G3 Accessory Values in the future

[kissthethunder]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a massive accessory lover. I collect all mlp themed accessories. There is some sort of personal satisfaction I get when I feel something is 'complete'. G1's is my obsession, but as G3 came out during my early adulthood, I was able to snag a ton of them and I have been carefully keeping track of the accessories, down to labeling the brushes.

As some of you know I'm the midst of moving, so I'm packing up my collection and noticing some small pieces are missing is driving me insane to the point I know when I get to my new home I will have to replace them.

It got me thinking. In time, do you think G3 accessories are going to be as valued as G1's? WIll some pieces be rare and have collectors scrambling? Do you have any predictions?

Personally, I have a small list!

1- unbroken and unstretched wing wishes wings.

2- The tiaras that go to the various SLH pony releases and the harder to find clips of the later releases

3- tropical Wisterias starfish

4- the accessories to baby ponies

What do you guys think? Also, do you think in tact elastics on the head wear will matter?

[banditpony]

Ah.  I can't speak for the accessories since I dont know anything about g3s, or accessories.
But elastic... I wouldn't keep that on a pony. Some elastic in hair on 80s toys has rotted. In my case it discolored the hair to brown.

[kissthethunder]

Ah.  I can't speak for the accessories since I dont know anything about g3s, or accessories.
But elastic... I wouldn't keep that on a pony. Some elastic in hair on 80s toys has rotted. In my case it discolored the hair to brown.

That's an interesting point. I wonder though if some collectors would rather have the elastic on the head wear or if it will be common practice to remove it to prevent the problem you raised.

In fact, what am I going to do about mine

[egyptiondragon]

Honestly I think G3s will raise in price not now but maybe 10 years down the road, and I can see some assecerys going for quite a bit. That is why no matter what it is if its pony and good deal I pick it up at yard sales/flea markets.

[kissthethunder]

I feel the same way. G1's used to be plentiful but not anymore. I have a feeling G3's will be the same. One day they're not going to be as plentiful <3

[prancingstag]

I think there will be value in loose accessories, but perhaps not as much as G1. G3s are very well documented and a great number of MIB/MOC collections exist. So accessory type and colour matching will be a LOT easier than G1 affords. I think the more popular unique releases will have their accessories sought after - winter wear, halloween/easter/valentine dress up, breezies crowns and carts. I think right now we're in the "slump" period for G3 as in addition to collector efforts, parents are selling great big lots of their children's unwanted toys. The market is pretty saturated and values are low. It might take a decade or two until mass produced G3 items become uncommon or even rare.

[hathorcat]

Unfortunately I dont see G3 values increasing to any great extent at all. Yes they will go up as time passes and as the people who had G3 as very young children get all nostalgic. Thats what happens with toy lines and why different ones are more or less collectible at different times.

However, the problem with G3 having value is that there were a lot of us about collecting the line MIB off shelves. Not to mention the internet and reselling toys via sites like ebay and CL and gumtree has become almost a common practice for many rather than simply chucking them toy or passing them on to other children as may  have been done when G1 were on the shelves. In the collector scheme of things, there are so many of these ponies existing MIB in collections its hard to see them ever being rare. Its often seen by how some characters pop up MIB more often than loose on ebay.

G3 accessories are seldom hard to find now and often incredibly hard to resell. I am sure there will always be popular items - bunny ears and Portobellas hat and the Disney princess accessories but in general I dont believe they will ever be either hard to find or expensive to purchase (fortunately or unfortunately...depending if you are selling or collecting, I guess).

[Elfpony]

Re: the hat elastics. I'm already seeing elastics on my G3 hats breaking down. So I'd keep a close eye out if you're displaying them on ponies to avoid damage to the hair. (I've been helping my roommate clean her vintage She-Ra figures and there are so many gross bits of elastic to deal with).

Elf

[FarDreamer]

It got me thinking. In time, do you think G3 accessories are going to be as valued as G1's? WIll some pieces be rare and have collectors scrambling? Do you have any predictions?

I don't think they'll be as valuable as the G1's, but I definitely think their prices will go up with time.

[BlushingBlue]

G1 accessories are more varied and generally better designed than G3 stuff, plus they have a couple decades' head start in the vintage collectable department. I can't see G3 ever really catching up status-wise or price-wise, and I say that with love as a G3 accessory collector.

I think the pieces that will see the most increased value down the line are the more unique clothing items like Snowflake's hood or Pumpkin Tart's ears... And later on and to a lesser extent, for the crazy completionists, the tiny little incidentals. I've already lost and replaced a Seaside Wysteria starfish, so you're dead on with that one IMO!

It's kind of funny... There are already a few G3 accessories that are crazy hard to find, but demand is so low for most G3 pieces that a lot of people may think they're not worth selling at all, which makes them even harder to find! The ones who have the accessories think "there must be a million of these, so who would even want them anyway" and the ones who do want the accessories think "there must be a million of these, so why can't I find any?" (On that note, if anyone's just sitting on Royalette's ring, hit me up! )

Ironically, I think the biggest pain from a buyer's standpoint is the fact that such a large quantity of the G3s that are in collector circulation are still MIB. It's fantastic if you need the pony too, and it's great for referencing, but it's so frustrating when your collection is just missing a few bits and bobs. You might be able to only find that one little accessory for sale MIB with whatever pony/playset they came with, and who wants to buy an entire Singing Dancing Pinkie Pie Bonus Set just to get a single tiara, you know?

