The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Haruna on October 28, 2017, 11:10:11 AM
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I've heard it said and I've suspected for a while that Mimic may not be the rarest twinkle-eyed pony but is instead just uncommon and very popular. So, here's a super-thorough, perfectly-designed poll to test that theory! Just kidding . . . this poll will obviously only give us just a rough idea of how common Mimic is. There are so many more factors that we'd need to take into account to figure out if she's actually rare or not. But this should be fun, at any rate, if not perfectly accurate :) Fill out the poll above with each twinkle-eyed pony that you currently own (even if it's just in your sales box or bait box) and we'll see what our answers show.
My money is on one of her set-mates winning the poll for rarity here -- possibly Quackers or Bright Eyes. :wonder: All images from Ponyland Press.
Edit: Thanks to Baby Sugarberry and Taffeta for pointing this out -- some of you may own more than one of a particular twinkle-eyed pony; you might have an army of Gingerbreads, have two Lockets in varying conditions, multiple Fizzys (like me), etc. If you do have more than one of a certain pony, please note that in the comments section so we can take that into account!
Edit #2 (Nov. 10): 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 :)
Mimic
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Locket
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Bright Eyes
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Quackers
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Tic-Tac-Toe
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Speedy
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Sweet Pop
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Sky Rocket
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Sweet Stuff
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Galaxy
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Masquerade
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Fizzy
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Whizzer
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Gingerbread
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Party Time
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I'm not sure she's so much rare as not as easily available. People who get her tend to keep her, so fewer are on the market than many other ponies. Personally, I see far fewer Bright Eyes for sale than Mimics....though her price tends to reflect that as well.
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She was in one episode so people have always said she was rare. I've heard that's why she is priced so high. I don't think she's hard to find she's just really expensive. There might be other ponies more worthy of being called rare though because I'm sure if you searched ebay for Mimic she'd be everywhere probably priced from high to extremely high to insanely high.
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I only have Party Time and Sweet Pop, both are childhood ponies. I also think Mimic is more uncommon (not super rare) and really popular. That's what makes her seem rare. I think a lot of her popularity comes from being featured in the "Golden Horseshoes" episodes of My Little Pony and that's one reason so many collectors want her in their collections. I enjoy the "Golden Horseshoes" episodes but don't feel compelled to add Mimic to my collection just based on that. I'm not saying that everyone else does, just that I think being the main focus of that episode,e even though she only appeared for a few minutes makes her have a strong connection to some collectors. I think someone mentioned that the 2nd set of ponies were always produced in fewer numbers than the original set? That might also explain why she seems rare.
Ponyfan
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I have no idea on her rarity, but I don't have her yet. Twinkle Eyed Ponies are a set I want to complete so I hope to get her someday. I would think they would have made just as much of her as they did the other ponies in the second TE set, right? It may just be a matter of being more sought after because a lot of people like her, as opposed to there actually being less out there.
As for the poll, so far I've got Tic-Tac-Toe, Speedy, Sweet Pop, Sky Rocket, Galaxy, Whizzer, and Party Time. 7 down, 8 to go!
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I've got Galaxy (need to reroot, she has a few regrind marks), Locket, Sky Rocket (needs to be rehaired, and she's got this brown mark on her), Fizzy (needs work done on her as she has teeth marks on her body and ear), Sweet Stuff (only needs her mane redoing), and finally Whizzer (my pride and joy, as I didn't need to do anything to her). Not keen on Mimic, so I don't care that I don't have her.
The ones I'm missing and are rare to me are Gingerbread, Quackers, Tic Tac Toe, Masquerade, Sweet Pop, and Party Time.
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Im setting on Bright Eyes :) Mimic in 2nd place or maybe really close to each other.
Im no help on this poll though, I own them all :P
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i think bright eyes is the rarer of the twinkle eyes ... i have mimic (paid a whole whopping $4.25 for her at a consignment shop lol) but i need a tic tac toe and bright eyes
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Kind of an odd poll for me... I have all the Twinkle Eye ponies but I do believe there were a few that I got after Mimic, because I got her for myself as a birthday present. XD Usually I wait until I see a really great deal on a pony I want but in her case I shelled out the ~$80 for her.
I think it's been established that she isn't especially rare, just in high demand.
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I think that price might impact on the poll, as people having Mimic can be impacted by budget. As for her rarity, all I can say about that (being from a country where she wasn't sold) is that as far back as I remember, she had a special aura of being wanted by collectors. And I mean way back.
