Are you bent out of shape because your JLU figures are bent out of shape? Here is how I fixed a couple of my JLU figures.
Everybody knows the JLU figures especially the newer ones have soft plastic and bend at the ankles over time. The ankles are too narrow and just cannot support the body weight over time. Sometimes they are pre-bent by the packaging. I just opened couple of the 6 Packs and two of them are just not standing up at all.
Take a look at the two Superman figures to see how far they are leaning over after a couple years on display
Deadshot, Waverider, Hawk and an Amazo just out of view in the corner all leaning a little.
It does not help that my JLU figures are on top of bookcase up next to the ceiling, but even the extra warmth up there should not be enough to make most figures bend. It also does not help in this case as most of these figures are Superglued in place on the display to keep them from falling over domino style and wiping out even more figures.
Here are the Superman figures just after they went on display to compare how far they bent over time.
I’ve read about heating the figures adjusting the legs and then cooling them down. I have a Forager and B’wana Beast that are just not cooperating. They are bending at the ankles and I tried a few times to fix them. I heated them with a hair dryer and then stuck them in the freezer after propping them standing up. It worked with The Shade, but these other two are still giving me problems.
I have magnet stands Super Glued to their feet and have them stand on a metal display stand rather than the plastic one most of my others are on. The magnet stands hold them in place as they bend over so they will not topple the rest of the display. Forager is the worst I can watch him start to bend over in slow motion in a couple minutes. B’wana Beast is not much better. It seems to me that some of these figures have even softer plastic than the rest and that seems to make them harder to fix.
One thought was to drill a hole up into the leg through the ankle up into the thigh. Even with the smallest drill bit you will more than likely put a hole in the side of the leg. I think the leg is just too small to try this unless you used a Drill Press and some custom built rig to put the leg in so you would not miss.
I also thought about running a bead of Super Glue down the back side and cutting a piece off a Paper Clip to glue to the back of the leg. Would the body weight still bend the metal of a Paper Clip?
I tried to boil hot water in a glass bowl and it exploded (I thought it was Corningware) on the stove top. So I went back to the Hair Dryer holding it on them longer and standing them in Ice Water to see if that works. Well the Ice Water treatment did not work any better. The legs were rock hard at first but they warm up and start to bend again.
It’s the soft plastic that’s to blame. The feet will go back to the normal position when I take them down. The body weight is not balanced for the size of the ankles and they simply bend over. They have magnet stands glued to their feet and I tried moving one leg in front of the other, but that makes them twist and lean to one side. I may have to move them next to Gorilla Grodd or some other large heavy figure to prop them up against.
Here’s Forager and B’wana Beast, the only two of this six pack not standing.
They have never stood up straight since the first day they were put up.
Maybe they are just checking out Wonder Woman down on the first row.
For those figures (at the top of the post) that had the same issue like Superman and Mr. Miracle, I fixed them by gluing the back of their capes to the riser behind them that worked great. Both Superman and Mr. Miracle are doing fine. Hawkman I moved and he is behind Justice Lords Batman and Hawkgirl so he is standing just fine too. Waverider I just stuck his arm out and lean him off Metamorpho and I did the same for Deadshot too. Amazo is still bent in the corner and he'll stay that way awhile.
After a lot of thought I may have found a fix for JLU with soft plastic weak ankles.
I found a hard plastic clip that comes with Peg Board Hangers. It is designed to snap across the hanger and help hold it in place on the Peg Board. I got the set of hangers at Home Depot.
I cut the ends off and cut it again at the curve that it has in the middle of it to get two small straight sections. I then ran a bead of Super Glue on the lower part of the leg from just above the ankle to the bottom of the foot and put the piece on the back of the leg. The tick is to do only half of it at a time so as to not make a mess or glue the figure to your hand. The bead of Super Glue covers only about half the piece, while you hold the piece in place by the other half.
After drying I bent the ankles so I could put Super Glue under the rest of the black piece and glue it to the lower calf of the leg. I left the figures face down while the whole thing dried and then I stood them up
The end result is the ankles are much stronger and will not bend. B’wana Beast looks good although Forager still seems determined to lean forward. The black plastic is not that obtrusive and is barely noticeable from the front. My next thought is to maybe heat the legs and bend them backwards a bit above the knees to make the figure not lean as much.
I had thought about doing this with metal, say a Paper Clip, but did not have one handy to try it with. So far I like the results and it has been a couple days and they are both still standing. So I will use this trick on any JLU figures I need too since I know it works.
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