Bait... or?????

[Rainbowjuice]

I would never ever ever customise a G1 unless as mentioned it is truly manky (as with the case of the Posey I did not to so long ago, regrind, pindot, smooze and COVERED in biro pen, literally you couldn't see her yellow skin for the amount of pen on her. Not to mention she was rusted inside and a little bit mouldy.) She looks much better as a custom than she did beforehand.

If I come across less than mint G1's I will happily give them a clean and replace lost hair. I have a Galaxy who is less than perfect, brown spots and her head is badly faded BUT she was a major grail of mine when i was recreating my childhood herd and I don't ever remember my original Galaxy to be perfect.

We must save the not-really-baity-baits from falling into the hands of unknowing albeit willing customisers!

[Pythia]

Basically my confusion stems fro the fact that I see people advocate restoring nearly all ponies, and then see people go, "Ugh, I bought a re-hair by mistake, what a let down." so to say.

I suspect a lot of that comes from not *knowing* it was a rehair in the first place. It can be pretty diappointing to think you've just bought a totally mint, original pony and then find out it has been restored. I don't think a mint looking restore would be worth as much as a mint original, obviously - but it's going to be worth more than it was befrorehand, most likely. Unless it's a really rare nirvana or something, which most people prefer to leave as is, pretty much regardless of condition.

[tehrin]

I really like restoring ponies. After spending time on fixing up a pony, they are more personal and special than just buying it mint. Actually, I'm sort of preferring that option now.  Minty ponies are wonderful though. But I'd never consider a pony bait unless MAYBE they were a common pony, they were missing most of their hair and their paint had major rubs. I'd probably be the crazy person to resculpt ponies with chew marks too, only because I like a challenge!

[clones_rebellion]

I'm not a customizer, but I am getting more and more picky as a collector. I am also all for restoring ponies, but to me personally they are just not the same as an original factory mint pony. I can handle a pony that has been rehaired with original MLP hair, but anything else makes them less than original. The same goes for touched up eyes and symbols. Do they deserve any less love than an original? Absolutely not! But for me, the challenge of the hunt is part of the fun of collecting. I do not agree with baiting a pony just because they are less than perfect either. Some flaws actually give a pony more character and charm! (There's a Chief on eBay right now who has a mohawk. I think he's adorable!)

On the flip side, there are some customs that scream to be in a particular G1 pose. It would be ideal to use a truly manky, baity pony for the job, but that's not always possible. I feel that if a person has bought and paid for a pony, it is there's to do with as they wish. (Even if it means using a 'still collectable' pony for a custom job.) And, yes.... I expect to get fakies thrown at me for that.....      

[Elisto]

I question a lot of people's description of "bait" as well...I don't see what the big deal is if there's a scratch on the eye or the symbol's not perfect. I mean, I get wanting mint condition ponies, but sometimes it seems like some people call anything not mint/near perfect "bait"... like one "bait" I rescued here on the Arena; it had perfect hair, no discoloring, a few almost unnoticable pen/marker dots, but a some eye and symbol rubs and a little rust (that actually made the rubs less noticeable). I used her to practice touching up glitter symbols and she's in my collection now, and would have been even if I didn't restore her. I also don't understand when people consider a pony a bait because it's dirty. I mean, it has to be washed before you customize anyway, so clean it, and then decide if it's actually in bad condition.

I'm not saying a pony should never be customized; I've baited 2 G1s and customized a few G3s myself, two of which I admit were not what I would call "bait condition." But I do wish people would be a little more considerate of condition before describing ponies as "bait."

[hokuspokus]

I've seen people asking for/selling 100% mint G1s to customize. It disgusts me. I don't care if the pony is common, if it is mint, do not bait it! Ever!!!! (Speaking about G1s and G2s)

Heck I'd put most actually baity G1s right into my collection!

You read my mind.

If a G1 is very common, i can understand one wants to customize it or something. But.. i can't. I've got 5 Sundances lying around, but they still look fine to me! I bought them as baits butthey just look to pretty, i can't customize them. I don't know, it's like i want to save them in case i might be a mom someday. They will be cute and my future kids could play with them!

I also have baits in my collection. I actually sold some very minty ponies and kept the baity ones myself. They just have history, i love to see how much they have been played with. It just depend on which issues they have. Cancer is a no go, but i'm not very picky for anything else.

[SkyCakes]

I think knowing theres less and less G1s to go around makes me think of restoring ponies more seriously than I was back then. I rarely customize G1s unless its super bait like everyone has said. Cuts, no hair, marker, mold and rust together. Other than that I normally just leave them alone and find another person whos interested in restoring them if I don't have the time myself to work on them.