It's been awhile since I have logged in to the arena, just been busy with a lot of RL stuff. Do we have any news or updates about new Basic Fun G1 Retro ponies for this year?

I decided about a week ago that I might start collecting petite ponies, but before I do I was wondering a couple things.

1) Which ones / sets are the most common?
2) Who / What set are the rarest or most expensive?
3) What range is a fair price for your average single petite pony?

Backstory: My mother-in-law has a very large collection of Madame Alexander dolls from across multiple decades and ranging in a variety of sizes. Quite a lot of them were removed from their original boxes (boxes were kept, she flattened them all for storage reasons). Because of various health reasons she can't physically do much (she is not bedridden, but does have to spend almost all her time laying down) and her eye-sight is not the greatest at this point. So the process of identifying the dolls and trying match the dolls to their boxes (or wrist tags that were removed) is up to me and my husband.

Does anyone know of any good identification sites to help identify doll lines or which years they may have been produced in? I know that the names of the dolls are often on the dress, but a number of them were produced multiple times in different but similar outfits. (Betsy Ross, so far I have found 3 versions in her collection, but no way to identify the year) or ones like "Little Women" were produced so many times as well as the "international" type dolls. 

Also, the rubber bands inside some of them need to be replaced. Has anyone ever replaced these, and do you have a specific place you get the rubber bands from? I have watched a couple youtube videos and it seems simple enough, but wondered if anyone had personal experience doing it and if there was a specific place online that you prefer the bands from.

Lastly, if anyone knows the difference between a "bent knee" and a "walker" Madame Alexander doll and how to identify them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Article:
https://corporate.mattel.com/news/mattel-launches-new-toy-takeback-program-called-mattel-playback

In summary, Mattel wants you to mail them back (for free) your old Barbie, Matchbox and MEGA toys for recycling (melting down, repurposed etc.)

What are your thoughts? Here are mine:
1) This could potentially create a huge after market (Ebay, etc.) for toys and skyrocket prices in the future.

2) As a consumer, I would have some concern over the toys I purchased for children to play with that were made with recycled plastics from other toys, especially depending on the age of the child it was purchased for. As MLP collectors, we already see the effects of plastic breakdown in G1's from age and possibly mixing old and new batches of plastic. We also know that some G3's can be sticky and have plastic breakdown issues and these are not even 20 years old. For those of us that also are Barbie collectors or have childhood Barbies, certain years of Barbie dolls already have issues with the plastics that were used in her legs, let alone the breakdown we see in other doll/toy lines from the 80's.

3) Potential impact on toy donations to charitable organizations.

4) Not sure how many people would actually go for this. If they really wanted this to be effective, they would need to have some sort of buy back program or other incentives.

Okay so I just did a double take cruising down the Big Bad Toy Store website. Now there are even more crossover ponies coming out beyond the first four. Twister, Lite-Brite and a Dungeons & Dragons Set. Thoughts?

I actually do like one of the Dungeons & Dragons Set, but not going to buy them for that much, and if only they had actual hair. Does anyone own these? Kind of curious what "Woodheart the Kind" looks like in person out of the box.

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Is there a way to tell the difference between a year 2 Bow-Tie and a year 3 Bow-Tie. Are they slightly different colors or anything else that stands out? I picked one up yesterday and the mane hair has this little tiny flip on the very bottom of the hair so it is more than likely a Year 3 right? Since year 3 had a bit of a curl to it and in played with condition the hair would be more or less all combed out.

I know about the mommy charms, but does anyone else have any of the other pony charms that existed? Or any of the vintage kid jewelry with charm like ponies from the 80's.

I know Firefly did, and saw a Blossom jewelry one online, as well as Medley from searching images on google. 
Just curious who/what exists.

Has anyone deboxed the entire set yet?

I know they are just starting to be found in stores but now I am curious of something. I unboxed my 35th Skydancer today and discovered that she has product in her forelock. I am wondering if they all do.

On a different observation, I thought she looks just a tiny bit smaller (not that obvious) than my G1 Skydancer. Does anyone have comparisons of the new rainbow ponies next to the G1 rainbows?