Josh, I think you just had some bad luck with these Pirates figures or something, I've got over half a dozen HT stands and they're all intact and great. I wish HT and Sideshow would both do the C clip parts with discretion based on the figure. For figures like Predators and Rambo, I prefer Sideshows where the C part comes off a bit from the vertical section, it works best, but for figures where the stand is going to be up under a coat or something and puff out the back, HT's C unit is better for hugging up to the body.