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

[northstar3184]

I like the theory that was proposed in another thread a while back: Mimic, as well as green or yellow ponies in other sets, are less common because Hasbro likely believed girls would gravitate toward the pink, purple, and blue ponies. The yellow and green ponies would have been perceived as less desirable and therefore could have been produced in lesser quantities. It'd be interesting to see how that theory holds with other sets.

[bright rabbit 1]

Could we please do a poll like this but with the Princess ponies?

[Haruna]

I like the theory that was proposed in another thread a while back: Mimic, as well as green or yellow ponies in other sets, are less common because Hasbro likely believed girls would gravitate toward the pink, purple, and blue ponies. The yellow and green ponies would have been perceived as less desirable and therefore could have been produced in lesser quantities. It'd be interesting to see how that theory holds with other sets.

True!

Could we please do a poll like this but with the Princess ponies?

That would be really interesting -- and it would be interesting to see if the yellow and green princesses are rarer in general than the others.

[Taffeta]

I like the theory that was proposed in another thread a while back: Mimic, as well as green or yellow ponies in other sets, are less common because Hasbro likely believed girls would gravitate toward the pink, purple, and blue ponies. The yellow and green ponies would have been perceived as less desirable and therefore could have been produced in lesser quantities. It'd be interesting to see how that theory holds with other sets.

I don't believe Hasbro did this. If they think something would not be liked then they would not produce it. Also if there were uneven numbers of ponies in boxes the chances are it would be more of Locket and less of the others if that holds true. I know there were 5 in the US set with Mimic so it is possible there was one of each and 2 Lockets to make the balance...but then that ignores the fact some of the set were not sold in all places, unlike the first set which was.

I think we would see a bigger disparity in ownership of Mimic if there were really fewer of her made over all of them. The difference to me suggests that it is on price now rather than the idea fewer were made. Mimic is a self reinforcing icon of collecting now si people look to get her and the price goes up.

The same issue will occur with princesses if a poll was done as again not all were available everywhere. Though it would still be interesting to see what the results were.

[northstar3184]

I don't believe Hasbro did this. If they think something would not be liked then they would not produce it. Also if there were uneven numbers of ponies in boxes the chances are it would be more of Locket and less of the others if that holds true. I know there were 5 in the US set with Mimic so it is possible there was one of each and 2 Lockets to make the balance...but then that ignores the fact some of the set were not sold in all places, unlike the first set which was.

Well it's not that Mimic wouldn't have been liked, but just not as popular. And among that set we do see more Locket then the other ponies in the second set, albeit by a small margin, according to Haruna's poll.

Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.

[Carrehz]

Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.

I think this was the thread?
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,377468.msg1519625/topicseen.html#msg1519625

[northstar3184]

Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.

I think this was the thread?
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,377468.msg1519625/topicseen.html#msg1519625

Yes, that's it! Thank you, Carrehz

It appears I was thinking the wrong year/set, but that's the post I was referring to.

[Taffeta]

They're not really comparable examples, though. Cotton Candy is a global release and the set she appears in (or sets) are basically universal.

I obviously don't know whether Hasbro did or didn't produce this set unequally but the bottom line remains that our poll doesn't indicate that they did. The poll indicates that mostly ponies from the first year of release or ponies sold globally are more available to collectors than those sold in the second year or release or with more limited distribution.

If there were 2x as many Lockets in the box to the rest of the set, we'd see that in the poll. We don't.
What we do see is that the most common ponies from that set are the ones sold more widely across the world.

Let me demonstrate:
Fizzy: 100
Masquerade: 96
Whizzer: 95
Galaxy: 95
Sweet Stuff/Sweetie: 87
Gingerbread: 82

--
The above are the first set of Twinkle Eyes, sold globally. I think we all agree they had a very wide distribution and are the most common Twinkle Eye set. What it also says is that if Hasbro had an attitude to produce mostly pink ponies, we'd see the highest figure on that grid being Whizzer and Galaxy. We don't. We see it being Fizzy and Masquerade, green and yellow respectively. Like the Cotton Candy set(s), this set is distributed globally in much the same way. However we must mention that Fizzy and Sweetie had international re-releases. This may explain Fizzy's higher figure. It doesn't explain Masquerade's, though. Even if this only represents the preference of collectors, it doesn't suggest that more pink ponies were produced than the others as the numbers are quite close. Gingerbread being at the bottom might also be because of her propensity to discolour and stain. She might be more prolific than the poll suggests because collectors prefer not to deal with these flaws.

The second half of the poll is more complicated.

Speedy: 81 - Speedy is also globally released, albeit in two forms. We didn't distinguish those in the poll so it's not clear whether the 81 refers to both versions, or if some people having both versions pushed her figures up.

