How picky are you with ponies? (with print errors and hair flaws etc)

[Cadence]

Today I received a translucent Starlight Glimmer from an online retailer. (I usually buy ponies in store but she was so hard to track down!) I noticed her right eye is misaligned - it was printed a bit too much to the left and missed the oval indent where the eye should be printed on.
 
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It bugs me but I don't really want to go through the hassle of returning her, and the retailer might just send me another flawed pony anyway. And I guess this devalues her a bit too... but anyway!

I was wondering, how welcoming of pony errors are other collectors? Or am I just too picky? Surely I'm not the only perfectionist pony collector out there!

[DazzleKitty]

You have a right to be as picky as you want to be.

I, on the other hand, am not really picky at all. I have a lot of flawed ponies in my collection. I just want them to be in good condition. They don't have to be mint. I even bought G1 Cascade recently with a haircut. Factory flaws bother me even less.

You'll see there are lots of differences in collectors when it comes to this area. Collect how you like.....picky or not.

[gold.standard]

I don't mind most of em! I don't like really bad body head mismatch, especially if its going to be a set completer that I'm spending a lot of time hunting down.

but most things are fixable, so not much bothers me!

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

i, personally dont care about minor factory flaws. I care more about the quality of the hair, but i have a few G4s where the eyes are not centered correctly, even tho they are from the first few years of FiM.

[Tulips]

Lol, I cannot tell you how long I will stand there comparing every pony on the shelf to find the least flawed one. Eyes are my #1, symbols, body and hair all next. I think I have mild OCD.

I'm much more forgiving with previous generations, but then I've never seen a G1/2/3 with eyewonk. I do have G4 ponies with errors, and most often I find a way to accept it instead of replacing or buying a double... because a lot of the time I can't find better, every pony on the shelf is flawed to some degree (really how hard is it to print the eyes correctly?).
So yeah, you're not the only one.

[Taxel]

I had to stop buying G4s because of all the flaws. The last few I have are up for sale too. I just couldn't take it anymore. Everything is an error with Hasbro and its exhausting.

But as far as older ponies go, I LOVE factory errors! A G1 with a misprinted symbol is one of the jewels of my collection. I dream of MIB G1s, G2s, G3s, and G3.5s with big symbol errors like that.

[Jorgito93]

Newer ponies, ugly factory errors i'll pass but errors that look kinda cool i'll take.But for flaws by their previous owners, i love them.I absolutely love ponies that have been loved by a child, it gives them so much personnality

[Noxxbunny]

I guess I'd say that I'm sort of picky. I won't buy G4s with eye misalignment, paint smears, or cutie marks that are too far down the leg. Needless to say...it makes finding ponies hard for me. 

[Kikwifluff]

I love g1 ponies in any kind of condition- I think it gives them more personality.
And as a few other people said, some flaws can be fixed.
So I don't really mind if my g1 ponies have lots of flaws, I'll display them anyway.   

But I do understand that some people prefer a pony (of any generation) to be in better shape- it just depends on the collector, I think 

[Taxel]

But for flaws by their previous owners, i love them.I absolutely love ponies that have been loved by a child, it gives them so much personnality

I forgot about kid-induced flaws! I actually tend to prefer my G1s with haircuts and I love missing tails. "Baity" ponies are best ponies

[pinkity]

At the store, I'm sometimes picky. However, I'm way less picky with blind bags and lots/swapmeet finds. I do find that errors, etc. make the pony very unique!! =^.^= Especially if the pony is a gift, I never nitpick.

Ponies just mean so much to me there's not enough room in my heart for me to be particular unless I haven't bought them yet and I'm choosing one from the store/picking up a blind bag. ;_;

Well... I am actually very picky on Build-A-Bear ponies' faces, on contrary to any other.

[vira]

for me, it depends!

im VERY willing to accept flaws on used ponies; haircuts, symbol rub, age spots, and the like are all fine with me! honestly, id even take ones with missing/chewed limbs, just so i can give them a good home! i figure that since theyve been around and played with, its better for me to accept that no pony will be perfect! im glad someone else loved them before me!

however, with new, fresh off cardboard, g4s? i need some quality!

its disappointing to see ponies with misaligned eyes or mangled hair. im okay with head/body color mismatch, because i understand hasbro probably cant use the same kind of chemicals to keep the plastic vibrant as they used to.

but it seems like hasbro should have WAY more control over the quality of other cosmetic features with the g4 ponies, like symbol markings and eye stamps. it sucks that theyre selling carelessly low quality toys to kids; if theyre getting a pony, they at least deserve to have its eyes on the same axis!

anyway, thats just my two cents! 

[Taxel]

im okay with head/body color mismatch, because i understand hasbro probably cant use the same kind of chemicals to keep the plastic vibrant as they used to.

Hasbro is absolutely capable of making ponies without head-body mismatch. Fashion Styles don't suffer from it, or at least the early ones I had don't as far as I know. (Unless it takes years to show up and happened after I sold mine.)

MLP and very cheap toys (often knockoffs) are the only ones that have mismatch to the degree of G4s. Slight mismatch is common, especially with dolls since you often have hard plastic torsos/limbs and vinyl heads, but it is NOT "required". I haven't ever seen a recent doll (ie Barbie, MH, EAH) with mismatch anywhere near as bad as G4s. Hasbro willingly chooses to make this "quality" of product

[Honeycomb]

For me it depends on the specific pony, where I buy it, and how much I pay.
If I find something at a fleamarket, I am happy, no matter the flaws.
If I find a lot with good ponies, I don't mind the flaws so much either.
However, if I decide to pay a lot of money for a specific pony, then I want it as mint as possible. For example, I'm looking for Tornado right now. If I'd be able to come across him at a fleamarket (hypothetically speaking), I'd be happy beyond words with whatever way he looked. But I'm looking online, so I'm looking for a mint one with pink hair and no flaws at all.

[Cadence]

What a relief to know I'm not the only picky one out there! (Guess perfectionism isn't such a rarity after all - whew )

I'm okay with imperfection on G1s as well - I just expect a more pristine pony if I'm buying it new. But I guess I haven't many expectations with the current line

I just opened my Starlight Glimmer and I have to say, I'm really happy with her despite her misaligned eye stamp. In the end, I grew to accept her flaws.