Thoughts about upgrading ponies.

[kingluke]

Hello everyone,

I went through my (g1) herd and found some ponies I couldn't bond with due to their flaws.
I want to upgrade them but I do feel bad. Plus rehoming can be difficult.

I am going to replace them/ see if somebody can fix them.

What are your thougts on/experience with upgrades?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

[tailrustedtealeaf]

G1 are pretty easy to sell for the right price if you're just looking to swap. What are the flaws on yours?

[DracoKat]

I like to try to fix them myself. I tend to "bond" better with ponies that I can personally fix, whether I rehair or sunfade or touch up the symbol paint myself.

of course I enjoy restoring ponies

[goddessofpeep]

Ponies tend to have different paths in my collection, usually determined when I get them.

Childhood ponies, gift ponies, and ponies that get associated with particular happy memories stay in the collection, regardless of condition.  If they aren’t in the best condition, I will upgrade, but I keep both.

Ponies that I buy that have no sentimental attachment,  and are in less than acceptable condition, get tossed straight into the trade bin. I don’t even try to bond with them though I will clean them up to truly assess their condition before consigning them to the bin.

[SkyCakes]

I do have a few upgrades. Though it doesnt bother me much. I dont mind upgrading once in awhile. I havent it done that in a long time though.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I only tend to get upgrades when I know the pony has a plastic ageing issue. Sometimes though I give up on having that character in my collection if the problem seems to be with all of them. I can't cope with Gingerbread or Sweetie (Sweet Stuff), I just kept waiting to find something wrong all the time. Luckily BF helped out with those. Occasionally i choose a different version if several are available, like Italian Trickles and UK Confetti. Plastic ageing is one thing that's hard to spot when you buy and irreversible. Other than that I can usually spot flaws and avoid those that I can't deal with.

I will ignore certain flaws, like earring holes if the pony is rare. I'm happy to have ponies with repairs if they look good. For example, a ragged haircut might become a neat fin. My Sparkle Sky Rocket looks good like this in my opinion. If I add paint or hair I initial the bottom although I never intend to sell, as with my Ember's Dream. Sometimes I use ponywear to hide a flaw, or a completely alternative tail can be fun if the real one is absent. Candy Apple has no hair of her own. She wears a Grooming Parlour bonnet with customised yellow flowers, an alternative pink ribbon and a rainbow tail. I see no reason to replace her since I don't like her original hair much anyway. So I guess a lot depends on the pony.

I do have a couple of carrier bags worth of stuff to sell soon, including some ponies I upgraded. If no-one wants them I will donate them probably. The fun is in collecting for me. I used to break even between buying and sales, but now it doesn't bother me. Like goddessofpeep I have kept some sentimental ponies plus an upgrade if they are important to my collection.

You can see a lot of my ponies here, including some pretty obvious flaws and repairs: https://florencemeade.com/#jp-carousel-1051 Pretty vision has the tip of a ear missing, June Rose is yellowing, Baby Sunbright has had a haircut at some point and took a lot of cleaning and styling to tidy up. I'm fine with the way she looks now. We had some bad haircuts when we were kids! Mirror Mirror is a bit scuffed, but Magic Message ponies are often worse than scuffed. Daisy Sweet's ears have stained yellow I just noticed as well. The same colour also bleeds on Ringlet as well. I don't mind it enough to upgrade.

[kingluke]

G1 are pretty easy to sell for the right price if you're just looking to swap. What are the flaws on yours?

I have a ss twilight with decent but yellowed in spots flocking
A ft baby fifi with a huge head/body mismatch
A brush and grow princess star gleamer with thin and discoloured hair
A winger pony fluffy with bad and poorly recoloured hair and possible marker spots
A blueberry baskets  with ink all over her face and some on her body

I also have a baby rainribbon with a huge head/body mismatch

br]Post Merge: October 13, 2022, 02:56:04 AM

Thanks for all your replies. It's great to have some insight.

[Mami Tomoe]

I have upgraded ponies not intentionally but I haven't done it with my childhood ponies though.

[Minty_Magic]

I’ve gotten in the habit of trying to fix some of my ponies that have annoying flaws, especially if it’s a common pony! That way it makes them one of a kind and more special to me.

Some flaws aren’t fixable and really bother me though. I’ve got a Masquarade with a severe head and body mismatch that is really bothering me, but she was one of my first G1 ponies, so I have a sentimental attachment to her. I wouldn’t rehome her if I did upgrade, but it would be nice to have a nicer one for my shelf….

[Artemesia's Garden]

I’ve gotten in the habit of trying to fix some of my ponies that have annoying flaws, especially if it’s a common pony! That way it makes them one of a kind and more special to me.

Some flaws aren’t fixable and really bother me though. I’ve got a Masquarade with a severe head and body mismatch that is really bothering me, but she was one of my first G1 ponies, so I have a sentimental attachment to her. I wouldn’t rehome her if I did upgrade, but it would be nice to have a nicer one for my shelf….

Masquerade is another one I've sadly given up on because of this issue. I think I've had three now. I'm hoping that BF will re-release her. There aren't as many Pegasus in G1 as Earth Ponies and Unicorns and her symbol is so unique.

[BlackCurtains]

I don’t upgrade in the sense that I get rid of the pony I’m replacing. I have gotten better versions of ponies though. I have a gorgeous Rosedust with the most perfect pink hair and curls. She’s missing her wings but aren’t they all. Rosedust was a childhood pony and of course I kept her.

I guess I think of ponies as unique individuals. I have about 5 Raincurls and they are all different.   

[Snapdragon]

Ugh, this drives me bonkers!!

What I plan to do: buy a rough pony, plan to buy an upgrade someday and sell the rougher one.

What actually happens: I buy a rough pony, then someday buy an upgrade and keep them both because I don't want to hurt the rough pony's feelings.

I'm so good at this collecting thing!

[Barnacle_lady]

I also upgrade and sell/trade off the worse one. There are enough collectors who are less picky of the flaws. Especially if it's a hard to find pony