The Energon Pub

Not sure if anyone will know the answer to this or have experienced similar, but I've experienced yellowing that has left me confused.

For those of you that followed my saga in the General Discussion (I won't bore you with the details here, the thread is there for anyone who wants to read it) I left the majority of my stuff including TF's behind in Singapore in June 2008, some of the more high value items I managed to save and keep in a storage unit and after nearly 30 months they arrived back in the UK yesterday and I've begun unpacking.

Now cast your mind back to to 2005, I had a pretty ok condition Fortress Maximus, he was out on display and unbeknown to me, he was subject to an hour or so of direct sunlight during the day for a few months (stupid me while I was at work didn't know the sun hit him at midday) the end result was a slight yellowing that started. Problem was solved by moving him and the yellowing wasnt bad but noticeable and thought nothing more of it.

Now I know the condition of all my toys I saved when I put them in storage, I opened them up just now and Fort Max original yellowing has worsed to terrible proportions. What has bugged me is that he has been boxed up (albeit only in cardboard) in a storage unit in Singapore that is watertight and airconditioned, temp controlled etc and then shipped by sea back to me without being opened in last the 2 & 1/2 years.

My question is that has anyone else ever known yellowing to be cumlative so that once its started it spreads even when the toys are not exposed to any outside factors. I dont imagine that many of you have kept your toys in conditions like mine for so long to notice a change, and if this is a problem I imagine any change would be gradual enough to go unnoticed.

Any pointers or similar experience won't obviously help me now the damage is done, but might help other folk with prevention

I've heard that UV degradation is like a chain reaction. Kinda spreads like a virus.

As far as I'm concerned, paranoia is justified when it comes to protecting TF's from UV. I keep my collection in a climate-controlled (AC) room, with the windows shut and curtains drawn. Light still does filter in, but I keep any figs away from the windows.

BTW, stay away from fluorescent tubes and energy-saving light bulbs too. These emit UV rays, as well. Try regular bulbs or LED's. But failing that you try getting encapsulated CFL bulbs. Supposedly, the additional glass dome blocks out some of the UV, but I'm not sure if it lowers the UV rays enough to make them safe on plastic.

Dunno if this helps any, but glass is supposed to block UV rays better than plastic, although I've heard of anyone using plastic windows.

My Jetfire, yellow-free, was put into a box and stored in an attic in about 1990. The first time since then that it saw light, about two years ago, it was yellow as you like. I think it has to do with the chemicals in the plastic.

I've opened another box of my "junker" type TF's now that had parts missing etc but were what I opted to keep and my good are they bad, its not just yellow, its more a murky brown colour, I'm wondering if being kept in a box that maintained a nice mean temperature of about 20c accelerated this.

Lesson learned then, dont expose them to any sunlight as they will get royally screwed in due course

Sometimes yellowing doesn't need sunlight at all to occur. Take the SNES (early US version) for example. Mine has almost never seen sunlight, yet now half of it has the worst yellowing I've ever seen anywhere. It's an incredibly common problem, caused almost entirely by the mix of chemicals used when they made the things.

As for TF's, if my Universe Ultra Magnus (Armada "bendy" Prime recolor) ever saw sunlight it was before it was on store shelves, yet it still is showing some early signs of yellowing. Not too bad, but I can tell it's looking a little off from how it should be. My G1 UM small robot still looks great, and it got at least some sunlight back in the 80's, so sometimes there's just nothing you can control.

I hate yellowing.

Up to now, everybody in this discussion only mentioned yellowing of old/vintage toys ?

What about the new ones ? Has anyone ever notice yellowing of ROTF or TF animated toys ?
Or are those toys too "young" to show any discoloration ?

I'm a bit worried with this issue, because my ROTF toy collection was exposed for more than 6 months to an average 1h of direct sun light during the morning. They are now in a safer shelf and I didn't notice any discoloration up to now.

Mr O wrote:My Jetfire, yellow-free, was put into a box and stored in an attic in about 1990. The first time since then that it saw light, about two years ago, it was yellow as you like. I think it has to do with the chemicals in the plastic.

