I'd love to hear your thoughts on these pony cleaning experiments*quick update!*

[hathorcat]

But cancer is not mould; so you can't kill it or prevent it from spreading. Its the actual plastic itself which is breaking down and unfortunately while it happens at various speeds and to various degrees you cannot physically stop plastic breaking down unless its in a vacuum container.

[archidraca]

So here's an update.    I've decided to go with BlackCurtains'(s?) idea that the cancer is a bacteria that is breaking down the plastic.

I opened up both QB and an Applejack with more pindot than orange and took off their markings but not any eye/blush/freckles with some acetone. Then I separated out the bodies individually into bags but kept both heads together (thrifty me).

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They sat in double baggies for nearly a week in a Bar Keeper's friend/Palmolive Free&Clear/water paste mixture. Every couple or few hours I would squish the bags to provide some man powered cleaning and let out excess air.

The only real casualty seems to be to the blushes. The eyes and freckles remained perfectly fine. QB is significantly lighter both in body and in the cancer marks. His age marks on his head faded just as significantly as the cancer even though the head was in the solution for markedly less time... because I waffled about doing his whole body. The center dot is now a faint orangey color I have to look close to find.

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The Applejack came out brighter and a little cleaner (and without her blush...) but the pindot remained relatively unaffected. The exposed hair feels cleaner and almost conditioned now. So, plus.

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This seems to be something I'd recommend mostly as an alternative to sunfading.    I have a few lighter colored ponies I'm going to try this on to see how they do. I proclaim QB as done with my current line of investigations and ready for his departure into custom-pony land. 

[Katika]

Did you try taking a Magic Eraser or lightly use a Scotchbrite on Applejack after she came out?  I've treated much MUCH lighter areas of pindot in overnight Oxyclean soaks, followed up by a rub from Magic Eraser and/or Scotchbrites with HUGE success.  I'm wondering if your concoction would do the same?

[archidraca]

Did you try taking a Magic Eraser or lightly use a Scotchbrite on Applejack after she came out?  I've treated much MUCH lighter areas of pindot in overnight Oxyclean soaks, followed up by a rub from Magic Eraser and/or Scotchbrites with HUGE success.  I'm wondering if your concoction would do the same?

   No not yet after the baggie. I'd tried the Magic Eraser on her, then a light wash with Qtips and acetone, then finally the paste mix combined with another Magic Eraser all before putting her into the baggies. I really didn't think she'd take this much effort to clean when I got her. I'm going to see how much I can put her through, without destroying her, to get the pindots off. Maybe I'll get some Oxyclean later if what I try tonight doesn't work. 

[MiRaja]

You know what, I just had a thought.  Cancer is most definitely not bacterial. . .  Actually, early vinyl dolls were prone of getting a cancer of their own, and it looks just like this, just different colored and more clearly sourced.  Early injection molds were not of the best quality and quality control was never really there for most plastic/vinyl dolls.  AS OF SUCH foreign material ended up in the vinyl.  In the 50's-60's-70's, these would be metal chips.  Like nickel and copper. . .which after years and years WOULD leach into the vinyl with this bluish green crap, and there would be greenish/bluish spots all over your doll, with ONE spot of really dark green and blue, and this condition was intensified when the doll was poorly treated and left exposed to more elements, because it's metal, etc, etc, and we know what metals do when left exposed.  Now, we all know factory conditions still suck, not as bad as they were way back then, but they're dirty, dirty places, and while we don't have to worry about metal pieces, there's plenty of crap to get into the vinyl.  I mean, I've seen two different people say they found GLASS inside their ponies. 

I can't find a good picture at the moment, but I'll show you an example of what happens when you leave a nickel/copper earring in a doll for twenty years.

http://www.centralcarolinafashiondollclub.com/resources/green%20ear.jpg

Now, imagine an embedded piece of metal.  Yup.  Same thing.  Vinyl osmosis. 

