Safety and age guidance

Nothing on this site has been manufactured, safety tested or certified. There is no age rating on any figure yet, because an age rating you have not earned is worse than no age rating at all.

Why there is no age on the box

In the United States, a product that is primarily intended for children twelve and under is a regulated children's product. That brings real obligations: testing by a laboratory accepted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a Children's Product Certificate, tracking labels on the product and its packaging, and compliance with the mandatory toy safety standard ASTM F963.

Which side of that line a figure falls on is decided partly by how it is designed and partly by how it is marketed — the wording on a page like this one counts. So we are being careful not to describe anything as a children's toy until it has actually been tested as one.

The parts we already know need the most care

• The separate accessories. The sword, the shield and the flag on its pole are exactly the kind of small parts that have to be assessed against the small-parts rule. A part that fits entirely inside the standard small-parts cylinder is a choking hazard.
• Joints and pins. An articulated figure has pins and sockets. If a joint can be pulled apart under the force a child actually applies, the piece that comes free has to be assessed too.
• Thin, breakable shapes. A sword blade or a flagpole that snaps does not just stop working — it creates a new small part and possibly a sharp edge.
• Paint and materials. There are firm limits on lead in paint and in the material itself, and on certain phthalates. Not every 3D printing material is exempt from that testing, so material choice has to be settled before production, not after.

What has to happen before anything is sold for children

1. Finish the physical design, including the joints and the accessory grips.
2. Choose the manufacturing process and the exact materials and paints.
3. Print, assemble and handle real prototypes — then try to break them on purpose.
4. Send samples to a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory for testing against ASTM F963, the small-parts rule, and the lead and phthalate limits.
5. Have a qualified compliance professional review the product, the packaging and the marketing copy.
6. Issue a Children's Product Certificate and apply tracking labels.
7. Only then set an age grade — based on the assessment, not on a guess.

The collector ranges

Display collectibles and premium editions are intended for adults, and will be designed, packaged and described that way — not as toys. That is a genuine distinction about who a product is for, not a way of avoiding testing. If a figure is meant for children, it will be tested as a children's product.

The printables

Downloadable activity sheets are paper, printed at home on your own printer, so they sit outside toy testing. Cut-out activities are designed for a grown-up to cut, or for older children using safety scissors with supervision. Small paper pieces are not suitable for children under three.