Regrind or bleach or what? Photos included

[Khoufu]

So, I got this lovely Mountain Boy for relatively cheap because of his discoloration. I don't mind it, but I would like to know what it is so that I know if he requires isolation.

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I have a bait I can put next to him to test. If I do that, how soon would I know?

[BlackCurtains]

The only thing that poses any threat is plasticizer leakage because of the gases released. I can't say for sure what he's got there, but I want to say it's regrind. Sometimes regrind is like age spots where there is a little dot in the center, but that's not always the case. Blue and purple ponies are very susceptible to regrind. It looks like a cat or puppy got a hold of him at some point too, poor guy!

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Oof, that spottiness reminds me of acne cream, although it's more yellowed than white, so it's likely something else.

[Noasar]

That looks like remove-zit or peroxide acne cream.

[Shatyr]

Poor guy kind of looks like he had a bad spray-on-tan experience. I'm glad he found a good home with you!

[LadyMoondancer]

Looks like an acne cream victim to me.

[Khoufu]

It would be easy to cover his neck spots and color mismatch with a  homemade bandana, so I intend to display him either way. Does anyone have photo examples of what acne cream spots would look like?  Someone said they're too dark for that but everyone else seems to thing that's what caused it. Is there a test I can do?

[Leave a Whisper]

Probably acne cream or bleach. Thundercloud is prone to pvc breakdown isn't he? I've heard some people have tried to remove that with removez-it or acne cream.

Post Merge: August 05, 2018, 10:46:22 PM

The only thing that poses any threat is plasticizer leakage because of the gases released. I can't say for sure what he's got there, but I want to say it's regrind. Sometimes regrind is like age spots where there is a little dot in the center, but that's not always the case. Blue and purple ponies are very susceptible to regrind. It looks like a cat or puppy got a hold of him at some point too, poor guy!

Regrind is like giant highlighter spots. My Steamer, Hula Hula and Galaxy  have these pinky orange spots. I think your mixing it up with pvc breakdown. Which manifests as brown spots.

He is still a handsome fella. You must be thrilled to own him.

[Khoufu]

I am thrilled! The blotches are just extra clouds. What would PVC breakdown look like?

Someone on Facebook said that they tested acne cream on a bait and it looked like this boy's spots.

[NightGliderSA]

I agree with what everyone else has already said: it looks to me like damage caused by acne cream. I wish people would stop using it. What a lovely pony though, congrats! I think he will rock a bandanna.

[Taffeta]

Looking at the pictures on the screen rather than the phone, I still think it's acne cream. It looks a lot like the other ponies I've seen that way. Most acne cream victim ponies we know about are blue, because it affects blue ponies worst but him being purple may explain the greyish look. It does look exactly as LAW said - that someone has tried to remove the breakdown marks with something noxious. THe trouble with that is that acne cream was regularly used years back as a solve all for marks and in most cases the true danger of it didn't manifest until later, so many ponies got acne creamed and then it was only later that they turned up with patches just like your pony. It's one reason why I have never used chemicals of any kind on ponies and won't ever. We just don't know the long term risks even of some of the stuff we still use now (including the long term damage to the plastic of sun-fading).

My point being even if it is acne cream it is likely it happened a very long time ago, because most people in the community now are educated enough to know what it can do and that it's a danger to other ponies in the collection.

I think your idea of giving him a bandana etc would be a good one. Testing with fakies might help although fakies do have different plastic mixes so it's hard to know whether it would work the same on their colour. Also, acne cream as I said can take a long time to really show damage. So you might test and think it's fine and then in five years you get something happen. This happened with my sister's Daisy Dancer who fortunately, somehow got separated from the rest of the collection anyway. When we got her she was perfect, and she went into storage fine, but came out some years later with large beige spots on her belly and back hoof. She now lives in isolation with a carebear...

I would quarantine him regardless and be careful how you handle him. There's no guarantee the spots will get worse (although it has happened), but the chemical will remain permanently active and I am not aware that any of our more scientific folk have developed a way to prevent it spreading or damaging other toys.

On another note, its topics like this which demonstrate how unnecessarily confusing jargon terms are in talking about pony condition. It's easy to mistake one for the other and ultimately with this particular risk, that can have serious consequences...

[Baby Sugarberry]

Looks like acne cream damage indeed.
Not much to add beyond keep him away from touching other ponies.  While sun fading does have its own set of pitfalls, at least you can halt the process by taking the pony away from the sun.  It doesn't linger in the plastic the way topical chemical applications can. 

[LadyMoondancer]

Here are some pictures of acne cream damage:

http://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/141012572468

Regrind on the other hand manifests in bright "highlighter colored" spots.  Like Cloud Puff, who is normally purple, turns almost neon pink with regrind.

Edit: I would not let Thundercloud touch other ponies, as apparently it can effect other ponies if there is direct contact.  Like, it doesn't "spread" like a mold but it can transfer to the spot being touched, if that makes sense.

[Sweet Daes]

I may be echoing the "no, duh" here, but one of the major ways of identifying acne cream damage is that the spots look like they were put there on purpose, such as the way the spots overlap the neck seam so perfectly on your pony, and then it looks like a watercolor paint drop that has bled outward on the surface.

Regrind literally looks like something fell into the batch of liquid used to make the vinyl and is part of the pony that didn't melt completely.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i143/cacace285/regrind.jpg
http://www.ponyology.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/nothing/IMG_0041_0.jpg

I recommend getting a display cube like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D1C4DX9/
You won't want one with a wood base as that can get discolored by the acne cream, too, and it's hard to tell until after the damage is done if the stuff was used on the bottom of the feet. To protect from the sun you can paint 4 of the 5 display sides to help maintain shadow. (Extreme, yes, but it will help preserve the pony...)

[Safflower]

It's acne cream. The blotch near his symbol has faded paint along with faded plastic, like something was applied on top. Plastic treated with acne cream can yellow (most noticeable in white ponies.) It's very spotty too. Regrind usually comes in neon colors like orange, pink, and purple and is fairly even. Mostly, orange and pink (and a few purple) ponies are more susceptible to regrind than others. Since you got him at a meet (right? I think you did?) it is more likely someone has tried to restore him before since he has likely been in collector hands for a while.

There is no telling how long it will take for blotches to show up on another pony who has been in contact. It could be anywhere from soon to years, so it's not the best test. I think Flutterscotch was doing experiments with age spots and other conditions under blacklight. She might know how to identify this using that, but I think it's pretty safe to say it's acne cream. Regrind just doesn't look like this. You should keep him quarantined. Congrats though, you must be very excited! He is an awesome pony

PVC breakdown is age spots right? Or plasticizer leakage?