Collectors "rite of passage" horror stories!

[Lavender_Lace]

I just got a box of 14 ponies in the mail today that were supposedly in either very good or excellent condition.  To be fair, some of them are quite nice, but several have cuts in the front hooves (scratching my head over that one) and most are in serious need of a hot oil treatment, lol.  Talk about frizz!!  However, I only paid about $66 as opposed to $400, and even the grubbiest ponies look to be at least somewhat salvageable.  I hope you've more than made up for that awful experience by finding lots of other wonderful ponies for far less than they could have gone for.


~Lochness~

Still though, $66 is a lot!  Hopefully they'll clean up nicely for you.  Sometimes I wonder if the condition of some ponies is the work of evil siblings....either that or the ponies were "super heroes" and played hard back in their day. lol 

And yes, I've made some pretty awesome finds over the years.  Best ones would be the mountains boys I found on ebay listed incorrectly.  I got an Ice Crystal for $16 and and Fireball for $22.  Ice Crystal was listed only as Green Horse and in some weird category, and Fireball, I can't remember what his listing said, but he was also listed in the wrong category and had a super horrid pic so you could barely tell that he was who he was.  I've found both Lil Cupcake and Lil Sweetcake at the thrift store.  Those 4 went to new homes several years ago when I really needed some $.  I won a lot off ebay that had a really blurry pic but I could tell it had Tafetta and some others in a fakie carry case.  When I got it Taffeta was minty and also in the case was a minty baby princess Sparkle with her star clip.  (I still have them, they hang out in my dream castle).  I've found Munchy at the thrift store (still have her too!).  And last week on a whim, I drove over to the huge thrift store that I used to go to when I lived on the other side of town and found around 20 ponies (first G1 find in years actually!) and I paid $15 for them.  So yeah, there have been other awesome finds. 

Most ponies look a million times better after they've been properly cleaned up so even when I get some that I'm thinking to myself "omg gross, poor thing!!" They'll usually turn out to be in at least good condition when I get done with them.  What makes me cringe nowadays are the ponies that I baited back before G3s came out...I would never have baited probably half of them.  Worst was probably a no country Daddy Bright Bouquet that had eye rubs and a hair cut. (so that equals bait right?!?)  /facepalm

[lochnessmomster]

Still though, $66 is a lot!  Hopefully they'll clean up nicely for you.  Sometimes I wonder if the condition of some ponies is the work of evil siblings....either that or the ponies were "super heroes" and played hard back in their day. lol 

And yes, I've made some pretty awesome finds over the years.  Best ones would be the mountains boys I found on ebay listed incorrectly.  I got an Ice Crystal for $16 and and Fireball for $22.  Ice Crystal was listed only as Green Horse and in some weird category, and Fireball, I can't remember what his listing said, but he was also listed in the wrong category and had a super horrid pic so you could barely tell that he was who he was.  I've found both Lil Cupcake and Lil Sweetcake at the thrift store.  Those 4 went to new homes several years ago when I really needed some $.  I won a lot off ebay that had a really blurry pic but I could tell it had Tafetta and some others in a fakie carry case.  When I got it Taffeta was minty and also in the case was a minty baby princess Sparkle with her star clip.  (I still have them, they hang out in my dream castle).  I've found Munchy at the thrift store (still have her too!).  And last week on a whim, I drove over to the huge thrift store that I used to go to when I lived on the other side of town and found around 20 ponies (first G1 find in years actually!) and I paid $15 for them.  So yeah, there have been other awesome finds. 

Most ponies look a million times better after they've been properly cleaned up so even when I get some that I'm thinking to myself "omg gross, poor thing!!" They'll usually turn out to be in at least good condition when I get done with them.  What makes me cringe nowadays are the ponies that I baited back before G3s came out...I would never have baited probably half of them.  Worst was probably a no country Daddy Bright Bouquet that had eye rubs and a hair cut. (so that equals bait right?!?)  /facepalm

You've obviously encountered some really grubby ponies in your time... may I ask what your best tips are for spiffying them back up?  I can see how a hair cut wouldn't count as bait as long as you know how to reroot (which I don't), but what do you do for eye rubs?  Thanks in advance. :-)

[Lavender_Lace]

You've obviously encountered some really grubby ponies in your time... may I ask what your best tips are for spiffying them back up?  I can see how a hair cut wouldn't count as bait as long as you know how to reroot (which I don't), but what do you do for eye rubs?  Thanks in advance. :-)

Hehe, in my defense, I will say that it was back before nylon was available, so rerooting would have meant trying to find hair from a donor pony in even worse condition or use something like kanekalon.  Sad thing is, I still have him up in my craft room waiting to be given a new life.  I know what I want to do with him, I just haven't been able to solidify my idea.  So until then, he sits and waits.

