NEW Official MPC Thread!!!

[gilermo]

does anyone else have this problem?

the front landing gear will not touch the ground (it 's missing 1,5-2 mm).

the alpha sits on his belly

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Finally got my Alpha on Saturday.  Didn't have much time to play with it but did get to transform it once and give it a once-over.  Initial thoughts:

-Most everything was in pretty good at a glance.  Only problem I had was with the shoulder radar thingy.  The swivel base kept falling off. 

-Damn, it's small!  I knew it was going to be small but that still couldn't prepare me for actually seeing the thing... and standing it next to my Gakken.

-Definitely heavy.  This was impressive.

-Floppy arms.  I was somewhat expecting this.  It still sucks to be stuck with it, though.

All in all it's pretty good.  I still think it was over-priced and should have been around the $40 mark.  Maybe $50.  I think I may end up only getting the Shadow but we'll see what happens.  I know my wife would prefer me not getting very much in the way of toys but that's just sillyness on her part   

For now, I think I'll just save my $$ for a reissue Predaking

Don't transform it too much cuz if you will more problems will arise.

what the hell are you talking about? Steve Yun even said these are TOYS MEANT TO BE PLAYED WITH! I really doubt the sole purpose was to -transform -only-few-times-because-it-migth-mess-up-o-i-payed80$-+-tax-and-will-break-if-i-like-transforming-it.

TYou cant possibly try to use the display only scenario to defend toynami. tehse are toys damn it.

[Syngyne]

Same here... however Toynami has been very rude and not too talkative in their communications with me and I still have no idea when my replacement will come.

That's odd, their customer service was pretty polite and communicative to me.

[Mechafan]

Heh, I bet they read all your posts in this thread 

Graham

I hope so because I sent it in an email a few days ago. I got a quick responce.

Here is the Email I sent and the reply.

To Whom It May Concern,

Whenever we make a product, we always strive to produce a quality figure that will satisfy the fan's desires and to take every precaution necessary to prevent any problems that might occur. However some occurances are expected to happen. We do thank you for your comments. We will take them into consideration and thank you for your continued support.

Best regards,

Customer Service

Toynami Inc

__________________________________________________________________--

----- Original Message -----

From:

To: info@toynami.com

Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 12:17 PM

Subject: Alpha MPC

To whom it may concern,

The new MPC has various engineering defects as well as QC issues. To be delayed a year and having these problems is less than acceptable. You should consider lowering your price because these are not worth $80. These are only work 49.99 at the most. I even got one of the older MPCs for $26 because they were not selling well. Some of the first set of MPC's very horrifying with QC issues. I even got one missing a part. The Tranformers Binaltechs are made better than these and are cheaper. The Transformers MPC Prime is much better also for the price.

Problems:

1. Loose arm.

2. Sensor pod to big.

3. Forearm missiles only show half way.

4. Rear landing gear too short making chest drag ground.

5. Huge gaps in the seams that should be closed.

6. Parts having to be remove for transformation.

7. Nose seems to set up to high in fighter mode.

8. Hard to get leg missile covers open.

There are many others with problems too.

http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/re...genumber=5#post

http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/re...enumber=34#post

http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/re...1252&forumid=23

This one has many pages of bad stories.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...20entry192272

How it looks against the Imai model.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=10392

I hope you take these issue under consideration before the next Alpha MPC comes out. I was look forward to these coming out with a Beta to follow. Only one type of Beta was made and it was in limited release. You could profit by making one. The Robotech and Mospeada fans would be happy.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mospeada/tread_toy.htm

http://www.macrossworld.com/mospeada/lansa...y_tread_toy.htm

[eugimon]

I got my alpha on Thursday, went out of town Friday and today was my first chance to take a real good look at it. I must say after transforming it a few times I REALLY like it. If I have to compare it with anything for the price/scale it would be the Yamato 1/60 VF-1 series. Comparing it to the 1/48 is not fair, just like it is unfair to compare the Yamato 1/60 to the 1/48.

Hmm, I don't think comparing the alpha to the 1/60 VF-1 is fair at all.

my VF-1s had no paint problems, no fused joints, all the gimmicks worked and is not brittle or fragile.

I also did not need to take the VF-1s apart to repair manufacturing defects.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I got my alpha on Thursday, went out of town Friday and today was my first chance to take a real good look at it.  I must say after transforming it a few times I REALLY like it.  If I have to compare it with anything for the price/scale it would be the Yamato 1/60 VF-1 series.  Comparing it to the 1/48 is not fair, just like it is unfair to compare the Yamato 1/60 to the 1/48. 

