Dedicated G2 thread!

[Leave a Whisper]

*throws confetti*

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She's so pretty.

[HoustonCollector72]

I think G2's inception is very interesting and I wish we knew more about it. All the amazing prototypes that have been unveiled raise a lot of questions. It's been rumored that G2 was originally being developed by Kenner as its own toyline, separate from MLP. But when Hasbro bought the company they slapped the MLP label on them. I'm somewhat sceptical to these rumors, but it would explain why the design is so drastically different to G1.

But G2 is unique in many ways compared to other generations. There is almost an "action figure" feel to them with the all the action features and the specialized accessories each pony came with. The accessories also told you a lot about each pony's personality/hobbies. So even though there was no cartoon or a lot of stories otherwise, the core characters seemed very well defined.

Then there's the evolution the line went through in Europe. Culminating in the very weird last years where it seems it was mainly Hasbro France in charge of production. Suddenly some ponies used their French (or English translations thereof) names even on the English parts of the packaging. There were ponies that had the exact same colors and symbols, but different names. Lots of reused and generic accessories, and everything seemed very hastily and randomly thrown together. But this also resulted in some very unique color schemes. And names that are nothing like MLPs from other generations (Like "Medicin" and "Miss Teacher") and seem like they were made up by someone whose native language was not English.

It's too bad Hasbro completely ignores G2 whenever MLP's history is brought up. I'm hoping it will be covered in the upcoming "Toys that made us" episode, but probably it'll get a passing mention at most if even that.

It was indeed that way , the first g2s that also were released in Usa have both Kenner and Hasbro logos on the cards
Hasbro bought many companies,The Royal G2 Castle was a Galoob Kissing Dragon Castle,after buying that company they revamped the Castle and voila, "New" play set
I own that Kissing Dragon Castle ,it actually is very fun , it has lights that activate with water, sadly all the high tech did not go into the MLP g2 castle .
The Garden play set was also a Kenner's LPS  play set , before it was revamped to be a G2 play set .

[Leave a Whisper]

Even though I don't have any yet my faves are:
Eve
Nosy and Click
Copper Glow
Hip Holly
Prince Firefly
Princess Crystal
Miss Painter
Lady Waterfall
Water Lily
Teddy
Puff
Snowball
Dart and Dash
Petal Blossom
Gardener
Clever Clover
Silver Swirl

[Shaz]

This thread is so interesting! I am learning a lot (yay pony knowledge!).

I love all the accessories G2 had, though I don't have any except a couple of combs and a party hat. That little set with an artist pony and all her painting accessories . I would love to get some G2 accessories but I don't often see them for sale. I think G2 was a really good generation for accessories and playsets. I would love to have the sailboat too!

Asked my girlfriend what games she played with her childhood G2 ponies. She says they lived with her other ponies and fakies, Light Heart was a dance teacher, and Tipsy Tulip was the mother of Baby Tiddly Winks. Morning Glory was an adventurer pony. She also found Dainty Dove's moving legs totally fascinating, because all her other ponies were pretty much static.

[freezestime]

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Hmm? What's this?

Spoiler

(Also anybody got any clue how their necks should connect to their body? I'm having difficulty making it look right)

[hilamb]

YAY a G2 thread! Love it 

Ooh That kennel information is new to me, really friggin interesting. I really wish theyd made a cartoon series of G2, like the G1 and Tales. Both of those inspired alot of plays.
I still have a lot of dreams, where I find a new  G2/G1 pony prototype. 

I also love alot of the acceccories that came with them. It def made me choose the pony and also how I played with it. Like what kind of pony it was, kind, adventurous, badass etc.
The most awsome acceccories to me, was with these ponies:
Light Heart and her bed. She was my first G2 and I always loved that magical bed with the rainbow.
Satin Splash had this amaizing waterfall with a hidden place.
Princess ponies: Crystal, Silver Swirl, Morning Glory with the ballroom. Moonshadows cabinet is also beautiful, I wish I had one irl.
All the 3 unicorns with magic wings.
LadyCupcakes acceccories were magical, but I hated her pose.

My fave G2's
Silver Swirl
Lady Sky Skimmer
Alot of Ivy's and Light Hearts 
Hip Holly
All the light up family ponies
Festival
Golden Glow
Magic Motion families
I made that list by the ones I played with. If I think of all the ponies I have now, there are few more:
Sea Breeze
Bride
Both Diamond Glow's
Muse
Golden Glow II
Medicin
All of the dress up ponies
Snowball
Autumn
Miss Chef & Painter
Lady Elegant & Waterfall


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[Lilja]

They were developed by the Kenner employees, at Hasbro's behest.    I found an ex-Kenner employees blog about it a long time ago.  (No longer have the link unfortunately.)

