Customizing Mountain Boys...?

[Filthy]

I think that "Ice Crystal" used to be Quarterback. The Fireball looks like himself unfortunately. Personally I do not like the idea of customizing a rare pony (like MB) if it can be restored. The person wanting to customize could always swap the "bait" to a similar but not so rare one as I'm sure there would be someone willing to save a pony like that.


I don't want to sound mean but.. I 'know' someone who likes to customize a lot but that person sucks at it, seriously. Probably the worst I've seen. I nearly choked on my coffee when I saw that this person had customized Thundercloud into a horrible piece of..work. That Thundercloud had good paintwork and original hair, he had some age and cancer spots but with some paint to cover them up he could have been restored easily! The "artist" had added pics of how the customizing proceeded which made the situation worse as you could see that Thundercloud could have been saved by someone. The customs look like they were made by a six year old and the "artist" is around 30, I'm not kidding. If some of the Finnish members here read this, you'll probably know who I'm talking about... The person is a collector so must have been aware of the value of the pony..

[Vintergatan]

OMG Filthy, this is the kind of horror story you tell at Halloween :S:S So horrible

[Snapdragon]

yeah... i was kinda mean... but from a financial standpoint i think they could have made more money with a reaaallly beat up mountain boy.  :/ and i am sad about it... but i AM thinking about bidding so i can have a mountain boy... if it goes for cheap enough that is... then i'd probably make him look back to his original state.... but that's just what id do.  I know it would be customizing a custom, but for the right price that may be the only way i will ever get a mountain boy. 

IMO this behavior would be way worse than the sellers. I mean at this point the ponies are already customized - they have already lost all that is original about them. For you to even consider buying one and stripping it down to re-customize it is just disrespectful. Someone put a lot of work into those. 

Well, it was her pony and her choice to customize a Mountain Boy ... so if you turn that logic around, once she sells it to someone, it's now their pony, and their choice what to do with it whatever they want - display or restore.

I'm not one to encourage people to de-customize ponies, but - technically, once you own it, it's your property, and if you wanna throw it on a bonfire in sacrificial worship to the Almighty MOC Mimic Goddess, then that's your choice.

[nhal039]

I have to amit I wanted to cry when I saw those! Poor boy but at the same time the art work is amazing! Pity they werent on a common girl like peachy

[DazzleKitty]

Honestly I didn't like this. I mean....I'd happily take a bait MB I needed until I get a replacement.

So yeah....this kind sucks to see. MBs are rare and they are so limited.

[Dyzarktarzk]

I ... cringe at those posts. ALWAYS. Mountain Boys are pretty dang rare, so they must have gotten them from a car boot sale or something, for them to be cheap enough to be worth baiting. But still! It's like people who wreck vintage toys for Etsy sales or art - you might have gotten more money for the thing as it originally was, and you're just going to have collectors face-palming at it, to boot.

My thoughts exactly.

I join in -.-


But the thing on 'redoing them by removing the paint', isn't that something akin to customizing them?


I admit that these two customs are nice...  but it  hurts me to know that at least Fireball is lost, so less chances on getting one someday.


This kind of thread is sad, I like customs, but with G1 customs is...  starting to make me feel more and more sad at the loss of one of the original ponies, even starting to think on not selling my baity G1s *sigh*.

[PinkRosedust]

yeah... i was kinda mean... but from a financial standpoint i think they could have made more money with a reaaallly beat up mountain boy.  :/ and i am sad about it... but i AM thinking about bidding so i can have a mountain boy... if it goes for cheap enough that is... then i'd probably make him look back to his original state.... but that's just what id do.  I know it would be customizing a custom, but for the right price that may be the only way i will ever get a mountain boy. 

IMO this behavior would be way worse than the sellers. I mean at this point the ponies are already customized - they have already lost all that is original about them. For you to even consider buying one and stripping it down to re-customize it is just disrespectful. Someone put a lot of work into those. 

Well since the buyer would then be the owner, they would be able to do what they wish, right? No different than what the seller did when customizing the pony in the first place, when you think about it.  The seller clearly knows at least SOMETHING about ponies. I think they knew what they were doing and what ponies they were baiting in this instance (I mean, they ARE using the original names). To me personally, and clearly many others here, that in itself is kind of disrespectful, because that's one less MB for allll the collectors who would love to have one. Just offering a view from the other side...I wouldn't quite encourage this on a great custom that someone put a lot of effort into, but personally it wouldn't bother me, either, because that pony would still be lovingly restored, and one more collector would be really happy just to have the original body (and freckles! Can't forget those freckles) of a Mountain Boy.

They look like customs with a specific plan in mind. Those where the baits that fit the mental image. So they used them. Mounain Boys are sought after, but they are not rare. On any given week, there is at least one MB auction. To me, they are in the same group as mimic....pricy but accessable.
 

.

