How hard is it to find a MINT Quarterback? And blue ponies in general?

[daffodil101]

My Quarterback is pretty good (pretty decent colour blue, not many discolourations, slight plasticiser leak), but I dream of finding him mint-- you know, that perfect deep blue in your dreams?  (Admit it, Big Brother ponies are pretty dreamy )

I'm almost tempted to buy him MOC just to find a mint one! 

I know blue ponies are notoriously hard to find in great condition.  Do you have a perfect blue pony?  Are you searching for one?  Share any pic of your perfect pony (or one who may have been blue, once...

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[Leave a Whisper]

Depends on the pony. Blue doesn't automatically mean most of them will look awful.

I've got a great looking Baby Drummer and Sweet Pop.

I don't know if you can notice pvc breakdown underneath flocking, but other then not so great flocking, my Ribbon is in nice shape as far as I can tell plastic wise.


My daughter has a good looking Baby Shaggy, Bright Eyes, Barnacle, Moonstone, Wind Whistler and Seawinkle.

[Foxtale]

All my ponies of this color are in fact suffering from regrind or some sort of mold. (Baby lucky, tux, etc). I didn't realize how hard it was. This gentleman looks so lovely on his card.

[Taffeta]

I think maybe climate aggravates the issues mentioned. I've had some ponies come in with the above mentioned issues but in my cool dry cupboard they don't tend to get any worse.

This is my Q. I think he may have come from the US originally. I have no idea whether that is his proper colour or not but it is an even colour all over, so I'm good with it. I think he looks ok.
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But I know Trucker/4Speed from this set is famous for his issues. Mine is from the UK, from a carboot sale here, and he had no issues when I got him and still has none now. He's a lighter blue but he seems more prone to issues than Q is.

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I think my Tux is ok, I haven't looked at him for a long while but he was fine when he arrived.
Think he looks ok from this...?

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The only other I can think of that's relevant to this is Tornado and he's absolutely fine in all regards. Again, UK carboot sale and probably no exposure to heat or sun because his hair is still pink.

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So I do think this is a factor.

I don't think my childhood lucky has any discolouration issues. He may have plasticiser breakdown starting but I can't remember :/ And obviously ponies like Taffeta etc are also blue but I have no issues with them either. Sweet Pop I do have some issues with, but I think she's the only one. No problems with Baby Drummer, or Noodles, or any other blue pony I can think of off the top of my head.

White ponies, that's another matter. My Quackers is on the slow descent to beige and I have a really horrible Starshine who is basically brown. She was the first Starshine we ever had so I kept her but she is not pretty and I had to upgrade her.

So in summary - blue ponies, not really. White ones? Yup.  But mostly white ones that have come from a warmer climate or have spent a lot of time in a warm space prior to living with me. My childhood Cherry Treats is still very white :/

[daffodil101]

Depends on the pony. Blue doesn't automatically mean most of them will look awful.

I've got a great looking Baby Drummer and Sweet Pop.

I don't know if you can notice pvc breakdown underneath flocking, but other then not so great flocking, my Ribbon is in nice shape as far as I can tell plastic wise.


My daughter has a good looking Baby Shaggy, Bright Eyes, Barnacle, Moonstone, Wind Whistler and Seawinkle.

^ That's true, should have been more specific!  I guess every pony has their own special colour mix to that exact shade.  I find blue and purple are often more prone to fading to a dull or greyish colour-- like BnG Ringlet, or Dainty Dahlia.  Baby Lucky is hard to find without age spots and in vibrant blue, unfaded shade.  Sugar Apple fades easily, Barnacle, Sweet Stuff, Alt BF Poppy, Twisty Tail and Baby Blue Ribbon can be hard to find in mint body condition.

Maybe I just have a thing for blue?    But you're right, there are a lot of blue ponies who don't fit that pattern, who are nearly always great colour.  (Bow Tie, Night Glider, Nightlight, Princess Royal Blue) I guess it's all about the chemical composition of the colours Hasbro created

Post Merge: July 19, 2017, 07:22:14 AM

I think maybe climate aggravates the issues mentioned. I've had some ponies come in with the above mentioned issues but in my cool dry cupboard they don't tend to get any worse.

This is my Q. I think he may have come from the US originally. I have no idea whether that is his proper colour or not but it is an even colour all over, so I'm good with it. I think he looks ok.
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That's really interesting.  I mean, there has to be some logical, scientific reason why you can have two of the same pony with vastly different conditions (I mean, other than play wear).  Why does hair frizz on one pony but not another, or on have age spots and another doesn't, if they were made in the same factory at the same time?  Is it the environment?  Or is it a different batch of plastic/nylon?? 

I would like to hope that seeing as it's been 30 years, ponies that have not begun to break down will be 'safe', at least as a general rule, perhaps an indicator of a different batch of plastic to ponies who developed age spots and regrind etc.

