Question 1

About Us

Accepted Answer

Little Starglow Ponies is owned and run by a wife-and-wife team, Sarah and Sara, who became involved in the HQG1C project in late 2020.

Sara has been a collector since the 1980's when she was a child and began collecting G1 ponies more seriously as a teenager, around 2006. As part of the MLP community, Sara has attended several Ponycons and has been an active part of forums, websites and other online groups. She has a small collection of G1's (around 200) and enjoys restoring and searching for those last few elusive 'grail' ponies on her list. Her favourite pony is Starglow - hence the name of the business! Sara works on the photography, graphics, customer service  and marketing side of things. By day, she's the Head of a successful Art Department in the North West (and yes, there are ponies in my classroom!) and has been teaching for 13 years. Sara's other great passions are dogs and gardening; ponies, plants and pooches make her world go round!

Sarah (yes, this is confusing!) met Sara in 2012 and to be honest, found the whole My Little Pony thing quite strange! Despite that, Sarah is continuously supportive of the pony collecting hobby and has learned a lot about the community and different ponies over the years. Sarah is the brains behind the operation - she looks after the spreadsheets, orders and finances, and fixes things on the website when they go wrong. Sarah is probably the person who has lovingly picked, packed and processed your order. By day, Sarah is the Head of KS5 Mathematics in a secondary school, with a passion for calculus and software engineering. She is also a keen sewer and loves to make her own clothes.

On top of the teaching and ponies, we have a busy household with 4 dogs and 2 chickens, as well a variety of foster dogs who we help to look after for different rescues that we support. There is never a dull moment!

We love running the website and being the U.K. distributor for HQG1C, and of course making G1's look pretty too!

We are proud to be a woman-owned, LGBTQ+ small business who wouldn't exist without our amazing customers and the support pony community who have made HQG1C what it is. Pony people really are the best and we hope that we can bring many more new HQG1C ponies to you for years to come.

As always if you have any questions, please ask, or drop me a message via Instagram @little_starglow. Don't forget to tag us in any photos of your ponies or customs or use the #hqg1c or #hqg1cuk hashtags!

Question 2

What are HQG1C ponies?

Accepted Answer

High Quality G1 Customs (HQG1C) are unique, retro-style ponies designed and made by members of the G1 pony collecting community. Each character design is a limited release with a set amount of units made each year. The pony designs are created in collaboration with collectors and retro toy fans, with the aim of recreating the excitement and feeling of buying and collecting the pony toys of your childhood.

The HQG1C ponies themselves are made in a factory from hollow plastic with hand-rooted nylon hair and factory stamped symbols. They come sealed in their own individual bags with a matching ribbon. The manufacturing process is similar to the way that original 80's toys were made and the eyes, symbols and hair are made to last. They are suitable for light play (or many years on a display shelf!).

Question 3

P&P Information

Accepted Answer

All orders are posted out within 5 working days; our normal posting days are Monday,  Friday or Saturday.

If you require a rush on your order, please state this in the notes at checkout  and we will do our best to process your order as quickly as possible. Selecting tracked or expedited postage does not mean that your parcel will be picked and packed more quickly, only that it will be expedited by the parcel carrier once received.

All items are posted via Royal Mail - we do not use Evri or other courier services.

All regular ponies are shipped in padded envelopes. More delicate items or large orders will be shipped in a secure box.
 
Please be aware that some international orders may be subject to customs and import tax. We cannot be responsible for any customs or handling fees incurred - please check your country's relevant customs and duty website for more information.
 
To ensure that your order is insured, we strongly advise selecting tracked shipping at checkout, especially for larger orders. Unfortunately, we cannot be responsible for the loss of packages that are shipped using a non-tracked service. In the event of a lost package we will always do our upmost to locate the order and resolve the issue.

Question 4

Do you ship internationally?

Accepted Answer

Yes! We ship internationally from the UK to most of the world, including:
 
Europe
Canada
USA
Australia
New Zealand
South and Central America
Asia 
 
Shipping is calculated based on your location and weight of your order. This is calculated at checkout.

If you would like us to expand shipping to your country please drop us a message with your location and number of items for an accurate shipping quote.
 
Please note: All if you require your order to be shipped using a tracked service you must select this option at checkout as tracked services incur an extra fee.

Question 5

Do you buy pony collections?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we do! If you are thinking of selling your collection or have a large lot of ponies that you would like to sell together, rather than individually, please get in touch via our online contact form.

