SpiderSpaceman Posted March 29, 2016 (edited) Hey everybody, I hope I'm not remaking a topic here but I wanted to inquire: I've got a good collection of Minifigures, including the majority of the collectible Minifigures, and I want them to be in collectible condition (without sealing them away), but for a number of my favorite figures that doesn't seem to be possible. There's certainly cracking down the torsos that just happens to figures I'm not messing around with, but my particular concern is metallic print. It's just downright gone from my series 1&2 collectible figures, certainly from the Indiana Jones line figures (some of my favorites ever), and my cyborg "Agents" villains. I would be crushed for this to spread to the rest of my Collectible Minifigs, my Superheroes, and Lord of the Rings figures, among others. There's definitely an age component to the print failing, but is this degradation totally inevitable? Is it my climate? I'm in the greater New Orleans area and there is a lot of absurd temperature fluctuation in the weeks around the change of seasons, and excessively moist air (of course my place is conditioned but the room where the Legos are at has poor circulation or something. I wonder if keeping them in different conditions would keep them from damage once they're vulnerable. What are your experiences? What can you suggest for preserving/preventing whatever reaction is causing the damage (without putting them in a vacuum or shellacking) I really do bet it's the air humidity, unless it just happens to everyone? Does anyone still have gold on, say, the maraca Guy's hat? Edited March 30, 2016 by SpiderSpaceman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
anothergol Posted March 30, 2016 I don't know if it's related to the gold color fading on Classic Space minifigs, but if it is: I thought it was only friction (fingers, other parts). Light would be my second clue, but that'd be weird. In any case I opened a small Classic Space set not so long ago, and the minifig's gold was pristine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Junior Shark Posted March 30, 2016 I'm with anothergol- I would chalk it up to contact with human hands. Friction, oil, heat. But it probably takes a lot of human contact to wear the print down. Like you, I've got the Ultra Agents cyborg minifigures, and neither of them have faded after years of play and contact with humans. A fault in the original print could be a factor here- I have six of the Soviet soldier minifigures (http://brickset.com/minifigs/iaj017/Russian-Guard-2) from the Indiana Jones line, all have received about the same amount of play, but only one has completely lost all of its metallic printing. The other five have the metallic print 100% intact. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpiderSpaceman Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) I'm with anothergol- I would chalk it up to contact with human hands. Friction, oil, heat. But it probably takes a lot of human contact to wear the print down. Like you, I've got the Ultra Agents cyborg minifigures, and neither of them have faded after years of play and contact with humans. A fault in the original print could be a factor here- I have six of the Soviet soldier minifigures (http://brickset.com/...Russian-Guard-2) from the Indiana Jones line, all have received about the same amount of play, but only one has completely lost all of its metallic printing. The other five have the metallic print 100% intact. Right, so... it's not that because I haven't been rubbing the figures like a lottery ticket. They were sitting in a box between "ooh shiny" and "aw all the shine's lost". I pick em up from time to time but by unprinted surfaces. I mean, seriously. You think I'm taking the rim of that s2 sombrero, spinning it in my hands and rub rub rubbing the entire thing away, and then asking "hey, what gives"? The fault was something I thought about in hopes that the rest of my metallic print isn't gonna disappear, and was something I thought about when I asked. But say, red dress Willie: I got a red dress Willie, one of my favorite figures, right? And one day a year or two ago, I find it and see that the torso went bad. like, by google images, she went from this: to this: So I went and ordered a new torso from bricklink, and it came in shiny, so I was happy and swapped it out. But then in about a week, I looked again and this new one was straight back to dull. Now I could see having gotten finger oils on that one one time, because of the way you gotta grip it when popping arms in, (and I have had that definite rubbing-caused dulling from trying to grip a Pharaoh's Quest Anubis keychain to tug the hook out) but generally if I have a minifigure I really like, I'm exceedingly mindful of the condition, and certainly trying not to touch on the print. The fact that the fresh one dulled right after i got it says to me: Something starts to break apart in that print at a certain time after it was applied, and something about my environment takes that vulnerability and hits it hard, where collections in a different environment would still have that vulnerability but not the conditions to make it go bad. Edited March 30, 2016 by SpiderSpaceman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Junior Shark Posted March 30, 2016 Right, so... I didn't accuse you of that. OK, I have the same Willie minifigure. Mine has had lots of contact with human hands but yours hasn't. It's just as old as yours. This counts out age as a factor- especially considering that you have this issue on a massive scale. This leads to the only reasonable conclusion, the same one you came to above: environment. I assume you keep your minifigures out of sunlight, otherwise you'd have general degradation in the printing. You live in New Orleans: humid, lots of temperature fluctuation. I live in Colorado: dry, pretty stable temperature changes. Try to get your minifigure collection to a cool, dry place with plenty of circulation. A NASA-approved vacuum chamber would do the trick. But seriously, try moving your collection to a room with better circulation, and look into investing in a dehumidifier. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpiderSpaceman Posted March 30, 2016 Right, so... I didn't accuse you of that. I hear ya, sorry for losing my cool. Good suggestions, I hope that'll do it. I don't have the option to move em now but ought to soon. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Junior Shark Posted March 30, 2016 It's all good, man! P.S. Your avatar rocks... literally! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpiderSpaceman Posted March 30, 2016 It's all good, man! P.S. Your avatar rocks... literally! "You beeeeet your life!" Haha, did you tell me that in the topic next door? I saw a "That's about the best avatar on the site" and I meant to hop back in and say "Doubt that but thanks!" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Junior Shark Posted March 30, 2016 Yeah, that was me! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lyichir Posted March 31, 2016 That is really weird. If you got a replacement torso in good condition and it had degraded that much within a week of you owning it (despite that torso having been from an older set in the first place), I'd think it'd have to be an environmental factor. But I'm not sure what the best solution to that would be. If humidity is the issue as you suspect, maybe you should consider getting a dehumidifier for your Lego room. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpiderSpaceman Posted April 3, 2016 (edited) I'll do that straight away I guess. Is the soccer champion minifigure from series 4? It turns out with my (CMS) Minifigures, it's only the gold gone right now. Because the astronaut with the ray gun, the silver's all good, but the gold is ruined. And the newest one I've seen that's dulled out is the soccer guy. I'm terrified for my iron man collection. Oh check it out, 7 yr old pirates topic: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=34967&st=25 Edited April 3, 2016 by SpiderSpaceman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