Hmm, I don't think comparing the alpha to the 1/60 VF-1 is fair at all.

my VF-1s had no paint problems, no fused joints, all the gimmicks worked and is not brittle or fragile.

I also did not need to take the VF-1s apart to repair manufacturing defects.

It really isnt. The main flaws for the 1/60 are loose hips and crap stickers. Wait...YUP both of which very well documented as well. As well as loose missles.

With the 1/60 we all knew we were getting intop. with teh MPC we didn't. ver big difference.

big lesson to toynami:

IT HELPS TO AT LEAST GIVE A PRODUCTION SAMPLE TO AN ETAILER AHEAD OF TIME FOR A CRITICAL REVIEW MUCH LIKE GRAHAM WAS ABLE TO GET STUFF FROM YAMATO.

[macu5454]

My friend got his Alpha today!! It was funny cuz his alphs was majorly defective. The head was missing the bottom part of its face!! LOL And that was just the beginning.....it had floppy arms and for some reason his had the right arm attached backwards..

[Kin]

Thank god we dont fly this toy... otherwise we're dead by now

[JELEINEN]

Just curious. With all the complaints here and on the Robotech boards, has Toynami/HG made any official statement?

[easnoddy]

I think it's a very fair comparison. What did you mean by "With the 1/60 we knew what we were getting into"? I bought the Macross Plus 1/72 line and there were major problems with those. The only 1/60 I have left has loose hips (as bad as MPC's arms) and the annoying leg-swap. Toynami probably could have made a better toy had they made the legs removable. I have the 2 side-by-side and they look good together. Like I said though, the MC Alpha has a much more complictaed paint job than any of the 1/60's most of which were molded in color.

I did have to take apart the hip of my VF-1 to make it less floppy.

In fact, my only real complaint withthe NMC alpha are the little paint flubs (2) and the crappy landing gear. This is my first Toynami MC toy and I like it.

Also Yamato had lot s of problems with various toys. Need I remind anyone of the VF-11B's hips? I remember some of them having legs that fell off right out of the box. Or the infamous Tab B on the 1/72 YF-19? Several people broke the shoulders on the YF-21. How about the fact you cannot rotate the 1/60's shoulders forward without the chest popping out of place? The removable cockpit, Loose missiles, etc? What about paint chips? Almost all the Yamato's with diecast are susceptible to paint chips.

I think it is fair to compare this toy with the 1st and 2nd toys Yamato made, which I own as well.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Same here... however Toynami has been very rude and not too talkative in their communications with me and I still have no idea when my replacement will come.

That's odd, their customer service was pretty polite and communicative to me.

I sent a very kindly worded request for an exchange to them via email with no anger or hostility whatsoever (that was reserved for this board here) and quite a while later all I got back from them was tantamount to a simple "Yeah, return it" with an address to ship it to and a reference number. No apologies, no sympathies, no excuses, no nothing. Very rude and blunt, not what you would expect from a company that "cares" about their customer base. I sent my busted ass toy to them last week along with a nice hostile letter (their almost "automated reply" brevity and tone just broke the f'ing dam for me) and USPS says they delivered it last week and still no word from them as to the status of my return.

Either I got the crappiest toy of the line and then dealt with the crappiest online customer service person they employ and now my toy sits in limbo due to some internal organizational error... or they have more issues with their company than just their toys.

As I said a looooooong time ago in this thread, I've had other bad toys but this entire experience is just a beast from hell to me. Never, never, never will I buy another one of their products as long as I live. And if they are reading my responses to this torked toy of mine get off your ass and process my exchange!

[niomosy]

Just curious. With all the complaints here and on the Robotech boards, has Toynami/HG made any official statement?

What, "we're sorry that the QC on our products is pretty shoddy"? Not likely to happen. At least they're replacing the defective ones

[gilermo]

my alpha is really starting to grow on my

After having my reservations about it for the first 2 days (don't get me wrong it's not perfect..at all) I am starting to warm up to it and am looking forward to the second one..

It transforms a lot easier than first and i have learned to be a bit rougher with it (so the legs are extended all the way) as you can see from the photo he lloks happy

"uncle alpha needs you!"

[Kin]

Lol nice pose! Are you really going to buy a 2nd one?

[Mallet21]

Never, never, never will I buy another one of their products as long as I live. And if they are reading my responses to this torked toy of mine get off your ass and process my exchange!

LOL .... Now I'm sure they'll get right on it

[Opus]

Same here... however Toynami has been very rude and not too talkative in their communications with me and I still have no idea when my replacement will come.

That's odd, their customer service was pretty polite and communicative to me.