Party Time: 79 - Party Time is the first US only pony to hit the poll. But she came with the Birthday set, which was a gimmick playset that was arguably going to attract different people in stores to the ponies on cards. Including her here has to happen, obviously, but it probably doesn't represent Twinkle Eye sales in the same way. She's obviously only as common as the others in her set as they were all sold as sets of five.

So now into the bottom group of ponies.

Locket: 75
Sky Rocket: 74
Both of the above are sold globally. In the UK they are part of the same set. In the US they aren't. That obviously will have some effect on how they are distributed to stores and the quantity of ponies in a case. In the UK I believe that most sets of six were distributed 1 of each per box but don't quote me, I may be wrong or this may only apply to some of the later ones of which I have seen photos of cases packed like that. In any case, because we're dealing with 2 releases, it's difficult to make the claim that more Lockets were put out because she's pink. It's even more difficult when you look at the rest of the figures...

Tic-Tac-Toe: 73
Sweet Pop: 70
Quackers: 69
Bright Eyes: 64
Mimic: 52

Tic Tac Toe is the other pony from the second set that was also sold in the UK and Europe on a widespread scale. I actually have both the UK and the European carded Tic Tac Toes in my collection so I can confirm that the cards are different, even though the sets are the same. That also indicates the possibility of different distribution patterns (this probably also applies to Locket but as no MOC UK Locket has yet appeared I can only really prove it for Tic Tac Toe right now). It's interesting that Tic Tac Toe's figures and Locket's are very close to one another. Seems to me that this is because they have a global release, not because Locket is pink.

The other ponies were not sold in Europe (except Mimic's set may have had an Italian release). Unlike Party Time, Sweet Pop's release is generically Twinkle Eye, but she has a lot fewer than Speedy, who was sold in the US at the same time. Sweet Pop was not sold in Europe. Thus her figures are likely to be lower than Speedy's (and they are).

Quackers and Bright Eyes both belong to the 1987 set (which in general seem to have lower hits) and they are also not sold in most of Europe or the UK. That also means the figures are likely to be lower than Tic Tac Toe and Locket (and they are). Perhaps the most surprising thing is that there isn't a bigger disparity between Locket and Tic Tac Toe/Quackers and Bright Eyes. That actually might suggest that there were more Bright Eyes and Quackers sold in the US than Locket and Tic Tac Toe but we'd need more evidence to corroborate this as it's only speculation.

Mimic is considerably lower than these, but the price she commands is probably the real reason behind this, rather than her really being rarer than Bright Eyes or Quackers.

The poll doesn't tell us that pink ponies are more common. It tells us that distribution in terms of country, as well as cost, have an impact on how many of which ponies we tend to get. There are more Lockets than Mimics, but that's probably because the UK and Western Europe had Locket and didn't have Mimic (save Italy).  If there were vastly more Lockets, she'd be higher up the poll.

Obviously there's a lot the poll doesn't tell us and a lot of assumptions around those figures which would need a wider sample to be conclusive about. But I think that distribution is probably the keyword here.

[Leave a Whisper]

I don't believe Hasbro did this. If they think something would not be liked then they would not produce it. Also if there were uneven numbers of ponies in boxes the chances are it would be more of Locket and less of the others if that holds true. I know there were 5 in the US set with Mimic so it is possible there was one of each and 2 Lockets to make the balance...but then that ignores the fact some of the set were not sold in all places, unlike the first set which was.

Well it's not that Mimic wouldn't have been liked, but just not as popular. And among that set we do see more Locket then the other ponies in the second set, albeit by a small margin, according to Haruna's poll.

Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.

Well she also got re-released, so she's going to be more common. Plus if Hasbro figured that little girls liked pink, purple and blue best, then why did Speedy get re-released and not Whizzer or Gingerbread?

[Taffeta]

I don't believe Hasbro did this. If they think something would not be liked then they would not produce it. Also if there were uneven numbers of ponies in boxes the chances are it would be more of Locket and less of the others if that holds true. I know there were 5 in the US set with Mimic so it is possible there was one of each and 2 Lockets to make the balance...but then that ignores the fact some of the set were not sold in all places, unlike the first set which was.

Well it's not that Mimic wouldn't have been liked, but just not as popular. And among that set we do see more Locket then the other ponies in the second set, albeit by a small margin, according to Haruna's poll.

Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.

Well she also got re-released, so she's going to be more common. Plus if Hasbro figured that little girls liked pink, purple and blue best, then why did Speedy get re-released and not Whizzer or Gingerbread?

This is an especially good question considering the structure of the set is 1 pegasus (Locket), 2 unicorns (Speedy and Mimic) and three earth ponies (Tic Tac Toe, Quackers, Bright Eyes) in the US. I have no idea what inspired that imbalance but if it was done on colouring, you'd think Sky Rocket would make more sense (making it a 1.1.4 set, and we see lots of those later on).