How many G3 characters are there?

[Marlin]

Just wondering (since I have gone down a VERY slippery slope...)

And by character I mean not including the 300 variations of Pinkie Pie    Just counting her as 'one' character.

And excluding those little (hard plastic) ponyville, breezie and mcdonalds ponies?

Anyone got a number? 

[Ragamuffin]

There is quite a variety of G3s! There were some remakes of certain ponies here and there, but I feel like it was few and far between compared to the "Core 7" and G3.5 years.

MLPMerch I don't think has a complete and total count but it could give you a rough estimate...

Okay, I'm back, here's what you can expect in terms of unique characters:

35 for 2003
82 for 2004
101 for 2005 (wow!)
88 for 2006
34 for 2007
8 for 2008
3 for 2009
1 for 2010
1 for 2011 ('09-'11 only had con exclusives)

So your rough Bad-at-Math total is around 353 give or take... that's not including repeats of Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, etc. (Did I even count Star Song *once*? Doesn't matter...)

[Marlin]

Sorry Ragamuffin! I've just seen your reply!!

Thanks so much for that    Interesting to see how the numbers fluctuated over the years!!

Well, in terms of a 'gotta catch 'em all' mentality, that seems achievable give or take a few years... excluding ponywear, accessories etc   

[rybett]

It is both fascinating and scary to know this

[brightberry]

That is a lot of characters.  Now I won't feel bad when I don't recognise one.   

[Carrehz]

A G3 pony for every day of the year!! Er, well, almost? I bet it'd go to 365 if you included McDonald's-exclusive characters and stuff (are there any chars that were only made as Ponyvilles?).

Seriously though, I knew there were a lot of G3s, but I didn't realize there were THAT many. Dang.

[Mami Tomoe]

A G3 pony for every day of the year!! Er, well, almost? I bet it'd go to 365 if you included McDonald's-exclusive characters and stuff (are there any chars that were only made as Ponyvilles?).

Seriously though, I knew there were a lot of G3s, but I didn't realize there were THAT many. Dang.

there was one ponyville exclusive I forgot the name

[gabumon]

I love G3 for this.  Hasbro... we love the variety! And Target Audience does too.

[MJNSEIFER]

"But she's got a new hat."

Yeah, I don't know why they don't realise that having a variety of ponies is a good thing.  Even with main characters, it's fun to have so many different ponies to collect, especially when you actually play with them, I'm sure (this is coming from someone who isn't really a collector and missed out on doing so as a kid.)  Also, if we like the main characters of the generation, we'll already have them by the time the seven millionth version of them gets released.

G1 and G3 (maybe G2, I'll have to check on that) were excellent for variety, I can tell from My Little Wiki alone.  I'll never understand the logic for the whole Core Seven and Mane Six approach - especially as G4 has so many different background ponies to choose from, so it doesn't have to be the Mane Six all the time.

[Taffeta]

Every gen eventually got around to some core cast. G1 it wasn't till the end with MLP Tales, but it ended before they could become nauseating. Basically some ponies have 2 versions. :/

G2 had some repeats that kept coming back, Ivy, Lightheart, Sundance/Sunsparkle etc. But as the line went on, lots of new characters appeared as well, so the balance was probably all right. Incidentally G4 Fluttershy is probably more like a winged Sky Skimmer from G2 than any other pony in any of the generations, and Sky Skimmer was one of those ponies that saw many repeats.

G3 at least put their repeats in different poses and added a ton of other characters up until the core 7 thing happened.

G4 has had some good non M6 characters and should have a wealth of inspiration with the show but as time's gone on it's just become more predictable. Hasbro became too locked in on the M6 to the detriment of the line. They should've followed how Monster High handled the core cast idea - the balance there was very well done, and although it's probably easier with dolls, I think it would still have worked.

I imagine it is cheaper to remake the same ponies over and over again.

[Lilja]

Incidentally G4 Fluttershy is probably more like a winged Sky Skimmer from G2 than any other pony in any of the generations, and Sky Skimmer was one of those ponies that saw many repeats.[/i]

And G4 Fluttershy was going to be an earth pony at one point, when Pinkie was the one with wings. You can even see wingless Fluttershy vectors on some early merch. Basically the same pony as G2 Sky Skimmer by complete coincidence.