i remember getting the first batch of joes when they came out and i think back to how quickly their thumbs started breaking from just trying to put their own weapon in their hands. after years of hearing everyone else complain about all the broken thumbs the crotches too of course but mostly i just dont understand how they were ever released with those thumbs. it doesnt take long at all to discover those thumbs were a consistent problem.

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The very very first batch of Joes ..... like the very, VERY first ones that hit retail were finished last minute during an all-nighter with the design team etc. If they didn't get them done THAT night and shipped off to China etc then they would miss a window to have them pantographed etc. I was told the first samples they got back were pretty bad but they had to kind of roll with it and had very little time to fix things. It was a huge oversight. I know that they were aware of QC issues at that time. Let me ask around and see if I can get any info on further issues etc after that batch.

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Yet all my original Joes still have their thumbs.

QC Standards were different back then. I never had a figure break a thumb the first time I put a weapon in their hand right out of the package. Had it happened, I would have returned it and gotten a replacement. It was fatigue over time.

I think it's also along the lines of a recall on a vehicle. The first model year is usually the most plagued with issues as there only so many things you can discover with R&D testing. The vehicle needs to be out there with many new owners for all the bugs to be worked out. The next year, those issues are taken care of.
The next year for figures the plastic was less brittle, crotches were redesigned and swivel arms were added, having learned things from the first run of figures.

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There was no collector market for action figures. The entire secondary market for toys were garage sales. Nobody was concerned about making a toy that would last for over year much less 30.

Even then, the only figures that broke right off were ones I know we abused the crap out of. The ones we had climb trees and dangle holding a branch 20 feet above the ground. The tan grunt hat got thrown repeatedly into the ground. The Clutch figure I sent rolling down a set of concrete steps in a Tonka race car. The Torpedo that played in every bath, river, puddle, and lake until his screws rusted to dust. Those figures led dangerous lives.

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Grunt was the only figure that had the thumb problem for me. I went through a ton, taking them back to the stores. Finally I wrote Hasbro, and they sent me one, plus a price list for accessories like guns, helmets and backpacks. Try getting individual accessories now.

The only thumb I ever broke was my Snake-Eyes v2, but that was because I put him in a situation I shouldn't have. I learned my lesson and replaced his arms with a spare set of Flint v1...

That said, I didn't bang my Hot Wheels, Johnny Lightning, or other cards together.

I didn't mistreat my toys by dropping them off the roof, and I certainly (shudders) didn't blow up my JOEs with firecrackers (for those that did...why?).

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I recall going through a few Zaps, Grunt lost both his thumbs eventually, some of the rest hung on well for some time, though I think only Flash, Scarlett and the vehicle drivers' thumbs survived in the long term. I mean, who didn't give Breaker a weapon once they had one to spare? Or arm Short Fuze with a close range weapon?

I wonder what made us still want them so much? They did get better after the first year, but that was a loooong time in kid time (time flies by as you age). I guess the concept was just that good that we overlooked it.

They still aren't in my opinion. These rubber vests and straps on the new figures are not going to age well. I already run into figures that less then 5 years old already have problems with their vests staying fastened. No play wear, obviously used carefuly or largely for display but the vests do not buckle well.

Also the guns rubber banded into the rubbery hands does damage in the long term, So a 20 year old 25th anniversary MOC figure has to stay MOC because once you open it he has deformed hands from the rubber bands.

Also I no longer store my 25th figures with their helmets on or weapons in holsters because the paint on the rubbery pieces like the head sticks to the inside of the helmet after a few years and then when you take it off it takes some paint with it. Learned that one the hard way too.

i didnt play with my joes that rough and they always had broken thumbs, it drove me crazy i had all theses guns and nowhere to put them.

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I ran into this problem today. I'm making a Tan Clutch, but I only have one Clutch head to between my 25th Clutch and this custom. I went to take the green helmet off 25th Clutch and it was stuck on tight. I had to put my X-acto blade between the head and helmet and actually ripped the helmet and some of Clutch's hair stayed in the helmet when I finally got it pried off. Fortunately for everyone involved, I had two helmets so that I could maintain a green one and then paint one tan.

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yeah I decided next time I end up with a stuck helmet or knife that I am going to try soaking in warm water to see if that loosens it up first. Do not know if it will help but it is the first thing that I am going to try.

It's not super well documented Variation, but There are Thin and Thick thumb versions of Every Strait arm figure...

So Hasbro was obviously working on it... They changed thumbs, they changed Zap's Bazooka, Short-fuze's mortar, etc.

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