Can you give me some suggestions to maintain and care for animal figure?

Dear Honorable Collectors,

How do you maintain and care for your animal figurines? Recently, we've received feedback from users that due to uncontrollable factors such as temperature and transportation, our PVC material (flexible, non-toxic plastic) animals may experience some degree of deformation.

We plan to gather some suggestions and create a blog to share methods and daily care tips with our users. I believe that as a professional collector, you must have a lot of experience in this area. Could you provide me with some advice? I will mention your name and thanks for your help in the blog

Small wild cats , small mammals of all the continents, different birds like birds of paradise, toucans, waterfowl.....

"Both sets I have from your brand come with the figures in small bags, all mixed together in a cubic box. I personally like your minimalist packaging but it presents some problems.
Starting with the positive points, I like the uniformity of the boxes, the small amount of space they take up for those who can't display all the figures, and the fact that the figures are individually bagged, preventing the paint from being damaged by friction during transport.
The negative point is that the figures are exerting pressure on each other and when there are more delicate elements like legs, horns, tails, it's natural for them to suffer some deformation after being pressed on by the other figures for some time. During transport, it's almost inevitable that these figures will be subjected to high temperatures which causes the plastic to soften and deformations are unavoidable. The plastic will yield to the pressure of the other figures and, when it returns to normal temperature, it hardens in the wrong position becoming bent and even in some cases losing balance."
If you want to keep the packaging system, you only have a few options. You can use some transparent plastic customized shapes to force the most vulnerable figures to stay in their natural shape. Though, it increases production expenses and it can also require larger boxes or that you reduce the number of figures to be packaged.
A simpler option is to use thick cardboard between the legs or the vulnerable parts but it has some science. You need to do not let it lose and it should make a little pressure oposite to the direction it would naturally deforme.
For example, in the rabbit set, a figure which would need it is the antelope rabbit, the legs of the figure tend to bring together and a little piece of cardboard could easily avoid it. Most of the other figures do not need any sort of protection.
You can also use pieces of foam. It works between antlers, legs and so.
If the idea is to change the way your figures are packaged, you have several options but I don't think you will do it. Let me know because this post goes long.

I agree with Roger. Plastic inserts would work best but it is costly and takes up more space. Cardboard between legs/tails/horns should solve the issue of bent legs.

CollectA notably has many figures with thin legs, and they always have cardboard between them and around the horns. Because of this I've rarely ever had one arrive warped.

I appreciate you working to fix the issue! And of course I look forward to upcoming Toymany sets.

A well known trick to get bendy legs or horns back into place again is to heat up the bended parts with very hot water or a blowdryer for a while. (The plastic gets soft.)
After that you spraddle the parts in desired position with your fingers or a tool, and while holding the figure like that, quickly dip them in ice cold water for a minute. (The plastic goes hard again and keeps the position.)

Toymany could leave a note in their animal boxes with these instructions.
Ofcourse making sure no one gets hurt with hot water etc. Safety first!

widukind wrote:

Small wild cats , small mammals of all the continents, different birds like birds of paradise, toucans, waterfowl.....

We have a program for birds! But don't know the exact species at the moment

Thanks [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

We currently have two ways of packing. One is the use of boxes in which the various animals are individually packed inside the box. The other is to use bags. Inside the bag, the animals are individually packed. Thanks for the advice [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] . the suggestion about putting plastic or cardboard around specific animals is a good one. We will make some attempts. Let's see if we can improve on the packaging.

Bloodrayne wrote:

A well known trick to get bendy legs or horns back into place again is to heat up the bended parts with very hot water or a blowdryer for a while. (The plastic gets soft.)
After that you spraddle the parts in desired position with your fingers or a tool, and while holding the figure like that, quickly dip them in ice cold water for a minute. (The plastic goes hard again and keeps the position.)

Toymany could leave a note in their animal boxes with these instructions.
Ofcourse making sure no one gets hurt with hot water etc. Safety first!

Yes. The boiling water method is a common restoration method used by collectors. I will share this method with other types of users :)