Questions about sunfading, but not the usual ones!

[Taffeta]

That was one reason I asked, although I was also talking about plasticiser breakdown etc as well. It's just a concern of mine that we relied (well, restorers relied) for a long time on acne cream only to discover the destructive properties a LOT too late to fix them. I am not persuaded that anything chemical we put on ponies or any exposure to UV is necessarily harmless in the long run and right now, with G1 being 30+ years old, we should be more looking at protecting the integrity of the plastic. We need one or two of our sciencey people to do some full scale experiments I guess...?

@Safflower, the reason there's confusion is also probably because ponypeople insist on using jargon to describe flaws. Often people just use the jargon term without any further detail. I've been here 20 years and I still don't understand half of the terms people use in the correct context. If I can't, albeit I don't restore, expecting newer collectors to come in and automatically know them is a tall order. Then information gets confused between different people reporting different things and it ends up like this.

I wish people would stop using jargon :/

[Safflower]

I wish age caused age spots had documentation too. There is still debate whether they are contagious, how they develop, why certain ponies are more prone, etc. It would be nice to have facts!

And yeah, jargon isn't the best. I adapted quickly because in my very early collecting days I would spend every waking moment reading about ponies and the jargon and how to restore and all the flaws. A lot of new collectors aren't like me. Cancer is insensitive and doesn't accurately describe what it means. Age spots is a better term but is also used to refer to something similar but is actually caused by mold. Detail should really be provided, and sites like the preservation project and other restoration sites need to elaborate and give evidence. Although, I enjoy names like Smooze Plus there is no variance in pindot, it's just dirt in pony pores. It got there because children are children. Nothing like "this is caused by breakdown or mold but we don't know exactly how or when or why things happen." Plus it's from something pony. We really do need to perform some science experiments!

[Henpatch]

I have had a lot of success with simple sun-fadng.  Sometimes not even covering their hair or symbols. The trick is not to leave them on one side all the time..........I ended up with nearly white on one side pink pony cause she was in the STRONG sunlight too long.

As for age spots! People get age spots - some can be removed - some can't! Breakdown of the plastic is also almost impossible to fix.....especially pink ponies - they can look as though they have chickenpox or something.  Clever people can re-paint the pony but eventually the breakdown breaks though again.

Mould can be dealt with and various things will help - like a good clean inside and out and usinng some ordinary mould remover. Just depends on the pony colour too - white is easy but some of the coloured ones, the mold will go but also the pony colour will go lighter

Trial and error!

[Taffeta]

@Safflower - that's more than I did. When people began using them I tried to keep up with them but they were so vaguely used and often referred to different things between people that I gave up and now I just describe what I see and let the buyer figure out if it's something they can't deal with.