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What would you guys do?


Devilbat

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*sigh* Well, I told you all about the incorrect Ultimate Cap version I got in the mail, right? I actually thought about keeping it anyway, but then I noticed some paint problems on this figure. Before I could send it back though, I impatiently found a second one on eBay, and this time I made sure it was the "classic" version I wanted to begin with. I got it today in the mail, and this one has some paint issues too!! The star on his chest isn't painted very well, and there are a couple of globs of white paint on the red part of his left shoulder patch that has the small star on it. Crap!! What are the odds that two ML figures in a row have paint issues?! Please tell me this is an unfortunate coincidence and ML figures usually don't have paint issues.

 

The seller that sold me the latter Cap figure doesn't accept returns, and I really don't want to go through the hassle of selling this figure, but I hate the sloppy paint too, especially for the price I paid for it. I've never ever been the kind of collector that "fixes" figures right out of the package, but...I'm really tempted to open it and try to fix the paint myself. I just want this figure so bad, but I want one with a great paint job too. I know the star on his chest wouldn't be hard to fix. I'm more concerned about the globs of paint on his shoulder; if I scrap them off I know it will more than likely damage the plastic, and I'd definitely have to do some delicate paint work on the red part of his patch to correct it. But the obsessive/compulsive in me can't stand the thoughts of altering a brand-new collectible figure right out of the package that should only be handled long enough to pose it. (lol)

 

So what would you guys do...try to sell this figure until you could happen to get one with a decent paint job, or just suck it up and keep it, even try to fix the paint problems? Everything in me just completely resists altering a brand-new figure...

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I don't know. Maybe it just would have been better to wait and find one in the store? When I was collecting stuff like this, I felt like I was shopping for produce. I had to make sure the paint was correct, as good as it could be. But, if you no longer feel like hunting, then you might try to fix the figure yourself. Alternately, just keep it MOSC for now and wait and see if you can find a better one. If enough time passes and you don't find a replacement figure, then you'll still one.

 

About those paint spots on the shoulders, if the plastic that they're on isn't painted, rubbing alcohol might be enough to remove the paint. I did that to some ToyBiz and Hasbro Marvel Legends figures and a few Transformers that I customized years ago. The plastic was just fine. It can only work on paint that's on bare plastic.

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did the pictures that the Seller put up show the paint flaws? And is the figure positioned in the same exact way. It isn't uncommon for a seller to be lazy and put up a picture of a different figure than the one that they actually have. Or the seller could even put up a picture of a different figure with the intention of hiding the paint flaws from you.

 

Unless the auction pictures showed the flaws, I would get my money back. The seller doesn't have to accept returns on ebay. I am assuming you paid through paypal, and you could file a complain there, telling them that the seller didn't sell you the pictures item. You would get your money back.

 

 

 

But if you ARE stuck with the figure... then it is quite a conundrum. I have purchased hundreds, if not a thousands Toybuz 6 inch figures, and I can tell you that paint flaws were somewhat common. I have often had 4-5 of the same figure in my hand and only been able to find 2 with good paint, and maybe another with acceptable paint. And every ML figure I ever bought I purchased in person, so I could pick the best paint. I never ordered one online.

 

I bought at least 3 of every ML figure (1 for my wall, 1 to open and put on a shelf, and 1 to box away for storage). And all of the figures on my wall have flawless paint. I wouldn't have a figure with sloppy paint as my "display" figure. And I know that you are even more anal about these things than I am LOL...

 

So if I were you, I would either open it up to fix it, or get rid of it. I know that you will never be happy having a sloppy figure MOC. I wouldn't.

 

 

and finally, is it possible you can put up a pic of it? I am interested in how bad it is so I can tell you if the flaws are common or if you got a lemon. I bought a bunch of those ML8 Captain Americas because of the multiple variations.. and they all have great paint, so it is possible to find one with perfect paint

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But if you ARE stuck with the figure... then it is quite a conundrum. I have purchased hundreds, if not a thousands Toybuz 6 inch figures, and I can tell you that paint flaws were somewhat common. I have often had 4-5 of the same figure in my hand and only been able to find 2 with good paint, and maybe another with acceptable paint. And every ML figure I ever bought I purchased in person, so I could pick the best paint. I never ordered one online.

 

I bought at least 3 of every ML figure (1 for my wall, 1 to open and put on a shelf, and 1 to box away for storage). And all of the figures on my wall have flawless paint. I wouldn't have a figure with sloppy paint as my "display" figure. And I know that you are even more anal about these things than I am LOL...

