Might throw my first ever pony away

[MiRaja]

Not ponies, but the worst mistake I ever made was throwing out my childhood 1960s Mattel Twiggy doll, who was also my mom's, when the plastic around her belly started to turn green. I didn't even try to fix her.

If I were you, I'd wrap him up in a paper towel and put him in a box of childhood things. It's possible that maybe your kids will want him one day, splotchy or not!

This is exactly what I was talking about with old dolls.  Your mother's skipper doll had nickle shavings stuck in her stomach.  Mattel is another company that has NEVER had great quality control.  So many of their early dolls suffered from greening plastic, and it's from nickle and bronze. ( I am not even sure where these flakes came from.  Perhaps from the masters the molds were made off of, or the vats which the vinyl was made in.  There is not much you can do to fix this though.  Acne creams DO work, but the staining WILL come back unless the nickle can be extracted.  A single flake, yes, but you're still going to cause some unsightly marring, so it's a lose-lose deal.  The best way to handle it is prevention.  Keeping an item in a static environment prevents reaction and oxidization.  It's called keeping an item at stasis. )   Nickle turns green or blue when it oxidizes and is exposed to the elements just like iron rusts.  It is the same process.  It's the same processes going on with our ponies with 'cancer.'  Only it's bromides and poorly mixed batches of vinyl causing issues with ponies.  That's why certain ponies are prone to these issues because Hasbro used A LOT of different vinyl formulas.  Some are really good, take the 2nd set Princesses, or the Show and Glows, do you ever see them with vinyl break down? 

How can pony cancer be contagious if only some ponies are susceptible?  How can cancer be contagious if there are ponies who NEVER get it?  Same with regrind.  ( For the record, Pindot mold is not mold.  Pindot is caused when particulates smaller than the pores of the vinyl get trapped in said pores.  So many people probably DID get the idea pindot was contagious because it would 'spread' from pony to pony when it was just because they were really bad at dusting! )

Some ponies were made from the same sorts of vinyls, early MLP white vinyl is the worst.  We should all know how hard it is to find bright white Surprises, Quackers, and other early white ponies, how easy it is for them to get cancer spots and degrade.  Because they had a bad batch of vinyl with a bad recipe.  However to get other colors, Hasbro has to tweak the recipe, and it didn't always work out too well in the tweaks, which is why other ponies get regrind, because the colors used just weren't chemically fast, or were improperly mixed to get a uniform product, etc, etc, etc.  Other times, there are fluke ponies, who have bad issues, or some of the ponies of a line, take like Boysenberry Pie, never have any plastic issues, while others are prone to terrible bouts of regrind.  One batch was good, and one batch was bad.  Someone made the vinyl recipe wrong.  They used a little more or a little something less than they were supposed to.  It's like baking.  What happens when you use too much baking soda?  Or you forget the eggs?  It's all just chemistry and it is a very exacting thing at that. 

It is somewhat conjecture to explain what caused what so many years down the road, but vinyl injection mold factories, like those used in China by Hasbro were not at all that much different by those used in the 1950's - 1970's here in the states, and the same issues persist even to this day in modern G4 ponies.   

Unfortunately there is just not a lot of this information available online, that and no one really makes the connection either between vinyl dolls and MLP.  I learned much of what I know from word of mouth either from my mother ( a dollologist of decades now, and a more than competent restorer ) and another restorer who is now in her late 80's, whom I tutored under for a few years. 

*Applauds* thank you!

I agree. I didn't read this as a negative comment, but more so an informative one trying to put an end to a fictitious rumor that has been around since I can remember. I look at this post as a vital piece of information to collectors new and old a like! Thanks for posting!

I agree with everyone else, don't throw the pony away! I regret getting rid of a lot of my childhood ponies, it's a regret that I think about every time I look at my ponies or get online here. (Which is every day.)

Thank you.  I appreciate your words.  I'm not trying to be negative to anyone, but sometimes I feel a bit blue in the face when so many people still plod on with these ideas that somehow plastic can contain evil organisms that are destroying our ponies when it's all just chemical processes.  Not living things.  I mean, this is how I go about telling if things are made out of organic materials or not in my studies.  If I have a kimono I'm working on, and I notice it has little tiny holes in it from moth bites, I can say without a doubt that it's SILK, not rayon.  Rayon is synthetic, silk is not.  Same with tortoise shell combs.  There are many, many good plastic knock offs, which are exactly all you're allowed to import, but on accident, I have received the real mccoy ( and they're a century or two old, Japan has not used Tortoise shell in almost a half-century or more ) and I know they're real because apparently tortoise shell is SUPER tasty to insects, so when I get a piece in and I notice it has bug bites, I'm like, "Oops, this is real!".  Plastic, on the other hand, not so much. 

