The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: MysticIceDragon on November 16, 2017, 04:37:14 PM
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I really hope this is in the right place, since I've read the rules several times but I haven't really posted much here recently. Forgive me if I'm in the wrong place!
Anyways, I've been hunting for advice on restoring Gingerbread! I can't find a whole lot of advice on what to do about heavy discoloration. I received a Gingerbread today in the mail that is MUCH darker than the seller's picture looked. The description was limited, but did mention she needed cleaning, so I guess I can only be mad to a certain degree.
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As you can see, the coating is still great on her eyes and her cutie mark is still in good shape. Her body is a little oily and is very firm. I've read I can't give her a sunbath because she will burn, but I haven't found the specific affects of the hydrogen peroxide bath on cutie marks or twinkle eyes, and I'm not sure if anyone has done it. I haven't popped her open yet either, but if she is this discolored I'm not sure how much cleaning her out will help. Does anyone have any advice to give me?
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I know how you feel! I also got one in the mail today and she is SUPER HARD! I hope someone will answer your question cause I would love to know also!
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I don't have any advice on what you can do, but I do know that you shouldn't use acne cream.
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What does that do to them?
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Doing a general clean first might help you to assess what further treatments to use. Putting her in very hot or boiled water and scrubbing with dish soap and a soft toothbrush is what I do. Shampooing and conditioning the hair helps too. When the pony is softened from being in the hot water you can try to twist her head off, a lot of twinkle eyes seem to end up with hardened bodies and need warmth before the plastic will loosen up. She may have dirt or rust on the inside of the body that's showing through as dark staining. Once she's had a good all over clean you will be able to see what are permanent stains and what will lift off.
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What does that do to them?
Initially it'll make them look all nice and clean, but then years down the line causes issues.
There's been a couple threads about it in the past:
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,377336.0.html
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,370556.0.html
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I know how you feel! I also got one in the mail today and she is SUPER HARD! I hope someone will answer your question cause I would love to know also!
I'm not even upset she's all firm and stuff, I just want to be able to get her back to being white
Post Merge: November 16, 2017, 05:17:57 PM
Once she's had a good all over clean you will be able to see what are permanent stains and what will lift off.
That's a very good point. I just didn't know if y'all might have pointers
What does that do to them?
Initially it'll make them look all nice and clean, but then years down the line causes issues.
There's been a couple threads about it in the past:
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,377336.0.html
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,370556.0.html
Oh thank goodness you chimed in, I was led to believe I should be using it!
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As far as I've seen, peroxide baths seem to not have too much of an effect on the cutie mark or even the paint, but that may be unexplored territory. I would try an oxiclean bath first, as that seems to be less harsh than the peroxide.
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As far as I've seen, peroxide baths seem to not have too much of an effect on the cutie mark or even the paint, but that may be unexplored territory. I would try an oxiclean bath first, as that seems to be less harsh than the peroxide.
What kind of Oxiclean do you guys use? I've heard "color-safe" but is that available in the powder? Or does everyone have a huge jug of Oxiclean detergent for their pony cleaning? Lol
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As far as I've seen, peroxide baths seem to not have too much of an effect on the cutie mark or even the paint, but that may be unexplored territory. I would try an oxiclean bath first, as that seems to be less harsh than the peroxide.
What kind of Oxiclean do you guys use? I've heard "color-safe" but is that available in the powder? Or does everyone have a huge jug of Oxiclean detergent for their pony cleaning? Lol
From what I've done and heard, just the plain liquid kind should work.
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iirc peroxide and/or oxiclean will remove the iridescence on TE Ponies eye gems! hopefully somebody else can confirm or debunk this conclusively
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As far as I've seen, peroxide baths seem to not have too much of an effect on the cutie mark or even the paint, but that may be unexplored territory. I would try an oxiclean bath first, as that seems to be less harsh than the peroxide.
