In the ARAH regrets thread people kept mentioning ARAH figures and vehicles being brittle. I figured I'd start another thread to post my comments to keep the other thread from getting cluttered with off topic things.

Personally I haven't experienced the brittleness that some folks comment on. Except of course for the crotches and thumbs. But if you're careful about handling them then you lessen the chances of breaking them. And if those parts do break, I just repair them or replace them.

The thumbs are a no brainer to break. They have to have a certain amount of flexibility but also some rigidity to hold the weapons. So everytime the gun is placed in the hand, you stress the plastic, over time it weakens and breaks. Some snap right away due to defective plastic. The newer ARAH figures in the last 10 years addressed the thumb issue by making them more flexible, which made them less able to hold the guns tightly in some cases. But over time even they will most likely break if the gun is put in and out of their hand numerous times. Even the 25A thumbs will eventually break over time.

Haven't experienced the brittleness of the vehicles at all. Except of course for breaking tabs and clips. But it is plastic so at some point it will break if it's stressed enough. Most of the vehicles were meant to be put together once and never taken apart, that's why the clips lock in place, so if you take it apart you run the risk of stressing it and breaking it.

It's easy to put down the figures from 82-94 because they are old. But the 25A figures will be old too someday and suffering from weak plastic and other issues. I am sure in 20 or 25 years people on some future message board will be complaining about their 25A figures breaking and how weak some parts of them are.

As kids all of us experienced the Joes breaking. Crotches, thumbs and knees. But over time they got better. The 25A figures apparently had durability issues when they first hit the stores. But they got better I am told. In both instances, Hasbro took care of the problems for the most part.

Plastic isn't an unbreakable substance and it is subject to the ravages of time and weather like everything in our world but for the most part it holds up fairly well. I live in Maryland and we have the full gamut of temperatures so my figures suffer a wide range of heat and cold. And beyond the O-rings breaking once in a while I have not had figures or vehicles just seemingly falling apart like some of you described.

Just curious how many people have these bad plastic problems I saw described.

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http://science.howstuffworks.com/great- ... -patch.htm


That's why plastic gets brittle. Keeping it out of direct sunlight is a good idea.

ARAH figs were brittle from the day they premiered. It's because of the harder plastic they used, it has no "give" to it. That's why thumbs break and crotches snap. That's not a put down, it's a fact of life. They were designed that way.

25 years has made it much worse, especially sun exposed figures. Some of the older figures are very, VERY brittle. I've seen some I wouldn't even want to try and pose. Most however are still OK. That said, I wouldn't stress them very much. Those little white marks on the thumbs are bad news.

As for the new stuff eventually breaking down: Yup. Eventually the plasticizer will leech out and the parts will shrink and harden. Then they will start to get cracks and breaks like the ARAH figs have now. It's a sad fact when you're dealing with anything made of plastic, but nothing lasts forever.

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The only things I've really had a problem with (other than the occasional thumb) are gold-plastic figures. I don't even try to move my v1 Serpentor's arms anymore.

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Don't for get legs. Battle stands were not designed for any of the older figures. I don't recommand using a battle stand for any of the "skinny" figures unless you shave down the stand peg.

HA! Don't I know it!

I had a Stinger Driver do the heel pop on me earlier today.

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I opened a MIB V1 STUN about three years ago and snapped off the peg on both engine covers the first time I assembled it. The red plastics suxxorz to begin with (Stun parts, FANG roll bars, etc), but I think this vehicle had been stored in someone's toasty garage for years.

I have seen some other vehicles that were nice and brittle but had no apparent sundamage. So my experience tells me to keep my Joes away from sunlight AND heat. 90F+ is a no no.

I started rebuilding my collection in 03, I think I might have snapped one thumb and one crotch since then *knocks on wood*. And the thumb was on a SM Spirit (WTF is up with the thumb mold and plastic on that fig??). I ALWAYS display all my figures with full gear, and I just got done putting them all back out after moving. I think you just have to be careful about the way the weapon goes into the hand, I didnt break a thing.

Getting Joes second hand is tricky. Some have been well stored and some have not, I think it just depends on the item's previous environments that determines how brittle the toy will be now.

My only real problem has ever been the 1982 straight arm figures, beyond that I haven't had any kind of breakage since. It could be that I genuinely try to take care of the figs in my posesion, keeping them stored ect.

Actually the toys I have a major problem with are my Mcfarline movie figs (Snake Pliskin, ash, Robocop) seems like every one of them have broke and were stored the exact same way as my joes. Yet I pulled them out yesterday and each one had lost a limb. That is brittle since they are barely a few years old.

I think it's more likely that the soft plastic used on the modern figures will start to "melt" and degrade. The soft plastics used on Brazilian accessories will show signs of "sweating" in the packaging if they were not properly stored and it's likely that this same thing will eventually occur with most of the modern figures, too. The joints will freeze and the plastic will begin to get tacky to the touch. It will take time, but it will happen. All toys are going to degrade. They're cheaply made and are designed to be disposable. Some will survive longer than others, but all of this stuff will eventually break down.

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I snapped the handlebar off my Skull-Squad Ferret during shooting of my first dio. All the red parts on my stun are broken, but they've been that way since 1988.


I see breakage happening due to stress (and warping due to heat), but I'm with the "all-in-all, toys break, but these toys are pretty sturdy if you're careful with them" crowd. Certainly none of my 20-30 year old toys have become tissue paper or decayed into plastic droplets.

If you look at the 12" Joes from the 60s and 70s you'll soon notice that the plastic in these has broken down quite a bit.

The softest plastics have melted and will actually melt other plastics if touched together.

The semi soft plastics (Like most new sculpt/25th figues) has actually shrunken and hardened into a brittle hard material much like ARAH plastic.

The hard plastic has become brittle and crack prone.

I think this is a good indicator of what we have to look forward to in the coming years.

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Ah yes the dreaded heat damage.
I remember back when I was young I had those plastic Matchbox tracks. I once left those out in a detached garage in the winter. I was sad that they were so brittle from the cold that they broke at just the slightest touch.