Blowing off the cobwebs, going back to the Summer of 1997, Mimic was the first trade I ever arranged. I had no idea then that she was rare. I had only just seen the Magic Horseshoes for the first time. It was terrible quality and I thought she was yellow. So when I got online and had someone to trade with, Mimic was for some reason the first pony I mentioned. Even then my trade partner said "Mimic is kind of sought after. If you really want her, I can get one, but she might not be in perfect condition". I was fine with this and so she managed to get me a Mimic. This was a collector who had a very big collection and a huge network of trade links even in the middle 1990s.
So I got Mimic in 1997, I traded for her, but even then she was sought after and special beyond the rest of her set.
Twenty years on, damage is done. It's a mindset that's been there since before some people who collect MLP now were even born, but whether it was the episode that did it or something else, I can't tell you.
My Mimic actually is in good shape. The flaw was ink on the base of her hooves which to me is nothing at all.
In terms of the poll, I now have all of the fifteen, plus the paler Speedy, but I had to stop and think because some of them originally only my sister had. The ones I didn't have myself before were Gingerbread, Party Time, Sweetie and Fizzy, which are more common ponies but ones I didn't look for because Naynie had them. I only have the full fifteen now because I have kept a Party Time with gorgeous hair but very bad discolouration issues. I felt sorry for her. So because of that, I have the set. But the moral of my story is that I actually had Mimic before I had many of the others on the list.
Also there is the issue of some not being sold in all places. Mimic, Bright Eyes, Quackers, Sweet Pop and Party Time have no release in the UK which makes them theoretically harder to get here. (I have weirdly found Mimic here, though, once, at a carboot sale!)
I personally think that Bright Eyes is probably the rarest. But I think if Tic Tac Toe wasn't a global release pony, she might also be as she is considerably harder to pick up than some of the others.
I am really interested in this poll, though, if only to see which TE ponies are most present in the community.
If I was able to answer for my sister, her Twinkle Eyed ponies are:
Fizzy
Gingerbread
Sweetie
Party Time
Tic Tac Toe
Bright Eyes
She might also have a Sky Rocket as well.
But obviously Bright Eyes and Party Time I had to import for her from the US. Fizzy she had as a child. The others came from second hand sales (Tic Tac Toe came from this year's Ponycon).
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Oooh! The twinkle eyes are my favourite adult g1 set! I have all except sweet pop and quackers. As not all the twinkle eyes were sold here in the uk, it makes it harder to find them secondhand, and even on ebay, unless they're from another collector or they travelled. I got mimic from the US and I think I'll be doing the same for the two I need :) I agree though, bright eyes does seem to up for sale a lot less than the others. With mimic I think it's a case of her being uncommon and popular more so than super rare :) this poll is really interesting, I can't wait to see the final results :)
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I have every pony except locket, tic-tac-toe, fizzy, and gingerbread. I do have everyone else. I had locket but they have escaped.
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I have every pony except locket, tic-tac-toe, fizzy, and gingerbread. I do have everyone else. I had locket but they have escaped.
I can only assume she went looking for Baby Half Note, armed with a bunch of keys ;)
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...I guess that comment probably only makes sense to people who've read the UK annual/comic story...
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I am not sure why she goes for so much more. If could be cause kids liked her and many of them did not make it. Or she was not very popular and not many of them were made. I wish Hasbro had a recorder of how many of each kid of pony was made over the years.
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Poll has a major flaw as it doesn't account for one person having / having had multiples of a given pony.
I've had, approximately:
1 Mimic Purchased. Only TE I had to buy and the last one I got.
4+ Locket
3 Bright Eyes
2 Quackers
2 Tic-Tac-Toe
5+ Speedy
2 Sweet Pop
~2 Sky Rocket
~4 Sweet Stuff
5+ Galaxy
5+ Masquerade
5+ Fizzy
8+ Whizzer By far the most common TE for me.
~3 Gingerbread
~4 Party Time
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Poll has a major flaw as it doesn't account for one person having / having had multiples of a given pony.
I've had, approximately:
1 Mimic Purchased. Only TE I had to buy and the last one I got.
4+ Locket
3 Bright Eyes
2 Quackers
2 Tic-Tac-Toe
5+ Speedy
2 Sweet Pop
~2 Sky Rocket
~4 Sweet Stuff
5+ Galaxy
5+ Masquerade
5+ Fizzy
8+ Whizzer By far the most common TE for me.
~3 Gingerbread
~4 Party Time
I can't even begin to work out that much detail. All I can say is that in my house at the moment there are three or four Gingerbreads ;)
I do know I have had three Mimics ever in total. One is mine. One came from a carboot sale randomly in the nineties here, one came in a lot from the US.
