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Messages - goddessofpeep
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31
« on: August 15, 2022, 08:45:08 AM »
I have a Venezuelan Posey. I think there are several versions. The one I have is green with non-fading pink hair and fairly red flowers. Her plastic is…odd. She looks like she’s made out of a slightly translucent lime candy. Like some kind of less shiny gummi candy. It doesn’t come across well in photos, but it looks a bit off compared to regular MLP plastic. It’s actually pretty awesome as far as I’m concerned! I haven’t found a decent photo hosting site since Photobucket imploded, so sorry no photo. I can email a photo of you want - just PM me.
32
« on: August 10, 2022, 09:13:22 PM »
They make several different kinds of under bed bins. I’ve found them to be indispensable for my huge collection. They hold a lot. They’re easy to access. They’re not too expensive. They’re shallow so you can find everything without having to dig down into it. I have a massive collection, and I usually keep most of the best stuff, and the things I like to access more in under bed bins. If you have the space under your bed, I highly recommend them.
Other than that, you’ll probably have to go up. They do make inexpensive shelves that aren’t too difficult to put up. I used to have some in college, and they can make a nice display. The only thing that can be difficult is finding the wall stud.
33
« on: August 09, 2022, 05:02:20 PM »
Some of my favorites have shifted around since I became an adult collector, but part of that may be due to a world of new ponies opening up with the internet and international sales. Ponies like Nightlight and Greek Ladybird didn’t exist for me as a child. Though some of my childhood favorites have remained top tier loves, and my two most wanted but never got as a child ponies(Baby Glory and Windwhistler) are now favorites in my adult collection.
I did change my opinion on a few ponies over the years. I originally detested the Dance ‘n Prance ponies. Absolutely hated them. Saw them in the store, and was actually offended that they even existed. I carried that opinion until my first ponymeet as an adult collector. Someone at the ponymeet had a fully functional one, and for the very first time I actually saw one in action. I was in love. It was the most hilarious thing I’d ever seen. I now have all of the USA ones(with all accessories), and I’m just missing one of the Argentina ones. Going from absolute hatred to absolute adoration was the biggest opinion swing, but it wasn’t the only one.
I also wasn't that fond of the Fancy Pants ponies. I had one in my childhood collection(a gift from a friend), but it never did much for me. Then one day out of nowhere I took real notice of them. No idea why I started to really like them, but I did. Maybe it was an ebay auction, maybe it was seeing them in person at a meet. Maybe it was the Argentina ones. No idea, but they really started to call to me as an adult.
I had a couple Magic Message ponies as a kid, but it took an adult eye to really appreciate the unique colors from that line. I really started to like them as an adult. I never disliked them as a kid, but I wasn’t all over them either. I am now:p
34
« on: August 05, 2022, 04:25:59 PM »
Checking the sold listings on ebay is usually the best way. Sold listings should be the priority over just completed(but not sold). Sellers can set any price they want, but if nobody buys it, it’s not worth the asking price. Also, try to find as many as you can. Sometimes circumstances(crazy new buyer, exceptional condition, weird bidding war, etc) that create a fluke auction with an astronomical price. If you can’t find any similar items, you can always ask around in the pony community.
If you’re selling on ebay, you can always just put it up as an auction, not a BIN, and let the market decide what it’s worth. Also, if you want the maximum price for your items, spend some time making the photos look good. Wash and style the hair, light it well, and learn how to take really good pics. And give a detailed description - especially the flaws. Nobody liked a nasty surprise, and taking the time to describe any problems 1) self-selects out any buyers who don’t want those flaws, and would return the pony anyway, and 2) gives all prospective buyers the confidence that you examined the pony carefully, and are giving an honest description of it. Spending the time to present your ponies well can make a world of difference in the ending price, and it can mean the difference between an item that sells quickly, and one that sits there for months.
35
« on: August 04, 2022, 02:39:50 AM »
I’m sorry. That’s rough:( It’s really hard to have someone devalue something you love.