DO NOT PUT A TWINKLE-EYE PONY IN OXYCLEAN OR PEROXIDE.
You will ruin their eyes. Oxy also makes a number of hair colours bleed and/or bleach, it's really NOT safe for cleaning ponies that aren't going to be bait / custom projects. Ditto for acne cream; it bleaches coloured ponies and yellows pale ones, and the effects can take months or years to show up and are irreversible.
Unfortunately your Gingerbread already looks toasted - too much UV exposure would be my guess as to her current colouration, and there isn't a decent known solution to that yet.
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iirc peroxide and/or oxiclean will remove the iridescence on TE Ponies eye gems! hopefully somebody else can confirm or debunk this conclusively
It's true, but none of my TE's ever had the paint left on them, so using the peroxide didn't matter.
Oxi Clean and hydrogen peroxide are the same thing, it's just that for a peroxide soak to work you have to leave the pony out in the sun, and that's what can cause fading. Both are hard on their hair. Gingerbread doesn't have the hair colors that bleed. She's notorious for being difficult to fix her discoloration though. I've been experimenting with applying a thin layer of paint over ponies like this and then rubbing it off the symbols. So far so good. All my ponies are in the attic in the moment so no photos.
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Unfortunately your Gingerbread already looks toasted - too much UV exposure would be my guess as to her current colouration, and there isn't a decent known solution to that yet.
No nooo... Ugh, the listing REALLY didn't look this bad I swear. And if I open her up and scrub her out and everything, I can't exactly ask if I can send her back. She did come with a Party Time, who looks alright.
I adore Gingerbread's design and name and that she has twinkle eyes... Argh of course she has to be problematic. Now I don't know what to do.
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Oh no - what a dilemma! Gingerbread is really hard to find in good condition and her price often reflects this. It is such a difficult call as you would have to return both ponies and Party Time is also tricky to find in good condition. As everyone else has mentioned there isn't anything that you can do with Gingerbread chemically that will improve her, it would actually make her condition worse. Please let us know what you do decide to do and send photo's if you clean her up: photo's are awesome :)
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I guess I'm going to survey how good Party Time looks. If she looks good then I'll keep the pair, and clean Gingerbread and see where to go. If she doesn't change color, I guess she is bait, and I'll think of something... Dyeing her might be neat. I'll keep you all posted
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Well... given her age and condition, you can't really do much to improve her. She's just one of those ponies with bad QC....
Gingerbread eventually turns the color of real gingerbread, LOL
You can paint her white with acrylic paint, but obviously that is only covering up the problem and eventually chemistry will happen, and you'll have leaching paint and plasticizer.
But yeah, ponies with fancy paint jobs or gimmicks like Twinkle Eyes or mechanisms, DO NOT use Oxi-clean or hydrogen peroxide.
And NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER use acne cream of any kind on a pony, for any reason, for any length of time!!!
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It's just really hard to find a nice Gingerbread. :/
I wouldn't say she's "bait" because that's kind of like saying a flutter ponies with her wings missing is bait; it's something that is going to happen to most flutter ponies and most Gingerbreads. Your Gingerbread doesn't have a bunch of age spots ('pony cancer'), which means she is still doing pretty well for who she is.
Edit: Also, yes, some of the ponies in this pose are hard as ROCKS. I assume it's because of the plasticizer leeching out over time or something. It's just weird, it's so often ponies in this pose.
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Have you checked for rust? Mine have spots cause of rust. Not cleaned it 100% yet but got the spots much weaker.
but a sun bath is best option.
http://www.mlppreservationproject.com/body.html#SunFading
Not going to be easy covering the cutiemark consider her gingerbread men have white spots in them. On that I suggest just cover that and paint in the white in them on after the sunbleaching.
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I think sun bathing will just cause Gingerbread to burn (darken), sadly.
If you do try it then be sure to cover up her mane and tail, it will fade her pink streak to white.
