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Messages - Taffeta
1
« on: Today at 01:24:53 PM »
I have been attending UK Ponycon since 2009 only missing 2013 & 2021. I have seen it grown from a small convention to one of the largest and very few conventions for older gen collectors in Europe. Nothing Bronycon number gazillion of brony focussed only.
What you don't see on the website but is very present in real life when the con happens. There is attention for all gens. Every year I see a lot of vendors who also have been there since I have been attending. This year there are about 80 vendors and I know staff has tried to put a variety in it. There is no event schedule released so you can't tell there isn't enough attention for the older gens or 20 years of UKPC. So don't let that social media fool you 
I can't speak for your wallet but hopefully the convention will be in a place easier to reach for you someday 
I've been to ponycon several times, just not since the pandemic. The location is an issue - a broken assurance to move around the country by successive organisational teams. But the website using only G4 terminology/characters and the SM feed just reinforce the impression I had the last time I went to Ponycon (pre-pandemic) that it was slowly becoming more G4-centric with G1 reduced just to vending. I get that Brony revenue helps support venue costs and ticket prices, but frankly, I'd rather it was a small convention that continued to include everyone, rather than something being exclusively promoted to bronies and with G1 etc being pushed off to just vending. It's also always been one of the biggest older gen conventions in Europe, because it was also one of, if not the first to regularly run. That's not a payoff for being swamped by G4 memorabilia. Ponycon held its own before G4 happened, and it was, honestly, a better event before the UK's brony convention shut down. It's not that bronies shouldn't be welcome at Ponycon. But it's not their convention. It was an older gen convention from the start and the whole framework and targeting of it should be centred on that - not on what G4 fans want, expect or need. That starts with the website and the SM feed. It should be promoting all generations. If it doesn't, how are we meant to feel welcome? That, plus hiked ticket prices, paying for a concert I wouldn't attend, and a special guest from G5...none of that validates me spending what is about half my monthly income just to get there. If I'm going to do that, it needs to feel like a convention where collectors like me are welcome, not an afterthought. That starts with the website and promotion, but also in the whole format of the event and who it's really aimed at. Going back on topic. It's funny mentioning gender spaces. Two of the people I talked to most in the pony community back in the late 1990s and early 2000s were guys. I talked to them a lot, one of them went to a lot of US meets (Steamer, if anyone remembers? He had to give up collecting though because of complex reasons). The other is still around and I recently touched base with him again after years. There were also others, and have always been other older gen male pony fans. There wasn't a 'movement' about it, of course, and the world's media didn't get involved in it. But I always remember there being guys prominent in the pony community. Remembering it was a small space then, and is a bigger one now...and how online worked. I think part of the mentality of G4 "we created the fandom" is that need for validation of something that's the fourth iteration of its franchise. I often felt like there was so much insecurity, especially towards G3 as the immediate predecessor...the need to tear it down and ridicule it to justify G4 being "a thing". Saying there was no older fandom helps them with the idea they created something brand new. A lot of G4's popularity is that perfect storm of tech, meme, timing and audience. Also, I've noticed the short memory of the internet. This is not pony related, but in football (soccer) conversations there are so many people who talk about football here in terms of 3 years or 5 years ago, and imagine everything was determined in that short period. If you're lucky they can go back to the nineties because that's when the leagues restructured. But the understanding that some clubs here are over 100, or 150 years old and have massive historical achievements even if they're currently not doing well is lost on a lot of fans. You also see them praise a player as the best ever one week and then jump on his back the next when he concedes a goal or something...like everything is immediate and there's no room for context.
2
« on: Today at 12:58:50 AM »
I admit, I miss when Ponycon was more geared towards older generations. This is me being old and cranky, but the website is full of G4-isms and G4 pony references. It talks about celebrating 20 years of Ponycon but doesn't make a single reference to any event or pony prior to G4, which began in 2011. I wasn't at the first ponycon but I think I was at the second or third, long before G4 was a thing. There were still panels for different generational stuff back then. Tickets have also ballooned in price and include stupid things like entry to a concert which is of absolutely no interest to someone like me who is hypersensitive to sound. I decided not to go this year, as I can't drop £400+ on accommodation, transport and entry for what is basically Bronycon plus some tables for older pony trading. It's a shame, since the 20 year history theme should've been awesome - but there's nothing hopeful on site or facebook feed. It's not that there's ever any hostility from G4 fans at conventions - they're actually pretty cool people. But the convention has got more and more geared to them and less and less about what actually began it. I don't know if it is the organisational team or what the reason is - but it's not really UK ponycon anymore. Maybe in the future it will go back to its roots, but for the time being, it's no longer my collecting space. It's little wonder that G4 fans think they invented and sustained the community. Although it's also a tad bizarre given their convention shut down and they came and colonised ours, but still think we didn't have a fan community before they existed. What BC says is true, though. Every generation - probably ours, too - thinks they invented something, but in reality it was probably there before. Going wildly off topic now, but as a mediaeval historian, when I was studying it was a source of endless frustration for me seeing modernists claim something was 'invented' in the 19th century when in fact it wasn't. But it's the same thing. The assumption that something is new because it's within their bubble and not beyond. Although it is mystifying how they explain to themselves why G4 exists at all if G1, G2 and G3 were such completely anonymous flops.
