decisions take time to action.
Finally a video talking about what goes on behind the scenes with these products, would love more!
My Netflix Soundwave has turned green... it lives in a cupboard away from direct sunlight and heat. I am based in the UK. It's unbelievable that Hasbro can get away with this...
Hasbro really need to fix the problem with yellowing, I just had my earthrise runamuck few days ago and the back part of the head already started yellowing.
And so far I kinda lucky with only my figures that're white or have white plastic yellowing. But they really need to fix this, we are living in the golden age of Transformers toys with great engineering,more accurate design to the source material, but the plastic is the problem
I hope Hasbro does get the yellowing problem fixed
Oh they better. If they don’t, TF fans will be very disappointed and Hasbro really need to address the issues, not ignore them. Geez. 😔 🤦♂️
They won’t. They don’t care.
86 rachet
has noticeable yellowed after 6 months
This is a very fair take. As someone with two years of experience dealing with manufacturing, I know there's a lot that goes on and things take forever to get done.
I'm very worried about my Victory Saber.
Same. With that big price they better have found a way to keep him from yellowing like this
Hi I would like to add my two cents to the discussion, though please keep in mind I am not an expert on these topics.
I happen to live in Ireland. Most days of the year its pretty cold here but rarely at freezing point. I haven't noticed this yellowing problem occur to the Transformer toys I find in my local stores. As I am aware, Studio Series Bumblebee Movie Ratchet is an infamous recent victim of this yellowing, with most people finding he yellows while still in his box. However, all versions of him I could find didn't have this issue.
Now that could just be my perspective and its possible others in my region could be running into this problem. From what I noticed though the main reports of this issue come from locations like Australia, America and Canada. These regions will generally have much warmer weather than my country the majority of the year. However you mentioned Australia is in its cold weather phase while in my country the weather is getting hotter, yet the yellowing hasn't reared its head much (at least from my perspective).
This makes me wonder if maybe it is not just heat playing a role in this but also humidity. As I understand it, in warmer environments the air is likely to have higher humidity levels due to there being more water molecules due to evaporation caused by the heat.
So maybe it's possible that since the countries I listed generally experience more warmer weather compared to mine the majority of the year, they also generally have more water molecules present in their air from day to day which could be playing a role in the accelerated yellowing of the plastic.
Again I am not an expert on this stuff, so I would appreciate any factual insight anyone has on this matter. Especially if it corrects any errors I have made due to my lack of knowledge.
I'm sympathetic to the difficulties of manufacture and all that, but also for a company as enormous as Hasbro, I don't care about their problems at all.
I don't think that it means we all should just accept terrible products.
If Hasbro hasn't got any kind of quality assurance written into its contracts then that's not my mistake, they should eat the cost. Maybe not give the responsible executive a bonus this year until it's resolved. I bet it would be a serious priority then.
The etiquette is simple, going forward:
They don't sell more products they know are faulty.
And for stuff already out there a full refund or free replacement is the bare minimum.
And if they want to sell discount products with a buyer beware warning, then fair play to them.
Exactly, as a paying costumer it is not my problem how hard it is or how long it takes for a big company like Hasbro to make the necessary changes. I am paying for a product, I have every right to expect a quality product, I have toys that are 20 years old that are still white, meanwhile my Tigatron turned yellow just two months after taking him out of his box. One problem from time to time is expected from mass produced products, but constant problems in figures wave after wave one after the other? Netflix exclusive figures, Buzzworthy figures, generation selects figures, they all have figures with massive problems. That is not acceptable and should not be normalized. I can tell you right now the CEOs of the company will still get their fat bonuses and pay raises by the end of the year regardless of how many people get screwed over by their products and how many complains they get.
And it's not like this is a new problem either. This is happening for years now. They can claim they know what the problem is all they want and that they are fixing it but meanhile they are selling defective products. There are apparantly some reports of Shattered Glass Starscreams already breaking on the yellowed pieces. These are exclusive more expensive figures btw. Netflix's exclusive Soundwave was a mess from what I've heard, I really dodged a bullet on that one simply because I couldn't find one at a decent price at the time.
