Cherry Treats & Discolouration

[starstrider]

The discolouration is precisely the reason why I don't have Cherry Treats yet.  She's the last pony I need for this set, but I'm yet to find one at a reasonable price who is more white than beige.  To be fair, she's not the only pony in this set who is prone to head/body colour mismatch or discolouration - Raspberry Jam and Blueberry Baskets are also commonly afflicted with these issues.  Perhaps it's just that Cherry Treats is so pale that the discolouration appears to be particularly pronounced with her. 

[BlushingBlue]

My China-made Blueberry Baskets has some explaining to do, because she definitely has a forelock (more like a cowlick)! But I checked my Strawberry Surprises, and my American one (marked HK) does have a forelock, and one I know is from Europe, and marked China, doesn't. I wonder if all US Sweetberries have forelocks, regardless of origin (we just happen to have majority HK), and only European ones have the China/HK divide? Does that sound possible?

Anyway, back on the proper topic, I can confirm for my own ponies that CT's "browning" is indistinguishable from Gingerbread's, and her plastic is very different from my "chalky" Starshine's. I haven't tried whitening her -- I actually hate to handle her because of her scent -- but I think anything that works for Gingerbread would work for CT too. (Out of curiosity, I'd be interested to know if your childhood CT glows blue under blacklight like most other white ponies, or if she's "dead" like Stark-shine and Sundance.)

I wouldn't say that the scenting causes the discoloration, but it certainly doesn't help.  (Maybe "catalyzes" would be more accurate?) I think the added effect of the scents on top of Hasbro opting for cheaper manufacturing overall contributes to the problems. Most of the scented sets in the 88-89 timeframe seem to be at risk for discoloration IME. Sundae Best not so much, but I've found that Sweetberries, Candy Canes, and Perfume Puffs often have issues. Or maybe I am just unlucky?

[Sunset]

My Cherry Treats is very discolored.  She is marked China.

[Taffeta]

None of my scented ponies are significantly discoloured. Although our Sundae Best are predominately made in China too (another thread discussion that, though...xD).

So Blueberry at least has a China version. I am of the opinion that it's not the case the US ONLY had HK and Europe ONLY had China (although the latter might be true as we got things later than the US release). I suspect it was a switchover in production so there are probably Chinese ones over there and that explains Blueberry.

BUT what you said about her having a forelock and being Chinese...there was an auction a while back with a Cherry Treats. And I can't remember which way around it was...either she was Chinese and had a forelock or was HK and didn't, but hadn't been rerooted. It was a US auction. That's one of the reasons I asked about it...and Blueberry suggests that the style Hasbro wanted for the US market was with a forelock - but not necessarily the same in Europe. We have a lot of later ponies without forelocks, thinking about it - Romance Ponies are a little later in the line, but they also have no forelocks. Nor do Cookery ponies, also a bit later again. Schooltime ponies as well. Flower Ponies, who may actually be at the same time as Sweetberry here.

It's a point of thought.

Sadly I don't have blacklight options, so won't be able to determine if my Cherry is a zombie But she could be. Her plastic is definitely denser to look at.

And as you say, there are 2 versions of Starshine with different plastic, too...

@Sunset - did you get her from the US or outside? And does she have a forelock?

[KarentheUnicorn]

hummmmmm...

The rest of the crew

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[Taffeta]

@Uni -You know I'm gonna ask you know if they are HK or China xD.

[KarentheUnicorn]

@Uni -You know I'm gonna ask you know if they are HK or China xD.

I will take a look when I get home tonight.

[Taffeta]

@Uni -You know I'm gonna ask you know if they are HK or China xD.

I will take a look when I get home tonight.

Yay,thank you. They are also really pretty those mint curls

Branching out a bit into the other Sweetberries and the HK/China and forelock/not conversation, I just looked up what images I have on my page for some of the others.

http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/blueberry_baskets.htm

My loose Blueberry B doesn't seem to have a forelock but the MOC pictured clearly does. (@Ponyfan if you're reading, does your MOC have a forelock and where is she made?)

And both my loose Strawberry S and Shivhae's german MOC one don't seem to have forelocks here...
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/strawberry_surprise.htm

Whereas both my sister's loose Cranberry M and the MOC one pictured have forelocks here:
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/cranberry_muffin.htm

My sister also has a Blueberry B but it is packed away and I am not sure I have a photo of her. I am also not sure where my loose one is made but the Blueberry puzzle is almost as interesting to me as the Cherry one considering Blueberry wasn't sold here.

[BlushingBlue]

Unrelated to much, but now I'm dying to know...

Are blueberries and cranberries unpopular in Europe? Boysenberries are pretty niche, so I can understand the name change there, but I don't get why BB and CM got the axe over any of the others. I know Britain has certain popular fruit flavors that are rare in the US, like black currant, but is blueberry or cranberry too "American" to resonate with European children? (I mean, I know they are often literally American in origin, but...)

