Doctor Mindbender

[tldenson]

My Doctor Mindbender Figure has black stains on the back of the figures neck, head, and arms from the dye from the cape that the figure was packed with. The stain will not come out. I have tried using paint thinner, bleach, peroxide, and CLR. Nothing has been effective. With tax, this figure was 56.26. Very disappointing, this flaw has ruined what is otherwise an excellent figure. Hasbro should provide a full or partial refund to anyone with this same problem. Also, they should be more aware of how different material interact with each other especially on the long trip from Asia to here.

[vicious7171]

Probably not deserving of it's own thread but mine also had staining and I agree. Early Jazwares AEW figures used to come with plastic layers between the figure and the clothing to avoid staining; Hasbro should have done that. I often see people using zit cream on the affected areas and leaving them out in the sun for hours to minimize staining but I'm not going to suggest this without you doing your homework and accepting the risks. I do think it's pretty junky for a deluxe figure to come stained, thankfully I'm just going to leave the coat on.

Have you tried contacting Hasbro with photos? If you do, let us know their response.

[tldenson]

Probably not deserving of it's own thread but mine also had staining and I agree. Early Jazwares AEW figures used to come with plastic layers between the figure and the clothing to avoid staining; Hasbro should have done that. I often see people using zit cream on the affected areas and leaving them out in the sun for hours to minimize staining but I'm not going to suggest this without you doing your homework and accepting the risks. I do think it's pretty junky for a deluxe figure to come stained, thankfully I'm just going to leave the coat on.

Have you tried contacting Hasbro with photos? If you do, let us know their response.

Yes I have contacted Hasbro. I will post their response. I have also purchased a third party cape that is more reminiscent of the original cape from the vintage figure.

[TENIME_art]

(I honestly haven't even tested the joints on my figure, because I immediately pulled his head & neck off to put on another body, lol)

[Count Drunkula]

I have no suggestions to remove the dye from the figure, although the idea of zit cream (or, more specifically, an application of hydrogen peroxide) may help. What I can say is that the cape should be removed, hand washed and thoroughly rinsed in order to prevent any further dye transfer. It is safe to use hot water on this fabric, and a mild hand or dish soap will suffice - you don't need Woolite or anything like that.

[GodParticle]

Acetone takes it right off. Only took a couple of wipes. Can buy it at any place that sells nail polish kind of stuff. Just make sure it's acetone and not the non-acetone they can also sell.

[tldenson]

Acetone takes it right off. Only took a couple of wipes. Can buy it at any place that sells nail polish kind of stuff. Just make sure it's acetone and not the non-acetone they can also sell.

Acetone significantly, but not totally, diminished the black marks left by the cape. It was far more effective than paint thinner, CLR, bleach, etc....

HOWEVER, what we are really doing with the Acetone is removing a thin layer of the rubber and plastic. It doesn't seem to work quite like paint thinner. On the right shoulder, the acetone caused significant damage to the plastic as I tried to remove the stain. This damage left white burn marks for the lack of a better description. I had to mask this by applying a thin layer of Vaseline to, not just the shoulder, but all the areas where I applied the acetone in order mask any burn left by the Acetone.

You really need to be careful around the painted areas. The mustache lost some paint application and I am going to have to repaint during Christmas break. The sculpted arm straps and harness also lost minor amounts of paint.

I purchased the Acetone from Home Depot and applied with Q Tips.

Mindbender is a special character from me. My aunt bought me the vintage Minderbender, Chuckles, Falcon, and Raptor at Walmart over the holiday when I was very young. Those characters were my first Joes. For years, I thought Falcon and Chuckles were Duke and Flint until I learned otherwise.

I very much appreciate your suggestion and hope this thread helps others. The staining of the shoulders by the cape has been mentioned in at least 3 youtube videos. I imagine there will be more complaints as more people receive the figure.

I recommend buying replacement capes from this guy to replace the trouble making and not very well made Hasbro cape.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285054768256?h ... R7z80rSbYQ

[GodParticle]

Acetone takes it right off. Only took a couple of wipes. Can buy it at any place that sells nail polish kind of stuff. Just make sure it's acetone and not the non-acetone they can also sell.

Acetone significantly, but not totally, diminished the black marks left by the cape. It was far more effective than paint thinner, CLR, bleach, etc....

HOWEVER, what we are really doing with the Acetone is removing a thin layer of the rubber and plastic. It doesn't seem to work quite like paint thinner. On the right shoulder, the acetone caused significant damage to the plastic as I tried to remove the stain. This damage left white burn marks for the lack of a better description. I had to mask this by applying a thin layer of Vaseline to, not just the shoulder, but all the areas where I applied the acetone in order mask any burn left by the Acetone.

You really need to be careful around the painted areas. The mustache lost some paint application and I am going to have to repaint during Christmas break. The sculpted arm straps and harness also lost minor amounts of paint.

I purchased the Acetone from Home Depot and applied with Q Tips.

