Getting Giddy!

Taobao: A Love/Hate Relationship

Taobao.com, oh how I both love and hate thee.

I love going on and looking through all the incomprehensible (i.e., in Chinese) listings and finding new unreleased ponies or better still, variant ponies that will probably never be released at all. On the flip-side of this it's getting to be a bit of a chore trying to keep up with the many variants that are appearing and my need to have one of everything is causing this to be a bit of a sticking point for me.

The variants are great to see though; some of them clearly as a result of factory workers testing things, making errors or even making some of these variants on purpose as they've caught wind of the fact that people will pay good money for them. I'm not sure which of these is most likely to be the case, or if all these factors are in play at different times but particularly with the case of the many Applejacks appearing lately with all sorts of different coloured tinsel in their hair, I think they may have been testing to see which colour worked the best. How the stock gets out of the factory and onto Taobao is anyone's guess but theft or raiding the bins are the two scenarios I'm most inclined to believe.

I've decided to take a bit of a different approach to Taobao, given that my ordering from there has gotten a little out of hand lately and that the many variants, or rather my need for them, are starting to do my head in. Anything that looks likely to be released relatively cheaply in future, mainly the Blind Bag figures, I'm going to leave and wait until they're released to purchase them. The exception to this being the Blind Bag sized ponies released in sets for Toys R Us, as they can be quite expensive on eBay, aren't readily available in the UK as they are US releases it seems, and the sets come with one of the Mane Six which I already have. If unreleased ponies are cheap on Taobao I will most likely order them from there are they're likely to be cheaper than when they hit the shelves and I can have them a lot sooner. The added benefit of them not having been released yet is that if I order an extra one for resale it will pay for my own order too. I don't go mad and order loads of any one item, two is usually my maximum (one for me and one for resale) so as not to take them away from others wanting to order for themselves. I can still work it so the majority of my collection pays for itself but not be overly greedy and hog the market on Taobao ponies.

As for variants, I've decided not to even keep lists of them any more, i.e., they're not longer on any of my want or need lists. I'm just going to buy ones that I really like as they become available to me but not strive to get one of every single pony, just the ones I like the best. That way I'm hoping that collecting them will return to being an enjoyable experience rather than a chore with me thinking "oh god, not another one I need to buy or add to my list".

I think one of the things that kept me buying ponies from Taobao, or buying them from a third party on eBay was the 'fear' that they would never be available again; that they would never be a regular release and therefore I would miss out if I didn't buy the pony now. There's an obvious risk with buying these ponies on eBay as there are other people to bid against you and bump up the prices, unlike on Taobao where it is a fixed price that you pay. So when to take the risk? Who knows. It seems to have paid off for me on a few occasions, at least the ponies I paid a lot for, such as Minty, Sweetie Blue and the Yellow Filly haven't been released yet; and the version of Diamond Rose I bought before she was released properly has her symbol on the opposite side, so they were very much worth it. Cherry Pie, on the other hand, I paid quite a bit for alongside Diamond Rose and the version I bought turned out to be a general release in the end. It is definitely a gamble but luckily when it comes to buying these on eBay rather than direct from Taobao I have been more successful than not so far.

I feel quite selfish to say this but I do sort of hope that Minty, Sweetie Blue and the Yellow Filly never make it to regular release, at least not without the regular release being different in some way, like the symbol being on the opposite side, slightly different hair colour or different eyes, for example. On the one hand I want these ponies to be available to my fellow collectors and I certainly don't want to come across as selfish, but at the same time I paid a lot for them and want them to remain limited to justify their cost. I'd be happy if they were released with some sort of variation though, that way everyone could still have them and I would retain the exclusivity I paid for.

There are some blatantly ridiculous fraken-ponies on Taobao though. Those in particular that spring to mind are G3 plushies which have had a head-swap, Blind Bag ponies which have obviously just had their heads switched, and even G4s with obvious head-swaps; the most notable being an adult G4's head on a filly's body! Clearly someone has heard people like variants and taken it to the extreme! Now these, I would never buy, it's obviously just someone swapping body parts around. 

