G2 and G3 History?

[aintnobuffalo]

I feel like there is so much information on G1 and G4 about history of those lines development. I never seem to be able to find as much about G3 or G2. What do we know, or are there resources about history outside of My Little Wiki (which has been a very interesting resource!)?

[Taffeta]

I guess it depends on whether what you want is interviews with creators and so on, because I don't think that exists (not for G2 anyway, who knows about G3). I think people like Moonbreeze might know some of the details of its production. I believe there's been some stuff about prototypes been found in the past.

Some of us remember when the line was in stores (and also G3) but that's not the same as what I think you're looking for.

Though I wouldn't call the Wiki a source of pony history. It's a source of pony ID, but it's not the same thing.

There are plenty of people who remember G2 and G3 coming out, but aside people likethose I mentioned, I dunno if there's more data around. There USED to be a lot of G3 sites, but a lot of them seem to be gone now and I don't know if they went into that depth.

In terms of a Bonnie or Lauren like narrative of how the generation came to be...with G2, there's the problem of geography. Speaking as someone who's spent 20 years with the G1 UK story, it's hard to build a narrative outside of the US because most of the surviving information, websites and evidence is from the homeland of MLP - the US. G2 had a very tiny US presence, so what remains to be told about its creation may well be lost.

And G3 - Hasbro are still pretending that it didn't happen, for some reason. Maybe in time we'll get more about G3.

IN terms of remembering what happened when they were out in stores, a lot of collectors can provide empirical evidence (and some with a lot of knowledge), but in terms of official stuff? I'm not sure :/

[Carrehz]

I thought it was G2 that Hasbro pretend doesn't exist? They seem to be reasonably okay with acknowledging G3.

[Taffeta]

I thought it was G2 that Hasbro pretend doesn't exist? They seem to be reasonably okay with acknowledging G3.

It's more the kind of disassociation from G3 to emphasise how wonderful and problem solving G4 is. G2 they just ignore, but G3 there's that overriding sense of negativity...

When I contacted Hasbro about something a couple of years ago, they emphatically told me they were not interested in anything other than the G4 products. While G4 and the Pony Life is still a thing, that's going to be Hasbro's focus.

Although, when I wrote to Hasbro in 1995, you had staff who would go the extra mile to send you information, lists,etc, and even sell you ponies from their surplus stock. When I wrote in 2003, they still had people who would give you information about the line out and the line that was expected to come out.

...I dunno if you've tried Hasbro CS at all since G4 happened. I don't recommend bothering, since like a lot of CS departments now, it's not very interested in customer service or providing information.

Whether they still know the things that they knew in 1995 and 2003 is questionable.

Albeit that's Hasbro UK, I have written to Hasbro RI in the past but the best I got was "We no longer provide parts to service this product".

[LadyMoondancer]

With G2, we know that Hasbro gave the ex-Kenner employees MLP and Transformers to see if they could revitalize them.  (Hasbro had just acquired Kenner.)  I'd love to know the ratio of women to men on the MLP design team, because Kenner was not known for girls toys;  they were best known for Star Wars action figures. 

And G2 does have this weird action figure vibe.  Lots of action features, except instead of "karate chop action" it became "Ivy shows off her ring."  Lot of emphasis on accessories.  Even if a pony didn't have a moving leg, they tried to make it seem like each toy "did" something, via magnets in their noses or swishing tails or whatever.  It all seems pretty extraneous to me because most kids don't really seem to care about action features on ponies.

As far as G3, we don't know exactly how it got started but I would guess it was just someone at Hasbro who pulled MLP up from the files and thought, "Hey, let's give this another go."  I kinda wonder if the designer of G3 even knew about G2.  They were basically G1 ponies with slightly different proportions, symbols on only one side, and a magnet in their foot.

[aintnobuffalo]

Oooo, I had never heard most of that information, LadyMoondancer! Thanks! The G2 design does make more sense in that context.

