Toy Review - JP Masterpiece Soundwave

[VERT]

Hey Kup if you want to send the bird boy to me I should be able to fix him. Im a sculptor I could make a new fin for it. And send him back to you? Just an idea. :-)

[Tober]

Thanks Hursty but official toys are not like the 3rd parties which would give you replacement and improved parts for free. Once upon a time Tak-Tom would have cared but not these days. I just have to fix the toy myself.

Who did you order from?

Please don't say Robot Kingdom...

[GoktimusPrime]

Thanks Hursty but official toys are not like the 3rd parties which would give you replacement and improved parts for free. Once upon a time Tak-Tom would have cared but not these days. I just have to fix the toy myself.

How do you know TakTOM don't send free replacement parts anymore? Granted I've never needed to receive one from them since my MP01 incident in early 2004... has there been an incident where TakTOM have outright refused to send a replacement part to someone? The only reason I can imagine why they would do that is if the person purchased the Transformer from outside Japan, because then it falls outside their 'jurisdiction'.

When I called Takara about MP01 problem, they initially advised me to bring the toy back to where I bought it from for an exchange. So then I told them that I was in Australia, and after that they said that they couldn't help me if I bought the toy from outside Japan. I told them that my toy did come directly from Japan and not from a foreign source (e.g. U.S. based online store, so if you got your toy from say a Japanese based online store like Amiami or HLJ, then I imagine that it should still count and they should still be obliged to service the toy for you); so after that they agreed to send me replacement parts for free, and also gave me some extra freebies for my troubles. I've not heard of Takara's policy on this change since then.

[kup]

How do you know TakTOM don't send free replacement parts anymore? Granted I've never needed to receive one from them since my MP01 incident in early 2004... has there been an incident where TakTOM have outright refused to send a replacement part to someone? The only reason I can imagine why they would do that is if the person purchased the Transformer from outside Japan, because then it falls outside their 'jurisdiction'.

I don't live in Japan and don't speak Japanese. Even so, given the contemporary corporate climate, I am doubtful it would work even if I did. My only avenue would be to bring it to the store and hope for the best as I would have done here if bought locally.

Anyways, after blood and tears, I have been able to fix my Laserbeak. The engine is visibly scarred on one side but it is not immediately noticeable in a display so no risk of 'WTF happened your laserbeak?!' reactions from anyone who sees it.

The hardest part by far was trying to maintain functionality and playability in the transformation. That required lots of trial and error and often I thought I was failing more than anything until I got it right. Still, not a good experience.

I will wait till I calm down more before I write my views on the actual toy, don't want to contaminate any of the toy's features with my current mood from the incident.

Who did you order from?

Please don't say Robot Kingdom...

Won't say it because you told me not to

[Tober]

Won't say it because you told me not to

Dang, just about any other supplier probably could have helped you out. On the few occasions I've had Transformers breakages HLJ have always sorted me out.

RK's post-sales service is appalling.

[kup]

What happened to my post? At least you quoted it!

The couple of times I had issues with toys, RK was very helpful so I can't complain about them in that regard. However they were issues with one miss-assembled early PE toy and just mistakes in shipment. Nothing like this.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I'm taking the risk and waiting for that Hasbro release.
I'll hopefully have enough money by then.

Yeah, doing the same

[Tober]

What happened to my post? At least you quoted it!

The couple of times I had issues with toys, RK was very helpful so I can't complain about them in that regard. However they were issues with one miss-assembled early PE toy and just mistakes in shipment. Nothing like this.

Your post? I only quoted the last sentence as that's what was relevant to my query?

I guess you could try asking RK if you want to. When I got the first edition MP Rodimus Convoy and it fell apart they never bothered responding to me.

[kup]

Your post? I only quoted the last sentence as that's what was relevant to my query?

I guess you could try asking RK if you want to. When I got the first edition MP Rodimus Convoy and it fell apart they never bothered responding to me.

Despite what happened with MP Soundwave's Laserbeak, MP Rodimus remains my worst MP experience. That toy should not have been released as it was.

[GoktimusPrime]

I don't live in Japan and don't speak Japanese. Even so, given the contemporary corporate climate, I am doubtful it would work even if I did. My only avenue would be to bring it to the store and hope for the best as I would have done here if bought locally.

Okay, but I think there's a difference between saying, "I am unable to access TakaraTOMY's services," and saying, "TakaraTOMY doesn't care about customer service." My personal experience with Takara's customer service has always been fantastic, and granted my experience with them replacing a part was before their merger with Tomy, but unless we've heard of an incident from someone who's had a bad experience with their post-Tomy customer service, I think it's somewhat unfair to just assume that it's gotten any worse since then.

And you are right in that they would advise you to return to the store of purchase for a refund/exchange. But in my situation, I explained to them that my MP01 had indeed been purchased from a store in Japan, but since I was in Australia when the toy was opened I couldn't very well bring it back to that store for a recompense. Once I'd explained my circumstances to them, Takara were extremely cooperative and helpful. But yeah, Takara won't service a toy if it was purchased outside of Japan (I guess it essentially voids the "warranty").