So, like a lot of fans close to my age, I was a kid when the original Transformers toy line came out, and I played with them like toys. I raced Jazz across the tabletops at daycare until his front and back windows broke off, and played with my Constructicons in the dirt, and had Powerglide skid down the big, metal slide at the playground until it wore his landing gears down to a small, plastic nub. These are all true stories.

But, as I got older and I came to appreciate my favorite toy line a little bit more, I learned that these toys were inherently fragile, and learned to take better care of them. Eventually, I was treating my Transformers more like collectibles, recognizing that they would last longer if I treated them better.

By the time Transformers: Generation 2 came out, I was about 17, and had my first regular job, so not only was I old enough to be able to take care of the toys properly, but I had enough disposable income that I could (thanks in no small part to a particularly timely clearance sale at Kay-Bee Toys) collect the entire toy range.

I recently got a glass Detolf cabinet that allowed me to display my G2 toys properly, who have been boxed up since I moved about a year ago. They get displayed right next to the G1 toys from 1984-1990, and with many of the G2 toys starting out as G1 toys, it's a fun visual way for the collection to come full circle. They've been on a bookshelf for the better part of 30 years, and collected quite a bit of dust, so I spent several nights cleaning them and detailing them with Q-Tips and making them presentable again.

The sad truth is that even though the G2 toys are newer, and I took excellent care of them, they are still three decades old, and some of them have still succumbed to the various maladies that all plastic toys eventually succumb to.

Gold plastic syndrome is a problem, of course. My original Electro did shatter into pieces, years ago, but I was fortunate that a fan here on ATT was willing to send me a replacement (I can't remember right now whether he sold it to me or just gave it to me). He's arguably one of the most delicate items in my collection, and I was relieved that he survived the move. My G2 Slingshot is broken and glued back together in a few different spots, but I've decided that he just won't get transformed any longer (my G2 Aerialbots stay in Superion mode now).

When I was cleaning off my collection, I managed to completely destroy three out of four of my Mini Autobots. Now, obviously I'm not stupid enough to try to wash toys with paper stickers, because I know water would ruin them.. But, I figured it was safe to wash a few toys in the sink like the G2 Constructicons (metal foil stickers) and various missiles and swords and rotors and things, and my G2 Minibots. Somehow, the hot and soapy water had a negative reaction with the vaccum metalized paint, and the colored lacquer came detached from the metalized base coat. Seaspray survived unscathed, but the others were ruined. They all had this ugly white patina all over them, and trying to remove it just scraped the colored laquer off completely. What an ignominous end to toys who were treated with care, and spent their entire existence proudly on display!

So, it was off to eBay to try to find new G2 Mini Autobots I could actually display with pride. Now, these toys retailed for about $2.99, back in the day, but that was in 1993 dollars. On average they tend to go for closer to $25 today. What an expensive mistake! I was able to find a blue Seaspray (my original one was purple) and a decent replacement Bumblebee, and I even found an auction for a Hubcap and Beachcomber that were still in the original packaging, albeit badly warped. So, crisis averted. These sorts of problems are easily remedied if you throw enough money at them, but it's sad that it was necessary in the first place.

Also, apparently, the color-shifting paint jobs on the Color Changers tends to fade over time. The orange on Gobots or the dark blue on Deluge and Jetstorm or the dark green on Drench have all faded significantly, so I'm probably going to look for at least partial replacements at some point for them.

Other random toys have suffered from various breaks, which I suspect is simply the result of aging plastic. The arm launcher for Space Case snapped in half when I was loading his missile to put him on display, for example. I have a replacement coming, which I got for fairly cheap because he's missing a leg, so he can serve as a parts donor. I also broke Eagle Eye when I was taking him apart to clean him with a Q-Tip, so that's entirely my fault. I should have known better. Sigh.

While I was cleaning my toys off, G2 Sizzle confused me for a moment because I remembered the sticker on his roof being much more faded. Then I remembered that I must have replaced him at some point, years ago, because he'd broken. I don't even remember where the break was. But, I do remember getting one on eBay that was probably missing the robot feet, or something like that.

