Ways To Maintain and Protect Your Action Figures

When you have a large collection of action figures, you need to have the knowledge on how to protect your collections. Be it you keep them as a hobby or an investor, protecting them can make your collections last longer without any discoloration and degradation as well as fetch much higher price in the market.

There are few things to take note in order to maintain and protect your beloved collectibles. The most basic thing is to move them as little as possible. It is because frequent movement on their joints will cause their joints to be loosened. Besides that, try to minimize direct contact with them from our fingers. It is because on our fingers, there is a layer of grease or finger oil that will cause yellowing to your beloved collectibles. Be sure that you dust them frequently as dust and some particles will cause damages to your collections. For those that have batteries in them, remember to take them out because battery acid will cause a serious damage. This is the most common mistaken make by hobbyists as well as collectors.

After making sure that our collectibles are exposed to a minimum human touch, it is time to store them. When you do the storing, there are three main concerns to be taken care of. First concern is to avoid direct sunlight when you store your collection. It is because UV light can cause discoloration and degradation on your action figures. If is put under the exposure of UV light for longer period, it might cause crack and brittle to it as well. Second is to avoid a place that is high humidity. It is because if your collections are kept in a place with high humidity, it can cause damage such as mold grows on them. Lastly, you have to avoid place that is in high temperature. It will be advisable to keep your action figures in room temperature as too high or cold of temperature will cause damage to your action figures.

After you have a perfect place to store your collections, you need to think of a proper container to keep them. The best container is the sealed storage container. It is considered the best container but normally collectors or hobbyist will use them to keep those expensive action figures because sealed storage container itself will cost quite a high price in order to get them. The most common container that is widely used among the collectors and hobbyist is the plastic container as they are affordable and reliable.

Collecting action figures used to be considered as an act of wasting money but the market has grown over the years and now they became a valuable investment for some of the people. Some of them might cost up to thousand of dollars depending on their conditions.

Jim Sim is an avid collector of action figures. He has been collecting action figures for many years. One of his favorite action figures is the Zelda Action Figures

13 Ways to Protect and Store Your Action Figures

Collecting action figures has become an extremely popular hobby their introduction by Hasbro in the 60's.

In fact many action figures are now produced specifically for the adult collectors market. This increased popularity of the hobby can be attributed to several different factors:

o Yesterday's kids are today's collectors

o Availability

o Affordability

o Sense of Community

o Fun Factor

Today's market is very different to that of yesteryear though and with the increased interest in the hobby and there are now several companies, e.g. McFarlane's, Sideshow, Neca and Art Asylum, who cater specifically to the adult collectors market and there is a whole industry of paraphernalia and accessories that has grown up around it.

4 Easy Ways To Protect Your Action Figures

There are several measures you should take in order to protect your figures, especially your loose figures, to ensure they stay in as mint or pristine a condition as possible.

What should you do to protect your action figures?

First and most importantly, when they're not in use or being stored, you should remove any batteries.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who forget this simple, yet important procedure and as a result I have seen many action that have been ruined by battery acid leaking out from the batteries because they haven't been removed.

Avoid handling them

Your hands and fingers have a lot of natural greases and oils which maybe good for your skin but are unfortunately far from healthy for your action figures.

Avoid direct sunlight

One of the biggest problems, and most common, amongst collectors is damage caused by the UV rays from direct sunlight.

Ensure They Are Stored At The Right Humidity:

The humidity of the environment is another important factor to take into account when displaying or storing your action figures.

Remove price tags:

Hopefully, if you've bought your action figure from a reputable dealer the price tag will be on the plastic shell making it easy to remove with warm, please note I say warm NOT hot, water.

5 Ways To Store Your Action Figures Safely

Taking care of, protecting and storing your action figures is of tantamount importance if you wish them to keep their value, whether it's of sentimental or financial value.

One of the most important factors to take into account when storing your action figures are their value.

One of the big benefits of the rise in the popularity of action figure collecting as a hobby is that there are now several companies that specialize in ways to store and protect your collectibles.

There are several alternatives to choose from depending on why you want to store them, how long for and their value.

o Sealed Storage Containers

These are for action figures at the high end of the market. By this I mean action figures that are worth $100's or $1,000's.

Sealed containers are usually used by grading companies to ensure that the items are kept in their graded condition.

o Display Cases

Ideal for both storing and displaying your action figures they are often "stackable" for added flexibility and storage.

Another big advantage is that they allow you easier access for periodical cleaning and maintenance of your action figures.

o Plastic Shell Cases

These are probably one of the most practical solutions as they offer excellent protection, are affordable and can be used for both loose and carded figures.

o Re-sealable Containers

Re-sealable containers have several advantages, they are cheap, generally hard wearing, available in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are easy to store and access.

o Re-sealable bags

Re-sealable bags are probably the cheapest, easiest and most convenient way of storing your action figures but they don't offer them much protection.

Be careful!

If you are using large containers to store more than one action figure make sure you wrap each figure with a cloth or bubble wrap to help protect them and to prevent them rubbing against each other and causing damage.

4 Things To Check Before Storing My Action Figures

OK, so now you know how protect and store your action figures what will you do with them now? where should you store them?

There are three very important factors to consider when deciding where to store your action figures:

o Sunlight-

The amount of direct sunlight your action figures are exposed to is a very important factor in deciding where to store them.

o Humidity

Humidity is the measure of moisture in the air. The greater the humidity the more moisture there is present.

o Temperature-

If the air is too cold your action figures will become brittle and if it's too hot they will become warped and disfigured.

Where is the best place to store your action figures?

Mmm,

So we need to find somewhere away from the sun but isn't to dark to see your action figures, somewhere where it is not too dry, or too damp and isn't too hot or cold.

What place in your home fits all these criteria?

The basement?

No, too cold and damp.

How about the attic, or loft?

No, again too cold and damp.

I know, how about a closet or cupboard in the main house?

This is the ideal place main houe as the temperature and environment are generally ambient and consistent and they will be shut away from the damaging UV rays of the sunlight.

One more hint, try to use a closet or cupboard that only you use or they may get damaged by others trying to get to something else.

And don't forget to clearly mark or label, on all four sides as well as the top, any boxes or containers you use with what's inside.

Written by Colin Dorman
Are you interested in collecting Action Figures? How to buy cheap Action Figures? Want to learn more about this fascinating hobby?

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