I’m currently designing a chassis with crystal chamber and accents for a set of Graflex. For my crystal chambers I usually add two WS2812 elements cut from the same 5050 strip I use for blades. But I saw some 5mm PL9823 and if those are compatible it would simplify the mechanical installation and cable routing. But then I read some thread about how they have issues at startup, and that was just using the PL9823, not any mention of inserting them in the middle of a WS2812 line. I guess I could use another data line for those, but if the most experienced can make me a recommendation, I would greatly appreciate it rather than fight with a fully printed and painted chassis during an installation.
I’m not entirely sure how well it will work unfortunately, but it is definitely “safe”, meaning that nothing will break.
The first potential complication is the byte order. Having different byte orders in the same string is something that can be annoying, but can be worked around.
The other potential issue is that PL9823 tends to start blue, but I don’t actually think that would be an issue here. (It could cause issues if you use shared power pins and start up one string but not the other. I don’t think it will be an issue if they are all in the same string though.)
I almost forgot my recommendation:
I would get some LEDs and try it before you wire things up permanently.
Now that you mention it, I could just solder a PL9823, then another WS2812 and then a last PL9823 and add them to my blaster test bench and just try them. That way I would be testing on 7.6. I’m not used to the riches of having a test stand. 
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