Why are there so many Mib/Moc ponies from the 80's?

[BigBrotherPony]

Hi everypony !!!

I'm just a little curious!

When I was a kid, I opened every toy I bought or was given... And I'm sure a lot of kids were the same....


So I'm just wondering how so many ponies survived intact in their original packaging?

For those of you old enough, think back to the 80's, there was no Internet, no eBay, no thriving pony adult fan base, and no Brony phenomenon so what made people save their ponies in their packaging! And as a kid I would never have thought oh I'll keep this pony in its packaging, and then one day someone may invent a way that we can all communicate and sell things through our phones and computers, and then I can sell my MIB toys for $100's!

Why do you think people saved ponies in their packaging?

Did you save ponies in their boxes? And why?

Are all the moc / mib just surplus stock that never sold? Where did these ponies come from?

Where their really people back then thinking their could be a lucrative collectors market years from now!

Let me know what u think!

Also I am pretty sure now, that way more people are keeping their G 4's etc MIB, thinking it maybe an investment for the future, but will it be really? If so many collectors do it now, surely G 4 MIB ponies will not be that rare or scarce in the future!?!?!

[Novavelle]

I think that every generation had people that thought, well if I keep it in the box it might be worth something some day (I know my grandma who lived and had a family during the depression) kept boxes to EVERYTHING... so it got passed down to my dad who would do the same, and now I do the same thing.... so I keep my g4's in the box simply because I don't have the heart to destroy the packaging..... So it's possible people thought that way.

So it's hard to say, I'm sure some of it is surplus that never sold, either way I'm happy to have them around I love collecting them and seeing what they looked like when I bought them so many years ago

[BigBrotherPony]

Me too! I love MOC/MIB ponies!!!

I'm so happy some people kept them!

[zora]

are there any collectors pose (original 6) MIB or MOC ponies? i see on ebay everything else than CPs!

[sundaygirl]

I guess there were collectors back then too, even if internet and ebay have helped the collector community to get bigger and more lively. And my little pony was pretty big as a toy. I suppose there must have been toy stores with large quantitets of mlps which never got sold and ended up in some magazine. And kids could have get doubles of some ponies and the parents store away them for regifting and forgot them in the wardrobe. 

[Sukeile]

I tend not to buy any MOC or MIB ponies just because now, even as an adult, I could not resist the temptation to release them!

I admire those with the willpower to keep them though 

[lemonice]

I opend every ponie i got... they need to run free =) haha

[Sebby6]

When I started collecting in 1998 it was still possible to find MOC ponies in shop. On one occasion I bought over 30 Family and Friends ponies and traded them off. Whenever I see one for up for sale I always wonder if it's from that batch.
I reckon at least 80% of the MOCs we see for sale were old shop stock and then passed between collectors.

[Einhornbaby]

and dont forget the forgotten christmas- and/or birthday presents I got a brand new Rainbowbrite plush toy a few years ago from my aunt, which had been sitting in her cellar for years and years. It was intended to be a christmas present in 1987 or something, she told me. Lol, my first thought was : why couldnt this be a pony ??? lol... since I dont collect Rainbowbrite plushs
Once I saw an auction on german ebay with 5 or 6 G1 MOCs and the text told that all MOCs were forgotten presents that had been found in a cellar, while cleaning it. Maybe... there are more around, forgotten and to be found some day

[banditpony]

One of my friends at work, her mom refused to let her open her toys as a kid (including MLP). They were poor, and the mom assumed that they would be worth money in the future.

(I am not sure the state of them now, or how they were stored, but my friend has not seen them since she was little).

[achab1984]

I have wondered that also. But I am happy there were people out there that did not open them. I wonder what its going to be like for G3 ponies? Some of them are getting harder to find in there boxes still

[EmBee]

Well in the case of Barbies my friend's mom had her keep the collector dolls in their boxes because it was assumed they might be valuable one day, just like many others have stated here about MOC ponies.  It sounds like a fun idea but the thought of having to store something away for 10+ years in order to gain profit sounds too out of reach.  Then again, I guess that's what CDs from banks are for and such..

-Em

[BrightIdea]

Probably because people kept them mint in box so they would have something worth a lot someday.

I remember in the early 90s, my parents told me that keeping my collectors item type toys in their boxes would make them worth a lot some day.

I don't think it is unreasonable to assume that people bought ponies in the 80s because they were popular at the time to keep mint in box, then sell them later for a lot of money.

[hathorcat]

There were people collecting even back then so that is a contributor to the over all total - people have been collecting toys for centuries and many people speculate to accumulate with the idea that some items could be worth money in the future.

There is also the fact that some stores, as Sebby says, were carrying stock well past the time the line finished. I have heard numerous stories about people finding G1s well into the 90s in stores - someone even found a stack of them a year or so ago in a retailer! Then you have the incredible finds like the Greeks in an old toy shop and the Venezuelans in an old factory. Old stock stored out of the way and unseen, unshelved happens a startling amount.

In addition I come across a lot of MIB/MOC ponies which are being sold be someone who didnt open the ponies when they were younger as they were not interested or by someone who found old/unwanted/forgotten gifts.

I think the bulk of it comes down therefore to collectors [be they adults or children buying ponies at the time], forgotten gifts and old stock.

[Dusky]

I was still able to buy new, MOC ponies in 1992, and they weren't old stock! Well, my mum was able to buy them, but I remember getting 'new' ponies even then. Consider how much of the G3 stuff is still on shelves and we're a few years into G4 now, it's still possible to find Core 7 ponies as stock!

Retail places - especially toy shops - are loathe to just bin stock when they can use it as gap fillers during busy times of year, so a lot of it just sits in stockrooms, waiting.