An excerpt from the Ultimate Source newsletter:
The Fulgore Mark 03 is the pinnacle of the Ultratech army and great care was taken to make sure that his figure lives up the history that this iconic character has. Fulgore is unique from the rest of the figures in Wave 1 in that he was molded in a special metallic type paint which helped in giving him his iconic look. Additionally, Fulgore has the most amount of articulation in any of the Wave 1 figures, 10 points in total! We were able to give him this many (including being able to articulate into his Taunt pose) mainly because it doesn’t take from the essence of the character. Finally, Fulgore is one of the biggest figures in the Wave 1 lineup. Measuring at over 7” without his base, this Mark 03 Unit will make a great addition to your collection!
The part that concerns me is this in particular:
he was molded in a special metallic type paint which helped in giving him his iconic look.
I don’t know how many people have heard of this, but there is a common problem with metallic toys, typically called gold plastic syndrome (at least in Transformer fan circles):
Gold Plastic Syndrome - Transformers Wiki
It’s not something that’s exclusive to Transformers either. I had a Masters of the Universe Hurricane Hordak that fell apart in similar fashion. his shoulder sockets were made of metallic plastic, snapped off in his arm.
I’m hoping the guys making Fulgore are taking this into consideration, because between having metallic filament & the most articulation of any of the KI figures, we could very well see a ton of broken Fulgores in the near future. I surely hope not though.
As someone who builds, paints and makes models with arm articulation, it’s all about the paint you use, along with how you make your articulation points. If I can do this by myself in my friend’s kitchen, I doubt they will have an issue. Though, I’m not sure what plastic or paint they are using, so I can’t say anything definitive. I’m also not going to order another Shago figure just to break it apart and study their articulation. I’d rather do it to a test model that wasn’t a limited edition deal.
Yeah, but it sounds like you’re talking about paint that is applied to a figure where they’re talking about the paint/dye/ whatever that is added to the polymer to make it the final color…& that’s where the gold plastic syndrome comes into play. If the plastic degrades enough articulation won’t necessarily matter… It can cause breakage anyway, but with Fulgore having so much articulation it may go even faster.
Generally, I only use certain plastic (with no added paint) then prime and paint it. The problem with this is that if the paint isn’t applied correctly it will take damage through normal wear and tear. The style you’re talking about is to make wear and tear less notice at a distance.
The only reason I do it the way I do is because they are for show only. That means little wear and tear so there are very rare cases where I have to repaint them. However, I can understand that second way being used if you intend people to play or use them.
The problem with those models may be the way the plastic and paint is mixed, or the ratio of the mix.
I will not be touching them outside of setting them up for display. Not because of this reason you’ve brought up, but just because I’d rather show my collection, than “play” with them.
Yeah, I’m probably going to handle mine a bit. Kinda a side effect from Transformer collecting: I’ve gotta handle them some…see them with my hands as well as my eyes. After that though, yeah it’ll be on a shelf most likely collecting dust.
From what I’ve seen so far with Shago the quality is quite nice, very similar to modern Masters of the Universe quality. & honestly I may be sounding the alarm unnecessarily, but it’s hard to tell until one day 3 years from now you go to pose him & his leg snaps off.