G3 Market Collapse

[gabumon]

I really am savoring the fact that G3s are cheap and common right now.  I agree with people that in 10 - 15 years those girls will go through a nostalgia phase and go back to the G3 ponies.

Wonder what will happen in 20 years, today's girls in their 20s will compete with the "new male pony fans" in their 30-40s who are ALSO returning.   

[lovesbabysquirmy]

There hasn't been a collapse... they haven't been around long enough yet to acquire value! 

[StarDragon]

I see the value slightly rising a bit for MIB, actually. Four years ago, I won auctions for whole lots of MIB G3s for less than $1 each pony (in one case, I actually won an auction as the only bidder for a lot of 15 MIB G3s for $3). Lately, people have been pricing them in the $8-10 range, which is a lot higher than I am used to, lol!! (though there has been a lot of $1 starting bids on ebay, usually they end up sold for around the $4-10 range.) In my observation, it seems that during any current generation, people will sell for at least retail value, but when a new generation comes out, values quickly drop on the previous one depending on supply and demand of the pony(s) in question.

All above may explain why some people who remember buying and selling G3s while they were the current generation might have experienced a value drop, while those like me who came during the very end of G3s may only experience a value rise.

So i think if there was a collapse, it was right after G3, possibly even during the last years with core 7 ponies. Now G3s are beginning to seep into the 10-year range, so values are beginning to slightly rise.

[MnDancer]

I agree with what a lot of people are saying about them being to old for kids to want and too new for collectors/nostalgia. I think they really are in an inbetween period and the economy sucks so much right now that people are much less willing to pay higher prices. Everyone wants to sell for financial reasons but very few have the means to buy proportionately. I also think Hasbro made a huge mistake (as we told them!) when they decided to "concentrate on the core 7", I think collectors as well as kids are attracted to MLP over say Barbies because there is such variety. When I was a kid I had Barbies, but never played with them. Having Barbie talk to or play with another Barbie was downright boring. Expecting kids or collectors to buy armies of the same 7 ponies was doomed to fail from the start. I'm assuming they were trying to fix that and get people to buy ponies again by introducing the 3.5s, but they totally missed the point. They made different molds, but it was still the same 7 ponies over and over. Personally, I think they may still be making G3s right now if they hadn't screwed up by limiting themselves to just 7 ponies.

[RAMChYLD]

I wouldn't say that the market has collapsed. Certain G3 items are already hard to come by (i.e. certain dress up sets), and the rare international toys are already technically non-existent (for example, the 3 feet Pinkie Pie).

[Rosencrantz]

I'm just getting rid of the ones I never opened! I really love the ones I have and I recently bought a new one. Although, yeah, the low prices made buying the new one not so bad.

[PurpleCheeseStick]

To be honest, I grew up mainly with G3s and they're something I'm rather used to, those who I don't have an emotional attachment to I just don't care about, because I saw so much of them all the time when I was young. But when I discovered G1s and G2s, not only did I find that I liked them better aesthetically, but they were something "new" and different for me to explore! But that's just me and why I won't buy them- though I have to agree with everyone else- I got tired of the core seven right away, and they are in that stage of "too new, not old enough to care" stage. In a few years that'll begin to change dramatically.

[josiekat]

I didn't get into G3's until almost the end of their run. I had collected G1's for years on my own, and didn't give other generations a second look. That started to change back in 2007 when I started joining the online collecting communities. Then I started to really looking at G3's. So I was lucky to avoid the burn out. I don't collect for value, so that part doesn't really bother me, but I had started to consider selling off my G3's because of spacial reasons. BUT.....when we bought our house, there was enough room for all the ponies, so they got to stay. I still have many more G3's on my wishlist, so hopefully their price won't go too high anytime soon. lol

[Wardah]

I think it mostly has to do with how common G3s are for the most part. Kids who "outgrew" previous generations already have given them away or sold them other than some unaccounted for stashes in attics or such. Kids today who are "outgrowing" G3 ponies are giving them away or selling them. Nobody is going to pay $5 for a pony when they can walk into a thrift store and get a whole bag of them for $3 or get a single pony for .50 at a yard sale.

[Luxrayx]

Well, at least that means more G3s for me ^_^

[Sunset]

I think that there are multiple reasons that G3 are in the state that they are.  First, there were very few active collectors during the G1 era.  However, by the time G3 came around, there were quite a lot of active collectors with disposable incomes.  As a result there are loads more G3 in the collecting community than there are G1.  For the most part, those who wanted a specific pony could get it while the pony was available for retail.

Then comes along a huge recession causing many collectors to lose their disposable income.  This also causes many people to choose to sell their collections because they need the money.  Unfortunately, most collectors either already have most of the G3 that they want, or can't afford to buy any ponies right now, or...

Are focusing on the G4.  It's just so much easier to focus on what is new and actually available in stores right now.

I do believe that G3 prices will go back up in another few years when there are no new ponies in stores and the G4 craze has died down.  But they will never compare to G1.  I also predict that the G4 line will probably hit a similar low as soon as G5 takes off.

[medleysong]

I agree with many of the thoughts here. Having been lucky enough to be collecting ponies since the 80's I see a few things playing out here:

1. the people who played with G3s are not old enough to join the nostalgic collecting mass quite yet

2. G3s did not have a solid enough cartoon that made people really connect to the characters the way G1s and G4s have. I have always thought that was why G2s did not do as well either.

