Funny fact: There’s an SCP foundation article, SCP-4496 and literary titled “gold plastic syndrome (infectious)”, it’s about a beast wars Randy toy that when transformed, it turns it surroundings bitter and breakable Edit: jeez I didn’t expect this comment to be top
Anyone who collected Bionicle sets will tell you there was a similar tragedy with the lime green plastic they used around 2007 onward. It wasn't quite as crumbly as gold plastic but some sets you couldn't even finish building because the lime green sockets would crack and break first time you tried to pop it on the ball joints.
LEGO swapping the classic ball and socket joint in favor of a new, Easier to attach one was also a factor. Said new joint became infamous for how brittle it was.
@@jimhjortsberg2990 I remember this. I loved Bionicle. My Bionicle never stayed together for long either. I remember I had all of the older style of ball-and-socket pieces for years, besides the ones that got lost. Only a few of the newer ones survived. Many of them broke not long after I got them.
I had Gresh from one of the later lines with Mata Nui and I didn't know fully about the Lime Green problem at the time. All I knew was that certain Bionicles with that color seemed to self destruct putting them together and taking them apart for Mocs. I wasn't prepared for Gresh's mask to snap in half, the arm sockets to completely crumble apart when I took them off the ball and the weapon to just snap at the tip. I ended up buying a second one, and the second one turned out to be even worse. The third one I still have in a box somewhere because I'm just scared to touch it. I love the design but damn was that Injection Green Plastic cursed for me. It even had like a cool two toned effect in it but I now know that those were the cursed swirls of GPS. I've also had the same problem with Silver plastic from Bionicle but they seemed to fix that after 2009 or I'm just super lucky. Personally I think it's both.
i love tfwiki's description on G2 Electro's toy page: [second half of the description]: ..."That was Electro in 1994. Today, Electro tends to be a mutilated robot corpse amidst a pile of tiny gold plastic fragments, a dismembered pelvis (and upper legs) with a place to thread a long-ago-snapped rubber band, and a wire that may or may not still be attached to anything. All he can transform into now is a pile of broken dreams."
Broke my friend's Transmetal Megstron and I felt awful about it for years. Then found out that was a known issue and that softened the blow a little. Still feels bad tho
I feel ya man. That sucks to break a friends toy. Thankfully, my friends and I never broke each others toys but...we all came close at some point. We would freak out every time.
At least you have GPS as a defense. As a kid I broke my cousin's G1 Mirage, snapped him in half. I doubt he cares now but back then...actually, I still feel bad about it.
GPS is technically Cosmic Rust on Transformers toys. This somehow also makes me wonder if the gold and silver plastic used in Bandai and Kotobukiya model kits are also prone to self destruct as they age with time.
@@anueutsuho7425 It usually occured on toys originally made by popy which had metallic blue plastic. Which led to the demise of many dairugger/vehicle voltron toys.
Fun Fact: Skyquake actually has two shades of gold/bronze plastic, and the bronze is not susceptible to GPS (or if it is it's taking its sweet time). Only the gold plastic, used only for his gimmick, is susceptible. Fun Fact 2: Of the GPS figures, Skyhammer isn't too bad off despite his volume of the plastic. If the figure was opened early in it's lifespan, most of the plastic is dense enough that it can survive careful transformation.
@@ShadowWingTronix Actually it was because the missiles did not comply with toy safety laws and lengthening them would neuter the carpet-bombing gimmick.
@@NotMyRealName6 Not sure I would have missed that gimmick. It's not the same with what passes for a viewport mirror when you drop them and most of the time I don't do anything with them anyway. Then again, it's a G1 figure so it doesn't exactly have a cool shooting pose to it, so I can see them going with the better play feature for the kids.
i find it interestng the paralels of the brittle plastic syndrome in other toy companies, specifically lego, they have numerous less severe brittle plastic syndromes, with brown, dark red, and lime green, but never had any trouble with gold or clear, the nature of the part structure is of course a factor, with the most egregious examples of lime-plastic syndrome in particular being the ball sockets of bionicles from 2007 to the end of the decade, especially given the awful squared ends redesign in mid 2008, but i digress. legos clear plastic is exceptionally tough and in some cases is even tougher than the default material (immune to acetone melting, weird) they either got lucky with the formula, or learned from others mistakes right out the gate in the early 2000s i believe is when lego first started to make legitimate golden pieces that weren't vacuum plated, i may be wrong but i think it was just limited to the larger pieces that came with bionicle sets at the time, like masks and armor, instead of being brittle, lego traded off for the properties of actual gold (fancy that) the parts were relatively soft and scratched easy, ones fingernails could leave deep gashes in the surface.
GPS is awful, I've noticed other kinds of plastic suffer from it too, including some greys. Hilariously, my mom's VACCUM CLEANER suffered from GPS. The plastic was grey and yellowed over time, and plastic started breaking off like breaking off a Kit Kat. It's plastic destroyed itself before it lost suction, legendary vacuum. Dysons are good. lol 07 Cybertronian Starscream is another that breaks my heart, got that one and instantly had it break.
I started 3D printing replacement parts about a year back to restore my old bots with GPS. The hardest part is finding complete parts to scan and measure. It's amazing to me that we at home can recreate parts that even the designers won't.
G1 Goldbug amazes me He’s made basically _entirely_ out of gold plastic, and I’ve only seen ONE broken copy in my life, and it looked more like a kid just snapped his “arm” off I love that toy
Even though it is called GPS it does have nothing to do with the color of the toy, it's more about how the plastic was casted and/or the proportion of metallic swirl used in the mix. The reason why the fandom called this phenomenon GPS was because the one color that Hasbro/Takara were very fond of mixing with metallic swirl in the 90's was gold-bronce, because it resulted in a really pretty gold color in the toy, and they, at the time, used to much metallic swirl in the plastic to get that effect without knowing of it's longtime effects. Thus, the immense majority of GPS victims were gold in color, which resulted in the occurrence being named GPS, but there're also blue, brown, black, green and orange GPS plastic. The reason Goldbug doesn't have GPS is because it doesn't have that mixture of plastic.
For me, it was the Star Wars Crossovers Millennium Falcon, in particular, the half that turned into Chewbaca. His entire upper arms were gold plastic, and one day, I picked him up, and his right arm just fell apart. Really regret not getting the new version Takara made during the Force Awakens (which both had a better transformation, and NO GOLD PLASTIC).
My Beast Wars 10th anniversary Dinobot, one of my childhood favorites, died to gps a few years ago. It made me quite sad, as I have a lot of good memories of him and the 10th anniversary Rattrap. So when I saw the kingdom figure, I couldn’t resist picking him up.
