After hearing about cases of oozing toys and melting paint due to bad reactions with storage containers (keshi melting in plastic containers for example).. what tips have you picked up over the years in regards to keeping your sofubi/keshi/action figure collection in a healthy state? I've been trying to open up storage bins every couple of months to let the soft vinyl breath and release whatever gas has built up. It definitely seems to be a bigger problem during the summer months. Of course another lifesaver if trying to keep toys out of direct sunlight. Looking forward to hearing more tips n tricks for keeping our toys safe for decades to come!
My entire collection is kept out of sunlight and under glass. If they are in storage I make sure that each toy has its own bag with bubble wrap seperating each layer in the bin. Never store vinyl to vinyl. I havent had any problem with this method of storage. Some vinyl will sweat after a long period in a bag but i think they would no matter what. They can usually be washed though.
Majority of my collection is kept in glass cases, but the ones that aren’t are dusted often. I’ve gotten lazy before, and some dust stuck to certain toys and paint, and kinda messed ‘em up. But like Brent mentioned, always out of sunlight. As far as storage goes, definitely individual bags, somewhat spaced apart if you can manage, and bubble wrap or multiple newspaper layers. I’ve never stored anything in less than room temperature before, but I don’t know any consequences that could occur for storage any warmer than that. It’s my personal paranoia!
I keep my toys separately bagged in my plastic bin for storage, except for unpainted toys, which i tend to put together in the same bag. Is that an issue? Also, I zip up the bags. Should i leave them open for some more air?
@hellscrape i dont think unpainted vinyl touching is a problem. And i dunno if zipping the bags all the way will be an issue but you could always just leave the corner open.
@hellscrape Whenever I bag toys, painted or blank, I squeeze as much air out of it as possible. I can't tell you why I do this, I just feel like it's necessary.
Never leave rubber bands on vinyl or keshi. Eventually it can fuse together. Vintage keshi also need to be kept separate from plastic. I've seen people who collect vintage sets with a plastic wrestling ring and keshi figures that come packaged together end up with something from The Thing that looks like melted people with heads and arms all fused together hideously. It's also a good idea to keep certain soft vintage keshi figures like monster in my pocket separated by color because some colors can dye other colors over time. Not a problem with most stuff like MUSCLE figures or mini kaiju though. If you collect kaiju keshi keep it the fuck away from cheap kaiju plastic mini figures. I had one plastic bootleg that absorbed a dozen of my cute little bright colored kaiju keshi mosnters. Turned into a blob of sadness.
I think we've had some variation of this thread in the past, or at least a discussion of the same concerns. However, it's never a bad idea to think about 'preventative maintenance' for our toys. Most of the comments here sound like good advice, from what I have seen and heard. My additional thoughts: - I try not to store more than one toy in the same bag, UNLESS all of the toys are made from the same material (e.g., same company, same color). You never really know which plastics will degrade faster than others. - Leaving the bags open is actually not a bad idea- particularly for clear vinyl. I can't tell you how many toys I have bought in unopened state, only to find that they are extremely greasy and/or stuck to the bag. This seems to be more of an issue for early SB and Gargamel clear figures. If you buy vintage vinyls, you may notice that some of the manufacturers actually cut holes in the toy bags. Maybe this was to reduce packing space, since this would make it easier to deflate the bag, but I suspect it was also to keep the gases released from the vinyls from building up inside the bag. It also may not be a great idea to squeeze the air out of the bags when sealing them, since this increases the area of surface contact between the bag and the toy. As an added level of paranoia, I also consider the type of bags that I use to store my vinyls. For now, I have been using this heavy duty clear zip bag sold at Shimojima stores in Japan (e.g., if I buy a toy loose); I think the line is called "Yu-pack". It is more or less the same bag that RxH uses for his figures. I have noticed that the RxH figures- even older and unopened- have not really had many problems with the figures becoming sticky or sticking to the bag, so I figure these must be ok. The concern is that the thinner or cheaper plastic bags may start to degrade more quickly. For this reason, I also try to avoid packing vinyls in direct contact with bubble wrap. In fact, for some items, I will also wrap them in acid-free tissue paper before placing them in the bag. All that said, I think some plastics will just naturally degrade more noticeably than others, based on their chemical composition, and there is nothing we can really do about it. - Opening the storage bins periodically is a good idea. I think it is the same issue as with closed plastic bags: build-up of gases released from the vinyl. Actually, sometimes I think that it might be better to store vinyls in cardboard boxes versus plastic storage bins, as the cardboard is not airtight. - In addition to direct sunlight, keep in mind that fluorescent lights also have the same effect on vinyl, as they emit UV light (although it is probably somewhat less severe). I have also heard that keeping the toys in a location where they are hit by blowing A/C is not great either. I can't recall the reason, but I think the constant flow of dry air probably dries out the vinyl.