I don't think I've ever had a double of Quackers. Bright Eyes I have one and sister does, so that makes 2, but no others.
Right now I also have two loose Masquerades.
If we're also adding MOC ponies into this, I have three Tic Tac Toes, three Whizzers and two Masquerades in my collection :/
It grows more complex...
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The only TE's I have NEVER had in my possession are Mimic and Quackers. All the others, I've had at one time or another or even had multiples of them.
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Poll has a major flaw as it doesn't account for one person having / having had multiples of a given pony.
I've had, approximately:
1 Mimic Purchased. Only TE I had to buy and the last one I got.
4+ Locket
3 Bright Eyes
2 Quackers
2 Tic-Tac-Toe
5+ Speedy
2 Sweet Pop
~2 Sky Rocket
~4 Sweet Stuff
5+ Galaxy
5+ Masquerade
5+ Fizzy
8+ Whizzer By far the most common TE for me.
~3 Gingerbread
~4 Party Time
I can't even begin to work out that much detail. All I can say is that in my house at the moment there are three or four Gingerbreads ;)
I do know I have had three Mimics ever in total. One is mine. One came from a carboot sale randomly in the nineties here, one came in a lot from the US.
I don't think I've ever had a double of Quackers. Bright Eyes I have one and sister does, so that makes 2, but no others.
Right now I also have two loose Masquerades.
If we're also adding MOC ponies into this, I have three Tic Tac Toes, three Whizzers and two Masquerades in my collection :/
It grows more complex...
XD Yeah, I was trying to figure out how to poll those collectors who might have an army or just more than one of a certain twinkle-eyed pony, but I couldn't find a way. Maybe those who do own multiples can just add in the comments section if they currently have more than one of a certain pony; I'll edit the first post to suggest that!
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I'm not sure she's so much rare as not as easily available. People who get her tend to keep her, so fewer are on the market than many other ponies. Personally, I see far fewer Bright Eyes for sale than Mimics....though her price tends to reflect that as well.
Bright Eyes is nowhere near as expensive as Mimic and I see her pop up way more.
Idk if she's rare or not, but she's certainly expensive and has become a collector status symbol, like the Mountain Boys and Ladybird.
I had Sweet Pop, Sweet Stuff, Fizzy and Whizzer as a kid. As an adult, I have Fizzy, Whizzer, Galaxy, Sweet Pop and Masquerade.
I still need Locket, Speedy, Tic-tac-toe and Gingerbread.
My kid has, Masquerade, Sweet Stuff, Bright Eyes, a custom Baby Mimic and Whizzer. She wants Party Time, Locket and Sky Rocket too.
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I have Sweet Pop, Masquerade, Locket, Sweet Stuff, Bright Eyes, Galaxy, Fizzy & Speedy. I hope to add Tic Tac Toe and Sky Rocket.
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Two Sweetstuffs here. Also two Galaxys (one is Spanish; not sure if you are counting foreign variants). Oh, and two Masquerades.
And one each of Locket, Quackers, Tic-Tac-Toe, Fizzy, Speedy, Whizzer and Gingerbread.
I have never even seen Mimic in real life, and had been collecting ponies for quite a while before I heard of her, which I put down to living in England. She's not really a pony I want. She's nice and everything, but I can't justify the price, and, really, there are other Twinkle Eye ponies I like more (Sweetstuff is my favourite). The one that I paid the most for and had to hunt for a while to find was Quackers.
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I think I only saw one Mimic at Ponycon this year and she had a haircut. To put in context there were 2 Rapunzels there.
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I think it's mostly a case of "supply and demand" or whatever you'd call it. She's popular and it's ingrained into collectors' minds that Mimic is very rare and hard to get, so generally people hang onto her if they get her (instead of selling her on), and she tends to go for a lot of money when she does pop up. Etc, etc. Like Taffeta said, the damage has been done unfortunately :(
Why she's so popular in the first place, I dunno. I see a lot of people say it was because of the "Golden Horseshoes" ep, but is that really true? She's hardly the only pony that only showed up in one episode, after all - i.e. Scoops was only in "The Ice Cream Wars", but you don't see her going for mega prices (at least not as far as I'm aware..?). Hmm. I suppose Mimic would technically be rarer than the first set of TEs to begin with (as would the rest of her set-mates), in the sense that.. she was sold in less countries so perhaps there's less of her existing to begin with, if that makes sense? But I'm not sure how she became this desirable in the first place :/
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My thoughts are she is neither rare nor uncommon she is just too expensive. LOL She is always on ebay if you got the cash. :lol:
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Mimic is uncommon, just like her set-mates that were North American exclusives and part of the last Twinkle-Eyed set released. She's not any rarer than Bright Eyes, Quackers, etc. The UK got Tic Tac Toe, Locket, Speedy, Sky Rocket, Fizzy and Sweetie (Sweet Stuff to NA). Her price stems from low supply + high popularity / perceived value.