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Sunfading doesn't work on certain ponies, including Gingerbread, BnG Bouquet, Cherry Treats and (most) Starshines. All of the ones with milky-white rather than opaque white plastic suffer from burns.
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As far as I've seen, peroxide baths seem to not have too much of an effect on the cutie mark or even the paint, but that may be unexplored territory. I would try an oxiclean bath first, as that seems to be less harsh than the peroxide.
DO NOT PUT A TWINKLE-EYE PONY IN OXYCLEAN OR PEROXIDE.
You will ruin their eyes. Oxy also makes a number of hair colours bleed and/or bleach, it's really NOT safe for cleaning ponies that aren't going to be bait / custom projects. Ditto for acne cream; it bleaches coloured ponies and yellows pale ones, and the effects can take months or years to show up and are irreversible.
Unfortunately your Gingerbread already looks toasted - too much UV exposure would be my guess as to her current colouration, and there isn't a decent known solution to that yet.
Aw, dang! Thank you for the heads up, I've seen some that swear by it for anything and assumed it was all good to go!
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Doing a general clean first might help you to assess what further treatments to use. Putting her in very hot or boiled water and scrubbing with dish soap and a soft toothbrush is what I do. Shampooing and conditioning the hair helps too. When the pony is softened from being in the hot water you can try to twist her head off, a lot of twinkle eyes seem to end up with hardened bodies and need warmth before the plastic will loosen up. She may have dirt or rust on the inside of the body that's showing through as dark staining. Once she's had a good all over clean you will be able to see what are permanent stains and what will lift off.
I agree with this but I'd soak for 24h in warm water (will go cold obviously) and then only use hot water on the neck to get the neck seam open. Soaking for a long time also makes the neck seam much easier to get into as well as the heat. I'd avoid soaking in dish soap or anything other than water because of the TEs.
I'm not sure it's good to soak in very hot/boiled water as this can damage the hair.
I use a cuticle stick to hook the tail out if the washer is rusty, might be worth checking? Never remove the clamp from the tail hair, just the washer if need be.
Also I'd use toothpaste after the dish soap as sometimes the mild abrasive gets some extra stuff off. Just avoid the TEs with anything other than water.
You can shampoo and condition the hair last and wrap around the pony to dry.
Make sure she is thoroughly dry before you put her back together, you can loosed the tail by pushing back a little way in to the pony to help it dry. Some people check inside the legs with a cotton bud to check the insides are dry before reassembly.
Best of luck
Post Merge: November 17, 2017, 04:06:30 PM
As far as I've seen, peroxide baths seem to not have too much of an effect on the cutie mark or even the paint, but that may be unexplored territory. I would try an oxiclean bath first, as that seems to be less harsh than the peroxide.
DO NOT PUT A TWINKLE-EYE PONY IN OXYCLEAN OR PEROXIDE.
You will ruin their eyes. Oxy also makes a number of hair colours bleed and/or bleach, it's really NOT safe for cleaning ponies that aren't going to be bait / custom projects. Ditto for acne cream; it bleaches coloured ponies and yellows pale ones, and the effects can take months or years to show up and are irreversible.
Unfortunately your Gingerbread already looks toasted - too much UV exposure would be my guess as to her current colouration, and there isn't a decent known solution to that yet.
Aw, dang! Thank you for the heads up, I've seen some that swear by it for anything and assumed it was all good to go!
Yeah sadly there is a lot of poor advice out there. Some good advice on here though because people really do their research. She has gone tanned but I think there is a lot of dirt as well that might come off, so you might be able to improve her a lot.
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Some good advice on here though because people really do their research. She has gone tanned but I think there is a lot of dirt as well that might come off, so you might be able to improve her a lot.
If I can get her looking like a lightly baked sugar cookie I'd say that's an improvement lol. Might I ask why you suggest not taking the tail clamp away? I've understood replacing it will prevent future rusting
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-> Dish soap (assuming it doesn't include an abrasive) doesn't harm paint* nor iridescence.