I agree that the moment they learned what the problem was they should have recalled all figures that have said problem and somehow someway try to issue replacements, would it be costly to them? Hell yes. But it would give costumers a lot of trust in them and renewed loyaty for the brand. As it stands now we have no trust left in Hasbro and I know people who are already giving up or have already given up on them, myself included. I just hope my Beast wars inferno doesn't have any issue, it's bad enough that I got screwed with Tigatron and Dinobot, after that I'll be done for a long while until we see the quality improving again.
Exactly. The fault and blame for this problem starts and ends with Hasbro, and Hasbro only.
Thank you for opening the topic to a wider audience so that others understand more in depth the intricacies involved with in production and maintaining the issues in question.
This reminds me of one of my classes I took during college when you go into detail about how hard it is to change the plastic
Thanks fir making this video. Basically all of my siege, Netflix, and kingdom figures with Grey plastic are greenish gold now. Even the gen selects g2 Megatron, which really upset me
Imo in some cases I think the yellowing can add a cool look. Like on the shattered glass starscream it gives a 2 tone white look. Some pure white and a creamier white. Kinda similar to how some Gundam kits get painted
Yup, I hated it on my siege megatron walmart WFC soundwave but it added to SG starscream like you said
Think the shell on my tfp megatron is slightly yellowed, makes him look cooler.
The joke that motormaster is only out in Australia is absolutely hysterical. Needed a good laugh like that today. IDK if its actually true in practice, it'd certainly be surprising if it was because hasbro seemingly hates Australia and hates releasing their products here, but its funny either way.
It's true
They’ve fixed a lot of the problems with the later releases so I wouldn’t say there’s a huge problem atm, from late 2019 to about March of this year it was a bit of a problem though. And as far as Motormaster is concerned, well those are in Australia and that’s one of the hottest and sunniest habitable places on earth so that’d probably be why.
It's winter here in Australia and where I live it gets pretty cold. In the very short time that I had Motormaster the temperature wouldn't have gone above 15 degrees celcius (about 60 degrees fahrenheit I think) and got as low as -2, and guess what? The figure was showing signs of yellowing in the telltale spots after less than a week. I went and got a refund and will definitely think twice before buying any more Hasbro Transformers. I have over 100 figures on display and of those only Kingdom Cyclonus, Netflix Megatron, Studio Series BB Ratchet are badly yellowing.
I mean for your starscream experiment I wouldn’t say heat for sure cuz you did leave it there for 2 weeks vs 2 days. So while you could be right I’d say the experiment should go for an equal amount of time in each scenario to know for sure
From what I understand, some materials are more reactive with UV light (exposure over long periods of time in the sun, on a windowsill for example), there are ways to reduce/reverse the amount of yellowing with a little effort.
Some art conservators use special topcoats and varnishes that aren't as reactive to UV light so as to not distort the colour of the painting underneath, because they get displayed for long periods of time in big well lit rooms, or places where they might have prolonged exposure to sunlight.
I believe there are a few videos on the retrobrite method of restoring yellowed plastics.
Another issue I'd like to see covered is the gold plastic syndrome most transformers suffer with, as for some reason, the particular "gold" plastic they used on older toys becomes brittle over time, to the point where it can snap or literally crumble away, because of the manufacturing process where the plastic used isn't properly finished.
I’ve been getting into gunpla recently and there’s a lot of white plastic in those builds especially in the armor so I thought I’d cross reference a bit.
From what little I can find it definitely doesn’t effect those kits as bad probably because a different company makes them meaning they’re also hiring a different manufacturer. But it very much still happens. Interestingly enough from what I’ve gathered the community has figured out a preventative measure that will help it resist that change. In gunpla we often put a clear coat of paint over the kit to affect the finish, this clear coat usually protects coats of paint from scratching and chipping but clear coats even when not used on painted plastic can prevent the yellowing a bit if you’re ok with doing modifications. I know that in the plamo sphere this is much more acceptable and is even expected in some cases. I know a lot of people have an aversion to it but if you don’t I say why not? Just make sure you know what kind of plastic you’re painting on, PS is generally safe but ABS plastic will crack if painted even if it’s just the clear coat.