Anyway, to answer your question.  For eye rubs, I only ever restore them on ponies I'm going to keep for myself since I like to leave that kind of stuff up to the buyer.  But when I do, I use very, very thin multiple layers of acrylic model paint, letting it dry thoroughly between layers.  The biggest problem you see with restored eyes is chunky layers of paint with brush marks, so I try to avoid that at all costs.  Same thing goes for symbols.  The key is thin layers to avoid brush marks.  Also, if you mess up, you can remove a thin layer of paint with alcohol while it's wet usually and it won't damage the original paint.

For cleaning, my basic steps are to go over the pony and remove any marks I can with acetone and a Q-tip I've blotted on a paper towel. (I have drippy acetone horror stories from my noob pony cleaning days /cry)

Then I remove the head so I can see what's going on inside.  A lot of times there can be slight tail rust even if you can't see it.  This obviously applies mostly to G1s.  I remove the tail regardless of rust or not because I want everything to be able to dry inside the pony before reassembly. 

Then I scrub the pony really well inside an out with soft scrub with bleach cleanser (do you have that in the UK?) and a tooth brush. (super careful around glitter symbols)  IMO it works better than oxy clean and magic erasers.    I usually will go over twice and look at the pony in good light because sometimes there's this layer of grime that doesn't like to come off and is hard to see except for in really good light.  To get down in the legs, I'll either jam the tooth brush in there, but if the legs are too small, like on a baby pony, I do my best with Q-tips.

After that, I'll scrub the pony and wash the mane and tail with shampoo to remove the cleanser and clean the hair.  If there's tail rust, honestly, I just squirt some soft scrub on there and work it all out with a tooth brush.  I'll scrub all visible rust off of the clamp because replacing it is very difficult and if you've removed all the rust and let the tail dry before putting it back in, it won't cause any further problems. 

While I have the pony disassembled, I'll do a deep condition on the hair.  (comb it through, let sit overnight) The next day, I'll rinse out the dried conditioner, and then defrizz while keeping it wet, adding more conditioner as necessary to get a good glide with the iron.  (I just use a curling iron)  When I'm all done, wash again with shampoo, let the conditioner sit for a few hours, rinse well, let dry, reassemble the pony, then style the hair. 

It's more time consuming than anything.  If the pony needs something like sun fading, I'll do that after the initial scrub down, but before the hair.  For most ponies, that's all you really need to do.  A good clean body, no tail rust, and nice hair make a world of difference. 

[sweetstuff]

I think my biggest mistake was buying a huge lot from a member on either here or the TP - they contacted me, based on my wish list at the time. Long story short - it had many of the ponies I was looking for, plus some MO, ceramics, a couple of playsets  - ect.

Not a cheap lot - but this was before I had kids and both hubby and I were working FT.

I get one box  -  and of course not everything was there. I contact... wait... nothing. Try contact again... get some runaround email - then another small box shows up a month later.

Then I get an email saying they need more $ for shipping...

Anyway   - when all was said and done and I got screwed over - and the person never surfaced again. Live and learn.

[Buzzingbumblebee]

I haven't got any really bad horror stories, but I have overspent on a few ponies. Also I have forgotten to ask about condition on a few ponies. Mostly they turned out to be ok, but I have a TE Bright Eyes that was not at all in a condition I could put up with. Managed to find a beautiful near mint one, but still haven't gotten around to selling my other one..

[lochnessmomster]

I haven't got any really bad horror stories, but I have overspent on a few ponies. Also I have forgotten to ask about condition on a few ponies. Mostly they turned out to be ok, but I have a TE Bright Eyes that was not at all in a condition I could put up with. Managed to find a beautiful near mint one, but still haven't gotten around to selling my other one..

Yep, that happens to me a lot.  I trust the description and then wind up with some ponies I'm not pleased with, mainly because the seller's idea of "very good" and my idea of "very good" are not remotely the same thing.  I have definitely done some overspending as well.  Ouch.  Hoping I'll be able to recoup some of that by cleaning up and reselling ponies I've gotten a good deal on in big lots. 

[Zombelina]

Oh, gah, I am sitting here wincing at all the awful experiences and mistakes... I'm just getting back into ponies after ~10 years away so I'm trying to refamiliarize myself with a lot of things, and I'm hoping I won't pull a stupid because I don't remember something, lol. I am researching and describing like crazy as I get my trade list together--as a not very picky collector myself, I don't want to mislead or disappoint anybody on condition!

