So, realtalk, minimal meming if possible.
How bad is plasticizer leakage? I never even heard the term until a few years back and have never had it happen myself. I never grew out of toys so still have stuff from my childhood and have bought figures continuously through my teens and adult life. I never heard it being a big issue on any forums I used to frequent, and up until a few years ago didn't seem to be a thing on /toy/.
Nowadays though it seems to be the ultimate boogieman for collectors here, hoping to find ways to prevent it, either by cleaning it off before it leaks, or letting toys air out if they are stored longterm in packaging. It's talked about enough that it seemed like a genuine big deal and not just a few dedicated samefags, but for what's amounted to a non-issue in my toy buying life I have to wonder how many of these people simply live out in humid areas, or lack AC.
I'm not saying it doesn't exist and never happens, but I would like to hear from people who have experienced it, and also those who have not, to see if my experience is merely a fluke from living in a milder climate.
>>5775865
Let's make it simple :
Most toys will "never" suffer from this unless you live in a shitty climate (the plastic won't last forever of course but chances are it'll get old enough to basically break, crumble and shit before any leakage happens, think of 100 years +).
Some toys (like figmas using soft plastic and Revoltechs) use bad plastic and/or paint chemicals leading to leakage to happen on 100% of the figures concerned in the "short term". Even if you live in a good climate, it will happen. Maybe it'll take 10 or 15 years, but it WILL happen. Of course, shitty climate would accelerate the issue.
>>5776262
Pretty much /thread. Depends on your climate and the content of the plastic in that particular toy. Could never be a problem, could happen next summer.
The good news is even if it happens, you can wash it off. Just be prepared to do so every summer once it starts.
If you buy unopened toys older than about 7 years on the aftermarket, then you should be prepared to wash off the plasticizer after you open them.
>>5776262
>Most toys will "never" suffer from this unless you live in a shitty climate
This is a shitty lie.
All plastics will eventually rot, but how long it takes does depend on the environment.
All your toys will show signs within your life time, even if you keep them in museum quality settings.
>>5777929
>All your toys will show signs within your life time, even if you keep them in museum quality settings.
I'm 32 and still have toys from the 80's who never suffered from this.
So, is all the immediate fear just from the people in bad climates while the rest of us just have to deal with normal plastic degradation. It just feels incredibly silly and strange to see people freaking out about a brand new toy they got and making it sound like it;s a river of goop coming out from when they first opened it.
>>5777957
I'm 36 and have not had toys happen to me...oh wait, GI Joes rubber bands snapping. He Mans too.
MASK vehicles are now brittle as shit.
I don't even live in a hot climate. It's basically room temperature year round where i live.
Old age shit just happens.
> It just feels incredibly silly and strange to see people freaking out about a brand new toy they got and making it sound like it;s a river of goop coming out from when they first opened it.
Who's saying this?
IS this a fallacy to try and make anyone who does complain seem crazy by pretending someone used an extreme anecdote?
Almost all complaints about "new" toys are from people who bought their toys 5-10 years ago.
There are companies who shown they're aware of issues involving their plastics, btw.
>>5777968
>IS this a fallacy to try and make anyone who does complain seem crazy by pretending someone used an extreme anecdote?
It's not a fallacy though. You see it pop up on this board a lot, there was even a thread yesterday making it out to sound like a huge deal.
I'm not even denying plastics degrade and wear down all the time, I just don't get the overwhelming fear people have about their toys leaking oils like mad.
>>5777983
what thread?
>>5777929
>>5777968
>All your toys will show signs within your life time, even if you keep them in museum quality settings.
That's just wrong though. Will there be toys made with shit materials that get fucked no matter what? Yes. However most signs of degradation will be caused by shitty environmental issues, UV exposure and things of that nature. Same shit applies to books, comics, artwork, etc.
The problem is people never see flaws in their own actions. So they think their handling of these items is fine but in reality you got morons whining about faded artwork, yellowing comics, fade paint, etc. Then when you investigate further you learn they let "natural sunlight" flood their collection room on a daily fucking basis. Or that they never used air conditioning their entire life. Or some other such nonsense.
The fact is collecting is an expensive as fuck hobby. Not just because the cost of entry but also the cost of maintaining the collection. There is always a chance a toy stored in ideal conditions will suffer some sort of problem but let's be real here. Most people complaining about 2-4 year old toys aren't maintaining their collection right.
>>5778336
> However most signs of degradation will be caused by shitty environmental issues, UV exposure and things of that nature. Same shit applies to books, comics, artwork, etc.
You don't own books, do you?
The pages yellow over time, just from being exposed to air. Same thing happens with plastics. Even plastics that aren't made with that shitty white plastic used in the 80s and 90s.
It's going to happen eventually, maybe not in 10 or 20 y ears, but further down the line.
Museums have that trouble too.
There's a reason why comic book collectors buy poly-bags for their books and special cardboard backings that absorb shit to keep the comic from degrading too fast. Does something like that exist for toys? NOPE, aside from archival safe boxes, but they don't slow down the aging process.
>The problem is people never see flaws in their own actions.
People also don't notice something is happening until it's too late. Sorta like fat people. One day they suddenly feel like they're hurfing and orfing too much getting out of their seat and realize that they're fat.
