The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: Wardah on March 26, 2018, 11:27:42 AM
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I have noticed that when I find ponies at the thrift store the G3s and occasional older ones will usually be in fairly decent condition but the G4s often have something really wrong with them. Like they will be half chewed by a dog or have hair cuts or be drawn on. Has anyone else noticed this?
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Not in my experience, the parents are just more willing to donate their trash than in previous years when you actually sifted through things to donate items in good condition. Because ALL of my ponies looked like nightmares when I was done with them in the mid 80s.
The very first thing I did to my very first pony (Twilight) was draw extra stars all over her within a month of having her. And horseshoes under her hooves.
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doubt it.
Maybe more people in the past threw away "destroyed" items vs donating garbage.
I sadly know people who only donate poor condition things to "the poor" which means thrifts. If they have nice things they sell them instead.
I do notice newer toys ARE far more sensitive to fading or discoloration from hand oils/handling. the hair quality is more frizz prone as well.
My guess is the metal pigments, and other not so nice things for health, but made for a more durable item in old ponies for much of that disparity.
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Yet to ever see a wrecked G4 or G3 but I've seen many wrecked G1 in my lifetime...
Albeit some of them may have had many homes.
The worst I have seen for a G3 is a Daffydazey with a really stained symbol, but that's seriously not hard to make happen, given that it's fabric.
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Nope. Depends on the individual kid.
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My theory for this is hard to put down. Perhaps people just donate toys that they would otherwise throw away because they are attempting to be environmentally-conscious, or there is less..."screening" for sellable donations. Toys that are seen as trash by children are more likely to swap hands than toys that are well-kept and forgotten in attics. In many years, perhaps there will be more well-kept G4 ponies and G3 ponies will become about as rare as G1s are in the wild (not exactly but...y'know).
I haven't seen any G4s that are as roughed up as the G3 ponies I see. They're usually written on or have haircuts that are more dramatic than the "show accurate" ones that are more common on G4 ponies.
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When I think back to the stuff my brother and I did to our toys then no, I don't think kids are any more destructive these days.
Main difference was probably that we had to live with the consequences - the toys were not replaced, end of. We soon learnt to either look after them, play with them 'as is' or how to mend them :)
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I think parents are perhaps more aware that childhood is short lived and kids don't keep their toys as long as previous generations. They allow kids to do whatever they want with cheap toys. it's better to wreck a $10 pony than the iPad or phone they'll be asking for in a few years. More often I see parents helping their children sell their toys so they can spend the money on whatever is their current favourite thing.
We're definitely in a period of getting rid of things no longer used so I imagine that less people are holding onto things for their own children.
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I think people in general are more destructive :huh:
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I think part of it is, things seem less "built to last" nowadays. If that makes sense. I've noticed older toys lasting years looking just like they came fresh out of the box, but newer toys degrading very quickly.
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I was hard on all of my toys with the exception of ponies and even they got dunked in water, scuffed up and left in braids. We only got new toys at Christmas or birthdays and not very many of them. As a result, they had to endure years of rough housing and being left to the elements. It didn't matter though because we loved them anyway.
Plus, you can learn a lot by taking things apart, seeing what happens when ink touches plastic, cutting hair and so on. Seeing a wrecked toy only makes me think that toy did a lot of teaching. That's what toys were suppose to do. But now toys are seen as collectors items, or potential collector's items and sometimes it's hard to remember that wasn't their original purpose.
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I was always very gentle with my toys. My childhood G3 ponies are near mint! But they're probably the only toys I treated so well. The majority my toys ended up broken, missing pieces, or left outside to end up faded and covered in dirt.
My niece, however, is much worse with her toys. Just about every toy she gets ends up broken, covered in stickers, and overall very beaten up within days of her getting it. Just about every pony she's gotten has ended up with frizzy, matted hair in just an hour or two. Not to mention she once ripped all the hair out of one of my G3 ponies meant for my collection...
I don't think children these days are any rougher than previous generations. If anything, it's the toys that are now more fragile than ever.
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Main difference was probably that we had to live with the consequences - the toys were not replaced, end of. We soon learnt to either look after them, play with them 'as is' or how to mend them :)
I think you might have something there. Ponies are rather cheap these days. Kids can get one for the cost of a couple king size candy bars. When they are that easy to replace kids don't care if they leave one out where puppy can get it or if their customization efforts go wrong.
