Who is the rarest US NON mail order pony?

[LadyMoondancer]

Red Roses is not rare.  She is just really sought after because collectors like yellow unicorns.    When I first started collecting she was the same price as any other Perfume Puff.

I would say Soft Sleepy Newborns, closely followed by the Year 3 adult sea ponies. 

[himmie]

There's a Hushabye in my kitchen right now. I am hoping I find the one I'm pretty sure I had as a kid, too. (Do not want to dig around the basement though...)

A lot of pricey ponies aren't rare, just sought after. Generally it's the more unique ponies that go for crazy prices on eBay. It's hard to say what's rare at this point, unless we can do a complete pony census.

[Baby Sugarberry]

It depends on how you define "rare".

Technically a pony's accessories are not any more rare than the pony itself (unless it was sold both with and without accessories) if you are going by production run numbers.  Mimic, Bright Eyes, Munchy, Red Roses, Crumpet etc. are NOT any rarer than the rest of the ponies from their sets, they are simply more sought after, and that is why they command greater value.

Scarcity and demand are two different things.  When you have both, then price skyrockets (ex. Reverse Gusty, Ladybird).  There are plenty of ponies rarer than these two that have less value because of lower demand. 

Most of the Y10 ponies were short production runs; compare how many Windy's or Applejacks there are compared to Tropical Baby Ponies or Colorswirls.  I'd agree that the second wave of Seaponies were also probably a short production run, coupled with the fact a lot of them were probably thrown out after getting grungy as bath toys.  Same with the So Soft Sleepy Newborns, they were just plain huge and lots of stores probably didn't carry them because of that.

[Amsel]

I was lucky enough to get the Fancy Mermaid Ponies as a kid but we never saw the pink one and she still eludes me to this day.

Agreed about the Fancy Mermaid Ponies. They might not be the rarest, but I think they're definitely obscure. Nobody ever seems to talk about them and I haven't seen many for sale.

[kissthethunder]

The mermaid babies, I would say I can agree with those. I was lucky to find them as a kid, but I had to do a lot of searching to get my favorite as an adult.

Hmm...I have a hard time tracking down the second release so softs and tafs but they're not rare.... *scratches head* Most ponies just get sought after.

What about that sundae best pony? The yellow one? I don't see her pop up often

[dragonfly]

The mermaid babies, I would say I can agree with those. I was lucky to find them as a kid, but I had to do a lot of searching to get my favorite as an adult.

Hmm...I have a hard time tracking down the second release so softs and tafs but they're not rare.... *scratches head* Most ponies just get sought after.

What about that sundae best pony? The yellow one? I don't see her pop up often

For the longest time, I kept finding mermaid babies at thrift shops. Usually the aqua one.

[Vintergatan]

What about that sundae best pony? The yellow one? I don't see her pop up often

She's actually quite common ^^

[josiekat]

The super rare Gray Peachy. :p

[mlp4me]

I'd have to say Soft Sleepy Newborn Hushabye. She rarely comes up on evilbay and it never seems like anyone has her for sale on the arena... (and I should add I've been looking for her since I joined the arena, so now it seems as if she's even more rare.)

[katrine2309]

Technically a pony's accessories are not any more rare than the pony itself (unless it was sold both with and without accessories) if you are going by production run numbers. 

True, if you are going by production run numbers, but in reality - many little kids from the 80's lost those accessories pretty often (I was sadly one of those kids  ). So many accessories would be rarer today than the pony who came with them, the only thing is that accessories are usually not as popular as the pony. I had trouble enough finding some of the accessories for my ponies at least!

 

[kissthethunder]

What about that sundae best pony? The yellow one? I don't see her pop up often

She's actually quite common ^^

Wow, maybe she's one of those common ones that I just never see O_O I sure see more parasols and sundances than her.

The mermaid babies, I would say I can agree with those. I was lucky to find them as a kid, but I had to do a lot of searching to get my favorite as an adult.

Hmm...I have a hard time tracking down the second release so softs and tafs but they're not rare.... *scratches head* Most ponies just get sought after.

What about that sundae best pony? The yellow one? I don't see her pop up often

For the longest time, I kept finding mermaid babies at thrift shops. Usually the aqua one.

I'll say I'm quite jealous then, I've been looking to replace my childhood ones for years.

[Vintergatan]

What about that sundae best pony? The yellow one? I don't see her pop up often

She's actually quite common ^^

Wow, maybe she's one of those common ones that I just never see O_O I sure see more parasols and sundances than her.

ah well, that's because Sundance and Parasol are one of the most common ponies out there

But i was referring to this girl (if that's who you meant?)
http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Swirly_Whirly

No one in that set is particularly hard to find I think, and are quite cheap

[Sunshine]

I would definitely say the Yr 3 Sea Ponies are topping the list of the rarest - because many of the "extra" ponies were released in bags without shells, so there are just MORE of the ponies than their shells, so, if you count shells - I would put those up there as rarer than the ponies themselves (but that can be true of lots of accessories...)

NOT MIMIC - I see her so frequently, I don't think she's RARE at all, she's just highly sought after...

Also I will comment that Swirly Whirly (the yellow Sundae Best), Baby Leaper and Baby Racer, Munchy, Night Glider... those can be harder to find within their sets, but I wouldn't consider any of those like... UBER rare. Though I did pay quite a bit for my Baby Leaper, lol...

[FantasticFirefly]

I'm surprised so many are calling the 2nd edition seaponies the rarest.  They're harder to find, but I wouldn't consider them rare.  The way I'm going, pretty soon I'll have multiples of all of them- wasn't intentional!

I still stand by Lavender Woosie. Hushabye is another one I'd consider right up there as well. I got lucky a friend bought me most of the set but I do rarely ever see the SSN's, the white one in particular.

[Sunshine]

See, I'm the opposite Firefly... I mean I guess I don't see the SSN's a lot anymore, but, I had all of mine for extremely cheap, when I remember them being ALL over eBay, no one wanted them! Though I too have had many extras and doubles of the Yr 3 Sea Ponies...  I guess then I would lean towards the Year 10 ponies who may have just had a shorter release and therefore there aren't so many of them... Colorswirls and such?

I had no idea Lavender Woosie was a US release in stores?! That's awesome...