Well, now I just noticed there are spots on my Jetfire that have yellowed after watching this video. Mainly on the upper body with the shoulders, top of the torso, and the elbow joints. Must be a sunlight and heat issue for me since I have LED lights in my room. Though I don’t open my blinds that often. And I have him stand on top of my shelf.
I'm glad someone else as well talked about this problem because my figures so far like Kingdom Cyclonus, Cyberverse Arcee and pointed out by Optibotimus, Netflix Soundwave haven't had the yellowing problem at least not yet because my room alters temperature a lot and I mean A LOT it goes from cold to hot immediately depending on the weather, so I'm praying that Star Saber isn't made of that kind of plastic.
The parts that rapidly yellow are made of Nylon btw. So retrobrite will not work on them as their cause of yellowing is different from ABS.
My Kingdom Grimlocks joint parts are yellowing and on the one hand it sucks but on the other hand the eventual beige they'll end up isn't so bad when his other colors are white and brown
Some of my others are less okay, like Earthrise Soundwave sure has some bits turning vaguely greenish
Another factor is what is mixed in with the plastic. One thing being a flame retardant called Bromine. It has been said to cause the chemical breakdown that turns our cherished toys a nasty yellow.
Here are problem I recently found.
1. Rubber band damaging painted color, It ruin my misb premium optimus prime. So If you want keep misb just check they didn't used rubber band in packaging.
2. Rubber melting hard plastic, It happen almost every toy that use rubber. Rotf jetfire, CW megatron etc. This is like GPS in modern day.
3. Soft plastic bent permanent.
3:19 i got one of the first motormasters released over here in australia and it still hasn’t yellowed (its been exposed to MASSIVE amounts of sunlight)
It makes sense that it would be only certain parts. Parts are manufactured in batches. If there was an issue with the plastic used in a batch, the whole batch would have issues. I'd keep in mind that all plastic needs a flame retardant added to it. Yellowing is caused by that chemical breaking down and reacting within the plastic. That plastic probably has too much of that chemical added to it. Hasbro's cost saving measures probably don't help.
“Car companies have had many recalls”
I feel like Ford, ford did something really bad in the 70s and created the Ford Pinto of which blew up if you rear ended it, and despite many people suing them they REFUSED to recall ._.
Heat, sunlight exposure, and *air moisture* are all factors w/ yellowing. get silica gel packets and put them on your shelves, not foolproof but it definitely helps.
I'll try that, thanks
I don't have yellowing plastic in my transformers figures but it happened with my megazords from power rangers with white plastic. Of course, my megazords were made by Bandai in the 2000's so yeah, they take too much time to get the yellow coloration in his white plastic (more than 5 years so it was great see this durability). I get the Japan's version of this megazords and the only thing I can do is put them in their boxes out of the sunlight.
Of course, the light colors have the big problem again the fluorescent lights and UV from sunlight so be careful with your figures
Great video! I personally haven't had the yellowing issue but I've heard of the problems, and this review basically explains it the best. Also, one of my grindors arms is loose, it's a pinned joint, anyone know a quick and easy fix to, well, fix it?
Try jhobby’s joint…stuff
@@ignitedmotion5807 where can I get it?
Even pinned joints can usually be tightened a little if you paint some floor polish on them (just be careful where you put it). Should be doable without disassembling it. Baltmatrix often mentions Pledge.
one of the techniques I use is to tap out the pin, then cover the holes in a thin layer of superglue. wait for those to dry (preferably overnight) then tap the pin back in. a little more complex but it works well
Nova storm be like : hahaha I'm immune! Suck it starscream!