Interesting, I wonder if heat was the catalyst for yellowing?

Optimum Supreme wrote:Sometimes yellowing doesn't need sunlight at all to occur. Take the SNES (early US version) for example. Mine has almost never seen sunlight, yet now half of it has the worst yellowing I've ever seen anywhere. It's an incredibly common problem, caused almost entirely by the mix of chemicals used when they made the things.

As for TF's, if my Universe Ultra Magnus (Armada "bendy" Prime recolor) ever saw sunlight it was before it was on store shelves, yet it still is showing some early signs of yellowing. Not too bad, but I can tell it's looking a little off from how it should be. My G1 UM small robot still looks great, and it got at least some sunlight back in the 80's, so sometimes there's just nothing you can control.

Bromine is the reason those older computer cases and your SNES are so prone to yellowing. It's a chemical added to the plastic to make it more fire resistant. Here's a link to a way to correct it: http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/ Also has a ton of info about the subject.

The same process can be used to return yellowed TF's to their original white. I've used the process and it works quite well. I don't use the Retr0brite recipe though, I use straight Hyrdogen Peroxide in a clear glass container exposed to direct sunlight. Ironic that sunlight is the catalyst needed for this process to work. CP's wife who works with chemicals has commented that the process isn't actually reversing the yellowing, but somehow changing the plasitc, but the result is still a return to whiteness. Long term effects of the process are not known at this point. Some of the first people in the vintage toy hobby to use the process still report no ill effects, but I've also heard reports that it can cause brittleness in the plastics. I used the process on a yellowed G1 Jetfire and it worked like a charm, and to date there have been no unwanted side effects.

Xterminator wrote:Up to now, everybody in this discussion only mentioned yellowing of old/vintage toys ?

What about the new ones ? Has anyone ever notice yellowing of ROTF or TF animated toys ?
Or are those toys too "young" to show any discoloration ?

I'm a bit worried with this issue, because my ROTF toy collection was exposed for more than 6 months to an average 1h of direct sun light during the morning. They are now in a safer shelf and I didn't notice any discoloration up to now.

It can still happen. It wasn't too long ago someone on these boards was asking about yellowing, because they had left their Classics Ramjet and Ultra Magnus displayed in a window.

can anyone post some pics on figs with yellowing? it would be very helpful so that i can locate yellowing if i see it. thanks

El Duque wrote:Bromine is the reason those older computer cases and your SNES are so prone to yellowing. It's a chemical added to the plastic to make it more fire resistant. Here's a link to a way to correct it: http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/ Also has a ton of info about the subject.

The SNES is a very extreme case, though. Usually with computer cases that are yellowing, if something blocked off the sunlight, like a monitor stand or a connector covering a large area near a port, you'll see the fade is much less severe in the areas where sun didn't hit. With the SNES, it just doesn't matter. If a section of the case yellows, that whole section yellows, even parts where it was completely impossible for sunlight to ever hit (like inside the case.

Great page for more info about SNES yellowing, also shows some computer cases and shows pics of how they'll not be yellowing in areas sun/UV never hit.
http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/189

chrisc4 wrote:can anyone post some pics on figs with yellowing? it would be very helpful so that i can locate yellowing if i see it. thanks

I'll get all the figures in question and take pics and then compare them with pics of my collection i took in 2007 so you can see the dire yellowing we all speak of.

El Duque mentioned heat and I think this is probably a large catalyst reason for the yellowing, this is only speculation on my part, but consider that my toys were boxed up in boxes, within secondary boxes and then in a metal box/room in a tropical climate that never drops below 15 degrees celcius. Even though the building was airconned, these conditions will generate localised heat.