Wow, I have both the dinobot and Ratrap 10th anniversary editions still mint in box with the build a figure components, guess Dinobot will be forever intomb in his box forever as well as my mint in box transmetal Megatron, my open one dissentergrated in my hands a few years back after learning about the GPS. (sigh)
Transmetal Megatron was my first experience with GPS. Managed to repair his transformation hinges at the arms with a ton of superglue, without limiting their range of motion. So yeah, technically he could still be transformed, but he'll probably remain in robot mode for eternity.
Yeah, mine did the same a few years back, I do have another one mint in box, guess he'll stay that way for the rest of its life. I don't know if any figure, even mint in box would have any value when they have GPS?
Magna Boss and the other combiner were toys I always looked at in the toy catalog with awe. Now that I'm and adult I could go out and buy one but then I saw this. Didn't realize Silverbolt was prone to breaking. Good thing I saw this before I decided to splurge!
Since Hasbro fixed GPS, I soon hope that they fix clear plastic, DOTM Leader Bee's windshield ports and Prime FE Cliffjumper's neck socket. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to make parts that would take more stress and pressure like ports and sockets out of clear plastic which is infamously more brittle. Great video, TJ.
Fun fact: Bandai recently made the same mistake with their Rider Kicks Figure line. Kamen Rider Grease was notorious for his limbs self destructing after owning for only a short time. It actually discouraged me from buying the figure.
@@targetseeker I know about them, too. Especially the black plastic in the OOO Combo Change figures that becomes brittle over time. RKF Grease was just a more recent example. Bandai hopefully has learned their lesson, as Thouser, a similar all gold figure, doesn't seem to have the same fragility issues.
@@felixmanigbas3922 oh good. I asked about it on 4chan once and they acted like I was a crazy person. Google didn't give me the results i was looking for too (though that might be just using the wrong search words).
@@targetseeker I got the info about the OOO figures from multiple sources. From the same Reddit post about RKF Grease, peaugh's review, and several Facebook Marketplace listings for them with glued elbows. The black plastic apparently has something in them that makes it very brittle, especially in the elbows. As for the Souchaku Henshin line, they were notorious for having fragile finger joints. Finding one with complete hands is pretty hard.
I have this silly idea if I were to write a Transformers series. I'd have Monstructor be an early attempt by the Decepticons to create a Combiner without needing the Enigma of Combination, only Monstructor turns completely feral upon combining because of how out-of-sync his components are and the botched process of modifying them. The only thing that stops him is Slog's body giving out with the combination accelerating the spread of his undiagnosed GPS. Their second attempt would be Devastator, which naturally goes better.
I have that Silverbolt somewhere in the loft, one of my first transformers that I got for Christmas. It never broke when I played with it as a child, is it likely to have fallen apart in whatever box its been in for the last 19 years?
Maybe not fallen apart, gold plastic says intact as long as it's not stressed by weight or tension. If it's in a box with something on top of it, it may be broken by now.
I put my Silverbolt back into the original box with Ironhide and Prowl using the same twist ties holding it down that it came packaged with. In a non-temperature controlled attic. ... I'm not sure I want to check on how he's been doing all these years.
@@TJOmega I heard from Emgo, he bought a used Magnaboss from a convention and did a review of it, being very carefull as he knew that Silverbolt has GPS issues and did not break, but that review was 3-4 years ago, but someone in the comment said that Silverbolt has 50% Gold and I guess another 50% brown regular plastic and might not break too easy? I have Magnaboss combined form on display and not ready to put it to the test.
Transmetal Megatron for me. I had a dream about playing with the figure in weird colors, specifically brown, silver and neon green, so I went to play with the toy and his arm snapped off. Later came his other arm followed by his waist, then eventually one of his legs fell off. Oddly enough this was long before I was aware of the concept of Armada Predacon, a figure that uses that mold but in the colors from my dream, albeit in different applications than the dream figure.
The day my Transmetal Megs broke was a sad sad day. No longer would my shiny dino roller skate circles around the maximals, but instead just sit in a box so I can pretend to still have a complete collection
The many tears I had over the Electro figure... That really brings me back. Both my parents as well as me gave up on that thing after the third time we returned it to get a new one because he didn't even hold together for a single month. I even found out years later (once I became a collector) that Electro even caused some real issues in Germany because so many people returned the figure. According to a Toyshop owner I talked with some stores literally refused to sell some of the new G2 stuff after that whole mess, and some even questioned how Electro even made in through the Savety test at all.
As far as I'm aware, the only toy I still own that has GPS is the Star Wars Transformers Milleniuum Falcon. The Chewbacca part with all his gold plastic hinges and joints. I've had him since he came out and I only ever transformed the both of them a couple of times. Since I like the vehicle modes on those figures better, I have never transformed him since 2008 and after learning about GPS, I haven't since. The Falcon is still holding up and has not broken on me so far. It's a good toy for the Falcon so I don't mind not being able to transform it, but it's still pretty messed up, to say the least.
I knew about the clear plastic syndrome but never knew gold plastic of all things was this bad. Thanks for this video TJ or I probably would have ended up like many with a pile parts and burnt whole in my wallet.
A subline of reissues that are just GPS victims remade with better plastic would be a great series. After all this time, and especially now that Beast Wars and G2 seem to be making such a resurgence, it seems like a no brainer. And since sources like TFWiki have full lists available it wouldn't even be difficult for HasTak to see who needs to be included. They only need to locate or remake the casts. In fact they should do all of the toys famously fragile or prone to lost parts that they can!
@@atiredfloridian777 there are a few that could be hard, but none of the figures are so complex that the casts can't be remade. Start with the easy ones, if they do well than work on the harder ones.
They did kinda do that with Combiner Wars Slingshot, which had a golden G2 variant that they went out of their way to state would not suffer GPS. So far that's true.
Even in the 90s, Black Zarak had issues with the shield breaking when attaching it to the arm. Back then, I was told when expressing my desire for one to a dealer, many break on the first attaching. I wanted him then but too young to have that kinda money. No longer interested in that toy these days.
😈 do what I did just buy scorponok original release " ( mines in almost perfect condition - only lost 1weapon on roller thing ,a few scuffed stickers and headmaster figure slightly loose when attached ) then if you want the black zarak version just do a repaint ,,my scorponok is still sitting on a shelf , the lone survivor of my once vast transformer collection ( others are lost to time either broken traded given away or just lost in moves )
First off: HOLY CRAP! I watched your content from like grade 8 through high school and you look like you haven't aged at all! Secondly, I had the """fortune""" of getting 2 GPS figures. I found a BW Magnaboss at a thrift store. It was missing a lot of pieces, but Silverbolt was complete. The only breakage I had was the tab that locks his bird mode neck onto the body. The other one I got was a big boy. TF Crossovers Millennium Falcon/Han and Chewie. Both Chewie's arms broke off.