Mindbender is a special character from me. My aunt bought me the vintage Minderbender, Chuckles, Falcon, and Raptor at Walmart over the holiday when I was very young. Those characters were my first Joes. For years, I thought Falcon and Chuckles were Duke and Flint until I learned otherwise.

I very much appreciate your suggestion and hope this thread helps others. The staining of the shoulders by the cape has been mentioned in at least 3 youtube videos. I imagine there will be more complaints as more people receive the figure.

I recommend buying replacement capes from this guy to replace the trouble making and not very well made Hasbro cape.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285054768256?h ... R7z80rSbYQ

Yeah, I'm guessing all of them have it to a degree. I've seen some others that have it all over the shoulders AND back of the neck/head, like you mentioned. That's really strange that it left marks on yours. I did the same and rubbed pretty aggressively. Took everything off. There might be a tiny bit of it left, but nothing I can distinguish between shadow and dye. Are there different strengths of acetone? Not sure how you got it on the head and lower arms haha. I put just a very tiny amount on the q-tip, so maybe that was why I didn't get any of the white marks you mentioned.

[mrboshek]

I think zit cream would've been the best option, as mentioned by vicious. It seems to be the most suggested method by doll collectors and I heard people have gotten good results with Mattel WWE. Just my opinion, but acetone is probably best to get surface paint off a figure, quick swipes with a q-tip. The dye from cloth seems to get sucked into the plastic, it's not just on the surface. From my experience with acetone, harder plastic seems to get glossy and sometimes white if you leave it on too long. I think you have to work faster with the harder plastic compared to the softer plastic of limbs. I once had a disastrous time removing the logos from a Macho King Randy Savage's tights. There must have been too many layers of paint to form the designs and logos, forcing me to use too much acetone. His fluorescent green tights were turning white or fading.

I never tried the zit cream method. I just accept the fact red and black cloth are going to stain the figure.

I've seen someone post pics of their Mindbender wearing Nick Fury's trench coat. It looked like a decent option if you want to go plastic.

[tldenson]

Thank you for contacting Hasbro regarding your G.I. Joe Classified Series Dr. Mindbender Figure. I'm sorry to hear you were not happy with your figure.
 
The team is looking into the issue. I would be happy to send you a paid postage label to return your figure for a refund. The replacements will look the same since the dye is coming from the cape. I apologize for the inconvenience.
 
If you would like to proceed with sending the item back to us for a refund, Please provide the information below:
 
(information can be found near legal writing on product itself)
- Date code: five - six digit code, example: 95241A
- Vendor code: letter followed by a dash and numbers, example: C-123a
- Date of purchase/received and retailer
- Copy of receipt or Pulse order #
- Age of user
 
Again, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to reach out to us.
 
Kind regards,

Global Consumer Care Representative

[Count Drunkula]

Acetone takes it right off. Only took a couple of wipes. Can buy it at any place that sells nail polish kind of stuff. Just make sure it's acetone and not the non-acetone they can also sell.

Acetone significantly, but not totally, diminished the black marks left by the cape. It was far more effective than paint thinner, CLR, bleach, etc....

HOWEVER, what we are really doing with the Acetone is removing a thin layer of the rubber and plastic.

Mindbender is a special character from me. My aunt bought me the vintage Minderbender, Chuckles, Falcon, and Raptor at Walmart over the holiday when I was very young. Those characters were my first Joes. For years, I thought Falcon and Chuckles were Duke and Flint until I learned otherwise.

Acetone eats plastics, so be very very careful applying and removing it.

Thanks for sharing your story. I love reading stuff like that. I will never quite look at Falcon, Chuckles, Duke or Flint the same again.

[vicious7171]

Thank you for contacting Hasbro regarding your G.I. Joe Classified Series Dr. Mindbender Figure. I'm sorry to hear you were not happy with your figure.
 
The team is looking into the issue. I would be happy to send you a paid postage label to return your figure for a refund. The replacements will look the same since the dye is coming from the cape. I apologize for the inconvenience.
 
If you would like to proceed with sending the item back to us for a refund, Please provide the information below:
 
(information can be found near legal writing on product itself)
- Date code: five - six digit code, example: 95241A
- Vendor code: letter followed by a dash and numbers, example: C-123a
- Date of purchase/received and retailer
- Copy of receipt or Pulse order #
- Age of user
 
Again, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to reach out to us.
 
Kind regards,

Global Consumer Care Representative

Thanks for sharing. Hasbro does this kind of thing often, then down the road they'll release the figure without the coat and you'll be SOL.

Also, what do you guys mean? Are you saying Chuckles isn't Vacation Duke?

[GodParticle]

Guess I got lucky when I used acetone on him. I did do it really fast since it only took a couple of aggressive swipes and then I dunked him in water to wash off. I certainly wouldn't return him because no telling when they'll release again. Wouldn't be surprised if we get a single release with cobra sigil on back down the road.

[thewyldman]

(I honestly haven't even tested the joints on my figure, because I immediately pulled his head & neck off to put on another body, lol)

Did you put it on Zemo?

[TENIME_art]

Nope.