-> Hot water doesn't harm normal nylon hair**. Boiling water can be used to set curls. Hotter than that can melt it, i.e. curling irons, flat irons, possibly hair dryers and the like.
-> Tail clamps can be removed, and should be, only if they are rusting. Usually it's the washer that rusts.
If a tail clamp has to go, it should be replaced with a nylon zip-tie so the tail doesn't fall apart.
-> Tails should be left separate during drying. Personally I leave mine apart for at least several days, up to a week, to guarantee they're 100% dry inside before reassembling.
* Excluding Magic Message ponies, their symbols are notoriously fragile to almost everything. Wipe gently with a damp cloth and then leave well enough alone. Do not soak, do not use chemicals.
** Colour change hair, such as on the sunshine ponies can be very easily damaged and I wouldn't subject it to even boiling water. Tinsel is also more delicate, especially on G3's.
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None of you are going to believe this... She's completely clean and white inside!
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So I scrubbed her (away from the cutie marks and eyes) with dish soap, and then with a little toothpaste as suggested (again away from the delicates), and no color changed. A VERY mild amount of dirt washed away, revealing what I think are the beginnings of cancer, sigh. She's not so bad, being this cream color I guess, but now I'm worried about the cancer spreading to my other ponies.
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'Cancer' (ugh I really hate that's what it's coined) aka vinyl deterioration or age spots, is not contagious. It's the natural breakdown of the unstable composite plastic material. Your other ponies are in no danger from Gingerbread's presence. The fact that she's so white inside pretty much proves she's been toasted via UV, sadly. :c
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Dang :C
Kinda glad we only have sun from 13.Feb to 31.Oct.
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It's just really hard to find a nice Gingerbread. :/
I wouldn't say she's "bait" because that's kind of like saying a flutter ponies with her wings missing is bait; it's something that is going to happen to most flutter ponies and most Gingerbreads. Your Gingerbread doesn't have a bunch of age spots ('pony cancer'), which means she is still doing pretty well for who she is.
Edit: Also, yes, some of the ponies in this pose are hard as ROCKS. I assume it's because of the plasticizer leeching out over time or something. It's just weird, it's so often ponies in this pose.
Yeah I've noticed twinkle eyes in particular suffer a lot from this!
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'Cancer' (ugh I really hate that's what it's coined) aka vinyl deterioration or age spots, is not contagious. It's the natural breakdown of the unstable composite plastic material. Your other ponies are in no danger from Gingerbread's presence. The fact that she's so white inside pretty much proves she's been toasted via UV, sadly. :c
All this research I did on ponies years ago is proving to be LIES now that I can collect! Thank you for clearing that up.
I guess I just have a toasty Gingerbread now. I don't want to paint her (plus I think if she gets oily again it would destroy the paint job) though I did look at how dye would affect a pony of her color (and how to remove those eyes, because holy cow guys those are her best part). It would ruin her cutie mark though and it's in pretty good shape so I'll just leave her be.
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Just because we don't know how to fix burn right now, doesn't mean someone won't figure it out in the future - every technique is the fruit of research, trial and error, or happy accident.
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Just because we don't know how to fix burn right now, doesn't mean someone won't figure it out in the future - every technique is the fruit of research, trial and error, or happy accident.
That is very true, especially in this line of work lol
Post Merge: November 18, 2017, 01:48:10 PM
Oh, I also forgot to mention that her pink hair is completely fine? I thought pink pony hair fades pretty quickly in sunlight... It isn't a blinding pink but it's a very VERY nice shade. If she got toasted from the sun why is her pink stripe still pink?
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Maybe the tanning is due to chemical reactions rather than the sun? The sun could make it worse, yet not be the cause. :)
I had a Quackers who tanned over the years despite not being put in sunlight. Very frustrating. She was a creamy white, like Gingerbread . . . Don't know if there's any connection.