[aria_elwen]

Blueberries and cranberries aren't native fruits to the UK and so going back to the 80s would have been fairly exotic.

Cranberry juice is fairly well used and blueberries now are very popular but the other soft fruits all grow wild here and there's a tradition of hedgerow picking.

I have no clue what a Boysenberry even is

[BlushingBlue]

Boysenberries are essentially a Californian cross of raspberries and blackberries. They are often too delicate to pack and ship to grocery stores as-is, so they're made into things like preserves or pies rather than eaten out of hand. The Knotts (of Knott's Berry Farm) made their fortune on the back of their boysenberry pies before they got into the amusement park business. I don't think that's common knowledge even for most Americans though.

[KarentheUnicorn]

Mine are all hoofstamped Hong Kong.

[ashlyne]

Oh boy where to begin?     

My Hong Kong Cherry Treats is a beautiful white 
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My China Cherry Treats has the nasty brown / yellowing issue. She has a forelock!
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I double-checked these last night, and confirmed that my China one with forelock is the bad one, my Hong Kong is the white one.   With the Sundae Best ponies I have, the China ones seem to be more pure and bright in color, the HK ones not so much, so I was surprised by these two.  Also, I've noticed too that a lot of China ponies don't have forelocks. But it's not the first time I've seen China release both versions -- the European Fancy Pants babies for example. I have a full set of four with and without short forelocks.

The yellow/browning issue looks more like it leaked out of her, like it's smeared on her. It's not a uniform discoloration.  Plasticizer, reacting with the chemicals in the scenting agents would be my guess.   Some ponies seem to be made with plastics that are more prone to leaking than others, or at least are more prone to discoloring.  I think plasticizer leakage can be brought on by environmental conditions (heating up or big changes in temperatures) so that might explain why some have the affliction and some don't.  But it's just a theory -- I'm no chemist!

As for the rest of my Sweetberry ponies, the link to my album is at the bottom, but here's the list.  I need to verify a couple of forelocks because the curly haired ponies forelocks are quite long.... it's sometimes hard to tell if they are forelocks! But here is what I've found:

1.  I'm pretty sure the whole set was released as Hong Kong with forelocks, China with forelocks, and China without forelocks.  Except the unicorn, which I haven't seen any version with forelock. 

2. China with forelocks may have been a US release but I'm pretty sure those without are more European.  My China with forelocks set was bought from a US collector and I believe it was her childhood set.

3. I think China without forelocks are less prone to the browning issue, whether it's their plastic, the scenting agent, both or something else.   My HK ponies are the result of long searches and lucky finds. Usually they aren't this nice!

4.  Most of the ponies have PAT PEND on the hoof, both China and Hong Kong.   I do have at least one that is not PAT PEND, a Boysenberry Pie from Germany (or whatever name she went by).


Cherry Treats - Hong Kong - forelock - not discolored
Cherry Treats - China - forelock - badly discolored
Cranberry Muffins - Hong Kong - forelock - not discolored
Cranberry Muffins - China - forelock? - *slightly* discolored (I used to have a badly discolored one)
Strawberry Surprise - Hong Kong - forelock - not discolored
Strawberry Surprise - China - forelock - slight yellowing
Blueberry Baskets - Hong Kong - forelock - not discolored
Blueberry Baskets - China - forelock - slight yellowing
Raspberry Jam - Hong Kong - forelock - yellowing
Raspberry Jam - China - forelock - discoloration (neck and body) Head is not affected!
Raspberry Jam - China - no forelock - not discolored
Boysenberry Pie - Hong Kong - (no forelock) - bright intense purple!
Boysenberry Pie - China - (no forelock) - dull purple, likely discolored and/or yellowed
Boysenberry Pie - China - (no forelock) - NO PAT PEND! - light purple, not discolored or faded

This last Boysenberry Pie came from Germany. I need to see if there was never any PAT PEND mark or if it was melted off, like I've seen on several German ponies.   I think this pale purple one may be a variant specific to Germany, kind of like pale Speedy  is. But I don't know this for sure. 


ALBUM OF SWEETBERRY PONIES
(C=China, HK=Hong Kong, PP=Pat.Pend, NPP=no Pat Pend, all other notes are about flaws)
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=2BB843F02DEF779C&resid=2BB843F02DEF779C%212050&authkey=AIP90Fy8STYYQyw

[Safflower]

Mine is HK, has a forelock, and is slightly discolored. The lot she came in was very baity and all had the same childhood home, so she's been through a lot.

ashlyne, your HK one looks to have very thick eyeliner, like the eyeliner was double stamped?

[ashlyne]

ashlyne, your HK one looks to have very thick eyeliner, like the eyeliner was double stamped?

I think you mean my China one?   I don't think it's double-stamped. It's all solid.  I've seen other ponies with thick eyeliner like that