Almost all second/third sets of a given type of pony are rarer than the first release, likely due to fewer stores ordering them if they still had remaining stock.
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I do not have Mimic yet, but would like to have her as a set completer for the TE ponies. However there are ponies from that set that I would prefer to get before her such as Bright Eyes, who I think it a much prettier pony. So for me I don't think that Mimic is rare as such, more like she had a darned good PR team.
Also, there are other more 'common' TE ponies that one sees all the time but who are however hard to get in good condition. Like Gingerbread for example. She comes up often in lots, but is usually flawed. I would say then that Bright Eyes and good condition Quackers, Gingerbread, Party Time and Sweet Stuff are actually more rare that Mimic in my own most humble opinion.
My list of ponies, as requested:
3 Whizzer (1 minty, 2 bait)
1 Sweet Pop (good condition)
1 Sweet Stuff (discoloured - regrind / highlighter marks)
1 Party Time (discoloured - regrind)
1 Gingerbread (very good condition)
1 Galaxy (fair condition)
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Of that list, Bright Eyes is the only one I'm missing. If I recall correctly, Mimic was one of the last ones I got. She's a pretty one, and I like the colours of her hair, but I don't think I would have bought her for the price she tends to go for. I've got her because she was part of a friend's childhood collection, which they kindly decided to give to me. :)
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I have two Gingerbreads and two Sweetstuffs.
I don't know how rare Mimic really was, but as a kid, I lived close enough to walk to a store that stocked MLP and I went almost every day. I had saved money to buy her, but even though other Twinkle-eyes showed up, I never saw her. I probably just missed her because of that episode. Every kid wanted her, even the ones who didn't normally put a pony on their wish list.
I still want her, but not at those prices.
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This is an incredible poll, I've always wondered this but never been brainy enough to figure out a way of checking! Thank you Haruna :)
I have all the TEs. I have a bit of a TE army - they are by far my favourite set of ponies :lovey: But, I only have one Mimic, one Bright Eyes and one Quackers. However seeing as they weren't released in the UK that's not particularly suprising. Quackers and BE were far more difficult for me to get hold of than Mimic. Mimic is one of my fave ponies from the set so when I saw her come up for sale here for a very good price and near to my birthday, I spent out on her.
I don't know how true this is but I heard in the 90s a couple of people who really, really wanted a minty Mimic became embroiled in a bidding war on eBay, knocking her price way up, and from then this and her status as an uncommon (I really don't think she is rare) pony has hiked her price up. But it's supply and demand - if she was easier to get then she would be cheaper. I have never seen anyone in a bidding war over Peachy!
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I don't know how true this is but I heard in the 90s a couple of people who really, really wanted a minty Mimic became embroiled in a bidding war on eBay, knocking her price way up, and from then this and her status as an uncommon (I really don't think she is rare) pony has hiked her price up.
I don't personally go with this story. I remember that the first baby Applejack on ebay had a bidding war over her and her price went to $300 but she's not a $300 pony now, even though, like Mimic, she wasn't sold in all countries (in fact, there are probably fewer of her around, given the target markets). I don't know what caused it but I doubt one bidding war did.
I would not be surprised if the original interest in her did come from the show as many of the people collecting in the early days were young people coming out of growing up with MLP and had probably seen the episodes. But then when the international market opened up, I guess it got bigger. I think it was a gradual process over a long time and because basically she comes from the US market (ie the original market online), there's never been a time when the supply increased from what it already was. The demand has, because of all of us, but not the supply. And so here we are.
I also think there was a lot of damage done by the idiocy around the Church of the MOC Mimic and people trying to create this aura of something that they didn't believe existed. Of course, MOC Mimic does exist, and multiple examples of her, but by making her out to be some pinnacle pony in MOC form, it probably added to the hype. I don't think it caused it, but it did keep people's attention on Mimic. I can list a lot of ponies for whom there exist only one or no known MOC ponies - I don't know if most of those would meet the price of a MOC Mimic (perhaps the Mountain Boys would).
Going back to distribution, Baby Sugarberry is right about our 2nd year set (we had the same set in the first year as the US). We didn't get Sweet Pop and we didn't get Quackers, BE or Mimic, (or Party Time in the set as we had Tutti Frutti) so those ponies are automatically harder to get here. European second set for the most part (at least France and Germany I can confirm) were the same as in the UK (although they're on a different card and there is the pale Speedy instead of the darker one - we had the same as the US Speedy).
