tsg guide on caring ur TOYZ 
Whether you're in it for love or money, keeping the toys in the best shape is the most important part of collecting. Every figure and packaging type has different things to watch out for, but the following needs apply to all toys:
- PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE/CARE: The best way to keep these toys in the best shape is to not mess them up in the first place. Below are some general tips in the proper care of your collectibles.
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Dark/sunless environment: Of all the things in the world that cause the most damage to toys and their packaging (besides firecrackers), the sun is the worst. It only takes a few days for the sun to bleach a box's color, or yellow a figure's plastic pieces. Continued exposure to sunlight will DESTROY. Windowless rooms are the best for storage/display, but if you don't have any, then put your figures in something that you can close or cover to keep the sun out COMPLETELY.
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Smoke free environment: Second to the sun is tobacco smoke. After continued exposure, the smoke starts to leave a grimy residue on box and toy surfaces, which, if built up and left alone for long enough, will be unremoveable. Smoke also discolors a lot of plastics; ever go in a room where someone smokes all the time and taken a picture or poster off the wall? A yellow wall used to be white. That can happen to your figures too.
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Dust them every once in a while. NO environment is absolutely dust-free, unless you're some mad evil villain with inexhaustible resources and you have one of those futuristic science-domes where earth-blasting laser beams are being built, and you also happen to keep your Transformers in there. If that's not you, then dust off your figures and boxes every month or so; dust will build up and create a damaging sticky film if left long enough. Plus, it just looks better.
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Dry environment: excessive humidity can really wreak havoc on packaging. Cardboard will warp, tape will separate from surfaces, stickers will peel or come off. Paperwork will often begin to stick to itself too; ever see those Transformers instructions that ripped when you tried to unfold them? Moisture.
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Careful/moderated stacking: Even though it LOOKS like a tall stack of toy boxes is stable, there is a lot of play among cardboard over time. Stacking a lot of toys on top of each other begins a slow but certain compression of the boxes. Leave 5 to 7 Transformers boxed figures stacked up for a year or two, and the bottom 2 will show some pretty heavy creasing at the corners. Don't overstack, even if it looks like nothing bad will happen at first.
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Careful moves: If reorganizing or moving, pick the boxes/cards straight up and set them straight back down; sliding them along surfaces will rocket the packaging to the state of "shelf wear." Cardboard and plastic bubbles seem pretty tough, and you don't see anything happen after one or two slides along a shelf, but it catches up to you very quickly.
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Careful opening: Doesn't apply to you "keep it sealed" folks, but for us collectors who think these are too cool to leave in their boxes forever, just be careful. Don't open flaps or bubbles ALL the way if you don't need to; just open them enough to remove the figures. Hinges and corners will crinkle and whiten very rapidly.
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Careful play: Again, just for us "play with 'em" types. Be knowledgeable about where parts rub together during transformation. Stickers are usually the first to show scrapes, but even if it's just plastic on plastic, scuffs will form and painted details will streak. Try and transform with an eye for where pressure creates a lot of friction and account for it. And sheesh, just go slow; it's not a race.
- CLEANING: You can't clean all the figures the same way, but here are some general tips for shining up those dusty or dinged up pieces:
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Dust everything very well first; you may not need to go further. Just because something looks dirty doesn't mean you need to go straight to Ajax and scrubbies.
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If an area looks like it will need more than a dusting, try wiping at it with a slightly damp cloth; this will clear up the area and show if further steps need to be taken.
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Dingy plastic can often be shined up extremely nicely with some Q-tips and rubbing alcohol. TEST A SMALL HIDDEN PORTION FIRST; some plastics are painted, not cast in the color they appear to be, and alcohol could take the paint right off.
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NEVER LET ALCOHOL TOUCH STICKERS; it will take the color off the stickers with one tiny swipe.
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Detergents are usually NOT the way to go. If something isn't coming clean with just elbow grease or warm damp cloth, detergent probably won't help either; these aren't cooking pans, they're toys. If you MUST use some form of detergent, make sure you rinse/wipe it off COMPLETELY; if it stays on the plastic it will more than likely deteriorate it rapidly.