I also noticed some ultraviolet radiation damage to a handful of toys who I guess had gotten a little too much direct sunlight. I had curtains blocking the windows at the condo, but I think a narrow slit of light must have hit the toys for a brief period every afternoon, and that can have cumulative damage after almost twenty years. So, poor Double Clutch is a little more yellow than white these days, along with a few other victims. Maybe in the summertime when we get more sun, I can try to bleach him with some hydrogen peroxide.

Obviously, on a long enough timeline, every one of these toys will decay and deteriorate, so I suppose in some ways it's senseless, and postponing the inevitable, for me to sit here and just replace a toy every time he snaps in half. But, the current display room is also far better suited for long-term display purposes (Detolf cabinets are basically sealed shut so dust isn't an issue, and the windows in the basement have light-blocking film to minimize ultraviolet light exposure).

But, all things considered, I feel like the collection as a whole has held up remarkably well over the last 30 years. The original batteries even still work in a few of them, which absolutely blows my mind! Now to see if they'll last another 30 years...

Zob (and the 40th anniversary for the brand, as a whole, is coming in 2024!)

>
> When I was cleaning off my collection, I managed to completely destroy three out of four of my Mini Autobots. Now, obviously I'm not stupid enough to try to wash toys with paper stickers, because I know water would ruin them. But, I figured it was safe to wash a few toys in the sink like the G2 Constructicons (metal foil stickers) and various missiles and swords and rotors and things, and my G2 Minibots. Somehow, the hot and soapy water had a negative reaction with the vaccum metalized paint, and the colored lacquer came detached from the metalized base coat. Seaspray survived unscathed, but the others were ruined. They all had this ugly white patina all over them, and trying to remove it just scraped the colored laquer off completely. What an ignominous end to toys who were treated with care, and spent their entire existence proudly on display!

My condolences! That must have been a terrible moment of realization.
>
> These sorts of problems are easily remedied if you throw enough money at them,

Generally true - although I wonder if there simply may come a time when there are no pristine specimens left in the wild that have been untouched by the cruel hands of time...

> Obviously, on a long enough timeline, every one of these toys will decay and deteriorate, so I suppose in some ways it's senseless, and postponing the inevitable, for me to sit here and just replace a toy every time he snaps in half. But, the current display room is also far better suited for long-term display purposes (Detolf cabinets are basically sealed shut so dust isn't an issue, and the windows in the basement have light-blocking film to minimize ultraviolet light exposure).
>
> But, all things considered, I feel like the collection as a whole has held up remarkably well over the last 30 years. The original batteries even still work in a few of them, which absolutely blows my mind! Now to see if they'll last another 30 years...

I see fans doing amazing things with 3D printers, and I wonder how long it will be before we can simply print our own G1 toys at home in a quality that approximates the original.

>
>
> Zob (and the 40th anniversary for the brand, as a whole, is coming in 2024!)

We had Thrilling Thirty, do we get Full-Grown Forty?

On Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 7:01:25 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> So, like a lot of fans close to my age, I was a kid when the original Transformers toy line came out, and I played with them like toys. I raced Jazz across the tabletops at daycare until his front and back windows broke off, and played with my Constructicons in the dirt, and had Powerglide skid down the big, metal slide at the playground until it wore his landing gears down to a small, plastic nub. These are all true stories.
>
> But, as I got older and I came to appreciate my favorite toy line a little bit more, I learned that these toys were inherently fragile, and learned to take better care of them. Eventually, I was treating my Transformers more like collectibles, recognizing that they would last longer if I treated them better.
>
> By the time Transformers: Generation 2 came out, I was about 17, and had my first regular job, so not only was I old enough to be able to take care of the toys properly, but I had enough disposable income that I could (thanks in no small part to a particularly timely clearance sale at Kay-Bee Toys) collect the entire toy range.
>
> I recently got a glass Detolf cabinet that allowed me to display my G2 toys properly, who have been boxed up since I moved about a year ago. They get displayed right next to the G1 toys from 1984-1990, and with many of the G2 toys starting out as G1 toys, it's a fun visual way for the collection to come full circle. They've been on a bookshelf for the better part of 30 years, and collected quite a bit of dust, so I spent several nights cleaning them and detailing them with Q-Tips and making them presentable again.
>