My agent is particularly good and very patient with me adding more and more things to each of my Taobao orders. The only frustration I have is that the time it takes for me to find a pony, add it to my order and for them to then act on it, usually due to time differences between here and China, often means that I miss out on ponies as they become out of stock before they order them on my behalf. This problem didn't often happen before everyone and their dog started to order from Taobao; when there were only a handful of people brave enough to entrust agents to order on their behalf and tackle the language barriers. It was inevitable that more and more people would start to use the service which is great because as a community we can get more of these ponies but for individuals, especially those of us who were doing this from the offset, it does get a little frustrating.

In conclusion, I do have a slight addiction to Taobao and it's many offerings but I need to take the same approach as I do with my general collecting of G4; I don't need to have everything and every variation of every pony, just the ones I like.

Pony Sales Boom

I'm not entirely sure why, though I'm also not complaining, but my pony sales seem to be going through the roof, as does the number of auctions for lots that I'm winning, so much so that I've maxed out the credit card I have especially for purchasing pony lots for resale and dipped into our bank account for extra funding. It's a  good job we've just been paid. So successful has my bidding been that I'm actually starting to be more picky about the lots I bid on, rather than just going for everything that's worthwhile cost-wise; ignoring such lots with particularly baity ponies or extremely common ponies in them, namely Peachy; I seem to have somehow managed to acquire a Peachy army lately with one or even two appearing in every lot I buy.

Another reason the credit card has maxed out on lot purchases is that eBay was giving me hell on Tuesday when I was trying to list so I had to abandon the listings. They would have ended yesterday, as I always end my auctions on Sundays and therefore I would have been able to pay off the lots that I'd sold, but as this couldn't happen I couldn't pay the card and hence dipped into the bank. A minor issue as they will still be ending and cash coming in for them, albeit a week later.

I seem to have gotten to grips with the work involved with buying and selling lots, or pony flipping as I've started to call it. To begin with it did seem like somewhat of a chore but I've developed a system and now instead of sitting on my own in the kitchen to do the hair-styling portion of events, I do this sat in the front room with Joe watching TV, namely Mythbusters which we've gotten into quite a bit lately.

Also for sale at the moment I have several new G4s and some G4 variants found on Taobao so I'm hoping to make a bit extra cash from their sales to put towards the Taobao order I put in recently, as well as the ongoing one that I seem to be ever adding to. 

Ramblings...

The My Little Pony wargames idea has been put on a back burner temporarily as Joe has some rather crappy news on Monday about his job. Very long story short, they haven't particularly good to him of late which culminated in them telling him that in one month he can either accept a job there at £6k less than his current salary or be made redundant. On Tuesday, after he pointed out another position he could have been considered for he has since been offered that role on £3k less than his current salary which is still rubbish news but at least we can live on it, which we couldn't have done if he'd had to drop £6k. So instead of fun things like pony wargaming we've spent one evening with my parents hashing out ideas and generally griping about the whole situation whilst getting somewhat inebriated and two evenings job searching and filling out applications. Luckily he’s found several jobs of interest to him including one in particular. Readers, please keep your fingers, hooves or anything else crossed for us.

Remaining on the wargaming theme for another paragraph, I was at Joe’s local club a couple of weekends ago and he and his mates have this thing where they ‘declare shenanigans’ on a fellow wargamer who they believe to be ‘being creative with the rules’. I’m not a hundred per cent clear on the ‘rules’ of shenanigans but if shenanigans is called on you, you must prove what you’re saying is correct. If you are able to prove it is correct, the person who declared shenanigans is beaten with a broom. Anyway, back-story aside, I told the boys that there is a pony named Shenanigans and given the recent press coverage Joe has had a lot of stick and/or amusing pony-related comments at the club so everyone was suitably amused by the thought of declaring shenanigans involving a pony being produced. Needless to say that I hit eBay when I got home and bought Shenanigans for Joe. It was a little difficult to part with her when she arrived, especially knowing she would be living in a wargaming bag for most of her life, but I feel the reactions will be worth it. He hasn’t been to the club much since so I’m still awaiting a report on that one.

