Ugly ponies?

[slyons]

...Of course, I love them for their mintness, but it makes me wish the person who owned them before had thought for the longterm, rather than leaving those ponies in their weird limbo.

What a great way to describe it.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I'm another person of the opinion that the provenance and history is important.  Especially since Hasbro themselves didn't save much, if anything.  I admire the Lisa Frank company for saving one of EVERYTHING.  All the merch, all the sticker sheets, all the original art, everything, is in a giant archival vault.

Many people are trying to keep their MOC ponies in good condition, not opening them, not keeping them in bad storage/strong UV light, etc. But if the MOC pony is mildewing and dripping plasticizer, and the cardboard card is rotting off, please take as many detailed photos as possible and then open the pony.  There are only a few ponies where we have OOAK examples.  But if that one example is far beyond appreciating its existence or causing its owner health issues, by all means, use other preservation methods like documentation. 

In that respect, it is different than a mummy ; that's the only King Tut we have, we probably shouldn't be whacking off his fingers to set up in a museum display.  We will find another pony.  And we could find its accessories and backcard and display it together, even if not in-situ.  I mean, the latter example is 90% of most museum's collections!

Eeeeeeesh to the MOC collector who got bored and de-carded.  Ugh, she should have sold the MOCs and started again with loose ponies.  At least the ponies themselves and backcard/accessories were saved, and it wasn't a vengeful ex-partner trashing them or a family member taking them.

[Carrehz]

Very well said LBS I agree with documenting MOCs however possible if their card is beyond saving, that's a really good point.

[Snapdragon]

This has been an interesting read, as someone who owns an incredibly moldy/damaged MOC pony. (The pony itself even has mold dots!) The pony is still TECHNICALLY MOC, and since the pony inside is already damaged, it would theoretically lower her value even more to open her... and yet I haven't brought myself to do it. Moldy and water damaged, she's still my only MOC! It's an interesting conundrum, and reading all of the opinions has been interesting!

[ladygodiva]

Baits can still be pretty!
I also collect to restore and clean up. I'll try to make a bait pony display as nicely as I can (I think curls negate the need for lots of body cleanup ha) but it's the journey not the destination or whatever.

It is the best, restoring and cleaning and leaving everything as best as possible. I have ever bought a pony bait and my mother is very pleased to see the before-after cleaning.

[LadyAmalthea]

I guess everyone has a different standard of what is acceptable to them. I don't really 'display' my ponies, other than to have them lined up in my bathroom linen closet on shelves, because I don't want to dump them in a box, and honestly, with 3 kids let's face it, it's not like I'm ever going to get the luxury of my own space in a bedroom or anything. Guess it also keeps them away from most UV light and fading, too. But I do move the prettiest ones toward the front, because they are the ones that I have to look at when I open the closet. The childhood ponies that have faded hair or a rusty beddy bye eye (but I don't have the heart to part with) go in the back, but none of them are truly hideous. The really baity ones that I've purchased in lots as an adult go in a separate bait box to either try to clean up better when I have the time, or eventually sell as a bait lot when I decide they aren't salvageable to my tastes. Some spots I can live with, unless I suspect the beginning  of plasticizer breakdown, and they aren't too big or dark; haircuts I can't deal with, but I'll rehair them if that's their only problem. Frizzy hair is not acceptable in my collection, but I'm finding that very few ponies I come across have hair that can't be salvaged. I'll touch up an eye here and there, because it bothers me if I feel like the pony looks blind or something because there's a big scrape right in the middle of her pupil. Yellowed white ponies don't bother me too badly as long as there's no major head/body mismatch. I can't see myself paying top dollar for a Nirvana or MOC pony that wasn't new looking, but that's just me. I don't collect those items because of that.

Some I'm on the fence with; I recently acquired what turned out to be a really beautiful Cherries Jubilee in a bait lot. She was filthy, but once I cleaned her up and repaired her hair, she looked like she just came out of the package except...some idiot in a thrift shop wrote a price on her in black sharpie marker! Who DOES that?!? I've tried acetone and magic eraser and good ole' elbow grease, but haven't put a dent in it. I'm trying to decide how much it bothers me; should I keep her as part of my collection or will it bug me into making her be a placeholder until I find another? Not sure.

Some of my pickiness I chalk up to being space-related; if I lived alone and had all the space in my house to myself I might be more willing to accept more flaws in my collection by setting up army rows of the same pony in various conditions, but currently I'm forced to whittle it down to only the ones that make me happy.

