Origin of Cutie Mark Concept?

[gabumon]

in other words, what real life thing, if any, do you think inspired Hasbro/Bonnie Zacherle to put symbols on the original MLP?

love to hear what you think!

[NoPonySpecial]

I figured it's based on a horse's natural markings, because of the way the symbols were many repeated images for the original six and for My Pretty Pony; obviously they resemble appaloosa horses. My Dad calls them "brands," though, they're the first thing he thought of when he saw MLP symbols.

I would guess the origin is a little of both of these elements!

[June]

I was thinking about that a few days ago too. I think that it was Bonnie's concept, but it could have been inspired with branding, now that you mentioned it. Still voting for Bonnie, though

[Watercolors]

I've always theorized that it came from the way ranchers would brand their horses, because they usually branded their flank. Also, what they branded usually consisted of different symbols and images, much like pony's cutie-marks.

[Violet CLM]

Wasn't it someone else who suggested it to Bonnie? Looking for a source on that...
EDIT: Can't find anything. This is going to bug me.

[hathorcat]

Magic

I think you are right Violet, I think that may have been mentioned by her in an interview.

In all seriousness - I always thought it was something really depressingly prosaic. When you were stuck with a specific style of pose/mould which every pony reflected then, with a limited number of colour combinations, it may be not be too long before ponies are easily confused and you run out of options. So you need to differentiate those ponies so you can reuse colour combos and emphasise characters and make people want more of them [you dont just want the pink unicorn with the blue mane - you need both of them because one features buttons and one has a heart!]. The easiest way to differentiate was add a design of some kind. The biggest area on the pony...is its rump!

[Firehooves]

I think it was Bonnie, inspired by horse branding.

[Violet CLM]

Here's one interview, and here's a transcript (or something) of another. Doesn't name names, but it was probably thought up by someone from another marketing group, or else the VP's wife.

[moonflower]

Honestly, I think they semi-stole the idea from Care Bears. Care Bears came out in 1981 and their tummy symbols are not dissimilar to a My Little Pony's symbol.

Originally, all first six ponies were going to all have appaloosa spots like Cotton Candy. I think Hasbro changed the idea so that they would be more interesting and to be more of a rival to Care Bears, which MLP was in the 80's.

[Stormness_1]

Apparently Cotton Candy was the first designed MLP? I'm sure I read/heard this somewhere, maybe an interview? She was modelled after an appaloosa, but pink, like hasbro wanted - Bonnie herself had originally wanted properly-colored ponies. Then I suppose they got further and further away from that concept, the first couple of years all had those spots swapped out for various simple shapes, like a 'fantasy appaloosa' and then it was cut down to a single image after that.

[G4Sweeties]

Do you mean the symbol idea in general or the g4 backstory to them?

[Rainbow Dash]

Honestly, I think they semi-stole the idea from Care Bears. Care Bears came out in 1981 and their tummy symbols are not dissimilar to a My Little Pony's symbol.

I was going to suggest the same thing.

If that's the case then the credit should go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Kucharik


Similar to how the Equestria Girls dolls are a response to Monster High, the fact that the ponies were changed to pastels as opposed to realistic colors may very well have been a knee-jerk reaction to the Care Bears franchise.

[ValeofSpring]

Everyone seems to be on the right track here!  Yes, I think the original idea was that the ponies would look natural as if they had spots.  Cotton Candy is kind of the "mother of all ponies" in that she retained this feature.  As Hathorcat said, Hasbro wisely realized they would need more to differentiate the ponies than color.  The decision to switch the symbols must have come relatively late in the design process b/c I think in the 1983 Year 1 commercial they all have spots.  I wonder if any of the prototypes are around . . .

[Violet CLM]

I seriously cannot tell if Blue Belle has stars or dots here. 240p. But wouldn't it be odd for the first My Little Pony figures to have had only dots, if there was a My Pretty Pony who had hearts?

[Carrehz]

I seriously cannot tell if Blue Belle has stars or dots here. 240p. But wouldn't it be odd for the first My Little Pony figures to have had only dots, if there was a My Pretty Pony who had hearts?

I couldn't say for certain, but looking at that advert again, it does look to me like Bluebelle has spots instead of stars for her symbol there.. hm..