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.
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.