[Khema]

I would be tempted to make a mold of him so you can make a bunch of customs!

[Rachel-Eyes]

Thank you, MiRaja. That was very informative... especially about the dolls! I really regretted throwing her out because she was like a family heirloom. I remember how special I felt when my mom gave me her old toys, because she was thinking about me before I was even born and I just thought it was nice. (Plus, I just really love my mom!) It is so good to know that the issue poor Twiggy had was not mold, which was why we threw her out in the first place. Now I know to keep special care of the rest of her vintage dolls to prevent this from happening again!

My childhood Barbies live in a big plastic bin in the shed, and I hate it. For so long, I've wanted to bring them inside, but my dad hates my collection and doesn't want to deal with helping me get them down, or bringing the big thing into my house.

[hathorcat]

Everyone is new to collecting or new to information at different times The Arena is a friendly place without the need to demand that everyone understand everything right from the get go. Sure, it can be frustrating but people start threads and ask questions; we answer them and have some discussion without the need to get angry. And not everyone reads every thread so some repetition is pretty standard. I have had the same conversation many times on other subjects and sometimes you find out new information or cool different details every single time.

Frustration does not equal anger.  That was not what I was getting at.  I fully understand that everyone is new once, and questions pop up, but there is still a constant perpetuation that these phenomena of smooze, cancer, etc, etc are some sort of living organism when it is simply not possible and has been gone over and over, and yet there are still people who perpetuate it, who think they know what they're talking about when they just don't.  People who tell others and cause more than a little silliness with it all and panic. 

We do really need a sticky that has actual fact within it and the mechanics of vinyl and plastic and that many of these faux-treatments for ponies meant to 'stop' cancer are actually harming ponies, either destroying them more, or expediting the degradation process. 

You may not have meant it that way and I did not think your comment was negative but sometimes tone does not come across well when typed. What I was trying to point out is that there is no harm in asking a question without someone posting and giving the impression the OP is being silly or uneducated [i.e. not reading every single thread] for actually asking the question to start with. Sure, you may feel fed up repeating the same thing again and again but if it bores you then just dont post. I can assure you I have posted the same information as you have detailed on a lot of threads in the past Flick through the last year of Corral threads, you will find most subjects raised on repeat. I dont understand the problem in people starting threads, asking questions and then being advised or corrected by other forum members. Thats how people are going to learn and perhaps bring their own experiences or knowledge to the party.

I personally have not seen anyone perpetuate the myth on this forum for some time. :/ Sure there are some websites out there which do not have the right information because they have not been updated or simply because the original people posting do not know other information.

If we sticked threads with this kind of information it can be misrepresentative. We are still all learning; there are plenty of things about ponies and this kind of break down that none of us know 100% for certain. There are lots of opinions which are probably pretty accurate but if someone truly is unconvinced and wants to warn someone against something, there really is no harm in that.

What about starting a blog or a website with your information? You could post a thread in the Corral with a link and I am sure lots of people would check it out. That way you could always link to it or even your thread whenever you feel it relevant or you want people to read your knowledge?

[Artemesia's Garden]

PKW FBR!!!

[himmie]

You can send him to me if you're just going to throw him away.

[Shenanigans]

I have some childhood ponies that look too bad to display so I keep them packed in a box I wouldn't throw him away, just wrap him up and keep him safe in a box so you'll always have him

[otocolobus_manul]

I'd hang onto him. Maybe you can get someone to restore or reprint him someday.

[Nightbow]

Thank you all. He's one ugly boy and to some degree he always was, and your comments have convinced me to keep taking care of him. It doesn't feel like a dagger twisting in my chest when I look at him, rather he serves as a reminder of how time goes on. He may be shabby but he's still in one piece, and so I'll hang on to him. I know his wife Moonstone and daughter Explorer would look just as sad if he was gone.
I guess knowing better could have kept me from boiling him in the first place. But probably not, seeing as he was so gross. Whether I shall keep him on display in my new cabinet or put him away time will tell. Maybe I'll even put him in the Dream Castle's window so that his body won't fully show.

I really enjoyed reading your information, MiRaja. I personally feel that as collectors we all have part in sustaining the cultural heritage that is My Little Pony, even if we realise it or not, take it seriously or just do it for our own enjoyment (either way is fine by me)! And for that reason I appreciate your words and do wish that fact will replace myths in this community. In my own experience I've heard so many explanations to pony problems, and one person saying they are a threat to one's entire collection is enough to make one sway in one's conviction. But not me, not anymore.

[Artemesia's Garden]

one person saying they are a threat to one's entire collection is enough to make one sway in one's conviction.

I absolutely understand this. Thanks for starting such a great discussion.