Peeling Avenue Pad controllers!!??

[JoshTurboTrollX]

At this past weekend's Retro Gaming Event at Evercon I noticed something about a couple of my Ave PC-E pads after some little kids were playing around on Kabuki Ittoryoudan and one of those little punks were a little overly rough....

Oh My GOARD!!!  O_O   
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a little closer-
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At first I thought, Hawly SHEETS!!  Did they tear the plastic covering off of my controllers!!?!?!?  Are they ruined?   

Then I looked a bit closer at the victimized pads and saw that what lies beneath the torn plastic seemed to be very clean/clear shiny plastic!!
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Could this be some sort of protective coating that was put on nearly 20 years ago?  It finally decided to start to peel off today?  Has anyone else seen this with their Ave pads or other controllers?

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Beautiful sparkly shiny Ave pad 3!!  It looks better than it ever has! 
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Was this to be pulled off on the day that they were purchased and I just didn't know because I no speak moon rune?  It was somewhat difficult to pull off, but it all came off and the controllers look better than they ever did...  They look BRAND NEW!!  (brand new, or just about to be destroyed because I tore off the protective plastic that was NOT TO BE REMOVED!!!!     )

[Nazi NecroPhile]

They all had that protective plastic, meant to be removed before use.

[MotherGunner]

one of those little punks

This had me laughing bro.  But yes, that plastic is meant to be removed.

[esteban]

I'm torn: josh seems genuine, but this could be a delicious goof. It's too perfect to be a joke, which is why I am upset I didn't think of this sooner.

Personally, I keep the film on as long as possible...it feels so good to peel one off!

[Mathius]

One of my Turbo Duo pads along with a TurboGrafx pad is getting to the point where the film is starting to bubble up. I am trying to keep the film on there as long as possible.