Some questions about collection

[Septima Windsong]

I decided to create one theme for all questions I've got to avoid multiposting. So that's what I wanted to ask you, guys:

1) First one: MIB Toola-Roola.

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As you can see, the plastic of her box has yellowed and the box overall is pretty damaged. I've bought this pony only because she was MIB but I haven't noticed that the box is in that shape, it was okay in seller's pictures. Now I don't know what to do: I don't want to keep a pony in such damaged package but I don't want to unbox her too because I have one or two Toola-Roolas that look exactly the same. Plus, she's a 25th anniversary pony and that's why I'd like to keep her in box. Maybe I can fix yellowed plastic somehow? I know that it's my decision what to do with her, but what would you do guys?

2) Second: Magic Hat in a very poor condition.

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Her body is very yellow and symbols are gone. Her hair is also isn't very well. I really don't know what to do with her =( I don't do customs so I don't need a bait pony. I think nobody in my country will be interested in a pony in such shape... What would you do?

3) Princess Silver Swirl.

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I have a light up Princess Silver Swirl, but her horn is broken and doesn't light up anymore. Do you have any ideas how to fix this? I can sculpt another horn, but I want it to light up... Is there a tutorial how to fix such pony? I haven't found one.

4) And the last one, about my entire G1 collection. I noticed some of my ponies need proper restoration like removing tail rust and so on. But... I'm a bit afraid. Especially I'm scared of opening ponies. I know that sometimes it has to be done and there's plenty of tutorials, but I'm afraid I'll do something wrong. Plus, I've never seen such detergents shown in tutorials on sale in my country, so I don't know which ones should I use. Any advice will be really helpful!

Thank you in advance, guys!

[kingluke]

I would sell the bait one for a cheaper price or give her away to someone in a swap/extra for buyers/ponycon.

For the rest I don't really know.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I would debox Toola Roola personally because I like having them loose and G3 aren't as HTF as G1 are MiB.
Aw, Magic Hat looks so cute and I'd suggest selling her off unless you wanted to try to restore her yourself. Her hair looks fine, though? It's just her symbol.
I've heard someone took a talk-a-lot to an electronics shop and they fixed it. That's a bit outside of my realm but maybe you could find something similar?
What detergent do you have on you right now? You could always start with a more common pony and work your way up. The earlier years tend to have little glue in place and you can take their heads off quite easily.

[Taffeta]

I wouldn't debox Toola simply because deboxing anything no longer in the store is something I don't do - but you said yourself that you already had her loose, right? So there's no benefit to deboxing her in terms of your collection. However the yellow plastic probably cannot be fixed. :/ I know some people have had success on yellowed buildings, but I have never heard of anyone fixing a yellowed package.

In terms of Magic Hat - you could try and repaint her symbol or try and find an artist in your country willing to try it. Or trade her for something else.

Re the third one - you obviously found some tutorials. What you really need is for the expert customising people or restoring people to tell you the kinds of things they're using in terms of the ingredients. It may also be a good idea to look at stuff in your own country from other collectors of other toys and what they recommend, but I understand you don't want to use anything to do more damage. For example, avoid anything like acne cream xD.

I feel like we probably need some expert peoples from across the world to get together to compile an equivalent list across different regions. A lot of the default stuff mentioned is in the US but not all countries have the same chemical permission rules and not every company exports, so something like that would be helpful. Even in English there are terms we have that are not necessarily universal (it took me forever to work out what 'dish soap' was xD)

But going back to Magic Hat, she could always be your guinea pig for opening up a G1. Depending how bad she really is and how brave you feel.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I'm no expert at all on ponies in packaging.

However, with Magic Hat I'd clean her up and enjoy her without symbols as she's a striking and really nice pony. Why not use her to practice on cleaning up ponies inside and out?