[egyptiondragon]

also throwing in

G1 accessories are more varied and generally better designed than G3 stuff, plus they have a couple decades' head start in the vintage collectable department. I can't see G3 ever really catching up status-wise or price-wise, and I say that with love as a G3 accessory collector.

I think the pieces that will see the most increased value down the line are the more unique clothing items like Snowflake's hood or Pumpkin Tart's ears... And later on and to a lesser extent, for the crazy completionists, the tiny little incidentals. I've already lost and replaced a Seaside Wysteria starfish, so you're dead on with that one IMO!

It's kind of funny... There are already a few G3 accessories that are crazy hard to find, but demand is so low for most G3 pieces that a lot of people may think they're not worth selling at all, which makes them even harder to find! The ones who have the accessories think "there must be a million of these, so who would even want them anyway" and the ones who do want the accessories think "there must be a million of these, so why can't I find any?" (On that note, if anyone's just sitting on Royalette's ring, hit me up! )

Ironically, I think the biggest pain from a buyer's standpoint is the fact that such a large quantity of the G3s that are in collector circulation are still MIB. It's fantastic if you need the pony too, and it's great for referencing, but it's so frustrating when your collection is just missing a few bits and bobs. You might be able to only find that one little accessory for sale MIB with whatever pony/playset they came with, and who wants to buy an entire Singing Dancing Pinkie Pie Bonus Set just to get a single tiara, you know?

I would love to find ears for my pumkin tart

[kissthethunder]

G1 accessories are more varied and generally better designed than G3 stuff, plus they have a couple decades' head start in the vintage collectable department. I can't see G3 ever really catching up status-wise or price-wise, and I say that with love as a G3 accessory collector.

I think the pieces that will see the most increased value down the line are the more unique clothing items like Snowflake's hood or Pumpkin Tart's ears... And later on and to a lesser extent, for the crazy completionists, the tiny little incidentals. I've already lost and replaced a Seaside Wysteria starfish, so you're dead on with that one IMO!

It's kind of funny... There are already a few G3 accessories that are crazy hard to find, but demand is so low for most G3 pieces that a lot of people may think they're not worth selling at all, which makes them even harder to find! The ones who have the accessories think "there must be a million of these, so who would even want them anyway" and the ones who do want the accessories think "there must be a million of these, so why can't I find any?" (On that note, if anyone's just sitting on Royalette's ring, hit me up! )

Ironically, I think the biggest pain from a buyer's standpoint is the fact that such a large quantity of the G3s that are in collector circulation are still MIB. It's fantastic if you need the pony too, and it's great for referencing, but it's so frustrating when your collection is just missing a few bits and bobs. You might be able to only find that one little accessory for sale MIB with whatever pony/playset they came with, and who wants to buy an entire Singing Dancing Pinkie Pie Bonus Set just to get a single tiara, you know?

I gotta say I agree. I have most of my G3's loose and their accessories carefully sealed in labeled baggies. Some pieces I'm very careful about. Breezies map, Wysterias starfish, to name two big ones to me, and I have them sealed in smaller baggies but still large enough not to be easily lost or misplaced. There's other things though, Tiramisua and mochanuts seat set pieces. Those are pretty unique and easy to loose with those tiny spoons and things. Yeah, you could collect MIB and have them but for more tactile collectors I believe some pieces are going to be skull scratchers to find.

I also think that the complacency of G3's abundance will be regretted at some point down the road when supply of kids and parents clearing out old toys dries up and we have only moc mib accessories.

To folks like me who plan on photographing their collection with all the tiny tid bits, this is very problematic...

[Diamond]

I do not see the prices going up to the degree G1 has, cost of living for those coming in to the collecting scene plays a part of that as well as quantity.  I do think some items will become harder to find, I know when we find G3's in bags at the local thrifts their are almost never any accessories - it is almost like the parents had no problem chucking those things but stopped short of throwing out the ponies.

[LadyMoondancer]

I don't think G3 brushes will ever match G1 brushes for value, since most of them are in the same mold and they always match the body of the pony they came with, which makes them--less exciting, somehow? 

For the other pieces, it will depend on their novelty as well as rarity.  I could see things like the scuba flippers becoming popular.

[goddessofpeep]

In general, I doubt that most G3 accessories will ever get up there value-wise.  The big difference between the G1 and G3 lines is the existence of a very active collector community during the G3 years, and of the course the internet which gave collectors access to exclusive ponies from all over the world as they came out. Many, many G3s got bought by adult collectors, and there is a serious glut of MIB or mint loose complete ponies.  One of the reasons that G1 accessories can go for such crazy prices is because the vast majority of G1 ponies ended up in the hands of children, and the accessories were much more frequently lost or damaged because of that.  For the most part, the MIB G1s survived as either old store stock or never gifted presents hidden in somebody's basement, and most loose complete ponies were the result of either an *extremely* careful child, or a pony that rarely got played with.  A significant portion of G3s ended up in collector's hands, and as such were either just opened to be displayed, or kept MIB.  Couple that with the re-release of many accessories over several sets, and your average G3 accessory will most likely never reach the same value as a comparable G1 accessory.  Some items that had limited release, or some items that were unique, easily lost, or particularly popular might go up in value, but those will probably be the exception, not the rule.