How rare is Mountain Boy ~~Thundercloud~~?

[glitterball]

How rare is Mountain Boy Thundercloud?

I ask because...

...I was tidying my shed yesterday and came upon a bag full of old boot-sale purchase ponies from, ooh, 10 years ago? And who was poking their purplish hooves at me? THUNDERCLOUD!

(Also, there was Sunspot sparkle pony, TAF Sugarberry/Strawberry Fair, a few shy-pose Bow Ties, Tootsies, CJ etc who were hiding in the mixed bag. )

I looked on the famous auction site and saw one for approx £142!!

Alas, no sneaky Ice Crystal but I do have a Lightning from a past bootsale purchase many moons ago.

No picture yet as Thundercloud is safely on a shelf in the shed waiting for a spa day to make him look a bit more handsome! I love his rain cloud symbol! 

[Taffeta]

Wow, that was a nice reward for tidying the shed!

They're none of them common now, but how rare/common a MB is in UK terms seems to be regional. Here in the midlands Thundercloud was quite prevalent second hand, but I've heard other people say they barely ever found him back when carbooting was more of a productive thing for G1 ponies. I used to get many Thunderclouds, Sunbursts and Ice Crystals, other people used to report lots of Tornadoes and Lightnings which I didn't see here so much.

Obviously for people in the many countries MBs weren't sold, he's a lot rarer

It seems like MBs in general were out between autumn 1987 and Spring 1988 in the UK, but were then replaced by the adventure boy/big brothers so it wasn't a long run and as far as I know there is no surviving MIP Thundercloud found (yet).

Either way it's a decent find and well done you

[glitterball]

Thanks, Taffeta for sharing your pony knowledge! 

I just couldn't believe it when I saw him! I must have bought him in a job lot and thought "hmm, not seen one like that before, I'll buy!".

As a kid, I stopped collecting soon after the Flutters and when Gypsy & Honeycomb etc came out, so I missed out on getting the boys, even though I
 saw ponies in the toy shops... I had kind of grown out of them by then *sigh*

[maycrestmom]

so the question that really needs to be asked first is : any age spots/ mega discoloration?

I've seen a range of 50-150 since IMO it seems sometimes impossible to find this MB with an actual purple color AND free of age spots

pics would be appreciated

and mega congrats on the find for the tidying-up

[Taffeta]

Yeah, Thundercloud can suffer badly from discolouration/regrind/plastic wear issues.

He also should have curly hair.

[glitterball]

It's pouring with rain and my garden is a muddy swamp - when it stops raining I will trudge my way over to the shed and grab him - no age spots or regrind noticed but I need to give him a gentle bath to remove surface dust!
Hair looks curly, if a bit unkempt 

Photos will be posted after the spa session   

ETA >

Gave him a quick wash...

https://imgur.com/a/bqQEJFX

they have changed imgur, unsure how to post an embedded photo!

[Taffeta]

He looks pretty decent! Also pretty happy to be out of the shed!

[Leave a Whisper]

It's pouring with rain and my garden is a muddy swamp - when it stops raining I will trudge my way over to the shed and grab him - no age spots or regrind noticed but I need to give him a gentle bath to remove surface dust!
Hair looks curly, if a bit unkempt 

Photos will be posted after the spa session   

ETA >

Gave him a quick wash...

https://imgur.com/a/bqQEJFX

they have changed imgur, unsure how to post an embedded photo!

He's gorgeous!

[glitterball]

Thanks, everyone!

Just need to dry and style his mane + tail 

I can't believe I had him these years and never realised! All I knew was that he was one of the big boy ponies that I hadn't seen before, so must have bought him just because of that! 

Hoof marks say:
(c)87 HASBRO INC
PAT. PEND.
MADE IN
HONG KONG

...for those who are interested 

[Taffeta]

If it had been Thailand then you might have been talking a serious value...xD