I haven't seen any recent threads on these, so I wanted to get the community's opinion on these!
Extra Basic Fun ponies have been available on Taobao for a while- they're almost entirely the scented Rainbow ponies. I wonder if this indicates that they made an entire run before they realized how the scent affected the plastic of the ponies and public opinion before they completely scrapped them and remade scentless versions. Now all the overstock is being sold by independent sellers.
About two months ago I found this listing on Taobao- they're factory second ponies that have been kitbashed from extra parts.
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loginLink if anyone is curiousI was among one of the first orders on this particular listing, and I ordered 5 to start. They were about $0.75 a piece individually, sold random, with a minimum order of 5pcs.
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loginFrom my proxy photos the Starshine/Surprise combo looks the best, but I’m also surprised by the Sparkler/Moonstone. It also looks like Sparkler’s head is only half-rooted, which ties nicely into the little oddity factor of these. (Outside Blossom, of course, she just looks new from the factory.)
After this I ordered a few more batches trying to get the Tickle/Blossom shown in the original listing photo. All in all I ended up with 20 total from this listing.
My conspiracy theory was that the Tickle/Blossom combo never existed outside of that photo- by this point, about a month after I first found these, other listings had started to crop up, she was the only one not featured in any. Most of the listings had gone up in price, and averaged about $1.15 per pony, and usually with a minimum order of 5.
(various listing photos under spoiler)
I also managed to confirm all the other combos with my orders:
- Moonstone/Sparkler x4 (two with both purple and red hair stripes, two with only a partially rooted head with the red stripe)
- Butterscotch/Skydancer x3
- Stranger Things Applejack/Bluebelle x2
- Confetti/Starshine x3
- Surprise/Starshine x3
- Glory/Starshine x2
- Parasol x1
- Blossom x2
THAT IS, until I found this listing just yesterday:
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loginLinkYup, that's the seller holding Tickle/Blossom, only the second example I've ever found. And not only that, but my proxy has a new feature where at the bottom of the listing it will show actual photos of the product the last customer who bought from the listing received.
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loginIT'S HER
I put in a purchase order as this listing is one of the only that allows you to buy individually, and with all fees and such she came out to around $5.15 total. I put in the notes for my proxy to request the purple rainbow one, and they haven’t said that the listing is random. I wait with bated breath.
Anyways, while I wait I wanted to show these to the community and get opinions. How do these fit in? Judging by how the hair has plastic ties in it, these seem to either be extra parts or ones stolen off the line and jumbled together. There are complete Blossoms, Bluebells, and Parasols, but no Starshine heads, Sparkler bodies, etc. Why is Sparkler the only one that is available partially rooted?
The listings have over 300 total sales cumulatively, and taking into account most have a minimum purchase limit, there's over 1000 of these out there (assuming 8-9 different styles too.) Why are there so many extra parts? Did Basic Fun assume these would be more popular than they were, or didn't expect Target to not renew their contract to carry them?
How do these fit in with factory samples or seconds? I personally doubt these will hold any value since in theory anyone could have put these together and there’s no proof they’re from the factory. I'm purchasing them mostly out of personal curiosity, and because it was fun to find these. They'll look nice with all my official boxed versions.
I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts, or even hear which mashup is your favorite! I think it would just be fun to come up with names for these.