G4 Factory Defects?

[xXCosmicBurstXx]

Yesterday, I received a bunch of ponies that I ordered online. I bought three of my ponies from a seller on Amazon. The G4 ponies were still in their original packaging. However all three ponies had some problems. The heads on these ponies were lighter than their bodies. I spent some time looking over my G4 and about 1/4 of my ponies have similar problems. (head being lighter than body.) Is this a common problem with G4? The three ponies I received from Amazon also had loose heads. One of the ponies, a darker haired variant of Cupcake, I can not get out of the box because her head looks like it's about to fall off her body. How do I fix my ponies head? >.< Ugh, One of my Glitter Wing ponies had a bunch of glue coming out of her neck. (I bought this pony from Wall-Mart)

[Saoirse]

Ive seen a few complaints about Hasbros quality control...its upsetting to get anything in a state like that Id be very annoyed :-\

[SheRa-dude]

The color difference is quite common: head and body are made of a different kind of plastic.

[Taxel]

I've never met a G4 without head/body mismatch, even if its very slight. White ponies, Fashion Styles, and the molded hair set (not blind bags) also have it.

From what I've read (despite never seeing one here -pout-) head/body mismatch is the least of your worries! People have gotten ponies with misprinted/missing cutie marks, smudged paint, dirt/stray paint on their bodies, uneven eyes, and probably more I'm forgetting. I even got a G4 whose tail hole looks like someone took a knife to it.

[ZettaMomo]

Yep, the head body mismatch is a common thing. The heads are made of a harder plastic than the body is so it tends to happen.
I haven't had a Glimmer Wing pony before, but I have heard the issue with extra glue before. If you are careful you could put a little bit of acetone on a qtip to remove the extra glue. Just make sure not to get aceton on the eyes, symbols, or glitter because it can remove it.

I've never really noticed a problem with lose heads before, though. Would you mind posting some pictures of them in the box?

[cesprins]

Yeah it's common, but there are some ponies that are matched. I'd recommend leaving the mismatched ones in box. Then looking for them in store with matched bodies and exchanging the one you bought online for the instore one. That's what I did for feathermay when I ordered her online and it worked out fine.

[hathorcat]

G4 quality control = not good

As others have said I think I have yet to see a G4 without at least a minor shade or 2 of difference.

In addition, unlike with earlier gens I believe G4s are moulded as 2 different elements - head and body [we see this of course with the "head coding" on pony heads]...whereas with G1 the entire pony was a print mould [you dont see G1 with the same head across two or 3 body poses - the head is created along with the body style] in G4 you will get the same head mould on a couple of different body moulds [doesnt Blossomforth have a Pinkie Pie head...that kind of thing]. This is a much cheaper way to get a wide "ish" selection without having to cast lots of unique moulds.

Quality also comes down to price point I think....when my mum was buying me ponies in the 80s individual ponies were around the £3.99 mark...and thats 30 years ago. Today most single ponies cost £5.00 - if inflation really had only increased by 25% over 30 years the world would be a much "cheaper" place to be right now!

Yes, thanks to China a lot of products are able to sell cheaper than ever before but likewise the cost of materials has massively increased across all industries...the result? Smaller ponies in no where near the quality and standard as G1s and even G2s....in the 80s ponies were not pocket money toys [at least not for me in my house] they were "special presents" where as now a lot of low price point toys are picked up and discarded very quickly therefore the quality to last 2 or 3 years is no longer as important as that they be at a price where a little girl and her mum can afford it as an extra in their trolley at least once a month. 

[hlbmlp]

ive got a pony who has a second smaller tail hole above her normal one... O_o  quite a few of my ponies are funny headed/painted too, but i love them so it's all ok. ^__^

[littlexflitter]

The G3 (and G3.5) and G4 ponies have had a lot of factory flaws. I'm not sure if there are more factory flaws than there were with the older generations or if we're just taking note of the now because we're collecting right off the store shelf, although I think there are probably more factory flaws. It makes it more difficult to buy ponies online if those details matter to you. I think the head/body colour matching is a really wide issue that is unlikely to be resolved.

[BrightIdea]

Yep, I think there are a lot of factory defects.   The head/body mismatch seems to happen a lot with purple ponies.


My one mismatched Twilight has a large pink splotch all over her neck like the plastic wasn't mixed well enough. There also seem to be a lot of smudged eyes, cutie marks, and dirt spots on ponies, too.

[bladed]

My FS RD has a dent on her leg (So glad its NDS!) and a dent inside her wing. She and the other one at wilkinsons had misplaced eyes.. they dont fit inside the eye mold.. ones smaller than the other but luckily it isn't noticable.
One that isnt a factory defect is my Lilly Blossom. She has this dent in her leg and two scratches on the other. Don't show up in pictures. The dent and scratches were my mums fault.. She used clippers to get the plastic off her leg. One factory flaw is that she has something weird around her tail.. I don't have the guts to use acetone, so its staying.
My travelling FS has the same problem as FS RD, the eye. Ones smaller than the other, but wheres she placed it isn't noticable.
All, and I mean absolutely all my ponies have plugs inbetween the rows. Rainbow Dash has basically enough mismatched plugs Hasbro may as well given her five rows, instead of two.
My Bumblesweet has a smudged mark.. I'm not even gonna start on Cherry Spices.. glitter, mispainted, heck she has a HOLE in her mane!

[xXCosmicBurstXx]

Yep, the head body mismatch is a common thing. The heads are made of a harder plastic than the body is so it tends to happen.
I haven't had a Glimmer Wing pony before, but I have heard the issue with extra glue before. If you are careful you could put a little bit of acetone on a qtip to remove the extra glue. Just make sure not to get aceton on the eyes, symbols, or glitter because it can remove it.

I've never really noticed a problem with lose heads before, though. Would you mind posting some pictures of them in the box?

I'm unable to take decent looking pictures at the moment. My apartment is infested with Asian Lady Bugs. The little devils managed to hide into a crack in the wall. They've woken up from hibernation and have spread throughout the kitchen, bathroom, and living room. We keep the lights off and keep our apartment at a cooler temperature. That seems to keep the bugs in hiding. I only have a camera phone that needs good lighting to take a good picture. :/ 


Honeybuzz is almost perfect. Her head almost matches up perfectly with her body. (most of my mismatched G4 ponies are in similar condition)


Flitterheart has a light purple head and a dark purple body. When I first opened her she smelled horrible. Thankfully she smells better now. Her head is really loose.


Cupcake: Cupcake's hair is a shade darker. Her head looks like it's slightly bigger than her body. As a result her head is not fused onto her body correctly. O.o;;; At the moment she's still in the box. I'm trying to figure out what to do with her. 

[Sarahlacewing]

Is it worth trying to contact them or they don't really care about the quality control?

I cannot love my Pony eyed BB minty.
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[bladed]

I'm back with more! My lot is mainly dents.. but theres this large patch of gold on Celestia. Theres a lot of dirt and dents. Good thing that gold patch is on her NDS!

[mlpfan]

hasbro's quality control is pretty bad, I hope they get better , nothing worse than dropping money on a substandard pony:(