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Big Cam

Worn out capes

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OK, All my capes are brand new and I'll be honest, I don't play with them.

All of mine are crisp and don't even feel like cloth, then I see a picture like this and it makes me wonder, does this happen after alot of use? Or is it a different material?

I kind of like the look of a tatered cape, it looks more realistic.

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Well, all my old capes (yellow face obi-wan EP.I and Darth Vader, just to name a few), has gotten more and more like this over the years. Of course, I'm a TFOL, I was a KFOL when I got those figs, and I still play with them sometimes. :grin:

I think it's a work of playing with them, but could have to do with different materials being used throught time. :sceptic: Someone who's got an old fig, but with a MINT cape?

Edited by filip skywalker

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... I'm a TFOL, I was a KFOL...

???

The new capes don't have this problem, they are made from better material. When I have an old worn out cape, I cut of the lithe wires that exeed the shape of the cape, it works wel, but be sure to use good sisors.

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This is called "fraying" of the cape. See BL where some of the used figs are offered with such a cape. This usually happens when the figs are being played with by children or if they get tossed around a lot (and end up in a box of bricks after playing in which they can get damaged easily). A few of my used figs have capes that look the same, some others however don't. It is no problem though. With some ironing and a good pair of scissors it is possible to improve the condition of the cape.

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I think with the new capes they coat them with a thicker plasticy covering then they used too. None of my capes that I have only recently got have even started to fray. However with my old capes which are badly frayed I use for some characters such as Tusken raiders.

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???

The new capes don't have this problem, they are made from better material. When I have an old worn out cape, I cut of the lithe wires that exeed the shape of the cape, it works wel, but be sure to use good sisors.

Teen fan of lego, kid fan of lego.

The capes are always the same, but after a lot of use and a lot of years, they get like this. Someone posted how to repair them with this gel... but I can't find it.

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Good to know, I was always curious if people made their own to get that ruged old feel.

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It happens when you play with the figs roughly. I found a cape a few weeks ago. It was in a huge bucket of LEGO I always plow to in order tof find the pieces I need. The condition of this cape was even worse than the one in the picture you showed us!

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Well I normaly keep them all in one box too, but I guess this one got lost... It was a black one with grey stars, I have 12 others with stars so it's no disaster.

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Once I found a cape outside with one of the holes broken. :sceptic: I glued (yup) it, and cut holes on certain places on it. Now it looks perfect when you want that 'damaged' look, for example with a Jedi/Sith barely surviving an explosion. :thumbup:

The 'frayed' capes are good sometimes as well, for example they are softer and easier to 'fold' without ruining the quality when putting it in tight cockpits of your MOCs etc.

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Only my Mace from the CTT shows age. It's not as firm and is starting to fray. It's more cloth-like and not as firm or papery. That Maul could easily be 10 years old.

Edited by JCC1004

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The old capes are made of a thicker, more cloth like material and has less coating. The new material is thinner, more paper like and seems to have a thicker coating. :wink:

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Both my capes are messed up really badly. One of them even ripped where the head pin goes in so I can't use it :hmpf_bad:

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Both my capes are messed up really badly. One of them even ripped where the head pin goes in so I can't use it :hmpf_bad:
Once I found a cape outside with one of the holes broken. :sceptic: I glued (yup) it...

:wink:

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Nearly all the HP sets have capes in them, I once bought a bunch of sets off a kid and he had put every single one of the capes over the arms not around the neck, so they were all stretched beyond all crap and a little torn in the middle. :hmpf:

But after reading this thread I think I might have to go thru my figs and keep the capes separate now, I don't have the little boxes any more but a small zip-lock bag will do the trick.

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I think with the new capes they coat them with a thicker plasticy covering then they used too. None of my capes that I have only recently got have even started to fray. However with my old capes which are badly frayed I use for some characters such as Tusken raiders.

That makes sense. I remember the old ones being soft from the get-go, not rediculously stiff like they are today. I think I liked them more that way, but they do have a lot of trouble with fraying.

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...he had put every single one of the capes over the arms not around the neck...

I did that the first time I ever got a cape, around the age of six :laugh:

Most of my capes are somewhat distressed, even the fairly recent batman ones are starting to show their age. a bit. My only experience with new capes is the caroller on Winter Toy Shop, but I did think that those capes seemed kind of stiff and un-cape-like.

I once purposefully distressed a cape so that it would look better on one of my characters, a wizard from my dystopian castle fanon (basically the necromancer and trolls had taken over). I pulled one of the loose threads out and cut a tiny bit off of the end to get it to fray, and crumpled it up a bunch of times. It actually looks really good now.

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As others have said, the capes fray due to wear from playing. When I was a kid, I always took the capes off my figs because they got in the way. Who knew that it would stop them from fraying!

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Nearly all the HP sets have capes in them, I once bought a bunch of sets off a kid and he had put every single one of the capes over the arms not around the neck, so they were all stretched beyond all crap and a little torn in the middle. :hmpf:

But after reading this thread I think I might have to go thru my figs and keep the capes separate now, I don't have the little boxes any more but a small zip-lock bag will do the trick.

They might still accidentally get folded etc... :sceptic:

I´m keeping mine in Tic-Tac boxes. :tongue:

tictac.png

I did that the first time I ever got a cape, around the age of six :laugh:

Most of my capes are somewhat distressed, even the fairly recent batman ones are starting to show their age. a bit. My only experience with new capes is the caroller on Winter Toy Shop, but I did think that those capes seemed kind of stiff and un-cape-like.

All of the newer capes are like that. :sceptic:

Edited by Dennimator

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I was always curious if people made their own to get that ruged old feel.

I make my own. :grin: Well sometimes...but not all frayed like what your meaning.

I have bought a fig in the past who had a major frayed cape so all I did was trim it and it looks fine now. :classic:

As others have said, the capes usually ware, when put in with bricks or had heavy play.

CommanderFox

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Nearly all the HP sets have capes in them, I once bought a bunch of sets off a kid and he had put every single one of the capes over the arms not around the neck, so they were all stretched beyond all crap and a little torn in the middle. :hmpf:

But after reading this thread I think I might have to go thru my figs and keep the capes separate now, I don't have the little boxes any more but a small zip-lock bag will do the trick.

That stinks, if you try to do that it clearly isn't easy, I wonder what was going on through that kids head when he was forcing it on.

All of my capes are the new stiff ones which I'm not crazy about but I suppose you get what you get.

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I guess the cape material has changed at some point, older capes seem do fray a lot easier indeed.

Most of the capes I don`t currently use on a fig are kept in a little cardboard box, especially the Harry Potter ones in peculiar colors.

Oh and by the way: the Maul in the picture is not really old, however the cape is, I changed his brand-new unbendable one for an old and frayed item, that makes sitting on the speeder much easier. And it looks better too.

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I have been pretty lucky with my capes. My oldest one is my darth maul one with is 3 years old. One possibility on them getting like that is if you leave them out in the sun too often and it damages the material.

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