Ever Think Ponies Will Go the Way of Beanie Babies?

[nessa16]

So, my mom and I were having a discussion.  I mentioned wanting a certain Greek pony that is worth over $300.  She started talking about how collectibles are only worth what people are willing to pay.  Basically saying that that is too much to pay for a pony and that eventually MLP will be worthless someday just like Beanie Babies were.  Do you see yourselves not collecting anymore and the market dying?  I don't think so mainly because there are so many of us and I know I want to keep collecting.  I have even considered selling pieces of other collections to expand my MLP collection.  I know there have been a few people around here that have downsized or gotten out of collecting but it seems like there are plenty of people picking up where they leave off.

[Sonata]

I think ponies will "live" for a while longer, but eventually it will happen, no matter how many collectors there are/will be.

[Moondancer115]

Interesting topic! And a difficult question. I think it won't die. As you said there are so mich of us.
I hope it wont die I love this communitie so much. I will not stop collecting! Ponies make my live so much better

[Dulci]

Eventually all collectibles will either decrease severely in value or increase severely in value, depending on the market.
The problem with ponies right now is that the big market probably just passed us - most of the folks who grew up in the G1 era are somewhere in their late 20s / 30s / maybe 40s and may have less disposable incomes.  I tend to think G1 will have this weird issue of not a lot of demand but a lot of value for at least a little whlie.  G3's... give it another 10 or 20 years and we'll see, but I don't think they'll ever go as high as G1.

G4 will burn quick - I think the prices are high now but it's not going to last. 

What happened with Beanie Babies is that everyone said they would be valuable and worth money in several years... meaning everyone bought them.  Meaning there's still plenty to go around but no demand whatsoever.  Hence why they're so inexpensive.  G1 ponies had the advantage of no one thinking that in 20 years' time people would want to pay tons of money for a cute plastic horse.

[UnicornTamer]

I don't want it to die, but it may. I don't like thinking about it.

[saply]

I think, with MLP, the G1s are so old at this point that they've become vintage. Even if interest in the other gens dies out, there will probably still be people hunting for mint or NM G1s just because they're so hard to come by.

[moonflower]

While she is right in saying they are only worth what people are willing to pay, some Beanie Babies are expensive, like this one which ended on auction recently :-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TY-Beanie-Babies-Bongo-though-label-said-Nana-and-has-Bongo-label-over-it-/120908641495?pt=UK_Soft_Toys_Bears&hash=item1c26b774d7#ht_500wt_1361


I think people will be collecting ponies for some time yet.

Eventually all collectibles will either decrease severely in value or increase severely in value, depending on the market.
The problem with ponies right now is that the big market probably just passed us - most of the folks who grew up in the G1 era are somewhere in their late 20s / 30s / maybe 40s and may have less disposable incomes.  I tend to think G1 will have this weird issue of not a lot of demand but a lot of value for at least a little whlie.  G3's... give it another 10 or 20 years and we'll see, but I don't think they'll ever go as high as G1.


G4 will burn quick - I think the prices are high now but it's not going to last. 


What happened with Beanie Babies is that everyone said they would be valuable and worth money in several years... meaning everyone bought them.  Meaning there's still plenty to go around but no demand whatsoever.  Hence why they're so inexpensive.  G1 ponies had the advantage of no one thinking that in 20 years' time people would want to pay tons of money for a cute plastic horse.

I agree totally!

[Attercop]

All I know is the one Beanie Baby I do want is so expensive it's not even funny:/ That will probably be how it is with me and ponies in the future. 

[LadyMoondancer]

No, I don't think Greek ponies and the like will ever devalue like Beanie Babies, although their prices may fluctuate a bit.   Since the late 90s, when I started collecting, G1 values have increased across the board.

G3s did devalue rather dramatically, but I think the key there is that lots of collectors wanted every single G3, so they bought them without feeling a connection to them.  This made them easy to let go later.  And since a lot of people were buying them to keep mint, this pushed down the value of a mint G3.  I think they will rebound once more of the people who had them as little kids start collecting.


As for G4, I think they will not be very valuable in the future.  Partly because they release the Main Six characters a billion times, so there will be plenty of them to go around.  Partly because when the show ends, as it will someday, I think a lot of the "brony" demographic will drift away, selling their figurines as they go.

[Bergamot]

I agree with Saply. G1 ponies weren't *particularly* popular in their day (at least, not like Beanie Babies), and folks didn't really hold onto them. People bought Beanie Babies and kept them in mint condition. People bought G1 ponies for their children.

Collectibles are indeed a fickle market, but G1 MLP toys just might be one of those things that sticks. Look at "Star Wars." Through some genius marketing and a little luck, the franchise is an ongoing legacy. There's enough new material out there for people to share with their children. And their children's children, and so-on. The new toys aren't worth much, but the original Kenner figurines can be serious collector's items. These old toys have staying power, and I think that if Hasbro keeps doing what they're doing, MLP might be the same.


