Unpopular Pony Opinions

[brightberry]

I generally don’t like food symbols because somehow I translate that to the pony getting sticky/crumbs on her.  I don’t know where that came from but it started during childhood.

Apples and other fruit seem to get a pass though.

[StayGoldPonyboy]

If the plastic bubble is yellow/brown, its time to take the pony out

[Leave a Whisper]

If the plastic bubble is yellow/brown, its time to take the pony out

Definitely.

[Taffeta]

If the plastic bubble is yellow/brown, its time to take the pony out

For me that's the same as saying when Posey's hair fades, remove it all and leave her bald.

People advocating decarding always make me upset, knowing as I do that some ponies only exist in a few examples MOC now. With age many of those bubbles may discolour. We ought to be doing no harm to the things we have left. If you don't like a discoloured pony package, sell it to someone who does. That's always the best solution.

We have thousands of examples of loose ponies. We don't need to make more.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

If the plastic bubble is yellow/brown, its time to take the pony out

For me that's the same as saying when Posey's hair fades, remove it all and leave her bald.

People advocating decarding always make me upset, knowing as I do that some ponies only exist in a few examples MOC now. With age many of those bubbles may discolour. We ought to be doing no harm to the things we have left. If you don't like a discoloured pony package, sell it to someone who does. That's always the best solution.

We have thousands of examples of loose ponies. We don't need to make more.

Agreed. The only time I think it'd ever be okay is if the card is moldy and has the potential to harm the pony itself as a result, but that's it. Otherwise, MOC G1s should remain MOC (I'd argue this applies to G2 as well and probably also G3).

[Carrehz]

IMO if the card/bubble have degraded to the point where it's going to start affecting the pony, it's definitely time to decard. What's the point of keeping them MOC at that point?

[caseysealia]

If the plastic bubble is yellow/brown, its time to take the pony out

For me that's the same as saying when Posey's hair fades, remove it all and leave her bald.

People advocating decarding always make me upset, knowing as I do that some ponies only exist in a few examples MOC now. With age many of those bubbles may discolour. We ought to be doing no harm to the things we have left. If you don't like a discoloured pony package, sell it to someone who does. That's always the best solution.

We have thousands of examples of loose ponies. We don't need to make more.

100% agreed. These things have too high a value, are too rare to be taking them out. If its moldy and degrading then that's different obviously. But yellowing seems to minor to do that.

[Ponyfan]

I also collect dolls. Some of their  window box plastic has yellowed but the dolls inside are just fine only the plastic has discolored. I would never remove the doll just because the plastic has yellowed. I feel the same about G1 MOC ponies. They should never be decarded unless the pony is being damaged due to mold etc...
We need to save the few MOC ponies that remain.



Ponyfan

[Khoufu]

Let people modify or decard their own possessions without making them feel bad.  Shouldn't be an unpopular opinion but it seems to be.

[milkywaymochi]

I'm a bit on the fence about decarding, but not for the reason you might think.

I totally get both arguements for and against it, but I could never have a MOC or MIB pony. (and not just because of the price)

see, I have this overload of empathy and so I actually feel sorry for mint in package ponies, because I can't help thinking that they look trapped and miserable, even though I know they're just plastic. So if I got a mint pony, I'd feel so bad for her that I would have to decard her and rescue her...and then I'd get hung, drawn and quartered by the collecting community.

[Leave a Whisper]

I'm a bit on the fence about decarding, but not for the reason you might think.

I totally get both arguements for and against it, but I could never have a MOC or MIB pony. (and not just because of the price)

see, I have this overload of empathy and so I actually feel sorry for mint in package ponies, because I can't help thinking that they look trapped and miserable, even though I know they're just plastic. So if I got a mint pony, I'd feel so bad for her that I would have to decard her and rescue her...and then I'd get hung, drawn and quartered by the collecting community.

I'm uh...I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel this way sometimes.

[poniesthatsparkle]

While I personally wouldn't decard a pony that easily, I don't mind if others do. They bought it, it's their pony, they can do whatever they want with it.

Yes, it's good to preserve things but people are still free to do what they want with the things they own. Ponies don't belong to the community. They belong to the person who bought them. Let people decard ponies and customize rare ones.  It can be hard to see this happen but it's not your place to tell people what they can and cannot do with their property.

