Theory behind pink highlighter marks

[Haruna]

I think the commonplace pink highlighter marks on ponies come from their prolonged contact with fading pink hair. You know what I mean? How so many ponies have the randomest pink marks that look like highlighter in the randomest places? I'm growing more certain that it has to do with their faces, hooves, etc. being rubbed up against that fading pink hair color for a period of time. After all, we rarely find ponies with yellow highlighter marks . . . why pink, besides that fact that ponies were produced with that notorious fading pink hair?

For instance, I was just cleaning up a group of ponies who were already in minty, minty condition; they just needed a small surface cleaning. It doesn't look like their owner ever cut their hair, much less took a marker or crayon or highlighter to them. Some looked brand-new. But somehow Moondancer has two pink highlighter marks on her face. She came in a lot with a Steamer with super pink hair (not to mention a Milkweed and Tumbleweed with the same). I think she was stored with them in such a position that she got those marks on her face. Plus, I was cleaning the Yum Yum I had as a child, and it seems she gave herself a pink highlighter mark on her back leg. And if you look at where the mane of a pony with fading pink hair meets the body, often it will have bled that pink highlighter color into the plastic . . .

What do you guys think? I apologize if this has been suggested before, but it's a new idea for me.

[Elisto]

The pigment in the fading pink hair to my knowledge doesn't come out but deteriorate and break down. However, pink pigment from pony wear and accessories like bridles and saddles, as well as some clothes, do bleed, as do some hair colors like the neon yellow/chartreuse of ponies like Surprise.

[HavACrumpet452]

Pink accessories do much of it. Saddles, bridles, shoes. Bleeding red hair maybe. I have a white pony who was wearing a sparkly gold outfit for all of 20-some years and she has a discolored body due to it. Moondancer might have been wearing a bridle.

[Haruna]

Hmm, I see what you guys mean, but the lot with Moondancer came with a whole bunch of accessories, and there weren't any plastic bridles in the lot. Also, another lot I had came with a Big Top (or is Toppy the white newborn twin? anyway, the white one) who had two pink highlighter marks, and in the same lot was a Fancy Flower who had super pink hair. I'm very suspicious of the pink hair. These ponies were also very well taken care of; no other random marks besides those highlighter marks.

[SeashellnBubbles]

I think the fading pink hair is a little too light to make such vivid highliter marks, but i've always agreed with you in the thought that prolonged contact with pink PONIES might be what causes them

[Leave a Whisper]

interesting theory

[Haruna]

I think the fading pink hair is a little too light to make such vivid highliter marks, but i've always agreed with you in the thought that prolonged contact with pink PONIES might be what causes them

It could be pink ponies; that's definitely worth considering. I can't help thinking that it's the hair, though. I'm wondering if maybe if the hair hasn't faded much at all, it's much likelier to leach onto another pony? The Fancy Flower in the lot I mentioned, for instance, has hair that's literally lemonade pink.

[MiRaja]

If the fading pink was causing the 'pink highlighter marks,' they would sunfade out.  They rarely do.  The fading pink hair would surely leave hair stains on their original ponies too, but it doesn't.  Like Surprise gets around her hair no matter condition. 

I can say from experience that hair stains do sunfade out, even chartreuse hair stains.  It's plastic transfer.  I have a Honey Comb in a sunfade solution right now.  She has two transfer marks, and multiple hair stains and smooze.  The hair stains and smooze are nearly gone while the transfer stains have only diminished slightly. 

It's possible there were other bits and bobs in the previous owner's collection you did not get.  All those small pieces can get lost, no matter how well taken care of.  It could've been a broken piece, like maybe a saddle, and the seller tossed it out because it was broken before selling the items.  There are so many other variables. 

[Wardah]

Even if it was from the hair it wouldn't be the fading pink but a darker and stronger pink.

[Eternity]

I had a minty baby Salty sea pony once that had a bright pink price sticker on her. She has a bright pink circle on her right where it was removed. Sometimes it's not something you'd expect that makes the mark. (I suspected it might be a problem when I bought the pony, but it was only $3. But if it hadn't been on there when I bought it, I never would have figured it out.)

[Artemesia's Garden]

A 2 year old is capable of breaking highlighter havoc in a matter of seconds. Unless they were stored in a safe.

[ashlyne]

I've seen the neon yellow in the 2nd-release rainbow ponies bleed onto the pony. But it's a very strong pigment to begin with.   If the hair has enough pink pigment, it's possible to see some transfer. My promqueen sister Sweet Sundrop has some pink marks from her hair under her mane and her tail.  But it's faint, and not bright like the typical highlighter type marks.

[hathorcat]

I am pretty sure its just a type of plastic break down - especially when plastic is breaking down due to water exposure of some kind. Its the reason you often see pinkish shades around plug holes or the base of taps. Often highlighter does not fade out which points often to it not being a stain - from hair or clothing. Also it pops up in the weirdest places on ponies - places where neither clothing or hair actually reaches and on ponies which have completely different hair colours.

[ashlyne]

I've been able to remove some pretty deep bright pink highlighter marks, pretty deep bright ones using remove-zit.  It seems to work best on yellow ponies. Most recently, I removed a large pink area on Tall Tail's shoulder. It took about 10 days of treatments but it came completely out.  I don't use removezit on most ponies because it's strong enough to remove the body dyes, but on yellow ponies, it works nicely. I'm not sure it would've been effective if those spots were due to plastic breakdown.

Now bright pink marks on certain ponies like Party Time and Galaxy, those are due to the breakdown of plastic called regrind.   

[hathorcat]

I mean ponies in addition to Party Time, Galaxy and the rest of the regrind gang Although it is possible its a similar concept as regrind to be honest. Manufacture uses base pellets in a variety of basic colours in order to get the right shade - almost every shade includes some percentage of each colour so all of the pink highligher marks could even be a result of regrind/jazz.