G3 Divine Shine Deterioration Frequency

[Honeycomb]

I have one where the glitter has dissolved as well.

[Magdalen]

How soon or long did it take to dissolve?  Can anything be done about it?  Or do we just deal with it?

My girl is still in really nice shape aside from being sticky.  What's a good way to get her less sticky?  I've had her new from the store, so I'm hoping if her glitter hasn't dissolved or she hasn't discolored yet she won't.

[Sea_Breeze]

I didnt' even know they were doing this!! I haven't looked at mine for years they're boxed up in my mums garage

[Doedeardarling]

That's quite bad, I never knew about this problem in G3s. I wonder if there's anything toxic leaking if the plastic is that unstable.

[Lightninglover]

Just checked on mine- three are slightly sticky & one is fine so far. All four were bought new & have been kept in the same conditions as the rest of my ponies. My pony room has the radiator switched off & the curtains drawn, so it's always cool. No danger of overheating here in the UK! 

[Sparkle Pony]

This information is great, the more we know the better.  If we can find a way to slow deterioration, that would be great.

[hathorcat]

Great comparison pictures Sapphire-Light!

Unfortunately while I so agree the degree of deterioration is no doubt influenced by external factors - heat, environment, humidity/dampness, etc - as it is with any plastic breakdown. It is also probably just down to this type of plastic [when manufactured relatively cheaply and certainly not designed to still be in use many years after it was created] just deteriorating naturally.

[gabumon]

is better check mine later today.  and take pics.

should we not be storing them with other non glitter ponies?

[hathorcat]

The issue is in their plastic so I dont think it matters too much who you store them with [although if they are sticky I would ensure they dont press up against other ponies just to prevent staining].

[Strawberry Swirl]

I picked up Tangerine Twinkle through a thrift store and haven't yet had any issues with her. Knock on wood.

[Dragonflitter]

I bought my three Divine Shines in Walmart at the time they were being sold in stores. So far they have not gotten sticky or changed color or lost any glitter. I store them in a big cardboard box with all my other ponies, since I don't have room to display them right now. But I do take them out and check them (and all my ponies) from time to time.

For informational purposes, I live in a New England climate where it gets really cold and dry in the winter, but really hot and humid in the summer. The fluxuations can make it difficult for some of my collections (like books in the summer, the covers always curl on me) but so far my Divine Shines are fine.

[LuckyTwirlerina]

Those pics are interesting, Sapphire-Light! It's amazing to me that the glitter just disolves I wonder what type of plastic they used on the Divine Shines. The translucent G1s all seem to be fine, at least the ones I've come across!

See, this is what makes me wonder how different plastic really is between the generations. I have a complete set of g1 sparkle babies, and the sparkle ponies minus Napper. I notice that Star Hopper (green) can commonly deteriorate into a more opaque aqua than her original clear green, and Sparkle Baby Firefly (pink) can discolour to a dusty rose, but neither of them seem to have an issue with glitter.

How soon or long did it take to dissolve?  Can anything be done about it?  Or do we just deal with it?

My girl is still in really nice shape aside from being sticky.  What's a good way to get her less sticky?  I've had her new from the store, so I'm hoping if her glitter hasn't dissolved or she hasn't discolored yet she won't.

These ponies are from 2006 so they're deteriorating after only 7-8 years.

I hear sticky ponies can be lightly dusted with talcum powder every couple months to keep the stickiness in check, but this is only a temporary fix and not a solution, and I'm not sure if it works on clear ponies.

[Magdalen]

I've had my pony in with my other ponies in a box since about 2007.  Nothing was wrapped around them, so she was up against a few ponies.  Everyone else is looking good.  But still when they have to go back into storage for whatever reason I'll probably wrap her up some.

I'll get a few pictures of her eventually.  Her plastic is doing some weird things and I'm not sure if that's how she normally was or if it's an aging thing.

These ponies are from 2006 so they're deteriorating after only 7-8 years.

