 | The Lair on Storm Isle | |
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Taking your collection of Galoob's Golden Girl™ and the Guardians of the Gemstones™ to a higher level!
| The Lair on Storm Isle | |
| | |
Taking your collection of Galoob's Golden Girl™ and the Guardians of the Gemstones™ to a higher level!
 | What's Covered in This Section? | |||||
| Page 1.) Common Problems | Page 2.) Grading Condition | |||||
| a. Factory-Sealed Items | a. Factory-Sealed Items | |||||
| b. Loose Items | b. Ideal Condition Vs. Reality | |||||
| Site Menu | ||||||
| Knees |
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 | The most common problem of this toyline is the tendency for the knees of the legs (where the poseable knee-joint lies inside the vinyl of the leg) to turn a rancid, "moldy cheese" green in color. This problem is extremely common for the five Guardians and Prince Kroma--not as common for the villains. Sometimes you'll see a sprinkling of green specks throughout a figure's thighs. A related problem is a sprinkling of paler spots along the thighs (also common for the Guardians). | ||||||
 | And by the way, it's not just the knees that are prone to "going green." The gold paint used for the bracelets and boots of many of the figures (Golden Girl, Rubee, Saphire, and Dragon Queen) and the mascara and earrings for Onyx and Golden Girl, and the eyebrows for Rubee, is HIGHLY prone to deteriorating into a dull brown, gray, or slate green color (or evaporating completely, as in Vultura's bracelets). The mascara on a figure's face usually leaves a splotchy gray stain when it fades. | ||||||
 | The next major problem is the lamé fabric used on most of the capes (all five Guardians, Kroma, Ogra, and Moth Lady). Depending upon both how the item was stored and how well it adhered at the factory, the gold or colorful lamé can completely detach from the fabric and flake off into dusty metallic confetti all over your action figure. YES, THIS HAPPENS TO MINT-IN-BOX FIGURES!! These toys were fragile, and I've seen flaked-off capes occur in one-owner action figures, even when the owner took exceptional care of their collections! |
 | Protect yourself from the horror of having to clean gold dust off your figures! Learn to recognize the warning signs of a cape that's flaking! (Hint: flaking capes go hand-in-hand with green knees, paint, and plastic! Beware!) When it rains, it pours! When a cape starts to flake, it will all come off at once! And it will coat any surface where it sheds, just like paint! See my cleaning & fix-up tips section for info on cleaning up a confetti nightmare if it happens to you. |
 | Sadly, problems for never-opened figures don't end with the knees and the capes. You will commonly see broken shields in factory-sealed boxes--the clasp snaps apart, or the gemstone fastened to the shield pops out, or both. Your last major worry for sealed figures is manufacturing defects. These can include warped accessories, like my headpiece for Rubee, or broken knee joints, like my fresh-from-box Dragon Queen. Know what you're up against, with this toyline! |
 | The plastics and vinyls used to make these action figures were not very resilient, and have likely become extremely fragile with age, depending upon the quality from the factory, and how the figure was stored over the years. The vinyl used to make the figures' heads can grow very soft with age, leaving it prone to rips and tears when handled. The only Rubee in my collection with clear gold eyebrows that hadn't faded away, nonetheless had her head split open when I removed her from the box and exposed her to water. If only I'd known that was all it would take! :.( |  | ||
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| Broken Legs |
 | The Number One flaw for loose figures is BROKEN LEGS! I haven't encountered very many loose Jades that weren't broken--she leads the pack, but the rest of the toyline doesn't limp far behind. The Guardians seem a bit more susceptible overall than the villains, but no loose figure is immune. Please be aware that even a figure that appears to be in good condition can be "hiding" a fractured hip joint that may easily break off! |
| Usually, accessories are just lost, so we never learn the subtle ways they can deteriorate with age. To keep this segment brief, I'll just list off what I've dealt with. For capes, the textured, non-lamé side of the fabric tends to snag VERY easily. Be careful with it! Capes often lose the snap-on fasteners, and shields often break their clasp. Golden Girl's shield is very prone to break its clasp, because her shield is such a tight fit over her wrists. Some shields come from the factory with tighter or looser clasps than others; the tighter ones usually end up broken. The ornate headpieces like Rubee's, Moth Lady's, and Saphire's have a tendency to get brittle and break. The gold headpieces and belts are most likely to turn brittle with age; the black and dark blue plastic used for the villain's belts are very likely to turn soft and gooey with age. |
| Of course, these figures are also prone to general playwear, which covers anything from scuffs to the wrists and the bracelets from tight-fitting shields, marker marks, haircuts, hair loss (empty hairplugs or less obvious shedding or thinning from flawed factory rooting or from brittle hair), swapped heads, broken heads, paint chips, chew marks, holes and tears, warped or melted areas from being held too closely to a source of heat, smoke odors and discoloration (and general dingyness or yellowing), and a whole bunch else. |
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