Spa nights (pic heavy) - the before photos

[Sugar]

Hi there!

About a week ago, I won a smallish lot of ponies on eBay.  Well, they arrived today (glee!) and they're in fixer-upper shape.  I'll be updating this thread as I get them all spiffed up, but for once, I remembered to take the before photos!   Yay, me!

I've already started bathing the non-so-soft ones; I've got decisions to make about the so softs, so maybe you can help me, [you].

(PS:  If the mods deem this is a brag, it's no worries if it's moved, but I will be posting cleaning updates as they happen. )

First out of the gate is Morning Glory.
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She's got hair taming to do, and apart from a little surface dirt to Magic Eraser off, I think she'll come nicely clean.  Yay, flutters!

Next, Gusty.
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She's in very good shape.  I've already washed her, and update photos should be posted tomorrow.   I'm really glad; I always liked Gusty a lot, and I regretted having lost her.  She's a little on the ecru side of things, but that doesn't bug me too much, and I can always sunfade her if need be.

Next, Sparkler.
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Sparkler looked good coming out of the box.  Just some ingrained dirt around her hooves and tip of her alicorn.  She's got all her glitter and just looks dandy... and then, I lifted her tail.  (I took the photo while she was getting spiffed up...)
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  Yep, somepony drew her a, er, well, you know.   Like I've said, you never know what has been done to your ponies before you get your hooves on them.  I'm going to see how it scrubs off with a variety of cleaners and stuff before I decide if I'm going to pursue it; if not, she may be the only pony in my herd to display with clothes on.  For her modesty's sake!   But if anypony has suggestions on how to remove this indignity, I'm all ears!

Next, TAF Sundance.
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A little surface dirt and some crayon or something; it's Magic Erasered right off, and she's drying upstairs.  I love her pose!  So sweet.   Her head was really tightly sealed, but the old acetone-floss combo did the trick.

Last (for tonight; there are eight others to go!), the much-vaunted Creamsicle.
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She's so pretty!  She has only the tiniest rub to her NDS blush, and a wee spot of pink transfer mark on her rear NDS leg; she's cleaned up remarkably well, and I can't wait till tomorrow to show her to you, [you].   Also, if anyone can help me with a PC for her, it'd be much appreciated, as I haven't decided if I'm keeping her or not.

More to come tomorrow - I'm just too sleepy to post much more tonight!

[Moss]

Can't wait to see the after pics! This is helping inspire me to finish Sunny Daze ASAP!

[Starly]

That [ you ] tag is starting to freak me out. WHY [you]!

[Gonzo]

Hope Sparkler gets properly cleaned up (well, everyone, but especially Sparkler).

(And it's a "you" tag, huh? Confused me at first)

[Leopard_Print_Unicorn]

Next, Sparkler.
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Sparkler looked good coming out of the box.  Just some ingrained dirt around her hooves and tip of her alicorn.  She's got all her glitter and just looks dandy... and then, I lifted her tail.  (I took the photo while she was getting spiffed up...)
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  Yep, somepony drew her a, er, well, you know.   Like I've said, you never know what has been done to your ponies before you get your hooves on them.  I'm going to see how it scrubs off with a variety of cleaners and stuff before I decide if I'm going to pursue it; if not, she may be the only pony in my herd to display with clothes on.  For her modesty's sake!   But if anypony has suggestions on how to remove this indignity, I'm all ears!

You know, as strange as it sounds, I have seen this before, too. I guess it's because most kids go through a phase where they are fascinated with bodily functions. Either that or a mean brother did it to his sister's pony. I had a friend whose brother would make her Barbies "mud wrestle" his GI Joes in the back yard. At least I hope it's little kids doing this, if not, someone may have issues.

[blu_clouds]

HAHAHA!  That was hilarious.  I can't stop giggling.

[teresat]

I think sunfading may make a difference to the *ahem* addition to Sparkler.

Made me think of the "Ouchy Roids Pony" thread.

Good luck!