I hear sticky ponies can be lightly dusted with talcum powder every couple months to keep the stickiness in check, but this is only a temporary fix and not a solution, and I'm not sure if it works on clear ponies.

More of my question was how long did it take the ones that have lost their color and glitter.  Did it happen recently or a while back?  Because we have some that are still in good shape, that I am wondering if they will stay in good shape or go the way of the ones that were pictured earlier.  I just think it's interesting that some will be fine but other aren't even when kept in the same conditions.

And to figure out what I'll do with my girl...

[Stars]

My sister has a divine shine (Flower Garland I think? ) who I washed the other day and her plastic is fine. Unfortunately even after condition and straightening her hair is still a frizz fest

[Sapphire-Light]

I actually have extras of Secret Wish and Glitterbelle which I'm using to see if I can find out what can speed up or slow down this deterioration, if anything. I mostly want to see if it varies simply by batch or if exterior factors are the cause. I'm waiting until summer to see if heat and humidity are a factor, and I plan to document everything I do, and compare results to my own minty childhood divine shines.

Poor ponies, but better two be sacrificed for the furthering of pony collecting knowledge than to never know the solution to a possibly preventable problem

That experimet sounds interesting 

Those pics are interesting, Sapphire-Light! It's amazing to me that the glitter just disolves I wonder what type of plastic they used on the Divine Shines. The translucent G1s all seem to be fine, at least the ones I've come across!

Yeah, it appears  as the plastizer leaks out, it litereally eats the gltter since there's no glitter loose inside the ponies, I think is more notorios in the Flower Garland picture at the neckring area comparation

The plastic used in the divine shine must be really cheap, since I  have nearly all of the sparkle G1s and they are fine , I even have a Twinkler that I got around in 1992-1993, and she looks good and still have the glitter

Great comparison pictures Sapphire-Light!

Unfortunately while I so agree the degree of deterioration is no doubt influenced by external factors - heat, environment, humidity/dampness, etc - as it is with any plastic breakdown. It is also probably just down to this type of plastic [when manufactured relatively cheaply and certainly not designed to still be in use many years after it was created] just deteriorating naturally.

Agree, is like when you buy fresh bananas, if you keep the in a place in your house at room temparature that's like were I live 30c to 35c , they are going to rot way faster that if you leave them instead  in the fridge , but that doesn't mean they would never rot inside the fridge, the cold is only going to delay the rotting giving you more time to eat the bananas, not preventing the rotting forever

More of my question was how long did it take the ones that have lost their color and glitter.  Did it happen recently or a while back?  Because we have some that are still in good shape, that I am wondering if they will stay in good shape or go the way of the ones that were pictured earlier.  I just think it's interesting that some will be fine but other aren't even when kept in the same conditions.

And to figure out what I'll do with my girl...

Good question, at least in my case back then when I was picking up Secret Wish at the store, I notice that the metal washers of the tails of most   Secret Wish ponies looked like they were stared to get rust since she's translucid it was easy to see , so I got the one that appeared to don't have issues

Those ponies were in shelves for near a year and a half and they looked worse as the time passed, but mine was good until like a year later she got the rust like sustance in the washer so I opened her and cleaned it and didn't got worried about her until around two years ago, when I was rotating ponies in my display area in my room that I senced a nasty smell when I opened the plastic container were I have my ponies, I took them all out and noticed the nasty smell came out from Secret Wish and Glitterbelle

Now I guess that the "rust" looking sustance I saw was the plastizer staring to come out, as you can see it the damaged areas are browish or red in color

They were all sticky like they were bathed in olive oil, they also felt very soft, then  I posted about the isuee in the old arena, wit the suggestions people gave I washed them soaking for a few hours wit dishwasher and scrubbing wit a toothbrush, that way the sticky oil like sustace came off, so I left the ponies to air dry for a few days in shade,  but when they finished dry out they became rock hard