Gold Plastic Syndrome
A term coined by the fandom, Gold Plastic Syndrome (commonly shorthanded to GPS) is used to describe the phenomenon of a toy's plastic decomposing and becoming brittle to the point of shattering or crumbling under minimal-stress conditions. This is different from the relatively more common stress-fracture type of plastic breakage that can occur in some Transformers toys. All noted instances of GPS have occured in hard, glossy gold-colored plastics that appear to have a "swirl" to their coloraton.
GPS is notably widespread among toys made in the tail-end of Generation 1, typically the second year of Pretenders and even some European-market exclusives, but examples have surfaced from lines as recent as Generation 2 and the Beast Wars series. Transformers toys are not the only ones to suffer from this; there have been reports of G.I. Joe and Visionaries toys' gold plastics also crumbling seemingly of their own accord.
The Cause of GPS
GPS Misconceptions
The most common misconception about GPS is that all gold-colored plastic can suffer from this rot. Only certain plastic grades (described above) have been noted to be susceptible to GPS crumbling; in the past few years, more durable, pliable plastics have become the norm for toy construction, so the gold plastic on more recent toys like Cannonball are highly unlikely to have the flaw.
Also, not every type of plastic breakage is the kind caused by GPS. In most instances of broken toys, visible stress marks appear long before any breakage in the form of discoloration (since these plastics havea bit more "give" to them), and are typically very clean "snaps" due to excess pressure. GPS breakages seemingly come from simple decomposition of the plastic without any form of excess force at all, and the breaks tend to leave shards of plastic and dust.
Known Victims
Black Zarek Roadblock Skyhammer Slingshot (G2)
