Ep 1 figures starting to leak oil?

[GNT]

This thread comes via Tyranusspotting:

"Recently I've been noticing some of my Ep 1 (and POTF II) figures looking a little shinier. Their limbs feel softer and sticky/ oily. Sometimes it's only the arms or legs that seem affected.

On a side note, my collection room is constantly rather cool (around 15 °C) and there are no windows. The figures are open on display.

Could this be a similar problem to what owners of certain Hot Toys figures are experiencing? Hopefully this doesn't permanently affect the figures, causing them to deteriorate over time."

How are your figures doing?

 

[Jedi_Eeth_Koth]

There's really no connection between the Hasbro figures and Hot Toys, as with HT it was a design problem and not deterioration.

The HT figures leak because there actually is a slight amount of oil/lubricant applied to the figures that use rubbery plastic, so that it doesn't become brittle and break over time. The best example was TDK Batman figure that had an entirely rubber suit that had leakage from the abdomen area. This was put in place by HT as a counter-measure and was a good idea, but apparently they just didn't look into long term effects that much.

Now with Hasbro, they don't add that material to their figures, even those with rubbery parts. Without additional, duplicated results, I don't see this as being an issue. Some pics would be helpful, too.

 

[Darkmatt]

I've seen this happen to other figs that I stored for years (childhood Ninaj Turtles) but they weren't kept in the best of conditions.

I have not yet experienced any troubles with any SW figure I own, except maybe a bit of yellowing...

 

[Tyranusspotting]

Now with Hasbro, they don't add that material to their figures, even those with rubbery parts. Without additional, duplicated results, I don't see this as being an issue. Some pics would be helpful, too.

It's really hard to picture these issues, they can mainly be experienced through touch. The limbs on some of them seem to be softer and it feels like you've touched wax, even though it leaves no residue on you.

 

[GarvenDreis]

I've noticed some figures of that era have glossy paint/plastic.

Some of my TPM figures are kinda like this too, but I got them all used, so I may not be the best person to go to.

 

[Oddball_Fett]

Don't know about Ep1 figs but I have 2 original Kenner Boba Fetts recovered from the loft last year. One is in perfect mint condition (and is now on my desk) while the other has a fair amount of paint rubbed off. That's not surprising, but it also feels sticky, as if it was dunked in pure orange juice at some point. But as far as I can tell there's no food or liquid residue on it, and nothing else visually. It's feels almost as if the plastic itself is slightly melted. Whether or not any of this is related to the paint loss I don't know, but I doubt it. Weird thing is that neither figure had been stored anywhere special over the years so I don't know why one's still perfect and one isn't.

 

[Darth_Jawa]

Don't know about Ep1 figs but I have 2 original Kenner Boba Fetts recovered from the loft last year. One is in perfect mint condition (and is now on my desk) while the other has a fair amount of paint rubbed off. That's not surprising, but it also feels sticky, as if it was dunked in pure orange juice at some point. But as far as I can tell there's no food or liquid residue on it, and nothing else visually. It's feels almost as if the plastic itself is slightly melted. Whether or not any of this is related to the paint loss I don't know, but I doubt it. Weird thing is that neither figure had been stored anywhere special over the years so I don't know why one's still perfect and one isn't.

I've also encountered the sticky plastic issue with some of my original/vintage Star Wars figures. Over time, the limbs on a few have gotten quite sticky. They've been kept in a temperature-controlled room since I've owned them (nearly 20 years). The torsos on a few of my newer figures (primarily from AOTC) have started to yellow rather dramatically in the last couple years, but so far, none have developed an oily film.

 

[Darth_Martus]

My Ep 1 figures have been played with and badly stored since 1999 and they're all fine (now better looked after too).

 

[Nerfhearder]

I just went thru my oldest figures ( first 71 I got ) one of my snowtroopers has a sticky leg same with an ackbar.. only seems to be the figures cast in white with me.. sticky feeling but no discoloration.. I am going to try and "clean" them off first with 409 then move up to rubbing alchohol.. then who knows... maybe start with hot water instead.. I'll let you know..