It’s time again for my annual attempt to sort and organize everything in my collection... In doing so, I’ve made some interesting observations regarding the effects of different storage methods on ponies and vinyl dolls... I would love to hear any anecdotal discoveries from others who have kept MLPs (or just toys in general) in storage for extended amounts of time! I debate with myself often on what the best/safest way to store things is...
Example 1: G1 ponies. I stored them in direct contact with each other, in cardboard boxes. Aside from a couple of easily-remedied bent horns, they came out looking fine. I’m inclined to believe that “ye olde“ vinyl toys must have used much stronger stabilizers in the plastics, as has long been discussed here...
Example 2: G3 ponies. Stored in the same way as the G1 ponies above. Out of all of them, the only color bleeding occurred when a white, early G3 (softer vinyl) pony was pressed up against an orange, later G3 Scootaloo (harder vinyl, turning head type). Everything else, including my bright orange Sparkleworks army, did fine. Has anyone else seen evidence of late G3 ponies transferring color more easily?
Aside from that, there has been the odd sticky cutie mark on the G3s, but no major problems. Most of my G3s were bought secondhand, and some had stickiness when they first arrived, so that may just be an inevitable part of how the paint sealer ages. (It clears up with a bit of dishsoap and gentle scrubbing.)
A few G3s ended up stashed away in unsealed ziploc bags for 5+ years, and seem to have suffered no ill effects (other than some wasps that decided to crawl into the bags and die—what a fun surprise that was).
Example 3: Equestria Girls. I’ve kept my EQGs in a few different places, depending on when I bought them and packed them up. The most obvious thing I’ve noticed is that the original wave of EQGs (much like early G4 ponies) AGE HORRIBLY. My first wave Pinkie now has a completely orange head, with no trace of the original color. Rarity’s head has yellowed badly, and Celestia’s head from the doll/pony set has turned off-white. Comparatively, my later wave dolls of the same characters look perfect. I had the originals stored in unsealed, acid-free, foodsafe bread bags (not Ziploc type, but a more crinkly, clear plastic). The Rainbow Rocks and later waves were stored identically in the same box, and suffered no ill effects. Other EQGs were kept in a sunless room on open shelving, or stored stacked on top of one another (no bags or tissue) in a cardboard box. No method seems to have caused more deterioration than another.
Upon doing some investigating, I discovered NIB EQGs on Ebay who had severe head/body mismatch. Does anyone have a Wave 1 Pinkie or Rarity without this problem? It seems to have happened to basically every doll I’ve seen for sale.
Example 4: Monster High. I have hundreds of these, and they really run the gamut in terms of aging. Sometimes white vinyl yellows, as with Rarity/Celestia, other times white HAIR turns an icky grey-yellow color. My Meowlody and Purrsephone suffered the hair issue, but were exposed to sunlight on occasion from their shelf. On the other hand, I’m also seeing yellowing of both hair and plastic in dolls that have been in dark, sealed cardboard boxes for years (some bagged, some not). I can’t see any differences between the dolls who were bagged, and those who were simply stacked. As far as my observations go, neither has affected the aging process. Meowlody and Purrsephone did yellow earlier (presumably) from exposure to mild sunlight. Dolls that were in direct contact with each others‘ hair sometimes had gel/product stuck to them, but it cleans up fine.
Example 5: Transformers (various ages). Definitely the easiest to store—no pesky vinyl to change color on you (not most of the time, anyway). Came out of storage looking brand new after being stored in plastic breadbags for years.
Would love to hear what you guys have discovered, and what works best for you in terms of storage! I’ve long heard that you should never leave plastic in contact with other plastic, for fear of fumes and gases being given off that could accelerate aging... I’m curious about what types of plastic were involved in these cases. The bread bags make storage so much easier, and I haven’t seen any negative effects... Does anyone have personal experience with this?
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I also want to start a fan club for Frizzy Bell.
Uuuuuugh.
I had a frightening episode with my insurance provider recently, and I know how mind-numbingly stressful it can be. 