My first completed deflock (#SaveTheG1s)

[RainbowQuartz]

I started collecting again about a year ago and decided I wanted to do everything I can to restore G1s that have issues (from minor to major.) Since so softs tend to be a hot mess more often than not, learning to deflock and give a pony new life without altering who she is meant to be seemed like a cool thing to do.

I finished my first total deflock today!

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Spoiler

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My sister sent me this Magic Star that she found (I can't remember where.) She didn't have the time to deflock her and knew that I wanted to figure out how to do it.

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I boiled a pot of water and added a scoop of oxyclean. In she went with my Shady (who needs more work so her after pics aren't going to be in this post.)

Surprisingly, the oxy bath was all she needed. All of the flocking and glue came off easily with the nail brush that I use to clean all of my ponies!

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Magic Star is looking pretty cute, imo.  Her hair is still wet but I couldn't wait to take after shots. 

How do you feel about deflocked ponies?

[vira]

she looks great!! you did quite a nice job, and really freshened her up! :-)

i only have one so soft pony, posey! even though im not a huge fan of them, her flocking is in very good condition, she she gets to stay fuzzy ;-)

if i get my hands on any with poor flocking, i'll probably try to deflock them like you!

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

she looks amazing!! I had no idea how people de flocked these!!! 

[Itcheeee]

She looks great, even better deflocked I think Never knew it was so easy to do. Now I'm tempted to deflock some of my bad thrift flocked ponies

[KC8114]

She looks incredible; great job!  I have always wanted to try and deflock.  How long did you boil them in the oxybath?

[RainbowQuartz]

Thanks, everyone!

I boiled the water and added a scoop of oxy once it boiled, then put the ponies in (heads off) and shut off the burner. I left them in until the water cooled down.

I think this is an atypical case. Usually the oxy bath alone won't clear all of the flocking. My Shady still has a lot of glue and some flocking residue on her symbols and needed a lot of acetone and scrubbing on the rest of her body after this. I'm going to have to use other methods to remove the glue and residue from her symbols.

I'm hoping to save a messed up version of every so soft via deflocking and have a nice flocked version as well for my collection.

[Khayman81]

She is really cute, amazing that she needed only an oxy clean bath. Normally my deflocked ones need to scrub hard, and some of them even harder.
You did a great job.

[BethyVic]

Your Magic Star looks beautiful!  It kind of looks like you were making pony stew for dinner.  I think some of the SS ponies look better as a deflock, like Twist or Taffy maybe.    I have 10 So Softs but they all have nice flocking.  However, if I got one whose flocking was patchy I would definitely try to deflock her.  A few years ago I got some So Softs that had been in a dirty garage for years and I sent them to a woman here who did a fantastic job cleaning their bodies and flocking while keeping the flocking intact.   

[Artemesia's Garden]

Wow she looks great. I guess it all depends on the condition of the glue. I love de-flocks

[daffodil101]

I love deflocked Magic Star!  She's so bright and clean! 

[RainbowQuartz]

Thanks, everyone! I definitely would never deflock a pony that had good flocking. As you can see in her before pictures, Magic Star was beyond saving flocking-wise. My Shady was the same way. I have a few flocked ponies that have beautiful flocking and they will remain so softs.

[Baby Sugarberry]

Be careful in the future with boiling chartreuse haired ponies like Shady - they can and often do bleed colour when exposed to heat/oxyclean.  Since Magic Star is yellow already it probably won't show, but better safe than sorry.

Magic Star's rather well known to be the easiest pony to deflock - seems like the glue they used on her (or maybe something in her plastic formula) makes it particularly easy to remove.  Shady on the other hand... I wish you luck!

[Taffeta]

I like deflocks of ponies Hasbro didn't make in the regular form. Last year I picked up two abused SS ponies from ponycon, Twilight and Hippety Hop, and thanks to the hard work of Artie here, they are now stunning deflocks. She also finished off a Best Wishes who was really bald and she looks amazing too. The only other proper deflock I have is Ribbon, and to me she's the proper Ribbon that ought to have been released in the UK but for some reason wasn't (even though she is in backcard stories). She matches baby Ribbon perfectly that way.

I am more iffy about deflocking ponies that have almost identical regular counterparts (Truly and Cupcake especially) because of the risk of confusion. But there are a lot of SS ponies for which those counterparts don't exist, or exist in a different form, and with them? If they're beat up and worn, deflocking seems a smart thing to do.

[Sweet_Stuff]

Ooooh, she's so pretty without her flocking! 
Magic Star was my first SS pony from childhood...[I'm pretty sure she was my second childhood pony ever, she had to have been.. if not second then third! hah]

Can't wait to see more of your deflocks!

[Shy Violet]

She looks beautiful! I'm also hoping to have a flocked and deflocked version of each of them. I'm on my 3rd. Paradise was really easy to deflock, it came off in an oxy bath just like your Magic Star. Wind Whistler and North Star I'm still working on, their flocking is being super stubborn. I normally wouldn't deflock North Star since I already have her UK counterpart but I found her at the thrift store and her flocking was in bad shape.