ORIGINAL: The Mad Modder
That's too bad. HPI used to be known for their extremely high quality cars and trucks. Recently, their quality has been slipping as they switch them from being made in Japan(where their older cars were made), to Taiwan(5b and savages at least used to be made there), to finally china. I've had a handful of their cars and trucks and you can see the difference in quality between the older and newer ones.
Some glaring examples of their lowered standards include the e-10, brama 10b(based off the e10), and the mini recon(which is a re-badged radio shack truck).
all vehicles HPI didn't design but yea they are complete turds that HPI refuses to stop selling even though there are tons of issues with them due to crap plastics being used. Sad thing is like with the Brama 10b they actually had an excellent layout, and design as compared to its closest competitor the DF-02, but the Bramas durability is below a cheapo newbright. When I asked HPI about it they said it was never meant to be used in anything over stock form... too bad the chassis snapped after a few minuted of stock brushed power on pavement (1st one ok I threw a powerful BL system in, rebuilt it and destroyed the RC on the stock brushed motor in 5 mins... with no scratches even on the chassis)
Recon wasn't a rebadged radio shack truck its a rebadged megatech megapro(the radio shack truck was a rebadge of the megapro) with like 2 modifications that make it worst than the original (motor mount, and chassis plate where motor mount goes). And also the parts to repair the recon cost more than buying a RTR megapro complete.
As for the trophy I read similar things from European users on its quality
Kinda why when I seen people ask if they should get it I try and divert them to one of the OFNA variants that I know can take the abuse, and cost almost the same.
Savages at least their quality still seems to be high.