[Taffeta]

see, I have this overload of empathy and so I actually feel sorry for mint in package ponies, because I can't help thinking that they look trapped and miserable, even though I know they're just plastic. So if I got a mint pony, I'd feel so bad for her that I would have to decard her and rescue her...and then I'd get hung, drawn and quartered by the collecting community.

This explanation always amazes me, because ponies are toys and made of plastic. However much you want to feel sorry for them, they still cannot respond to that feeling.

And yet decarding a pony can potentially remove the last example of something from the collecting community forever. We are at that stage with several ponies from the UK, some of which are not known to exist.

And it may be that someone's grail is that MOC you just opened. I don't understand why it's more ok to destroy a human being's hopes of obtaining a grail because you feel bad for the lump of plastic. Isn't that the wrong way around? Surely the person matters more?

On the other note, to do what you want to your pony - it's a redundant argument nowadays when MOC ponies are much more hard to find, expensive and at a premium. Unless you fluke find one at a second hand sale for a pittance, chances are that to get a MOC pony you have to buy her from auction or another collector online.

That means you have to actively move in the buying and selling arena to obtain one, and in doing so, you are competing against MOC collectors who would keep the item pristine. And if you bought from here, for example, you would probably be buying from a MOC collector who may have preserved and protected that item for years but might have to part for it for need of money.

I think we have a right to call out people who are actively moving against other collectors in that manner. It's no longer about private property when to obtain that property you're deliberately blocking someone else from obtaining their goal. If the person's goal is not a MOC item, why buy one?

I mean, I don't collect Piggy ponies. If I were to buy one and then cut all its hair off, I suspect I'd get a lot of backlash from the people who collect them, especially if it was a super rare example. Of course I would. And decarding is exactly the same as this, it just affects a different type of collector.

On another note, having been here this long, and remembering the time in which there were many many more cheaper MOC items and decarders, I have seen ad nauseum the excuse "I will never sell it". This is fairly untrue, I've seen a lot of decarders resell their collections at later points. So in the end it's often not just about "your property". THe price and rarity of MOC has gone up steadily thanks to these serial decarders, too. That means that MOC collectors not only find it harder to obtain items, but also have to spend more. Those two things give MOC collectors the right to comment. The actions of decarders impact them, so why should they not be allowed to say so?

I remember a discussion once where someone selling MOC refused to sell to a decarder. In that discussion the seller was told they didn't have a choice to not sell to the decarder because an owner can do what they like with their pony. That completely ignored the fact that, until a sale was agreed, the MOC item was the property of the seller, and they absolutely had the right to choose who to sell to or otherwise. Unfortunately the "I can do what I like" argument is only ever used to validate destructive behaviour of some kind. It doesn't seem to count for people who want to preserve their items.

I would personally rather empathise with fellow collectors and do no harm to the pony items that go through my hands than worry about empathising with lumps of plastic hidden in packaging.

But if you want to look at it from that point of view, a lot of the MOC ponies are common loose and will pass through several hands unwanted in their loose form. Yet a MOC pony will always have a place where s/he is valued and prized by someone, because of the pristine state. If you want to empathise with a toy, maybe feel sorrier for all the loose ponies out there unwanted in lots of bait than the ones people actually want to display and love in their collections for being special. The ones that end up in garbage or in landfill because they are unwanted. Why create another one of those when there exists a loose version already that you could give a home to?

In other words, selective empathy makes even less sense than empathy for toys over people.

And that is where I am done on this topic, as the mods will come in and will probably close down this thread if it continues on this subject...

So back onto the unpopular opinion topic in general...

I don't mind that there were no adult unicorn boy ponies or pegasus boy ponies in G1.

[brightberry]

I don't mind that there were no adult unicorn boy ponies or pegasus boy ponies in G1.

Neither do I. 

[Leave a Whisper]

It is wrong to try and pressure a seller to sell to someone they don't want to.

However if a toy comes into your possession, it is yours to decardor keep on the card if one wishes too. After all, cardboard doesn't last forever either.

I've no prob opening up g3 ponies tbh. If i were to find an moc g1 or 2 in the wild for cheap though, I'd see if someone would be willing to trade it loose.