BUT Mimic and her fellows were apparently sold in Italy. There's significant advertising to suggest it. So she did get to Europe in some capacity. So was the rest of her set in full.
I would say that in terms of distribution that ought to make Sweet Pop or Party Time the most limited in terms of where they were sold. I don't think either of those got to Europe at all.
Just to make it more complex.
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I have 7/15 but only have ever found multiple Fizzies or Galaxies (which is just fine because I adore both!)
If you want my opinion, I can’t say whether Mimic is actually that rare but it seems like the reason she goes for so much these days is because she’s made a name for herself as a ‘collector favorite’ of sorts. She’s certainly sought after, but I think people pay more for her name rather than for her rarity if that makes sense. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I have 7/15 but only have ever found multiple Fizzies or Galaxies (which is just fine because I adore both!)
If you want my opinion, I can’t say whether Mimic is actually that rare but it seems like the reason she goes for so much these days is because she’s made a name for herself as a ‘collector favorite’ of sorts. She’s certainly sought after, but I think people pay more for her name rather than for her rarity if that makes sense. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Right now, interestingly, she has got the lowest poll tally by 3 points.
I think you're right, though. She's become a status symbol. Unfortunately I think Munchy, Crumpet and Red Roses have gone in the same direction. As has Ice Crystal, who is NOT rarer than the other Mountain Boys, but IS more expensive as a rule. I have actually had fewer Quarterbacks than Ice Crystals over the years. In FACT...I am pretty sure my Q came from the US. So that would mean I've NEVER found him here, although when ponies were at carboot sales, I found six or seven Ice Crystals at least.
(Next poll, rarest adult boy pony? ;))
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I agree that Mimic is a status symbol also. I'm actually not a big Mimic fan (gets ready to doge fakies) :throw: as I think there are other ponies out there who are much prettier but when I got back in to ponies I quickly learned that if you had a Mimic she was considered one of the ultimate ponies in people's collection. A long time ago there was a poll or something saying what you would do if you found a Mimic at a garage sale.
thrift store etc.. and someone said they would rather trade Mimic for other ponies they liked more. There were a lot of comments about how could anyone not love Mimic/want to own Mimic because of her how highly "prized" she was.
Ponyfan
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Personally I think if someone doesn't like a pony it makes sense to trade it as someone else will want it and two people will end up happy. I don't understand wanting ponies or getting ponies because they are a status symbol or rare or whatever. I have always just gone for any and all ponies from G1 equally, really.
I have a special bond with my Mimic. She symbolises something for me that's quite special. My trade partner (who has since passed away, sadly, she was in her nineties when she died) sent me Mimic in trust in November 1997. I had never traded online with anyone. I was 15. She had absolutely no reason to trust me, BUT SHE DID. She sent Mimic on trust that I would return the favour in April when she came to visit family in England. Mimic lived with me for six months before I was able to keep that promise. Obviously, I did, but how many people would show that trust now, and with a pony like Mimic? She sent me other ponies too before that April meeting. Best Wishes came along with Mimic (for my sister, as it was around her birthday then) and then later Truly and Powder came as well. Then she sent me Baby Shady for my sweet 16th in February and two bushwoolies for Christmas (one for me, one for sister) all before we met in April.
I've never forgotten that trust. Or the day we were able to repay it and Mimic was then finally properly officially mine. But Mimic means that to me...so when people talk about her as sought after for status or value and such cold hard things it makes me sad.
If you don't like Mimic, then there's no reason to keep her in my view. But if you do want to keep her, then IMO it's really important that you have a reason that's more than just the fact people want her. Because honestly, having a pony other people want doesn't really make any difference to how important a collector you are or how great your collection is. The collection is only as good as how much you love it and are invested in it for your own pleasure...so yeah. It makes me sad she's a 'status symbol'. For me that's entirely the wrong way to look at any pony :/
I am really glad I didn't know much about Mimic's rarity when I got her. It means I've never had a $ value on her head and I never will.
Mimic celebrates 20 years with me next month ;)
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I have all of them and have had extras of all except Mimic...only my childhood one.
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I have them all in my collection and here are the duplicates I currently have in my sales bin:
Fizzy x 2
Sweet Stuff x 2
Masquerade
Speedy x 2
Sweet Pop
Quackers
Tic Tac Toe
Bright Eyes
It's possible that I missed one or two but I think that's it.