I’ve spent a little (read: lot) more money on ponies than I should have done lately. I’ve just won auctions for some variant G4s on eBay which I’m really pleased about and am awaiting a final invoice for postage on a sizable order from Taobao. Other than those I’ve recently received quite a few ponies such as Granny Smith, Cadence, Shining Armour, Spitfire and Gilda Ponyville-sized ponies, Crystal Princess Celestia and several eBay lots for resale.

I really do have my work cut out for me this weekend getting all those ponies from lots cleaned and photographed for eBay. I’d better find some motivation from somewhere as I really need to re-sell them in order to pay them off and fund this ever-growing habit of mine.

It’s rather exciting at the moment as every time I log on to eBay, the Arena or Taobao I’m seeing a new pony or new variant G4. It must be that time of year (dare I say it; the Christmas countdown) when new toys are about to be released. We have new Ponyville-sized ponies on the way in the form of Toys R Us sets of three and a new wave of blind bags (which I just pre-ordered from Germany after a heads-up from a good pony friend) as well as sightings of brand new Ponyvilles on Taobao which, from past experience, will most likely be future blind bag releases. There is a strange character who appears to be a barber pony, given that his symbol is a comb and scissors and he has a moustache. Those who have watched FiM haven’t seen this character before judging by the reactions to him on the Arena. Initial comments about him are that he appears evil or annoyed and some have likened him to Sweeney Todd. I personally love anything different like this and think he looks great. I was pleased to see characters such as Granny Smith and Spitfire made into actual toys, as characters like this (not the usual pretty pink types) never made it into toy-form in the G1 line. I would have loved to see the likes of Hydia, Reeka and Draggle, albeit that they were human rather than ponies, made into actual toys. Mr Moochick and his rabbit would probably have been made into toys if Hasbro had taken the same approach then as they do now, based on the characters we are starting to see from FiM making it to toy shop shelves.

Some of the new character releases were a surprise to me as I still haven’t watched FiM. Not that I haven’t tried. When I was off ill from work last year I sat at the computer and watched the first two episodes on YouTube and while ever I thought they were great I just don’t enjoy sitting watching things at a computer, I prefer to be on my sofa in front of the telly. It’s taken until now to get Joe to download season one for me and that failed to download so take two will come soon, but as I said above we’ve been somewhat distracted by more pressing matters. It will happen though, which should please my friend Chris.

In other news, I’ve decided to enter a couple of my customs into one of the competitions at Ponycon. They probably won’t win given the calibre of artists entering the competition if previous years are anything to go by but it will be fun to try none-the-less. I’m also entering a photo I took of my pony pile when we did the photos for Chat magazine and I’m re-making something that I made a few years ago which unfortunately met its demise in storage. It was a scene of a grassy hill with trees on it and three unicorns galloping through. The horses are Britain’s Farm horses, so are on a much smaller scale than MLP and more ‘realistic’, if you can refer to three colourful unicorns who leave a trail of glitter as they gallop realistic that is.

War Horse

Joe and I spent quite a while going through the Warhammer pony idea last night. We went through one of the 40k codexes and came up with some 'equivilant' pony troops and special characters. One of the ones I'm most excited about testing is the special character Derpy who's going to be a 'Monstrous Creature', which is a 40k term for a big ass creature who can do a lot of damage. As Derpy is Fashion Styling sized and her character very clumsy I thought we could have a lot of fun with her stomping accidentally on a troop of Space Marines and knocking over bits of buildings onto them.

We did away with the idea of firing rainbows from their eyes in favour of slightly more canon ideas, such as pegasi controlling weather, unicorns essentially being psychic and certain abilities for special characters fitting their personalities, such as those I mentioned for Derpy. Joe insisted that Spike make an appearance in this whole thing which of course I completely agreed with.

