>>8997476Plastic is like a powder naturally, companies add chemicals called plasticisers to that powder to give it stability and flexibility, depending on how much they add the more flexible the product, only a little, you get rigid plastic like PVC piping or garden furniture, add a little more you get plastics for toys, add a lot and you end up with soft vinyl figures (all this depends on the exact mixtures of chemicals to produce different kinds of plastic as well). Plasticisers naturally evaporate out of plastic over time, which is why they become brittle and break down or become gummy. Certain environmental conditions accelerate this process, like exposure to UV or white/blue light (sunlight, blue LEDs), and high heat and humidity. Ordinarily these plasticisers will evaporate off the toy and never be noticed, but toys left in packaging with little or not ventilation will have nowhere to evaporate, so the plasticisers simply leak out and collect on the surface of a toy, this leads to a sticky or oily appearance and feeling, and can damage paint, cause discolouration, or other damage. The best method for preserving toys is to take them out of packaging (or drill holes into airtight packaging) and keep them in a cool dry environment with minimal exposure to white/blue light and especially out of direct sunlight, and to limit handling them as oil from skin can cause discolouration and even be acidic to plastic.