The legs of my netflix Megatron is awful green now... That was my favorite figure, it's located right in the center off collection... I'm so upset about this
@4:50 what toy is that? looks pretty badass.
uv light is a huge culprit in this. i had an mmpr tigerzord sitting at the top of a box for years and it got direct sunlight - it only yellowed where the sun hit it. luckily, it's fairly cheap and easy to remove yellowing: disassemble the toy, put it in a container, fill with hydrogen peroxide (the higher % the better - i use 30%, which is industrial), wrap a strand of uv lights around it, leave for 4-6 hours, check the yellowing, and, if it's still present, give it some more time. i put my container in a cabinet so it gets the most uv light possible. i just de-yellowed a g1 galvatron and, with the addition of new stickers, it looks brand new. also did the same with that tigerzord and the keys from an old keyboard (music keyboard, not cpu).
Thank you Boss!!!!! Finally someone is sharing what's up with this yellowing problem. Thank you very much.
That was a great video! Both entertaining and informative!
I’ve not had too many issues.
However Earthrise Megatron’s elbows, thighs and neck area are COMPLETELY yellow.
He’s never been in direct sunlight since I bought him new.
I’m in the U.K. and my room ends up being the hottest in the house since there’s no ventilation and my PC is a part time star.
So definitely a heat thing with him, he’s even covered from my light due to how my shelves are
This happened to my bionicles
Yellowing plastic is not a new thing and more often than not you will experience it regardless of the product’s age or manufacturer. In fact i have my fair share of yellowing issues, my MG Rx-78-2 Gundam 2.0, MG GM 2.0 and PG Gundam Mark II have really bad yellowing where the nubs used to be, now since its a small area its simple to fix it only really needs some sanding and polishing and the yellowed are is gone but it is still something and i’ve noticed that when it comes to Gundam models the only instances of yellowing is in pre 2012 kits as well as ABS plastic parts
Thank you for the info I’ve had my figures for a very long time ever since 2014-2015 and My room has LEDs, curtains closed, and is very cold and my figures have not yellows at all I looked at my soundwave and mine looks similar to one that’s just made from differently colored plastic but I didn’t know about the sweat thing
I live in Australia and I've had Motormaster for a week now and there's been no yellowing on my copy so far.
Australia also has a yellowing problem
Ok but that neon green/movie ratchet green seeker in the thumbnail would be a pretty kickass figure ngl
This is personally why I'm alright with closed boxes. Sure some people are weary of stolen figures, but if my knowledge on yellowing is correct, it would help if the box was closed rather than having a plastic window or an open window
I don't think it will help, this is a problem with the plastic. I've had some figures for decades that have never yellowed, yet half the ones I've gotten over the past 2 or 3 years have severe yellowing.
the problem is not just light based but also temperature/however they are handled once opened. I think it may help if the stores lighting is a concern but otherwise no. Edit: oh and if you are the type that keep it MISB and whatever conditions do cause it to yellow in box then you basically have a schrödinger's cat situation on your hands lol
Funny story, I saw a studio series 86 Rumble box at Target. Yes, someone stole him out of the box
I notice that it really happens bad on figures that are really light in color
On the bright side,
Free sunstorm seeker once it yellows right?
I recommend something like keeping your figures on shelves in a room with no heaters, windows, or fluorescent lights. I do this and I have very few cases of yellowing in my collection.
For a second, I thought the intro theme to this video was the main theme to the Transformers Famicon game.
Starscreams is going to turn into sunstorm
My kingdom tirgertron and cyclones r turning yellow and I want to restore them
kind of concerned. i want SS bumblebee figures but with this kind of plastic running around i might just wait until the new plastic comes in
Aussie here
thanks for the heads up on motormaster
My Earthrise Wheeljack was yellow right as I took it out of the box. It looked like a smoker had it for a decade. I hope my Legacy Wheeljack doesn't arrive like that or I'll have to throw that one out too. :/
hasbruh has had this issue for years. Im a star wars collector and figures have yellowed since the very begining. The only solutions I've found are either sanding the yellow off since its only surface deep or bathing the figure in hydrogen peroxide.
The good news is once it yellows enough it becomes Ion Storm, the rainmaker!
Has anyone tried to clean the "yellow" off their SG Starscream?
