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Figure Problems (of the First World)


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#1 Whirlygig

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Posted 26 February 2018 - 10:04 AM

Soooo...

 

I kept my AA/DST figures all boxed up until about 2015.  Then I opened them all up at once and put them into hole-punched ziploc baggies and into some bins where they have sat ever since.  (After looking at them in-box for so long I had no desire to pose them on shelves at that time in the short-term.)

 

I was getting them out for some re-arranging over the weekend and here's what I noticed:

 

1) Riker's hands really liked turning reddish.  On the first Riker figure, one of them had some red stuff on his right hand which effectively looked like he had just murdered the king.  Not sure if it came out of the box that way.  Nothing in the bag for it to have rubbed off from.  The other hand had a reddish tint to it.  Then a later Riker also had reddish tint showing up in his hand paint.  Another Riker (AGT I think) had normal hands, and no other figure had this problem whatsoever.

 

2) The weak link on these figures is apparently the double-ball joint holding their shoulders in.  All Good Things Geordi's broke in half all while he just sat around, so his right arm is off now... :(     I encountered this once before, too -- I took out First Contact data a couple years ago to display and his broke as well when I tried to swap the arm out for the borgified one.  Fortunately, FC Data's extra arm includes another entire joint piece in it -- but it was pretty hard for me to get the first broken balls out of their sockets, even when I boiled him in water (which I won't try again, I have discovered hair dryers are the way to go).  (Also fortunately, I had bought a duplicate FC Data, so I'm covered!)

 

3) I had purchased both the Avon 3-pack of Kirk/Spock/McCoy, as well as the separate releases of the same 3 figures.  Not sure which was which, but one pair of Spock/McCoy had gotten cloudy around the edges of their insignia badge...as if the copper colored paint had been seeping out through the rubber or something.  Not the case with the other two, which were both stored right next to them the same way.

 

4) Wow, some of these are now pretty expensive on the 2ndary market when still in package!!!

 

5) Don't store those giant display bases from the first TNG waves inside of the same bag as your figure or the silver paint will want to rub off on their legs, especially Riker...but it did wipe off with a wet rag.

 

6) Wow, these are kind of huge.  After years of collecting Black Series and Marvel Legends now, which are called 6", and having also accumulated NECA 7" and a few DC Collectibles 7"....  I kind of felt like these were closer to 8"...  I didn't get anything else out to compare but they just seemed pretty gigantic by current standards.  I should go home today and compare Riker to DST's own Venkman or Stanz and see if it's just them or what.

 

Several other observations as well.  I can tell you one thing, I doubt we will EVER get a line of figures that went as deep as this one did, and that's not saying much unfortunately but it is what it is (now I am hoping McFarlane's will be big enough to stand next to them seamlessly but that seems less likely to me).  Nevertheless, I'm glad I've got 'em and am thankful that DST kept it going as long as they did.  But at the same time, like every other DST figure I've ever purchased (X-Files, Ghostbusters, a few other odds and ends) they have duller paint than other lines, and in general it just seems like DST products are made to look good in the box and the quality assurance ends there.  I know, I always sound whiney and complainey about DST, but I'm just giving my honest thoughts.



#2 Gothneo

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Posted 26 February 2018 - 02:39 PM

Did you store them in a climate controlled area? or did they maybe get subjected to a bit of heat? That could explain some of the discoloration? 



#3 Whirlygig

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Posted 26 February 2018 - 04:09 PM

Naw, they never should have been subjected to any excessive heat.  Kept in a cool, A/C'd dark closet, in an open-air bin with no lid.  Don't think I did anything wrong, it just happened somehow.  It's possible they were already that way when I opened them up in 2015, hard to say.



#4 VorlonKosh

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Posted 14 March 2018 - 04:28 PM

I've noticed stuff like that with figures...it just happens over time me thinks.  Maybe it is chemicals in the plastic of the bag itself?



#5 Whirlygig

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Posted 15 March 2018 - 06:07 AM

I've noticed stuff like that with figures...it just happens over time me thinks.  Maybe it is chemicals in the plastic of the bag itself?

Ziplocs do change noticeably over a period of 3-5 years from their own slow chemical processes. Another reason I feel that punching holes in them are important. I actually have to give the hole punch idea credit to someone here who clued me in years ago, it may have been Gothneo.

But given that most of the problems I describe are specific to a particular character, or set, or ball joint on this line I think the figures are more likely the problem here in this case (or particular circumstances which surrounded them before they arrived in my home). For instance maybe all of the hands used for all the different Rikers were made in the same factory batch run and there was a paint problem that batch. Perhaps the Avon figure 3 pack was subjected to different treatment before arriving in my hands which accelerated its degradation...either having been packaged differently or being too proximate to some vaporizing face cream products in a hot delivery truck? Lulz. And, perhaps DST just didn't use a good long term plastic for their ball joints.

#6 WORF22

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Posted 15 March 2018 - 06:37 AM

i have some DST fig that have started to turn green in the face.



#7 Damon1984

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Posted 15 March 2018 - 07:30 AM

Orion sleeper agents detected!



#8 Andy

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Posted 16 March 2018 - 09:20 AM

I recently took my figures out of storage and was shocked to see they're all covered in a sticky film. I know it's something that happens, but disappointing nonetheless. :\






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