[kiwimlp]

Nice new ponies.  I can't wait to see how they clean up for you

*snickers at Sparkler*

[Sugar]

Thank you for the kind comments, everybody!  I think Sparkler's blushes are more prominent than most of my ponies'... wonder why...

I'm awake now, so I can add the rest of the gals.  The ones I tackled last night are still drying out upstairs, but I'm delighted to say that they're coming out so beautiful!  Even Sparkler, whose, er, encounter with a marker doesn't show when she's displayed.  So it can be her little secret.   It never ceases to amaze me, though, how some pretty scungy-looking ponies can clean up brilliantly with just a bit of scrubbing.

Now's the part where I need your help.  I have the following So Softs, and I really need opinions on how to tackle them.

First, here's Shady.
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Apart from the ear-rub, she's pretty nicely flocked still, especially for a pony from a used bunch.  There's the usual tip-of-the-hooves business going on, but not too badly, considering.  She's even actually kind of soft.  I think I'll try to keep her flocked, even though I actually have a really plushly flocked Shady in my original collection.  Suggestions?  Comments?  Tips?

Next is Truly.
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Again, in quite fluffy condition.  She's a bit dingy, but Spot Shot has a date with her later, mwahahah.   I'm leaning towards preserving her fluff, but we'll see how she withstands the washdown.  My question is this.  I have a beautiful minty Truly from my original collection, and a nicely deflocked one I got earlier this summer.  What should I do with this third one?

Cupcake.
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Her flocking, while it looks kinda nice in the photos, feels next-to-nonexistent.  She's not as mangy as some I've seen, and I'm definitely leaning towards deflocking her.  Do you think I should attempt to rescue what I can first, however?  I have a well-fluffed Cupcake in my original collection, so should I maybe just deflock her on principle?

And Ribbon
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Someone 'enhanced' her with a biro!   She has ink-outlined symbols, bright biro blue eyeshadow, and even a drawn-on smile.  Kids and writing implements... I tell you...  Anyway, has anyone had a biro'ed So Soft before?  Do you suppose the ink's gone down to the vinyl?  Am I going to tear my hair out trying to clean her?  Tune in next time, on As The Pony Turns...   Anyway, if I can clean her, yays!  If the ink doesn't wash off of the flocking (or worse, if it's on the vinyl itself), I'll deflock, since I have a pretty Ribbon from my originals.  It just seems a shame, though... of the four, her flocking is actually the nicest and softest. *sigh*

Then there are the rest of the ponies.
2x Baby Cotton Candy
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Grubby babies!   They're dirty and their hair has lost its pink.  Grubby I can handle; does anypony have tips on repinking hair?  I'm really not sure I can handle rehairing of anything beyond a tail...

Baby Tangles
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He (because I can't look at this baby blue baby without thinking "boy," talk about conditioning!) has a small rub to the center of his DS symbol, but otherwise looks like he'll clean up marvelously.  Jangles is lost to the mists of time, though.  Poor little tyke!

Dance'n'Prance Swinger
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Love the name.  I laughed when I learned her name, and also when I found out that another DNP is called Player.  Heh.  Totally eighties ponies.  All's you need is one named Key Party, and you're there.  
Anyway, amazingly, her tail-flinging mechanism still works!  But I started cleaning her (surface only!) yesterday, and she has a couple issues I'm concerned about.  First is the sort of blackish sooty grot that was covering her.  It's hard to see in the photos, but she was like dusted with a fine, gritty black stuff.  I don't know the circumstances in which she found herself, but she really looks like she got caught in a firepit (or stored in a barbecue?) somewhere.  I scrubbed as best I could, and though it left, it seemed to leave behind little brown speckles where the largest bits of black were found.  It doesn't look like mold, more like colour transfer or something.  Has anypony seen this sort of thing before?  I'd offer a closeup, but my camera is finicky for anything closer than these shots.
The other issue Swinger (heh) has is that her tail appears to be kind of twirled up into itself.  I imagine this is a fairly common DNP occurrence; has anypony taken a DNP apart before to clean/fiddle with the mechanism?  Or otherwise fiddled out a similarly twirled-up tail?  Please let me know if you have!

