SPECTRUM IS 'DIRTY' BLUE...?

I suppose I'd better give my thousands of followers (Billy Thousands, that is) something to read before I'm left on my own, so here's a quickie regarding toys - always a popular post (not) on this blog.

Behold, above, two SPV toys made by Vivid Imaginations around 2001.  VI did an earlier, smaller version of this toy in diecast metal around 1992 or '93, with all the features of the earlier '60s Dinky version in its later days.  In the original Dinky version, the side door shot out when you pressed the 'fin' on top of the vehicle, and a figure of Captain Scarlet in his chair descended almost to the ground by means of a plastic 'hinge'.  In later versions, the door still ejected, but Scarlet's seat was unmoving, rigidly fixed in position.

The first VI version was the same, but their second incarnation matched the size of Dinky's, though in plastic, and Scarlet freely ejected through a hatch on the roof when a button was pressed, but from the left-hand cabin of the SPV as opposed to the right as in earlier examples of the toy.  The second VI version also had 'sound-tech' with three phrases emanating from the toy when another button was pressed, once for each separate phrase.  One by Colonel White, another by Captain Blue, and the third by Scarlet himself.

It's a neat little toy, but something puzzles me - apart, that is, from the design flaw in operating the ejecting missile from a forward-facing hatch by pushing down over the front wheels; even the slightest pressure on the wheels made the hatch shoot up, whether you were just gently placing the toy on the carpet or trying to push it along.  (This happened with all three versions.)  No, the real puzzle is why Vivid Imaginations toys seemed to discolour over time.  The light blue plastic on their Stingray toy eventually turned green, and their plastic SPVs (small and larger playset versions) turned a 'dirty' sort of blue.

Except, obviously, for the first SPV in the photo atop this post.  As far as I recall, I bought both of them in Woolworth's, though not at the same time.  The fin on the top of the one which has retained its colour is hard plastic, the other one is soft; the twin aerials on the first are slightly harder plastic though still flexible, whereas the ones on the other toy are soft rubber.  When I recently removed the bubble wrap from the darker version, I at first assumed the wrap was responsible in some way for the discolouration, but the lighter version had been kept in bubble wrap for the same few years as the other toy, both having been stored in a box in a cupboard.

So why has one discoloured and not the other?  Different kind of plastic perhaps?  Not the right amount of pigment in the colouring of the plastic to begin with?  If anyone knows (or cares) feel free to enlighten me and your fellow Crivvies by elucidating in our ever-lovin' comments section.  (Or not, as the case will probably be.)

Posted in: Cartoons