How much should a pony cost?

[ponyqueen]

New pony, in store, USD. In the 1980s a standard single pony on card was ~$5, more or less depending on store or sale price (this is based on price tags on backcards I actually have in hand). This would get you a rainbow haired, TAF, so-soft, twinkle eye or other general pony on card.

According to one online inflation calculator, $5.00 in 1985 would be valued at $11.00 today. Anyone wanna pay $11 for a G4 Pinkie Pie?

Done the other way, a $5 pony in 2015 (average price at Target for a G4 pony) would be worth $2.25 in 1985.

Sure the ponies have gotten way smaller today... but mentally, it seems that the "value" of that new store pony is still only worth a $5 bill, regardless of inflation.

Thoughts?

[daisyd]

My first ever pony - a not-too-exciting G1 Blossom - cost 1.99 GBP new from the shop.

I see today's ponies, less than half the size and more than double that original cost and just go *really*?

[jrr74]

Good question?  Production cost? With technology, you can make a lot more for a lot less.  Maybe because they were a new concept back in the 80s with little to no competition.  Just thoughts of course 

[Baby Sugarberry]

I'd be fine paying 11$ for a G1 quality pony, but you can't compare the current line to the originals.  There's no QC, often no accessories or extras, they're a quarter of the size/materials, not even printed on both sides, no new poses, and the same boring characters recycled over and over with no innovation.  'You get what you pay for.' is an adage for a reason.

[jrr74]

I'd be fine paying 11$ for a G1 quality pony, but you can't compare the current line to the originals.  There's no QC, often no accessories or extras, they're a quarter of the size/materials, not even printed on both sides, no new poses, and the same boring characters recycled over and over with no innovation.  'You get what you pay for.' is an adage for a reason.

Nicely summed up!

[Tilas]

According to one online inflation calculator, $5.00 in 1985 would be valued at $11.00 today. Anyone wanna pay $11 for a G4 Pinkie Pie?

That's actually pretty much what I pay for a basic G4 in stores up here. Gotta love the north.

Prices vary across the board dependent on location, availability and most of all, inflation, that's just how things work I'm afraid.  We used to be able to buy chocolate bars for $0.50 too, but those days are long gone.

[Sparkle Pony]

Just the nature of keeping the price the same in the face on inflation I suppose...  Personally I would pay more to have the same quality but alas Hasbro isn't too interested in that.  Of course I think some of it is just G4 not having a great toyline in general, to me G3 had comparable quality to G1 with the same price (although G3s had their own issues and were smaller), heck even G3.5 toys are nice quality.  Somehow I can't bring myself to believe that the inflation got so bad between the end of G3.5 and the start of G4 to honestly explain the huge drop in quality.  So while it might contribute, I think it's mostly just Hasbro nonsense.

[Sweet_Stuff]

Just the nature of keeping the price the same in the face on inflation I suppose...  Personally I would pay more to have the same quality but alas Hasbro isn't too interested in that.  Of course I think some of it is just G4 not having a great toyline in general, to me G3 had comparable quality to G1 with the same price (although G3s had their own issues and were smaller), heck even G3.5 toys are nice quality.  Somehow I can't bring myself to believe that the inflation got so bad between the end of G3.5 and the start of G4 to honestly explain the huge drop in quality.  So while it might contribute, I think it's mostly just Hasbro nonsense.

It's all about money than creativity / originality these days... they really don't make toys like they used to!! 

That's where inflation shouldn't matter.. of course, I guess it all depends on how much the buyer is willing to put up, too.

[BlushingBlue]

I'd be fine paying 11$ for a G1 quality pony, but you can't compare the current line to the originals.  There's no QC, often no accessories or extras, they're a quarter of the size/materials, not even printed on both sides, no new poses, and the same boring characters recycled over and over with no innovation.  'You get what you pay for.' is an adage for a reason.

This exactly. I'd gladly pay $11 for a 5-6" pony made with quality materials. But instead of increasing prices accordingly with rising costs of production, Hasbro kept the price the same and reduced the pony to avoid consumer pushback. You see this happening all over, with cereal, juice, tuna, paper towels, candy bars, detergent... I personally find it pretty reprehensible (and really annoying when working from an old recipe) but that's business for you.

It's funny now that I think about it. My family was pretty poor when I was growing up, so getting a $5 pony was a Big Deal. That $5 was like half a tank of gas, or a month's worth of bread and milk! And now 30 years later, I'm still weighing whether I want to buy a G1 or have a month of lunches. They've certainly kept their relative value in my eyes!

[NoPonySpecial]

I heard plastic is much more expensive these days.

[Wardah]

The bagged G4s are $3. But yeah it comes down to what consumers are willing to put up with. If a regular pony becomes too expensive people will turn to fakies and Hasbro would rather not have that happen.

[ponyqueen]

So how much should G4s cost? There were the bagged ponies for $3, and for my vote- that seems like the right price for them. In fact, even the standard ponies that come on cards should probably be $3, for the quality they lack.

[Taffeta]

Translating this into £, the ponies in the 1980s (using Argos as a basis for the prices) were around £2.80-99 for a basic adult (ie Snowflake, Gypsy, Cherries Jubilee). When ponies ended in 94 a basic adult was about £5.99 although there were quite a few discounted ones around then.

G4 ponies are (basic brushables) £4.99, fancier brushables like the see through snowglobe types £8-9.99, Mane Iac for example is £9.99 retail. Equestria dolls can be anything from a discounted £8ish to a more normal £10-12 to a rather optimistic £25 if Harrods have their way. I am not sure about FS ponies.

I think we already pay almost the $11 price for a lot of our basic G4 ponies. G3 were the same price scale - £4.99 for individual, £6.99 with playsets and £9.99 if a bit more extravagant.

£1 is between $1.60-$1.70 US generally these days I think.

But I would agree that the quality does not equal the price paid. Hasbro are probably making a bigger profit on production, especially since production is far more uniform now with fewer regional deviances. Repeating the same pony over and over in the same basic mould also cuts production way down. In the 1980s there were many poses, many weird random minor variations, lots of different local and global factories and such and many new characters with each wave. So I wonder if, at first, Hasbro made much profit on the G1 line.

[ladybastilla]

It could be said that in attempting to block out fakie lines, the g4 MLP toyline essentially became fakies themselves. Hmm... *ponders* I don't hate g4, but it's the show I like--without that I wouldn't care about the toys. Artistically I prefer g1, g2 (my lack of them is location, not style) and g3.

[LadyMoondancer]

I'd pay $11 for a MOC pony produced with the care and production values of G1.   Which means not only the pony itself being high quality, but also a variety of molds, well-thought out sets, and high quality backcard art instead of copy-and-paste vectors.