G1 MOC/MIB Ponies, Where Do They Come From?

[Nana-Rena]

I have been wondering about this for quite a while. Are they back stock forgotten for 30 odd years, or left overs in someones basement, or what? Were there collectors in the 80's who are selling them now?

I am not very pony savvy, so I don't know if ponies were seen as collectible in the 80's. I assumed that most ponies were opened. I started thinking about this mainly, because I just received an old MIB toy that I bought in the mail. I was looking at it in the box and thinking, wow, this has been in box for 30 years! Amazing!

So where do MOC ponies come from?

EDIT: Edited for typo

[allymer]

well most of them "made in china" so that's one answer

there are some great member stories of walking into some old vintage shops and finding stack of mib/moc G1 ponies like i mean in bulks... years ago someone find an "mountain of gold" with duplicates and everything, truly a dream for any collector...

occasionly you can find them in flea markets and associates

people who kept them in their pack years ago and found them around selling them online is also an way to answer ur Q...

stories about worker from factories who got left overs or owner/workers at toys stores years ago who got stuck with left over after the line ended found their time and will to sell those arounds...

eventually anywhome who had and were able to kept those mib/moc ponies around in basments, stores or as collector himself makes the most reasons where they come from this days...

thats one opnion ofcurse
older members and smarter will have their explanation for u

and we here at the Arena supply them too lol

i love the mib G1 the most...

[hathorcat]

I believe it comes down to mainly 1) old stock in stores/warehouses and 2) unopened toys which have been tucked away and forgotten about. Not to mention that there have been collectors about for a long time so many of them can have been bought as new or bought even when the G1 line was starting to tail off.

We are probably at the point now that many of the MOC/MIBs on the market are being sold out of collections. So while old stock/forgotten toys was the starting point, now those on the market are probably passing from one collector to another.

[achab1984]

I have always wondered that also. There were pony collectors back then also.  And there might of been some parents that would not let there kids open them up.  I am that way with a few things. But then my daughter is a lot like me and loves to look at them in there packages.

[Dludnerad]

there are wonderful stories about great MIB pony finds.
My favorite is the unopened container full of hasbro stock that was found around ten years ago. it was full of Transformers and ponies! all case fresh and undamaged.
The collector who bought the lot sold off the extras and I managed to snag a Baby Racer
He is still in his box.

[Nana-Rena]

Thanks you guys for the informative answers!

I love looking at MOC ponies. They bring back so many memories for me. I had almost forgotten what the packaging looked like. All I remembered was that there was the rainbow with the MLP logo o top and then a light green on the lower half.

I doubt I'll ever come across a box full of unopened stock, but the idea that that has happened is fascinating. The collector who found the Transformers and ponies must have had the time of their lives looking through the box.

[Dludnerad]

is there an archive of MOC and boxed ponies?

[minamarie]

sometimes i find unsold 80s toys in small private toystores

[lunar_scythe]

About 5 years ago, a member found a bunch of MOC so softs at a small toy store for $8 each or something like that.  she bought them all, there were like 30, I think? And I remember a story about a White Elephant store in Washington that as late as 2003 had the sparkle babies MOC for sale.

And the duplicates were sold on here.  I know some are found at estate sales, toys grandparents bought an put away for Christmas or birthdays, but forgot about...

[hathorcat]

is there an archive of MOC and boxed ponies?

The Wiki is reasonably good for MOC/MIB images.

[reanna-mator]

When a toy horse and a piece of cardboard love each other very, very much...

 

[Shenanigans]

When a toy horse and a piece of cardboard love each other very, very much...

 

[Rosencrantz]

Cabbage patches.

[Shy Violet]

If other parents are anything like me, I stock up on toys for birthdays and Christmas, have them all hiding in my sewing room in boxes. Then Christmas comes and I have way too much stuff so some of it gets saved for the next occasion, etc etc and then they don't play with that toy anymore so it never gets given to them. I have lots of random toys that I never gave to my kids and I'm sure lots of people forget about them too, my mom does that.

Finding old store stock would be a dream come true, I love hearing those stories.

[rosesare]

I think a lot of what's coming up for sale now is from collectors but like others mentioned sometimes people have toys tucked away for years or there's old stock somewhere.  I've been collecting on and off since 2000 and I used to scour flea markets and any old shops that I thought might be lucky but the only MOC I found outside of here and Ebay was three pony outfits. Two at a flea market in the early days and a MOC Megan outfit at a collectables store in Cincinnati.  I think it's a lot of collectors dream to stumble upon MIP ponies.  I know I always get that little hope whenever I'm searching a likely spot but sadly even loose G1 ponies have been super rare for me the past years.