I love metal gold plastic. for a while I kicked myself to miss a G2 electro in box at a collector event years ago. now I don't, but I still wish they made a re-release without the degenerative syndrome on a side note, they really tried to push the pretender concept back then, didn't they?
My 10th anniversary Dinobot just crumbled in my hands recently. I was playing with the spinner in his robot mode and his hands and the weapon just fell apart. I loved that thing because I never had the original Dinobot and always wanted him so I was thrilled to grab the 10th anniversary. I had no idea about GPS and thought I was just too rough with it. I feel a bit better knowing that it wasn't my fault.
I still own electro. He's still intact, and made a video of him a while ago. I keep him in a room that is constant temperature and no natural light. I still dread the day it dies. Gps is not even his only problem, the rubber band inside of him can also rot. Edit: i also still own 3 skyquake. You just never use the gimmick or plug his gimmick into his torso. also the Guns. Never use them, they are a lost cause.
I bought mine years ago & have been fortunate enough that he's still fully intact. He's been carefully stored, but probably moved 2-3 times. I was super nervous when I found him again but was able to safely check the battery compartment & partly transform him. He's complete in a bag w/ the other G2 Laser Rods.
I remember showing one of my non-Transformers friends one of the video examples of BW Neo Randy to explain GPS and their reaction was comparing it to the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit
I hadn't heard of GPS until this video and it's a strange coincidence, over the years I've noticed that the newer gold Lego pieces are also somewhat brittle, especially lightsaber handles. I wonder if that's still an ongoing problem. EDIT: OMG! I used to own Randy! Lost it/sold it many years ago. Sad to hear he self destructs.
When I was a young man, well before I knew about gps, I was unnecessarily upset about something stupid and grabbed the closest thing to me and hurled it at the wall. That thing happened to be G2 Slingshot. One of the biggest factors in helping me curb my temper. Jesus, that thing bloody shattered
My brother used to have Beast Wars Grimlock. The mutant-head helmet didn't take long to shear off, but little did we know how the hip balljoints' days were numbered, too...
I had torca and Soundwave as a child and they never broke but were given away by my parents before the GPS set in. A couple years ago someone included a BW Grimlock with an OG Dinobot on Ebay and it started to crumble when I turned it into robot mode to take some pics. I turned it back to raptor mode and have left it there on my shelf ever since.
The algorithm randomly recommended me this video, and holy shit, I remember TJ from the WTF@TFW podcast I used to listen to like a decade ago! I haven’t even been into Transformers for 8+ years
I remember getting the Dragoon figure from the Dungeons and Dragons action figure line as a kid. I wanted that figure soooo bad. Golden wings broke as I took it out of the package.
I've heard reports that Super Base Armada Prime uses gold plastic in his elbow joints, though this was never confirmed. There are some cases of the elbow joints shattering, but there are varying explanations as to why. This was my first Optimus Prime, and fortunately, this did not happen to me.
Sadly, I only recently leaned about Cybertron Repugnus, as I thought I'd managed to build a collection without GPS. Hopefully mine doesn't die too soon, or I can at least replace it with the green remold someday. Also sucks to say, but GPS actually has locked me out of my goal for a complete Starscream collection, as the literal LAST GPS figure (according to some wikis I've read at least) was the re-entry mode Starscream from the first movie, so an entire Screamer mold is just..... not doable, cause I'm not willing to buy a figure I know is going to break down over time.
My first GPS toy I got was the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Basically the back half of the ship was Chewbacca and the knee-leg joint that slides in and out for transformation eventually just shattered on me as a kid. When I was young I thought I was just too rough with it since it was a hard joint for me to use. Now years later I realize it was because that joint piece was made of Gold Plastic.
I find it quite ironic that toys that are made to look like gold are very brittle, yet when the Transformers looked gold in the G1 cartoon, they became invincible.
This was very interesting. Personally, not gold or TF, but I've been inventorying my lego lately and have noticed super brittle dark red plates from the clone wars toys era. Seems similar. On the TF side, seems your parents putting them in the attic for decades makes 'em brittle too. :-/
Around the same time, lord Zedd was asking Finster if he had made a monster that blows itself up. Well, now we’ve got a transformer that blows itself up.
Fun fact: the Randy that TFwiki used for their stock photo exploded after they finished taking pics. "Upon transformation to beast mode for this picture, something went "crack" and a spring fell out, accompanied by plastic dust. This is not a joke."
Never had a GPS toy, bit too cautious for that. Only thing that broke on me was Power Core Combiners Mudslinger, the monster truck guy. Ball socket joint in the shoulder fractured, and his leg sheared right off at the thigh. Bummer, really. He was fun.
Transmetal Megatron. I remember him not even lasting a month before he just split in half. He was a Christmas gift. Man was it disappointing even as a kid I was kinda baffled HOW it happened. I just remember picking him up from his shelf and boom. Love the Darkwing shirt btw
For me it was the 10th anniversary Dinobot (legs crumbled on mine), Star Wars Crossovers Chewbacca (bought the Millennium Falcon set on clearance at TRU, he fell apart getting him out of the packaging) , and Protoform Starscream (thumb snapped off last year).
Somehow my Torca has survived both my childhood, and having me transform it a few times each year for the following 20 years. I've really enjoyed him in that time, but I just found out about GPS last year and now I'm terrified. I think he and BW Transmetal Megatron are the only GPS figures I still have intact. I still have Electro too, but I quit playing with him in the 90s after his leg broke at the hip. I just thought he and G2 Slingshot broke because I was too rough with them as a kid. Electro's still on display in vehicle mode, though. Apparently that holds his leg in place just fine.
Some time before I moved out of my parents' place (and in with my brother), my dad told me about how he got my brother and me each an authentic Takara Transformer from when he was coming home from Korea. He mentioned that they were *GOLD* , and didn't know what happened to them. Now I want to know what the toy was, and now I have a pretty good idea as to what happened to them.
I think my only experience with GPS was the 2003 Universe Micromaster Superion I owned as a kid. His waist piece is made entirely of gold plastic, and broke on me in three places, including two of the connection points.
That version of dinobot was my first ever transformer... When it appeared I suddenly remembered as if I had repressed it, that mine ended up breaking on me from the tail.