I sent a very kindly worded request for an exchange to them via email with no anger or hostility whatsoever (that was reserved for this board here) and quite a while later all I got back from them was tantamount to a simple "Yeah, return it" with an address to ship it to and a reference number. No apologies, no sympathies, no excuses, no nothing. Very rude and blunt, not what you would expect from a company that "cares" about their customer base. I sent my busted ass toy to them last week along with a nice hostile letter (their almost "automated reply" brevity and tone just broke the f'ing dam for me) and USPS says they delivered it last week and still no word from them as to the status of my return.

Either I got the crappiest toy of the line and then dealt with the crappiest online customer service person they employ and now my toy sits in limbo due to some internal organizational error... or they have more issues with their company than just their toys.

As I said a looooooong time ago in this thread, I've had other bad toys but this entire experience is just a beast from hell to me. Never, never, never will I buy another one of their products as long as I live. And if they are reading my responses to this torked toy of mine get off your ass and process my exchange!

That's weird I didn't get a reference number just an address. I hope mine doesn't get lost in buracratic limbo.

[rewooh]

Same here... however Toynami has been very rude and not too talkative in their communications with me and I still have no idea when my replacement will come.

That's odd, their customer service was pretty polite and communicative to me.

I sent a very kindly worded request for an exchange to them via email with no anger or hostility whatsoever (that was reserved for this board here) and quite a while later all I got back from them was tantamount to a simple "Yeah, return it" with an address to ship it to and a reference number. No apologies, no sympathies, no excuses, no nothing. Very rude and blunt, not what you would expect from a company that "cares" about their customer base. I sent my busted ass toy to them last week along with a nice hostile letter (their almost "automated reply" brevity and tone just broke the f'ing dam for me) and USPS says they delivered it last week and still no word from them as to the status of my return.

Either I got the crappiest toy of the line and then dealt with the crappiest online customer service person they employ and now my toy sits in limbo due to some internal organizational error... or they have more issues with their company than just their toys.

As I said a looooooong time ago in this thread, I've had other bad toys but this entire experience is just a beast from hell to me. Never, never, never will I buy another one of their products as long as I live. And if they are reading my responses to this torked toy of mine get off your ass and process my exchange!

That's weird I didn't get a reference number just an address. I hope mine doesn't get lost in buracratic limbo.

me too.

they told me to send and copy of the recpiet of whre i got it from, copy of the email and the toy it self.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Did they at least say "send a copy of this email"? The reply message they sent to me was only two sentances long which consisted of "please send all exchanges to this address (address). Please reference (number) and include a printout of this email."

Edit: perhaps it was because I did not have a "receipt" that they gave me a reference number. Maybee the nice friendly person had to clear it with their supervisor or something.

Edited September 1, 2004 by JsARCLIGHT

[Opus]

Did they at least say "send a copy of this email"? The reply message they sent to me was only two sentances long which consisted of "please send all exchanges to this address (address). Please reference (number) and include a printout of this email."

Edit: perhaps it was because I did not have a "receipt" that they gave me a reference number. Maybee the nice friendly person had to clear it with their supervisor or something.

All they told me to send was the toy and a copy of the receipt. I didn't even think about putting a copy of the email in there until I had already sent it. One weird thing is they asked me where I wanted the replacement shipped in the email. At least I was cheap and sent it fed-ex so I have a tracking # and I'll know when they get it. As soon as fed-ex shows it's been delivered I'll start bugging them about it. I get the feeling they're such a small operation it won't be too bad.

[Mechfactory.com]

I am not a Robotech.com employee. I live in Maryland and work for a engine/power gen company. I related the facts of my return to the forum as it happened, And anyone who does not beleve me is more than welcom to pm so we can discuss the matter. You people should remember I processed my return almost one day after the toy was released, now that there are several thousand units out there and it seems based on the boards both here and on other sites that the failure rate is running about 25 to 35% if not higher. Can you imagine what the, probably 5 to 6 people in the customer service department are going through, because I would be willing to bet that they are not staffed properly, if the mangement can't run a company well enough to build and sell a simple toy, they for damn shure are not worried about the poor 5 or 6 schmucks who have to deal with all the return calls. It's no wonder that those 5 or 6 people are getting a little frutrated and short when dealing with 500 people who are bitching about a broken toy. It's not the customer service people we need to be bitching at it's Managment and the complete moron who approved the design in the first place, cause I kind of dubt that they did any "real world" testing with fans who did not work for the company. Before my company releases a new engine we give it to 20 or 30 people who are not in anyway involved with the company and we let them run the crap out of the engine then we take all the feed back both good and bad and make product adjustments before the engine is ever offered for sale to the public, and continue to make improvements to the product for as long as that engine model is for sale to the public. Perhaps someone should explane that to HG. Without the customer you have no bussiness, No bussiness = no profit, no profit = no job.

