Other Toy Companies: Quality Worse Than Mattel.

[Anti-Guru]

I thought I'd start a thread where toy collectors could chime in and talk about some of their own QC finds with other brands from other companies.

I recently purchased a DC Direct Crisis on Infinite Earths Supergirl. I was surprised to see that she is covered with paint blotches and overall, she's not very impressive regarding quality and attention to detail. She seems to have been manufactured in a bass ackwards fashion, where most companies cast the figure in the prominent color used and the rest is painted... this figure was cast in the color least used, and most of it is painted. For example, Supergirl's legs are cast in red, the only thing red on her legs are her boots, the rest of the leg is painted in a sloppy flesh paint. Otherwise, she is nice... but I have to admit that Mattel's DCU figures are made much better, which is surprising to me.

[Mechanizor]

I've heard some of Bandai's lines where painted poorly like the 8" ThunderCats line, and a bunch of McFarlane's old lines were so fragile and break easily, and I can attest to that myself with the fantasy Dragons line.

[barrasco]

Bandai's ThunderCats line was aimed at kids. For comparison to MOTUC you should check their adult collector lines, they don't cheap out on paint apps and give you an overall very good looking figure. I'm talking about Saint Seiya Myth Cloth and Figuarts. Also look at the Figma line from Max Factory for some impressive action figures... they're actually able to execute that "physically impossible" task of giving you a proper fitting leotard bottom.

On-topic, I actually only collect these kind of lines and that's why I'm very harsh at MOTUC most of the times. It saddens me that we have to be stuck with an incompetent engineering team and a lying brand manager who tries to sell the figures for what they're not.

[GREP-A-TOR]

Well, when you are talking supposed ADULT COLLECTOR LINES, I personally can't think of too many that fall into MOTUC's category. Less than $30, but chock full of QC problems.

[barrasco]

Well, when you are talking supposed ADULT COLLECTOR LINES, I personally can't think of too many that fall into MOTUC's category. Less than $30, but chock full of QC problems.

Your comment makes a lot of sense, though we have to remember that this line is being marketed by ***guru as a "high end adult collector line", and that's also used to justify the high pricing.

However, some of the decisions they make indicate that they manufacture these figures more with children in mind than actual adults. From the huge and ugly articulation pins, safety standards regulation they have to follow (why if these are for adults?), to the overall brainless decisions as if the costumer wouldn't notice (missing paint apps, substantial deviation from prototypes, "China" sings pretty visible in accessories, smoothed parts), etc... MOTUC just looks like a retail line for little kids when compared with other adult lines.

So either the "adult collector" stamp is a lie or they just don't know what they're doing.

[Anti-Guru]

Its a lie. Like you said, it's part of the justification of high price. When the line first started, it seemed to lean more toward the adult collector style. Now with figures like The Unnamed One and Double Trouble and the overall loss in quality... it's looking more and more like a retail line. I have to admit though DC Direct is garbage compared to Mattel.

[Mechanizor]

Agreed. This collector labeling crap is only there to justify the premium price and the high manufacturing cost dogma...

[Dark Angel]

I have to be fair...I used to have way more problems with McFarlane Toys and the old ToyBiz Marvel Legends than I have with any of Mattel's product. However, Mattel is a fairly close third. Other companies...the problems have been so rare and so mild, they don't really stand out. Things like getting a Cobra Alley Viper with a G.I. Joe stand, or a Transformer with a missing paint application that was so low-key I didn't notice for literally years. Literally next-to-nothing stuff, IMHO. And I have never, ever seen any other company just completely remake/remodel whole portions of prototypes arbitrarily like Mattel. All told, I believe Mattel is easily the toymaker with the worst QA/QC currently in business.