The signs of Internal Mold. (G1)

[An 80s Pony]

What are the exterior signs of internal mold in a G1 pony?
It would be really helpful if I can get some pictures, too; I honestly haven't gotten a good answer for this yet.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

It can be very challenging to tell... sometimes you just have to open them up!  Sealed heads/necks are only a "collectible trait" for a minority of the MLP collector population anyway. 

[Elisto]

I've only once been able to tell what's going on inside without opening it because this one was very thin and kind of translucent, so I could see a shadow inside one foot. And even then, it was rust, not mold. When it comes to mold, my thinking is, if I can't see it inside and I can't open the pony easily, then it probably doesn't matter because the mold is likely old and dead by now anyway, or will be once I let the pony dry.

[mlp4me]

I can tell you that I've had a half a dozen Apple Jacks with interior rust. They look purple instead of orange. Sometimes ears will be dark and like Elisto said shadows in the feet. You will see rust on the inside of tails like it's leaching out. If you wiggle the tail around and look by the hole that can be a good indicator.

[An 80s Pony]

I can tell you that I've had a half a dozen Apple Jacks with interior rust. They look purple instead of orange. Sometimes ears will be dark and like Elisto said shadows in the feet. You will see rust on the inside of tails like it's leaching out. If you wiggle the tail around and look by the hole that can be a good indicator.

I keep seeing a lot of Applejacks with tail rust; is Applejack one of those ponies that rusts easily?

[mlp4me]

There aren't really ponies that rust easier then others. It can happen to any pony. Depends on how they've been stored and how they were played with (unless they're your own you just never know). Also, some ponies like sea ponies were advertised to be taken in the tub. They are quite prone to being kinda rusted inside.

[hathorcat]

Its usually not mould per se inside a pony - even if the pony had got damp enough inside for something like mould to develop normally the rust which will happen at the same time [due to the metal washer/clamp] getting wet will be the bigger issue.

It can be super hard to tell from the outside. Sometimes you can see a shadow in parts of the body if you hold the pony up to a very bright light or shine a torch through her. Sometimes you can see rust at the tail hole, the mane plugs or even at the neckline. Unfortunately sometimes you cannot see any of these and the pony can have internal issues without you ever knowing.

And then you can get occasions where you have tail rust but but the only evidence of rust is the washer and or clamp and the root of the tail. Nothing else having spread inside the pony.

As for washer rusting being more common than other ponies; as mlp4me says not really. We do I think see it on earlier ponies more often but thats no doubt just because there simply are more of them floating around and because they are a little older therefore the washers have had longer to rust. Any pony with any metal on her tail exposed to water or damp conditions could develop rust over time.

[daisyd]

My mum once got herself all worked up because she thought she'd found a pony in a charity shop that I didn't have. Bless her. It turned out to be a Baby FT Bouncy that was so riddled with rust that she loked orange instead of yellow.

When I opened her up she was just all over rust stains on the inside *ick*

But the best ways to tell if there is rust are to pull the tail as ar as you can to check the roots, or just shake the pony. The rust, if there's enough of it, will make a powdery rattling sound.

[Baby Sugarberry]

Most signs aren't visible to the naked eye, nor do they show well in photographs unless the case is quite severe.

Squeeze the pony, check for smell.  Shake and listen for rusty washer bits, examine the roots of the mane and tail.  If the neck seal is partially loose anywhere, see if there's any discolouration leaking through.  Consider the pony's overall condition - if the hair is very frizzy or the plastic particularly grubby, dirty or worn, it's more likely the toy wasn't well taken care of (or heavily loved / went everywhere), thus more likely to have condition issues inside. 

If you're loathe to break the neck seal, you can use a bamboo skewer to poke the tail clamp partially into the body (do NOT push it far, just enough to get the washer out of the way) and rub the tip of the bamboo up against the inside of the pony - pull it out and you'll be able to see if there's orange or black residue on the inside.

[Stormness_1]

The way I generally check is the pulling of the tail - if you take a hair dryer to the pony and warm up it's butt, you can pull the tail a little more without tearing the tail-hole, but please be careful! if that fails, I take a good look with a LED torch (I use my phone for this, it's so bright!) at the bottom of the feet. The plastic is at it's thinnest, and that's also where the gunk inside usually sits. Also if you've given the pony a good ol' scrub, and there are still darker/dirtier spots around the hooves (and wings on pegasi) that won't budge, that's likely gunk on the inside that's showing through the plastic, and you need to get that head off. I really hate removing heads, because it's just hard for me, I haven't got a knack for it, and I often injure myself, or break the neck plug doing it, so I always make sure there's an issue before I go to the effort, unless the pony's head is already loose.

[Sapphire-Light]

Most signs aren't visible to the naked eye, nor do they show well in photographs unless the case is quite severe.

Squeeze the pony, check for smell.  Shake and listen for rusty washer bits, examine the roots of the mane and tail.  If the neck seal is partially loose anywhere, see if there's any discolouration leaking through.  Consider the pony's overall condition - if the hair is very frizzy or the plastic particularly grubby, dirty or worn, it's more likely the toy wasn't well taken care of (or heavily loved / went everywhere), thus more likely to have condition issues inside. 

If you're loathe to break the neck seal, you can use a bamboo skewer to poke the tail clamp partially into the body (do NOT push it far, just enough to get the washer out of the way) and rub the tip of the bamboo up against the inside of the pony - pull it out and you'll be able to see if there's orange or black residue on the inside.

I agree wit the smell, when I suspect of a pony I smell her and most of the  times when they have tail rust they have this stench that's similar to dry coffee beans  (non processed), is strongest at the base of the tail or in the mane plug holes