Unfortunately, MLP is very much a niche market, and only places that cater to that specific niche will give you anything anywhere close to market value. I would say that a comic books store will have far fewer customers looking for MLP of any generation than say, a vintage collectible toy store. A comic book store’s customer base is likely mainly after comic book related things, and other things that go with that(scifi stuff, d&d style gaming, collectible card games, anime, etc). Despite the large influx of guys into the pony community during G4, MLP remains a firmly “girly” item, and most comic book stores would struggle to sell to that market. Most toys/figures you find at comic book stores tend to be comic book toys, or other toys that appeal towards guys more.
Also, G4’s fandom is well into decline, and many people are dumping their collections, flooding the market. There’s a lot of G4s hitting the market right now, and it is depressing prices. There were a lot of bronies, but even at their peak they were a limited market, and they were more into high end “show accurate” items and not so much mass produced kids toys with brushable hair. Stock takes up space, and if something isn’t likely to move fast, stores will be looking for rock bottom “deal of the century” type prices. It’s nothing to do with the quality of your collection and all to do with the business needs of the store. They’re not going to risk buying a huge collection that will take up a lot of space that can be used on product that they know will move unless they’re getting it for a bargain of a lifetime.
If you’re looking to maximize profit, you have two options - find a store/reseller who’s part of that niche market, or put the time in yourself to sell things on a marketplace that pony collectors frequent. The more work you put in, the more money you’ll be getting out, but it’s very time consuming, and you’re taking all the risks(chargebacks, lost in post items, scammers, etc). There’s also just the volume of work involved with photographing, listing, shipping, answering customer questions, and all the rest.
If you want it to be easy on you, you’re going to be getting a lot less because someone else is going to be doing all the work. If you go this route, you can just toss the whole thing up on ebay, either as one lot or a series of lots. You can split the difference - cherry-pick the best stuff, sell that individually, and then dump the rest on ebay in bulk lots. The more work you put in, the more money you might make, but it’s going to be time consuming- both in the work involved, and the wait for the right buyer.
Or you can look for a collectible toy store that sells similar items and see what they offer. Look for girls toys. If they have a lot of girls toys for sale, odds are they’ve got a customer base that will be interested in ponies and you’ll get a better offer. Despite the sausage fest that the brony community was, most stores will consider MLP to be a girl toy, and if they don’t sell to that demographic, you won’t get much from them. You won’t get nearly as much from a store as if you sold it yourself, but you’re saving hours of work and hassle.
36
« on: July 30, 2022, 08:54:36 PM »
I had the paper die from the mail order Baby Blue Ribbon Adventures in Ponyland set. Got it in a lot, and had no idea what it was. It floated around my house for a while before disappearing at some point. I assume it got tossed. I found out what it was a few months later and tore the house apart looking for it. No luck:(
My current policy is now to keep 100% of the items I get from accessory lots.
A friend once sent me a birthday gift that included the last piece of ponywear I needed(the cap from the baby bathrobe/duck set). It was tucked in there as a surprise somewhere. Apparently it was too much of a surprise. I didn’t see it, and tossed it out with the packaging. I didn’t find out about it until much later when my friend asked me about it:(
The “don’t throw out packaging until everything is checked over and accounted for” policy came out of that one.
37
« on: July 30, 2022, 07:42:11 PM »
I usually wash them with dish soap, water, and my bare hands. I put a bit of soap in my hands, use a bit of water to loosen up the soap a bit, roll them around gently one by one, and rinse them off. Dish soap cuts grease well, so it takes off oil from handling. I usually dry them off lightly with a paper towel, and let them air dry for anything I missed. I treat the ponytail hair the same as any other pony hair, just with a lot less conditioner and a finer comb. One exception - the curly tails. They’re very tight curls, so I just leave them alone as much as possible, even if they look bad. Wrap frizzy long tails around the base to dry(except the curly ones). It controls the hair a bit, and looks better on display.