So many great pieces of advice in this thread already! Keep em comin Never even thought about the risk of dust sticking to tacky vinyl before - I was never really concerned with dusting toys that are on display, now I might have to make more of an effort. There have been a few cases over the years of retailers/collectors sending toys out with nothing but bubble wrap around them - even though it could be a short trip of only a week or two, opening up the box and seeing that thin bubble wrap plastic in full contact with vinyl always gives me a heart attack! It seems like plain packing paper might be a good alternative for wrapping blank vinyl - then again if the toy starts to sweat, there could be nothing worse than having sticky torn paper glued to your blank. Keshi seems to be the biggest concern of all.. it sounds like these little rubber guys can cause some real horror stories @Waterbear
It is a lot to expect toys originally used as erasers to hold up for decades so it's to be expected I guess. Even the incredible modern day stuff Japanese companies are producing in keshi rubber gets fucked by sunlight really quickly. Literally one day of sun can discolor that stuff badly and forever. I try to get stuff like the GeekLife keshi is dark colors so it doesn't show. Most of the indie american keshi producers add a UV protector to the rubber before casting figures that is sold by the same company they get the rubber from. Or they get pigment with UV stuff already in it so when they add color it's protecting the rubber already. Luckily really good resin is pretty much sun-proof but rubber is a different story.
I commandeered some reclosable bags from a previous employer that come from Uline which I highly recommend. They are prob 2x thicker than what you get at a grocery store so they are good protection for even a painted figure.
The voice of reason inside my head says, 'If you have toys in bags/boxes/attic/storage unit . . . you have too many toys!'
I use Ziploc® brand products to store many of my toys. I figure their stuff is pretty neutral, chemically, after all it's supposedly food-safe. Am I on the safe side or am I risking sleep loss due to nightmares about toy storage?
@Anti Social Andy That voice has been on permanent vacation for me. I'm sure those bags are fine @Roger
The only thing I can add that someone may have touched on above is keep your keshi away from styrofoam. I have seen too many of them melted into the trays. Not nearly as bad as the Takatoku mecha toys that broke in the box, though.
I can confirm that Sunguts also uses these bags; he had them during that paint party thing I was involved in last June.
Super easy fix. One large black Hefty bag. Take all your toys regardless of if its bagged or loose, toss them in. Now walk to closest dumper and fling the bag in. Your now covered for years to come of any issues. No need to thank me, your welcome.
Where I come from a 'dumper' is someone who's taking a shit, but whatever floats your boat you filthy bastard.
Wondering about dusting methods that get into all the little nooks of a sculpt, since I'm sure my more textured toys are going to have little cracks full of dust in a couple of years. Sometimes if a toy's been out on the shelf for a long while I just wash it in the sink but I'm not sure if that's the best way to go about it.
I've had these Daft Punk 1000% Kubricks for about 10 years now and until this past July, they'd been stored in rooms without any direct sunlight. I moved into an apartment with amazing natural light and these guys now get about an hour of direct sunlight during the winter. Since natural light opens up a whole new can of worms of what I can actually see (hello dust everywhere), I noticed some "cracking" of the chrome/metal material used for the helmets that is basically invisible without natural light. I'd imagine the material they used to replicate a metallic effect is rather sensitive but I really am not too sure. Can anyone advise if this is directly related to sun damage or more so a natural decay from the materials used? Also - any general tips for cleaning these? (weird film I haven't been able to get off with microfiber in second pic).
With that type of paint material I suspect the cracking is more related to temperatures (both cold & hot) rather than light. You might try some type of chrome-type polish in a very discreet spot to see if that works on that residue.
This ^^^^ ABS plastic based Be@brick expanding and contracting at different rates to the metal based Chromium.
Yep, i would agree with temperature differences. Fake chrome is a tricky one. It's also very susceptible to rubbing. If you find a toy that's been played with, it will almost certainly have cracking and the plastic underneath exposed in places due to friction. It doesn't take that much to knacker it.