Question if I were to purchase shattered glass star scream now, would the yellowing still be a problem
I'm glad that SG Soundwave was made after the change because hot damn if Hasbro fucked up the Netflix cassette mold twice, let's just say things would get nightmarishly ugly.
Holy shit, someone actually _looking at this with a level headed perspective?_
Good on ya, mate. Still upset that this is such a widespread issue though. My Nemesis Prime came *out of the box* with a huge yellow splotch on his backpack strut.
I don't really see this much because I don't really get figures that are white and the kingdom wheeljack that I have I painted over it with a better white unless there isn't an issue with him but yeah. But I have heard and seen this through people I watched, but this hasn't personally happened to me. So it kinda sucks for people who've experienced this.
I hear this is because of the nylon in the toys not quite going right with the chemicals they use to clean the factories.
The thumbnail had me wheezing
Wait, Motor Master is currently Australia Exclusive? Well I'll be, I'll keep an Eye out in Stores around here! Cheers for the Info!
I keep mine in a 2 door previously refinished cabinet all together so they stay package fresh,every time I open a door a blast of new plastic hits my nose from 25 war for Cybertron figures.Its about a 4ft square 2 level and it's portable/just setting on chester drawers,holds all the deluxe,voyager and leader class boxes of as well.
The yellowing on kingdom cyclonus is just horrendous, which hurts twice as much since it's such a good figure
I have a few stormtroopers from recent years that has some yellowing on there torsos that i bought used after cleaning the yellow i have had no further yellowing cause i keep them in a dark cool temperature in a closet. Only display them for a short time then back in the closet. And all i bought that are white when bought stay the same so darkness and cool temperature has the best protection i have experienced.
Oh,motor masters out for me,
Didn't know that. Thanks for tellin me mate
Two things. One, I don't think skin oil is a significant factor here given the way it's happening with specific parts. Maybe the brown splotches on Soundwave and Megatron could be related to that. Secondly, I am more than patient and sympathetic with Hasbro, both in terms of this likely not being their fault and in terms of how long it takes to change something in the manufacturing chain. I trust them to eventually get it fixed and that future figures will be ok.
My problem is, what are they going to do to make this right for people who have "ruined" figures (and yes I know that is a very subjective description of what's happening.) Let's say I had Kingdom Cyclonus, Netflix Megatron, Netflix Nemesis Prime, Siege Jetfire, Shattered Glass Starscream, and Studio Series Jazz all starting to yellow. That alone is upwards of $250 retail worth of product that is failing to meet reasonable consumer expectations. If I had every single figure which has been reported to be prone to this, who knows? It could be double the amount of product affected, $500. As a consumer, am I just supposed to eat the cost on this?
The problem is, there's not really any viable solution on Hasbro's end which wouldn't be enormously costly for them. Even if they decided to replace any affected figure from say the past 3 years, they would have to do new product runs of these figures to ensure that they wouldn't just be giving us a replacement which would still be prone to the same issue. They could offer a trade of equal monetary value, but then you'd be talking about getting a random figure in exchange for one that you wanted, and it would only be the MSRP value rather than current after-market value. Or, Hasbro could offer to send coupons towards future purchases (probably the most practical option), but then they'd need some way to validate who is affected and determine the $ amount of product impacted for each person. And yet, even if there is no really good option on their end, it doesn't excuse them from responsibility towards consumers for selling faulty products. If there was a class action lawsuit over this, they would likely either lose the case, or they would settle to avoid the sizable legal fees incurred were they to take the case to trial.
I'm glad I am not in charge at Hasbro and that I'm not responsible for the issue or for figuring out how to respond. Honestly, their best option is to just ignore it and try not to comment any further, and just hope that people forget about it and continue buying their products. Even if that's morally or ethically questionable. I hope they elect to take care of their customers rather than protect the stockholders, but I'm not Optimus-tic about seeing any further response from them.
Has this problem been fixed? I am bit nervous if legacy Armada figures (mostly Starscream) will suffer from yellowing.
I feel it's definitely a temperature thing. My Kingdom Cyclonus sits in the back of my bookcase, which is dark, yet his silver parts have started yellowing. My wife and I always fight over the temperature of the house. She always sets it to 65° while I prefer 70°. So I feel the constant back and forth is what caused it.
