So happy beheading new ponies for cleaning, until...

[Artemesia's Garden]

I have bought quite a few grubby looking ponies lately most with only one minor or no permanent flaws so I've really been looking forward to cleaning them! I was having a great time until I noticed that baby Rainribbon had glue residue around her neck and her head was an absolute pain in the neck to get off.  I think someone has already removed her head then stuck it back on with a stronger glue?!! Weirdly, when I finally got it off I noticed that the tail washer was still intact, rusty and nearly bent double! I whipped it out and replaced with cable tie. I have previously had no problems getting heads off with neck plug intact so this one has upset me because it's the first one I've damaged. I tore the neck plug inside about 1/3 of the way around. At some point someone has damaged the neck seal on my Bubbles in this way and when I noticed I was pretty upset because I paid nearly £20 for her thinkign she was NM..

Sooo...

Has anyone else come across sellers sticking heads back on? Why would they do it?
II'd love to know what everyone else thinks. Does anyone only collect ponies if neck is still factory sealed?

[Teddy]

Well, I personally don't mind at all if a pony's head has been taken off before. Makes it easier to be sure it's clean inside (and also saves me the trouble of taking it off if need be). Now, I don't take off everyone's head, just the ones with obvious tail rust and other grossness going on inside. Of course it'd be better if everyone's heads were still factory sealed, but since the G1's are 30 years old now, it's kind of a necessary evil to keep them from deteriorating further. But that's just me, of course.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Many Hasbro factory ponies had glued-on heads.  The glue breaks down on many of them but some are just very stubborn.  I would suspect this is your case, as the Rainbow Babies did have glued-on heads as a set.  Especially with the tail washer being rusty - that's something that 99% of collectors would fix/replace.  Sometimes the washers get bent at the factory, sometimes it's pressure from the brushing of a previous owner. 

Also, many people don't like that the heads can turn once you remove them the first time.  So they glue them back on. 

I personally HATE this and would never do it, but there you go.    Sorry to hear about the neck plug, mine have a few like that.  It doesn't show on display, or I hide it with hair. 

[Artemesia's Garden]

Thanks so much ladies!

I think I'd like to try to make the neck plug more secure again with some glue, try to glue up the crack where the vinyl split before I put the head back on, what do you think?

I'm worried that the next person to take the head off (probably me having forgotten) might think, "oh great, the head is loose" and try to just pop it straight off but end up splitting the neck plug even more.

If anyone has any thoughts or glue suggestions I'd really appreciate it!

Feeling happy again now 

p.s. Wave Runner's head just came off fine and she's making a great recovery

[hathorcat]

Do you have any pictures of the area you are referring to with the damage? People will probably be able to help you out more if they can visualise things a little.

And I agree with LBS that if the pony had tail rust then the stubborn glue was probably factory original - unfortunately sometimes whether by nature or break down it can be very strong.