In my previous post, I mentioned that My Little Pony come with a metal tail ring that is tied inside the pony to secure the tail in position.  Over the years, this metal tail ring can rust.  It could be because the pony got wet before and water had seeped into the pony through the tail hole, or just plainly due to age.

Sometimes the rust is minimal and you would not notice anything amiss when looking at the pony on the outside.  In severe cases, the rust stains show up on the hair near the tail hole.  In very extreme cases where the ponies have very light colored bodies, the rust can even been seen when lifting the pony up and looking at the body against the light.  These are cases when the rusty tail ring and the rust stains must be removed from the inside of the pony.  If you leave the rust inside, the condition will worsen and the pony looks very disgusting to handle, furthermore you know that the inside looks even worse.  Therefore you need to ‘open up’ the pony or perform a rust cleansing ’surgery’ on the pony.

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For My Little Pony, I have a flat rough sponge (the type for washing dishes) to scrub off as much surface dirt as possible from their bodies.  I would first rub some soap over the body of the pony and then use my sponge scrub over it.  After that, I would rinse away the water and check for anymore dirt to scrub off.  Repeat the soap-scrub-rinse-check for remaining dirt process until you are satisfied that you have removed all the dirt that you can.

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Most toys can be washed and cleaned up when they get dirty.  Plush toys can be put into and tied up in a pillow case and then washed in a washing machine.  Plastic action figures, figurines, vehicles, playsets and statues can be wiped with wet wipes or a clean wet cloth. 

Human and animal dolls (with brushable hair, e.g. Barbie and My Little Pony), would sometimes develop mouldy spots or patches on their rubbery plastic surfaces.  You can also use wet wipes or a clean wet cloth to wipe away those moulds.  However, if their hair gets dusty or dirty due to prolonged display and exposure in the open (with no glass panels or cupboard doors to keep out the dust), then these dolls need to have their hair washed, shampooed, conditioned and subsequently re-styled.

Come back again tomorrow to know about washing and hair care tips for My Little Pony toys. 

Some toys are just not suited for certain climates.  You will have to either learn this the hard way by trial and error, or you will have to do your research on the possible chemical reactions of certain materials with certain climates.  For example, the Breyer model horses that I used to collect during my childhood just could not acclimatize to our hot and humid Singapore weather here.

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Your toy collection would take up quite an amount of space in your home.  This is one thing to consider before or when you start this hobby.  You would need to dedicate a display or storage area to show them off or for some collectors, to conceal them (from their spouse or family members).  This step is easier said than done, especially for the Rapid Growth toy collector.  The ‘obssessed’ emotions take over the reasoning part of the mind and there is a tendency to ‘buy first and think later’ while the toy supply is still available at ‘good’ prices.

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Many toy collectors I know, especially those who collect action figures, buy only Mint-On-Card (MOC)/Mint-In-Box (MIB) toys and keep them that way forever.  The reason being the toys are more valuable this way and will fetch better selling prices in future.  Someone once told me that the collectible toy market here in Singapore is also known as the ‘poor man’s stock market’.  Some collectors lament that such ‘investing’ mentality and actions deprive the true collectors of obtaining the toys at much fairer rates because of artificially inflated demand and prices. 

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I made some interesting observations while surfing Amazon recently to check out the latest cartoons DVDs released this year end.

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Upon collecting toys, you will realise that you need to consider and take care of storage space and display area, inventory and cost records, budget and funds management, and minimize overspending etc.

You also need to keep your precious collectible toys safe from children, especially those of your visitors, to prevent possible damage by them.  It is ironic that toys were originally made to be played with by children but once they become your collectibles, you know they are never to be placed in the hands of children without your permission and supervision.

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Toys come in many forms such as action figures (which are poseable,), figurines (non-poseable), human or animal dolls (with brushable hair, e.g. Barbie and My Little Pony), vehicles (e.g. die-cast model cars) and statues (for display only) etc. 

Which ones make better collectible toys and what are their differences?

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I call this stage ‘Casual’ because by now, the toy collector would have acquired all the common and even rare, exclusive, limited editions and variant pieces of the toylines.  They have gone past the Nirvana and Guru stages.  There are hardly any new toys to chase after so frequently. 

It does not mean that their interest in toy collecting has waned.  It just means that the pace of collecting has slowed down and their focus has shifted more to certain specific aspects of the toy hobby such as customizing, organizing online events like toy photos competitions for the online toy community; or physical events for toy collectors who live nearby to gather, trade toys and have fun discussing their toy hobbies etc.

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