They reason they looked so different from what came before was the ex-Kenner employees purposely tried to put their own spin on MLP, and also Transformers (Beast Wars), which Hasbro also gave them.  Their company being consumed by Hasbro left them unnerved and a little rebellious and they wanted to show some independence, not just produce something that looked identical to previous Hasbro products.  So MLP turned into G2 and Transformers ended up being robots that turned into organic looking beasts, which was also a radical departure from previous Transformers.

That's great to know! I did suspect that was the case. But it was always exciting to imagine that the G2 design might originally have been conceived by Kenner as a potential "MLP knockoff", only for it to become official MLP. 

It seems they were aware of the radical style change though. They put a rainbow logo under each pony's hoof and the text on the packaging instructed you to "look for the rainbow logo as the mark of an authentic My Little Pony" (or something to that effect). It makes sense, since out of the packaging people who remembered the original MLP might otherwise assume it was just another fakie. Also the logo and artwork (mostly) felt more in line with the traditional MLP style than the actual molds did.

It was indeed that way , the first g2s that also were released in Usa have both Kenner and Hasbro logos on the cards
Hasbro bought many companies,The Royal G2 Castle was a Galoob Kissing Dragon Castle,after buying that company they revamped the Castle and voila, "New" play set
I own that Kissing Dragon Castle ,it actually is very fun , it has lights that activate with water, sadly all the high tech did not go into the MLP g2 castle .
The Garden play set was also a Kenner's LPS  play set , before it was revamped to be a G2 play set .

This is very interesting as well! I suspect a lot of later accessories and playsets could've been reused from other toylines, and it'd be nice to know where they came from. Even in the beginning there was the reuse of Littlest Pet Shop playsets. And the original Pretty Parlor was reused for LPS, and then again for MLP. 

[LadyMoondancer]

Speaking of prototypes, I guess these were brought to one of the pony fairs?

https://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/186600464808

I love them.  It's like they're wearing fashionable armor.

[freezestime]

Speaking of prototypes, I guess these were brought to one of the pony fairs?

https://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/186600464808

I love them.  It's like they're wearing fashionable armor.

Yes! A instagram user along the lines of stefdesigns or something designed them and showed them at this years Us pony fair!

[Leave a Whisper]

Speaking of prototypes, I guess these were brought to one of the pony fairs?

https://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/186600464808

I love them.  It's like they're wearing fashionable armor.

Those two are cute!

[Lilja]

Speaking of prototypes, I guess these were brought to one of the pony fairs?

https://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/186600464808

I love them.  It's like they're wearing fashionable armor.

Yeah, they are awesome! Those designs are pretty out there, but if Kenner wanted to put their own spin on the franchise it does make sense. Perhaps Hasbro made them rein it in a bit. 

[KingdomOfThomond]

This thread has been most interesting.

Does anyone know the reasoning behind the numbers on the underside of the hooves?
While I take it that the number on the front right hoof (near the copyright) is an identifier for the pose, what is the number/alphanumeric code on the front left? Is it some sort of character identifier or a serial number?

Examples from my collection:

Spoiler

Berry Bright has "2" on the front right hoof, and "174" on the front left.
Petal Blossom has "3" on the front right hoof and what appears to be "23" on the front left.
Princess Crystal has "2" on the front right hoof and "25" on the front left.
Princess Silver Rain has "4" on both front right and front left hooves.

The winged unicorns are a bit more interesting. Golden 1 has a different style of feathers and hooves to Silver and Copper, which would explain the different numbers.
Golden Glow 1 has "12" on the front right hoof and "20" on the front left.
Silver Glow has "2" on the front right hoof and "A41" on the front left.
Copper Glow has "2" on the front right hoof and "A18" on the front left.

Edit
I'm edging towards serial numbers; I've just checked my two Tipsy Tulips, and while the "pose" number is the same (7), both have different idents (15 and 37).

[MerryAnvil]

Oh my goodness, those prototypes are perfection! 

[LadyMoondancer]

@KingdomOfThomond  My guess would be batch numbers.  So that if some ponies started having problems, they could see if it was related to just one batch from the factory. 

[KingdomOfThomond]

@KingdomOfThomond  My guess would be batch numbers.  So that if some ponies started having problems, they could see if it was related to just one batch from the factory. 

Thanks for the response; batch numbers make sense.