 Here's what I'd do to fix her up:

1. take the remaining symbols off with acetone
2. Wash pony in warm soapy water and rinse to remove all traces of acetone
3. Put a scoop of oxyclean/vanish oxyaction whatever is similar iin Ukraine into a bowl of warm water. Toss her in and leave for a few hours and monitor (the red hair may bleed)
4. Later, try and take the head off. Use a hairdryer to heat around the neck seam if necessary. If it's being stubborn, rinse the pony then put back in the bowl with warm water and hand soap. Try after another day. The head will probably come off
5. Scrub pony inside and out with a nail brush/kids toothbrush/magic eraser or equivalent (Aldi does a generic one) to remove any rust and grime
6. Optional: Remove the tail if rust and discard or archive washer. Try using a manicure stick or something long and blunt to pull out the tail from the inside.
7. Use toothpaste to get the rust out of the tail hair if necessary. Shampoo, condition and leave to dry.
8. You should now have a fairly white pony
9. Shampoo and condition the mane, leave to dry
10. Re-paint the black lines in the eyes or use a fine-tip black aerospace marker
11. Optional: Leave the pony in a sunny windowsill for one or two days on each side. You can't do this with some ponies, particularly white and blue ones but I think Magic Hat is OK... anyone else know for sure?
12. Allow to dry thoroughly inside and out (a few days), check feet with a Q tip for moisture before reassembling
13. If necessary, re-style the hair with hot water and a comb plus loo roll bandages, then allow hair to dry, then comb out
14. Enjoy

[RoseNoire]

I wouldn't acetne off the symbol because it could be a useful guide if I'd want to repaint her. ^^
And I wouldn't debox toola roola either for the same reason as Taffeta.
As for chemicals, maybe simply start with the least harsh chemicals first and easy to find. Things like dish soap and conditionner/shampoo and lots of careful scrubbing can get most of the ponies clean.

You don't have to be affraid to open up a pony in desperate need of rust removal. Just take it very slow, very careful, keep the vinyl soft with a hairdryer (heatgun is a no-no, it's too hot) and avoid sharp objects before you get some experience. Use something with a relatively blunt blade like a metal cuticle pusher (nail care tool) or something like that. You should be able to separate the head and body by carefully but firmly going throught the glue. Don't be affraid to take a break from time to time if you feel frustrated or tired. You'll get there, but you need to remain calm and motivated so your work doesn't get sloppy. In my experience, my worst head removals were because I got impatient, not because I lacked experience,

Also, getting experience and finding your way of restoring/cleaning ponies is something to keep in mind. Your first tries will be difficult and the result a bit flawed. So start with easy ponies. Look for common ponies, with an easy head to remove, surface grime, slight frizzy hair and maybe tail rust. This way, you'll be able to progressively acquire some experience in a few domains and you'll feel more comfortable restoring an uncommon pony with missing body parts, aged electronics, difficult head to remove, doing symbol and eyes repaint, rehairs, sunfading etc and getting a good result out of it.

Restoring is a long process and requires practice and documentation to get good results, so don't be afraid to go ahead and just to it after reading a few about it. Just keep in mind that the first tries are never almost perfect. Keep things simple so you'll get more comfortable in being more ambitious and get better results in the future.

Happy restoring. 

[Septima Windsong]

Thank you all for such good tips!

I think I'll sell one loose Toola-Roola which looks exactly the same as the boxed one and keep this pony in her box. But is there a chance that pony has faded a bit if the plastic of the box has yellowed?

Thanks for so much useful advices about Magic Hat! I'll keep her to practice at restoring. But she also has some brown and bright pink dots on her body that look like pony cancer. I know they won't clean up, but is it safe to keep such pony?

Maybe I'll try to open Silver Swirl to figure out how her electronics work. 

I usually use soap, acetone and shampoo on my ponies. Usually it helps to clean everything, but sometimes not. We don't have here magic erasers, unfortunately.

[RoseNoire]

The pony cancer isn't really dangerous. It's the plastic breaking down. Sometimes it could be because of a fungus. In that case, cleaning the pony will help prevent it from developing again, but it will not remove the stain. The only solution to conceal it would be painting over the spot.

Toola Roola could have faded or could fade, but there's nothing you can really do about it except keeping in a fully dark and controled environment.

[Artemesia's Garden]

If you clean and dry her inside and out it may stabilise and slow further plastic breakdown. I've had several ponies  that stopped  forming new brown spots once clean and dry in a  stable environment. However I'd keep her separate from other ponies because offgassing is known to cause nearby plastics to degrade. The pink marks may be due transfer and might be removable, let us know.

[Septima Windsong]

Well, I left Magic Hat in Vanish for about 4 hours and there's no result. She's as yellow as she was before... Maybe she needs more time in Vanish or I have not the right Vanish. I tried to open her, but glue is very hard.