Condensation? Oil? Something inside plastic window of Retro-Heroes

[Ivaniski]

Condensation? Oil? Something inside plastic window of Retro-Heroes

My Brother purchased a Green Lantern for my son yesterday, and to my dismay...There was that "Darn oil leak" in the card. As soon as i pulled out GL from the card, the costume was soaked with something that fet like "baby oil"...Talk about a lube job. I have never seen (in my lifetime so far) a carded action figure that was full of a lubricant.....What gives? I mean it's not a question that you have to grease these things to keep them from rusting...akin to a chain in a motor. Incidentally, as i removed the Green Lantern's greasssy costume (hence the sss's), It took me awhile of soaping up my hands to remove the oil (that was late last night, and still today... my fingers feel very oily). Unfortunately, I will not be purchasing nor accepting anymore of these Mattel DC figures until i'm satisfied that there's no harm due to this "Condensation Oil" fiasco. Just my 2 cents.

[JimCem99]

I called CS and they said they would send me a shipping label to return the figures and then they'll send me a $20 voucher for each figure. They said this way they can see the figures to determine what is wrong with them. But I don't want the figures returned. Perhaps I'll get a toyroom card (or maybe a box) to put these on as I wanted these on card and not loose.

[Orion]

My Brother purchased a Green Lantern for my son yesterday, and to my dismay...There was that "Darn oil leak" in the card. As soon as i pulled out GL from the card, the costume was soaked with something that fet like "baby oil"...Talk about a lube job. I have never seen (in my lifetime so far) a carded action figure that was full of a lubricant.....What gives? I mean it's not a question that you have to grease these things to keep them from rusting...akin to a chain in a motor. Incidentally, as i removed the Green Lantern's greasssy costume (hence the sss's), It took me awhile of soaping up my hands to remove the oil (that was late last night, and still today... my fingers feel very oily). Unfortunately, I will not be purchasing nor accepting anymore of these Mattel DC figures until i'm satisfied that there's no harm due to this "Condensation Oil" fiasco. Just my 2 cents.

I think as a parent that is the decision you have to make. I would do the same. I hope this issue is addressed and rectified very soon. From all the reports to date, this seems like the most dramatic problem with the figures to date. I saw drops on my GA, but haven't seen any figure soaked with this substance to date.

[D!n0-M@n]

I was so happy to get these figures and wanted to leave them on the cards for display.....now I'm getting a little nevous.....should I take them off the cards....are they soon going to be garbage?

I've been really nervous about this too, so last night I just bit the bullet and tore them off of their cards. They're all on Cast-A-Way bodies now. Just need to do the "boil head to pop on body" trick. The characters are what mostly mattered to me, not so much the figures if that makes any sense. Also, I wasn't down with saving these guys on their cards to have them turn to crap by just leaving them there. They look and function way better on their new bods anyway and now I'm not worried about them or the $$$ I spent for them.

[drmego]

Our contact at Mattel got the answer.

The first batch of figures had paint migration onto the card, so the factory
spritzed the heads with silicone based oil that will NOT stain the costumes.

If the sprayer had a light touch, the oil evaporated, if the sprayer had a
lead finger - the excess oil ended up on the blister.

It may not look pretty, but it is not toxic, will not cause mutations, or
destroy the long term existence of these figures.

[jackson5677]

Our contact at Mattel got the answer.

The first batch of figures had paint migration onto the card, so the factory
spritzed the heads with silicone based oil that will NOT stain the costumes.

If the sprayer had a light touch, the oil evaporated, if the sprayer had a
lead finger - the excess oil ended up on the blister.

It may not look pretty, but it is not toxic, will not cause mutations, or
destroy the long term existence of these figures.

so does that mean I can leave them on the cards....will this oil dry up or get worse ?

[jayihdz]

Thanks Doc!!

[pmwasson]

Wow! Now that is customer service. Thanks for letting us know what happened Doc. Its really neat having an inside man on toys that are currently being developed.

[toystalker]

Our contact at Mattel got the answer.

The first batch of figures had paint migration onto the card, so the factory
spritzed the heads with silicone based oil that will NOT stain the costumes.

If the sprayer had a light touch, the oil evaporated, if the sprayer had a
lead finger - the excess oil ended up on the blister.

It may not look pretty, but it is not toxic, will not cause mutations, or
destroy the long term existence of these figures.

aww ok now i know why i have brown paint rub behind the green lantern heads on the backing card... was worried the head was melting there

cool at least we have shed some light on it

next!

[toystalker]

best if doc makes a single post in the emce section i recon as there are plenty of thread knocking around about this...

just a thought like but they see the name doc and they are going to look in

[Agent of SHIELD]

Doc, Thanks for for finding out where that oil came from.

[drmego]

dry up or get worse

Warmer air temperature and air circulation should, over time, dry out the
oil but it may leave streaks on the blister.

Maybe someone here will experience with silicone-based oils can answer
that question.

My guess is that these figures are expected to be taken out of the
cases and displayed in stores with moderate temperatures and good
air exchange, before being opened and exposed to the air - allowing
the oil to evaporate.

so does that mean I can leave them on the cards....will this oil dry up or get worse ?

[sprytel]

Thanks for the update, Doc. I know sometimes we can take our toys too seriously around here... and you have been a saint listening to us complain about these figures. But in this case, I think everyone had a legitimate concern: what is that stuff, and are these toys safe? My son loves his Superman. I really wanted to make sure this goo was not a danger to my boy. I'm glad to hear this stuff isn't going to hurt anybody (or any of our cool action figures).

[The Bat]

Looks like I may have ripped my 2nd Green Arrow off the Card too soon.

[jayihdz]

Looks like I may have ripped my 2nd Green Arrow off the Card too soon.

No worries...I did thw same with my Supes.