Prototype furbob toys? Edit: And Flutter Pony Hideaway??

[LadyMoondancer]

I could swear I saw unpainted white Furbob prototypes.  Apparently they were meant to be included with a set of ponies (like the Bushwoolies), but then were canceled?

Does anyone have pictures of these?  Possibly they were shown at the MLP Fair or other MLP event?

Edit:  Looking at the MLP Fair's website, they mention that some of Ruth Bush the toy designer's favorite pieces were "the Flutter Pony Hideaway, Fairy Tails, and the Furbobs of Pony cartoon fame."  So I am guessing the Furbob pictures are from the MLP Fair.

Did she also bring, or have pictures of, the Flutter Pony Hideaway? Or describe it? It sounds amazing! 

[mlp4me]

Yes, pictures of Furbobs!
I've saw the hideaway on facebook...

[BlushingBlue]

Yes, Ruth Bush brought them to the recent Fair, along with a bunch of other cool stuff! They were pretty neat, and she let me hold them! She brought photographs of the Flutter Hideaway prototype and the detailed drawings used to make it... "mechanicals" I think she called them? Plus the illustrations for the sheets of stickers that would have been applied. She didn't have an actual prototype of it, but she said that one might still exist somewhere in "the vault" at Hasbro. (Yeah...) She also had drawings of the Fairy Tail bird playset that was going to be a remake of the Flutter Pony Hideaway mold, because of course Hasbro loves to reuse their playsets -- even playsets that get scrapped!

I took some pictures, but I don't have them uploaded anywhere. Plus they're just cellphone snaps in a dim room, so not the greatest. (Honestly, the lighting and set-up in the pavilion were awful for such an interesting presentation. The lighting was better at the paid talk but you didn't get to peer through all her nifty mementos because there was 1) no room to spread them out and 2) other presentations sandwiched on either side of the time slot. ) Hopefully someone with a proper camera got some good pictures of all her wonderful unproduced items and will share them! Seriously, so much good stuff... Princess pony jewelry! A sink to go with the Scrub-a-Dub tub! Weird "baby flutter pony" winger prototypes! A set of patchwork(??) ponies! It really felt like the hundreds of things that actually got produced were just the tip of the crazy pony iceberg.

[Firehooves]

Okay, I have GOT to find that Flutter hideaway, to see what it looks like! ^^

[Purpleglasses]

Would love to see those photos, even if they aren't very clear! I can sculpt/cast/kitbash and while I've never attempted a project like recreating an un-produced play set, it would be fun to try! Is the play set a house or a tree or clouds or what? It sounds adorable.

I always imagine flutter ponies going through a pupating stage, and emerging from hanging cocoons. I guess I blame Serendipity books for that one. Also they're bug ponies. Heh. An ideal flutter hideaway has a room for that in my opinion.

[shelvesofwhimsy]

I had tickets to her private talk so I did get some pics of the artwork. Wish I had taken more now, but we were told not to zoom too much
I only had my cellphone as well.

Ruth also had a HUGE table of artwork, but sadly no photos allowed

Furbobs- we got to hold them!

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Seapony Fountain/Tub

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Flutter Pony Hideaway

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login



One of Ruth's ideas for Yarn Ponies

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[LadyMoondancer]

Ohhh, thanks for sharing your pics!  They look amazing!  Is that a TAF Buttons in Mimic's pose in the one pic?  I love the sea pony sink and what looks like ponies with colorful blazes!

Did she say which ponies the Furbobs were meant to come with?  The 2nd set of Princesses, perhaps?

[shelvesofwhimsy]

Ohhh, thanks for sharing your pics!  They look amazing!  Is that a TAF Buttons in Mimic's pose in the one pic?  I love the sea pony sink and what looks like ponies with colorful blazes!

Did she say which ponies the Furbobs were meant to come with?  The 2nd set of Princesses, perhaps?

of course! I wish I had more lol. I know that MLPforever also took a lot of pics!
And yes I think it is! Underneath it say TAF Ponies

She didn't say which set they would come with. I think they got scrapped before they could decide. She did talk a lot about varying her characters and how Hasbro had very specific instructions for which colors would be used for each furbob. It was so cool to hear about!