Same shit happens with seeing a toy every single day. The change is so gradual you won't notice until you compare yours with a picture or someone else's figure that was kept in a box in a cool dark basement, but what's the fun in hiding a cool toy in the dankest part of your home and ot on your shelf?
>>5778349
I own plenty of books. Quality of paper affects yellowing more than exposure to air. Cheap paperbacks will fully yellow under the same conditions where high quality hardcovers will remain white. Hell, I have some manga from Tokyopop that were sealed in high quality bags and they still yellowed because the paper quality was shit (along with the binding, editing and pretty much everything else because Tokyopop sucked dick). I also have some kid's books on animals that were printed on high quality paper from 25+ years ago that were always exposed to air and they are bright white.
At the end of the day quality of materials will determine how fast something degrades but the environment surrounding it can accelerate the process. Had I exposed those books to sunlight daily there is a good chance the ones that are white today wouldn't be white and wouldn't have been white for a good decade or so. Toys should be played with and posed and displayed. This means they will get hit by oxygen but there is no excuse for letting a toy get hit by UV, humidity, heat and dirty hands covered in oils.
Like I said, people having problems in a super short span of time probably aren't just seeing the affects of pure oxygen damage. Especially when other people with the same toys can post pictures proving their copy is perfectly fine in that same span of time.
>>5778375
>Quality of paper affects yellowing more than exposure to air. Cheap paperbacks will fully yellow under the same conditions where high quality hardcovers will remain white.
NOPE.
If you place a cheap paperback against the back of the bookcase and stick something ontop, or minimize the gap ontop, the cheapo paperbacks won't yellow as fast.
Its all about oxidization. Same shit happens with plastic, but to a far longer degree.
>At the end of the day quality of materials will determine how fast something degrades but the environment surrounding it can accelerate the process
I think this is a no-duh, but basically all plastics are unknown factors. How many Figmas and Revoltechs were made from that cheapo shit plastics that had rapid degrading issues? You think all those toys from the 80s and 90s had their issues pop up in months or even a few years?
It's ALWAYS an unknown until years and years down the line. You're just too short sighted and very anecdotal.
BTW, some anecdotal experience here, but just to show how inconsistant the plastic is. I have an ML Iron Man by Toy Biz whose metallic paint got discolored just by being in contact with other figures. In the same box, Omega Red's and Colossus' metallic paint is still like new.
Just shows how plastics and paints are always changing even within the same line and you'll never know what's safe or not until years from now.
>>5777126
I have a bunch of toys from the 70s and 80s in my collection and none of them have ever leaked plasticizer.
On the other hand, I've had a few items from the 90s that have broken down to the point where they basically turned into mush.
>>5778393
plasticizers leak through various manners.
Some ooze out. Others are gassed out. Sometimes both.
Honestly, you really won't know unless there's an obvious sign, like the fluid, speckling, pitting, or the plastic becoming brittle. And these signs are only showing a large amount of the plasticizers leaking, so a small amount, you wouldn't know about.
>>5778392
>If you place a cheap paperback against the back of the bookcase and stick something ontop, or minimize the gap ontop, the cheapo paperbacks won't yellow as fast.
A high quality hardcover book is printed on acid free paper which gives it a meaningful, substantial and quantifiable advantage over paperbacks printed on acidic paper. So what I said is entirely accurate, quality of paper affects yellowing more than exposure to air.
>>5778412
sure, that makes your statement partly correct, but is missing the point, in that it's unavoidable to catch everything through normal use of the product.
You want to blame a shitty environment, but the fact is that just leaving things out in the open can and will cause them to decompose faster just from being out there.
We're a board that looks down on people who keeps things stored away and fiercely prideful of their displays, and just doing this can cause problems with the unknown qualities of the toys, whose negative properties will not be known more than 5 years (or longer) from now.
BTW, that cheapo paperback can stay gray (not white) for years and years and years. Even then, only the outside will turn yellow. The pages inside stay fresh for decades, which shows how much air plays a role in degradation issues.
pic of a 40+ year old comic book that still has "white" pages, not because it's made of acid free paper, but because it was kept somewhere unread and lonely for a long time in a limited oxygen environment (a box).
So...should I worry about this?
Should I leave toys in their box/air tight containers when not in use or can I have them sitting on a shelf and they'd at least remain standing provided they're not infront of a window?
>tfw not enough display space to open display most of my figures
The only reason why I keep boxes, I know it'd be retarded to have figma's in a heap stacked in a box, unlike my hasbro legends which I cram into a storage container
Protip: stop worrying about your possessions degrading over short-term, long term, whatever. You are 100% going to die, and the stuff you have that remains pristine on your watch will turn to kipple under someone else's. Or it will end up in a landfill, or be ground to dust beneath a glacier. Get over that shit.
>>5778653
So should we stop working because we're gonna die and be worthless?
Fuck off
>>5778653
but i don't want to buy shit that will degrade within my lifetime, muchless 2-5 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>5778656
If you want. Life isn't work.
>>5778685
>This. So much.
Which is funny, since he doesn't seem to understand how to take care of his own stuff either, nor why things happen.
>>5778653
I just want them to hold up while they are my possessions. They can deteriorate in the next guy's life time.
>>5778656
Yes.
