Opinions on customizing not so baity

[Pokeyonekenobie]

To add another perspective to this, I think I know how Saphy feels. I mention this story everyone once in a while about my custom Marius. He's a boy and I wanted him made from a real boy and not another pony turned in to a boy. I don't customize ponies myself but I found someone who assured me that the boys she using for customs were bait and beyond restoration. This way several years ago. Part of the deal was that my customizer could post pictures of my boy on her DeviantArt page and one day I checked out the comments. I was sad when I read a comment that the pony was now ruined and shouldn't have been customized. My customizer tried to explain that the boy she used was bait but this person continued on about how boys should never be used as customs. It took a little of my excitement over having my boy that I'd waited so long to be completed. I still love him and would never trade or sell him but just wanted to add that story to the discussion.


Ponyfan

I had a similar experience after posting pictures of a Troubleshoes custom I made.  The boy I used had permanent marker all over and his hair had been cut off. I bought him as bait specifically to do a custom.  Someone said that I ruined a pony that was worth "thousands of dollars"     They were a troll that had a gallery called "Stupid things people have done" or something like that and it had several customized ponies and the users who created the ponies specifically stated that the ponies had been bait quality.  The person with the gallery was so ill-informed about the prices of ponies and they were being mean.  They had nothing good to say about anyone's art.  So I blocked the user and reported their gallery to DA. 

[lockette]

@Ponyfan, that seriously sucks. I'm sorry those commenters bummed you out. I think that sort of commentary should be kept to PMs to the artist or to threads like this one.

I absolutely understand why people don't want G1s customized very often. they're over 30 years old and Hasbro won't be making them again. if everyone said, "Cotton Candy is common as dirt, let's customize her," then yeah we'd run out of CCs eventually.

but more than those customizers, people are going to keep the unaltered ponies in their collections. they're only going to become more valuable in time as they degrade and the ones in better condition will be more rare! so at the end of the day, I don't think it's horrible at all to do cause the majority will be kept as-is. I DO think taking Very Good condition ponies and customizing them isn't best, because someone out there wants her as she is!

and I DO think it's in very poor form to customize --as opposed to restoring-- uncommon ponies, like the ones that go for $60 or higher. (I kind of consider deflocking a baity so-soft to be restoring her in a way) like if you customized an Ice Crystal... people would be mad and I'd cringe, too. but Tex? go for it! you know?

I like how a lot of people are making casts/molds of ponies for customizing, like HQG1C for example. I assume the pony used to cast is damaged? but then you can make hundreds of customs from one pony's sacrifice. ofc not everyone has that sort of resource, but how they're releasing plain white ones for customizing.. honestly I think that's an ideal future for MLP customs!

[Saphy]

Now I gotta look them up o.o

[Artemesia's Garden]

So soft buttons i will add markings in the form of material in a safely removable way that wont damage her to make her my blissy (as i already did turning baby cotton candy into my candycloud by adding removable wings..dang those two are alike lol)

This is a cool idea.  I'm imagining something like fuzzy felt, will be nice to see what you come up with.  She was the one I thought I probably wouldn't bait, myself.  I hope have fun making them and that you'll show them to us when you're done.

[Saphy]

Ya I bought some blue material that felt similar to the pony I'm just trying to figure out how to do it and add cutiemark, the hair is accurate color aside from the stripe so I'm going to take that stripe and put a hair clip on it so it looks like one of those color extensions kids wear rather than connected hair but will stay connected

[Baby Sugarberry]

Original G1's in good condition are a limited supply - while 'It's your pony to do with as you wish' always applies, consider if there's a better option before you bait.  My personal rule of thumb is 'Is this pony something another collector would be happy to have in their collection as-is?' I've seen people bait ponies I would have loved to have had in my collection just because they weren't 100% perfect anymore, and that makes me very sad.   Even sadder when the custom often ends up looking sub-par, or they use poor materials/techniques that end up lasting only a few months/years.

There's no shortage of ponies with unfixable issues out there that can be used to make customs. 
If you customize a pony with minor issues, something that's rare/uncommon or otherwise would have still been valuable to a collector, don't expect a warm reception for your 'creation'. 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Bait is very subjective....  some of the ponies in my collection would be considered absolute charity cases... but they are MY ponies and I love their flaws.

and there will always be more new collectors looking for starters, so eventually you will be able to Buy Sell Trade that ultra common pony and make a new friend   save  your money, enjoy others' photos, build a wishlist... but you don't need to jump right into customizing... 

[Artemesia's Garden]

Ya I bought some blue material that felt similar to the pony I'm just trying to figure out how to do it and add cutiemark, the hair is accurate color aside from the stripe so I'm going to take that stripe and put a hair clip on it so it looks like one of those color extensions kids wear rather than connected hair but will stay connected

That's a good idea. There are some G1 accessories like that, with a clip and a coloured hair extension.  They were so cool in the 80s 

[Saphy]

So my blissy will be a cool 80s kid....actually storywise that's kind of the generation I had made her, well 70s but 80s teen

Loosely based of course cause equestrias time isn't quiet like or, I consider current time there similar to our late 90s early 2000s

[LadyMoondancer]

It's a balancing act.  On the one hand, you can do what you want with any pony you own.  They are yours.  On the other hand, you can't force people to be thrilled when a pony is customized that isn't what they consider 'bait'.  Of course they are going to have their own opinions;  that is natural.

As far as G1 baits go, the HQG1C group is currently selling pure white blank ponies of an adult boy, a sitting pony, and a Gusty pose unicorn.   There's been some talk about selling blanks without hair, which would lower the cost.

There are also the fairly common Crumpet-pose fakies and the harder to find (?) G1 Newborn pose fakies.

[lockette]

There are also the fairly common Crumpet-pose fakies and the harder to find (?) G1 Newborn pose fakies.

off-topic but are those much in demand? I have like 15 of them somewhere...

[Baby Sugarberry]

There's always interest in G1 mould fakies - both from those who collect them as-is, and people who want them for customs.  I'd say the Newborn fakies are the more popular of the two, since Newborn bodies are harder to come by (gosh that sounds wrong...) and baby ponies are easier to customize - less materials, less hair needed.