Ever Think Ponies Will Go the Way of Beanie Babies?

[Attercop]

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

Web, he's not the most expensive but I can't justify his price either and it just keeps going up every year.

[Koudoawaia]

I don't think MLP will go the way of beanie babies at all. They've already been around a lot longer than Beanie Babies were.

[Varkolak]

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. 

i think if they had a cartoon now, they'd all come back and people would want them.

[SheRa-dude]

Whether or not a toy line continues as a timeless collectible largely depends on the manufacturer's efforts to make it such, IMO.
 
As long as Hasbro keeps reinventing the brand, I'm sure there will be people who collect. And with each new generation come collectors for that specific embodiment of MLP at that time. Just like G3 and G4 got people to open up to the past of MLP, so will future generations dig into it.
 

[mlpfan]

if my little pony has lasted 30 years I don't think it will ever die out.

[Sora]

I think the problem with Beanie Babies is, like people have said, they were heavily mass produced. I remember being excited about finding a supposedly 'retired' in store, and purchasing it. This so-called retired beanie stayed on shelves for another 3 years.
Although having said that, Pocket Dragons were also very collectable until the company went bankrupt - Then they kind of went down in price rapidly too.

I think MLP will last a lot longer. After all, when collectors are bored, little girls (and indeed some little boys!) will still want to play with them.

[Moss]

Beanies were a diffenert story altogether because people bought them expecting them to be super rare and worth tons of money some day. As far as I've seen with the pony community so far (and I can't speak for earlier gens), most people seem to accept that there are so many G4 ponies being made, they probably won't be worth much in the future. G1s and even G2s, however, will probably always have a decent value, becuase of the fact that they're considered "vintage". Once a toy gets to that point, and they're obviously not being manufactured anymore, the toys start becoming less and less in number- becuase people start throwing them out without realizing their worth. The difference with Beanie Babies was that people had the collector mindset while the toys were still in production. So people bought the toys like nuts thinking they were all rare, and the company saw the demand and, in turn, produced more. The cycle continued, and eventually there were so many toys that they weren't worth anything. If everyone in the world has one of something, it's not exactly rare! The difference with ponies is that people are buying the older gens to maybe sell for more money someday, but what's out there is all there is. There won't be any more G1s or G2s or G3s produced no matter how high the demand becomes. There's waaaayyy more G3s and 4s out there than anything else, and G4s are still being produced, but I don't see the G4s being as big a fad as Beanie Babies any time soon.

[Moonracer]

It is really an interesting question... I've been pondering this thing myself, actually. But I don't think that "My Little Pony" will die that easily. Having lasted thirty years on the market, it would be difficult to kill this thing off no matter how hard people could try. As long as there are fans and collectors - the franchise will continue to exist for years to come.


Sure, some aspects may die out eventually, like the G4: once the show ends (which I hope won't happen any time soon), I can guarantee that many bronies will leave the fandom and move onto something else. I've actually had this kind of discussion on the polish FiM fan forum - many people went on to say how they disagree with me, and that the FiM fandom will definitely stay strong even after the show ends. But I just know that it's not going to happen.


Just look at other fandoms like "Harry Potter", "Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia": when the movies (or new books in case of Harry Potter) started to come out, the fandom began to gain followers, the popularity of those three was enormous. But once the last movie hit the theaters, the fandom's began to die out a little. Of course, they still maintain a healthy fanbase, but they're not as big of a fad as they used to be.


So, I think that the same thing might happen once the last episode of FiM airs. That's my opinion.


The "My Little Pony" fandom as a whole is sure to exist, like I said, as long as it has devoted fans and collectors. Besides, Hasbro, no matter what people may say about it, has it's own ways of keeping the interest in it's franchises alive and steady.


Just look at "Transformers" - in 2014 the line will celebrate it's 30th Anniversary. And the fanbase is still alive, active and continues to grow and expand, with new toys and media promoting the franchise (movies, cartoons, comic books etc) coming out. There are not many toy lines out there who are that successful. And the old Transformers toys are still of high value to collectors (however it's for entire different reasons, since unlike with ponies, it's much harder to find a mint Transformer: many of them come with broken parts and/or missing accessories, and playware. Also, unlike with the G1 ponies, Hasbro is unable to make reissue of the entire line, because many molds are either broken or missing/stolen by a third party company).


