Hey guys,

Yesterday, I got in a brand spanking new Low-Light that I ordered from EBay. It was part of a 2 pack Night Marksmen, factory sealed. Well, I pulled the Low Light figure out, carefully, and tried to put his gun together. Ok, so the gun scope won't stay on, and the back part of the rifle, the arm support, pops off. No biggie. I have an imagination. Usually I would just glue the scope, but that defeats the purpose of the rifle case.

But the real problem is that I couldn't turn, or bend the left arm. At all. For a second, I actually thought to myself "does Hasbro intend us to not use his left arm?" After all, in the last series, some of the drivers, Clutch, for one, had arms that didn't bend at all. But one arm? Didn't make sense. I didn't push it at all, looking under a light instead. The arm seems to be damaged, as if part of the plastic from the lower arm got glued to the upper arm. The arm will bend a little (maybe 10%), before I start meeting resistance. I don't want to break it, obviously, so I don't push it. But the arm won't turn. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but maybe some of you guys have seen something similar before.



I went to four different Toys R Us stores locally trying to find another 2 pack, or a single Low-light, to no avail. If I'm going to buy another one online, it will cost me another $20 + shipping.

Will Hasbro replace a defective figure if I show them proof of purchase, and pictures? Or am I pretty much stuck trying to find a cheap replacement online? I've dropped a few hundred bucks in the last two weeks on figures, and will spend more when the new ones come out. But thus far, I've opened two brand new figures that were very loose at the waist, and now this. Are quality control issues prevalent in Joes that come out now? I guess I'm looking for both some reassurance, and some advice on how to proceed here. Thanks, gang!

Bill

See if you can get any movement by heating it up with a hair dryer. Or an alternative route is to put the top half in a bowl of microwave and nuke it for 45 seconds or so, to see if you can move it then.

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Yeah I would just heat a mug of water to the boiling point in the microwave, drop the figure in for a minute and then see if it loosens up.

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I wouldn't recommend putting the *figure* in the microwave, as there's some metal in him after all. Heat the water then drop him in for a minute or so such that his hindarm softens and the forearm can be pulled out easily. It looks like you've got some glue slop from the forearm pad that needs to be trimmed away, most easily with your x-acto.

Pulling the forearm out will solve the no-turning problem, but you'll likely have some glue in the socket that needs to be trimmed away before you re-insert it. The no-bending issue is best solved by prying the meat of the forearm away from the elbow joint piece with the x-acto. Once you trim away the obvious slop in your pic, you should be good to reinsert and play with him.

Unfortunately, Hasbro's quality control went off a cliff with the 50th Anniversary offerings. Trying to get a replacement from them is largely a waste of time as they'll just send you something of a comparable price point they have laying around in the HTS warehouse.

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Thanks for the responses, guys.

Well, I played with it a bit, and with my tweezers, I was able to clear off some of the plastic, and with a little twisting action, I broke through the little bit that was mucking up the works. So while one little spot looks pretty rough, it bends and twists now, so it's good. I might replace the figure, as I could use another sniper pack, since my team will have two snipers.

Any suggestions on making the scope actually stick to the rifle? I'd love to focus on that, now. I can't glue it, obviously, as that precludes sticking the rifle in the gun case. And no, I really don't want to use those little white bands that come with the figures. I can suspend some things in my mind, but that's not one of them.

you could put a drop of super glue in the hole on the rifle, then let it dry for a long time. insert the scope peg after it dries and maybe the fit will be snug enough to hold it, but not permanent.

or you could, mush?, the peg with plyers. this would make it slightly wider, and maybe that would hold.

i have read lots of quality complaints about the modern figures.

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Not 'modern' figures, which should include the entire run of the current engineering format going back to the initial 25A 5pack boxes in 2007, just this past year's offering of the 50th Anniversary figures. Up until then, Joes were amongst the best-made product on the shelves.

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Customize him into a maimed GI Joe.

Even though Low Light is a sniper, say he fell off of his perch and broke an arm.


Make him a cast, get him off his feet for a while.

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I'll try flattening out the pegs a little bit to see if that helps. I think that's the best solution. Thanks.

You have a PM

OB

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