So you want to customise Fairy Tail birds and you took my advice to look at this page first. I am so happy you took that advice I want to thank you as a collector!
Okay now I know I don’t have pictures for this page yet but I am working on it. I am looking for examples of the faults as well as examples of perfect condition birds! So please stick with me on the text only version of it as it stands currently.
So I guess the question we want to answer is this. ‘Can I customise this bird?’
Now the truthful answer is you can customise anything you want but you may wish to look your bird up first and make sure it is not a rare bird or one that will bring you a few bucks. If you really don’t care about the bird or the collectors who would want it... then customise! That is really your choice but here is my list of what I would and wouldn’t customise.
Things to look for:
-Regrind: this is an ugly, often neon, discoloration in the plastic of a Fairy Tail bird. It is un common to see (I have seen it but not often) and brings down the value of the bird. It is caused by Hasbro taking old plastic they already used grinding it down re colouring it and using it to form a new run of birds. (You see this most often in My Little Pony)
-Symbol Rub: often when a bird is played with often the chest symbol and eyes get scratches and rubs of the paint. Most people try to restore these birds instead of use them as bait for a custom. I personally do this as well.
-Chew marks: this is often the reason to customise. Cats, dogs, young kids often would chew on the soft plastic making small cuts in it. Or missing wing tips. I look for these often as they are usually the cheaper ones to buy and nothing a bit of sculpting doesn’t fix!
-Broken Toes: the amount of times I see this makes me want to cry. These are often the best to use as testers for things like dye baths, new paint jobs, sculpting and the likes. I also like to use these as wine toppers… Don’t ask you really don’t want to know!
-Frizzy Tail, or Main: most times with a bird you just need to give them a hot water soaping and a conditioning and a loving brushing and it often brings the tail and main back to it’s original look and feel. I do find that when I clean up a main and tail the tail is cut shorter then it should be. If it is not to bad I add it to my collection. Cleaning up a tail can take hours!
-Stubble Hair: often due to someone cutting the tail off this is often time to customise, if the body is in perfect condition you can restore the tail using dollyhair.com, or any other synthetic hair you would like.
Things to try first before customising:
-Cleaning up of the body and hair: Use warm water and your bathroom hand soap and give the bird a soft scrub to get rid of dirt.
-Conditioning the main and tail: Hot water and a quick shampoo to get dirt out then a conditioning with a gentle brushing to get the hair to un tangle. Work from the tip to the base. Keeping hair wet or damp as you work.
-Restore: Can the symbol be re painted/touched up or the eyes? Can the hair be replaced?
Notes:
-If there is only one or two minor problems try to clean the bird up and restore it, or sell it to a collector who will.
-If in cases of broken toes, bites and severe rubs often customising is best for the bird.
This is all personal judgement really but try to get a good looking bird a new home!
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