My Christmas gift from my parents was a double wide glass front cabinet I filled with Gundams

> The sad truth is that even though the G2 toys are newer, and I took excellent care of them, they are still three decades old, and some of them have still succumbed to the various maladies that all plastic toys eventually succumb to.
>
> Gold plastic syndrome is a problem, of course. My original Electro did shatter into pieces, years ago, but I was fortunate that a fan here on ATT was willing to send me a replacement (I can't remember right now whether he sold it to me or just gave it to me). He's arguably one of the most delicate items in my collection, and I was relieved that he survived the move. My G2 Slingshot is broken and glued back together in a few different spots, but I've decided that he just won't get transformed any longer (my G2 Aerialbots stay in Superion mode now).
>

I haven't touched my G2 collection since Pyro's gun peg broke off in it's socket.

> When I was cleaning off my collection, I managed to completely destroy three out of four of my Mini Autobots. Now, obviously I'm not stupid enough to try to wash toys with paper stickers, because I know water would ruin them. But, I figured it was safe to wash a few toys in the sink like the G2 Constructicons (metal foil stickers) and various missiles and swords and rotors and things, and my G2 Minibots. Somehow, the hot and soapy water had a negative reaction with the vaccum metalized paint, and the colored lacquer came detached from the metalized base coat. Seaspray survived unscathed, but the others were ruined. They all had this ugly white patina all over them, and trying to remove it just scraped the colored laquer off completely. What an ignominous end to toys who were treated with care, and spent their entire existence proudly on display!
>
> So, it was off to eBay to try to find new G2 Mini Autobots I could actually display with pride. Now, these toys retailed for about $2.99, back in the day, but that was in 1993 dollars. On average they tend to go for closer to $25 today. What an expensive mistake! I was able to find a blue Seaspray (my original one was purple) and a decent replacement Bumblebee, and I even found an auction for a Hubcap and Beachcomber that were still in the original packaging, albeit badly warped. So, crisis averted. These sorts of problems are easily remedied if you throw enough money at them, but it's sad that it was necessary in the first place.
>

It's times like this I wish we were a little closer. We sell G2 minibots for $10-15, and are generally 30-50% lower on stuff than you always say you pay for on Ebay (I remember we were half the price you paid on our complete minty Pretender beasts). I'd love to give you more options.

> Also, apparently, the color-shifting paint jobs on the Color Changers tends to fade over time. The orange on Gobots or the dark blue on Deluge and Jetstorm or the dark green on Drench have all faded significantly, so I'm probably going to look for at least partial replacements at some point for them.
>

Had a bunch of those in stock too, I think we still have Deluge and Drench for about $15-20

> Other random toys have suffered from various breaks, which I suspect is simply the result of aging plastic. The arm launcher for Space Case snapped in half when I was loading his missile to put him on display, for example. I have a replacement coming, which I got for fairly cheap because he's missing a leg, so he can serve as a parts donor. I also broke Eagle Eye when I was taking him apart to clean him with a Q-Tip, so that's entirely my fault.. I should have known better. Sigh.
>

I know we've got a few junker Eagle Eye, and a bunch of other Cyberjets, though Space Case and Hooligan are hard to keep in stock.

