Via Shockwave Lab Weibo we have images of their next product: SL-67 Beam Effect Parts For Siege Figures.
Considering the good reception on the official Siege effects, Shockwave Lab is offering longer blast effects (120 mm long) compatible with 3 mm ports. The effects include a muzzle flash part to connect to the figures’ guns. They are available in 2 Colors: orange and purple. Ideal for great battle pictures.
We still have no information on price or release date of this upgrade kit, but Shockwave Lab products don’t take much time to be available once they show images.
Click on the bar to see the mirrored images on this news post and then let us know your impressions on the 2005 Boards!
T-Hybrid
So the safe bet is to keep the effects pieces somewhat separate from anything that may have paint, which I can absolutely do. If they melt inside a plastic bag but don't damage anything else…that's fine.
SectorStar
Thats where we run into a bit of a grey area because the problem is a newly discovered issue that hasn't had much time to study about it. As I said in my previous post, leaving them stored on the Battlemasters they came with I'm sure is fine as those were cast in solid plastic in the colors they are and paint wasn't added after the fact. I'd say for sure though DO NOT leave them stored on other figures (deluxe size and up) for an extended amount of time because with bigger figures theres always lots of areas where paint was added to the plastic after the fact. Infact with the Siege line "paint being added after" really applies to this line because from what I understand with people trying to remove, the "battle damaged" paint thats in various spots on those figures was added after and seems to be easy to remove with the exception of a couple figures for those that hated it. As I also said in my example someone left an effect piece on their Siege Ultra Magnus gun and it already melted the paint off it in just 3 days. The silver paint on his gun was obviously added to the gun after the fact. At best I'd say just don't have them touching other figures besides the ones they came with if you have them in some type of container or bag.
Now I never owned the CW Megatron molds, but from what I read from other memembers, at least in robot mold apparently the rubber treads aren't touching any paint, so storing/displaying in robot mode will save the figures. The ROTF Demolisher and Bludgeon molds however……I'm not really sure what to do about those because the rubber treads is touching things in both modes…..other that removing the rubber which most of us probably aren't going to do because than it obviously affects the appearance of both modes…..not really sure we can do much. The good news is this def isn't like GPS where the affected areas are like crumbling to dust and considering it seems like the problem wasn't really noticeable till 10 years after…..its not so bad. But what will they look like in another 10 years? Thats what most of us are wondering and can't answer unfortunately.
octobotimus
I personally just sorta leave stuff on my desk.
T-Hybrid
Not to prod, but what is the recommended way to store these effects pieces then?
bearytrek
cool, been wondering why there haven't been more people making blast effect type accessories
scrapmetaru
I would be all for this and a big slab covered in 5mm pegs for WFC feet.
RodimusRex
Being air tight could be WORSE. In normal conditions, the chemicals might release into the air but without air circulation, these effects can be accelerated.
There are issues with comics in air tight cases where the ink eats through the paper faster in an air tight environment. Fortunately, it’s a slow/subtle enough process that, weighing cost/benefit, a slabbed comic is probably better off than a loose one but perfect preservation typically involves liners between pages that get changed out every few years and slabbed books getting aired out and reslabbed periodically every 10 or so years. But the risk of damage from other factors is worse than the risk of damage from the ink so you can get away with selling slabbed books that have been encased for 20 years at remarkable prices if the book is good. Any super-discerning collector can see when the book was slabbed last.
RodimusRex
Hasbro talked about a separate effects pack.
IMHO, they should just do $25-30 bundles which are a big box of 2-3 of each existing blast effect. One purple box. One yellow box. If those sell, more colors.
RodimusRex
So this is the first time I was like, “I really hope Shockwave Labs includes LEDs”. So, of course, they didn’t.
Just little LED barrel extensions that fit an effect on the other side.
And then a generic blast and muzzle burst effect part.
artiepants
not feeling these.
I still think it was just a HUGE miss on Hasbro's part not to include blast effects with every figure.
They can't cost more then a couple pennies to produce. At the very least it's just criminal the Weaponizers didn't come with them.
ziltama
The idea isn't terrible but using a 3mm rod is a cheap way to do it. You can buy clear 3mm rods for cheaper and spray paint them with transparent colors.
