wanna take a walk down pony memory lane? (Dream Valley website)

[dragonfly]

The original MLP ID site, Dream Valley - on WayBack Machine

https://web.archive.org/web/20050228222958/http://dreamvalley-mlp.com/

The ID search page actually works through the Wayback Machine for G1 pony identifications by features! Some of the links might be broken, because Wayback Machine at times can miss some pages, but there is a lot there - I haven't run into any broken pages so far.

[Carrehz]

Here's some even earlier links, too

https://web.archive.org/web/19990209053651/http://www.cybercomm.net/~mglmlp/dreamvalley/
https://web.archive.org/web/20010427035710/http://dreamvalley.freeyellow.com/

[Squirtsquirt]

I actually based my webpage of years ago on her site.  I liked the way she had it set up and it was very useful.

[BethyVic]

This is the first way I learned about all the ponies and what I used to create wishlists. 

[northstar3184]

I checked this out. Thanks so much for sharing this link. There's a lot of unique info on the Dream Valley site. Like I was looking at a page about the TEs and saw that Sweet Pop, Speedy, and Sky Rocket were introduced later than the rest of their setmates. I plan to go back and see what other new info I can find on there.

[starbritesprinkles]

What a blast from the past! MLP was one of the first things I searched when we got internet service at home in '97-'98. Dream Valley and the TP were the first sites I found. I browsed for hours (when someone didn't need to use the phone), and I based my first collection checklists on its info. There were so many more ponies than I realized! Haha!

I checked this out. Thanks so much for sharing this link. There's a lot of unique info on the Dream Valley site. Like I was looking at a page about the TEs and saw that Sweet Pop, Speedy, and Sky Rocket were introduced later than the rest of their setmates. I plan to go back and see what other new info I can find on there.

Keep in mind that some of the info is outdated/incorrect, but it still has nice pics and was an excellent collectors' resource at the time. I don't think she ever did correct that lavender Woosie was not an international variant, despite numerous US collectors reporting buying her firsthand in US stores.

[SpacePinto]

I remember reading their episode guide for My Little Pony Tales back in the 2000s, that was before I even saw some of the episodes for the first time.

[SkyCakes]

I feel silly but I used her checklists for my collection. I still remember when I found that site and started my collection.

[Taffeta]

I have seriously ambivalent feelings every time DV gets mentioned.

On the one hand I remember it as the second ever pony site I found (TP was first) and my hour a week at the library when I was 15 and printing out the whole ID pages and getting all excited about all the ponies I never knew existed.

For that I will always love it.

On the other hand, between around 1998 and 2001, DV did not update information on its international sections. And let's just say this created problems. Not updating was a personal choice by DV, because of  the sheer volume of people complaining about the errors (which should have been the reason to update, but Idk).

The international pages ultimately got taken down.

That part is a less pleasant memory.

So yeah, I love DV for being that gateway into MLP in the US and pony ID and the internet in the late 1990s and I have a lot of respect for it taking that step and giving us that first site.

On the other hand, I wish it had been better at correcting information sooner, or even at all, in that key crucial period when it was the go-to site and international ponies were flooding onto the market.

DV is an important historical milestone in our community but it should stay in the past and be left there.

Please, nobody go there for pony ID now. There's nothing that DV can tell you that the Wiki can't, and the Wiki is probably more accurate.

I think it's really important to underscore that fact. We've come a long way with our pony knowledge - but most of the problems/errors in information that still endure began with DV, and are still here because of DV.

[glitterball]

I came to pony-collecting too late to visit DV, but am pleased to see that I can go and see what you were all looking at, back in the day!

It's always charming to see first-generation web sites 

[Lilja]

Love this site in all its problematic glory! An archived version of DV is still my go-to when I want a quick overview of the G1 line. I'm well aware of the errors, so it works fine for me. I also just find it charming to see what the collectors community's general understanding of the MLP line was at the time and how off it was from reality. And oddly enough, more incorrect info just seemed to be added as time went on? I guess she must've received lots of e-mails from all over the world and tried to piece it together as good as she could. Some might've been outright trolling her and making stuff up.

Nonetheless, I will always remember these figments of people's imaginations...

Finnish BBE Baby Lemon Drop
Prettybow, the yellow pegasus that came with the German Pretty Parlor (apparently still going strong in 2006, with two names neither of which are in German)
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Yellow Glory (which apparently has to exist because yellow Moondancer does. I think this one was added pretty late)
The Pony friends dollls and FT Baby Sundance sold in "other countries"
White Windy, and all the other ponies with faded parts that were stated to be "variations".
T.J.

[Taffeta]

I also just find it charming to see what the collectors community's general understanding of the MLP line was at the time and how off it was from reality.