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Maybe the tanning is due to chemical reactions rather than the sun? The sun could make it worse, yet not be the cause. :)
I had a Quackers who tanned over the years despite not being put in sunlight. Very frustrating. She was a creamy white, like Gingerbread . . . Don't know if there's any connection.
I imagine you weren't Cracker's first owner?
Does anyone know what smoke damage might do? Say this little girl's parents or someone smoked in the house and years later it started affecting the plastic? Because chemicals that came in contact with Gingie would have eaten at her eye iridescence.
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Maybe the tanning is due to chemical reactions rather than the sun? The sun could make it worse, yet not be the cause. :)
I had a Quackers who tanned over the years despite not being put in sunlight. Very frustrating. She was a creamy white, like Gingerbread . . . Don't know if there's any connection.
I imagine you weren't Cracker's first owner?
Does anyone know what smoke damage might do? Say this little girl's parents or someone smoked in the house and years later it started affecting the plastic? Because chemicals that came in contact with Gingie would have eaten at her eye iridescence.
My daughter's Chief came to us reeking of cigarette smoke. He has this big, ugly brown patch on his body, that my boyfriend said was from nicotine staining. Otherwise he would have been minty white. It has faded some and we got rid of the smoke smell, thankfully before Christmas.
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Maybe the tanning is due to chemical reactions rather than the sun? The sun could make it worse, yet not be the cause. :)
I had a Quackers who tanned over the years despite not being put in sunlight. Very frustrating. She was a creamy white, like Gingerbread . . . Don't know if there's any connection.
I imagine you weren't Cracker's first owner?
Does anyone know what smoke damage might do? Say this little girl's parents or someone smoked in the house and years later it started affecting the plastic? Because chemicals that came in contact with Gingie would have eaten at her eye iridescence.
I got her secondhand, yep. She didn't smell of smoke, but who knows what her history was.
I think with some of these white ponies, though, it's just something about the plastic. Like once I won an eBay auction for a Starshine who IMO had most likely been opened from being MOC by a collector. She came with her card + bubble (still attached, except the side that was eased up to let her out and her hair just had that "unbrushed" look, if you know what I'm talking about. Not a speck of dirt or a mark anywhere on that pony . . . but, sadly, she had parts that were changing from cream to tan. (Especially around her symbols.)
I mean, I can't guarantee she was a previous MOC, but I REALLY strongly feel that she was.
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I think with some of these white ponies, though, it's just something about the plastic. Like once I won an eBay auction for a Starshine who IMO had most likely been opened from being MOC by a collector. She came with her card + bubble (still attached, except the side that was eased up to let her out and her hair just had that "unbrushed" look, if you know what I'm talking about. Not a speck of dirt or a mark anywhere on that pony . . . but, sadly, she had parts that were changing from cream to tan. (Especially around her symbols.)
I mean, I can't guarantee she was a previous MOC, but I REALLY strongly feel that she was.
I'm sure you're right and the plastic just kinda degrades. Now that I've been searching, I only have seen a few white Gingerbreads.
My daughter's Chief came to us reeking of cigarette smoke. He has this big, ugly brown patch on his body, that my boyfriend said was from nicotine staining. Otherwise he would have been minty white. It has faded some and we got rid of the smoke smell, thankfully before Christmas.
See my pony didn't smell when I got her so I imagine she doesn't have the same issue. How did you get him to fade?
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I think with some of these white ponies, though, it's just something about the plastic. Like once I won an eBay auction for a Starshine who IMO had most likely been opened from being MOC by a collector. She came with her card + bubble (still attached, except the side that was eased up to let her out and her hair just had that "unbrushed" look, if you know what I'm talking about. Not a speck of dirt or a mark anywhere on that pony . . . but, sadly, she had parts that were changing from cream to tan. (Especially around her symbols.)
I mean, I can't guarantee she was a previous MOC, but I REALLY strongly feel that she was.
