What's happening to my Masquerade pony?

[Duality]

So long ago I bought Masquerade off eBay, her hair looked perfect I was so happy to get her, but I noticed after I got her she had brown spots on her body which wasn't visible in pictures. After looking it up I figured out it's just age spots so I left it alone, but I noticed after a while her one back leg started to appear bent like it was crushed, and her body felt sticky and really squishy and flimsy. I'd wash her and she'd be sticky again. This was about four years ago, I left her at my dad's house so I'm not sure how she's doing now, hopefully well. But I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and what it does long-term? I know what the age spots are but I've never had a melting sticky pony. I don't have any pictures on my phone of her spots or bent leg but I do have this picture from my camera so I thought I'd include it cause she's cute
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[LadyMoondancer]

Awww, she's cute!

Sounds like plasticizer leaking.  It happens when the plastic breaks down. 

[Duality]

Awww, she's cute!

Sounds like plasticizer leaking.  It happens when the plastic breaks down.

That makes sense. I was wondering, this doesn't seem to spread to other ponies, right? I'd assume not, but I was reading a bit ago about Breyer horses getting something that can spread to other Breyer horses, which I know it's something else for the Breyer horses because of what they're made of but I'm not sure if somehow what the My Little Ponies can get can spread to each other or if it's just breakdown of the individual pony and doesn't spread. I have other ponies but I took Masquerade to my dad's so they've been separated for a while.

[goddessofpeep]

I’m always careful of letting *anything* touch a pony that’s leaking plasticizer, especially anything plastic. I don’t think it releases anything into the air that can spread to other ponies over distance, but I’m not sure.  I have seen it react with plastic bags(and they make the leaking worse).  I’ve also seen other plastics bond to each other when they break down.  I’ve never allowed a leaking pony to remain in contact with another, so I’m not 100% sure what will happen.  I just quarantine any pony that starts leaking.  I’ve found wrapping them in archival tissue paper works well.

[Duality]

I’m always careful of letting *anything* touch a pony that’s leaking plasticizer, especially anything plastic. I don’t think it releases anything into the air that can spread to other ponies over distance, but I’m not sure.  I have seen it react with plastic bags(and they make the leaking worse).  I’ve also seen other plastics bond to each other when they break down.  I’ve never allowed a leaking pony to remain in contact with another, so I’m not 100% sure what will happen.  I just quarantine any pony that starts leaking.  I’ve found wrapping them in archival tissue paper works well.

That's interesting. I left my Masquerade next to a fakie but no other MLP so I'm wondering if the fakie pony will be affected at all. I wasn't sure if it could spread anything through the air since it's leaking something out of it. I had her with my other ponies when she just had age spots but I think I separated her before she started getting sticky. I'm planning on going to my dad's soon so hopefully I can see how she's doing now and if it affected the fakie pony at all. Do the ponies harden after a while or do they seem to stay sticky and continue releasing the plasticizer until there's nothing left of it? I haven't had a pony do this before, the leg becoming deformed has me wondering if it probably got worse.

[BlackCurtains]

The off gassing of leaking ponies can cause a chain reaction in others that are on the cusp of leaking themselves. So yes, it can spread. Eventually, the pony will be hard and feel kind of brittle, but it takes a long time. To slow the process, wash it once a month or so with mild soap and then sprinkle corn starch on it. The corn starch will absorb most of the plasticizer. To make it go faster, but the pony in a plastic bag or bin.

This happens in other toys from the 80s and early 90s. I have a small collection of Playskool Definitely Dinosaurs from when I was a kid. They all came down with plasticizer leakage and age spots so severe, their bodies changed colors. I have a brown triceratops that used to be green.

Humidity and heat also play a part. So if you live somewhere that is hot and humid I'd recommend a dehumidifier to keep by your collection.

[Duality]

The off gassing of leaking ponies can cause a chain reaction in others that are on the cusp of leaking themselves. So yes, it can spread. Eventually, the pony will be hard and feel kind of brittle, but it takes a long time. To slow the process, wash it once a month or so with mild soap and then sprinkle corn starch on it. The corn starch will absorb most of the plasticizer. To make it go faster, but the pony in a plastic bag or bin.

This happens in other toys from the 80s and early 90s. I have a small collection of Playskool Definitely Dinosaurs from when I was a kid. They all came down with plasticizer leakage and age spots so severe, their bodies changed colors. I have a brown triceratops that used to be green.

Humidity and heat also play a part. So if you live somewhere that is hot and humid I'd recommend a dehumidifier to keep by your collection.

I appreciate the advice! I will have to do that and keep her away from other ponies once I have her back. She is the only one that was affected so I wasn't sure if the existing age spots had anything to do with it. My other ponies are all fine and haven't had it happen to them. I live in a hot and humid area but I keep them on a shelf out of the sun and thankfully it's not usually too hot in my room so I'm not sure if being here caused it or if it was starting to happen anyway. Either way good to know it can possibly spread so I can keep them separate. You know when first collecting My Little Ponys I had never thought this kind of stuff could happen to them especially contagious stuff that makes the plastic breakdown. Guess I never put much thought into it lol.

[Purpleglasses]

It's definitely plasticizer! I had a friend suggest that washing with Cascade dish soap will help with a toy that's experiencing plasticizer leakage. I haven't tried it, and my friend isn't a pony collector, though I believe she said she got that advice from another friend who does collect vinyl toys. Does anyone else on here have any experience with that product or a different one that helps to clean up plasticizer issues?

I know that in some good cases, all the plasticizer finishes leaching out and you are just left with a pony that feels hard instead of squishy. It's a long process and I imagine that even washing them with a soap that removes the stickiness may only keep them not sticky for a little while until the plasticizer is all gone, so you might have to repeat the process till then.

You can scroll down to the section on plasticizer leakage on the mlp preservation project, it's very helpful! Apparently there's a product called Formula 911 that's specifically designed to treat plasticizer issues, but you have to be careful using it on painted areas as it will remove them.  It says hydrogen peroxide might help too, and I believe that's less damaging to pony paint? http://www.mlppreservationproject.com/body


Because science is FUN (and informative!) and we're all on here revearse engineering chemical reactions so we can get back in touch with our childhood love of rainbows and unicorns, here is an article about what is happening on a chemical level when plasticizer leaches: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-019-0080-7 The good news is that since we only care about our ponies looking cute, we don't have to worry about their degraded tensile strength when they leach! Phew!