I've started going through my Unicron Trilogy figures to separate them by series. I've been slowly transforming them and dusting them. In the last half hour, one of Energon Demolishers elbows finally snapped and Cybertron deluxe Unicrons head snapped at the pin holding it in. The cause as many of you may know: clear plastic. Energon Starscream was fine, I'm thankful for. But from one collector to others, please take care when transforming your UT figures that have clear plastic.
This is exactly why I couldn't pull the trigger on the 3rd party Hegemon figure. Clear plastic for the elbows? On top of looking terrible it's just gonna break. I'm noticing a lot of figures from that time and earlier are starting to show their age in the overall degradation of the plastic.
Wow, thanks for the head's up. I had considered pulling the trigger on Deluxe Unicron at some point, but I'm rethinking that now. Wonder if the newer re-release is worth worrying about...
Heck, it's already started with more recent figures, too. When i was going through stuff to sell last summer, my ROTF The Fallen broke at, ironically, his face, since it was held on with clear plastic. Just came right off when I flipped the figure over, didn't even need to ask him for it like Optimus did.
I noticed the other day that my Energon Inferno was showing some signs of yellowing plastic as well. Just seems to be that era's time to start falling apart.
I had RiD Prowl in storage for the past 10 years or more and decided to get him out the other day (among other things). The plastic hinge covering his roof pin crumbled apart like a sugary lollipop. I have transformed him maybe 3 or 4 times since I got him. Also noticing that a few screws/pins on various other 'last decade or so' items have rusted even though they've never been directly exposed to any significant moisture sources. I normally take precautions like removing batteries from anything with electronic gimmicks as well, but I guess time takes its toll regardless.
The exact same thing happened to my The Fallen figure. It had been on display and untouched for over a year. Last week I started to pack down my collection, the face fell off when I picked the figure up. It had cracked at the clear red plastic holding onto it. This is another example of why I have trust issues with clear plastic. At least when it's being used for joints, pegs, tabs, hinges.. basically anything that requires a small amount of stress to work. Missiles, light-piping and windows/windshields is where it seems to play it safely.