I'm sure you're right and the plastic just kinda degrades. Now that I've been searching, I only have seen a few white Gingerbreads.
My daughter's Chief came to us reeking of cigarette smoke. He has this big, ugly brown patch on his body, that my boyfriend said was from nicotine staining. Otherwise he would have been minty white. It has faded some and we got rid of the smoke smell, thankfully before Christmas.
See my pony didn't smell when I got her so I imagine she doesn't have the same issue. How did you get him to fade?
The funny thing is, we didn't get him to fade. It faded a little on its own. Unless my boyfriend did something and forgot to mention it? It was his gift to her.
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Gingerbread is one of those ponies who are really hard to find in good condition.
I think it's UV that causes them to go all toastie brown; cleaning will help with surface dirt but won't clear up the toasting. Yours has gorgeous eyes! Despite her fake tan I think she is really pretty :) The oiliness will come back I expect as more plasticizer leaches out but a quick whip over with a babywipe or just-damp cloth will clean it off. I have several Gingerbreads, only one I would say is perfect and she is starting to get age spots :(
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I'm thinking Gingerbread isn't worth getting after all. What a shame, I really love her.
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I'm thinking Gingerbread isn't worth getting after all. What a shame, I really love her.
I think if you really want a character they're worth getting despite toy flaws, but then I own Transformers G2 Slingshot.
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I'm thinking Gingerbread isn't worth getting after all. What a shame, I really love her.
I think if you really want a character they're worth getting despite toy flaws, but then I own Transformers G2 Slingshot.
What issues does G2 Slingshot have?
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I'm thinking Gingerbread isn't worth getting after all. What a shame, I really love her.
I think if you really want a character they're worth getting despite toy flaws, but then I own Transformers G2 Slingshot.
What issues does G2 Slingshot have?
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Gold_Plastic_Syndrome (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Gold_Plastic_Syndrome)
This.
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That reeks! :( I've never heard of that before.
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I'm thinking Gingerbread isn't worth getting after all. What a shame, I really love her.
I had three Gingerbreads in my trade box recently and all of them had one flaw or another. I never saw Gingerbread in stores so I think I have never actually seen a true white one. I can't remember how bad my sister's one is. I have one I rescued but she's definitely not 'perfect'. I think that maybe she really just does want to be a gingerbread pony. And I guess we all have our dreams...
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I'm thinking Gingerbread isn't worth getting after all. What a shame, I really love her.
I think if you really want a character they're worth getting despite toy flaws, but then I own Transformers G2 Slingshot.
I agree! With everyone's input, I realize that my Gingerbread's color is her only problem. Her eyes are gorgeous, her mane took conditioning very well, and her cutie marks are fantastic. If you can find a Gingerbread with mostly good traits I would say get one~
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This is a small image, for which I apologise, but I guess this is the dream, right?
Look how white that pony is...sigh.
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(NOT my pony, I hasten to add. Unfortunately)
I guess that goes to show it is unlikely...but not a completely vain goal to have to get a nice one...
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Definitely! :drunk:
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This is my Gingerbread, I think that she is pretty white still. She, together with the other 2 ponies was my birthday gift from my friends this year. The only mark that she has is a small pen mark on the tip of her front right foot.
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I think that maybe she really just does want to be a gingerbread pony. And I guess we all have our dreams...
:lmao:
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This is my Gingerbread, I think that she is pretty white still. She, together with the other 2 ponies was my birthday gift from my friends this year. The only mark that she has is a small pen mark on the tip of her front right foot.
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Oh she looks so sweet! You take care of her lol
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This is my Gingerbread, I think that she is pretty white still. She, together with the other 2 ponies was my birthday gift from my friends this year. The only mark that she has is a small pen mark on the tip of her front right foot.
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Oh! She's gorgeous!
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I think that maybe she really just does want to be a gingerbread pony. And I guess we all have our dreams...
Yep... maybe it's like frosted gingerbread, haha. White but then brown underneath :)