G3 G3 Birthstone vs Birth Flower Ponies

GracefulSlumber

GracefulSlumber

Dollar Store Baby Fakie
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Why is it that G3 birthstone gem ponies are WAY easier to find than birthflower ones? Were the birthflowers available for less time or did they not make as many? I was under the impression that they where as common to find in store as the gemstones were when they first came out, but judging by the rarity, I guess not.

While I've noticed birthstone pony availability appears to be ever so slightly declining, they pale in comparison to the birthflowers' scarcity.

I've been trying to find July Larkspur to represent my S.O. since I already have May Lily, but July Larkspur is so hard to find - Especially compared to the amount of July Jubilees out there! I'll probably will end up getting Maybelle and July Jubilee in the meantime, but the hunt for July Larkspur made me super curious as to the difference in rarity!
 
I noticed the inconsistencies, too. I always just figured that they made smaller runs. I’m interested if anyone has some concrete information on why.
 
Well, in Canada we only got the birthstone ponies, the birth flowers weren’t in stores. So right there, fewer markets for the birth flowers to be bought at. I suspect some US stores also either didn’t carry or bought fewer birth flowers since the birthstones maybe hung around longer on shelves than they wanted. The birth flowers may have been treated as a second wave, and stores sometimes don’t pick those up if the first wave didn’t sell well.

It’s a shame because IMO the birth flowers were the nicer set.

Elf
 
I could be wrong, but werent birthflower mail orders? if so there would be less around for those I believe, not as many people ordered ponies
 
DracoKat said:
I could be wrong, but werent birthflower mail orders? if so there would be less around for those I believe, not as many people ordered ponies
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I believe you're thinking of G1 which were indeed mail-order. I meant the G3 line which was a TRU exclusive.
 
Abyss said:
Well the one your are looking for was. Toys-R-Us exclusive. Maybe that’s why it hard to fine?
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I thought the birthstone ones were too?
 
They were incredibly hard to find when they were out. So much so that I only managed to get one full set after hunting at 4 TRU stores in my area. I never unboxed them since I couldn't find a second set. Every so often I get lucky and one is hiding in a lot. I do tend to see 6 of them more than the others so I'm wondering if they came short packed, like doubles of some and 1 of others per case. I'm still trying to find half of them loose.
 
KatzEyeStudios said:
They were incredibly hard to find when they were out. So much so that I only managed to get one full set after hunting at 4 TRU stores in my area. I never unboxed them since I couldn't find a second set. Every so often I get lucky and one is hiding in a lot. I do tend to see 6 of them more than the others so I'm wondering if they came short packed, like doubles of some and 1 of others per case. I'm still trying to find half of them loose.
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That's a super interesting insight! Thank you! I've noticed that 6 of them pop up more often as well, so I bet you're right that they were short packed.
 
I didn't really have trouble getting either set way back when, other than having to make multiple trips to the same Toys R Us store. The birthstone ponies were released in 2005, which is arguably the height of G3. The birthflowers came the following year, as we were heading toward Core 7. I worked at Walmart from 2003-2009 and remember many stores' G3 shelf space beginning to shrink in 2006 from 6 feet to 4 feet and so on. So it could just be that G3 wasn't selling as well and retailers didn't order as much.

The BFs are much prettier than the BSs, in my opinion. I'm not a huge fan of the weird cutie mark placement with a lot of the jewel cutie mark G3s. Maybe others feel the same. I don't know. I like the G1 princesses (though not my favorite sets), and I feel like that's what they were sort of trying to recreate. Except incorporating the jewel into the cutie mark didn't go over as well as just making the jewel the symbol.
 
If I find the birthflower ones at all, they're usually at a high price, which is sad because I find their designs to be much more appealing than the birthstone ponies. (I've always been pretty ehh about molded or gimmick symbols in general.) The flowers however, are mostly nice delicate images.

I think December Poinsettia is the most upsetting to me since I would've liked to include her in my eventual holiday/winter ponies collection. I grow poinsettias in a nursery for a living and I love what I do so this plant has extra special significance for me.
But she seems to be the rarest of all and one single time I've ever seen her pop up, she's over $200. That's insane considering this would've been a pony out for the holiday season when there should have been increased abundance and higher demand. You would think she'd end up in a lot of homes and be plentiful! Actually, did they come out during their respective months? Now I can't remember.

I'm just salty, haha. I'd really love to own her one day!
 

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The Birthflowers were harder to find when they came out. I managed to get all the Birthstones when they came out, and only three of the Birthflowers. They were both Toys R Us exclusive sets iirc.

Like starbritesprinkles said, the Birthstones came out when G3s were more popular and had more shelfspace.
 
I should of realized they would be super rare like that. I think I maybe have 3 and im lucky in that respect.
 
Stellaluna said:
If I find the birthflower ones at all, they're usually at a high price, which is sad because I find their designs to be much more appealing than the birthstone ponies. (I've always been pretty ehh about molded or gimmick symbols in general.) The flowers however, are mostly nice delicate images.

I think December Poinsettia is the most upsetting to me since I would've liked to include her in my eventual holiday/winter ponies collection. I grow poinsettias in a nursery for a living and I love what I do so this plant has extra special significance for me.
But she seems to be the rarest of all and one single time I've ever seen her pop up, she's over $200. That's insane considering this would've been a pony out for the holiday season when there should have been increased abundance and higher demand. You would think she'd end up in a lot of homes and be plentiful! Actually, did they come out during their respective months? Now I can't remember.

I'm just salty, haha. I'd really love to own her one day!
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yeah, the way people gouge the birthflower ponies prices is ridiculous. even some common G3s are price gouged to the roof on ebay. :confused: its possible to get them cheap though! i got my march daffodil at 26 bucks and my december poinsettia was 40-50(?) albeit her pink tail/pink strand of hair came faded. me and my poinsettia wish you all the luck in the world! I'll keep my eye out for a cheap listing for you just incase

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