Every collector’s biggest nightmare is something unfortunate happening to one of their prized pieces. Unfortunately, in an age of electronics in figures plenty of issues can rear their heads. The prime issue that occurs these days seems to be related to battery leakage and corrosion. Because of this we’re going to be taking a look at How Batteries Can Damage Your Figures.
There are plenty of things that can happen to damage your figures. Warm weather and sunlight can deteriorate your figures. Even something like a fall off of the shelf can damage or destroy a figure. However, when lights or sounds are present in a figure, batteries can be your worst nightmare. Taking some proactive steps should allow you to protect all of your collectibles from the dangers that batteries bring.
When corrosion occurs in small batteries, the battery acid typically leaks out of the battery and into the casing. While this does not happen all the time, it does occur with cheap batteries quite frequently. Some Hot Toys figures like Star Lord’s helmet use small button cell batteries to enhance their figures. What can a collector do?
How to Prevent Damage to your Collectibles
It may seem obvious, but a lot of the time when someone gets a new collectible they test out the electronics once or twice. Now, this is with the included batteries what are not the highest quality to begin with. A lot of collectors tend to put their figures on a shelf and do not interact with them that often. For this reason, you may want to keep the batteries out of your figure unless you are getting ready to use the electronics.
Leaving the batteries in a figure will ultimately lead to corrosion. Battery corrosion is where the acid will leak all over the battery terminals. Since I know some of you may go run and check some of your figures right now, I do want to reassure you. If the unfortunate has happened and leakage has already occurred, not all is lost. You can take a cotton swab dipped in lemon juice or vinegar and lightly rub at the corroded acid. The acidity of the vinegar or lemon juice can diminish the effects of the corrosion. However, if you remove the batteries when not in use you can avoid this issue altogether!
Iron Man suits, Armored Batman, Delorean, and more all utilize batteries to be more impressive on a shelf. The headlights on the Delorean elevate the piece from a collectible to photorealistic. Yet, some low quality AAA batteries from China are not worth damaging a 700 dollar collectible. Always make sure you check the quality of the batteries that you are putting into the figures! If you do leave the batteries in make sure that you are periodically checking them for potential leaks. We know how important your collectibles are, and we hope that this aricle about How Batteries can Damage your Figures helps you make sure that you are mindful of batteries degrading!