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According to my inventory, I have:
2 - Fizzy
2 - Sweet Stuff
1 - Whizzer
1 - Masquerade
3 - Gingerbread
2 - Galazy
1 - Sweet Pop
2 - Speedy
2 - Sky Rocket
1 - Party Time
1 - Quackers
1 - Locket
1 - Mimic
1 - Tic-Tac-Toe
1 - Bright Eyes
Party Time's the only one where I know I'm the original owner. Everyone else came to me later in the collecting years. I always loved the Twinkle Eye ponies. I wish they'd made Twinkle Eye babies.
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That's a wonderful story Taffeta. :)
I have a special connection to my Ice Crystal. I won him in a contest a the Trading Post. I didn't think I would get picked to win so I was so surprised when other people started telling me I won. I had just started learning about Mountain Boys at the time. Ice Crystal will always have a special place among my ponies, not because of his status but how he came to live with me.
My Party Time has a terrible case of regrind. She has large hot pink patches all over her. Has anyone found a Party Time without regrind?
Ponyfan
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I like this poll; I've always wondered about Mimic's rarity myself.
Regardless of whether she's rare, I've always preferred her set-mates over her. Bright Eyes and Locket are two of my favorite ponies.
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I wish Mimic wasn't worth as much as she is. Cause I do genuinely love her colors, it's a shame I'm most likely gonna have to save up money to get her. But I do really love her colors, she's such a pretty pony. There's something about brightly colored ponies I really like.
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Has anyone found a Party Time without regrind?
More mythical than a MOC Mimic, alas. :huh:
Even the ones that don't look like they have it to the naked eye usually show spots under blacklight.
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My grandma found my Mimic at a yard sale in a whole box of ponies for 2.00! Even though I adore her, I prefer Bright Eyes and Galaxy and think they are the prettiest Twinkle eyes.
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I'm only missing Bright Eyes, Locket &
As a kid I had Fizzy, Seedy & Tic-Tac-Toe. I wasn't able to find Mimic in the store, but I'm guessing she was popular since she was on the show.
As far as multiples I have...
4 Fizzy (1 loose common version, 1 loose Spanish lavender stripe, 2 MOC on US cards, 1 of which is a reverse symbol)
1 Galaxy
1 Gingerbread
1 Masquerade
2 Sky Rocket
2 Seedy
1 Sweet Pop
1 Sweet Stuff
1 Whizzer (MOC)
2 Party Time (both have regrind)
1 Mimic
2 Tic-Tac-Toe
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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. I have other expensive ponies on my priority list.
I didn't have any Twinkle Eyes my childhood collection. They all came from Ebay or thrift stores.
I have 3 Party Times, 2 Whizzers, 2 Speedys and 2 Fizzys.
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That's a lovely story, Taffeta! :heart:
I do not own Mimic but, as a lover of green shades, have been intrigued by her colourings - so unusual! I am only aware of her due to this forum, as I never saw her for sale in the UK. I am not too fussed to own her, but of course, if one were to appear at a charity store, I would be STRAIGHT there! :biggrin:
I must admit, though, that I find Galaxy and Fizzy as the prettiest TEPs; I have a couple of doubles of them as a result. My friend in the US recently sent over an adult Quackers (via a work trip) to me - the first time I have ever owned one! Quackers is not in the best condition and does have a few body marks but is still very pretty with decent hair/tail and has been paired with Baby Quackers :heart: having my friend personally getting her to me makes her that little bit extra-special :cool:
I have been looking to own NightGlider, not because she is a status TAF pony but purely because she is such a pretty celestial themed pony, also Merriweather as her rainbows against purple colouring is just so cute! Grrr such a shame that these too are a bit harder to get :(
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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
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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 :lookround:
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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.
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All my years of collecting and never found a mimic but multiples of the others.
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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!! :yikes:) 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!
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I have all of the Twinkle eye ponies! I got Mimic for my 21st birthday :cry:
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I just have Party Time (actually I have about 4) but I mostly collect orange ponies so that's more the reason why.
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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.
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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. :)
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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.
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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" :P I even hated Tootie Tails and the whole set because of the "freaky eyeshadow" and bright colors. :P
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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! :biggrin: 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!!
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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.
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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.
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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 :)
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I like the theory that was proposed in another thread a while back: Mimic, as well as green or yellow ponies in other sets, are less common because Hasbro likely believed girls would gravitate toward the pink, purple, and blue ponies. The yellow and green ponies would have been perceived as less desirable and therefore could have been produced in lesser quantities. It'd be interesting to see how that theory holds with other sets.
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Could we please do a poll like this but with the Princess ponies?