EDIT: Moonflower and Soull, I didn't know that some of those Beanie oddities were still sought after. That's pretty cool!

[BrightIdea]

I guess Beanies just got a little boring to some people after a while. I haven't followed beanies for a while, but I still have a tonnes of them though. I think the ponies are more timeless because there are so many people still interested in them.


@Soull, is it blue Peanut?  Or Billionaire Bear!

[hathorcat]

Its an interesting thought...and I think to a certain extent it is something we have already seen with G3. A lot of people purchased and kept ponies from this gen in the expectation they would be worth more in the future but with the advent of G4 at the moment the market on them has bottomed to such an extend that sometimes selling MIB G3s for more than retail is impossible. I think G4 will suffer a similar fate when the generation comes to an end simply due to how much larger the collecting community is now than ever before - there are probably more MIB G4 Pinkies out there than any other pony in any previous generation!

Yes, "collectables" will always only be worth what collectors are willing to pay and you need a large and thriving collecting community to keep prices high. However the pony collecting community has survived through a lack of new ponies [the bore 7??] so I think even if HB were to finish the line now the vast majority of us would still all be here logging on, selling/buying ponies and talking about random pony things.

But I think as time passes because there are not as many of them about as there are later gens, G1s will probably pretty much hold value [or decrease a little] - they are still very much retro but they will get to vintage eventually. "Toy collectors" of any type of toy or manufacturer have been around as long as there have been toys and I suspect the same will continue!

I dont think Beanies fit into the same category as they were very much a "fad" - MLP has never been that [ok maybe  a little teeny bit with G4 but certainly not with the previous generations]. Beanies were produced in staggering quantities and so many people purchased them in the thinking that they would have future value that by the time the market levelled off to "core collectors" there were more Beanies than there was demand. The odd Beanie such as that linked above is an example of the few which were early enough or not released widely enough that people will still pay. 

[Varkolak]

beanies went out of style fast, ponies haven't even begin to hit that stage

[mlpfan]

well if you think about it my little pony has been popular for like 30 years, while beenie babies lasted what? 10 years>? I think my little pony is one of those toys that has staying power and will remain popular and collectable for a long long time. they are only going to get harder to find. beenie babies does not have the HUGE  fan base mlp has
beenie babies was a fad toy like the pet rock and toys like it.

[Sunset]

No, I don't think Greek ponies and the like will ever devalue like Beanie Babies, although their prices may fluctuate a bit.   Since the late 90s, when I started collecting, G1 values have increased across the board.

G3s did devalue rather dramatically, but I think the key there is that lots of collectors wanted every single G3, so they bought them without feeling a connection to them.  This made them easy to let go later.  And since a lot of people were buying them to keep mint, this pushed down the value of a mint G3.  I think they will rebound once more of the people who had them as little kids start collecting.


As for G4, I think they will not be very valuable in the future.  Partly because they release the Main Six characters a billion times, so there will be plenty of them to go around.  Partly because when the show ends, as it will someday, I think a lot of the "brony" demographic will drift away, selling their figurines as they go.

I totally agree with this.

Post Merge: May 20, 2012, 09:41:58 AM

Its an interesting thought...and I think to a certain extent it is something we have already seen with G3. A lot of people purchased and kept ponies from this gen in the expectation they would be worth more in the future but with the advent of G4 at the moment the market on them has bottomed to such an extend that sometimes selling MIB G3s for more than retail is impossible. I think G4 will suffer a similar fate when the generation comes to an end simply due to how much larger the collecting community is now than ever before - there are probably more MIB G4 Pinkies out there than any other pony in any previous generation!

Yes, "collectables" will always only be worth what collectors are willing to pay and you need a large and thriving collecting community to keep prices high. However the pony collecting community has survived through a lack of new ponies [the bore 7??] so I think even if HB were to finish the line now the vast majority of us would still all be here logging on, selling/buying ponies and talking about random pony things.

But I think as time passes because there are not as many of them about as there are later gens, G1s will probably pretty much hold value [or decrease a little] - they are still very much retro but they will get to vintage eventually. "Toy collectors" of any type of toy or manufacturer have been around as long as there have been toys and I suspect the same will continue!

I dont think Beanies fit into the same category as they were very much a "fad" - MLP has never been that [ok maybe  a little teeny bit with G4 but certainly not with the previous generations]. Beanies were produced in staggering quantities and so many people purchased them in the thinking that they would have future value that by the time the market levelled off to "core collectors" there were more Beanies than there was demand. The odd Beanie such as that linked above is an example of the few which were early enough or not released widely enough that people will still pay. 

I agree with all of this too.  Plus, I'd like to add that Beanie Babies never had the marketing that MLP has always had.  As for as I know, they never had their own cartoon. 

Plus, Hasbro keeps reinventing and redesigning MLP with every generation.  As much as I miss G1 (and I really wish they would start producing "art" ponies in g1 molds), I think that the redesigns help keep the collecting community active.  Every new generation brings in a new set of collectors and it ensures that old collectors don't get too bored by the same old thing.