Yep...after looking at the pics again, there's a pretty good chance that the pin is just stuck.

On those "Force" engines, the crankpin is open, or a blind hole, with a very small spring in there, and a small hardened steel pin resides in that hole.

The backplate's starter disc has a semicircular slot or groove machined in it (easily visable in the photo ) but what's not easy to see, is that the groove is ramped, to provide a cam like action.
As the backplate rotates (by the pulling of the starter cord ) it engages the spring loaded pin.

It's not the best set-up, but it works...

I do some part time "Mr. Fixit" work for a LHS and (besides having a couple of OFNA LD3's of my own, w/ Force .12's ) have seen this happen a few times.