Carded Power Droid 20b Disaster

BlueTrooper

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Apr 23, 2017
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Hi All,

I recently picked up a nice original carded Star Wars 20b Power Droid. Having been out of the hobby for a number of years I was pleased to pick the figure up as the start of my new figure collection. The figure, barring a small ding in the bubble, was excellent; fully sealed, nice card front and back, that lay (to the naked eye at least) 98% flat. I wanted to protect my new purchase so I ordered an acrylic case with a sliding bottom and UV protection. Unfortunately GW were out of stock of the 'deep' figure case needed for the Power Droid, so I ordered one from UKG.

Within 48 hours of inserting the figure into the acrylic case, the bubble has cracked in 2 places and 50% of it has lifted away from the card back! :cry:

Apart from being furious at myself for there now being 1 less original sealed 20b figure within the hobby, I am also obviously gutted.

Is this a common mistake to make when purchasing figures that have previously not been cased? My view is probably that the card needed to flex due to a change in room temperature but could not, as it was now restricted by the case and hence the bubble cracked and pulled away from the card. Was there anything I could or should have done differently? The card slid easily into the case, with no force at all and a good few mm of 'give' all around it when the bottom was fixed into place. The room temp is pretty much a constant 18-19 degrees in the upstairs room I store my collectables in.

This is the first figure I have bought a case for and my concern is I don't want a situation where I essentially ruin another carded / sealed figure by encasing it post-purchase, so I'll be holding back on casing for now. Can anyone offer advice please? Just to be clear there are no other parties involved that would have had access to the figure to remove it from the case or tamper with it in some way, so this has happened 'in isolation'.
 

Clarkspie&chips

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That's a strange thing to happen, if there was a few mm of space between the bubble to the acrylic I wouldn't have expected it to have moved enough to crush itself.

It might be something to do with the figure though as I also have a 21 back power droid which cracked all by itself. This one was in a star case and stored in a cupboard. The crack is in the top right running along the corner. Where has yours cracked?
 

edd_jedi

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I don't really understand what has happened, can you post photos? I've never heard of a bubble cracking or coming away from the card simply by being in an acrylic case, I would expect some movement to be involved. Is it possible somebody (family?) knocked it over and put it back up without realising it was damaged?
 

BlueTrooper

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Hi - thank you for your replies. I've taken photos and highlighted the 2 cracks; one on the stem bottom and the other lower left side of the bubble underneath.

I've also included a second photo, (again highlighted) where the bubble has come away and taken some of the card image with it at the top and also at the right-hand side. With the exception of the two highlighted areas, the entire right-hand side of the bubble now comes away extremely cleanly from the card, as can be seen in the final photo.

There is only myself and my better half in the house and the figure was in my office and stored well away from anywhere it could have been knocked. I am not into resealing and don't intend to remove the figure from the card so I'll just leave it as is and upgrade when the opportunity comes along. :( I did notice the bubble has started to yellow, which may account for it being perhaps more 'brittle' than usual?





 

lejackal

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I'm afraid I can't see how or why this has happened, you have my sympathies though as it looks peachy otherwise from the images you've shared.
 

olisuds

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Very odd how this could happen if the card slid in easily and there were a couple mm gap between card and rail. Has the card warped since you put it in? Was there any chance it had been resealed possibly or perhaps you just hadn't noticed the damage? It looks like the bubble has lifted cleanly so perhaps just a very weak seal?
 

Dannywhiteley

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I've had acrylic cases lift seals before but only on warped cards where the flex has gone through the bubble when the card was straightened (foolishly). If it slid in a few days ago with no trouble I can think of no environmental factors that would cause this damage in such a short space of time.
 

Mini99

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I can only see that this has been caused by the weight of the droid acting on the bubble now as the card is up right in the case?
Perhaps that card has been stored flat for a long time and thats why it was ok originally?
You do say that the bubble is yellowed, and the power droid not being the heaviest isn't the lightest either.
I would put it down to one of those things, all my MOCs are in GW cases and I have not had this happen to me...yet!
 

theforceuk

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BlueTrooper said:
Hi All,I recently picked up a nice original carded Star Wars 21b Power Droid.

Sorry to see this and I have no idea how this could have happened, very strange.

Although I do know it's not a 21B, it's a 20C to J. :)
 

BlueTrooper

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Thanks all for the comments and feedback :)

The real kicker was the fact that the case was lay flat when this happened. In the cold light of day and taking the emotion out of it all, with what has been said and having had another close look at the figure, I've arrived at the conclusion that my recollection that this was sealed when I received the figure is correct and that this is a combination of a very weak seal, (evident by the fact so little damage has been done under the half of the bubble that has lifted) and the card being warped *just* enough that inside the case it was sufficient to pop the already very weak seal on the right-hand side of the bubble. It still displays very nicely inside the case and as a collectible, you'd have to pick it up off the shelf to see the bubble is not fully attached.

It is indeed a 20 and I have no idea why I said 21b! Oops...I was pretty upset and not thinking straight I guess.

Onwards and upwards!
 

spoons

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A sad tale and suspect one day a lot of MOCs will have this happen to them. I do feel for you

I was really confused for a while wondering what a 2-1B Power Droid was - a great custom :)
 

Snaketibe

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I'm really sorry to hear about this. What a bummer! :-(

I suspect Andy is quite right however, and that tragically this fate awaits an awful lot of MOCs in the future, especially ones with yellowed bubbles, which often seem to become very brittle and prone to cracking.
 

Taffius

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Also sorry to hear this. Interesting insight into potential causes and again perhaps evidence of how these were manufactured without the intent of ever being preserved. Thanks for sharing.
 

Jez

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Dude i'm disappointed for you but the little Gonk dude still looks great in my book.
I can't see the connection with the case. However it did happen with a yellowed bubble after you had been handling it (carefully). As others have said, the bubble was yellow and the yellow ones do get very brittle. A similar thing happened to me when i was handling an AT ST Driver. I was gutted.
Don't loose faith in the acrylic. You've just been unlucky.
 
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