You wouldn't think that taking pictures of toys inside a photo box would incur any risk, but that's where you'd be wrong. See, there's not a whole lot of risk to me, no, but there is indeed risk to my toys! The problem is the old plastic of these figures makes them brittle. And while we all know ways to avoid damaging our beloved Joes, when I take archive pics, I have to toe that line a bit. After all, if I have a figure with a rifle, I'm going to need to show him holding it, right? And of course, he should hold it as realistically as possible, with the grip in his hand, and the stock between his arm and torso.

Yeaaahhhh, about that....

11632

Broken thumbs, the bane of my existence. Well, that and broken crotches. And excessive paint scratching. O-ring breakages aren't so big a deal to me!

Thankfully, I had a second set of arms to work with here, but I haven't always been so lucky. My Cobra (http://www.yojoe.com/action/82/cobra.shtml) and Zap (http://www.yojoe.com/action/82/zap.shtml) figures are on the waiting list for repairs, sadly. You have to remember, we're using our own toys for these photos. And while we take every precaution we can, sometimes we're just not lucky.

Auch.....that is a risk when doing those shots, glad you have a spare arm to replace it with.

You are a brave soul. I never put anything in my 82 figures' hands. If I'm selling them, I place all the weapons at their feet and take the photo. Glad you have extra parts!

I do not have an early 80s guy with a thumb on him yet . However I remember them being brittle back then as well , and couldn't imagine trying to tuck his rifle under his arm nowadays let alone then .

wow that snapped clean off! I remember back in the day they would just split and wiggle there, I guess 30 years later they have gotten much more fragile. I have periodically checked on mine and found they just self destructed laying in pieces in the tray.

I'd have had to glue that thumb back on if it wasn't leaving my collection. Sucks to be RnR though :( They were horrible thumbs back in the day and it'll only get worse. Maybe make a strap for his rifle to go on his back.

Thanks for the inside view to what you guys are doing!

Thank you for your sacrifices, sir.

Yes, I have broken thumbs and heels doing photos for Yojoe. Even worse were tabs and clips, etc, on vintage vehicles when I was doing those. Sorry for your losses Phil, you're not alone.

I actually just photographed my entire figure collection for another web project and I was always waiting for some breakage. Luckily all my 80's figures survived, even the '82's holding their weapons. All that broke were 2 or 3 accessories from '93-'94. So far anyway.......

Amen! The worst is when a figure breaks that is irreparable like Zartan or the spring action Ninja Force guys!

Photos are looking good though.

Carson

oh that sucks. I really enjoy the database updates. I love the vintage figures but those thumbs are a hassle sometimes

OUCH!!! You guys do sacrifice alright. Mine are all displayed without their acc.

can you post a pic of your lightbox

thanks

You can see mine here:
https://arqspin.com/2012/10/29/featured-arqballer-3djoes/

Mine is very similar to his.

They should run ~$80. B&H Photo has em, just search for "pop up photo light box" and you should find a few sizes.