Now, imagine a foreign spec of something embedded in your pony.  Something from the factory that is potentially caustic and chemical in nature.  It won't show up right away, and it may not show up at all long as the pony stays in a temperature controlled environment with low humidity.  Remember, if all the materials are kept at a temperature where they are inert and inactive, than everything in hunkydorry, but the problem comes because different materials react to differently at different temperatures.  ( Case in point, composition dolls, woodpulp core and a plaster shell, the woodpulp swells at high humidity and high temperatures, where the plaster will compress at very cold temperatures, this causes the woodpulp core to swell and break the plaster shell, causing craze lines, and worse, huge gaping cracks in the composition )

But yes, there's my hypothesis.  Cancer is a foreign items that got into the vinyl during production that are later leeching out into the plastic.  It would explain why certain lines of ponies were more prone to it, such a dirty vat of vinyl, and then why there are oddballs in a line that will still get cancer ( that vat just had a little dirt and you were unlucky to get the pony that got some dirty vinyl, or she was made from the bottom of vat so to say ).  It also explains why it can't be bleached off or removed in most cases.  As long as you cannot extract that bit, you can't stop it from leaching.  ( Metal chips can be removed from vinyl dolls, but it's a mess to do, and runs the risk of ruining the doll or part )  Early prevention strategy?  Unknown.  If it was one spot at EARLY leeching, I'd suggest removing the immediately vinyl around it, and itself ( thus removing the particulate ) and then patching the hole with awesome restore techniques, but that may be way too much work. 

[happycootie]

Pony science is my favorite science! I love seeing possible new techniques and results. Thank you for sharing!

[ValhallaLilly]

I'm mostly interested in if we can't fix pony "cancer" does it spread? Because I don't want to have a quarantine for ponies :/

[Eldarwen]

It doesnt spread to other ponies. I kept my childhood ponies in the same bag for years and years, and only one of them had cancer when I started collecting. And it has stayed the same way even to this day. After all, if it is just plastic breaking down, its not possible for it to spread.

I know people sometimes boil the ponies to stop it from growing, but I have no clue if that helps or not.

[MiRaja]

It doesnt spread to other ponies. I kept my childhood ponies in the same bag for years and years, and only one of them had cancer when I started collecting. And it has stayed the same way even to this day. After all, if it is just plastic breaking down, its not possible for it to spread.

I know people sometimes boil the ponies to stop it from growing, but I have no clue if that helps or not.

No, it doesn't help it.  The leeching is by effect of osmosis.  It will continue to spread and dissolve into the plastic.  It's not so much the plastic breaking down, but rather a foreign particular in the vinyl breaking down and having a chemical and corrosive reaction with the vinyl.  In fact, boiling the pony may actually increase the speed of which the particulate leeches into the plastic.  Heat is an accelerant in any chemical reaction, and the break down of the chemicals in the plastic is accelerated by heat.  That is just basic chemistry. . .

[hathorcat]

I agree with MiRaja, its not bacteria which cause cancer; the damage is due to the integrity of the plastic. I have seen and heard of similar things in a lot of collector communities and other situations - we all just have different names for it and experience it to different extents. During manufacture bromide based chemicals are added as flame retardants. Over time this breaks down and "stains" the plastic. You will see it even more clearly in some plastics such as old game consoles which yellow all over with time. In ponies we see it a little differently and its break down could well be a result of time, environment or just a general issue [such as a tiny speck of dirt] in the plastic during manufacture.

Remember that the bacteria which Black Curtains found was dead. I can believe that bacteria are attracted to the plastic as it breaks down and this is probably the reason why it was found there.

Also people have managed to fade cancer over time - however they have not "fixed" it they have simply faded the staining, that looks to be what has happened here. Also is your Quarterback a little lighter in colour over all in body?

[archidraca]

Yes, he's now lighter all over. After drying him thoroughly he's a little darker than when he first came out. The spots are also a little browner on the one that have the central dot but not on the ones that just look like age marks. This lends credence to the foreign particulate theorem and I'm sharpening an exacto now to see how small an incision needs to be made for extraction and "cure", center vs discoloration. For SCIENCE! 

[happycootie]

Archidraca, I can't wait to see the results! Thank you for your scientific contributions to the pony community!