[BlushingBlue]

Lovely pictures! Thanks so much for posting them!

Here's a crop of a scan of the polaroid of the prototype. (An "official" Fair image, and better than a cell pic of a polaroid in a dark room!)
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


There was also a concept drawing of the Hideaway done by Ruth that was really pretty and available as prints at the Fair, but I ran out of money so hard this year. (There was also an exquisite portrait of Tiny Bubbles that I would love to have. I hope the Fair has extras that they'll put in the online store...) Hopefully someone bought one that doesn't mind sharing a photo of it.

As I understood it, the "concept" of the Flutter Hideaway was a little cottage in the clouds that the Flutter Ponies could use (somehow?) to manipulate the weather. The base was sculpted with white clouds and the footprint was pretty square. There was a little belfry window that could open, where there would be a spinner(?) with a sticker of different weather patterns on it. Little weather symbols decorated the gingerbread-style scalloped gableboard too. (The stickers and eaves were different on the FT bird house, and it had a lot of cute perches tacked on, but it was otherwise very similar.)

The furbobs had "PRINCESS PONY" labels on their turn-around sheets, so yes, they probably were intended to go with the 2nd edition Princesses (or a 3rd edition or who even knows ).
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

This is the picture I took of their design specs at the first presentation. (I wonder what happened to furbob #2? ) I got there super early, so Ruth and her husband and I chatted for a while. She invited me to take all the pics I wanted, but most of them were so awfully dark that I just deleted them straight away. Of course, I didn't dare use a flash on her lovely artwork, so I just coped with what I could get. C'est la vie.

[pinkkittywinks]

Love pkw xxx

[Ponyfan]

Wow! It's great to see the stuff that was planned/prototyped that never got made. The Flutter hideaway would have been a great play set and the seaport sink looks nice too. It's interesting about the Furbos.


Ponyfan

[BethMcBeth]

Lovely pictures! Thanks so much for posting them!

Here's a crop of a scan of the polaroid of the prototype. (An "official" Fair image, and better than a cell pic of a polaroid in a dark room!)
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


There was also a concept drawing of the Hideaway done by Ruth that was really pretty and available as prints at the Fair, but I ran out of money so hard this year. (There was also an exquisite portrait of Tiny Bubbles that I would love to have. I hope the Fair has extras that they'll put in the online store...) Hopefully someone bought one that doesn't mind sharing a photo of it.

As I understood it, the "concept" of the Flutter Hideaway was a little cottage in the clouds that the Flutter Ponies could use (somehow?) to manipulate the weather. The base was sculpted with white clouds and the footprint was pretty square. There was a little belfry window that could open, where there would be a spinner(?) with a sticker of different weather patterns on it. Little weather symbols decorated the gingerbread-style scalloped gableboard too. (The stickers and eaves were different on the FT bird house, and it had a lot of cute perches tacked on, but it was otherwise very similar.)

The furbobs had "PRINCESS PONY" labels on their turn-around sheets, so yes, they probably were intended to go with the 2nd edition Princesses (or a 3rd edition or who even knows ).
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

This is the picture I took of their design specs at the first presentation. (I wonder what happened to furbob #2? ) I got there super early, so Ruth and her husband and I chatted for a while. She invited me to take all the pics I wanted, but most of them were so awfully dark that I just deleted them straight away. Of course, I didn't dare use a flash on her lovely artwork, so I just coped with what I could get. C'est la vie.

Wow!! That is so neat!! I love the detail that went into this piece, it was defiantly made with lots of love. <3 Thank you everyone for sharing!!

[Mermaid]

I'm so so sad I missed this presentation and I was at the fair! such cool things!

[Leave a Whisper]

That is SO cool! I would Love to have a Flutter Hideaway! I sometimes think I'd like to get my Flutters and future Wingers a place of their very own and wished Hasbro had made one. Had no idea they were actually thinking about it.

The furbobs and sea pony fountain is cute.

[LNS]

Wow. The Furbob prototypes are adorable! So much personality. I really like the concept for the Yarn Ponies too. They look like they would have been fun. Gracious. The Flutter Pony Hideaway would have been such fun. What a cute idea. That seapony fountain looks interesting. Would love to know what the plan was for it.