I've got a Marmit figure from 2004 that's already getting 'gummy' or 'clammy' or whatever word you would use to described that light stickiness you can feel on vinyl or plastic as it begins to break down.

Anyone else have this experience with Marmit figures? Or is it (hopefully) just the batch for this figure?

It sort of happens, a nice wet cloth should take the residue off. Usually a good wipe down every few months can't hurt

I get this on my Shaved Ice Boogie. Was never really sure why.

It doesn't surprise me that the bukkaked looking boogie has this problem.

I've had this on other stuff- Bear Model, Gargamel. Clear vinyl seems to be the most susceptible to the problem.

Wet cloth does not help. Sometimes dish soap and water will clean it up a bit, but I rarely do that unless they are unpainted and easy to disassemble.

Some Buta No Hana figs too get this stickyness.

I wait until they get really tacky and then roll them in toasted coconut.

That's naaaaasty.

I have some older Marmit from 1996 that's holding very well. I notice the effect you speak of on any vinyl that's 'dirty' from whatever is on peoples hands from handling, oil etc.... I am not sure if the older collectors on the board would condone this but I use 100% pure alcohol wipe pads for a thorough wipe down (do not use other kinds of wipes), as long as the paint is not cheap garbage it does no damage at all. It kills bacteria and gets rid of oil then simply evaporates. After that I make sure I wash my hands before handling. Of course a wet non abrasive soft towel is the safest maintenance program.

the day that it dropped felt like a circle jerk, so it's appropriately decorated and named.

then everyone sold theirs to someone else...the damaged goods bukkake boogie.

Squirt 'em with some simple green, then rinse 'em off in the sink. Supposedly you can drink that stuff, so it should be safe for your japanese bath toys.

But then your toy smells like Simple Green. Yuck.

Not after you rinse it off.

I guess.
I just wouldn't want to risk ruining my toy's toxic, vinyl chemical smell with that Simple Green smell.

Call me paranoid.

Vinyl is an oil-based product and because of that you do get some "sweating" periodically. Clear and GID (which is really just clear with GID powder suspended in it) are definitely the worst culprits. Usually I have to wipe all GID vinyl from the factory off before I paint it because its kind of slimy. That would also explain why water doesn't do much, since it's basically a fight between oil and water.

I've only been collecting JP vinyl for a few years, but talk of degradation makes me think about the long haul... the condition they will be in decades from now. If this periodic "sweating" and inevitable degradation occurs to vinyl, will my toys be shapeless, sticky blobs 60 years from now? Will they eventual soften and start drooping and such? Of course, I am also implying that they are kept out of direct sunlight and in a safe environment during this time.

I mean, wear and tear from playing aside, Astro-Mu, Bullmark, and other toys from the 60's and 70's seem to still be doing all right in terms of vinyl life. Maybe I'm just way over thinking, but it's a question that has come to mind at least a few times. Anybody have any input?

Yeah, my 40-year-old Bullmarks are doing just fine, and the newer stuff is probably made from better vinyl to boot.

Don't worry, they still smell like toxic plastic.

Actually, I disagree. I think the new clear vinyls are even more unstable than the old ones- maybe because the material is softer and has greater clarity. I left one of my clear Blobpus guys in the sealed jar for a year or so, and the inside of the jar ended up covered in a thin film of oil.

The solid colors might fare similarly to the old stuff.

A lot of it probably has to do with storage and display environmental conditions. But some vinyls have degraded despite being kept in identical storage/display situations as other comparable vinyls which have not changed at all. So I don't know.

Interesting. I've only had one new vinyl "sweat" like that (an M1GO Titanosaurus) and after I hit it with the Simple Green, it was fine.

Is it possibly some kind of mold release or something? I know nothing about the chemical makeup of these things.

Vinyl or abs figures made with recycled plastic tend to excrete an oily substance. It's pretty common.
The early Medicom 400% vinyl Be@rbricks had this problem before they went to unrecycled ABS plastic.
Not sure if it's the same problem you are having but fyi...

Leaving toys in their bags seems to exacerbate the 'sweating'. Or maybe the sweat just evaporates a bit w/ open toys.

Another good reason to set those toys free!

In most cases the oily substances that accumulate on the surface of vinyl over time are chemical plasticizers or other additives used to change the properties of the base PVC (polyvinyl chloride, aka vinyl). They make it softer, clearer, etc.

If toys were made with straight PVC without plasticizers they would be very, very hard (think PVC pipe...it's the same stuff, just with different plasticizers than the ones used to make vinyl soft for toys).

The thing to remember is that vinyl is essentially "breathing" all the time...if you seal it in something and leave it there long enough you're probably going to see some sort of residue eventually. Of course it changes from batch to batch, factory to factory. And Ralph, I think you're onto something with the idea that perhaps recycled vinyl may be part of the issue. In the end, the fact is that vinyl is complex, and sometimes the various parts just don't want to stay together.

This is a pretty good overview of the history and manufacturing of vinyl:

http://www.azom.com/Details.asp?ArticleID=987

Great link about the history and chemistry of vinyl. Appeals to the kaiju & record geek in me. In regards to kaiju, I figured the vinyl was outgassing something toxic. Much like a lot of toys by say... Neca & Mezco do when you 1st open up the packaging (ahhhhh reminds me of gas stations when they used to reek...). I've never been too worried about kaiju degrading much over time, I figure just about anything I own will outlast me, esp if it's plastic.