I was fiddling with my ROTF Voyager Starscream today and noticed that his tattoo paint decals are rubbing off all over the figure but primarily on the wings (which get quite man-handled during transformation.) Curious to see if this issue effects the whole figure, I gently scratched at some of the black tattoo markings with my finger and - yup - it started to come off with ease.

​

Note the left wing! And it's getting progressively worse.

Is anyone else having this problem? I'm afraid to transform this figure now because the more I handle it, the more of its paint rubs away.

This actually kind of pisses me off because, even though it's out of the package, I was hoping to sell it when Leader Starscream came along.

The figure is kept out of direct sunlight in my living room with no extreme temperature conditions.

I'm curious to hear from others if this is becoming a wide-spread problem and if anyone has any suggestions as to preventing this degradation of the paint.

EDIT: This is so bad that I could, with only my fingernails, scratch off all the black paint and have a plain brown Starscream. Yikes.

​

 

Same thing happened here.

 

Hasn't happened here..do you happen to have relatively sweaty hands? Don't want to sound insulting, but appearantly sweaty hands are pretty acid. Can break guitar strings more easy, etc. I reckon this might also have influence on these kind of markings?

Or maybe that's just how bad it is..trust me though, there's people who would love to have ROTF Starscream without the tats.. 

 

looks like he needs to find a better artist.....i mean sure it will cost more, but those are tattoos......ya get what ya pay for.....dumbass starscream.....never get a scratcher to work on a masterpiece  

 

Haha. I take your point Digilaut, but the last thing a toy collector will want to do is admit he/she has sweaty hands. I mean, I'm already a toy-collecting nerd. Do I also want to be known as a sweaty-palmed toy-collecting nerd? In truth though, my hands aren't particularity sweaty (they ain't dripping), but they can be especially when it gets humid out.

 

Well. Starscream is not taking care of his tattoos like he should be. Moisturizer, sun screen....Unless he's a chicken and got rub on tattoos and says those are real.

 

exactly, A&D is your friend,,,chlorine, and sun are your enemy..and flying all high and through the atmosphere...ya know hes not taking proper care...he should just get a cover up....or laser removal

 

Get what I pay for? In Canada, a Voyager class figure can cost up to $30. I'd think that price would be enough to secure paint that doesn't rub off after a year.

Anyways, I figured the damage has already been done, so I've decided to remove all the markings. It's quite easy. I just some paper towel and lightly scrub to get this:

​

Although the markings are rubbing away, they leave a light shadow of where they used to be.

 

im sorry buddy, i wasnt attacking you,,i was playing around with the idea of getting tattoos..and how starscream shouldve went to a better artist  

i agree at the price you paid for him, you shouldnt have to worry about his stickers coming off  

 

My hands do tend to get sweaty, which causes some problems for me (I'm an illustrator and hold the pencil very strongly, which doesn't help). I just wash them very often because I'm also very clean and careful with things. I wouldn't be insulted if someone asked about hand sweat, since it isn't shameful or anything, i guess.

Even so, none of my figures have chipped or erased paints, so maybe sweat isn't the case here... although on the other hand, I never fiddle with my figures with dirty hands, so maybe it's only a matter of care.

 

I actually have problems with dry hands to the point that the skin on my hand breaks even when I'm not doing anything, and the same has happened with my Screamer (to a lesser extent than the OP's).

 

Same thing happened to my Starscream, but it wasn't a surprise to me

 

Well, I took the afternoon and some rubbing alcohol and now my Starscream is sans tattoos

 

the same thing is happening to me.

 

Due to a pricing error, i got mine for half price on release... and the paint is fine.

Maybe he got what *I* paid for.

 

geesh it was a play on starscream getting a cheap tattoo   not that the toy is actually cheap...guess the joke wasnt recieved in the context it was intended for...my bad  

 

I have to wonder if this will be an issue on mintscream. which reminds me i need toi get to K-mart to check for one XD

 

I think most paint apps that are not protected will suffer from this. Movie 1 ratchet was terrible. May i suggest future floor shine? I protect all my new tf's with it and even the really expensive (175$) tf's with it. Works wonders.

 

i ahev the same problem but its only on starscream Right Leg