Watch out for the petites with the really fine lines in the symbols. They all have easy to rub off symbols, but those are the worst offenders. There’s a pink Glowing Magic pegasus I had to get 3 or 4 of(at not cheap prices) before I found one with a halfway decent symbol(feather symbol - all fine lines).
If you get serious about collecting and need to store them, the 2x2 inch baggies fit petites perfectly, and wrapping the tails makes them fit better.
38
« on: July 28, 2022, 01:26:23 AM »
The accessories are popular, and can add a lot of value to some ponies(like the wing clips that came with some of the unicorns - it’s not an alicorn without them!), but a lot of the later ponies do hold some value on their own even without accessories.
A lot of the price of the G2s is also down to the terrible distribution of the best part of the line. The USA didn’t even get the babies! I think we got access to Silver Swirl only ordering directly from Hasbro. I don’t think she even hit stores in the USA. They killed the line in the USA before all the good stuff came out, and they continued to reduce distribution bit by bit for the life of the line. As time went on, fewer and fewer countries got the newest ponies. Only an handful of European countries got the full line. If you didn’t live in one one of them, and you didn’t have access to a very good toy store, you had to buy everything from a handful of sellers on ebay. I was an active pony collector for the entire run - from the first set hitting stores in the USA, to the last sets hitting just before the G3s came out. It was not easy to collect G2s even during peak availability.
The G2s had extensive accessories for even the most basic ponies from day one, so they were always a big part of the line. Now, I wouldn’t say all accessories were winners. There were some pretty uninspired accessories out there! I’ve never been a fan of the whole gate thing, and the combs are almost universally worthless to actually comb hair. The entire line was pretty weird accessory-wise the first year(probably contributing to the death of the line so quickly in the USA). But for an accessory collector, the G2s had *a lot* to offer. I think the accessories and/or the babies are frequently what hooks a reluctant collector at first, and then people take a second look at all G2s have to offer.
39
« on: July 27, 2022, 10:21:08 PM »
Petite prices can fluctuate wildly depending on condition and who is buying at the time. Petite hair can really frizz badly, and the symbols rub off if you look at them funny. Certain ponies are harder to find in good condition, and they can command premium prices in perfect condition.
If you were to divide petities up into rarity tiers with 1 being the rarest, and 5 being the most common, here’s (about) how they break down:
Tier 1 - G2 Petites - Released in 1997 or 1998 at Toyfair to promote the G2 line, they use the original molds. Not exactly G1, but popular with both petite collectors and G2 collectors. Heinously rare. A set comes up every few years and go for astronomical prices. Last set I saw come up 5-8years ago went for about $600 for a MIP set of 4. Another set came up recently, but I don’t know how much it went for.
Tier 2 - Glowing Magic, Twinkle petites - much, much more common than the G2 petites, though collecting complete sets can be a challenge. Often found up on ebay and elsewhere. I’ve seen them go from $15-$80+ depending on the pony, the condition, and who’s buying at the time.
Tier 3 - Bright Sight petites - possibly a bit more common than Glowing/Twinkle petites, but generally go for less since their gimmick is just bright colors instead of glitter or glow in the dark. Can often be found hiding in lots with more common petites since they look so similar. I’ve seen them go from $10-$40ish depending on the usual factors.
Tier 4 - Pearly, Sunsparkle, and some playset petites - fairly easy to find, and the lack of brushable hair for the pearly and sunsparkle petites makes it easier to find in good condition. Most playset petites have two versions(USA and European versions). I think the European versions are a bit harder to find. I’ve seen them go for $5-$20ish.
Tier 5 - Ponytail and Pony Parade petites - generally the most common, and easily found in lots. I’ve seen them go for $1-$10ish each.
A good place to start is buying lots. You’ll usually get more bang for your buck, and petites are very popular trade items if you get extras. It’s much less common to see complete sets for sale.
40
« on: July 27, 2022, 04:33:18 PM »
I didn’t like G2s when they first came out. I pretty much ignored them. Then a friend of mine went to Europe for 2 months and told me she had found “so many ponies” and was sending them to me. As she had been traveling all over Europe, and had already been to some great pony hunting countries(Greece, Spain, etc), so visions of Ladybirds and piggy ponies danced in my head.
