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DCUC’s pain in the neck
NoisyDVL5 of ItsAllTrue.net has posted an interesting update to his DCUC ball-joint neck post, showing that the double barbell peg used for earlier waves has been replaced by a triple barbell peg that’s anchored in the chest. This appears to be the cause of the disappearing DCUC ball joint neck. I’m going to post about it here, but all credit goes to Noisy for chasing this story, and you should be sure to read his post.
I’m not entirely clear on why this is limiting the neck articulation–how does the number of barbells make a difference? Isn’t the head just supposed to slide around on the top ball? If that’s the case, the problem should be too little distance between the top of the neck and the bottom of the head (due either to the peg being too low, the bottom of the head being too tight around the peg hole, or the peg hole being drilled too deep into the head).
Whatever the reason, it appears Mr. Terrific’s head works fine on Robotman’s body, so NoisyDVL5 may be on to something here.
The most worrying part of all of this is that not only is it showing up more and more on DCUC figures, but Mattel seems to not only be aware of the issue, but possibly doing it intentionally. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get on board with those very cynical collectors who believe Mattel is deliberately trying to scuttle DCUC, but weird, disappointing problems like the amazing disappearing ball-jointed necks are just inexcusable in a $14 action figure.
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This item has 22 comments (now closed):
Nicholai
11.24.2009 10.04
What I don’t understand is what advantage the triple barbell gives over the double. DCUC had some great head articulation (barring hair/cape/helmet problems which I accept) up until recently and I don’t see why they’d change as they must’ve known what would happen when they did so.
jestergoblin
11.24.2009 10.19
A double peg allows both the top and bottom parts to move, allowing for greater expression. This way, the peg can up and down.
The triple peg locks the bottom two in place making it so the peg is little more than a peg joint with very minimal vertical movement.
Tekwych
11.24.2009 10.23
The old range of motion comes from two ball joints working in tandem. By using a third ball and locking two of them in a static position you lose half of that range. What gets me is that this required a complete re-tooling of the basic buck body, something that is counter to the main reason for a buck body. It could be possible that the factory, or a new factory, ‘refreshed’ the tooling without telling Mattel they were making changes but it still shows a lack of inspection on Mattel’s side.
Philip Reed
11.24.2009 10.25
Weird. I obviously know very little about engineering because I would have thought that three balls are better than two. Isn’t more of something almost always better?
Poe
11.24.2009 10.55
@Philip Reed:
You may need to have a talk with your doctor, friend.
Newton Gimmick
11.24.2009 11.05
Heyooooo!
Sped
11.24.2009 11.09
I’m not sure the extra ball is the issue. I think it has more to do with how the new top ball is shaped and how the head sits on that.
If you look closely the bottom is flattened where as the original is a full sphere shape. I would think the extra ball on the bottom stabilizes the joint but i think how the new ball is shaped and how the holes are drilled is what is creating this mess.
George
11.24.2009 11.22
@Poe: ahahahhahahaha!.
@Sped: Seems possible.
Anyway, in the Noisy’s article is states that Collectors have been able to fix this by sanding down the joints. Does someone have a step by step guide as to how to do that? I tried it with beast boy and well I just didn’t understand what I had to do.
PrfktTear
11.24.2009 11.30
Very interesting. I always wondered what the insides of these things looked like.
I think I agree with Sped though, that might have more to do with the shape of the top ball and how the head fits on it.
Regardless of what the problem is, its disappointing, like Poe said, for a $14 figure, the ball jointed head should be expected. Especially since this is a “collector” line, and where do most figures end up? Posed on a shelf… the loss of the articulation is a disappointment.
PrfktTear
11.24.2009 11.32
@George: I’m sure someone’s got something out there… but I’d presume just boil, pop off the head, use a really fine sand paper, and pop the head back on. I’d be really careful though, not to sand off too much. I’d just do a little and keep putting the head back on until you get the right range of movement.
George
11.24.2009 13.50
@PrfkTear: See thats where im confused, what do I sand down?, I used a curved knife to remove plastic from the inside of the head (where the hole for the peg is) but it didn’t do anything to its motion. Do i have to shave off the back of the head,like where it meets with the neck?
finkrod
11.24.2009 14.28
I think he’s saying to sand down the actual ball at the top of the neck peg. Just use some fine grain sandpaper and keep replacing the head periodically to make sure the range of motion has improved, but that it doesn’t get too loose.
PrfktTear
11.24.2009 16.04
yeah, what fink said i said… thats what i’m saying.
NoisyDvL5
11.24.2009 18.39
Sorry, guys. I may have to revisit the article and be more clear about the customizers who have fixed the heads. They sanded down the head cavity and made it less shallow. The ball itself is the right size. The heads have always been a little shallow, but the double barbell corrected for it. Now both issues have locked the heads up. Carving out the heads will give back some motion, but the anchored barbell will have to go to get back the greater head range.
As for needing both ends of the barbell to work. It’s like a lever. The range is greater when we move the figure at the base of the ball in the neck instead of at the top of the ball in the head. Like Tek said, they should work in tandem.
Here’s a diagram that didn’t make it into the article:
http://www.itsalltrue.net/newsimages/matty/barbelldiagram.jpg
And thanks for the “Retweet” Poe! It is appreciated.
Doc Schrute
11.24.2009 21.20
Over at the Fwoosh one of the handier members posted instructions with pictures, but you need certain tools to do it.
http://www.thefwoosh.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1694760#p1694760
Looks like it yields pretty good results.
Supermanjunkie78
11.24.2009 22.36
Why did they do this? Its obviously more expensive with the additional ball! It decreases the awesome head articulation of the figure and lessens the quality of these figures! Why Mattel why!??!?!? Toy Guru has got to get to the bottom of this FAST!!!!
Philip Reed
11.25.2009 9.26
@Poe: Nice.
Poe
11.25.2009 9.38
@NoisyDvL5: The diagram helps…I think I get it now. The MOTUC heads do a better job of showing how the head is supposed to work, I think.
However, it’s still obvious that newer DCUC figures have much more limited “subtle” motion on the top ball than earlier ones did. Heck, the peg for the DCSH3 Batman didn’t have any wiggle room at all, but the head moved all over the top ball.
Dead Man Walking
11.25.2009 10.15
@Supermanjunkie78: It’s funny that changed something that everyone loved, yet they continue to ignore fans when they ask for changes that they would actually like!
Mattel is fucking evil, man.
PrfktTear
11.25.2009 11.12
MOTUC heads are great, you can sorta cock them forward or back, and then still move the head. I like giving He-Man that sorta hunched look, same for Beastman.
George
11.25.2009 12.48
Wow so I was trying it and well now my guardian has a broken neck.
edit:
So it looks like Some of the heads have som sort of deformation, where they filled in the hole with hard plastic thus causing it to break the peg. I did it with my Beast boy and it popped out fine.
Thomas B
11.25.2009 21.33
see, this is what is weird. why would the tool something new when we are told over and over till it is more popular than the 10 commandments that tooling dollars are what hinders unique sculpts.
yet her ewe have newly sculpted pieces that infact HINDER movement and are a step back from what we have had??\
i also agree that the MOTUC heads give us a great range of motion like the NECA TMNT figs.