Poll: Is Mimic really as rare as we think she is? *Update: Poll Results*

[Haruna]

I've heard it said and I've suspected for a while that Mimic may not be the rarest twinkle-eyed pony but is instead just uncommon and very popular. So, here's a super-thorough, perfectly-designed poll to test that theory! Just kidding . . . this poll will obviously only give us just a rough idea of how common Mimic is. There are so many more factors that we'd need to take into account to figure out if she's actually rare or not. But this should be fun, at any rate, if not perfectly accurate Fill out the poll above with each twinkle-eyed pony that you currently own (even if it's just in your sales box or bait box) and we'll see what our answers show.

My money is on one of her set-mates winning the poll for rarity here -- possibly Quackers or Bright Eyes. All images from Ponyland Press.

Edit: Thanks to Baby Sugarberry and Taffeta for pointing this out -- some of you may own more than one of a particular twinkle-eyed pony; you might have an army of Gingerbreads, have two Lockets in varying conditions, multiple Fizzys (like me), etc. If you do have more than one of a certain pony, please note that in the comments section so we can take that into account!

Edit #2 (Nov. 10): Well, the results are in and I've finally had a chance to sit down and take a look at them. Of course, this poll only gives us a rough idea of whether Mimic is rarest, since we couldn't ask every pony collector everywhere whether they own a Mimic, and because there are Mimics in the world that don't belong to any collector, and for various other reasons . . . but still, this poll probably roughly reflects the reality. It looks like she is the rarest, as far as being *owned* by collectors who answered this poll. I thought Bright Eyes might win, but although their poll results are close, Mimic still wins (and by a larger margin when you factor in the people who had more than one Bright Eyes who answered in the comments).

I went through the answers and tallied up the doubles that people had of certain TEs; as you'd expect, many of these were from the first TE set. I then added them to the poll results. The final tally looks like this (I put them in order from most common to least common):

Fizzy: 100
Masquerade: 96
Whizzer: 95
Galaxy: 95
Sweet Stuff: 87
Gingerbread: 82
Speedy: 81
Party Time: 79
Locket: 75
Sky Rocket: 74
Tic-Tac-Toe: 73
Sweet Pop: 70
Quackers: 69
Bright Eyes: 64
Mimic: 52

There have been some excellent points made in this thread -- for instance, Mimic might be rare because she wasn't a general favorite when she was produced, in addition to being in the second TE set and probably not getting ordered by stores as much. (On the flip side, some pointed out that she starred in "The Golden Horseshoes," so she could actually have been a favorite.) She could be  just "hard to buy" and not "hard to find," since her cost is prohibitive. Others pointed out that she is a pony with a lot of perceived worth and collectors might be less willing to part with a rare pony like her, making it harder for other collectors to find her.

What do you guys think of the results? Anything else we should take into account? I think we can all say at least that Mimic, for whatever reason, is not an easy pony to get your hands on! And for the record, I think she's very pretty and worth having, at the right price

Mimic
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Locket
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Bright Eyes
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Quackers
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Tic-Tac-Toe
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Speedy
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Sweet Pop
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Sky Rocket
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Sweet Stuff
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Galaxy
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Masquerade
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Fizzy
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Whizzer
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Gingerbread
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Party Time
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[SeashellnBubbles]

I'm not sure she's so much rare as not as easily available. People who get her tend to keep her, so fewer are on the market than many other ponies. Personally, I see far fewer Bright Eyes for sale than Mimics....though her price tends to reflect that as well.

[Majesty]

She was in one episode so people have always said she was rare.  I've heard that's why she is priced so high.  I don't think she's hard to find she's just really expensive.  There might be other ponies more worthy of being called rare though because I'm sure if you searched ebay for Mimic she'd be everywhere probably priced from high to extremely high to insanely high.

[Ponyfan]

I only have Party Time and Sweet Pop, both are childhood ponies. I also think Mimic is more uncommon (not super rare) and really popular. That's what makes her seem rare.  I think a lot of her popularity comes from being featured in the  "Golden Horseshoes" episodes of My Little Pony and that's one reason so many collectors want her in their collections. I enjoy the "Golden Horseshoes" episodes but don't feel compelled to add Mimic to my collection just based on that. I'm not saying that everyone else does, just that I think being the main focus of that episode,e even though she only appeared for a few minutes makes her have a strong connection to some collectors. I think someone mentioned that the 2nd set of ponies were always produced in fewer numbers than the original set? That might also explain why she seems rare.



Ponyfan

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I have no idea on her rarity, but I don't have her yet. Twinkle Eyed Ponies are a set I want to complete so I hope to get her someday. I would think they would have made just as much of her as they did the other ponies in the second TE set, right? It may just be a matter of being more sought after because a lot of people like her, as opposed to there actually being less out there.

As for the poll, so far I've got Tic-Tac-Toe, Speedy, Sweet Pop, Sky Rocket, Galaxy, Whizzer, and Party Time. 7 down, 8 to go!

[bright rabbit 1]

I've got Galaxy (need to reroot, she has a few regrind marks), Locket, Sky Rocket (needs to be rehaired, and she's got this brown mark on her), Fizzy (needs work done on her as she has teeth marks on her body and ear), Sweet Stuff (only needs her mane redoing), and finally Whizzer (my pride and joy, as I didn't need to do anything to her). Not keen on Mimic, so I don't care that I don't have her.