3. I agree with burn out, market flooding, core 7 and the like. That really killed it for me too

4. I do think, even though G3s values have never been over the top, that G4s have something to do with this. Partly because it isn't just the G3s we are seeing it with but also G1s. Having been around a while I remember when G1s were SUPER expensive and now it is much easier to get cheap ones. I mentioned this before but do an auction search with most bids first and look at what dominates--G4s. It used to be G1 nirvanas that dominated followed by UK/Euro exclusives, Mail orders etc. Not anymore. G4s have taken over with a vegence and it has been cool to watch the increased interest in people of all ages and genders. So cool!

5. Economy is part of it but not all of it. People are just spending their money differently. Also, it is the usual ebay auction trends--if something has bids then other people put in bids because it "must be worth something or desirable" ebay trends are fun to watch and analyze.

[Nienna]

I think there are a couple different factors behind the low market value of G3s.

1.  The Core Seven.  Who remembers this?  Going into the toy aisle and just seeing the same seven ponies, ooooover and oooover and ooooover.  It was worse than the current re-releases because it wasn't just "not very many other characters", it was literally NO OTHER CHARACTERS.  It was around this time that I began to see an exodus of collectors from the community, or people going into "sleep mode."  "I don't bother checking the toy aisle any more, what's the point?"  "I'm just not excited about ponies any more."  The G3 ponies who had been released previously became tarred with the same brush as the Bore Seven;  people were less excited about G3s in general. 

It was also at this point that G3 prices began to nosedive.  I do not think the dip in prices had much to do with G4s.  Long before G4 came out, I had a rather extensive sales thread where I was STRUGGLING to sell absolutely mint G3s for $2 each.  Two dollars!! 

2.  Okay, but that wasn't the only reason.  There was also Pony Fatigue.  I hated the Core 7 for erasing all but seven characters.  I am not happy with the lack of new brushables in the current line.  But there was a time when many collectors were completely overwhelmed with the continuous onslaught of new G3s.  It was almost impossible to keep up and very, very expensive to buy them all, if you were a completionist.  In addition, some ponies were kind of generically similar (especially in the Crystal Princess line).  Like, "pink + purple + flower", you know.

So, I saw some people burn out from that.  They were just tired of trying to keep up. This leads me to my next point . . .

3.  Lack of emotional attachment.  The toys we had as kids we played with and loved.  Toys we want as collectors we usually have to search for, which is exciting.  Going into a store and buying six new ponies all at once is not really exciting and, in my opinion, can become more of "just a goal" rather than a toy.  What I mean is . . . it's all about the acquisition, not about enjoying what you acquire.  When the glamour wears off, you're left with a lot of things you don't want, at just the point when a lot of OTHER people discover they, too, have acquired a lot of things they don't want.  They all go for sale at once and doooown goes the value.

Within a few years, we will see the market for G3s re-emerge, as the kids who played with them hit that "nostalgia stage."  It really is different if you grew up with something rather than collecting it later.  But for now, there is just not much demand.

(I also think G3s are hurt by a more limited palette of colors compared to G1 and G2.)

Excellent post- if this was Facebook I would have liked it

I do think the value of G3 will go up again- at least for some ponies, pre Core 7 definitely- but it will not be anytime soon, nor do I think they'll reach the prices of the higher end G1s. The fact that there is a large online community with lots of information since the line started has got a LOT to do with that. There are likely many more mint/boxed G3s available because of collectors.

[hathorcat]

I think it comes down quite simply to collector's habits...just look at the date the Arena was created and the first year of G3.

Yes there were collectors around during G1 and G2 however there were no where near as many as have established in the last decade. In addition the internet and most specifically sites like the Arena and the TP [although there were groups around prior to these of course] and ebay have made buying and selling ponies much much easier.

During G1 if you were in the US and wanted an exclusive UK pony, 9 times out of 10 you wouldn't even have known Gypsy or Snowflake or Hopscotch existed let alone known that you needed a holiday to the UK or a friend in the UK to pick one up. However, during G3 we knew about exclusives as soon as they hit shelves, we had a community to help us find and buy exclusives which were in countries we could not otherwise purchase from.

Yes there are common G1s but even the numbers of Peachies and Lemon Drops are probably put in the shade by the sheer numbers of some of the most populous G3s.

You only have to look at other collectables to see that even as years pass and new lines are released there are some lines, some generations which remain expensive and popular and others which are simply no where near as successful financially due to the scale in which they were produced and purchased. G3s were collected and purchased by collectors in much larger numbers than any previous generation thats what it all comes down to: the more there are, the lower the demand and the lower the value.

Do I think they will increase in value again? Yes, they are probably right now suffering from being neither vintage nor new - that just off the shelf syndrome that someone mentioned earlier. It probably depends on whether the collecting community expands, contracts or remains the same in numbers. If it stays consistent or gets smaller then probably they will go back up to around retail value. However, if the community gets larger and those seeking the nostalgia of their childhood G3s come to collecting in adult years then yes they may increase above retail. But personally I dont see it ever being retail or a little above as there are so many of most of these ponies already in existence and in collections that they are never going to actually be rare and only rarity is going to increase value.

[Leopard_Print_Unicorn]

Except the ones left on my want list are still fairly expensive, when you can find them 

I think that like others have said, they will come back up in value after they have been gone from stores for longer. Even the oldest ones haven't been around a decade. They may have dropped a little in price because a lot of people are collecting G4's now and G3's are no longer current, but there will probably always be a collector's market for all the generations.