Not just for beginners. Today I took apart this guy. This is a Noobz from Blizzard. It's a pretty cool toy, but it's toys like this that inspired this series.
First off, I used a blow dryer to soften up the joints then pulled them out. It took less than five minutes to do. Looking at the mushroom sockets afterwards; I would definitely trim them before reattaching.
After taking this guy apart around some sockets were globs of greasy goo. I'm not sure if it was mold release or due to the tight sockets the manufacturer had to lube them up before putting them together. Definitely creates the cause to wash them before working on them though.