 

 

I had that problem with my ml 11 scarlet witch..man, like they where in a hurry to paint her and ship her out to us! I member the first ML11 didn't have her in the case, and then she came out on the 2nd shipment. @grumpy@

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I have some good news...I took your advice Draven (before I ever logged on and read it) (lol) and had a "what-the-heck" moment and just opened my Captain America. But when I opened it, I did noticed there was some white stuff on the plastic sleeve that the poster book came in, and that gave me hope that maybe it was the same stuff on the figure's shoulder. Well, I tried rubbing it off, but to no avail. But then I dug at it with my fingernail, and suprisingly it began to come off. I managed to get most of it off, but I couldn't quite get all of it, especially the spot of paint on the area of his shoulder where there's chain-mail sculpted on. It was just down in the little tiny grooves of the sculpting and impossible to get to. I had one of those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, and I thought maybe I could try that to get the last remnants of the paint off. And actually it was working quite well...too well to be exact; I looked at the Magic Eraser and noticed there was blue paint on it. (lol) So I stopped and checked out his shoulder, and you couldn't tell that I had been rubbing it, thank goodness. I examined the spots one more time, concluding that I would probably never get those last little traces off, and so I did something unimaginable to me as an anal-retentive/obsessive-compulsive collector that has actually considered getting cloth gloves to handle my stuff with (lol)...I opened my Sharpie drawer in my art desk and decided to do some minor touch up work...with my Sharpies. This is unheard of!! Pigs were surely doing barrel-rolls right by my window. (lol) I dabbed the red area just below the left point of the star, and it worked quite well; I could no longer tell there had been a glob of white paint there. So I tried the same trick with the blue area just above the top point of the star, and it just didn't look quite right. It covered the white spots well, it just didn't match the blue of his chain-mail. So then I tried a different shade of blue, and it ended-up looking more like the dark wash of his torso. It's not perfect, but if you didn't know any better, you'd think there hadn't been any issues at all. You'd have to hold it up in a certain light to even tell it had been worked on. The only downside is I think I may have rubbed a little paint off of a couple of the points of the star on his shoulder patch with all the scraping and rubbing I did, but I don't mind as I looked the rest of the figure over, and there were other minor paint imperfections right out of the package from the factory. It doesn't look that bad at all, so I can live with it. The way I see it, the minor work I did has to look better than what it did before.

 

I absolutely love this figure. The level of detail in the sculpting is just insane. The articulation is just as incredible, although I would have preferred he had a swivel joint in his forearm. I was quite suprised to discover he doesn't. He fits on his base very well, and the poses he can achieve are just wondeful.

 

It's quite liberating for me to let myself enjoy a figure that's not perfect that I actually did some minor work on. Heh...maybe it will inspire me to do a more professional job on other figures I have issues with. This has almost convinced me to keep my other Ultimate Cap since I don't consider his paint problems so bad in comparison. Who knows...maybe this has shown me I can fix that one too. (lol) Ahh...really the only issues I have with that figure is the "A" on his mask has a little blob of paint that's out of place slightly, and it looks as if someone at the factory tried to fix a scuff on his shield by swiping it with white paint. But this definitely makes me want to seek out more Marvel Legends figures.

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Woo Hoo! Way to go DB! Just relax and enjoy the toys! I have started to try and be less picky and just enjoy them. They are toys after all. I just get the most perfect one i can and be happy. @loll@

Draven

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glad you were able to enjoy him DB.

 

BUT, be careful with sharpies.. and I mean you probably shouldn't use them because other people that have used them on figures have said that they tend to smear, bleed, and be sticky over time.

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Ahh...gotcha. So do I need to try and get it off with Goo Gone or something?

 

I got to thinking...I wish I had taken some "before-and-after" pics so I could get your all's opinion of just how bad it was and if it looks okay in comparison.

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Woo Hoo! Way to go DB! Just relax and enjoy the toys! I have started to try and be less picky and just enjoy them. They are toys after all. I just get the most perfect one i can and be happy. @loll@

Draven

 

Thanks Draven! Yeah...I think sometimes we pour so much money into our hobby sometimes that at the end of the day we forget, or at least I do, that these things are just toys, no matter how much we spend on them or how much the increase or decrease in value. Last night was a nice little reminder for me. I mean sure, I still want to get the best figure for my money, but hey...these things often come from the factory imperfect. So I guess I need to let go as it were and like you say just enjoy them for a change. I am trying to do better... (lol)

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Acetone works on softer plastic removing paint but you have to be real careful not to eat away at the plastic.