That or just hella cheap plastic.
As someone who went to Australia recently, it isn't that hot at the moment, so it probably isn't that.
A lot of my figures arent actually yellowing it’s really just my 86 Jazz
Do we have a list of the figures most prone to this type of yellowing?
My Motormaster (purchased last week) has only one part discolored. One of the spring loaded panels on the leg piece to create Menasor is discolored. Not totally brown or anything, but visibly darker on one panel. Everything else is fine. From what I have seen that is a lot worse I am just going to live with it. But, yeah, it needs to be addressed.
my tigatron's hands, leg joints and the joints on his foot did yellowed but bot much. i still dont even understand that and how they always...ALWAYS use clear plastic that can suffer breakage and paint ship
I picked up a Studio Series Bumblebee Ratchet this week, already yellowed legs...like, yellowed in box...
Extremely sad when I found out the sg starscream I had on the shelf, got very yellowed at certain areas. On a contrast, my Combiner Battle Core Optimus didn't get yellow that much at all. WEIRD
I have the Netflix 2 pack (Skelivore) version of Siege Megatron that is known for yellowing. I have it for a year now, and it doesn't seem to have that change. Strange. Time will tell.
One of my transformers has recently been victim to yellowing, Earthrise Megatron's joints, worse still is that he was at the very back of my transformers selve and my Windows don't even shine on that selve. I had to do some complex work replacing the joints with some I had from a spare siege Megatron to get him looking right again
it's just down to recent poor quality plastics and possible loose quality control
i'm glad that hasbro is addressing one issue, but everyone other little thing makes this hobby stressful.
Tbh if the grey on the figure is dark when it gets yellowed I barely notice until further investigation
Wait does thundercracker yellow? I haven’t noticed it on mine, but I keep mine in two areas when I choose to display it. My room is a little colder than most even though I live in an area where it’s usually hotter.
If ever I wite toi is becoming yellow then why is mi combiner wars breakaway still wite? O jea because in Italy the temperature is less high and high temperatures and outer factors cause the yellowing not only the plastic quality
How do you get rid of the yellow?
i honestly dont really care about yellowing, but i understand is a big problem, maybe if i had more pure white figures id be freaking out about this but hopefully theres a fix that isnt trimming plastic
I got the 501st Battle pack and a few months after getting it the arms were piss yellow
Oh no modern Lego is yellowing too!? I haven't bought a set since 2020 so I haven't experienced it myself but damn that's a shame. Sorry your set yellowed
It is still a matter of cutting every corner to improve the payout to investors, which is actually all they care about.
My G1 Red Alert, G1 Prowl and even BW Polar Claw is still good after all these years. Maybe because Takara uses slightly different grade of plastics.
My Shattered Glass Starscream finally started yellowing. Damn shame as long as he was on display I had no problem. Out him back into his original packaging in a closet in the same room. Really sucks.
Do you think that maybe the window was a lot cooler than the shelving area and that starscream may have yellowed from the sudden rise in temperature?
In lego too same problem on white pieces starts yellowing
It's the plastic. I have an old Apple Extended Keyboard having two different white plastics. Only one yellows over time. The one that doesn't yellow is expensive and difficult to produce.
I have noticed this yellowing on my megatron and even on star screem and soundwave.
My soundwave and netflicks skywarp (same model as shattered glass starscream) have yellowed, skywarp isnt as noticable but soundwave looks bad now, i dont smoke around them but im worried bout my jazz and ultra magnus.
I had a Hammerbyte figure at somehow it yellowed based on what I saw and have in my collection
My SS Jazz has yellowed. It's in a dark room, but it is in Australian heat... its the only one of my Transformers that have yellowed. I never transformed it that much either.
A friend just bought the Dinobot Grimlock/Sideswipe pack of Golden disk Collection, his Grimlock is already yellowed in those conections joints pieces.
Even the normal Dinobot has issues where the brown would either go brighter or darker according to some reports on twitter