Pony with brown mold?

[Leave a Whisper]

I just got my first G1 in forever, Sweetstuff! On the bright side she's really cute and doesn't have some of the problems in her description, her tail is tightly in, instead of loose and rattling, there's hardly any rust and her mane isn't missing plugs, that I can see. On the sucky side she's got some brown spots with a darker spot in the middle, which is mold, so I've read. I've heard its contagious and I wanted to know if it will spread to my G3s, Breyers, Grand Champions and other plastic toys. I've heard an oxiclean bath can help lessen it and I was wondering if anyone has had any success with that? Thanks

[Thunderwing]

It's not mold. It is properly called VDS - Vinyl Deterioration Spots. Basically, the chemicals in the plastic are breaking down and leaving a dark spot, or ring. This can also be called 'pony cancer' but I prefer to call it by the proper name. It is a common problem in vintage toys. It's not curable, though you might be able to make the spot a paler color and less obvious. It will not spread.

[Leave a Whisper]

It won't spread? That's good to hear. Thank you Thunderwing. Shame it's not curable, but well, nothing lasts forever.

[RustyGusty]

Thunderwing, not that I'm an expert and not that I want to question your knowledge or anything. But I thought we were beyond calling it "Vinyl Deterioration Spots". It sounds good, but I don't think there's anything that speaks for it at all.

Even though the plastic of ponies is kinda soft, it's definitely dry. It's factory made and I wouldn't call these spots simply mold. I think these kind of spots would be alot more common if they were mold. They would probably show up in more places all over the ponies that show signs of it. And there would probably atleast be several similar spots in that area.

I think it's more logical to want to know exactly why this happens, a more scientific reason. Like when certain dolls get big dark spots, we don't just call them mold, but rather investigate and find reasons like that they have metallic parts inside that cause this.

There was a Youtube video that magnified a "cancer"-spot of a pony, and you can clearly see it's not simply mold but rather some kind of bacteria. Or some microscopic insects that have found their way in. My guess is that this happens when ponies have some kind of microscopic damage, and perhaps are stored in a way that they are subjected to either heat, sunlight, moisture, or perhaps all of those at once.

I'd love to see if anyone has a still sealed pony with "pony-cancer" that all if it's "life" has been stored in a toystore until it reached someones wellkept collection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-UEFOq08AU

[Nappercasper]

I had a moc te gingerbread with a brown spot of cancer.

[hathorcat]

I agree with Thunderwing, its what we commonly call in the community an "age mark" or "cancer". Its the result of something foreign causing the plastic to start breaking down or simply a result or plastic which was not completely integral to begin with be influenced by environment/conditions over time. The colour is a result of the flame retardant chemicals in the plastic which are the most unstable and tend to come out of the plastic as soon as its compromised; they cause the brown staining which we see.

RavenGusty, to date we have only seen one cancer mark with one example of bacteria and that bacteria was dead. I have not seen someone call age marks/cancer mould for quite some time. I completely agree it was no doubt the reason for that age mark but its not the reason for every single one.