Why are rare g4 ponies considered to be so rare??

[Carrehz]

I don't think they're rare, exactly; they're just in demand. More demand = less in supply + people are willing to pay more for stuff they *really want*.

Although, yeah, distribution is a factor, too. Most of the early exclusive G4s are difficult to get a hold of (Ploomette, Starswirl) IIRC.

[Moonbreeze]

Demand and bad distribution. Even the Euro Exclusive ponies were pretty hard to find here.

[Taffeta]

I agree with Moonbreeze that they were really badly distributed here. I only ever saw them once in Hamleys after I moved to London the first time and I swear, if I'd known they were never going to be seen again I would have bought more than 2, even though they were a little higher than normal retail there. The Euro exclusives never even made it here I don't think. I found Starswirl in France by accident on a trip to Lille. I never saw Dewdrop Dazzle's original set here either, although I'm told they did come - also badly distributed.

I think knowing that was the case created hype which in turn created the price hike. So it's a combination of Hasbro's distribution vs a sudden surge to want to get them I guess? I'm still hoping to pick up the ones I'm missing at carboot sales as G4 starts to fade out...

It's not just that set though.

As for Holly Dash and the 2nd wave rainbow powers, that one was to do with the dock strikes in the US I think. We definitely got a lot of Holly Dash here but in a very short timeframe. I bought her on discount, again by fluke, around my birthday because I wanted to treat myself - that was the Feb and by April when I became aware that so many people were after her, she was gone and never came back in my area. But I've found her second hand and I expect to find more. In her case it's because she only made it to a small area of the US, Canada and I think briefly the Netherlands? She had a poor distribution too.

Part of it seems to be the pattern of not being able to choose which wave you get in terms of stores. Look at the Hippogriffs. They come up with the same code as wave 1 and 2 baby sea ponies, but they've turned up hardly anywhere as a result. Wave 3 pearlies were a bit like that too for a bit, especially here where, again, they only appeared once. I believe you can still get Coloratura's set in Entertainer here though (unless Christmas cleared them out...) and that of course is wave 1.

[prancingstag]

An example for no rarity and being released once is Cherry Berry. Wasn't she not worth much when loose even before her pearlized release? Did being canon make her value less?

Cherry Berry was released a couple times IIRC. She was never that popular though. Her first release was Pony Wedding, which was widely distributed. The popular pony from that wave was Trixie, with a second to Lyra. So CB was plentiful with low demand. I believe she was also released in the plastic bag dollar singles line, so prices have stayed down. She also had that pearlescent release in the Equestria line more recently. As a plain pink pony that doesn’t really appear in the show except as backgrounder, she just doesn’t appeal to the point of sellers giving her a price hike.

[bladed]

definitely demand and hasbro's questionable distribution. for my "rare" early g4s (i have star swirl, feathermay, dewdrop dazzle, lily blossom, cherry pie and snowcatcher (and hopefully i got their names right lol)) i only saw them once, which is when i picked them up. i think for some i caught them off ebay at a low price when they had just come out (i know i missed out on dewdrop dazzle and got her off ebay from my half brother) star swirl in particular turned up ONCE in a tescos near me and i never saw her anywhere else, and they just had a mixture of the regular carriage and the one with her o.o... my irl pony friend at the time didn't know who she was, because she didn't even show up near her and she's in the same town, just the other side!