Potus Manus Syndrome (Name Pending) is a subjective flaw, despite how Cybertron Backstop’s Plastic Addict episode revolved around it. Gold Plastic Syndrome and Clear Plastic Syndrome, on the other hand, are objectively bad design choices.
I had a BW Magnaboss, and one of the first things I did was glue in two little clips made from... Maybe spare Cyberjet legs? Could have just been sheet plastic - but they let him combine without Silverbolt. Not because of GPS, because I've never actually had a toy with that problem, even import Pyro with the same plastic as Skyquake, but just for the sake of letting him have Silverbolt as a separate power up.
Common misconception is that ANY gold-colored plastic is brittle. Which isn't the case the issue is the material/manufacturing process not the plastic color.
The only figures that I had that had GPS was TM1 Megatron, G1 Slog, and Bristleback. I've never had a problem with any of the figures you mentioned(except Zarak, Skyquake, First Aid, and Kill Bizon, because I never had them)
I know it's not Transformers but I just want to shout out Hurricane Dolphin from the Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger Senpuujin. Not only is it hollow, has GPS swirl, and it's made to work alongside Diecast parts. I practically handle the thing with velvet gloves and it still finds ways to shatter.
My friend sadly got me 10th Anniversary Dinobot for my 15th birthday, only for it to break into pieces upon opening the box she paid $60 for! That was how I became awear of the syndrome.
A good alternative to Killbison is the Taiwanese KO. It comes in that "TESTRON" box you see from time to time. My Liokaiser uses that with reproduction labels applied and works great. As far as Black Zarak, parts can be replaced with repainted Scorponok parts if need be. That's how I fixed the shield on mine. As crap as that plastic is, it can be superglued back together if you can recover all the shards
I actually did own a Torca toy many years ago now, at the time of owning him, I wasn't aware that gold plastic syndrome was a thing. I no longer have him, but knowing what I know now, I count myself very fortunate that he never broke on me due to his gps problem. I also owned the Silverbolt from the Magnaboss set mentioned in this video, I always loved that figure
I never had a problem with GPS as I became a fan in 2007 when I was 7. But I have since acquired several figures. A G2 Slingshot. Surprisingly very good condition, though I’ve never transformed him. A couple years ago I bought a giant lot of Beast Wars toys. I didn’t think about the GPS right away so my Silverbolt died pretty quickly. He is still able to loosely form Magnaboss, but it is scary. My Transmetal Megatron and Optimal Optimus both feel fine so nothing is too worrying about them.
Funny fact: There’s an SCP foundation article, SCP-4496 and literary titled “gold plastic syndrome (infectious)”, it’s about a beast wars Randy toy that when transformed, it turns it surroundings bitter and breakable
Edit: jeez I didn’t expect this comment to be top
That is actually a terrifying concept. It's like Cosmic Rust on steroids.
There's a Transformers item in SCP? Epic
@@dkkanofkash8798 yes, and there’s like 2 others or more!
@@DaimosZ
Indeed, but when it comes to SCP, this is one is pretty tame
Cool
It is nice to see you talk about the most horrific phenomenon in existence.
What abt potus mannus?
@@Gunpla_shrimp it's a long story.
@@Bryan_Kay Tell me. I like a loooooong story.
@@dexterdexter8208 don't worry about it 👀
Nice pfp!
Anyone who collected Bionicle sets will tell you there was a similar tragedy with the lime green plastic they used around 2007 onward. It wasn't quite as crumbly as gold plastic but some sets you couldn't even finish building because the lime green sockets would crack and break first time you tried to pop it on the ball joints.
LEGO swapping the classic ball and socket joint in favor of a new, Easier to attach one was also a factor. Said new joint became infamous for how brittle it was.
that made me so sad when my green bionicle broke i don’t remember anything but that and a weird spider mask
@@jimhjortsberg2990 I remember this. I loved Bionicle. My Bionicle never stayed together for long either. I remember I had all of the older style of ball-and-socket pieces for years, besides the ones that got lost. Only a few of the newer ones survived. Many of them broke not long after I got them.
I had Gresh from one of the later lines with Mata Nui and I didn't know fully about the Lime Green problem at the time. All I knew was that certain Bionicles with that color seemed to self destruct putting them together and taking them apart for Mocs. I wasn't prepared for Gresh's mask to snap in half, the arm sockets to completely crumble apart when I took them off the ball and the weapon to just snap at the tip. I ended up buying a second one, and the second one turned out to be even worse. The third one I still have in a box somewhere because I'm just scared to touch it.
I love the design but damn was that Injection Green Plastic cursed for me. It even had like a cool two toned effect in it but I now know that those were the cursed swirls of GPS. I've also had the same problem with Silver plastic from Bionicle but they seemed to fix that after 2009 or I'm just super lucky. Personally I think it's both.
I have a sealed ehlek because of this
No one:
Gold toy: INITIATE SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE!
Do not self destruct
@@BatInDisguiseOFFICIAL too late
Hasbro: Age activated self destruct. Not one of my better ideas
It's the azidoazide azide of the toy world.
Kirk: "Gold toy, this is Admiral James T. Kirk, request security access."
Gold toy: *affirmative beep*
Kirk: "Gold toy...Destruct Sequence 1. Code 1. 1A."
Scotty: "Gold toy, Commander Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineering Officer. Destruct Sequence 2. Code 1, 1A, 2B."
Chekov: "Computer, this is Commander Pavel Chekov, Acting Science Officer. Destruct Sequence 3. Code 1B...2B...3..."
Gold toy: "Destruct Sequence completed and engaged. Awaiting final code for ten year countdown."
Kirk: "Code 0...0...0...Destruct...0."
Gold toy: "Destruct Sequence is activated."
i love tfwiki's description on G2 Electro's toy page: [second half of the description]: ..."That was Electro in 1994. Today, Electro tends to be a mutilated robot corpse amidst a pile of tiny gold plastic fragments, a dismembered pelvis (and upper legs) with a place to thread a long-ago-snapped rubber band, and a wire that may or may not still be attached to anything. All he can transform into now is a pile of broken dreams."
Personally I just love tfwiki’s descriptions in general.
Broke my friend's Transmetal Megstron and I felt awful about it for years. Then found out that was a known issue and that softened the blow a little. Still feels bad tho
I feel ya man. That sucks to break a friends toy. Thankfully, my friends and I never broke each others toys but...we all came close at some point. We would freak out every time.
At least you have GPS as a defense. As a kid I broke my cousin's G1 Mirage, snapped him in half. I doubt he cares now but back then...actually, I still feel bad about it.