I think part of it is, things seem less "built to last" nowadays. If that makes sense. I've noticed older toys lasting years looking just like they came fresh out of the box, but newer toys degrading very quickly.
Im not talking about degrading, I'm talking about things that are clearly intentional. (I mean I know getting chewed by a puppy isn't quite intentional but leaving toys out where a puppy can get it is so it counts).
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today's society focuses on convenience and fast consumerism (like what you hear in the term, "fast fashion"). most kids only got toys as rewards for good grades/holidays/birthdays. Not because "we were in the checkout and this just looked SO CUTE I had to buy it".
most parents in the 80's were not able to easily obtain credit the way that one can today. the idea of racking up hundreds of dollars in debt on "plastic" was just not done. Not unless your mom had like, a Tupperware lady that harassed her every month for more sales, LOL!
Now people are cool with paying $3 for a shirt made in a sweatshop, and they'll fill a bag with 'em, then go drink their Frappucino and play on their mobile phone. And that shirt will get a hole or a rip or get stained within months of owning it, and out goes the customer to buy a new one...
I would say that for the vast majority of people growing up in the 80/90's, their parents were making ends meet BUT!!! shopping wasn't a hobby to pass the time, the way it is now! remember, no Amazon, no ebay, no flash sales and no free shipping. we went shopping for things we couldn't make ourselves - not just because we had money in the bank or a CC that never declined...
because of this, toys and everything else are no longer manufactured to last more than a few years. :( Unless you are super picky about your quality and brands...
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I was guilty of being 'creative' with mine when I was a kid. I dont think its a generation thing. Id agree that much might have to do with how things are made.
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Absolutely not. I found many G1s with chew marks and haircuts in the 90s (when they were plentiful in thrift shops) and I also see lots of G3s with haircuts. And remember Sid from Toy Story? Yeah, his antics were based on the memories of the people working on the show, who said they used to blow up G.I. Joes with firecrackers, etc. RIP, "Combat Carl." ;)
Also I don't think it's accurate to say it's 'destruction' in case of kids drawing on toys, etc. I was gentle with my ponies but with my other toys . . . hoooo boy! I cut tail holes in doll clothes so my stuffed animals could wear them, I put eyeshadow in a blond doll's hair (and it never came out) and covered her face with make-up, I painted a bunch of my plastic toy animals black because I was pretending they were doing that scene in 101 Dalmatians where the dogs roll in soot to hide from Cruella.
I don't think I was "being destructive", even if I was interacting with toys in a way that would have made them "damaged" in the eyes of a collector. I was just having fun and relating to my toys in my own way. :)
Edit: Also the reason we don't see as many ratty G1s on eBay any more is that they are gradually removed from the community and customized. And that it's just not worth it to list a baity Cotton Candy, unless she is in a lot with other bait. No one even wants to pay shipping on a beat-up common pony when they could buy a good condition one for $4. But believe me, there were P-L-E-N-T-Y of ratty, chewed, drawn-on, haircut, you name it, G1s around in the 90s.
I've actually noticed that the other gens don't get pen marks on them as much. I wonder if G1 plastic is easier to write on? G3s often have that slightly shiny/slick plastic and G2s & G4s have harder plastic bodies than G1.
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today's society focuses on convenience and fast consumerism (like what you hear in the term, "fast fashion"). most kids only got toys as rewards for good grades/holidays/birthdays. Not because "we were in the checkout and this just looked SO CUTE I had to buy it".
most parents in the 80's were not able to easily obtain credit the way that one can today. the idea of racking up hundreds of dollars in debt on "plastic" was just not done. Not unless your mom had like, a Tupperware lady that harassed her every month for more sales, LOL!
Now people are cool with paying $3 for a shirt made in a sweatshop, and they'll fill a bag with 'em, then go drink their Frappucino and play on their mobile phone. And that shirt will get a hole or a rip or get stained within months of owning it, and out goes the customer to buy a new one...
I would say that for the vast majority of people growing up in the 80/90's, their parents were making ends meet BUT!!! shopping wasn't a hobby to pass the time, the way it is now! remember, no Amazon, no ebay, no flash sales and no free shipping. we went shopping for things we couldn't make ourselves - not just because we had money in the bank or a CC that never declined...
because of this, toys and everything else are no longer manufactured to last more than a few years. :( Unless you are super picky about your quality and brands...
Don't be so blase' babysquirmy. :mad: The Tupperware Mafia is no laughing matter.
:silly: