Double-guessing fixing a figure

Just getting some things off my chest. I tried to fix my Philip figure and I think I may have made a mistake.  So I’m just rambling until I feel better about it.

Sunburnt Philip.

I feel a little guilty for modifying my Chibi-Arts Philip as soon as I got him.  But when I first opened the mailing box, the way his face looked, just through his box's window, already looked so horrible, my heart sank.  I bought him used, and I don't know how the owner or store that had him, displayed him, but the paint on his face had serious discoloration.  Well, he is an old figure, and I had heard that enough sunlight exposure would ruin figures.  He looked like he had been sun burnt.  His face was orange, literally the "orange" that human skin turns when staying too long in a tanning bed---and in distinct patches!  >~<;

I had expected to feel so happy, after hunting down Philip for so long, and now finally having him.  But all that was crushed when I saw that discolored paint on his face.  I guess I rushed into erasing all that paint off, because I wanted to get to that exuberant feeling of finally obtaining a "holy grail" figure.  Instead, "I spent $70 for this?!" was the first thing I thought when I saw his face through the box window.  I had to get rid of that feeling.

When I look at Philip in my display case now, with half his paint rubbed off (it was too late at night and difficult to continue with the top half of his face), I feel confident that he looks better than when I first unboxed him.

Paint rubbed off bottom half of Philip's face.

The problem is that all my unboxing photos (like many of my photos), overexposed him with bleaching flash lighting, so all that sunburt paint doesn't look so bad.  And it makes me second-guess my memory of how bad he looked when I first unboxed him.

Faces before modification; over-exposed flash.

Faces before modification; flash at a little further distance.

All the work I did yesterday to fix his paint...I'm doubting myself now.  But I can clearly see the lines of sunburnt paint, that were too dangerously close to his eyes to erase.  And if his cheeks had stayed that color, he'd be far too noticeably darker, next to my Chibi-Arts Shotaro.  ...Not to mention, also darker than the rest of his own face.  But when I look at my bleached-out photos, I can't help but think that maybe within the context of the rest of the paint on his face, maybe those sunburnt cheeks blended into a cohesive context.

...But then why did I immediately wretch backwards, when I first saw his face through his box window?  A figure is supposed to be aesthetically pleasing, in and of itself, and immediately.  And yet, I had that reaction.  Therefore, there was something undeniably wrong and I was right to fix it.  Just look at the difference between his discolored face, versus the skin tone of his hands---and even his NECK!  @~@  Besides, Philip is supposed to be pale enough to pass as Wakana-hime.  He wasn't going to do that with that sunburnt paintjob.

So, now I think I know why he was sold.  Whatever store or previous owner, probably thought Philip was worth less now, with that horribly discolored paint.  But he's Philip!  The incredibly RARE Chibi-Arts Philip!  One of only 2 non-henshin Kamen Rider Chibi-Art figures!  He would never lose value to me.  Whenever one of my figures is damaged, I feel almost glad that they're with me, and not owned by someone (like my brother) who is not comfortable with crafting, and would then deem a damaged figure worthless.  To me, they are always valuable, even if they need a little fixing.  ...Actually, now that I think about it, I've always gravitated towards damaged stock.  Vases, dragon figurines, miniatures, souvenirs,...  All just so I don't have to imagine the pitiable fate of the object that is deemed worthless, just because of a little damage.  The rest of it is good too!  ;o;  So this paint-discolored Philip came to the right place.  I should feel glad that he's with me.  I may not be able to paint as well as official manufacturers, but when I do get some spraypaint, as long as I can get him looking good for photos with my Chibi-Arts Shotaro, that's all I wanted in the first place.  ^-^

Still...Maybe next time, I'll calm down and take a breather before erasing the paint off a $70 figure.  @_@  That was pretty rash.