GPS is technically Cosmic Rust on Transformers toys. This somehow also makes me wonder if the gold and silver plastic used in Bandai and Kotobukiya model kits are also prone to self destruct as they age with time.
I think I remember someone sharing on Twitter a golden Rider Kick figure that broke
Any gundams also suceptable to this?
Well I heard from TFWiki that Voltron toys have also been victims of GPS.
@@anueutsuho7425 It usually occured on toys originally made by popy which had metallic blue plastic. Which led to the demise of many dairugger/vehicle voltron toys.
Fun Fact: Skyquake actually has two shades of gold/bronze plastic, and the bronze is not susceptible to GPS (or if it is it's taking its sweet time). Only the gold plastic, used only for his gimmick, is susceptible.
Fun Fact 2: Of the GPS figures, Skyhammer isn't too bad off despite his volume of the plastic. If the figure was opened early in it's lifespan, most of the plastic is dense enough that it can survive careful transformation.
No, it's not the GPS that kills Skyquake's guns, it's the really thin pegs because his guns were designed by an idiot.
@@NotMyRealName6 Is that why King Atlas comes without guns?
@@ShadowWingTronix Actually it was because the missiles did not comply with toy safety laws and lengthening them would neuter the carpet-bombing gimmick.
@@NotMyRealName6 Not sure I would have missed that gimmick. It's not the same with what passes for a viewport mirror when you drop them and most of the time I don't do anything with them anyway. Then again, it's a G1 figure so it doesn't exactly have a cool shooting pose to it, so I can see them going with the better play feature for the kids.
i find it interestng the paralels of the brittle plastic syndrome in other toy companies, specifically lego, they have numerous less severe brittle plastic syndromes, with brown, dark red, and lime green, but never had any trouble with gold or clear, the nature of the part structure is of course a factor, with the most egregious examples of lime-plastic syndrome in particular being the ball sockets of bionicles from 2007 to the end of the decade, especially given the awful squared ends redesign in mid 2008, but i digress.
legos clear plastic is exceptionally tough and in some cases is even tougher than the default material (immune to acetone melting, weird) they either got lucky with the formula, or learned from others mistakes right out the gate
in the early 2000s i believe is when lego first started to make legitimate golden pieces that weren't vacuum plated, i may be wrong but i think it was just limited to the larger pieces that came with bionicle sets at the time, like masks and armor, instead of being brittle, lego traded off for the properties of actual gold (fancy that) the parts were relatively soft and scratched easy, ones fingernails could leave deep gashes in the surface.
GPS is awful, I've noticed other kinds of plastic suffer from it too, including some greys. Hilariously, my mom's VACCUM CLEANER suffered from GPS. The plastic was grey and yellowed over time, and plastic started breaking off like breaking off a Kit Kat. It's plastic destroyed itself before it lost suction, legendary vacuum. Dysons are good. lol
07 Cybertronian Starscream is another that breaks my heart, got that one and instantly had it break.
I started 3D printing replacement parts about a year back to restore my old bots with GPS. The hardest part is finding complete parts to scan and measure. It's amazing to me that we at home can recreate parts that even the designers won't.
Who have you fixed so far?
You could literally make a job out of this
I was going to ask in these comments if some one could 3d print these figures and replace the GPS parts. Cool to read someone is doing it
Same here. I've made a model for Skyhammer's feet and am in the process of making a model of Thunder Clash's feet.
I’m almost surprised this isn’t going as a Plastic Addict PSA special. “the victims of GPS”
G1 Goldbug amazes me
He’s made basically _entirely_ out of gold plastic, and I’ve only seen ONE broken copy in my life, and it looked more like a kid just snapped his “arm” off
I love that toy
Even though it is called GPS it does have nothing to do with the color of the toy, it's more about how the plastic was casted and/or the proportion of metallic swirl used in the mix. The reason why the fandom called this phenomenon GPS was because the one color that Hasbro/Takara were very fond of mixing with metallic swirl in the 90's was gold-bronce, because it resulted in a really pretty gold color in the toy, and they, at the time, used to much metallic swirl in the plastic to get that effect without knowing of it's longtime effects. Thus, the immense majority of GPS victims were gold in color, which resulted in the occurrence being named GPS, but there're also blue, brown, black, green and orange GPS plastic.
The reason Goldbug doesn't have GPS is because it doesn't have that mixture of plastic.
For me, it was the Star Wars Crossovers Millennium Falcon, in particular, the half that turned into Chewbaca. His entire upper arms were gold plastic, and one day, I picked him up, and his right arm just fell apart. Really regret not getting the new version Takara made during the Force Awakens (which both had a better transformation, and NO GOLD PLASTIC).
Sadly the Grievous one have the same problem.
My Beast Wars 10th anniversary Dinobot, one of my childhood favorites, died to gps a few years ago. It made me quite sad, as I have a lot of good memories of him and the 10th anniversary Rattrap. So when I saw the kingdom figure, I couldn’t resist picking him up.
Wow, I have both the dinobot and Ratrap 10th anniversary editions still mint in box with the build a figure components, guess Dinobot will be forever intomb in his box forever as well as my mint in box transmetal Megatron, my open one dissentergrated in my hands a few years back after learning about the GPS. (sigh)
Transmetal Megatron was my first experience with GPS. Managed to repair his transformation hinges at the arms with a ton of superglue, without limiting their range of motion. So yeah, technically he could still be transformed, but he'll probably remain in robot mode for eternity.
Yeah, mine did the same a few years back, I do have another one mint in box, guess he'll stay that way for the rest of its life. I don't know if any figure, even mint in box would have any value when they have GPS?
Poor poor Stratosphere... Even though he was the last GPS Victim, it still hurts of how cool he looked being tall and lanky.
The last GPS victim is actually Unite Warriors Motormaster.
ROFT stratosphere?
@@Soundwaveproductions8419 Yup.
He isn't a big victim of it, but my CW G2 Quickslinger came with articulation a bit looser than normal. Maybe it's only my copy, but I doubt it.
My Stratosphere is still in good condition
Magna Boss and the other combiner were toys I always looked at in the toy catalog with awe. Now that I'm and adult I could go out and buy one but then I saw this. Didn't realize Silverbolt was prone to breaking. Good thing I saw this before I decided to splurge!
The joints are strong, the real problem are the nubs , do not tab them in all the way
Since Hasbro fixed GPS, I soon hope that they fix clear plastic, DOTM Leader Bee's windshield ports and Prime FE Cliffjumper's neck socket.
Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to make parts that would take more stress and pressure like ports and sockets out of clear plastic which is infamously more brittle. Great video, TJ.