Another poopy thing that I've noticed which I want to blame on the heat is an increased brittleness in the toys, my seacon weapon stand, nautilator's mouth fist hole, sinnertwins head into hun-grrs leg and a few others have all snapped with the slightest pressure applied to them...such as fixing them into place with their combiner kibble. Interesting to note is they are all scramble city combiners so might be a variations of gold plastic maybe?

skyshadowprimus wrote:

chrisc4 wrote:can anyone post some pics on figs with yellowing? it would be very helpful so that i can locate yellowing if i see it. thanks

I'll get all the figures in question and take pics and then compare them with pics of my collection i took in 2007 so you can see the dire yellowing we all speak of.

El Duque mentioned heat and I think this is probably a large catalyst reason for the yellowing, this is only speculation on my part, but consider that my toys were boxed up in boxes, within secondary boxes and then in a metal box/room in a tropical climate that never drops below 15 degrees celcius. Even though the building was airconned, these conditions will generate localised heat.

Another poopy thing that I've noticed which I want to blame on the heat is an increased brittleness in the toys, my seacon weapon stand, nautilator's mouth fist hole, sinnertwins head into hun-grrs leg and a few others have all snapped with the slightest pressure applied to them...such as fixing them into place with their combiner kibble. Interesting to note is they are all scramble city combiners so might be a variations of gold plastic maybe?

thank you for the help! by any chance, do you know if yellowing occurs in takara encore series?

El Duque wrote:

Mr O wrote:My Jetfire, yellow-free, was put into a box and stored in an attic in about 1990. The first time since then that it saw light, about two years ago, it was yellow as you like. I think it has to do with the chemicals in the plastic.

Interesting, I wonder if heat was the catalyst for yellowing?

I also wonder. I should mention that it was my parents attic and a lot of work has been done on the house since I lived there, it may have seen light I wasn't there for so hmm....

[quote="Xterminator"]Up to now, everybody in this discussion only mentioned yellowing of old/vintage toys ?

What about the new ones ?


Just the other day I decided to mess around with RID Prime and Magnus and I kept them in a kind of chest out of site. So while in the middle of transforming the two I noticed that there was some yellowing on both. Sorry for not being able to post some pics but it looked like yellowing to me. I'm not too concerned only if it gets worse. Anyone else out there that owns RID Prime or Magnus see any yellowing at all? Imagine if the yellowing process attacks TF's like Kremzeek...gundam!!

Nemesis Destron wrote:

Xterminator wrote:Up to now, everybody in this discussion only mentioned yellowing of old/vintage toys ?

What about the new ones ?


Just the other day I decided to mess around with RID Prime and Magnus and I kept them in a kind of chest out of site. So while in the middle of transforming the two I noticed that there was some yellowing on both. Sorry for not being able to post some pics but it looked like yellowing to me. I'm not too concerned only if it gets worse. Anyone else out there that owns RID Prime or Magnus see any yellowing at all? Imagine if the yellowing process attacks TF's like Kremzeek...gundam!!

Not RID Prime/Magnus, but my Universe Battle in Box Ultra Magnus (recolor of Armada "bendy" Prime) has some early signs of yellowing. The 'con he was boxed with (Treadshot, redeco of Armada Side Swipe) also recently had a hinge made of clear plastic break, guess that my set is just cursed.

Nemesis Destron wrote:

Xterminator wrote:Up to now, everybody in this discussion only mentioned yellowing of old/vintage toys ?

What about the new ones ?


Just the other day I decided to mess around with RID Prime and Magnus and I kept them in a kind of chest out of site. So while in the middle of transforming the two I noticed that there was some yellowing on both. Sorry for not being able to post some pics but it looked like yellowing to me. I'm not too concerned only if it gets worse. Anyone else out there that owns RID Prime or Magnus see any yellowing at all? Imagine if the yellowing process attacks TF's like Kremzeek...gundam!!

Gundam model kits shouldn't have a problem with yellowing, since you almost always paint a Gundam kit. Even if you're in the habit of simply assembling them and displaying them as is, you can always apply a coat of UV cut spray [Mr. Super Clear, available in gloss or matte].

Peroxide is the way to go for this. Use it and your Fort Max will be good as new.