[Esbayne]

Agreed with Aintnobuffalo, that makes a lot more sense now!

I always wondered why G2 had all the movement gimmicks, honestly I really don't like any of them! Moving legs, necks, magnets in noses, changing hair (honestly even light up Silver Swirl! Her giant ORANGE horn is just so weird...)- They sacrifice a lot of aesthetic just for the action gimmicks! G1 and G3 pulled off ponies with movement and magnets pretty gracefully, but it is just so abrasive and clunky looking in the G2 design that I honestly can't bring myself to collect ponies with those gimmicks! Which really sucks because some of them would be gorgeous otherwise, and sooo many of them out of the G2 line had stuff like that, which really limits the amount of ponies I want to collect from G2; which again, really sucks, because they are just so gorgeous and unique otherwise! The only ones that are okay by me are the ones that can sit with their back legs.
 
And you're right about the G3 design, I've always kind of thought that. G3 seems like a stylized G1, and G4 seems like a stylized G3. (And the .5 gens look like stylized nightmares. But in all seriousness, they both actually have a very unique look to them aswell, and you can see tons of influence of G3.5 in G4.5) G2's look was just so unique to them, and hasn't really popped up or shown influence in any of the other gens!

[Leave a Whisper]

Is it wrong that I kinda wanna see a karate chopping Ivy?   She can compete with Kung Fu Grip  G.I Joe and may the best toy win.   

[Ponybookworm]

Is it wrong that I kinda wanna see a karate chopping Ivy?   She can compete with Kung Fu Grip  G.I Joe and may the best toy win.   

Since I have Customised G2 Sports Boys, somebody suggested I do a martial arts one from one of the leg-kicking ones!!!

[Wardah]

With G2, we know that Hasbro gave the ex-Kenner employees MLP and Transformers to see if they could revitalize them.  (Hasbro had just acquired Kenner.)  I'd love to know the ratio of women to men on the MLP design team, because Kenner was not known for girls toys;  they were best known for Star Wars action figures. 

And G2 does have this weird action figure vibe.  Lots of action features, except instead of "karate chop action" it became "Ivy shows off her ring."  Lot of emphasis on accessories.  Even if a pony didn't have a moving leg, they tried to make it seem like each toy "did" something, via magnets in their noses or swishing tails or whatever.  It all seems pretty extraneous to me because most kids don't really seem to care about action features on ponies.

As far as G3, we don't know exactly how it got started but I would guess it was just someone at Hasbro who pulled MLP up from the files and thought, "Hey, let's give this another go."  I kinda wonder if the designer of G3 even knew about G2.  They were basically G1 ponies with slightly different proportions, symbols on only one side, and a magnet in their foot.

That's kinda untrue. Kenner had many famous "girl" toys. They made Strawberry Shortcake, Rose Petal Place, and Littlest Pet Shop. Tbh I see a lot of similarity between Kenner LPS and G2 MLP so I wouldn't be surprised if the people who worked on LPS before Hasbro pulled the plug ended up making G2.

[LadyMoondancer]

You're right, I forgot SSC and LPS were Kenner.

[HoustonCollector72]

on G2's design ,Kenner had already developed ponies or small horses in their toy lines, Hasbro came to buy that company because they had LPS Little pet shop line ,very lucrative line and they released the ponies under MLP Hasbro/Kenner brand for the first releases, Hasbro was not involved in the design, that is why they look so different than the other lines, but Kenner had released a small line of horses already and they resemble the g2's style and I saw old prototypes once at one of the MLP fairs and is totally a Kenner designed pony 

[nessa16]

Pretty sad that MLP did not even get a mention on this websites Kenner History Timeline

[Lilja]

but Kenner had released a small line of horses already and they resemble the g2's style and I saw old prototypes once at one of the MLP fairs and is totally a Kenner designed pony 

Do you mean the Littlest Pet Shop ponies from the mid '90s, or was there something else? I guess they were similar to G2s in their moving mechanisms, but otherwise not so much I don't think?