per terry baksay, who is on all star's team,the platinum blank is the old titanium blank with alconite guides and reduced $50 in price because it went to a 3 year warranty.the im10x are the same blanks with fuji guides because they had guide issues so they switched them to fuji.there is no difference in the blanks according to terry baksay.ANY BRAND OF ROD CAN BE BROKEN AND MOST ROD FAILURES ARE USER ABUSE.