[Graham]

Can you imagine what the, probably 5 to 6 people in the customer service department are going through, because I would be willing to bet that they are not staffed properly, if the mangement can't run a company well enough to build and sell a simple toy, they for damn shure are not worried about the poor 5 or 6 schmucks who have to deal with all the return calls. It's no wonder that those 5 or 6 people are getting a little frutrated and short when dealing with 500 people who are bitching about a broken toy.

From what I understand, Toynami is not a very large company, so I bet they only have 1 or 2 people handling customer service and theose people are probably not full time on customer service, they most likely have other duties to attend to as well.

Graham

[Montarvillois]

and theose people are probably not full time on customer service, they most likely have other duties to attend to as well.

Graham

Yup,

I'm willing to bet the other duties are to assemble and paint new Alphas.

It's an infernal circle...

[eugimon]

I think it's a very fair comparison. What did you mean by "With the 1/60 we knew what we were getting into"? I bought the Macross Plus 1/72 line and there were major problems with those. The only 1/60 I have left has loose hips (as bad as MPC's arms) and the annoying leg-swap. Toynami probably could have made a better toy had they made the legs removable. I have the 2 side-by-side and they look good together. Like I said though, the MC Alpha has a much more complictaed paint job than any of the 1/60's most of which were molded in color.

I did have to take apart the hip of my VF-1 to make it less floppy.

In fact, my only real complaint withthe NMC alpha are the little paint flubs (2) and the crappy landing gear. This is my first Toynami MC toy and I like it.

Also Yamato had lot s of problems with various toys. Need I remind anyone of the VF-11B's hips? I remember some of them having legs that fell off right out of the box. Or the infamous Tab B on the 1/72 YF-19? Several people broke the shoulders on the YF-21. How about the fact you cannot rotate the 1/60's shoulders forward without the chest popping out of place? The removable cockpit, Loose missiles, etc? What about paint chips? Almost all the Yamato's with diecast are susceptible to paint chips.

I think it is fair to compare this toy with the 1st and 2nd toys Yamato made, which I own as well.

please, no one mentioned anything about the macross plus toys.

this was strictly concerning the alpha versus the 1/60 valks.

a quick look over the last few pages and you will see numerous people who have had problems with:

alpha assembled with still wet paint

various parts breaking off:

arms

missile hatches

sensor hatch

hands falling apart

(since you brought it up, versus two issues for the 1/72 line, one resolved right away )

alphas assembled with missing parts.. like the little rubber washers they use on the joints.

alphas that do not transform properly, legs are not symmetrical.

limbs that do not extend fully

and those are just the QC errors. how about design problems?

the missiles in the arm are only 1/3 exposed.

the fighter mode bows, with the nose pointing up.

the landing gear that does not reach the ground

the diecast metal on weak hinges

the lack of posability due to weak joints (floppy arm syndrome)

now, compare to the 1/60.

I'm sorry, but floppy hips and arms that don't rotate fully really don't compare.

And yeah, the 1/60 does require part swapping... and? that's something we knew from the beginning.. it wasn't a surprise... toynami didn't tell me that I would have to take a chisel to my alpha to get it to transform.

and yes, bring up the 1/72 scale toys now as well.. though, they had nothing to do with this.. let's bring up the MPCs then, shall we?

let's see.. Tab B... fixed on second batch.

MPC: floppy legs that won't stay put in fighter or battroid mode... never fixed.

VF-11B's hips: yup, that sucked, bad yamato.

mpc: hands that won't stay lock in the extended position, never fixed.

broken shoulders on the yf-21: how is that yamato's fault? that's neither a manufacturing defect or design flaw, most people didn't break that joint.

as for the paint job.. yes, the alpha does have a more difficult paint job... and? toynami is the one that chose to paint their hands instead of just having them molded in plastic of the right color

toynami is the one that chose to paint the knees, instead of molding in color.

they made those decisions and they couldn't do it right...

and please, all die cast is going to chip... even soul of chogokin stuff. even the almight MPC prime. the difference is, at least out of the box, that die cast is good, with the exception of the occasional mistake... the MPC on the other hand, is flawed, with the exception of the occasional good unit.

want proof? just look at all the returns. people offloading their alphas left and right. stores refusing to take returns or exchanges because of the high rate of damaged stock.

you like yours? that's great, I like mine too.. but really, trying to compare the alpha to anything other than the MPC vf-1 line is a joke.

