G1 Strange mane/tail hair color difference

LittleFlurry

Flighty Pegasus
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I recently got this guy really cheap through a local Craigslist ad. Sorry he's so dirty... I'm going to clean him up! But I'm wondering why his tail is bright pink, while his mane is just white with a blue stripe? Looking at other photos of this pony online, it seems like his mane is supposed to be pink too? His neck is very well sealed, so I think it's pretty unlikely any of his hair was replaced. Could this be some sort of factory error? Has anyone seen anything like this before?

IMG_4776.JPG
 
I recently got this guy really cheap through a local Craigslist ad. Sorry he's so dirty... I'm going to clean him up! But I'm wondering why his tail is bright pink, while his mane is just white with a blue stripe? Looking at other photos of this pony online, it seems like his mane is supposed to be pink too? His neck is very well sealed, so I think it's pretty unlikely any of his hair was replaced. Could this be some sort of factory error? Has anyone seen anything like this before?

View attachment 28475


He's got fading pink hair, which means it will fade to white in strong light.

My guess is that maybe the front half of him got a lot more light and the back end not enough to fade his tail. Handsome chap though, Steamer is one of my favorite Big Bros. My boy has almost no pink left.


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If you squint, you can see the faint tint of pink in his tail and forelock.

Here is a list of G1 ponies with fading pink. I believe it has been confirmed to have continued all the way up to G4.
 
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He's got fading pink hair, which means it will fade to white in strong light.

My guess is that maybe the front half of him got a lot more light and the back end not enough to fade his tail.

That would make sense, except that his mane is completely uniformly white, and his tail is uniformly bright pink. I don't know how he could have been exposed to the sun in such a way that his entire mane would turn white with no effect on the tail at all. It just doesn't look like sun fading.
 
That would make sense, except that his mane is completely uniformly white, and his tail is uniformly bright pink. I don't know how he could have been exposed to the sun in such a way that his entire mane would turn white with no effect on the tail at all. It just doesn't look like sun fading.


Maybe his back end was kept in shadow on the shelf while the sun struck his head because he was sticking out? You asked, I told. I've got several ponies with fading pink:
Dazzle Glow
Ringlets
Bunny Hop
Steamer
Trucker
Chilly Breezes
Loop de La
G3 Cotton Candy
Curlylocks
Sea Breeze
Twilight
Star Catcher
Aurora Mist

Not all of em fade the same way, depending on how a former owner keeps them, and which way the light comes in, and even which part of the world they're in.
 
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Maybe his back end was kept in shadow on the shelf while the sun struck his head because he was sticking out. You asked, I told. I've got several ponies with fading pink:
Dazzle Glow
Ringlets
Bunny Hop
Steamer
Trucker
Chilly Breezes
Loop de La
G3 Cotton Candy
Curlylocks
Sea Breeze
Twilight
Star Catcher
Aurora Mist

Not all of em fade the same way.

Check the mlppreservationproject.com
There are great tutorials on restoring faded hair. I've done several of my ponies who were faded or nearly faded to white.

Thanks for replying! Sorry if I came across as telling you you're wrong; I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure you know more than I do, but it just seemed very strange to me. Yes I suppose he could have been on a shelf with just his head sticking out. Somehow that scenario didn't occur to me.

I have seen that website but need to read it more! Maybe I'll look into restoring him, but really I think he's kind of cool how he is!
 
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I find the manes are usually faded more than the tails. Never to this degree. However, love melody, ss twilight, glitter sunspot, etc, any with fading pink hair, I've found more tails intact.

There's also the possibility that someone already tried re-pinking his tail and didn't like the results.

Either way, he's cute.
 
Thanks for replying! Sorry if I came across as telling you you're wrong; I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure you know more than I do, but it just seemed very strange to me. Yes I suppose he could have been on a shelf with just his head sticking out. Somehow that scenario didn't occur to me.

I have seen that website but need to read it more! Maybe I'll look into restoring him, but really I think he's kind of cool how he is!


He is cool like that.
 
I find the manes are usually faded more than the tails. Never to this degree. However, love melody, ss twilight, glitter sunspot, etc, any with fading pink hair, I've found more tails intact.

There's also the possibility that someone already tried re-pinking his tail and didn't like the results.

Either way, he's cute.

That’s interesting. In this case the color difference is so extreme that I really thought he had somehow been rooted with two different colors!

Considering how dirty he was, I doubt he ever belonged to a collector. I didn’t ask the lady I got him from about his history, but now I wish I had!
 
Here he is all cleaned up! Just look how handsome he is now. :D His tail was pretty frizzy, but it smoothed out very nicely with boiling water and fabric softener. I think the color-contrasting hair makes him interesting, so I'm just going to leave him like this. I'm probably going to sell him actually (I've sort of been "flipping" ponies as a fun way to make some extra money lol), but I figure if I like him this way, someone else probably will too!

IMG_5696.JPG
 
Here he is all cleaned up! Just look how handsome he is now. :D His tail was pretty frizzy, but it smoothed out very nicely with boiling water and fabric softener. I think the color-contrasting hair makes him interesting, so I'm just going to leave him like this. I'm probably going to sell him actually (I've sort of been "flipping" ponies as a fun way to make some extra money lol), but I figure if I like him this way, someone else probably will too!

View attachment 28478


Ooh he cleaned up nice. I keep forgetting what a pretty shade that is. I haven't seen pristine pink hair like that since G3.
 
Wow, that really is a huge difference. I agree I see more fading on manes than tails but never to that extreme. The tail looks like it's the right shade though, so thinking it was just the mane that faded. Wonder what got him in that situation LOL

Steamer.jpg
 
Wow, that really is a huge difference. I agree I see more fading on manes than tails but never to that extreme. The tail looks like it's the right shade though, so thinking it was just the mane that faded. Wonder what got him in that situation LOL

View attachment 28485

I know, crazy right? I almost want to text the Craigslist lady and ask her what happened to him, but that would be a bit weird!
 
Wow, that really is a huge difference. I agree I see more fading on manes than tails but never to that extreme. The tail looks like it's the right shade though, so thinking it was just the mane that faded. Wonder what got him in that situation LOL

View attachment 28485


Your MOC Steamer is so handsome! :ponylove:
 
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Oh, he's not mine but I have collected pictures of every pony MOC/MIB front and back for reference purposes. I don't know why I thought I'd need it but just in case, LOL Now that I type that "out loud" I realize how nuts I am :blush:
 
Oh, he's not mine but I have collected pictures of every pony MOC/MIB front and back for reference purposes. I don't know why I thought I'd need it but just in case, LOL Now that I type that "out loud" I realize how nuts I am :blush:
It's ok, together, we're mixed nuts!
 
Oh, he's not mine but I have collected pictures of every pony MOC/MIB front and back for reference purposes. I don't know why I thought I'd need it but just in case, LOL Now that I type that "out loud" I realize how nuts I am :blush:

Now that's dedication! I love it lol
 
Oh, he's not mine but I have collected pictures of every pony MOC/MIB front and back for reference purposes. I don't know why I thought I'd need it but just in case, LOL Now that I type that "out loud" I realize how nuts I am :blush:

I think that's a great idea! Always a good idea to have references on how things originally were... plus you've also got pics of which accessories came with them!
 
Oh, he's not mine but I have collected pictures of every pony MOC/MIB front and back for reference purposes. I don't know why I thought I'd need it but just in case, LOL Now that I type that "out loud" I realize how nuts I am :blush:


I don't think your nuts for doing that.
 
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