Weird washer?

[Wind~Whistler]

(Cross-post from the TP)
Hey y’all!
Today I picked up a couple G3-G4 ponies (pictures soon!) so I got to work on cleaning them. In the lot there was a “Pie Party” Pinkie Pie/Pinkie Pie III, with tail issues. It looked VERY thin (close to G4 thin) but didn’t look cut, so I opened her up, and found this as a washer (under spoiler)

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Her head was tightly on, but not tight like other G3s who I’ve struggled to open. Hot tap water did the trick.
The string/thread is in a very tight knot, and the plastic the washer is made of is very close to PP’s body color. Otherwise, the tail and tinsel matches her mane perfectly with minimal fading.
What’s going on? Could it have been the previous owner/parents that did this?

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I've seen that before! The washers themselves are factory.

[Wind~Whistler]

I've seen that before! The washers themselves are factory.

Thanks tailrust! If you don’t mind me asking, did the ponies that have a similar washer have thinning/scarce tails?

[tailrustedtealeaf]

The one I've customized that had that didn't seem to have a thin tail, but I think there's a reason why they went back to metal washers...

[Wind~Whistler]

The one I've customized that had that didn't seem to have a thin tail, but I think there's a reason why they went back to metal washers...

I would like to assume their tails would pull out easily in play, or at least some hair would fall off considering it is a single thread that’s holding it all together. Huh.
Thank you so much for the info Tailrust 

[RoseNoire]

Hi ! I've found a pony with this same weird washer. I had talked about it on Discord, but it didn't go anywhere, as it's hard to tell what's going on. I'm glad to have found another specimen !

So, yeah, that's definitely Factory made, but I don't know the reason. My pony affected is G3 Hidden Treasure. She doesn't seem to have a thinner tail than my others. Her neck glue was fused to her body, that was an absolute struggle to remove her head.
She also has a string partially knotted between her tail and washer.
One more thing is that her symbol plug got glued to the tail, but I don't think that was on purpose, the glue probably leaked a bit on her tail while she was being made. I've not opened any other Hidden Treasure yet so I can't compare much.

Here are the pictures. Don't mind her baldness, she's a custom bait and I've noticed her peculiar tail while prepping her. ^^

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Hope that helps. Have a nice day !

Rose.

[SkyCakes]

I have seen washers like that before while washing G3s. I do find them strange. I feel bad they gave some G3s thinner tails. :/

[Adarkdraconis]

I had noticed that some G3s had much thinner tails than others, (and some are my favorite ponies!) and I knew they hadn't had hair pulled out or anything.  This kind of answers it, I knew some were coming from the factory thinner but couldn't figure out how or why (I've never taken mine apart.)

[LadyMoondancer]

Some G3s have the plastic washers, some have the "traditional" metal washers.  I'm not sure if it correlates to timeline or specific sets.  I know the first Spring Basket set (Wishawirl, Garden Glade, and Bubblecup) had the plastic washers because I customized a bunch of them back in the day.

However, I am pretty sure I customized ponies who were made after them who had metal washers.  The earliest G3 ponies (Rainbow Dash etc) also had metal washers.

With the Spring Basket set, in addition to the plastic washers, the tails were secured with GOBS of glue.  Just tons.  I think the nozzle of the glue gun (or whatever they used) was jammed into the tail hole after the tails were inserted, because those ponies would often have sharp spikes of glue hidden in the base of their tails.  Like, coming out of their butts.  The darn things made me bleed A LOT, they were VERY SHARP.  So perhaps that's the reason they went back to using metal washers, which didn't need glue?  Not sure, just a hypothesis.