G1 vs G3 Pony toys?

[Annie]

Always G1s for me but I have to admit that G3s can look absolutely stunning when when customized!

[Taffeta]

G3 was really well received by old school collectors when it came out, it was seen as a big step forward after G2 at the time. I think it's a nice line of MLP, it has a lot of variety - albeit I remember the chief bugbears being not enough unicorns/pegasus ponies and no males. The canon/films/stories are not as strong as G1, but I think I recall them being aimed at a slightly younger audience. But the ponies are quite diverse in colour. There are some repetitive colour schemes but on the whole there's still a good variety and some creative ideas.

G3 does have some issues with hair rotting on some ponies, which is something that G1 does not as a rule have. Some of the sets also have other issues, like the divine shines with their dissolving glitter. While G1 has some long term aging issues, it is a LOT older than G3 and these G3 issues have been showing up for some time, which may suggest the quality of production is not quite the same.

As toys though they are both very cute. I grew up with G1 so G1 has all the nostalgia for me. But if I had been a kid during G3 I probably would have been into them, whereas I think it unlikely I'd have been very captured by G4 and all its repetition.

[Heelys]

I grew up with G1 and G3 concurrently-- G3 came out when I was like 5 and I got into it pretty quick, but around 2006 I found out about G1 thanks to a DVD mixup and went nuts for it. I spent that time pouring over each in their own way, fixating on the new toy catalogs and kids' magazines simultaneously with collectors' websites and archived cartoons on proto-youtube.

I've always felt that while I prefer G1 in terms of ponies themselves (without much justification other than nostalgia), G3 was superior in terms of playsets and function. The hoof magnets were a genius way to add extra functionality to accessories, and the Celebration Castle and Crystal Rainbow Castle can smite Dream Castle quicker than the smooze ever could.

[brightberry]

I think G1 is beautiful.  Something about them makes them look a little more mature and elegant than G3.  But, G3 is also wonderful. I love how colorful they are and creative their symbols were.

[sunshinedim]

This might just be me but I think the g1 ponies look more gentle and their eyes look more melancholic than the g3 ponies and I personally love that. I get a feeling of gentleness and melancholy from them.

[SunPony]

They do seem like the most similar generations.  I like them both, probably about equally, as far as collecting.  Slight preference for G1s due to their nostalgic factor since I grew up with them, and having cuter babies in my opinion.  But there are definitely many G3s that I really love, and for customizing I like the size of G3s better.

[honor_h]

G1 were my generation growing up so they're my favourites. I find them the most aesthetically pleasing and I like their eyes the best. G1 also had those handsome boy ponies! I really like the sweetheart sisters too. G3s are nice, but I think the G1s heads and bodies are better integrated. G3s have good detailed heads and but their bodies are too simple and small. I'm not keen on the style of the G3 babies legs. I also wish they had kept the symbols on both sides instead of dictating what the display side is.

What I like about G3s is the seasonal pony lines and the Target Christmas ponies (even if they were for the US only). They also had more green ponies and they have some good colour combos. I like that if you put a G3 next to a G1 they look like a teenage pony. As beautiful as SHS ponies are they're taller than the standard G1, so do G1 ponies shrink when they reach adulthood? The other appealing thing about G3 is the price compared to G1s these days.

[LadyMoondancer]

I love both G1 and G3 ponies!  I just wish G3 had more pegasus ponies and unicorns.  They had NO baby unicorn figures, which is such a shame.

But as far as colors and symbols, they were great.  (I also wish the symbols had been on both sides, though.)

The magnet gimmick on G3s was great.  I actually liked that so many of them were "just ponies" instead of themed sets like the G1s.  I mean, some G1 sets I'm over the moon for, like Twinkle Eyes and flutter ponies, but then there are the Dance 'n Prance ponies with the huge knob in their chests or the 3D symbol Precious Pocket ponies and it's like . . . no . . . just give me a normal, pretty pony who doesn't look like a weirdo.

Overall I do like G1s better, both because of nostalgia and because they look more stately and "grown up", which I prefer . . . but G3s are my second favorite pony gen.  I have tons of them!  (I also think they have the cutest ears of any pony gen, ha ha.)

[MJNSEIFER]

Hmm...  G3 toys are very beautiful in my opinion, and my favorite generation in total (that's more for the cartoons, though - which are also very beautiful IMO, in my ways than one), but while not only do the G1s also have a beautiful design, they seem the most imaginative for me - I mean, you can use your imagination playing with any of the generations, but all the different types, and backcard stories (which you don't have to pay attention to, I know) - they just seem like a toyline I would have loved to have grown up with...

In fact, I have a kind of... pseudo-nostalgia for them... I guess, like I can imagine growing up with them, and playing with them, even though that never happened.  I do have genuine nostalgia for G1, which again is mainly the cartoon, but I never owned any, especially not as a kid, but they look so much like something I "should" have grown up with... it kind of feels like I could have done? 

That said, I do have actual nostalgia towards the G1 toys in a kind of strange way, and that's reading about them, of all things... back in the 2010s, when I got into the pre-G4 generations, it was the G1 toys I enjoyed reading about more than the others (mostly for what I mentioned), so the G1 toys are important to me, in a weird way, despite never owning one...

So, yeah... G3 may be my favorite generation, but... I think my favorite toyline is G1.   

[Leave a Whisper]

Didn't someone put a g3 pony on the hood of their car to test their magnet strength?

[UnicornTamer]

I grew up with G3s, and I just love them so much. It was a very long time before I got my hands on a real-live G1, but I had already fallen in love with them before that, even though I was born after their time. :p G1s and G3s just are so cute and horse-like (which I appreciate so much - lookin' at you, FiM). They smell nice, there are just so many of them. I love the creativity that went into them. And they're also just well-made.

[TimeDance]

I like to collect both G1 and G3. Though I only do alternate rehairs for G1 and I prefer making customs out of G3s.

[LadyMoondancer]

Didn't someone put a g3 pony on the hood of their car to test their magnet strength?

OMG . . . that's great!