The ones I'm missing and are rare to me are Gingerbread, Quackers, Tic Tac Toe, Masquerade, Sweet Pop, and Party Time.

[Einhornbaby]

Im setting on Bright Eyes Mimic in 2nd place or maybe really close to each other.
Im no help on this poll though, I own them all

[kamakazee82]

i think bright eyes is the rarer of the twinkle eyes ... i have mimic (paid a whole whopping $4.25 for her at a consignment shop lol) but i need a tic tac toe and bright eyes

[reanna-mator]

Kind of an odd poll for me... I have all the Twinkle Eye ponies but I do believe there were a few that I got after Mimic, because I got her for myself as a birthday present. Usually I wait until I see a really great deal on a pony I want but in her case I shelled out the ~$80 for her.

I think it's been established that she isn't especially rare, just in high demand.

[Taffeta]

I think that price might impact on the poll, as people having Mimic can be impacted by budget. As for her rarity, all I can say about that (being from a country where she wasn't sold) is that as far back as I remember, she had a special aura of being wanted by collectors. And I mean way back.

Blowing off the cobwebs, going back to the Summer of 1997, Mimic was the first trade I ever arranged. I had no idea then that she was rare. I had only just seen the Magic Horseshoes for the first time. It was terrible quality and I thought she was yellow. So when I got online and had someone to trade with, Mimic was for some reason the first pony I mentioned. Even then my trade partner said "Mimic is kind of sought after. If you really want her, I can get one, but she might not be in perfect condition". I was fine with this and so she managed to get me a Mimic. This was a collector who had a very big collection and a huge network of trade links even in the middle 1990s.

So I got Mimic in 1997, I traded for her, but even then she was sought after and special beyond the rest of her set.

Twenty years on, damage is done. It's a mindset that's been there since before some people who collect MLP now were even born, but whether it was the episode that did it or something else, I can't tell you.

My Mimic actually is in good shape. The flaw was ink on the base of her hooves which to me is nothing at all.

In terms of the poll, I now have all of the fifteen, plus the paler Speedy, but I had to stop and think because some of them originally only my sister had. The ones I didn't have myself before were Gingerbread, Party Time, Sweetie and Fizzy, which are more common ponies but ones I didn't look for because Naynie had them. I only have the full fifteen now because I have kept a Party Time with gorgeous hair but very bad discolouration issues. I felt sorry for her. So because of that, I have the set. But the moral of my story is that I actually had Mimic before I had many of the others on the list.

Also there is the issue of some not being sold in all places. Mimic, Bright Eyes, Quackers, Sweet Pop and Party Time have no release in the UK which makes them theoretically harder to get here. (I have weirdly found Mimic here, though, once, at a carboot sale!)

I personally think that Bright Eyes is probably the rarest. But I think if Tic Tac Toe wasn't a global release pony, she might also be as she is considerably harder to pick up than some of the others.

I am really interested in this poll, though, if only to see which TE ponies are most present in the community.

If I was able to answer for my sister, her Twinkle Eyed ponies are:
Fizzy
Gingerbread
Sweetie
Party Time
Tic Tac Toe
Bright Eyes
She might also have a Sky Rocket as well.

But obviously Bright Eyes and Party Time I had to import for her from the US. Fizzy she had as a child. The others came from second hand sales (Tic Tac Toe came from this year's Ponycon).

[Mlp Sunsparkle]

Oooh! The twinkle eyes are my favourite adult g1 set! I have all except sweet pop and quackers. As not all the twinkle eyes were sold here in the uk, it makes it harder to find them secondhand, and even on ebay, unless they're from another collector or they travelled. I got mimic from the US and I think I'll be doing the same for the two I need I agree though, bright eyes does seem to up for sale a lot less than the others. With mimic I think it's a case of her being uncommon and popular more so than super rare this poll is really interesting, I can't wait to see the final results

[invaderhorizongreen]

I have every pony except locket, tic-tac-toe, fizzy, and gingerbread. I do have everyone else. I had locket but they have escaped.

[Taffeta]

I have every pony except locket, tic-tac-toe, fizzy, and gingerbread. I do have everyone else. I had locket but they have escaped.

I can only assume she went looking for Baby Half Note, armed with a bunch of keys
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...I guess that comment probably only makes sense to people who've read the UK annual/comic story...

[achab1984]

I am not sure why she goes for so much more. If could be cause kids liked her and many of them did not make it. Or she was not very popular and not many of them were made. I wish Hasbro had a recorder of how many of each kid of pony was made over the years. 

[Baby Sugarberry]

Poll has a major flaw as it doesn't account for one person having / having had multiples of a given pony.

I've had, approximately:

1 Mimic  Purchased.  Only TE I had to buy and the last one I got.
4+ Locket
3 Bright Eyes
2 Quackers
2 Tic-Tac-Toe
5+ Speedy
2 Sweet Pop
~2 Sky Rocket
~4 Sweet Stuff
5+ Galaxy
5+ Masquerade
5+ Fizzy
8+ Whizzer  By far the most common TE for me.
~3 Gingerbread
~4 Party Time