So, the same thing may happen to ponies as well.


I'm sorry I had to bring up Transformers for yet another time - I just figured that both of these lines have many things in common (and it's not only the fact that they were produced by Hasbro).

[Nappercasper]

Slightly off topic here, but i saw someone mention that pocket dragons went bankrupt. I am a collector of pocket dragons... and they never went Bankrupt. Real Musgrave (think thats his name can't find my signed copy of the collector book) retired. Hence all pocket dragons retired. He just decided not to sell the rights on. Since he created the mold etc and did not want someone else doing it.
I don't know if the pony phrase will end, but im not bothered since in my life time im not looking to sell at this moment anyways.

[mlpfan]

One thing I have learned is if a company comes out with a product (say pet rocks,beanie babies, baseball cards from the 90's,ect)
and they sell it as a collectable  as in collect them all!or limited edition! they make and sell them in huge numbers and  as soon as the fad is over the bottom drops out, you want to stay away from that kinda stuff. my little pony was never sold as a collectible it was sold as a buy it ,play with it, throw it away, kind of thing , they are sold as a TOY not as a collectible . which is why my little pony is still going strong with no sign of letting up after 30 years ,while beanbags are a dime a dozen after 10 years and you can buy baseball cards from the 90's for a penny each or less, (I know a guy who just bought 5000 for like 30 bucks) my little pony is one of those things that is only going to get harder to find because they did not make them by the billions back then.

[RedheadedBeauty]

As far as the original g1s go no I don't think they will ever completely go out of 'style' as BBs did. BBs were a fad toy. They blew up tons of people got them, allot of people got them for the mere reason of reselling them which actually lowered their prices since the market was flooded with them.

G1s have been around for 30 years that's along time. Think along the lines of Barbie she's still popular and it's been 50+ so no I don't think g1s will ever truly go away as far as being a popular collection item. Now for all the generations after I can't say the samething. G2s have their strong following but it's not a huge following and most of the ones worth something were ones the US never got which drives their price up on at least one side of the world.

G3s I think were the start of fad collection as most people have falling quickly out of love with their g3 collection as soon as G4 came out. I don't see these ever being worth much since like the BBs there are allot out there and alot of people got them to resell at a later date.

G4s I see being like the G3s popular now but I'm afraid their popular will die out and only the hardcore collectors will be left. I can't ever really seeing the generations 2-4 ever hanging on as a collectors item like the G1s have. Sad thought but that's just ow I see it.

Please don't take offense to anything I've said it's not suppose to be offensive in anyway.

[EmBee]

Well the biggest difference is that Beanie Babies were marketed as collectibles and My Little Ponies are not, they're children's toys.

Love the theories made in this thread!

-Em

[mlpfan]

Well the biggest difference is that Beanie Babies were marketed as collectibles and My Little Ponies are not, they're children's toys.

Love the theories made in this thread!

-Em

glad to see a person who thinks like me.

[Betelgeuse]

I'd agree with the "ponies were never collectables they were toys theory"
But I have a disturbing theory I have to get off my chest.
How long will G1 ponies physically last? With things like cancer, plastic decomposition and unnatural factors it will get harder and harder to find, restore and preserve ponies as the year goes by.
Sadly even plastic decomposes, it's a good thing when thinking about litter and garbage but heartbreaking when it comes to ponies. I'd like my grandchildren to have G1s.

[Sunset]

I'd agree with the "ponies were never collectables they were toys theory"
But I have a disturbing theory I have to get off my chest.
How long will G1 ponies physically last? With things like cancer, plastic decomposition and unnatural factors it will get harder and harder to find, restore and preserve ponies as the year goes by.
Sadly even plastic decomposes, it's a good thing when thinking about litter and garbage but heartbreaking when it comes to ponies. I'd like my grandchildren to have G1s.

Actually, I was thinking about this point earlier.  It's a two edged sword.  On the one hand, your own ponies may decrease in value because they won't look as good as they use to.  On the other hand,  prices may go up over all because it could potentially make them even rarer than they are now.