Clear plastic symdrome list next??
Fun fact: Bandai recently made the same mistake with their Rider Kicks Figure line. Kamen Rider Grease was notorious for his limbs self destructing after owning for only a short time. It actually discouraged me from buying the figure.
At that point I just spring for the Figuarts Grease
what about the OOO (where you can swap parts) and Souchaku Henshin lines?
@@targetseeker I know about them, too. Especially the black plastic in the OOO Combo Change figures that becomes brittle over time.
RKF Grease was just a more recent example. Bandai hopefully has learned their lesson, as Thouser, a similar all gold figure, doesn't seem to have the same fragility issues.
@@felixmanigbas3922 oh good. I asked about it on 4chan once and they acted like I was a crazy person. Google didn't give me the results i was looking for too (though that might be just using the wrong search words).
@@targetseeker I got the info about the OOO figures from multiple sources. From the same Reddit post about RKF Grease, peaugh's review, and several Facebook Marketplace listings for them with glued elbows. The black plastic apparently has something in them that makes it very brittle, especially in the elbows.
As for the Souchaku Henshin line, they were notorious for having fragile finger joints. Finding one with complete hands is pretty hard.
I have this silly idea if I were to write a Transformers series. I'd have Monstructor be an early attempt by the Decepticons to create a Combiner without needing the Enigma of Combination, only Monstructor turns completely feral upon combining because of how out-of-sync his components are and the botched process of modifying them. The only thing that stops him is Slog's body giving out with the combination accelerating the spread of his undiagnosed GPS.
Their second attempt would be Devastator, which naturally goes better.
That would be amazing
Mwah. Excellent idea.
I have that Silverbolt somewhere in the loft, one of my first transformers that I got for Christmas. It never broke when I played with it as a child, is it likely to have fallen apart in whatever box its been in for the last 19 years?
Maybe not fallen apart, gold plastic says intact as long as it's not stressed by weight or tension. If it's in a box with something on top of it, it may be broken by now.
I put my Silverbolt back into the original box with Ironhide and Prowl using the same twist ties holding it down that it came packaged with. In a non-temperature controlled attic.
... I'm not sure I want to check on how he's been doing all these years.
@@CyberDragon10K If it's not combined it will be okay. It's mainly the nubs on his wings that snap off when used in combined mode
Make a video while taking if from the box.
@@TJOmega I heard from Emgo, he bought a used Magnaboss from a convention and did a review of it, being very carefull as he knew that Silverbolt has GPS issues and did not break, but that review was 3-4 years ago, but someone in the comment said that Silverbolt has 50% Gold and I guess another 50% brown regular plastic and might not break too easy? I have Magnaboss combined form on display and not ready to put it to the test.
Alternate title: transformers merchandise with cosmic rust
Transmetal Megatron for me. I had a dream about playing with the figure in weird colors, specifically brown, silver and neon green, so I went to play with the toy and his arm snapped off. Later came his other arm followed by his waist, then eventually one of his legs fell off. Oddly enough this was long before I was aware of the concept of Armada Predacon, a figure that uses that mold but in the colors from my dream, albeit in different applications than the dream figure.
My Transmetal Megaton fell apart when I picked it up to show to one of my younger cousins. Naturally, I tried to blame him for it. XD
The day my Transmetal Megs broke was a sad sad day. No longer would my shiny dino roller skate circles around the maximals, but instead just sit in a box so I can pretend to still have a complete collection
Transmetal Megaton is especially depressing, yeeeesssss
@@atiredfloridian777 still waiting for hasbro updated TransMegs with rubber ducky. Disappointed that Kingdom Megs didn’t have a toothbrush
@@russellharrell2747 Unfortunately, the Legacy line is apparently skipping the Transmetal 1 Megs and going straight to Transmetal 2 Dragon Megs.
My poor Torca is held together with super glue and prayer.
i fear to look at mine just in case the glance causes it to disintegrate into nothing.
Megatron: *"No! I'll crush you with my bare hands!"*
Beast Wars Neo Randy: "Not if I do it first!"
A full list with only the barest mention of G2 Slingshot, the bot entirely made of GPS. Interresting!
The many tears I had over the Electro figure... That really brings me back. Both my parents as well as me gave up on that thing after the third time we returned it to get a new one because he didn't even hold together for a single month. I even found out years later (once I became a collector) that Electro even caused some real issues in Germany because so many people returned the figure. According to a Toyshop owner I talked with some stores literally refused to sell some of the new G2 stuff after that whole mess, and some even questioned how Electro even made in through the Savety test at all.
As far as I'm aware, the only toy I still own that has GPS is the Star Wars Transformers Milleniuum Falcon. The Chewbacca part with all his gold plastic hinges and joints. I've had him since he came out and I only ever transformed the both of them a couple of times. Since I like the vehicle modes on those figures better, I have never transformed him since 2008 and after learning about GPS, I haven't since. The Falcon is still holding up and has not broken on me so far. It's a good toy for the Falcon so I don't mind not being able to transform it, but it's still pretty messed up, to say the least.
Yeah, my Chewbacca half of that set is now permanently in altmode because his arms have crumbled
I knew about the clear plastic syndrome but never knew gold plastic of all things was this bad. Thanks for this video TJ or I probably would have ended up like many with a pile parts and burnt whole in my wallet.
Clear plastic syndrome? I knew clear plastic was a fair bit brittle/weak but I never knew it could decay like gps
@@wii-u-enjoyer I mean that it's brittle and can break if not careful, sorry about the confusion.
@@TheSeventhDeadlyMatador alright, thanks for the clarification.
@@wii-u-enjoyer I don't even WANT to explain how many Animated Swindle toys have suffered from CPS (Clear Plastic Syndrome's abbreviation).
A subline of reissues that are just GPS victims remade with better plastic would be a great series. After all this time, and especially now that Beast Wars and G2 seem to be making such a resurgence, it seems like a no brainer. And since sources like TFWiki have full lists available it wouldn't even be difficult for HasTak to see who needs to be included. They only need to locate or remake the casts. In fact they should do all of the toys famously fragile or prone to lost parts that they can!
Assuming they still even have the casts or molds after all these years.
@@atiredfloridian777 there are a few that could be hard, but none of the figures are so complex that the casts can't be remade. Start with the easy ones, if they do well than work on the harder ones.
They did kinda do that with Combiner Wars Slingshot, which had a golden G2 variant that they went out of their way to state would not suffer GPS. So far that's true.
