Another Variation question - G1s, Glow 'n Show, Paint, etc

[Sunshine]

H'OKAY! So, most of you see me posting around Pony Corral asking about slight variations between my ponies.

I know I know *groan* it's getting old. But I'm not always satisfied with my conclusions, unless I get input from all of you knowledgeable ponies out there... so I have two ponies that I've got pairs of, who don't look the same to me.

The first one I didn't bother to take a photo of yet because it's about Rainbow Curl Streaky, the purple Unicorn. I was embarrassed as I haven't re-curled the one's hair yet, so it looks AWFUL compared to the other... so no photo yet.
So, in this pair, I have two ponies who look identical. Body shade exactly the same, pink hair is about the same shade in both ponies (neither one is super faded or super unfaded), the pink and yellow of the side symbol are the same shade on both bodies.
However. One of them has a clearly BLUE streak with BLUE notes, and the other has a clearly TEAL/AQUA Streak with AQUA notes. Both sides, exactly the same shade on both sides (as in, the blue one is blue on both sides, and the same shade of blue, as is the aqua one).
-Any known variation or is this gonna come out as "well some pigments can fade, etc etc etc" - I mean I've seen it before as far as eye colors and such in Playset ponies (have a thread about that somewhere...) but there are NO noticeable differences other than this HUGE difference in color between this ONE streak on the symbol... No difference in hoof stamps, eye color... I will say that one's eyeliner looks thicker than the other but it just looks like the "colored" part of the eye is a bit off on one vs. the other... not really additional paint = eyeliner on that...
So, input? 

The second set has photos: Glow 'n Show Starglow.
Here are the pics. I'll let them speak for themselves. I will say that the one on the right - the darker one, is almost a CLEAR plastic gel, instead of the "frosted" gel look that they normally have... you can see a lot of the... "bubbles" or something of the plastic that was used to make her...
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(And yes, blerg, the darker one has obvious rust around the washer... so that's what I'm working on now...)

The photos do not capture how "clear" the dark one is vs the other... I know these are just... "different batches of plastic" but... is this common? Is this sun + weird plastic = differences? The only one who I know of with these large differences in physical body appearance is the blue vs. pink heart Dazzle Glow - her body plastic looks different depending on what color hearts she has but, I haven't heard of that in others - are there like "two sets" of each potentially? (If that makes sense)

Annnyyywayyy, can't wait to hear the opinions. Thanks for taking the time to read this too!

[Candy_Bang]

The Glow n Show body differences are normal but I can't remember if there was a particular reason for it beyond varying batch plastics. Don't know about Streaky's paint! 

[Sugar]

Sorry, no input here... but I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread on account of those Glow'n'Shows... I'm just too curious about them!

[Baby Sugarberry]

Most color differences can be attributed to either varying degrees of deterioration, or variation in the original batch.  You have to bear in mind how many hundreds of thousands of ponies were made each year, in different factories.   If anything the amount of consistency in G1 is far more amazing than the fact some ponies ended up a bit different! 

Someone probably just didn't measure out quite the right mix of paint pigment for that particular batch.   It's also worth remembering that material breakdown can happen even without exposure to UV - sunlight just tends to speed things up.

[Sunshine]

Good points all around! However towards the Glow 'n Show... I'm more leaning towards the actual batch of plastic properties being different (someone mixed it wrong, or, it came wrong from another factory to the pony factory, etc...) just due to the way you can really see globs, bubbles, etc inside the dark one... something that seems like isn't AS prevalent in the more "frosty" ones, though I have seen bubbles in those as well. And if I could capture it in the photo, when you look at the darker one's wing (NDS especially) in the light, it almost looks exactly like Wave 7 Blind Bags... it's that clear.

Granted, many many ponies were made but, overall we do see a lot of consistency between batches, these minor variations are enough for me to wonder about keeping doubles, which is why I ask for input... if I can save myself the space and be confident that it's something truly attributed to like... fading, or plastic breakdown, then I can move on and keep the one in better condition.

What color is Streaky's stripe supposed to be? I assume blue to match the blue color of her star brush... so I'm thinking the teal is just faded blue, but it's so uniform and so... different, I wanted to ask on that too.

[hathorcat]

There is a super minor colour difference between the Euro and US Streaky's - however we are talking minor minor difference, I wouldnt say it is as distinct as you are mentioning. So I am guessing you may have a combination of things going on with Streaky; one the small colour difference between the 2 releases followed up by some pigment balance issues which is further exacerbating it.

The colours are the same shade but different colours I know that doesnt make sense - basically the US one is a teeny bit more aqua than the Euro which is a little bluer but neither is darker or lighter than the other. But its something you would have to squint to compare a lot to be honest. Her comb in Euro and brush in the US is an aqua/teal colour but they are much darker than the stripe.

As to the Glow n Show. There is much debate on them. There are a couple of clear variants in this set other than the pink/blue heart Dazzle Glow which come about in different hair colours. However, some people do believe there is a distinct difference with Starglow [and all the others] - mainly that she comes in 2 shades; one more translucent than the other and the opaque version looking greener than the translucent one [as shown in your pictures]. However...I will admit to being a little sceptical. This particular type of plastic is notorious for becoming more cloudy with time and general plastic break down. So I honestly think thats all it is. However, if someone perhaps can explain the reasons for the difference other than that - i.e. the different releases I havent come across it as yet...perhaps someone can help us here

[Baby Sugarberry]

Short of photographic evidence from around the time of release showing variations, I don't think it's possible to ascribe a definite answer to the Glow n' Shows outside of the very obvious ones - i.e pink hearts / blue hearts Dazzelglow.

