Bethesda just can't catch a break. The news about the fallout (lol) regarding Todd Howard's Awful Game Simulator 2018 is, at this point, a little egregious. But now the United States Product Safety Commission has added their hat into the ring and announced a recall on a wearable collectable T-51b power armor helmet made by Chronicle. To quote the USPSC:
Mold can be present on the fabric insert inside the helmet, posing a risk of respiratory or other infections in individuals with compromised immune systems, damaged lungs or an allergy to mold [...] Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled collectible helmets and contact GameStop for a full refund and return instructions. GameStop is contacting all known purchasers directly.
I'm going to be completely fair here and say that these kind of recalls happen all the time. The stated safety concern is for people at high risk for mold infection, after all, and to date there are no known incidents. From the surface it seems to be that the product is built out of certain materials and/or constructed in a way as to make it susceptible to mold growth But on the other hand: yikes this looks bad. I'd go so far as to say if this were a collectible helmet from any other gaming franchise it wouldn't be news. However it involves Fallout 76, which has no shortage of bad press especially when it comes to physical merchandise. I'm sure this irony isn't lost on Bethesda, who like me are probably ecstatic that the catastrophes keep coming in nearly a full year after launch. At least I can keep wearing my T-45 helmet (Right..?)
The USPSC estimates roughly 20,000 units sold and GameStop are attempting to directly contact everyone they have a record of purchasing one, but we all know that we all usually have no idea which email address or phone number we have linked to our GameStop accounts. If you own one of these, to get started on your full refund please contact:
GameStop at 800-883-8895 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, email at ProductSafety@gamestop.com with “Product Recall” as the email subject, or online at www.GameStop.com and click on the “Recall” link at the top of the page for more information.