3
« on: Yesterday at 10:14:58 AM »
Hello everyone. So I don't have a single MOC image of a Magic Message pony from the UK. I also have no translated cards for this set - so none in German, or in French, or any other language. So what I want to know is
Whether cards exist for this set in German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian.
Whether anyone has a UK carded Mint on Card Magic Message Pony (it will have an orange border and the names MAGICAL BREEZE and TEDDI on the back instead of WINDY and CUDDLES). (Any pony is fine, I want to corroborate accessories.)
Whether anyone has a UK backcard (as above) with the name MAGICAL BREEZE on the front.
Whether any UK or European collectors had any of the Magic Message ponies from new, ESPECIALLY Magical Breeze/Windy.
Also, if you are in the UK and did the mail in offer for Magical Breeze, do you remember whether she had a comb/brush or ribbon with her?
And what cards were used to sell this set in Canada, in Australia, in anywhere else not mentioned, OTHER than the USA.
...This is a massive longshot as I suspect the evidence I need isn't out there, and it's more a case of disproving rather than proving a theory, but I thought I'd ask anyway. US Collectors, if you have a UK carded or European carded pony in your collection, feel free to drop in. I do have images for all the US carded set, though, so have no questions about their release Note - US cards with Dutch/French import labels on them count as European in this exercise. Thank you all 
4
« on: Yesterday at 10:02:01 AM »
I'm just amused every time I accidentally stumble on some brony conversation and they're all reaffirming themselves that they invented the pony fandom and that there were no ponypeople before G4 happened.
Although in seriousness, given how fandom has moved around platforms, and given how these are mostly kids who weren't around to use earlier platforms like newsgroups...it's not surprising that they think this. There are a lot of older collectors who aren't so keen to throw themselves on social media or only use one. A lot of older site stuff has also disappeared for one reason or another. Things like the Ring of Rainbows, which was probably our answer to G4 fandom, albeit in the tech restrictions of the time, are basically gone. There are relics of it on very old dead site fragments floating around the internet, but why would younger pony fans know about that?
I've been sorting old stuff in my room and I kid you not, I found floppy disks with pony fanfiction on it. Goodness knows what else is on those disks. One day I might pinch my Dad's disk reader and find out.
It's obviously true that the angle of the G4 fandom moved in a different way to G1, but I remember a lot of fanfic writing, newsletters, artwork, and other stuff and sites set up specifically to promote those things - alongside the collecting. There are a lot fewer websites now for G1 that are not information about the ponies. In fact, do any still exist? It's hardly surprising that there are G4 fans who don't know about the fandom before theirs, because of how much the internet has changed.
I have been thinking about this especially since I've been spring cleaning/renovating my site, and one thing I've been trying to include is character material for each pony if I can. And it made me realise that that's not much different from the G4 fandom wikis and their biographies of characters from the cartoon. True, I'm mostly working from backcards and comics (and some have nothing to write about)...but it strikes me that the origins of our fandom were not that different from the one they think they invented. And in ten years, theirs may have completely vanished as well, to be replaced by whatever the new thing of the time is (if there is still MLP by then).
5
« on: May 30, 2024, 04:14:28 PM »
It's 13 minutes past midnight, and someone has their kids running up and down the street laughing and yelling as though it's 4 in the afternoon.
It's AFTER MIDNIGHT people.
6
« on: May 30, 2024, 10:10:08 AM »
That sucks, Beth. I'm glad they were safe at least.
7
« on: May 30, 2024, 03:37:11 AM »
This is a hard tug between what my own childhood nostalgia says and an awareness of how the world has changed. The line would definitely have variety attached. I don't know whether I would want a TV series as such with a 'core cast'. But I think it would be cute if each package had a QR code to access an online animated short for the character just purchased. Ponies should be brushable, irrespective of gender, and should come with a brush and a ribbon. Sorry, that's base line for me I would obviously like a style of pony closer to G1, but it doesn't have to emulate G1 exactly. Just better proportions and a more appealing countenance than "I hit my face on a door" (G5). I'd also like to see variety of species. So maybe adults, maybe babies, but not just earth, unicorn, pegasus. I don't want detachable wings, they should be part of the pony *lol*. That said, I'm not against a 'fairy' type species with changeable wings. I'd probably begin with 2 earth, 2 pegasus, 2 unicorn and then expand each line out. Maybe repeating a character here and there but only to overlap one release (like we see with Cherries Jubilee/So Soft Cherries Jubilee) and then a new one. Lots of colours. No dark pink packaging. I think lighter colours - white, blue, etc - present the colours better. As for the world. Years ago I wrote a backstory for the history of ponyland *lol* probably inspired by Mimic's episode and the 'first unicorn' mythology. I like the idea of a fantasy type world rather than slice of life. I like them each having their own magic irrespective of their species, and also their symbols don't have to reflect their fate. I dislike those concepts. I don't really like how the G1 animation strips the earth ponies of the magic on their backcard stories. It's one of my main bugbears with the show, compared to the comic. Comics? Yes, but I think having a digital option as well would be good. Blind bags? Possibly. I'm thinking for friends/pets/etc rather than actual ponies, though. I don't need ponyland to be only ponies, but no humans unless fantasy related (witches, wizards, merpeople, ok - people being flown over from our world, not ok! LOL) But having said all of that, if a series was going to happen, it would be fun to have a pony from "modern day no magic world" fall through a mirror (an archaic magic mirror in an abandoned castle, perhaps?) and end up in 'the past' pony realm. I don't want to reprise anything from G1. But I don't see why a future generation couldn't start after G1 and go back to a world before it. Or a world between MLP Friends and Tales. I just came up with all of that on the spot so if it doesn't make sense, I apologise xD.