After I went to bed Joe wrote some of the rules up more in-depth so when I get home from work I'll have a catch up with him to see how it's progressing. The general idea is we'll test the game at home to make sure it works, first on a small scale then on a larger scale, and then Joe will book a table at his Wargaming club for us to have a go there and amuse his mates!

My Little Pony vs Warhammer

My husband, Joe, is very much into Warhammer and all things wargamey. While on the way home from an eye appointment yesterday evening, after calling into Games Workshop for him to decide which Tyranids he was going to add to the army I went completely off on a tangent, as I do, and declared we should have a game of My Little Pony vs Warhammer. I suggested Joe should write various rules for a Pony army in the style of Warhammer 40k and we should battle it out to see who wins.

Various ideas were thrown around including special characters (initially the Mane Six from FiM as well as Celestia and Luna) with their own special abilities, like Rainbow Dash controlling the elements and Pinkie Pie having some sort of hyperactivity related power. We discussed firing rainbows from their eyes and that the abilities they had should all be 'happy-related' and as I wouldn't want any of my actual ponies modding to carry weapons all their abilities would be of the psychic type. Plus, it wouldn't be very fitting for a pony to carry a weapon, not with the happy theme we'd have going on.

I've given it a bit more thought since then and it would be good to incorporate some things from the old shows like one of the ponies could carry the Rainbow of Light and unicorns should be able to 'wink', even though the actual characters and figures would be G4/FiM, solely because of the various sizes that they come in (blind bag sized, regular brushable single-sized and fashion styling sized) would fit very well into this idea.

Joe said he was going to work on this. I think it'd be great fun and will of course keep you posted!

Yes, I'm Still Alive

I figured two months was probably a long enough time away from the blog and I'd better get my arse in gear and write something. I didn't really realise the reason for my blog hiatus until this last week or so. I figured, and it was probably true in the beginning, that it was just time, or a serious lack thereof. I seemed to have so much to do with work, selling on eBay and trying to get into shape that blogging was the furthest thing from my mind.

All of the above seem to have calmed down somewhat now. Work is nicely quiet and ticking over, selling on eBay has slowed to just ponies rather than ponies and all manner of chaos from the loft, and I lost just short of 1.5 stone getting into shape. Go me. Since I last blogged I got new hair, had laser eye surgery, went on holiday, came home with food poisoning and sorted a lot of crap out in my life including some financial worries. So all in all you could say that was a good enough reason for a bit of blog-free time but the actual reason, I have come to realise, is that I was really de-motivated with my collection.

I love my ponies, always have, always will. They make me happy just to see them and knowing they're there in all their rainbow-like glory. However, the financial situation I just mentioned meant that I didn't have any resources to expand on my collection and as a very active and ambitious collector this was very hard for me. I felt out of control with all the new G4 releases which I was determined to keep on top of so as not to get behind and have a backlog to catch up. This just wasn't happening. I didn't have the cash for this, even with my pony sales as the cash from that was required elsewhere, nor did I have the cash to build the collection of my beloved G1s. Two things happened to make me realise where my demotivation stemmed from, the first being the resolution of this financial difficulty and the second being a large influx of cash from a very lucrative run of pony sales. The resolution meant that all the profit from the pony sales could be used as intended: to fund my collection. Once I was able to catch up with the latest G4s and get those up to date, as well as purchase a couple of G1s and a bargain G3 exclusive I realised my seemed lack of pony interest wasn't a lack of interest but demotivation due to finances, and is thankfully over and done with.

Since my little boost I'm now really looking forward to Ponycon again. I was concerned I wouldn't have any cash to go with but now I know I will. I've been researching new releases and new discoveries, making sure my inventory and need lists are up to date and I feel back in the swing of all things pony. So now I've rekindled that spark I should imagine I'll be here a little more often to bleat on about which of the many ponies I ordered over the past few days have finally arrived. Today saw the arrival of the Twice as Fancy Project Pony, who I can't wait to place with her sisters. In fact, I'm off to do that now...