I don't recall any particularly horrible stories of my own, but that's probably because I'm blocking the memories  I do recall that I did *something* with a Baby Tic Tac Toe and a Baby Nightcap because they were sticky/gross in some unidentified manner... but I have no idea what that something was and now I can't find them. Anywhere. Sigh. Not a huge mistake, but still /facepalm Also: my accessory box of doom. Why didn't I keep them organized?!

And now I'm going to go check everypony's hooves just to make sure they ARE all Hong Kong/China 

[Lavender_Lace]

Also: my accessory box of doom. Why didn't I keep them organized?!

Lol, I can relate there.  I used to have all my pony wear in nice little labeled baggies...then I let my girls play with them.  Now I have 2 jam packed pony lunch boxes of mixed up accessories and I keep finding pieces and parts in random boxes around my pony room.  They have fun with them, which is really the point of toys, but it still makes me cringe!  I should really just get doubles.

[balletpot]

I've always been careful with my things and I've been reluctant to throwing things away,  especially as a child. This meant that I had all (if not all then most) of my MLP (G1) boxes and backcards, had. When I was in my early twenties I decided to throw them out even though I didn't really want to and even though there was storage space for them. I remember not enjoying throwing away the Megan and Sundance box since it was so beautiful and looked like a little castle. And yes it was my own idea to throw them away.

If I would have kept them I could have solved the mystery of my Baby Glory that I don't have any accessories for. Did I get it with only a bottle on a card, am I missing all its accessories or is it not mine but my friend's?

I think I've overpayed for some ponies but nothing major. I regret not asking about the condition of Gingerbread's eyes when talking to the seller. This was my first TE pony so I didn't know to look out for rubs on the coating. The rest of the pony is fine, it's very white, it smells pony and the pink in its hair is pink but those eyes... And then there was the Gusty that was described as near mint and stunning white. It was yellow and smelled smoke. It cleaned up well but it took some work. (I have been collecting since January.)

[Beth3346]

my biggest collector mistakes have been overpaying. when i started collecting i definitely overestimated what harder to find meant and paid way too much for windy wing cool breeze.
i think most collectors make those kinds of mistakes though.

what i regret most is not taking care of and keeping the ponies i had as a child. as a little kid i never thought that i would want to collect mlp or that the Baby Princess Sparkle Baby Buggy would be worth so much and be so hard to track down

[lochnessmomster]

my biggest collector mistakes have been overpaying. when i started collecting i definitely overestimated what harder to find meant and paid way too much for windy wing cool breeze.
i think most collectors make those kinds of mistakes though.

what i regret most is not taking care of and keeping the ponies i had as a child. as a little kid i never thought that i would want to collect mlp or that the Baby Princess Sparkle Baby Buggy would be worth so much and be so hard to track down

There, there.  I feel the same way about my childhood ponies.  Why oh why didn't I take better care of them??  And why, in heaven's name, did I complain about the duplicate pony I received for one of my birthdays?  I could have kept one MOC and saved it to sell on eBay 30 years later, lol. 

[ZennaBug]

Mostly overpaying on eBay before I found the Arena.

[Axalth]

No major horror stories on my part.
I had a habit as a kid (and still now haha) to never get rid of any of my toys. However mum would occasionally make us do donations when our toys were building up. I was way to reluctant so i guess she ended up getting rid of my ponies behind my back. That or my sister got rid of them claiming they were hers.

Recently though, before finding out the G4 Daisy Dreams and Rainbow Flash were international only, i decided to give haircuts and styling to match the box art ...ouch. Thankfully someone gave one of the Daisy Dreams a good home, and i still have the other hair cut one. oopsey.

[Ice_gypsy]

not buying the MINTIEST MINT MINT MINT NSS Brazil Twist for $50 because i didn't have the money, the auction ended with no bids on her and they re-listed her like 2 weeks later and she sold for like $100
but it wasn't a noob mistake i just didn't have the 50 bucks at the time
that was about 7 years ago?
I still want her sooo much

...
hmm how about not buying a ton of mint mimics when they only sold for around $40 at the most back in the day lol

Before the internet:
having the coloring books and seeing the picture of TAF buttons and hoping so much that she was a real pony
and other ponies, you know wondering if they are real ones or not
another one was hoping that baby graffitti had a mother pony but alas NO MOMMA graffitti exists

just that sort of stuff

before i started collecting i saw a whole bunch of g1 ponies on really cheap clearance at Kmart and i really wanted them but my mom wouldnt let me buy them because i was "too old for toys"    it was like 1993 i think
it was funny because less than 2 years later i started collecting Ponies HEHE
but we used to find TONS of them all over in used stores and garage sales