Draven

 

 

I have used it on Marvel Universe figures. Like you said, it works fine on the soft plastic parts (legs, arms, heads, belts, capes, etc). I have applied it with a q-tip and rubbed off the paint and washed it off maybe 20 seconds later and it was all good.

 

But, with the hard plastic parts (torso, waist pieces, crotches, etc) the acetone will start eating the plastic right away.

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Did you guys say to use alcohol to remove paint and/or marker? I'd like to take some of the dark blue marker back off to see if I can correct it a little.

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I think its funny you say you never have qc issues with Marvel Legends Figures. I have plenty of paint slop issues with ML. I have also had major qc issues with them. I just bought a Hawkeye figure on ebay for 60 and his left leg didn't move. I once bought a Magneto Figure for 30 - dollars MOC and his right foot was on backwards. Also, I have a Giant Man Series (?) Thor that has a very loose waiste and ab crunch. I have a Dr Stange with a glued anckle becuase it was loose and I tried to fix it. Same with my Ice Mans abe crucnh. I get so tired of people ragging on DCUC and acting like ML is Gods gift to collectors. Since I collect both, I know both have issues. If your going to collecot just know every figure is not going tobe perfect.

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I think its funny you say you never have qc issues with Marvel Legends Figures. I have plenty of paint slop issues with ML. I have also had major qc issues with them. I just bought a Hawkeye figure on ebay for 60 and his left leg didn't move. I once bought a Magneto Figure for 30 - dollars MOC and his right foot was on backwards. Also, I have a Giant Man Series (?) Thor that has a very loose waiste and ab crunch. I have a Dr Stange with a glued anckle becuase it was loose and I tried to fix it. Same with my Ice Mans abe crucnh. I get so tired of people ragging on DCUC and acting like ML is Gods gift to collectors. Since I collect both, I know both have issues. If your going to collecot just know every figure is not going tobe perfect.

I didn't even see anybody posting here that ML did not have QC issues. In fact most people are saying that they do and it was quite common. Not sure where your little rant is coming from

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I think its funny you say you never have qc issues with Marvel Legends Figures. I have plenty of paint slop issues with ML. I have also had major qc issues with them. I just bought a Hawkeye figure on ebay for 60 and his left leg didn't move. I once bought a Magneto Figure for 30 - dollars MOC and his right foot was on backwards. Also, I have a Giant Man Series (?) Thor that has a very loose waiste and ab crunch. I have a Dr Stange with a glued anckle becuase it was loose and I tried to fix it. Same with my Ice Mans abe crucnh. I get so tired of people ragging on DCUC and acting like ML is Gods gift to collectors. Since I collect both, I know both have issues. If your going to collecot just know every figure is not going tobe perfect.

 

Funny you mentioned the Giant Man series Thor, man came apart at the ab crunch right out of the package. Some people here have complained very visibly about DC Universe and Mattel's quality of work while praising the ML figures, however while Mattel gets trashed it is quite common to find problems with the Toybiz ML figures, consistent problems abound with that line. I must admit though, I haven't had a single problem with the work from Hasbro. Hasbro seems to work with the highest quality plastic and paints to make sure there are no problems or very few, I myself have had none which I find amazing. Kuddos Hasbro, ugh TB.

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honestly, the quality control never bothered me. I was always sure to inspect every figure I bought. And even when I had some kind of issue that you wouldn't be able to tell before purchasing, like a stuck joint.. they were always easily cured with hot water or a hairdryer.

 

that being said, I don't really care that Toybiz had lower quality control.. because to me, their designs and paint more than made up for it. To me, even with perfect quality control, the Hasbro figures are not even close to as good. And as for Mattel, I don't care about their quality control because their figures are bland and boring. You can have a perfect piece of crap all you want, it's still a piece of crap.

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Well, my problem is, I'm a couple of years too late. What I mean is, if these things were still in stores, I'd definitely be carefully inspecting each figure until I found the one I felt was the closest to pristine that was possible. Unfortunately I'm late in the game, so I'm at the mercy of online sellers and their item descriptions. One new option I like is that new magnification feature on most eBay auction pics that lets you see each item up close and personal. I did see the white spots on my Cap figure in the auction pics, but I guess I was taking a gamble, hoping it was a reflection or some anomaly while focusing more on the lower price. It wasn't that low actually, but it was the lowest one at the time. I suppose I should have been more patient and made sure I was getting a better figure, but...oh well.

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I said TB ML was riddled with problems not Hasbro. I think he was talking about something i said and twisting it. But like I said TB's was no where near as bad as Mattel's QC and in fact TB was way more detailed and painted so its sad that Mattel's figures have way more issues @loll@

Draven

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