What I got was box after box of G2s. Fortunately many of them were babies - the twins with the little outfits. As I’m a Ponywear collector, and an accessory collector, they really started to grow on me. The babies were cute. The adults had some crazy accessories. I was hooked.
A year or two later when I went to Europe, I found the only TRU in Paris(and several other toy stores besides), and I went absolutely nuts. I’d go out empty handed in the morning, and come back with gigantic bags that barely fit in the elevator, filled with ponies. I’d spend the evening opening them to collapse them so I could get them all home.
A few years ago I finally completed my G2 collection(with all accessories, but minus the super rare variants). I was lucky that I was active while they were in stores, and I mostly was filling in holes by the end. Starting from scratch now would be nearly impossible, or at the very least would require lottery winning amounts of cash to complete.
Some of the big ticket G2s that haven’t been mentioned are the Click/Nosey and Study/Play baby sets. Both of those came with a French kid’s magazine, were only available in stores while the magazine was for sale, and are incredibly rare. The twin baby sets(Slide, Tricycle, See-saw) are very hard to find, particularly the slide set. The Mansion playset is quite rare. Basically, the later in the line you go, the harder the ponies are to find. As the line progressed, less and less countries carried them. In a very few places, G2s and G3s overlapped. The final G2 releases hit shelves a few months before the first G3s.
During the 1997 or 1998 Toyfair, they passed out a promotional item for the G2s. They were a set of 4 petite ponies. They used the molds from the G1 Petites, but were of 4 G2 ponies. Those are incredibly rare, and almost never come up for sale. They hit ebay for a couple weeks during and after Toyfair(I got mine for $35), and after that they were gone. A set will come up every few years now and then. I have no idea how much they currently go for, but I’m sure it’s a lot.
41
« on: July 21, 2022, 02:09:09 AM »
I detest cleaning So Softs. They never really get clean, and I’m terrified of destroying the flocking.
42
« on: July 17, 2022, 04:00:54 PM »
I’ve never used a Magic Eraser on a pearlized pony, but I probably wouldn’t try it. Even if it doesn’t remove much of the paint, it’ll probably dull it, even with a light touch. I’ve cleaned mine with my bare hands and some dish soap, and the results were very good. If you’re dealing with just regular surface dirt, you can probably get decent results without the magic eraser. If you need a bit more scrubbing power than your bare hands can provide, try using a paper towel with some dishsoap on it.
43
« on: July 16, 2022, 09:57:47 PM »
Flutter ponies flew best(less weight than adult ponies but with long legs for an exceptional grip, and small, compact bodies were more aerodynamic). I used to use the clothesline in the backyard to launch my ponies into the air.
I'm sorry but this is priceless! 
44
« on: July 16, 2022, 07:29:05 PM »
Honestly, I usually carefully remove the original wings, store them in a padded plastic case, and then display the pony with fake wings(like Primavera’s wings). Removing them can be a big risk, especially if they’re already damaged, but once they’re out and protected, it’s so much safer. If you get the right fake wings, they’re pretty much indistinguishable from the originals, and if something happens(pony knocked off a shelf, unexpected toddler sneaks in, adventurous cat, etc), it’s easy to replace them.
45
« on: July 12, 2022, 06:34:02 PM »
I wish I knew too! I’ve been hoping someone could answer this question. I haven’t seen one for sale in a long time, though I haven’t been looking. I got mine a few years ago from a friend for free.
Your original post seems to indicate you’re looking to sell one, and there aren’t a lot of recent sales to go off of. If you don’t get a solid answer soon, my advice would be to put it up for (very well advertised) auction. If you want to avoid ebay, people do run auctions/take offers privately here and other places in the pony community. I’ve participated in quite a few “taking offers until [date/time]” auctions here. Apparently, you’d also be doing the community a favor by finally putting a price on her if you do:p
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