Pomse2001 said:
I have found a few childhood lots with a sick figure in the lot with brown spots. I am not 100% sure, but I think if 50 figures have been laying at the loft for 30 years together and only one figure have the spots then I do not think they spread to other figures. To me it also looks like it is the same variants of figures that get the spots.
I have a few of a kenobi variant and all I have of that variant have spots
the same with a bikerscout all I have found in different lots of that variant have the spots
I agree. Whilst we cannot be sure, short of a forensic examination of the affected figures, I think it unlikely it will spread to other figures if it hasn't already, especially when groups of figures have been kept together for years.
What I have to keep reminding myself is that some of these figures are nearly 40 years old! Many are discolouring to a greater or lesser extent; find me a 1st issue Luke Bespin where the torso is still the same shade as the limbs. They probably exist, but they are few in number, even carded it seems. Also with Luke Bespin figures, several of mine have small bluish spots on them. Are these spots mold or further localised discolouration?
I'm no biochemist, plastics or fungal expert, but it seems to me that sooner or later an awful lot of these toys we hold so dear will degrade before our very eyes, however well we look after them. I had a Prune Face which had never seen the sun since I bought it and was pristine and unblemished when it went into my display cabinet 22 years ago. Yet recently when I had cause to remove it to examine the COO, I discovered to my horror that beneath his pristine tan cloak, his torso had completely yellowed. No other figures around it had discoloured, yet that one had changed from off-white to sick yellow with no UV, cigarette smoke, dirt, excessive moisture (I use dehumidifiers) or any other obvious abuse. Sometimes it seems the plastics simply degrade, so whether brown spots are indeed mold (it's possible, but I tend to think not) or simply degradation will remain an open question until someone pops an affected figure along to the lab and runs the tests.
It's also worth noting that all of us and everything that we own are surrounded and coated constantly by all manner of fungal spores. It's an inevitable consequence of existence on Earth. If the conditions for mold to grow are met, then it usually will, so if it's met for one figure in a batch of 50, why isn't it met for any of the other figures?
Just my 2 Galactic Credits worth