And finally (there had to be an end to this somewhere!), I got another Applejack.
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I had traded earlier this summer with the wonderful BabyIceCrystal for a truly pretty Applejack, and I'm over the moon with her; this extra AJ is in grubby-but-okay condition, and should clean up nicely for trade, maybe.

Anyway, that's the whole lot, but for the accessories they came with.  I'm posting those in another topic, looking for ID help and PCs.   Thanks for having a look-see, and as I get these ladies (and colt) all cleaned up, I'll be posting update photos.  Should have the first batch out tonight, yays!

[Leopard_Print_Unicorn]

Thank you for the kind comments, everybody!  I think Sparkler's blushes are more prominent than most of my ponies'... wonder why...

Poor Sparkler, she's blushing because she's embarrassed about that "ouchy roid!"

[hathorcat]

Thats a lot of work you have there! Good luck...cant wait to see the updates.

[Sugar]

Okiedokieloki, here are some update photos.  I tackled the "easiest" ones first, but left myself a couple easier ones for when the deflocks get me down.   Please note, in these shots, all their tails still needed to be washed & ironed.  Except for Creamsicle; I actually didn't even take her apart, she was nigh unto gorgeous!

Here's, um...  Gusty!  She was second on my original list, after Morning Glory, who's in spa at the moment.
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All she really needed was a good scrub; she had no major issues beyond a slight dark green stain to her DS front hoof edge, and she should have a silky smooth tail by tomorrow.  Yay!  I'm really pleased to welcome her back to my herd.   I may sunfade her someday, but she's not that off-white that it bothers me, so I may not.

Next up: the ouchy-roids Sparkler.
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Apart from ^that^ bit of business, an age spot on her NDS back, and a smidge of ingrained dirt around her hooves and horntip, she's pretty darned good.  I'm not a fan of curly hair (having wished hot steaming death on my own curls for too many years) so I straightened her mane and love it.   Her tail should be all pretty tomorrow too.  If it promises to be a sunny autumn, she may just sit on my windowsill and moon my hometown for a few weeks until her anatomical adjustment, er, calms down.  If not, the rest of my herd can laugh at her or something.

Here's TAF Sundance.
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A little ingrained dirt around her hooves, but other than that, she's prettied up quite a bit.  Her hair's that pussycat pink, isn't it?  It seems to show age somewhat.  It looks really rather pink in person, but my camera picks up a sort of burnishing where light reflects (refracts?) off it in weird ways.  I really like her a lot more than the original Sundance I once owned.  Her tail should be all smooth tomorrow too.

And Creamsicle.
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Wow.  Just... wow.  She's prettier than I'd hoped when I first bought her, and apart from the blush rub on her NDS side and that little pink splotch on her hind NDS leg, she's something else.  If I was avidly collecting the Pony Friends, she'd be the centrepiece of that collection!

One of the grubby Cotton Candy twins:
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Faded mane and tail, but otherwise cute as a button!  I left her counterpart to wash laters.

And finally (for tonight), Baby Tangles:
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Just ingrained dirt around hooftips and ears, but he's super sweet looking.   I don't normally collect the babies, but I may just make an exception here.

More tomorrow, as spa progresses.   I've Ribbon and Cupcake soaking in Oxiclean at the moment; the biro didn't come out of the flocking on Ribbon, so I elected to just deflock.  I love the shade of blue she is under all the fluff!  And best of all, though the ink stained the fuzz, it didn't permeate to the vinyl, so yays!   Cupcake is being a bother, though; worn down as her flocking is, it's also more stubborn than a mule.  Meh.  She'll soften up eventually... or face the Goof Off!  Mwahahaha!

Anyway, night for now.

[hathorcat]

Great work so far

[Leopard_Print_Unicorn]

Lookin good! I'm not sure if that is ingrained dirt on Sparkler's hooves and horn tip because every one I've seen of her and several other ponies of similar color have that discoloration around the edges, so it may just be something that happens with age? Your Sparkler's actually isn't too bad.

If anyone else has any insight or how to get it back to the right color, I'd love to hear them.

[Sokkis]

Looking good! I love this thread.