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I like the theory that was proposed in another thread a while back: Mimic, as well as green or yellow ponies in other sets, are less common because Hasbro likely believed girls would gravitate toward the pink, purple, and blue ponies. The yellow and green ponies would have been perceived as less desirable and therefore could have been produced in lesser quantities. It'd be interesting to see how that theory holds with other sets.
True!
Could we please do a poll like this but with the Princess ponies?
That would be really interesting -- and it would be interesting to see if the yellow and green princesses are rarer in general than the others.
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I like the theory that was proposed in another thread a while back: Mimic, as well as green or yellow ponies in other sets, are less common because Hasbro likely believed girls would gravitate toward the pink, purple, and blue ponies. The yellow and green ponies would have been perceived as less desirable and therefore could have been produced in lesser quantities. It'd be interesting to see how that theory holds with other sets.
I don't believe Hasbro did this. If they think something would not be liked then they would not produce it. Also if there were uneven numbers of ponies in boxes the chances are it would be more of Locket and less of the others if that holds true. I know there were 5 in the US set with Mimic so it is possible there was one of each and 2 Lockets to make the balance...but then that ignores the fact some of the set were not sold in all places, unlike the first set which was.
I think we would see a bigger disparity in ownership of Mimic if there were really fewer of her made over all of them. The difference to me suggests that it is on price now rather than the idea fewer were made. Mimic is a self reinforcing icon of collecting now si people look to get her and the price goes up.
The same issue will occur with princesses if a poll was done as again not all were available everywhere. Though it would still be interesting to see what the results were.
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I don't believe Hasbro did this. If they think something would not be liked then they would not produce it. Also if there were uneven numbers of ponies in boxes the chances are it would be more of Locket and less of the others if that holds true. I know there were 5 in the US set with Mimic so it is possible there was one of each and 2 Lockets to make the balance...but then that ignores the fact some of the set were not sold in all places, unlike the first set which was.
Well it's not that Mimic wouldn't have been liked, but just not as popular. And among that set we do see more Locket then the other ponies in the second set, albeit by a small margin, according to Haruna's poll.
Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.
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Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.
I think this was the thread?
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,377468.msg1519625/topicseen.html#msg1519625
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Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.
I think this was the thread?
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,377468.msg1519625/topicseen.html#msg1519625
Yes, that's it! Thank you, Carrehz :)
It appears I was thinking the wrong year/set, but that's the post I was referring to.
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They're not really comparable examples, though. Cotton Candy is a global release and the set she appears in (or sets) are basically universal.
I obviously don't know whether Hasbro did or didn't produce this set unequally but the bottom line remains that our poll doesn't indicate that they did. The poll indicates that mostly ponies from the first year of release or ponies sold globally are more available to collectors than those sold in the second year or release or with more limited distribution.
If there were 2x as many Lockets in the box to the rest of the set, we'd see that in the poll. We don't.
What we do see is that the most common ponies from that set are the ones sold more widely across the world.
Let me demonstrate:
Fizzy: 100
Masquerade: 96
Whizzer: 95
Galaxy: 95
Sweet Stuff/Sweetie: 87
Gingerbread: 82
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The above are the first set of Twinkle Eyes, sold globally. I think we all agree they had a very wide distribution and are the most common Twinkle Eye set. What it also says is that if Hasbro had an attitude to produce mostly pink ponies, we'd see the highest figure on that grid being Whizzer and Galaxy. We don't. We see it being Fizzy and Masquerade, green and yellow respectively. Like the Cotton Candy set(s), this set is distributed globally in much the same way. However we must mention that Fizzy and Sweetie had international re-releases. This may explain Fizzy's higher figure. It doesn't explain Masquerade's, though. Even if this only represents the preference of collectors, it doesn't suggest that more pink ponies were produced than the others as the numbers are quite close. Gingerbread being at the bottom might also be because of her propensity to discolour and stain. She might be more prolific than the poll suggests because collectors prefer not to deal with these flaws.
The second half of the poll is more complicated.
Speedy: 81 - Speedy is also globally released, albeit in two forms. We didn't distinguish those in the poll so it's not clear whether the 81 refers to both versions, or if some people having both versions pushed her figures up.
Party Time: 79 - Party Time is the first US only pony to hit the poll. But she came with the Birthday set, which was a gimmick playset that was arguably going to attract different people in stores to the ponies on cards. Including her here has to happen, obviously, but it probably doesn't represent Twinkle Eye sales in the same way. She's obviously only as common as the others in her set as they were all sold as sets of five.
So now into the bottom group of ponies.
