Sunlight is the only thing that reliably damages these figures. Painted PVC fades from the top down, so a row on a south-facing sill will lose the ear tips and cap edges first while the bases stay perfect. A shelf set back from a window, or any position where direct sun never lands, will keep a collection looking new for years.
Dust is the second problem and it is a mechanical one. A soft makeup brush pulls dust out of sculpted fur and bread texture far better than a cloth, which simply pushes it into the recesses. For the water pieces — the snow globe in particular — wipe the dome rather than the contents, and never use alcohol on a clear part.
Assembly matters more than people expect. Capsule-derived figures key together on small pegs; pressing a head on at an angle will widen the socket permanently. Line the peg up, push straight down, and if a part resists, warm it in your hands for a minute rather than forcing it.
Keep the line-up cards. They are the only printed record of how many designs a series contains, and a collection without them is very hard to audit two years later. Most collectors we hear from keep the cards flat in a sleeve behind the shelf, which also makes trading easier because the other person can see what you are missing.
Storage, if a series has to come down, works best in a shallow drawer with the figures upright and separated — not stacked in a box. Paint-to-paint contact under pressure will transfer colour given enough months, and that is the one kind of damage we cannot help with afterwards.
