Sticky ponies?

[Rik]

A lot of my g1 ponies are incredibly sticky. (mostly the twinkle eyed ones, I think?)
I've washed them with warm water, but it didn't help at all...
I heard that their plasticizer is breaking down, and that the flaw is in the ponies and not the environment. So, are they worth less if they are sticky but otherwise in mint condition?

Is there any good way to clean them?

[Pumpkin_Tart]

Hmm.. have you tried using dawn dish soap? It might help slip the sticky ness off of the plastic. Dawn won’t damage the plastic or anything.

[Featherwurm]

Leaking plasticiser usually cleans up well with just soap and water (I've cleaned many a sticky pony that way).  Dawn, which is a mild detergent, is a good suggestion.  Although once the process starts it is not reversible, and they will continue to leak plasticiser until they are a bit shrunken (it's not hugely noticeable but they will be a little smaller than a pony that hasn't gone through the process) and rock-hard.  They just take some cleaning throughout the process, and some ponies are more prone to it than others.  You are correct that like regrind, it does not seem to be environmentally triggered, and is purely a matter of these being 30+ year old vinyl toys.

It's going to depend on the collector if they feel a pony that has had this happen is still 'mint' or not.  So long as the plasticizer leak does not affect anything about the pony (like the G3 'Divine shines' loosing their glitter, which is a rare case) it shouldn't majorly affect their value (although it does depend on the collector), as all it does, once the leaking is done and fully cleaned, is make them hard.  And hardened ponies seem to be a pretty known issue that doesn't affect display.  I can't speak for all collectors though.

[BlackCurtains]

You are correct that like regrind, it does not seem to be environmentally triggered, and is purely a matter of these being 30+ year old vinyl toys.

Plasticizer leakage can be sped up due to environmental factors. Light and heat, for one, can cause it to vaporize faster. Keeping ponies stored in non-breathable containers will also cause it to speed up. The vapors given off by leaking figures can cause a chain reaction in nearby figures that might be on the cusp of vaporizing themselves.

So, unless you want to speed up the process further (though it takes years usually for it to finish), don't store ponies in plastic containers. Don't store sticky ponies with non-sticky ponies. They should be fine on open air shelves - you don't have to quarantine them or anything. Keep them away from light and heat.

For treatment, a wash in dish soap is fine and you can dust them lightly with cornstarch with help sop up any new stickiness. Repeat every few months. They should be fine while the process continues

[Nemesis]

There’s also Formula 911, which does an excellent job of removing stubborn plasticizer leakage. It’s actually intended for that purpose!

[toyjunky]

Have they been stored for long periods in plastic storage boxes without being opened? Last year I had to air out a bunch of my G3's because they were sticky and had been in storage without being opened for far too long (at least a year or longer). You can try wiping them down and then leaving them out in the air for a few weeks. Airing toys out (for me at least) tends to reduce the sticky factor of some types of toys, others remain just as sticky (G1 pretty parlor cat Twinkles for example) just depends on the toy.

[Rik]

Have they been stored for long periods in plastic storage boxes without being opened? Last year I had to air out a bunch of my G3's because they were sticky and had been in storage without being opened for far too long (at least a year or longer). You can try wiping them down and then leaving them out in the air for a few weeks. Airing toys out (for me at least) tends to reduce the sticky factor of some types of toys, others remain just as sticky (G1 pretty parlor cat Twinkles for example) just depends on the toy.

They've been stored in cardboard boxes for a really long time. Some have turned out to be easier to wash off and unstick than others.