8
« on: May 28, 2024, 07:17:53 AM »
During my sorting, I found my diaries from 1996 and 1998. I didn't keep a regular diary as a kid/teen, just a couple of years and a couple of half years. Was super interesting, though, going through looking at stuff. Most especially all the ponies we were finding at the carboot sale back then...
9
« on: May 27, 2024, 01:55:04 AM »
I'm not very original but I've always called mine Cocoa.
10
« on: May 26, 2024, 04:46:21 AM »
Medley seems to be the only one available here so far. I have mine from 5LittleDiamonds (she was a late birthday gift from my parents), and I've seen quite a few people posting about getting them - but I've not seen as many posts for Twilight or AJ. I'm curious to see those two in person.
Medley is gorgeous though. I highly recommend her. She may be my favourite plush so far, because she's entirely new.
11
« on: May 25, 2024, 12:56:01 PM »
Thats super cute. It's so interesting how the retro merch rumbles on Hasbro have realised they can make money from this IP as well as G4, apparently.
You would think they would realize they could do so much more with previous generations than sublicensing for merch!
It would mean acknowledging that G1 was still a thing, despite them throwing everything at G4 and Equestria for years.
12
« on: May 25, 2024, 01:17:48 AM »
Thats super cute. It's so interesting how the retro merch rumbles on Hasbro have realised they can make money from this IP as well as G4, apparently.
13
« on: May 23, 2024, 09:30:22 AM »
Beth Spoiler I am concerned how far to the right certain prominent politicians here have swung in the years since Brexit. My happy thing for today is that my tidying is progressing, and my computer managed to do windows updates without a full scale meltdown. Small victories.
14
« on: May 23, 2024, 09:27:35 AM »
This isn't a plant but this afternoon there were five baby starlings huddled on the birch tree clearly regretting that today was the day they decided to come out of the nest (it's around 12 or 13 degrees outside and windy, LOL).
My garden survived the rain well yesterday. Aside one little rescued begonia who now has no leaves left. I'll see if it puts out any more. Rescue plants are...well, risks. The other rescue begonia I bought is doing great though. It's a beautiful little plant who only ended up on the sale shelf because one of its branches had got broken and had basically rotted over the rest of the foliage. Now it's happy as can be.
Amazingly, the wind has not yet destroyed my delphiniums. One of them has decided it wants to grow into, through and around the buddleia. It has a cane. It just likes the buddleia better. Oh well.
All my summer plants - tubs and baskets - are planted up and out now, but my spider plants are still inside. They may go out on Saturday if it warm and sunny. That will leave me with Poinsettia and Bethan the Streptocarpus in my room, plus the cactus and succulent, and Nikolai the dragon tree downstairs.
Dad's avocado has survived and is putting out lots of new leaves. It may spend some of the summer outside, but I'm happy it's doing so well.
15
« on: May 23, 2024, 09:22:20 AM »
I'm wondering how we figure out which ponies sold over here were made with poly and which were not (basically I can't get at 90% of my G3 at the moment, so I can't just go through and do the hair wash test, not that I'm brave enough to do it!) Some of my G3 also did come from the States so I don't know if they were in bonus packs or if they weren't. I can't remember if I had Petal Blossom and Rainbow Flash with the babies or the babies separately...but all those ponies are currently wrapped up in acid free tissue and stored away.
I've never had the Avon ponies but I also remember them being the first and it was a long time ago they were flagged. But I hadn't realised so many that I consider regular release ponies here may have had bonus releases over there...
I have December Poinsettia in box and I intend to keep her there...but it is making me hesitate about wanting to acquire any more of that set if they might be at risk down the line. They are a bit expensive.
The only pony right now that I know has this issue is actually a G1 Butterscotch, probably a Mail Order though I am not 100%...whose hair was full of conditioner and so dried up and is now so delicate I cannot brush her, or even put her in the cupboard. She's lived by my sink for the last decade or so. Since I am presuming G1 Butterscotch had nylon hair, I'm wondering whether products used on ponies has had any impact on hair breakage (speeding it up) in G3.
Lady Moondancer mentioned earlier in the thread that if the hair soaks up water, it's neon. If it doesn't, it's polypropylene.
Yeah...but they're in boxes in the attic, so that's not a test I can really run rn I did go through my doubles box today and gave each of the pink sections a little tug, everyone's fine right now.
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