Even if that's the case, they're still ponies that are hard to get a hold of. Especially being that they weren't widely released like many other G1s, and since they go for high prices and are, as you said, sought after...I wouldn't exactly call them easily accessible. They're not the type of pony that shows up in every bait lot, and almost no collectors would sell them as such, even in the worst shape. :/ A haircut, some cancer stains, and rubbed symbols wouldn't bother me on a very uncommon pony. =)

[aellos]

Eeek- I guess each to their own. DX It's the whole not taking a comic out of it's plastic ordeal.

But stilll eeek. This is why I only customize G4s. DX

[Ringlets]

It makes me soooo sad to see this was a real MB Fireball that was used             Whats done is done though and there is nothing we can do to make it better. The customs are very nice - both of them, which is one good thing I guess

[TokiBear]

Poor Fireball... poor poor Fireball... It makes me sad to think that another MB is gone... I want to get my hands on them someday but no we're down one Fireball.  Le sigh...

[ZettaMomo]

I am somewhat on the fence about this one. I usually stick away from customizing G1s for reasons like this, especially since I am still learning and my customs are not that great.
Usually I stick with customizing G3s and G4s and I take a quick look into their value before I even think about prepping them to bait just to make sure they are not rare.

It is sad to see two boys go like this, especially since they are so rare... But maybe they truly were in a baity condition and this is their chance at a 'new life'.
They are very beautiful looking customs and I hope someone gives them a good home.

[steffers29madds]

Customising has become so popular, and with such a huge influx of new FiM fans, people just don't think that anything could possibly be rare, they just see a pony and they want to make it "pretty" for some money.

It's infuriating, and really really sad, but eh, what are you gonna do? The damage has already been done

lol...This was almost my exact reaction when I saw these a few days ago. I thought it was unfortunate but then didn't give it another thought, probably because there are so many other things in my life that take my time and attention, even though Ice Crystal is my grail. I love my ponies but realize I won't be taking them with me when I go .

[kittybethy]

{This is just a friendly reminder to keep things civil -KB}

[hlbmlp]

yeah... i was kinda mean... but from a financial standpoint i think they could have made more money with a reaaallly beat up mountain boy.  :/ and i am sad about it... but i AM thinking about bidding so i can have a mountain boy... if it goes for cheap enough that is... then i'd probably make him look back to his original state.... but that's just what id do.  I know it would be customizing a custom, but for the right price that may be the only way i will ever get a mountain boy. 

IMO this behavior would be way worse than the sellers. I mean at this point the ponies are already customized - they have already lost all that is original about them. For you to even consider buying one and stripping it down to re-customize it is just disrespectful. Someone put a lot of work into those. 

Well, it was her pony and her choice to customize a Mountain Boy ... so if you turn that logic around, once she sells it to someone, it's now their pony, and their choice what to do with it whatever they want - display or restore.

I'm not one to encourage people to de-customize ponies, but - technically, once you own it, it's your property, and if you wanna throw it on a bonfire in sacrificial worship to the Almighty MOC Mimic Goddess, then that's your choice.

sorry... im a customizer, toy restorer and an artist.  If someone bought my work and redid it or painted over, yeah i might be a little upset, but it is theirs and i have the money.  Personally i would never price my work so cheap to start out.  and he's only 20$ so far... im not going to buy him... my money is needed eslewhere.  He's nice, but it would be so tempting to just make him normal again.  I do hope that people love this custom and that he goes for a really nice price for the seller. But if i saw him in a gallery for 30$ i would so nab him.  I might or might not fix him up, but it would be a temptation....especially since Fireball is my fav MB. 
From the description Fireball's eyes and freckles needed help, so his symbol and hair may have been shot too.  If i had found a G3 in that condition, i probably would have customized it... i would have researched first though... if it was rare i would have asked you all what you thought, sell as is or fix up, but... i really dont think this person thought it through....  i still think they could have gotten more for him buggered up.  There is another on ebay who is at 45$ right now and he is in "please help me" condition.  this person put all that work fixing him up and isnt getting many bids yet. hopefully that changes. if not i feel sorry for the artist, but that is a risk we artists take.
I also think that if it is your pony you can do what you like with it. It may be sad to people but it is yours... so that's my thinking behind those comments. 
sorry again. :< 

[okiegurl1981]

Def not an Icey, but yeah, the other was a Fireball.  I only customize G1's that are way past the point of no return.  Which why I've only done, I think..3 G1 customs?  The thing is guys, the damage has been done.  Now, IMO, they are both very pretty customs.   What really makes me cringe is that some of you are saying you'd buy it just to strip and return it to it's former state.  That's the same as customizing it.  It'd NEVER sale for the same abount as the original, because it would be considered a custom restoration.  :/  It really makes me a little sick to hear people say they'd buy custom's just to strip them.  I put so much of my time, and heart into my creations.  It would gut me to know someone had done that to my art.