Locket: 75
Sky Rocket: 74
Both of the above are sold globally. In the UK they are part of the same set. In the US they aren't. That obviously will have some effect on how they are distributed to stores and the quantity of ponies in a case. In the UK I believe that most sets of six were distributed 1 of each per box but don't quote me, I may be wrong or this may only apply to some of the later ones of which I have seen photos of cases packed like that. In any case, because we're dealing with 2 releases, it's difficult to make the claim that more Lockets were put out because she's pink. It's even more difficult when you look at the rest of the figures...
Tic-Tac-Toe: 73
Sweet Pop: 70
Quackers: 69
Bright Eyes: 64
Mimic: 52
Tic Tac Toe is the other pony from the second set that was also sold in the UK and Europe on a widespread scale. I actually have both the UK and the European carded Tic Tac Toes in my collection so I can confirm that the cards are different, even though the sets are the same. That also indicates the possibility of different distribution patterns (this probably also applies to Locket but as no MOC UK Locket has yet appeared I can only really prove it for Tic Tac Toe right now). It's interesting that Tic Tac Toe's figures and Locket's are very close to one another. Seems to me that this is because they have a global release, not because Locket is pink.
The other ponies were not sold in Europe (except Mimic's set may have had an Italian release). Unlike Party Time, Sweet Pop's release is generically Twinkle Eye, but she has a lot fewer than Speedy, who was sold in the US at the same time. Sweet Pop was not sold in Europe. Thus her figures are likely to be lower than Speedy's (and they are).
Quackers and Bright Eyes both belong to the 1987 set (which in general seem to have lower hits) and they are also not sold in most of Europe or the UK. That also means the figures are likely to be lower than Tic Tac Toe and Locket (and they are). Perhaps the most surprising thing is that there isn't a bigger disparity between Locket and Tic Tac Toe/Quackers and Bright Eyes. That actually might suggest that there were more Bright Eyes and Quackers sold in the US than Locket and Tic Tac Toe but we'd need more evidence to corroborate this as it's only speculation.
Mimic is considerably lower than these, but the price she commands is probably the real reason behind this, rather than her really being rarer than Bright Eyes or Quackers.
The poll doesn't tell us that pink ponies are more common. It tells us that distribution in terms of country, as well as cost, have an impact on how many of which ponies we tend to get. There are more Lockets than Mimics, but that's probably because the UK and Western Europe had Locket and didn't have Mimic (save Italy). If there were vastly more Lockets, she'd be higher up the poll.
Obviously there's a lot the poll doesn't tell us and a lot of assumptions around those figures which would need a wider sample to be conclusive about. But I think that distribution is probably the keyword here.
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I don't believe Hasbro did this. If they think something would not be liked then they would not produce it. Also if there were uneven numbers of ponies in boxes the chances are it would be more of Locket and less of the others if that holds true. I know there were 5 in the US set with Mimic so it is possible there was one of each and 2 Lockets to make the balance...but then that ignores the fact some of the set were not sold in all places, unlike the first set which was.
Well it's not that Mimic wouldn't have been liked, but just not as popular. And among that set we do see more Locket then the other ponies in the second set, albeit by a small margin, according to Haruna's poll.
Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.
Well she also got re-released, so she's going to be more common. Plus if Hasbro figured that little girls liked pink, purple and blue best, then why did Speedy get re-released and not Whizzer or Gingerbread?
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I don't believe Hasbro did this. If they think something would not be liked then they would not produce it. Also if there were uneven numbers of ponies in boxes the chances are it would be more of Locket and less of the others if that holds true. I know there were 5 in the US set with Mimic so it is possible there was one of each and 2 Lockets to make the balance...but then that ignores the fact some of the set were not sold in all places, unlike the first set which was.
Well it's not that Mimic wouldn't have been liked, but just not as popular. And among that set we do see more Locket then the other ponies in the second set, albeit by a small margin, according to Haruna's poll.
Didn't somebody in another thread have something that showed there were more Cotton Candys produced than the other ponies during the production of the first set? I can't remember the exact ratio though.
Well she also got re-released, so she's going to be more common. Plus if Hasbro figured that little girls liked pink, purple and blue best, then why did Speedy get re-released and not Whizzer or Gingerbread?
This is an especially good question considering the structure of the set is 1 pegasus (Locket), 2 unicorns (Speedy and Mimic) and three earth ponies (Tic Tac Toe, Quackers, Bright Eyes) in the US. I have no idea what inspired that imbalance but if it was done on colouring, you'd think Sky Rocket would make more sense (making it a 1.1.4 set, and we see lots of those later on).