Poor Abuse Ponies.... Makes me Wonder :(

[ringwraith10]

I was reading something about ten years ago, where a psychologist concluded that the reason adolescent girls destroy their Barbies is because they see it as a rite of passage into becoming an older girl. Except... since when did adolescent girls destroy their Barbie dolls? Huh? I was never aware that was a "thing." I never did that. Even as a teenager I had a certain fondness for my Barbies and never wanted to cause them any harm. I don't get it.

When I was in middle school I had some classmates that brought their toys to school and spent lunch period scribbling on them with markers, stapling them, etc. They thought it was the cool thing to do with the "dumb stuff they used to like". I suspect that a lot of ruined ponies have gone through that trauma.

[saikune]

haha, i was terrible to some of my toys. I'd cut my barbie's hair and put nail polish on my Pokemon to make them look like "baby's first characters." It just seemed like a good idea at the time. For some reason my brother would cut off barbie feet... >_> However I don't remember doing anything like that to my ponies? :? weird.

[fiwen30]

I completely and utterly adored my childhood herd, which is why I still have them today, but some of my favourite ponies got 'modified' because that was what made them so perfect to me. Example, my North Star was a sporty, slightly tom-boyish pony, who always wore the tennis outfit, and so she got her mane and tail bobbed so they woudln't get in the way when she played. Looking at her out on display now with her bob, it makes me smile because I remember all the fun games I played with her, I don't regret that I 'damaged' a now vintage collectable.

I also had issues with curly haired ponies, as the curls were stiff and dry, and you couldn't brush them properly, which led to many of my Fizzy-poses getting bobs too, as well as forelock cuts. It sounds awful from a collecter's point of view, but as a kid I thought they were great - it made them look just like the draft horses in the books I read!

I don't regret any of the changes to my herd, because they gave me great pleasure and good memories. That being said, no child of mine will be allowed to recklessly destroy their toys past the point of being safe to play with, I think that's an awful waste and a bad example as a parent.

[MikaylaIsSoCoolLike]

Slightly off topic, but still relating.

What's your opinion on (some!) bronies and newer fans cutting their ponies hair? They, as far as I know, do it to make them more show accurate. More often than not, it looks really nice,  but I'm a little afraid in a few years time (when G4 ends) and the majority of the ponies' manes and tails are cut, buying the untrimmed ones would be more difficult than it should 

On topic!

From what I remember, I only cut the random long strands of hair off my ponies. I was maybe about five when I got my first pony (no idea when or who), so I'm sure I knew better. I do remember hacking off one of my barbie's hair though...

[Fräulein_Kim]

Slightly off topic, but still relating.

What's your opinion on (some!) bronies and newer fans cutting their ponies hair? They, as far as I know, do it to make them more show accurate. More often than not, it looks really nice,  but I'm a little afraid in a few years time (when G4 ends) and the majority of the ponies' manes and tails are cut, buying the untrimmed ones would be more difficult than it should 

Heehee... I do that, too.. Only with some of my Mane6, tho. (Twi & RD, to be exact) >_>
I don't think it will be terribly hard to get uncut ones, tho. There's plenty of G4, ESPECIALLY the mane6, and so many collectors who keep them MIB. After all, cutting their hair is basically a way of customizing them and just think of how many G4 get customised each day. ^^

[MikaylaIsSoCoolLike]

Slightly off topic, but still relating.

What's your opinion on (some!) bronies and newer fans cutting their ponies hair? They, as far as I know, do it to make them more show accurate. More often than not, it looks really nice,  but I'm a little afraid in a few years time (when G4 ends) and the majority of the ponies' manes and tails are cut, buying the untrimmed ones would be more difficult than it should 

Heehee... I do that, too.. Only with some of my Mane6, tho. (Twi & RD, to be exact) >_>
I don't think it will be terribly hard to get uncut ones, tho. There's plenty of G4, ESPECIALLY the mane6, and so many collectors who keep them MIB. After all, cutting their hair is basically a way of customizing them and just think of how many G4 get customised each day. ^^

i didnt even think of releases D:
jesus, they must make up half of the toy's population.




okay, so i roughly counted the rereleases of the main six (not counting shine brights, fashion styles, blind bags, nothing that's not a basic brushable) and i got about 70. counting the soon-to-be released ponies, there were about 130. well then.

