Poll: Is Mimic really as rare as we think she is? *Update: Poll Results*

[Jennifer2004]

15/15 here, but Twinkle Eyes are my favorite set so I set out to complete them early on. I actually bought the second year TE ponies (Mimic, Locket, Quackers, Tic Tac Toe, & Bright Eyes) all together as a set, so it didn't feel like I was shelling out a bunch of $ for one pony.

~Jennifer

[Loona]

Taffeta, that story is wonderful! Thanks a lot for sharing it with us! No wonder Mimic is so special for you, yet it is also understandable that you feel bad about her status...

I only have 2 TE ponies: Fizzy and Whizzer. I'd also love to get Locket, she and Whizzer are the two ponies I like the most from this set. If I came across the others in the wild (in second hand stores, charity shops and such) I'd take them all home, Mimic included, but living in Europe, chances are not too high for finding Mimic in the wild, and it is unlikely I will get her any other way: I am not the type of pony collector who is willing to shell out as much money as what Mimic goes for, because that is not what I enjoy in pony collecting (I highly prefer the "suddenly coming across them in the wild"-feeling).
Well, at least I'm not that into her (don't get me wrong, I do like her pale pastel body and her pose, just not that much that would justify her high price - not even close), so I am not craving for her, and if I turn out never to own her, that will also be OK 

[Skeen]

I've had all of them at one point or another, and am only missing Bright Eyes now (aside from a few upgrades I'd like).  A few years ago I had 4 or 5 Mimics at once and sold the extras at the Fair.  I had her as a child so she's never seemed special to me.  My childhood TE's are:

Mimic
Gingerbread
Masquerade
Fizzy
Sky Rocket
Galaxy

And just this month I found 2 Gingerbreads and a Sky Rocket at the flea market, and I have a couple of Whizzers and Sweet Stuffs and Masquerades and I think some Speedys floating around in my bait and to-clean boxes. 

[joce]

All my years of collecting and never found a mimic but multiples of the others.

[Marlin]

The only one I'm missing is Mimic and that is because of her price. I'd like to complete my set at some point but I don't want her bad enough to pay the high prices.

This is me, too. I need to upgrade my Quackers, but otherwise I have all the others (except Sweet Pop - oh how I wish I never sold my minty girl a couple of years ago!! ) in very good to excellent condition. But Mimic, she's the one I need to luck out on in a buy now lot or something!

[Ariana]

I have all of the Twinkle eye ponies! I got Mimic for my 21st birthday 

[BlackCurtains]

I just have Party Time (actually I have about 4) but I mostly collect orange ponies so that's more the reason why.

[starstrider]

I have full sets of the TE ponies.  I love Mimic's colouring, but I dislike her pose.  I suppose she was considered so popular because of "The Golden Horseshoes".  Who knows if there's any actual scarcity due to fewer Mimics having been made, or if it's just that once she joins a collection the owner is less likely to part with her because she's considered a grail.

[SkyCakes]

I have Mimic and love her. I got her from a friend as a gift. Shes very special. I always remember the friendship I have with her through mimic.

[dragonfly]

My theory has always been that she's HTF because she wasn't a favorite of little girls back when she was new so there aren't as many of her floating around out there. Rare to find her in mint condition with unfaded hair ... collectors tend to hang onto her.

[Einhornbaby]

My theory has always been that she's HTF because she wasn't a favorite of little girls back when she was new so there aren't as many of her floating around out there. Rare to find her in mint condition with unfaded hair ... collectors tend to hang onto her.

Gotta say... if she would have been available in my country when I was a kid and if I had to chose... I would have never ever chosen her over any other pony. Not as a kid. Today I adore her colors but as a kid I was all "pink and cute stuff" I even hated Tootie Tails and the whole set because of the "freaky eyeshadow" and bright colors.

[SeashellnBubbles]

I got Mimic on a BIN for $9.99 Canadian a couple of years ago. She had a little mouse nibble to her hoof and the tip of her horn. I filed down her horn and unless you were super picky and observant you'd never notice anything was wrong! I loved having her when I did, but for me it's all about the hunt and the fact I could say I had "Insert Pony's Name here" once, so I ended up selling her to an Arena member who'd wanted her forever for a pretty cheap price. I had quite a bit of good luck at the thrift with finding other ponies (MO Scribbles and Dabble and the pearly babies) and really felt I should pay it forward. So she does pop up on occasion (as do other rare and "rare" ponies) so keep your chins up! Personally, I find Pale Speedy, Galaxy, Locket and Bright Eyes to be my faves in that series....and I did once have a Party Time with no regrind or discolouration even under black light, so she exists!!

[Shaiyeh]

OKay, so I missed the poll, but I have all the TEs.
Mimic, I actually won in a raffle here at the Arena.
I spent the longest time looking for Speedy, and she's the one who completed my set. Seriously,I think I've seen her once or twice for sale before that. Never for a lot of money, but rarely for sale.
Bright Eyes I've only also seen a handful of times, but I was lucky enough to get her in a private swap at some point.
Locket I found in a 2nd hand shop. Fizzy I've had multiple of. Galaxy I've also had multiple of.
The rest are just sort of average IMO, seen them for sale quite a bit, never for too much money.

[aintnobuffalo]

I was surprised how close she was in number to the other options. From the poll, it does seem that she much less common. She is my second favorite of the set, Fizzy being the only one I have and my favorite.

[Haruna]

Well, the results are in and I've finally had a chance to sit down and take a look at them. Of course, this poll only gives us a rough idea of whether Mimic is rarest, since we couldn't ask every pony collector everywhere whether they own a Mimic, and because there are Mimics in the world that don't belong to any collector, and for various other reasons . . . but still, this poll probably roughly reflects the reality. It looks like she is the rarest, as far as being *owned* by collectors who answered this poll. I thought Bright Eyes might win, but although their poll results are close, Mimic still wins (and by a larger margin when you factor in the people who had more than one Bright Eyes who answered in the comments).

I went through the answers and tallied up the doubles that people had of certain TEs; as you'd expect, many of these were from the first TE set. I then added them to the poll results. The final tally looks like this (I put them in order from most common to least common):

Fizzy: 100
Masquerade: 96
Whizzer: 95
Galaxy: 95
Sweet Stuff: 87
Gingerbread: 82
Speedy: 81
Party Time: 79
Locket: 75
Sky Rocket: 74
Tic-Tac-Toe: 73
Sweet Pop: 70
Quackers: 69
Bright Eyes: 64
Mimic: 52

There have been some excellent points made in this thread -- for instance, Mimic might be rare because she wasn't a general favorite when she was produced, in addition to being in the second TE set and probably not getting ordered by stores as much. (On the flip side, some pointed out that she starred in "The Golden Horseshoes," so she could actually have been a favorite.) She could be  just "hard to buy" and not "hard to find," since her cost is prohibitive. Others pointed out that she is a pony with a lot of perceived worth and collectors might be less willing to part with a rare pony like her, making it harder for other collectors to find her.

What do you guys think of the results? Anything else we should take into account? I think we can all say at least that Mimic, for whatever reason, is not an easy pony to get your hands on! And for the record, I think she's very pretty and worth having, at the right price