Even in the 90s, Black Zarak had issues with the shield breaking when attaching it to the arm. Back then, I was told when expressing my desire for one to a dealer, many break on the first attaching. I wanted him then but too young to have that kinda money. No longer interested in that toy these days.
😈 do what I did just buy scorponok original release " ( mines in almost perfect condition - only lost 1weapon on roller thing ,a few scuffed stickers and headmaster figure slightly loose when attached ) then if you want the black zarak version just do a repaint ,,my scorponok is still sitting on a shelf , the lone survivor of my once vast transformer collection ( others are lost to time either broken traded given away or just lost in moves )
What's even sadder about SIlverbolt? He's the only member of that team to have survived Transformers: The Movie, and only _his_ toy has the defect.
must be trying to join his friends i guess
This is THE reason to reverse-engieneer and print parts for old toys. Come on, people. If companies won't save their toys, piracy will.
^This so much. Do it for the gold plastic and translucent victims over the years
I'm so filled with anxiety about a game coming out soon that I'm watching videos about gold plastic
The tension while transforming blackzarak is unmatched
First off: HOLY CRAP! I watched your content from like grade 8 through high school and you look like you haven't aged at all!
Secondly, I had the """fortune""" of getting 2 GPS figures. I found a BW Magnaboss at a thrift store. It was missing a lot of pieces, but Silverbolt was complete. The only breakage I had was the tab that locks his bird mode neck onto the body.
The other one I got was a big boy. TF Crossovers Millennium Falcon/Han and Chewie.
Both Chewie's arms broke off.
I snapped chewie's legs off
I love metal gold plastic. for a while I kicked myself to miss a G2 electro in box at a collector event years ago. now I don't, but I still wish they made a re-release without the degenerative syndrome
on a side note, they really tried to push the pretender concept back then, didn't they?
They should release a standard edition in any other color but gold/metallic injection and do a paint job on the figure
“Despite having a great name, Randy, in fact, sucks.”
The intro is Great
My 10th anniversary Dinobot just crumbled in my hands recently. I was playing with the spinner in his robot mode and his hands and the weapon just fell apart. I loved that thing because I never had the original Dinobot and always wanted him so I was thrilled to grab the 10th anniversary.
I had no idea about GPS and thought I was just too rough with it. I feel a bit better knowing that it wasn't my fault.
Very informative video! This video and GotBot's GPS countdown really compliment each other!
I still own electro. He's still intact, and made a video of him a while ago. I keep him in a room that is constant temperature and no natural light. I still dread the day it dies. Gps is not even his only problem, the rubber band inside of him can also rot.
Edit: i also still own 3 skyquake. You just never use the gimmick or plug his gimmick into his torso. also the Guns. Never use them, they are a lost cause.
Holy, your Electro is still intact? i've heard of stories where he'd crumble the moment he left his box!
I bought mine years ago & have been fortunate enough that he's still fully intact. He's been carefully stored, but probably moved 2-3 times. I was super nervous when I found him again but was able to safely check the battery compartment & partly transform him. He's complete in a bag w/ the other G2 Laser Rods.
I remember showing one of my non-Transformers friends one of the video examples of BW Neo Randy to explain GPS and their reaction was comparing it to the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Just found your channel after recently hearing about GPS for the first time. Real interesting stuff!
I hadn't heard of GPS until this video and it's a strange coincidence, over the years I've noticed that the newer gold Lego pieces are also somewhat brittle, especially lightsaber handles. I wonder if that's still an ongoing problem.
EDIT: OMG! I used to own Randy! Lost it/sold it many years ago. Sad to hear he self destructs.
TJ omega has not aged in like 15 years. This man is immortal
When I was a young man, well before I knew about gps, I was unnecessarily upset about something stupid and grabbed the closest thing to me and hurled it at the wall. That thing happened to be G2 Slingshot. One of the biggest factors in helping me curb my temper. Jesus, that thing bloody shattered
My brother used to have Beast Wars Grimlock. The mutant-head helmet didn't take long to shear off, but little did we know how the hip balljoints' days were numbered, too...
10th Anniversary Dinobot hurts me especially, that was one of my favorite toys as a kid and when he started falling apart I was devastated
I had torca and Soundwave as a child and they never broke but were given away by my parents before the GPS set in. A couple years ago someone included a BW Grimlock with an OG Dinobot on Ebay and it started to crumble when I turned it into robot mode to take some pics. I turned it back to raptor mode and have left it there on my shelf ever since.
The algorithm randomly recommended me this video, and holy shit, I remember TJ from the WTF@TFW podcast I used to listen to like a decade ago! I haven’t even been into Transformers for 8+ years
I remember getting the Dragoon figure from the Dungeons and Dragons action figure line as a kid. I wanted that figure soooo bad.
Golden wings broke as I took it out of the package.
Next video: TJ buys toys with gold plastic syndrome and recasts them in aluminum
I've heard reports that Super Base Armada Prime uses gold plastic in his elbow joints, though this was never confirmed. There are some cases of the elbow joints shattering, but there are varying explanations as to why. This was my first Optimus Prime, and fortunately, this did not happen to me.
Sadly, I only recently leaned about Cybertron Repugnus, as I thought I'd managed to build a collection without GPS. Hopefully mine doesn't die too soon, or I can at least replace it with the green remold someday. Also sucks to say, but GPS actually has locked me out of my goal for a complete Starscream collection, as the literal LAST GPS figure (according to some wikis I've read at least) was the re-entry mode Starscream from the first movie, so an entire Screamer mold is just..... not doable, cause I'm not willing to buy a figure I know is going to break down over time.
My first GPS toy I got was the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Basically the back half of the ship was Chewbacca and the knee-leg joint that slides in and out for transformation eventually just shattered on me as a kid. When I was young I thought I was just too rough with it since it was a hard joint for me to use. Now years later I realize it was because that joint piece was made of Gold Plastic.
Telling them any amount of time after the sale is kind of not considered a fair warning...
R.I.P. Skyquake, it was my favorite childhood toy, until it's arms broke in my hands
Surprised Thunderclash didn't make it on this list but it's such a well known figure; is it as rare as some of the more common figures in the list?
I find it quite ironic that toys that are made to look like gold are very brittle, yet when the Transformers looked gold in the G1 cartoon, they became invincible.
Oh that good ol gold lagoon.
the midas curse
After I saw what happened to randy I got pretty invested
Had a the G2 Aerialbots, disassembled Superion, Slingshot came out without his head. That is when I found out about GPS, great video.
I haven’t had any problems with Killbaison, and I have most of Lio Kaiser. I can definitely see where the concern is. All but Killbaison’s guns.
