>>8675331>how is it that as kids, we could take a figure out of its package and just play with it, no blowdrying, no hot water, and yet nowadays we are told we have to heat up joints on higher priced/ higher quality figures, and should anything go wrong, like a break, its our fault, we are "hamhanded" and the companies are left completely free of any criticism.#1: I thought all those techniques were remedies for stiff joints so that more agile poses could be obtained. I didn't know they were meant as preventative maintenance as well.
#2: To answer your question directly, I suppose it has something to do with the materials used. Action figures like we saw back in the 1990s were made out of the cheapest-obtained parts and materials and the figures were meant to be played with. That means they were designed to take abuse.
I remember that I would buy action figures from McFarlane Toys over fifteen years ago and was pissed about how easy it was for those things to break. Then it slowly dawned on me that the figures weren't made to be played with and that they were meant to just be displayed.
Now, obviously, if a figure happens to come out either for the adult collector's market or the children's market and features 30-50 points of articulation (like these Street Fighter figures from Storm Collectibles), then they should be able to withstand people moving and twisting joints around without the slightest crack.
Anyway, I bit the bullet and purchased a new Chun-Li Storm Figure for a God awful price and now I got a shitload of spare parts. Should this new figure break, I'm never buying anything from Storm Collectibles again.
