How rare is Mimic really?

[MJNSEIFER]

I've seen people talk about Mimic like she's extremely rare and sought after (I think), but I think I've also seen people say this has been exagerated.

So, does anyone know the truth - how sought after and rare is she really? 

[Mirnyj]

Sought after and rare are two different things. Mimic is really highly wanted pony but she does pop up fairly often and there are sooo many Mimics that are already owned by collectors. So she's not particularly rare.

[LadyMoondancer]

Not rare, but highly in demand.

[Purpleglasses]

So then in that case, couldn't we all just agree to stop paying so much for her and drive the price down? I mean I guess bidding on eBay makes that difficult...

[Tigerlilyx]

So then in that case, couldn't we all just agree to stop paying so much for her and drive the price down? I mean I guess bidding on eBay makes that difficult...

I pray for this day

[Mirnyj]

As long as there are fewer Mimics on the market than there are people hunting after one, I'm afraid that will not happen.

[Ponyland]

...and collectors that already have spent a lot on her wouldn't want the price to drop, they want to sell her again for what they spent on her.

[Baby Sugarberry]

Mimic is highly sought after in desirability.
Uncommon leaning towards slightly rare in numbers, just like all the other Twinkle Eyed Ponies of her set save poor Speedy, who was issued twice.  This is typical of second/third sets of a given type, many stores didn't reorder if they still had stock from the first wave.  Mimic was also one of the three (? I seem to recall it was Quackers, Bright Eyes and Mimic) that didn't make the cut for the UK distribution, which also bumps up the demand.

There are many ponies who are rarer than Mimic, but rarity is only one factor in the price of a pony.

[mlp4me]

...not wanted enough that'd chalk up a kidney for her. LOL. (Now, Punzie on the other hand...)

She's fetching quite the price as of late and I'm holding my ground and hoping she'll go down soon.

[LightingElectricDream]

As of late
I have been seeing Munchy on a huge high demand, as well as night glider.
It's a shame that these prices are just out of controle compaired to how they use to be. I mean mimic is more popular but munchy is so sough after
That her price went from a normal $30 plus to a jump of $80 to $130
For munchy.
Mimmic use to be in the $70 to $150 now she is $200 plus.
I personally under stand wanting to get the most from your own personal collection..how ever I just cringe at the price jumps and know I just can't
Justifie spending $130 and $200 ect for one my little pony..when I have other things in life I have to take care of.
Its frustrating as a collector and it makes me feel like I'll never
Build my chiledhood dream.

But anyway..
Makes me fear for the future..
Like is every G1 ever made going to keep climbing the latter
Untill no one can afford to collect anymore.
Applejack $100 wave runner $60
Bowtie $80 gusty $100 ?
Nooooo!!!

[moevelvet]

But anyway..
Makes me fear for the future..
Like is every G1 ever made going to keep climbing the latter
Untill no one can afford to collect anymore.
Applejack $100 wave runner $60
Bowtie $80 gusty $100 ?
Nooooo!!!

Peachy... $30!!! 

[SkyCakes]

I cringe at some of the ebay prices I see but not everything goes for that price I like searching through completed listings. I do admit I am afraid of future high prices too. Mimic is a very pretty pony but like most say shes not the only one. I threw my chances away at getting a decent Lemon treats. ><: I just keep forever upgrading degraded ponies. If I try to get a Punsie I had have to sell of the rest of my collection and I not very keen on doing that.

[Mainsail]

As someone who's been kinda out of the loop in pony prices as of late, I'm not surprised to hear she's still in high demand.

But yeah, she's not exactly rare, just a lot of people want her. I don't own her myself, yet, and she's not too high on my pony wishlist, but it'd be nice to run into her for a decent price someday.

[MJNSEIFER]

Thanks for the answers, everyone.  I think (as Mirnyj pointed out) I was forgetting to take into account rare and sought after aren't the same.

So, it's more that she's a pony that the majority of fans seem to want, not that she's rare.  Got it. 

I probably assumed she was rare, because so many people wanted her, I guess.

[Taffeta]

  Mimic was also one of the three (? I seem to recall it was Quackers, Bright Eyes and Mimic) that didn't make the cut for the UK distribution, which also bumps up the demand.

From that set, yeah. Sweet Pop and Party Time also didn't make the cut, but their prices are low because nobody's ever taken advantage of their limited global distribution xD.

I don't think of Mimic as exceptionally rare because I live in the UK and in my collecting life I've had three, no, four Mimics through my hands. I should add that one of those I found here in the UK at the carboot sale. I have a feeling the set may have happened in Europe somewhere, even if not the UK. I've had more Mimics, though, than I have some of the last year of MLP that were actually sold here in the UK. On the one Italian insert I have, Mimic's set are pictured.

So then in that case, couldn't we all just agree to stop paying so much for her and drive the price down? I mean I guess bidding on eBay makes that difficult...

I don't really see the logic of that, to be honest. Mimic's price has been high since she started appearing on Ebay. When I got my Mimic, in November 1997, I remember my trade partner saying she was quite tricky to get a hold, even then. The price she fetches varies up and down, but it has been like that for more than ten years.

A few people not bidding on auctions isn't going to bring the price down. There will always be people willing to pay the price she goes for. It's like Greek ponies. I see the same greek babies on ebay week after week without being bid on, but the price doesn't come down any. The price has already been established and a short flurry of rebellion against it won't bring it down so easily. As someone said, if a person pays an amount for a pony, then they'll want to sell the item for that money, not for less. Probably Mimic's price will go up, not down, as time goes on.

Besides, the biggest nail in the coffin of pricing in pony terms is the fact that price guides have been put into hard copy print and sold in books. That was the worst thing that could ever have happened to this as a collectable because it cements in stone that certain ponies are expensive. Before that, pony prices went up and down depending on what you wanted to pay. Mimic would go between $50 and $80. Now she rarely ever seems to drop below $100. I don't know what her price is given as in the guide books because I don't own one. I don't think that was something that should ever have gone in print. Once a price is cemented that way, there is no going back, and no bringing the price back down.

Price checks are a way of life here now, and values for ponies also pepper discussions way more than they ever used to. There's no going back. Mimic may or may not be rare. She's probably no rarer than Tic Tac Toe, or Bright Eyes - but she'll always be more expensive.

The "Church of the MOC Mimic" idiocy in the late 1990s also added a mythical element to the MOC pony, which never helps anything. And, of course, she featured in a TV episode.