Greetings.

Please bare with me a minute here... I couldn't search to find the answer since I am having a hard time simply describing my question and symptoms.... so here we go........

I have seen this on a bunch of figures here and there and unfortunately I see this on my Blue Snags as well.
I only see this on figures' heads.
It appears to be cracking or lines or something I really can't describe well other than to point it out in pictures.
On my Blue Snag, his eye looks like he was the one in a fight with my Luke avatar here on the forums with Snags taking quite a blow. Actually, it does add 'character' to him.

Here is my Snags....




and here are closeups of the head (these should blow WAY up if you look at the original image) with my scribblings...


Can anyone tell me what the most likely cause of this might be?

• Old age? ... i.e. plastic breaking down?
  
• head squeezed like a pimple when hot?
  
• Factory QC .....along the lines of bad or poor plastics from the factory?
  
• Or straight up someone took a knife to a figure fight and wanted to leave scars (or dropped it, you know what I mean - played with poorly)

I didn't own this figure originally so I can't say for sure, but if I had to guess, my guess would be to some error/QC issue only because I can't for the life of me think of how you could make the lines curve like that per 'playing' or normal damage.

Anyway........
Thanks in advance!!!

Lines like that are quite common on the soft plastic used for the head & limbs. It's a production error. I've got a Vader & Walrus Man like it.

cantina_patron wrote:

Lines like that are quite common on the soft plastic used for the head & limbs. It's a production error. I've got a Vader & Walrus Man like it.

Ahh... ok. So in theory, it should not take too much away from the figure's value since it wasn't a kid sticking it in a vice or dragging it behind a car.

This was the first figure I had with this issue that I cared enough to ask.
It looks like the eye has factory paint spray in the lines a bit so I was leaning that way and really was hoping it wasn't damage due to handing or play cause otherwise he is in really great shape IMO.

Thanks!
cheers

I think the excellent condition of the paint on your figure (especially the boots) more than makes up for it.

Here's my Vader:
[img][/img]
[img][/img]

cantina_patron wrote:

I think the excellent condition of the paint on your figure (especially the boots) more than makes up for it.

THANKS!!!

I need to work on my lighting and backdrop before I start my limelight thread, but there will be a few more pics of him there. when I get one up and running.

I am a little shocked though... I thought his paint was sooooooo much better until I took those pics and was able to zoom in like that!!! man!!!!! tooooo close! It's like HD cameras and live tv stars showing all their pores! (18MP camera on macro)
haha

It still is a great paint job overall and I didn't even see the dent until today. haha

EDIT:
I guess I didn't wait for your Vader pics to load, but man, I LOVE that for some reason! It does dd something to some figs... at least a little to me.

Nice!

Steve's 'cross tusk' Walrusman:

I have a ledy Han Bespin that has these type of marks on his head. I figured it was probably damage done by some kid.

I've had a couple of IG-88s that had "folds" in their heads like cantina_patrons Vader. I've often thought it might have something to do with the plastic being injected into the mold too slowly. Maybe giving some of the plastic time to cool just a little bit more than the rest. Causing these creases. Just my uneducated guess. It may be bacause of evil wizards being pissed at The Sith too.

kisstour03 wrote:

I've had a couple of IG-88s that had "folds" in their heads like cantina_patrons Vader. I've often thought it might have something to do with the plastic being injected into the mold too slowly. Maybe giving some of the plastic time to cool just a little bit more than the rest. Causing these creases. Just my uneducated guess. It may be bacause of evil wizards being pissed at The Sith too.

I have seen this flaw quite a few times myself on many different figures . The slow plastic injection idea sounds like a pretty logical explanation to me too

but the evil wizard wizard theory holds alot of merit too ...

I've got a few similar lines on Bespin Lukes as well.

ourchickenshack wrote:

I have seen this flaw quite a few times myself on many different figures . The slow plastic injection idea sounds like a pretty logical explanation to me too

but the evil wizard wizard theory holds alot of merit too ...

What?? Wait...... someone agrees with something I said? First time for everything.

I agreed you're a frick...oh wait, we were talking about me

kisstour03 wrote:

ourchickenshack wrote:

I have seen this flaw quite a few times myself on many different figures . The slow plastic injection idea sounds like a pretty logical explanation to me too

but the evil wizard wizard theory holds alot of merit too ...

What?? Wait...... someone agrees with something I said? First time for everything.

well you know what they say ...



I looked through my Ig-88 figures and found a good example of the molding flaw talked about in this thread . If you look closely at the last pic you can see where a flaw line runs through the orange painted dot closest to the knob on the side of his head . You can clearly see the line on both sides of the orange but not under the orange paint . To me this is pretty good evidence that the flaw was actually molded that way and didn't occur later from abuse or degradation . I would guess that if the lines were caused later that the paint on the orange dot would be cracked too , right ?

The slow plastic injection kisstour suggested sounds like as good a explanation as any to me at least ..

And a really high number of Iggys seem to have these flaws in there heads. Maybe slow injection combined with the long had mold makes Iggy prone for this.

Another Vader.

these molding cracks are quite common
I have seen them on a lot of
Darths
IG 88's
Luke in hair
Ben in hair
Han in hair
and a few Stormtroopers
and some other ESB release Ugnaughts
It seems mostly to happen in the face head area of the figure-- being these were mold injected alone form the body - Im guessing they were not changed up ans replaced as much.
not as common on later Jedi figures-- just the original 30 -31 seem common.
best
r

Here is one that I have.

Too bad that Iggy has such a big bad flaw. The rest of the details on the head are nice and clear and sharp. And the paint is actually nicelly applied on the face. Sometimes Iggys details are a little duller and the paint is a mess.

kisstour03 wrote:

Too bad that Iggy has such a big bad flaw. The rest of the details on the head are nice and clear and sharp. And the paint is actually nicelly applied on the face. Sometimes Iggys details are a little duller and the paint is a mess.

Paul, He is in great shape and excellent paint. Except for the flaw. I'm surprised QC let them out of the factory like that. :scratch: