‘Blue Art Pony’ & SDCC 2008 ‘Ninja Pony’

I went to China Square Central for the 3rd Sunday in a row to help my pony collector pals look out for certain exclusive G3 My Little Ponies there. 

A seller there has a SDCC 2008 ‘Ninja Pony’ and a ‘Blue Art Pony’ for sale.  Too bad upon close inspection, the tail hole of that only piece of ‘Blue Art Pony’ was not positioned centrally enough during production.  As a collector, I’m very particular about ponies with ‘crooked’ tail holes as it’s a glaring sign of imperfection! 

That nameless ’Blue Art Pony’ was going for a hefty SGD 60.00 or USD 45.00 and it’s loose with no box or packaging at all!  I find that it’s a bit overpriced.  You can eventually order a MIB one online from Entertainment Earth, which will be available and start shipping in September 2008.  This pony’s now up for pre-order at USD 14.49 each at Entertainment Earth, compared to HasbroToyShop where it is priced at USD 19.99 but with immediate shipping. 

Updated on 26 July 2008: The ‘Blue Art Pony’ from HasbroToyShop will only be shipped from September 2008, just like for Entertainment Earth.  However there is a HasbroToyShop free shipping coupon code (SUMFS) for orders above USD 50.00, but to US addresses only.

One of my pony collector pal decided to order hers online as she prefers collecting Mint-In-Box (MIB) or Mint-In-Package (MIP) ponies.  Those are more ‘authentic’ and they would definitely be worth more with their original box and packaging in the years to come.  I thanked my lucky stars that she didn’t want that loose ’Blue Art Pony’, if not I would have to fork out SGD 60.00 upfront to get it on her behalf, phew!

Having seen the actual ‘Blue Art Pony’ today, I can confirm that she does not have painted eyes, not even the tiny heart in the eye.  There’s just blue eyeliner and that’s all.  The ‘blue art’ on the pony looks good, but I find that the blue designs do not contrast well with its black-colored body.  Maybe silver, gold or some other metallic color for its designs would have been more striking, but that’s just my opinion.  My pony collector pals all think that ‘Blue Art Pony’s gorgeous.  Well, to each their own.

The other SDCC 2008 ‘Ninja Pony’ that was on sale today had some painting and material defects so I rejected her outright.  I had originally planned to pick her up for another pony collector pal who is overseas now.  Anyway, sooner or later, I believe that more of these MIB SDCC 2008 ‘Ninja Ponies’ will be available for sale online. 

By the way, the actual San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2008 is happening later this week and the coming weekend.  Some eBay sellers are already taking pre-orders and will ship out the ponies after they get it at the SDCC.  It’s a bit risky but the sellers promised to return the payment back to the buyers if they cannot deliver the items.  One of my pony collector pals here already pre-ordered hers, I think.