Question #9: from December 30, 2002:

2. 9. Going through some vintage figures, a couple of them seem to be sticky. I've read before that this is probably from the plastics beginning to break down. Is there any specific way/environment that will help postpone this from happening as long as possible, or is it just something that happens on a figure-by-figure basis regardless of how it's stored/displayed? Once they get like this, is there any way to "clean" them off so they aren't sticky anymore?
--Michael

My answer from 2002 With commentary from 2025:

Actually, I'm experimenting with this now. I've found that taking a cotton square and some rubbing alcohol will clean off the sticky stuff, but I'm not sure what (if anything) this means for the long haul. On the bright side, this may mean that our figures will at least survive as long as we do. I haven't noticed any adverse side effects on the two figures I've tried this on yet, which are an AT-AT Driver that I got as part of a collection a few years back and my Fright Features Peter Venkman (Real Ghostbusters) I've had since he first came out in like 1986. So far, both seem to be sticky-free after a couple of weeks, and I haven't noticed anything weird come up. The only problem I've encountered so far was with the translucent orange plastic used on the Ghost that came with the Ecto-1, it has a strange white residue which doesn't seem to come off.

It got worse! More old (and some new) figures are starting to break down.

While I wouldn't recommend using rubbing alcohol today - you want to keep the paint nice! - you can use warm water and a damp cloth or paper towel to remove a lot of the oils that pop up on toys, even properly cared-for and stored ones. It just happens. It used to take 20 years for things to get bad. Some items have never gotten oily, and I've had some figures from 2010 stay on a shelf in a dark closet - and get oily by 2020. It just happens, and there's no real way to plan for or prevent it.

A lot of time has passed since we started buying these things and we're finding not everything is going to hold up to time. There's no amount of slabbing or vaulting you can do - the materials may not all last forever. Mass-produced plastic toys are a relatively new thing and "Mego Molt" has been known since at least the 1980s and 1990s. With any luck once you clean them, they'll stay nice, but we just don't know. I've seen a lot of clones spontaneously yellow in the last few years and it's heartbreaking.

One problem I haven't seen described elsewhere is one of my old Bossk figures not only got oily, but it seems that the color is leeching out too - the oil took the pigment with it. It's worth checking your old toys to see how they look today.

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FIN

The fact that everything will eventually get old and break down has not been a great one. I've seen a lot of greening Spirit Obi-Wans, yellowing Clone Troopers, and other figures just start to age even if properly cared for in a box in a closet. There's no outrunning time, so if you're the kind of collector who sees these as an investment? Start selling your oldest stuff first.

--Adam Pawlus

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