This was very interesting. Personally, not gold or TF, but I've been inventorying my lego lately and have noticed super brittle dark red plates from the clone wars toys era. Seems similar. On the TF side, seems your parents putting them in the attic for decades makes 'em brittle too. :-/
Around the same time, lord Zedd was asking Finster if he had made a monster that blows itself up. Well, now we’ve got a transformer that blows itself up.
G1 Monstructor is a huge victim of GPS I'm surprised he wasn't mentioned since several of his major components are gold plastic
Fun fact: the Randy that TFwiki used for their stock photo exploded after they finished taking pics. "Upon transformation to beast mode for this picture, something went "crack" and a spring fell out, accompanied by plastic dust. This is not a joke."
Never had a GPS toy, bit too cautious for that. Only thing that broke on me was Power Core Combiners Mudslinger, the monster truck guy. Ball socket joint in the shoulder fractured, and his leg sheared right off at the thigh. Bummer, really. He was fun.
Transmetal Megatron.
I remember him not even lasting a month before he just split in half. He was a Christmas gift.
Man was it disappointing even as a kid I was kinda baffled HOW it happened. I just remember picking him up from his shelf and boom.
Love the Darkwing shirt btw
For me it was the 10th anniversary Dinobot (legs crumbled on mine), Star Wars Crossovers Chewbacca (bought the Millennium Falcon set on clearance at TRU, he fell apart getting him out of the packaging) , and Protoform Starscream (thumb snapped off last year).
Somehow my Torca has survived both my childhood, and having me transform it a few times each year for the following 20 years. I've really enjoyed him in that time, but I just found out about GPS last year and now I'm terrified. I think he and BW Transmetal Megatron are the only GPS figures I still have intact. I still have Electro too, but I quit playing with him in the 90s after his leg broke at the hip. I just thought he and G2 Slingshot broke because I was too rough with them as a kid. Electro's still on display in vehicle mode, though. Apparently that holds his leg in place just fine.
When we moved to our current apartment, my reissue Dinobot's hand just cracked right off. I wasn't aware until it broke that he was a gps problem.
when i was a kid i always thought that it was just my imagination that whenever i hold a gold plastic toy it feels abit different from my other toys
Some time before I moved out of my parents' place (and in with my brother), my dad told me about how he got my brother and me each an authentic Takara Transformer from when he was coming home from Korea. He mentioned that they were *GOLD* , and didn't know what happened to them. Now I want to know what the toy was, and now I have a pretty good idea as to what happened to them.
Gunpla builder here, i have a kit that the inner frame is made of GPS and most of the joints are practically broken
The video was great but I love the Darkwing Duck shirt
How did the Pretender Monsters (specifically Bristleback and Slog) escape this list, when they're almost as rare as Liokaiser these days?
I think my only experience with GPS was the 2003 Universe Micromaster Superion I owned as a kid. His waist piece is made entirely of gold plastic, and broke on me in three places, including two of the connection points.
The shoulders of Energon Scorponok would suffer GPS and TEAR, disintegrating into rubbery shreds in your terrified hands. I wept manly tears for mine.
Protoform Starscream, which is worse because by then gold n plastic was mostly gone.
I hear G1 Silverbolt is also prone to this - mine survived several moves, playing for years and is still sitting in Superion mode on a shelf.
Thanks for being so knowledgeable about these things. I've never heard of gps before. Thanks a lot friend. I'll keep a look out for this issue.
Love your channel buddy.. keep up the good work AAA
That version of dinobot was my first ever transformer... When it appeared I suddenly remembered as if I had repressed it, that mine ended up breaking on me from the tail.
Potus Manus Syndrome (Name Pending) is a subjective flaw, despite how Cybertron Backstop’s Plastic Addict episode revolved around it. Gold Plastic Syndrome and Clear Plastic Syndrome, on the other hand, are objectively bad design choices.
Good runner ups for GPS: StarWars Transformers Chewbacca & BW transmeral Megatron
And g2 slingshot.
I had a BW Magnaboss, and one of the first things I did was glue in two little clips made from... Maybe spare Cyberjet legs? Could have just been sheet plastic - but they let him combine without Silverbolt. Not because of GPS, because I've never actually had a toy with that problem, even import Pyro with the same plastic as Skyquake, but just for the sake of letting him have Silverbolt as a separate power up.
This is the first video I'm seeing of yours and I gotta say
nice
Ah, I love that shade of plastic. I want to name it "DESTRUCTIVE GOLD PLASTIC"
Common misconception is that ANY gold-colored plastic is brittle.
Which isn't the case the issue is the material/manufacturing process not the plastic color.
The only figures that I had that had GPS was TM1 Megatron, G1 Slog, and Bristleback. I've never had a problem with any of the figures you mentioned(except Zarak, Skyquake, First Aid, and Kill Bizon, because I never had them)
Great vid TJ!
I know it's not Transformers but I just want to shout out Hurricane Dolphin from the Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger Senpuujin. Not only is it hollow, has GPS swirl, and it's made to work alongside Diecast parts. I practically handle the thing with velvet gloves and it still finds ways to shatter.
The reddish brown Lego bricks are GPS. Also a lot of Lego mini figures from the 2010s to 2020 are GPS toys.
My friend sadly got me 10th Anniversary Dinobot for my 15th birthday, only for it to break into pieces upon opening the box she paid $60 for! That was how I became awear of the syndrome.
I originally owned a Beast Wars Transmetal Megatron. He quickly lost one of his legs, and the promptly snapped in half.
A good alternative to Killbison is the Taiwanese KO. It comes in that "TESTRON" box you see from time to time. My Liokaiser uses that with reproduction labels applied and works great. As far as Black Zarak, parts can be replaced with repainted Scorponok parts if need be. That's how I fixed the shield on mine. As crap as that plastic is, it can be superglued back together if you can recover all the shards
I actually did own a Torca toy many years ago now, at the time of owning him, I wasn't aware that gold plastic syndrome was a thing. I no longer have him, but knowing what I know now, I count myself very fortunate that he never broke on me due to his gps problem. I also owned the Silverbolt from the Magnaboss set mentioned in this video, I always loved that figure
I never had a problem with GPS as I became a fan in 2007 when I was 7. But I have since acquired several figures. A G2 Slingshot. Surprisingly very good condition, though I’ve never transformed him. A couple years ago I bought a giant lot of Beast Wars toys. I didn’t think about the GPS right away so my Silverbolt died pretty quickly. He is still able to loosely form Magnaboss, but it is scary. My Transmetal Megatron and Optimal Optimus both feel fine so nothing is too worrying about them.