A likely scenario would be that there were some problems with the initial batch of plastic, possibly it was too thick (which would account for the many inclusions / bubbles and lack of transparency.)  The factories may have modified the formula mid-run to try and solve the problem, thus resulting in the opaque and more translucent variants.  What is almost certain is that plastic formulae varied from batch to batch, year to year, and production run to production run.  It's equally possible that these variations in formulae have caused certain batches of Glow n' Show to go more opaque than others as they aged. 

[bbassel]

Let me just see if I am following this correctly as my mind hasn't been working too well thesedays. The darker one would be the original colour and the lighter one breakdown/fading over the years unless we were to see evidence to the contrary from way back when? Does that sound about right?

[Baby Sugarberry]

There's no way to know if indeed one is a breakdown of the other for certain.  Either could be the original, they might both be, just from different batches.

[bbassel]

Oh yes forgot about the different batches. That is why I wanted to make sure. Thanks for the help. They are both lovely and my favourite from the set

[Sunshine]

Yes that's more along the lines of what I was thinking - that the batches of plastic definitely had some differing properties, maybe experimental... and changed things along the way to work better, etc...

I always want to stress that I'm not posting about these ponies to say, "Omgosh I own a super rare variant pony!" - more along the lines of, "Gosh I don't want doubles of EVERYTHING"...

So in the opinions of ya'll... which one of the Star Glow's is "in better shape" from my pictures? THAT is one question I'm struggling with. Both have silky soft hair, both have nice symbols, no other major issues... so, between this HUGE noticeable variation in plastic... I am really struggling with "which one is more Near Mint" or "near Original"...? Any input?

And thank you all for responding. I appreciate the insights! I may post a photo of the two Streaky's once I get the other cleaned up, or before... it's definitely along the lines of pigment break down, but the fact that both sides are evenly colored and that the other colors are not as susceptible to pigment breakdown (apparently) it's always a little mind boggling that things can "fade" and "change" so... uniformly!

[Wysteria]

I have had quite a few GNS ponies come through my house and I'd say the opaque ones aren't as common as the clearer ones. I have the same variations of Star Glow, and the other 3 as well but I think I sold my opaque Bright glow. My MOC set are all clearer I think. I know ones in the UK and possibly Canada came with ribbons unlike the US. There are MANY factory differences between all kinds of ponies especially between Hong Kong and China versions of the same ponies. They may be slight but my favorites are the summer wings-wing/symbol variations, TAF babies-color variations/hair streaks, Sweetberry ponies-Euro ponies don't have forlocks/some scented more/bosenberry color variant, Pearly Babies-color variants, and the glow n shows-opaque vs clear and hair streaks vary.

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My girl on the left is opaque and has blue streaks not teal like the other two. This one I don't think I've ever seen an opaque one with teal.

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It's hard to tell in this photo, but the blue streaked Happy Glow is also opaque.
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In the case of the Glow n Shows, it's definetly a factory batch thing, I haven't seen any of these breaking down yet.

ETA: I would keep your opaque Star Glow;) The other has a bad eye rub it looks like. Plus I think in her case, it's nicer to be able to see her symbol better;)

[hathorcat]

By "breaking down" though I don't necessarily mean plasticiser or damage...I just mean that it is very common for translucent plastics to "age" and in doing so the plastic becomes cloudy. As mentioned we are never going to know 100% and there is no doubt a contributory factor which stems from different batches over extended manufacturing times, but I honestly believe that a lot of the issue in the differences comes from plastic changing over time.

[Sunshine]

I have had quite a few GNS ponies come through my house and I'd say the opaque ones aren't as common as the clearer ones. I have the same variations of Star Glow, and the other 3 as well but I think I sold my opaque Bright glow. My MOC set are all clearer I think. I know ones in the UK and possibly Canada came with ribbons unlike the US. There are MANY factory differences between all kinds of ponies especially between Hong Kong and China versions of the same ponies. They may be slight but my favorites are the summer wings-wing/symbol variations, TAF babies-color variations/hair streaks, Sweetberry ponies-Euro ponies don't have forlocks/some scented more/bosenberry color variant, Pearly Babies-color variants, and the glow n shows-opaque vs clear and hair streaks vary.

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My girl on the left is opaque and has blue streaks not teal like the other two. This one I don't think I've ever seen an opaque one with teal.

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It's hard to tell in this photo, but the blue streaked Happy Glow is also opaque.
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In the case of the Glow n Shows, it's definetly a factory batch thing, I haven't seen any of these breaking down yet.

ETA: I would keep your opaque Star Glow;) The other has a bad eye rub it looks like. Plus I think in her case, it's nicer to be able to see her symbol better;)

Thanks so much, these photos are great. I LOVE your vars with the blue vs aqua hair colors - now THAT is something I can see being different (I have some Majesty's that have that var).
The eye rub I may repair... I do think I like the lighter one a bit better as far as the colors go (especially now that I also have to get the tail rust out of the other, and will have to replace the washer with a ziptie, which can be sorta seen in those ponies... ) I will probably want to keep the lighter more opaque one as well.

The bottom line is... Side by side - if NOTHING was different condition-wise on these two ponies - EXCEPT this difference in plastic, that they'd carry the same value, be considered the same condition, if being sold separately, right? (That's not true for these two, obviously, but hypothetically?)

[hathorcat]

Yes, personally I think it makes no difference in price - mainly as whether it is as simple as a batch difference or as annoying as plastic deteriorating and clouding over, right now at this time we cant prove it is either way. So you will have people looking for both verisons yes, but you ll have most who will be happy with just one. And without the demand they have equal value. 

The only time I would think it would be expected to pay more is for the blue haired variants of Dazzle and Happy - those are clear variants and can be tougher to track down and are a little more sought after.

But then again - you could well find someone looking for Dazzles which look different and are therefore happy to pay a premium.