[Fräulein_Kim]

Yeah, considering that mostly the Mane6 are subject to getting haircuts by bronies and fans, and that they are in every wave, I really don't think they will be HTF EVER..
Who is HTF however is everyone with bangs! As soon as I found out about that, I got a second RD and Twilight, so that I could leave the ones with bangs as is. (luckily I am super lazy and thus have always postponed cutting their hair.. PHEW!)
The only 'banged' pony I am missing right now is Sweetie Belle, since I never got the Sweets Shop Playset. :/

[hyenacub]

I never understood that either, especially as a kid.  : P  I did cut my Baby Surprise's tail, because I thought it was too long and for some reason it bugged the hell out of me. lol  but no one else.  I had a friend who scribbled with pen all over her ponies.  I once left Lemon Drop over there overnight by accident, and she had scribbled on HER too >P  I was so ticked.  She claimed her little sister did it, but I don't think that was true.  She still has those marks,, too.  >P

[keikokukien]

I had three ponies from childhood that had haircuts. The first was my SS Scrumptious. My neighbors were all older kids growing up, so only one really played ponies with me. She...had issues. :/ As a kid, I didn't know that her emotional state reflected on MY toys. She started by cutting Scrumptious' hair to the roots on her first three-four plugs on both rows. I didn't notice until I saw her cutting up one of my rainbow baby pony's hair. I started crying and she told me the fair would grow back. So I thought if I cut the tangle out of SS Fifi's hair, she would grow it back. .......Yeah. U.U;;  I cried for a few days when I realized her hair wasn't going to grow back. After that, I started hiding the scissors and ponies when that girl came over. I still love all my ponies, so to me, having the haircuts is part of their "character" but in the same breath, I wish that never would have happened, especially since I'm more of a collector now then I was then.

[InkyMilk]

I dunno about the whole "children with teeth old enough to know better". My cousin just turned 2, and she is astoundingly sharp for her age but...she's still only 2 years old. And that means she'll occasionally put things in her mouth that don't belong there. She hasn't reached the age yet to see a toy as something to cherish and always want to carry with her. For her, toys are something she sees, wants to play with for 10 minutes, gets bored and then moves onto the next thing. Her attention span just isn't quite there yet. And I don't think she's out of the norm. I know I didn't start getting way attached to my toys and toting them everywhere (in particular a sky blue non-MLP pony) until I was around 4 or 5.

However, I do agree in that I don't understand that the mentality of children passed the age of 5 (or around that general maturity level) who adore destroying their toys. I don't know how many girls I've met who seem proud of the fact that they mutilated their Barbies, and I just never really "got" it. I may not have been the most careful with my toys, they certainly have their share of wear and tear, but I never went out out of my way to purposefully destroy something.

[HavACrumpet452]

The most loved toys get beat up. Hair gets too snarled for kids to fix it. Kids also don't understand that pen and marker stains are permanent. They have no idea of the concept of permanent. Have you ever seen a child's drawing of their own face? I work in a school and I'm still confused as to how kids look into a mirror and see the Joker instead of themselves. I mean their drawings are horrid. I think kids just have some loose brain connections yet.

[QueenGusty]

I was reading something about ten years ago, where a psychologist concluded that the reason adolescent girls destroy their Barbies is because they see it as a rite of passage into becoming an older girl. Except... since when did adolescent girls destroy their Barbie dolls? Huh? I was never aware that was a "thing." I never did that. Even as a teenager I had a certain fondness for my Barbies and never wanted to cause them any harm. I don't get it.

When I was in middle school I had some classmates that brought their toys to school and spent lunch period scribbling on them with markers, stapling them, etc. They thought it was the cool thing to do with the "dumb stuff they used to like". I suspect that a lot of ruined ponies have gone through that trauma.

As a person part of whom's beleiefs are that certain object have not souls, but spirits per se thats just...mind-wreckingly awful. you've been cherished by a little girl for years, brought her so much happiness and then she TURNS ON YOU. Poor ponies. Poor poor ponies.

Makes me guilty for even giving mine away-how abandoned they must have felt ;-;

Carrie

[LadyMoondancer]

I agree, there is a line between childish playing and "sid" destruction.

I think it's worth pointing out that the only reason why Sid's manner of playing with toys was "bad" in Toy Story was that the toys were actually alive.   (And that he stole his sister's toys.)

I mean, honestly, he was just a creative little kid who liked taking stuff apart and putting them back together again.  He didn't know that the toys felt pain or had feelings.  There's nothing wrong with kids like Sid in real life--as long as they only do that stuff to their own belongings.

[StarlightGaze]

Children that purposely break their toys (like Sid) probably have psychological issues, like autism, anger issues, or were abused, or maybe just plain spoiled and never taught the value of personal belongings. I have a friend who is a sociopath that treats her toys like real people, but her cousin with autism will break his own toys out of frustration (he cracked a Nintendo DS in half once!). I also knew a girl that lived next door who was adopted and she tortured her pets and treated her toys badly. Her adoptive mother was kind and sweet but I suspect her real parents may have been abusive.

It's all really circumstantial I suppose.

[Zenobiaa]

I agree, there is a line between childish playing and "sid" destruction.

I think it's worth pointing out that the only reason why Sid's manner of playing with toys was "bad" in Toy Story was that the toys were actually alive.   (And that he stole his sister's toys.)

I mean, honestly, he was just a creative little kid who liked taking stuff apart and putting them back together again.  He didn't know that the toys felt pain or had feelings.  There's nothing wrong with kids like Sid in real life--as long as they only do that stuff to their own belongings.

Maybe at first, but it stopped being so innocent when he taped a toy to a rocket he ordered (most likely without his parent's permission) and planned to make it explode.