[macu5454]

OMG!!!! Dude check the Robotech forums now!! Some guy is trying to rally some unhappy customers to sue Toynami. This guy sounds serious he is a Law student at Wiltern University. HAHAHAHAA

[Kin]

Cool... I'm not suprised. There's are alot of strong arguments and facts that the product's flawrate is too high. That's a bad thing for consumers. To think that a company could get away with these figures is not most likely

( Robotech.com forum is running very slow, anyone got the same problem here?)

Edited September 1, 2004 by Kin

[BoBe-Patt]

ok, if anybody runs into an alpha numbered 0777, or even 7777, let me know!

[Drad]

( Robotech.com forum is running very slow, anyone got the same problem here?)

I posted my Alpha review there a few days ago, and it made me remember why I never go there anymore. Case in point, I needed to edit a post I wrote and I couldn't, because they have a 10-minute timeframe in which you can edit your posts. I spent it waiting for friggin' pages to load.

It's ALWAYS slow.

Edited September 1, 2004 by Drad

[Global]

OMG!!!! Dude check the Robotech forums now!! Some guy is trying to rally some unhappy customers to sue Toynami. This guy sounds serious he is a Law student at Wiltern University. HAHAHAHAA

Thats just silly. Sure the QC sucks and the toy is overpriced, but Toynami seems to be doing a good job of replacing defective units. From what I've heard, if you e-mail them and send it in, they'll send you a new one. A law suit will never get anywhere.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

how will it never get anywhere? Toynami aint above the law!

[JELEINEN]

how will it never get anywhere? Toynami aint above the law!

What have they done that's illegal?

[Opus]

how will it never get anywhere?  Toynami aint above the law!

What have they done that's illegal?

They've offended fanboys. An offense punishable by death.

It's interesting how the one who seem to be bitching the most don't even own an MPC alpha.

[Lynx7725]

how will it never get anywhere? Toynami aint above the law!

And what law do you intent to prosecute Toynami under?

I'm not a lawyer, but there's not much ground to sue. False representation? For the MPC Veritech, maybe, but for the Alpha, I don't quite think there is sufficient grounds.

The pricing was announced early, the scale was made known early, the die-cast content was hefty, it's just shoddy worksmanship. And unless the shoddy worksmanship result in death or disability, it's not likely to hold up as a case.

Coupled with Toynami's willingness to exchange damaged Alphas for (AFAIK) brand new Alphas, Toynami may be able to walk away with a praise for good customer service (but lousy design/ QC).

Toynami ain't above the law, yes, but it hadn't broken any as far as I know.

[Godzilla]

I got mine yesterday.

First off, I was real disappointed with the MPC Rick Hunter. I mean a huge let down. From then on, I never buy a full priced toy from Toynami. I got the 2x Alpha at a discount from an un-named store.

Now on to the alpha. I opened the first box # 3208. the other is 3205. I was not disappointed for some reason prolly b/c I expected the worse since I saw complaints here and at other places. I was real happy till a couple of things I ran into.

1. The left Landing gear is too loose to stay in place. That sucks because I like to have the fighter mode with gears down. But I still like the fighter mode.

2. Floppy arm syndrome. Yes cant pose the arm with the gun real well.

3. Mr. Big foot. Feet seems big, too big. No big deal in battloid mode.

4. Looks like the landing gears does not help it clear the chest from touching the ground.

No real outstanding problems except the loos landing gear. Any way to repair it?

Overall, I give it a 8 out of 10. No paint issues. Now I will open the 2nd box tonight.

[Godzilla]

how will it never get anywhere?  Toynami aint above the law!

And what law do you intent to prosecute Toynami under?

I'm not a lawyer, but there's not much ground to sue. False representation? For the MPC Veritech, maybe, but for the Alpha, I don't quite think there is sufficient grounds.

The pricing was announced early, the scale was made known early, the die-cast content was hefty, it's just shoddy worksmanship. And unless the shoddy worksmanship result in death or disability, it's not likely to hold up as a case.

Coupled with Toynami's willingness to exchange damaged Alphas for (AFAIK) brand new Alphas, Toynami may be able to walk away with a praise for good customer service (but lousy design/ QC).

Toynami ain't above the law, yes, but it hadn't broken any as far as I know.

I think it might be a scare tactic. I have seen it where Juries give these outrageous damages to be paid by companies for stupid things. Dont think this wont pass. A good lawyer could definitely get a way with it.

[rocco_77]

Geezus... someone is trying to sue??? LOL! Man, get a freaking life... Return the toy for a full refund and be done with it.... The only thing I would be upset about if I had to return my Alpha, is if they didn't cover the shipping. $10 for a toy I'm not going to keep is B.S.