I love this too. You forgot the Finnish exclusive flutter pony Tiny Wings xD. She's written in my notebook from 1998 and I think a note next to her (proven false) or some such. In terms of information it was actually one of the most fun times because you could genuinely discover a difference that now we take for granted. For example, the difference between Confetti or Twisty Tail, or the pearly baby sea ponies. All of that I remember having to discern from drawings on DV vs what I had in my hands...and there was a lot of trial and error.

And oddly enough, more incorrect info just seemed to be added as time went on? I guess she must've received lots of e-mails from all over the world and tried to piece it together as good as she could. Some might've been outright trolling her and making stuff up.

Basically what really happened was the following.
1. Probably a massive inflow of information about G1, because at the time, DV was the only ID site there was. Some of that information likely came from different locales and so probably conflicted.

2. It was common in the late 1990s that people would assume anything they didn't remember themselves would be a foreign variant. So like blue heart dazzleglow, purple woosie, the dolls for the friends. All of those were on DV as UK releases because Kim didn't remember them in her own childhood. Well, resources for info were more limited then.

3. The word 'UK' got used as a byword for "not US". Unfortunately this was also a time period where people would invent 'UK exclusives' that were really just damaged ponies, like faded Posey. That's the 'troll' information if you like in this equation. People trying to make a quick buck out of all the confusion.

4. Kim stopped listening to international pony people in around 1998. I know this especially because I worked with her on editing and fixing the UK section of her site to try and take that burden off her. But although I did that - and still have the page files somewhere - she at some point took the decision to take those down, revert to the old version, and between then and the time when she took the international section down, refused to make corrections to the information on her page.  That happened I think in around 2003. I am not sure. I wasn't there, but that's what I was told. What I do know is that she was openly hostile to people who she said were trying to mess up her site with 'wrong' information, and that led to a backlash against some of these people and them being called scammers because they were 'trying to give DV false information'. Of course, what they were actually doing was providing proof that DV's information was wrong :/

So the thing is it was a mix of the internet being primitive, the community being very limited in terms of international people. The fact that international locations had different experiences and would report different things. The existence of people trying to create a scam. And ultimately, Kim deciding international people could not be trusted in terms of their own pony information and thus refusing to work with or listen to us beyond 1998.

...Which is why and when I set up my website, because DV was no longer a viable platform for non-US information.

Most of those things can be overlooked or forgiven within the timeframe of the site and what it did. The last one, though, has really influenced how the whole community has treated information since then. Including giving less trust to international sources when they contradict the US line in some way.

If you think that's an exaggeration, we see it all the time still. Without wanting to point fingers at an older version of a site, MLPMerch included 'NSS Paradise' on their page because a US-based site said she existed, but demanded proof that she didn't exist from international people before they would take her down. And similarly, suggesting ponies were sold in a different order or on a different timeline or with different accessories sometimes meets with a wall of disbelief - because there's an assumption that these ponies were sold "like this" and that's all. And that goes back to DV stating they were sold "like this" in "this year" without mentioning that they were also sold differently somewhere else.

[Haruna]

What a blast from the past! MLP was on of the first things I searched when we got internet service at home in '97-'98. Dream Valley and the TP were the first sites I found. I browsed for hours (when someone didn't need to use the phone), and I based my first collection checklists on its info. There were so many more ponies than I realized! Haha!

Exactly my experience 😁 Phone lines and all!

[gabumon]

back when 2003 was New Ponies.

[Lilja]

Without wanting to point fingers at an older version of a site, MLPMerch included 'NSS Paradise' on their page because a US-based site said she existed, but demanded proof that she didn't exist from international people before they would take her down.

That's so silly. You'd think they'd want proof she EXISTS before they put her up, not the other way around. On the other hand, I can understand the confusion around Paradise, since she was advertised and shown in some UK material. And then you have the Brazil version which does exist. For anyone who's new to all this, there's so much potential for misunderstandings. Back in the '90s no one probably could've imagined there were so many different releases of MLP around the world! 

The situation with DV... it's just fascinating for me to think about how it could've all happened. With "Prettybow" it's extra interesting. Originally it stated she was "rumored" to having been sold with the German Pretty Parlor. But then over the years more info was added, and her German release was eventually "confirmed". Along with additional information such as an alternative name, the colors of her parlor, her cat and its name etc. All of which turned out to be just nonsense.

But then there was also some information that was corrected, and the corrections stuck (such as no longer labelling all non-US babies as "UK Baby Ponies"). I wonder how many different versions there were of those international pages back in the day. With various things being corrected, and some info becoming more wrong as it updated.