[mylittELLEpony]

I've never noticed issues with my blue ponies particularly or blue ponies at all until I started looking for Bright Eyes. Whenever I look for her on eBay, she's covered in brown spots. It's a major bummer. I'm worried about my blue ponies now.

[Taffeta]

I mean, there has to be some logical, scientific reason why you can have two of the same pony with vastly different conditions (I mean, other than play wear).  Why does hair frizz on one pony but not another, or on have age spots and another doesn't, if they were made in the same factory at the same time?  Is it the environment?  Or is it a different batch of plastic/nylon?? 
or of a different batch of plastic to ponies who developed age spots and regrind etc.

Judging by the G4 ponies I posted in the QC thread, I am not sure there really does have to be logic. I mean, there's proof of two totally different versions of the same pony O.o.

But what IS interesting is how many of the problem ponies flit around 1987, and beyond that, how many are made in Hong Kong. Those are maybe things to look at as possible influence factors. Quarterback, Bright Eyes, Quackers, Trucker are all high candidates for discolouration and they are all from 87. Thundercloud is another, also 87. (Mine doesn't have this issue. He has another issue, probably from someone standing on him when I was at school, but that's another matter, poor sweetie).

And others like Sweet Pop, Gingerbread, Starshine are also HK made ponies. But there are at least two different types of plastic involved for Starshine. I am going away from blue ponies here, but this..

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Really shouldn't be happening. Admittedly #2 was from a collector who had decarded and displayed her only, so that could be a factor, but they really look like two different plastic types and ponies. And notably even despite displaying #2, her symbol is starting to corrode, whereas #1 looks like a swamp monster, but her symbol is still pretty intact...

Suggests to me different stuffs at work. Maybe different factories producing at the same time creates all these variations?

Still on white, rather than blue, but HK Cherry Treats discolours (even on card) more often than China made Cherry Treats does. It's not a huge stretch to think that factory/batch is important (and I still think climate is as well).

This post was really hard to write with a broken Q key

[Leave a Whisper]

That's true too daffodil. My Ringlets is gray with a few small blue spots to indicate the color she once was. My Sparkler and Tropical Breeze have a few age spots.

DD's Sweet Stuff is covered in age spots and her Baby Lucky has head body mismatch.

I agree with Taffeta that it's to do with climate and how they were  played with. As kids we don't think of tail rust, discoloration, mold, nicotine and sun damage.  We just wanna play.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I love blue ponies but they almost always have flaws....

[shelvesofwhimsy]

Here is my Blue Tux n Tails He is pretty vibrant in person too. I'm so lucky he's so minty


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[Taffeta]

 As kids we don't think of tail rust, discoloration, mold, nicotine and sun damage.  We just wanna play.

Or abseiling them out of the window on shoelaces/throwing them across school playgrounds to 'teach them to fly...'

Ahem.

I admit I do keep admiring the MOC Q image. Though fortunately it's a US card, which means it's safe to drool but I don't feel a sudden compulsion to buy one xD. (Good luck with resisting that impulse, Daffodil )

He really is an amazing colour on card though O.o. I'd always thought that if I could have any Big Brother MOC it would be First Base/Slugger, but Q really does look amazing like that. Maybe I can be turned from my childhood favourite O.O.

[Leave a Whisper]

 As kids we don't think of tail rust, discoloration, mold, nicotine and sun damage.  We just wanna play.

Or abseiling them out of the window on shoelaces/throwing them across school playgrounds to 'teach them to fly...'

Ahem.

I admit I do keep admiring the MOC Q image. Though fortunately it's a US card, which means it's safe to drool but I don't feel a sudden compulsion to buy one xD. (Good luck with resisting that impulse, Daffodil )

He really is an amazing colour on card though O.o. I'd always thought that if I could have any Big Brother MOC it would be First Base/Slugger, but Q really does look amazing like that. Maybe I can be turned from my childhood favourite O.O.

Have you ever seen that movie UHF? Some guy tried to teach poodles to fly.

[Taffeta]

Have you ever seen that movie UHF? Some guy tried to teach poodles to fly.

I didn't. I hope he didn't throw them, because that would be a bad mental image.
Kids do do random things to their toys though. I think a lot of the damage we see relates to that fact.

[Leave a Whisper]

Have you ever seen that movie UHF? Some guy tried to teach poodles to fly.

I didn't. I hope he didn't throw them, because that would be a bad mental image.
Kids do do random things to their toys though. I think a lot of the damage we see relates to that fact.

They showed real dogs milling around the apartment and there was a pile of plush dogs out the window.

Check out Raoul's Wild Kingdom

[jrr74]

I have a couple of beautiful boys.  Wish I could take them out of the display case but they are hard to get to. 

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I have both China and Hong Kong versions of Tux.  I don't remember which one he is, but he is beautiful shade of blue and has his bow tie 

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