[LivioKelem]

I have one box with yellow blister and I rlly love it. It's history for me you know... Only rlly old items has problems like that. When you see something like that you feel all this years of little ponies and specifics of this collecting 

[Wardah]

Some I'm on the fence with; I recently acquired what turned out to be a really beautiful Cherries Jubilee in a bait lot. She was filthy, but once I cleaned her up and repaired her hair, she looked like she just came out of the package except...some idiot in a thrift shop wrote a price on her in black sharpie marker! Who DOES that?!? I've tried acetone and magic eraser and good ole' elbow grease, but haven't put a dent in it. I'm trying to decide how much it bothers me; should I keep her as part of my collection or will it bug me into making her be a placeholder until I find another? Not sure.

Would perhaps some clothes cover up the price?

[Broken Irishwoman]

I don't like baity ponies either. I feel awful for it, because I want to love all G1 ponies, and "ugly" ponies usually have the sweetest stories.

However, they display awfully, and if I only have a baity version of a particular pony, I will still check the "don't have her" box if she is POTD.

[LadyAmalthea]

Some I'm on the fence with; I recently acquired what turned out to be a really beautiful Cherries Jubilee in a bait lot. She was filthy, but once I cleaned her up and repaired her hair, she looked like she just came out of the package except...some idiot in a thrift shop wrote a price on her in black sharpie marker! Who DOES that?!? I've tried acetone and magic eraser and good ole' elbow grease, but haven't put a dent in it. I'm trying to decide how much it bothers me; should I keep her as part of my collection or will it bug me into making her be a placeholder until I find another? Not sure.

Would perhaps some clothes cover up the price?

I think so. It's on her front flank area on her display side (of course!). I'm usually not a fan of covering up my ponies with clothes that potentially clash with their colors, but maybe this is a case of putting my rusty sewing skills to the test and designing some sort of cute cherry-picking apron or something. There was also a Bowtie in that lot with the writing on as well, but she is unfortunately beyond (my) help, as she is riddled with cancer spots I was unable to remove and definitely fits into the 'ugly pony' category the original poster was talking about!

[starstrider]

I have a rare MOC Alternate Birthflower Daffodil/March on the horizontal Scandinavian card. The pony is still mint, however she has discoloured to yellow/brown on the display side, probably from being displayed in direct sunlight by a previous owner. I could decard her and treat the damaged vinyl and restore her to a crisp white pony, but she is more valuable as one of the few remaining examples of this line of pony in its original packaging. So she'll stay yellowed and discoloured, but it's more important to preserve her intact.

[RoseNoire]

Baity ponies have their charm, in a way. And I greatly enjoy restoring them when possible. Sometimes, even after restoration, they still have a few flaws, but I think that's a bit charming, because even though they have some scars, they at least got better. A bit like real life. I have a G1 Galaxy and G2 Teddy with their hair cut, but they look like punk and they're fun.

I do have an extremely beat up pony displayed. She's an Italian Bowtie, my childhood Italian Bowtie. She has her eyes a bit rubbed off, matted hair, she's yellowed and rattling of rust, has pen marks and grime. She IS filthy, I won't be lying. I do want to restore her, but I want to make it special and actually FILM the whole project. The thing is, I just don't have the time nor material to do that video yet, so she's been waiting for years and still waiting.
At least, when she's displayed, I don't forget about her. I can't wait to be able to do that video and restore her to her former glory.

I also have a MOC ponywear. This is my only MOC and it's rather beaten up. I don't know where it has been stored until that flea market where I bought it from, but the bubble is lifting off, the card is dirty, has a few price tags and that cardboard hook/hole to hang it from is destroyed. It's in rough shape but you'd be absolutely right to think I will never decard this precious thing. Just because it is intact. It is a bit of a historical piece to me. Plus I won't be loosing pieces of the ponywear, as they are all well kept in the same place.

I also keep my 35th and World's Smallest MIB/MOC, but they're still fresh and new so they look actually good on display, hehe. ^^

[Artemesia's Garden]

Some I'm on the fence with; I recently acquired what turned out to be a really beautiful Cherries Jubilee in a bait lot. She was filthy, but once I cleaned her up and repaired her hair, she looked like she just came out of the package except...some idiot in a thrift shop wrote a price on her in black sharpie marker! Who DOES that?!? I've tried acetone and magic eraser and good ole' elbow grease, but haven't put a dent in it. I'm trying to decide how much it bothers me; should I keep her as part of my collection or will it bug me into making her be a placeholder until I find another? Not sure.

I agree that's a hard one to deal with. It's tough when a pony is in otherwise great condition but has one unfixable flaw. I've never come across a pony that I knew for sure was damaged by an adult before. Maybe I would keep her and display her on the other side. 

[pawpatrolbab]

I love to give un-loved toys a home. I definately feel some sort of "kinship" towards loved or worn out toys. The purpose of my collection isn't to look pretty, it's to make me happy. Giving what others would consider trash or worthless a home and value makes me very happy