Selling ponies in groups or lots is less time consuming and much less hassle than selling them individually. We will work with you to agree on a fair price and can arrange pick up or a courier to collect them from you if postage is not an option.

We trade primarily in G1-G3 vintage My Little Ponies but buy all generations, including other vintage toys such as Care Bears, Moondreamers, Lady Lovely Locks, Jem dolls and more.

Question 6

There's a problem with my order, what can I do?

Accepted Answer

If you have a problem with your order, please Contact Us with your order number, name and address so that we can work to resolve the issue.

For international orders, please allow 2 weeks minimum for delivery. Orders to the USA and Australia may take slightly longer. 
 
Please note: If you did not purchase tracking on your order, we can not insure your package and items are shipped at your own risk.

Question 7

My pony has some minor imperfections, can I return it?

Accepted Answer

HQG1C Ponies

Although each HQG1C pony goes through strict quality control measures, some minor imperfections can occur. 
 
As HQG1C ponies are custom items, small imperfections such as mis-stamped symbols, mis-aligned eyes, surface marks, head/body mis-matching and missing hair plugs can be expected due to the nature of the manufacturing process. 
 
In the event of a serious flaw please Contact Us with a photograph of the flaw and we can arrange a replacement item or issue a full refund. 
 
Vintage MLP

I aim to describe all vintage My Little Ponies in detail and I will photograph any major flaws or imperfections. I often make the ponies sound worse than they are as I try to mention even the smallest flaws. However, please look at the photographs carefully and if you are in doubt, please ask for more information. I am always happy to provide extra details and photographs.

In the event that you are not happy with your vintage pony purchase or it has a flaw that was not visible in the photographs, please Contact Us to return your item for a full refund.

Unfortunately we can not cover the cost of postage if your pony has a flaw that was clearly photographed in the item listing. It is therefore vital that you view each photograph and read the description in order to ensure that you are happy with your purchase when it arrives.

Please remember that G1 ponies are vintage items, some of which are more than 40 years old. Flaws are common in the older ponies and they are becomingly increasingly hard to find in 'mint' condition - time and the hands of imaginative children have taken their toll!

Question 8

How do you clean and restore vintage ponies?

Accepted Answer

All vintage ponies (G1, G2 and G3) are cleaned using gentle washing detergent and magic eraser sponges. Their hair is styled with a simple water/conditioner solution.

If ponies have stubborn dirt, rust or mould inside their heads are carefully loosened or removed and the pony is cleaned inside using anti-fungal spray. Where necessary, the rusty tail washer is removed and the head then securely reattached. Tails are secured with plastic cable ties.

Any restoration work e.g. repinking, repainting or rehairing is detailed in the item description. I have almost 20 years experience in restoring vintage toys and have restored a wide variety of ponies, including the Thai Fireball pony seen on the MLP Wiki! My aim is to restore ponies as close to their original state as possible in order to preserve them for other collectors to enjoy.

Repainting is done using high quality Golden or Winsor Newtorn acrylic paints and the areas are sealed with appropriate sealants. Often (especially on pony eyes) you can not tell that an area has been repainted. However, transparency in the collecting community is important and I would always encourage buyers to declare any known restoration work in the event that they re-sell a restored pony.

Nylon hair is used for rehairing which is identical to the original hair used in vintage My Little Ponies. The colour may vary slightly but often the new nylon matches are excellent and in most cases a 99% identical match to the original colour.

If you have any questions about any of the ponies for sale or requite additional pictures or information on restoration work completed, please get in touch.

If you are interested in your restoring your own pony collection, the following websites may be useful:

- MLP Preservation Project 
- Retro Geek Crafts

Question 9

Can I request a custom pony or OC?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately we are unable to manufacture individual ponies or custom designs.

The ponies are made in a factory in China and as such, need to be ordered in large amounts often of 1,000 or more. It is therefore not feasible to take on requests for one-off OC characters, unless you would like to buy a thousand of them!

There are many amazing customisers available to help bring your ideas or OC characters to life. Facebook has several excellent customising groups where artists would be willing to take on commissions.

Question 10

Where can I get updates, discount codes and pre-order information?

Accepted Answer

To receive advance information on pre-orders, sales, discount codes and new releases follow the HQG1C project on Facebook and Instagram.
 
Or alternatively you can also sign up to the HQG1C-UK mailing list to get updates and information straight to your email inbox!

Question 11

Do you have a Privacy Policy?

Accepted Answer

Yes we do. You can read it here

Frequently asked questions