That being said, I'm still tempted to piggyback this onto another order just to see the quality.
Nemesis Scourge
Not my cup of Energon, sorry Shockwave Lab. I would prefer them to be more closer to the official ones.
I hope this spawns more offerings from other companies, but I agree with other opinions in this thread: Someone would have released something like those already.
Nevertheless I still believe that window to release effect parts is still wide open. Especially when HasTak sticks to their guns and keeps on giving us Battle Masters with parts and includes more parts in the MP line.
KnightHawkke
For that matter.. I don't know.. but Disney thinks energy weapons would arc in space so anything is possible!
reluttr
Right, Paint is a lot more sensitive to it than unpainted plastic and is usually the first thing to be damaged. So storing the effect parts with the battle masters short-term should be alright since they are mostly unpainted. Like I said, this was a HUGE problem in the GI Joe collecting community about 10 years ago. People would store away their figures and accessories in plastic sandwich bags, then put those bags in plastic totes, then would crack it open after a couple of years to discover that all of the paint used on the figure had turned sticky and would wipe off easily.
As far as it damaging unpainted plastic, that really depends on the chemistry of the plastic used on that particular batch of figures. That's why some bludgeons and Scavengers are stable while others are really melting badly. To kinda add on to my hypothesis about heat being a contributing factor, it's my understanding that it only worsens the effect in a enclosed area where the off-gassing cant disperse, but it will still damage plastic it is in contact with regardless.
Basically think of this in the same vein as someone polishing a ABS 3D print with Acetone. Acetone will obviously smooth the plastic if directly brushed on to the part, however, it will also slowly polish the plastic if you soak paper towels with acetone, line a container with it, and then seal a 3d print in with it. Now do that, but instead seal the part and paper towels in a heated container such as a crock pot and you see the effect happen much faster and to a much higher degree because the heat causes the acetone to vaporize at a much faster rate, thus causing the vapor to be much more dense as it is evaporating much faster than it can disperse out of the container.
Something I kinda am curious about is what changed during ROTF. Because Hasbro has used rubbery plastics for nosecones and other sharp points for almost as long as the brand has been around. You would have thought someone would have noticed seekers melting or something by now. Whatever they changed, however, has persisted as people have started seeing issues with combiner wars megatron and obviously with the effect parts now.
Beastwarsfan95
A discharge of excess energy as the ionized gases are expelled out of the nozzle.
SectorStar
Talking about the issues made me finally wanna dig out my ROTF Bludgeon. As I said this had been stored in a large plastic container under my bed for almost 10 years and probably only opened a handful of times because I have over 700 transformers in different containers, so some don't get opened or touched as much as others. I had it in tank mode and where the treads were touching, it looked nearly identical to pictures someone posted in that PSA thread where he had 3 versions of the mold (Bludgeon, Bonzaitron, and Gigatron) and all 3 of them had nearly the same problem. So ya, not saying heat isn't 100 percent ruled out, but its def not the cause with all these cases when I had it stored in an air tight container. Someone had just recently posted some pictures of their Demolisher they had stored in bot mod for years, and where the top wheel/tread was touching the figure, it nearly melted the "horns" off completely near the head.
I could be wrong and I'm no scientist, but leaving the effect pieces on the micro/battlemasters themselves I don't think causes any harm because most of those are plastic cast in that color, but not like "painted on"? Which seems to be the problem with the above figures being damaged because the rubber is touching the paint that was added on the plastic afterwords?
T-Hybrid
…so you're saying don't store the effects parts in plastic Ziploc bags with other stuff?
MegaDolrailer
I'm kind of glad these don't look that good, I'm such a sucker for effects parts I'd buy them all
View attachment 28500109
SideswipeFriend2005
Ok wow, now I really look stupid. reluttr and SectorStar: 1, Me: 0.
SectorStar
Thanks for bringing that bit of science out for people to see. Though I will agree that heat certainly could play a part, the problem I have with that is a lot of people posting about the problems with the treads on ROTF Bludgeon and Demolisher molds…..some of them were actually stored in plastic air tight containers for years where I would think anyways there wasn't much exposure to heat? I have mine stored in one such, but haven't got around yet to digging it out and seeing if it affected mine or not.