> While I was cleaning my toys off, G2 Sizzle confused me for a moment because I remembered the sticker on his roof being much more faded. Then I remembered that I must have replaced him at some point, years ago, because he'd broken. I don't even remember where the break was. But, I do remember getting one on eBay that was probably missing the robot feet, or something like that.
>
> I also noticed some ultraviolet radiation damage to a handful of toys who I guess had gotten a little too much direct sunlight. I had curtains blocking the windows at the condo, but I think a narrow slit of light must have hit the toys for a brief period every afternoon, and that can have cumulative damage after almost twenty years. So, poor Double Clutch is a little more yellow than white these days, along with a few other victims. Maybe in the summertime when we get more sun, I can try to bleach him with some hydrogen peroxide.
>
> Obviously, on a long enough timeline, every one of these toys will decay and deteriorate, so I suppose in some ways it's senseless, and postponing the inevitable, for me to sit here and just replace a toy every time he snaps in half. But, the current display room is also far better suited for long-term display purposes (Detolf cabinets are basically sealed shut so dust isn't an issue, and the windows in the basement have light-blocking film to minimize ultraviolet light exposure).
>
> But, all things considered, I feel like the collection as a whole has held up remarkably well over the last 30 years. The original batteries even still work in a few of them, which absolutely blows my mind! Now to see if they'll last another 30 years...
>

I'd take some of those batteries out before they explode....

>
> Zob (and the 40th anniversary for the brand, as a whole, is coming in 2024!)

Like we need reminders we're old now

I'm hoping that it was just an odd April Fool's joke and that your toys
are doing great.

I haven't checked on my G2 stuff in ages. Kind of scared to now.

On Sunday, April 2, 2023 at 9:47:35 AM UTC-7, Travoltron wrote:
> I'm hoping that it was just an odd April Fool's joke and that your toys
> are doing great.
>
> I haven't checked on my G2 stuff in ages. Kind of scared to now.

Yeah, me too. It's a good reminder of how environmental factors - sun, heat, even cold - can age things beyond repair. And plastic is something else entirely.

Are we basically accepting that, given a long enough horizon, every G1 and G2 toy will inevitably age and decay? I wonder if those with metal parts (thinking of the Seekers, and the early cars, along with Megatron, et al) will fare any better.

Speaking of - in terms of the G1 reissues we've had over the years - are the plastics and metals objectively any different (or better/worse?) I'm curious. Does moving factories from Japan (G1) to China (the 2003-ish reissues) to Vietnam (seems like many current toys) make much of an impact?

JB

On Sunday, April 2, 2023 at 3:10:06 PM UTC-6, Joseph Bardsley wrote:

> Yeah, me too. It's a good reminder of how environmental factors - sun, heat, even cold - can age things beyond repair. And plastic is something else entirely.

Problem is, even relatively new toys like Legacy Motormaster or Kingdom Cyclonus are already suffering from premature aging. It kind of sucks.
> Are we basically accepting that, given a long enough horizon, every G1 and G2 toy will inevitably age and decay? I wonder if those with metal parts (thinking of the Seekers, and the early cars, along with Megatron, et al) will fare any better.
It's honestly hard to say. Metal can last for centuries, but we haven't had plastics long enough to know for sure how long it will survive. My guess is that in a hundred years, there will be some surviving samples, but they'll be exceedingly rare. I think the big question is whether or not future generations will consider these plastic robots to be worth holding onto and preserving. I think eventually, all the folklore associated with Transformers will eventually be forgotten—nobody will remember that they're alien robots from another planet, or fighting a war, or even the names of the individual characters. Many centuries from now, people might not even recognize the machinery that they turn into! They'll be little more than nondescript toy soldiers, at least to the uninitiated.

If you do a Google search for "oldest action figure," there's this ancient Mayan relic that's 1500 years old, and it's a ceramic figurine with a removable helmet. I'll bet there was a whole mythos associated with this guy, whoever he was, but it's been completely forgotten. I would presume Transformers will be like that, one day. But I seriously doubt any plastic toys are going to survive 1500 years!

Zob (watch this space in the year 3523 to see if I'm right or not!)

On Sunday, April 2, 2023 at 10:47:35 AM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> I'm hoping that it was just an odd April Fool's joke and that your toys
> are doing great.

I wish that were the case!

Zob (already working on replacing the casualties, so it's all good)

I have this belief that our action figures will be mistaken for
religious idols and god totems by future archaeologists. They'll think
that we worshiped Optimus Prime as our chief deity.