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Use a pencap or some pointed object with a rag or napkin around the tip to get into those hard to reach corners/crevasses.
- REPAIR: There's no way to tell you how to fix everything (soon we'll have a repair reference in the Guide, but that's a way off). Until then, here are some general repair tips for the most common Transformers/transforming robot toy problems:
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PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE. You will not have a successful repair session if you're quick to anger or get frustrated easily. Some of these repair jobs can get pretty time consuming and repetitious; if you're not patient, you may wind up doing more harm than good.
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DEFINE THE PROBLEM. If it's possible to see what the problem is before disassembly, do it. Try tightening any LOOSE screws, see if the problem is affecting other parts as well. For instance, a loose shoulder joint might not just be that joint; it could be a piece that's internally centered in the back and affecting BOTH arms. It's almost impossible to tell exactly how all the internal pieces are put together for some of these figures, so do as much as you can to define exactly what the problem is before using tools.
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If disassembly is required, get the tools together first. It's always easier to fix these guys if the tools you need are AT HAND. The most common necessities are:
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Precision screwdrivers (Phillips and regular) for those really super-tiny screws
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Relatively small screwdrivers with LONG narrow shafts, for those sunken screws that are at the bottom of a "well" in the plastic
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Rounded needle-nose pliers (called rosary pliers), for reaching inside narrow spaces without scraping surrounding plastic, or for bending plastic pieces with as little breakage or stress marking as possible
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Flat needle-nose pliers, for gripping things that are inside small openeings or out of reach of normal pliers
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A putty knife, for gently separating pieces that are stuck or glued together at seams
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A razor blade (any young children need to be helped or supervised for this one) for removing stickers to access screws or split seams
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A magnet, for finding lost small metal pieces
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Work on a solid, flat, dark or light uniform surface. The worst frustration of all is to lose small pieces because of rug knap or strangely patterned surfaces. Be sure to make plenty of room for yourself, too.
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Set parts/pieces aside in a pattern similar to where you removed them from. For example, if you remove two screws from each foot of a figure, set them aside in a pattern that matches where they were on the figure; two screws on the left, two screws on the right straight across from them. If you remove one from the head, put it above the feet ones and in between them. If you remove the right arm, place it to the right of the head screw, etc. This helps when putting the figure back together again; after you remove four or five pieces, it's VERY easy to forget how they all went together if you don't do this.
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Take time to study the best way to get to the problem; don't assume that if the problem is in the arm then you just need to take apart the arm; many of these things were put together in such a way that half the figure needs to be disassembled in order to get to one particular joint mechanism. For us, it's easiest to take apart the largest pieces that need to be taken apart first, then begin getting into small stuff. This helps with setting the pieces aside in an organized manner as well. For instance, if you need to get into the shoulder socket, and the arm needs to be taken apart in 4 pieces, and the torso needs to be opened in order to get to the socket, start with the torso. If you open the torso first, then take the arm out to work with, it's easier and more manageable than breaking down the arm into 4 pieces and then digging into the torso for this hidden joint. Take apart big parts first, working down as you go to smaller and smaller pieces.
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REMEMBER THE STICKERS. Many stickers are placed over seams, and if two pieces are taken apart, the sticker will rip where the seams come apart. Carefully remove any and all stickers that will be in the way when you are taking a figure apart. Be very familiar with all the places that the pieces will split apart during disassembly. Also, remember that a lot of stickers are placed over screws. You can usually tell where there are screws under stickers because of a slight round depression in the sticker. You can most often remove stickers without damaging them, and here are some tips how: ONLY PERFORM THE FOLLOWING IF YOU ARE EXTREMELY CAREFUL AND STEAD-HANDED. MINORS SHOULD ASK PARENTS TO DO THIS, AND NO ONE SHOULD DO IT IF THEY ARE NOT SAFETY CONSCIOUS. BOTCOLLECTOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CARELESS COLLECTORS)
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http://www.botcollector.com/Collecting.htm#Caring
Aug 1 2007, 05:48 PM
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......muahaha....ealier all ppl said i kena conned by tsg said "he"???.....now tsg become "hot topic" 
simply open slowly..its just some selotape
i will go for leader brawl
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