I was wondering - G1 related...

[Vintergatan]

Maybe i'm wrong, but i've noticed that there is a tendency for ponies from later years to be more expensive than the ones from earlier years. Like, most ponies from years 1-4 are quite inexpensive and easy to find, whereas many of the ponies and sets from later years can be quite pricey.

Or am I just delusional? Any ideas why that is?

[Ariana]

I've seen that pattern as well...could it be that My Little Pony was biggest the first few years and wasn't as popular the later years? Or that people like the designs and colors of the later ponies?

[babystarz]

I think it also has to do with the fact that there weren't as many different ponies released in the earlier years, so I suspect there were more of each individual pony madeat the beginning. Just based on how often you see Cotton Candy or Tootsie pop up compared to later ponies, I get the impression that the population of the early ponies is very high.

[partypony566]

I think it also has to do with the fact that there weren't as many different ponies released in the earlier years, so I suspect there were more of each individual pony madeat the beginning. Just based on how often you see Cotton Candy or Tootsie pop up compared to later ponies, I get the impression that the population of the early ponies is very high.

Totally agree

[hathorcat]

MLP is a trend driven toy line - that's why it needs to reinvent itself every now and then to refresh, reflect new tastes and to appeal to the newest generation. You always see a tail away in popularity towards the end of the line. After all if a toy line was still selling as well in year 10 as it was in year 1, then the manufacturer would continue on into year 11 and year 12 - they wouldn't stop the line, there must be a mounting indication it was going out of fashion. There is no reason to discontinue unless there is no call for the product.

So part of the reason we see more ponies from earlier on is that the line will have been in gradual decline almost from a few of years after its outset. After year 5-6 you ll probably find there were less units produced than in the initial flooding years of year 2 and 3.

And as others have said come the middle years there were so many different sets with so many different ponies in comparison to the first few years with fewer sets. But its unlikely just because there were more sets and more options that retailers suddenly decided to pro rata up the quantities they stocked - its more likely they just spread their spend on MLP over the sets and therefore had the same amount of ponies but more variety.

[MLPWhitney]

I agree also; and I attribute it to the wider variety in the later years.

[himmie]

I agree also; and I attribute it to the wider variety in the later years.

That is what I was going to point out. There weren't as many options in the first years so it's more likely that more people would have purchased the same ponies. Later on, with more options, many people would not have been able to buy one of each...

[Sapphire-Light]

Agree wit what is said above 

Another reason is  that in the latest years some sets were exclusive to regions, like the sets from the mlptales show that are uk only  , and in america for what I heard many of the ones from 1992 were released just in the US

[Diamond]

Also the first years where available longer before being stopped and new ones started, so there are more of em.

[Raindrop]

Also agree with all of the aforementioned.  Some of the original ponies were also re-released as mail-orders.

[DazzleKitty]

This is something I have always wondered! You'd think the older ones would be more expensive and much harder to find.

[Shenanigans]

Yep, I've thought of that as well and agree with what's been said.

It seems like second sets are more HTF and sought after too. Rainbows, Sea Ponies, TEs, So Softs, TAF, Wingers... why is that? Were there less made of the second sets?

[SeashellnBubbles]

I agree with what has been said about the quantities of ponies but also the fact that the newer vintage ponies get "broken" easier. A lot of people would just chuck a winger with no wings, or a TE whose eyes chipped, or a bbe baby whose eyes rusted. There seems to be a fragile trend later in years wheras Cotton Candy and Blossom can kick butt with the best of them and keep coming back for more! Sea Ponies often ended up with such frazzled unmanageable hair that they couldn't be brushed, they rusted and mouldered and moms would throw them out because they smelled bad. Baby ponies just got smaller and smaller and therefore were lost more easily...there are just so many variables! TAFs had more symbols to get scratched up and bad looking, a lot of brightly colored ponies that were happy and wonderful fell out of fashion with the advent of grunge...maybe if they hadn't waited so long to introduce a black pony. I mean, I think the only grey one is Snuzzle, and who doesn't love Snuzzle?

[mul-ta]

It seems like second sets are more HTF and sought after too. Rainbows, Sea Ponies, TEs, So Softs, TAF, Wingers... why is that? Were there less made of the second sets?

Now I'm no market researcher, but I guess it's related to novelty value. When a 1st set of a new type of pony comes out, it is likely to sell because it's a new idea. If it sells well enough, they make a 2nd set, but kids who already have one or several of the 1st set ponies won't necessarily be getting any of the 2nd. It would be irrational if all the ponies of a set were from the same production run or if the number were somehow fixed in advance, it seems more likely that they simply made more when a set sold well.

Also, ponies pass from one child to another. The same holds for re-releases of playsets - who wants a pink Show Stable anymore when they got a white one from their big sister or cousin?

[hathorcat]

Yep, I've thought of that as well and agree with what's been said.

It seems like second sets are more HTF and sought after too. Rainbows, Sea Ponies, TEs, So Softs, TAF, Wingers... why is that? Were there less made of the second sets?

I think its a combination of there probably being shorter runs on second sets and the fact that the second sets almost all have ponies which are simply more sought after. For lines which live by trend and are technically FMCG products the name of the game is often variety and always being able to offer something different. Some toys achieve this by being financially disposable [such as G4 today] and others by offering continued and "need" variety in order to justify their price point [MH is a good example of that today and G1s back in the 80s]. So new lines will always be upped in quantity and subsequent lines of a previous release line will have saleable value but less so as they will no longer be "new". When buying variety toy lines, retailers will prefer to pick up "new" lines over repeat products - so I would guess this is for some lines what happened.