Hey, I'm not sure if this is the right place t ask for help. I am not really sure who to contact. I'm seeking help to change my login username because it's currently too long and it's really tedious for me to login, esp if I am on my phone. Thanks!!

I see the HQG1C posts pop up every now and then on the Arena. It's not like the thread count traffic is so huge that people have problems coming across them.  I used to be an Arena regular but I'm on FB most of the time now. I come on like 3 times a month and I still spot the posts. Maybe because I'm already aware of the project and keep my eyes out for related posts.

 I don't blame Clipper for focusing on FB mostly.  It's still the most interactive platform and feedback is almost immediate. I've been following the project from the start. I remember when I met Clipper in 2016 at the Pony Fair and all he had was a Genie picture in a cardboard. The pony wasn't even in hand yet. The project has certainly come far.

The ponies get better with each release and the project tries some stuff Hasbro didn't attempt. It's a lot of fun seeing the project blossom from one unicorn to a range of poses. It's almost reminiscent of G1s but the proj takes on its own life and has its own style and signature. The production is expensive unfortunately and even if the ponies are so called mass produced let's  say 500-1500 units, to a factory in China its NOTHING. Anyone in production can tell you that. Factories want BULK ORDERS and we are talking about 10,000 units minimum as a rule of thumb. I'm surprised the project has been able to do so many variations with such limited order numbers. Not all factories are willing to do that and they will definitely jack up the price to penalise for the lack of numbers.

I think Clipper has been trying very hard and he's putting out a lot of personal money to achieve this. If you support it just buying a pony will help to support the cause. It's how the project sustains itself, and you gotta give it to Clipper. How many projects have we've seen come and go and has enjoyed such longevity? You can whine and complain about price and design blah blah not up to your standards, if you don't like it go make your own. Get your own factory, flood the market and set your own price. I for one would like to see the project continue so I encourage anyone who can afford to try it and have some FUN.

I'm pretty much out of the G4 loops since Hasbro started with the Equestria Girls stuff. I still pick up the occasional odd pieces that I happen to like or think is unique. I kind of like the new re-design, but the short and wimpy legs really bother me. I wish they were a bit longer so the ponies look proportionate. Only Cadence looks deformed with the bulbous big head, and certain versions of Twilight with eyes so big they look like slices of pizza stuck on the face. lol

I have never been truly crazy over them to start with. I like the first few waves at the beginning when we were getting different characters and accessories, and enjoyed the small size because I could display more with the same limited shelf space. The 2nd wave contained some of my favourites like Lyra, Lily Blossom, Dewdrop Dazzle and Snow Catcher. Anything 2015 onwards became white noise to me. I have thought about selling out most of my G4s at one point, but they are like banana notes now. They are worth nothing, and it's not so worth my time to take pics, sell and run to the post office for the measly amount of money I get back. I packed everything in a giant box and off into the storage they go. I don't get as much a kick looking at them anymore. A few are evergreen eye-candy, as for the rest, meh I still like my G1s, G2s and G3s. G1s are still my sweetheart favourites. I like how they look. They are a nice size for me. I like how everything is simple and nice. Everything was done right, and the crazy variants were fun to track down. G2s have a niche uniqueness to them, while G3s have some fun colours going, but the poses, symbols and complicated designs don't always go down well with me. G4s - I'm pretty much done. They are really Friendship is Magic, and not so much My Little Pony for me anymore.

I don't watch the FIM show, so I can't comment on it in detail - I never really got into it and the odd eps I've seen since haven't grabbed me either. So I won't offer an opinion on what I don't know

A few episodes were good entertainment, but it is not something I will revisit again over and over.

G1 had animation. A lot of kids watched it growing up. Not all countries had it broadcast, because we didn't live in a digital age as we do now, where such things are easier. I grew up with the comics, which you could come into at any time because the stories focused mostly on the ponies out at any one time. The G1 animation, when it was there, sort of did the same thing.

The difference I see with G1 and G4 is that G1 was the cake and the animation eps were an optional cherry on the top, but absolutely not a core part of the line. Other toppings, such as the comics, existed, and even without anything else, there was enough in pony toys and backcards for kids to just get on with things.

G4, the animation is the cake and the toys are the toppings. In short, everything is tied to and depends on the animation, thus the same ponies get churned out over and over again. I can't comment, as I said, on the show's content in detail because I don't watch it. But I think that G4 needs it, where G1 didn't. And that's probably the problem, because a series can only go on so long before people run out of ideas. The same is obviously true of a toy line, but a toy line stifled by a TV series is in my opinion problematic.

That's a good observation, I think you are onto something there. It is true the G1s were more material independent, while the G4s are more reliant on the success of their media content.

G1 had the freedom to be what it was because the animation is literally just there to advertise the toys. With G4, the relationship is much more complex.

Regarding what LM said, it is small children driving the pony line, but that doesn't mean small children are stupid or that they only buy the mane six over and over again. I'll reiterate what I said before, but I have seen kids in the UK who are looking through the ponies for specific characters, or who are very clear and articulate on what they want and why. The ponies that do not sell well here are often the Mane 6 varieties. I don't know how to rationalise that with the success of the toy line, but I would suggest that it is related to the fact Hasbro is putting less money into production and character creation, thus can take a bigger risk on mane six not selling. There will of course always be parents who buy indiscriminiately for kids, and kids who newly get into it. And there are collectors who buy lots of mane 6 on sale for customs and the like. Adults buying ponies does affect the market, because adults have more disposable income than most children.

I think it's wrong to imply modern kids are somehow more superficial than we were as children. We have the comparison of our own prior experiences. For them, this is what My Little Pony is, and there isn't a comparison. If we're talking about its success with kids, we can't compare it to prior generations, because only the adults can really make that comparison. That's the flaw in the argument for me. I will stand by my belief that these same kids who love MLP now would be no different from how we were in the years of G1 if they had the range offered to them.

To be fair, the way people absorb content is very different now compared to the 80s. It is true, the G1s had more freedom, but the 80s was also a time when it was cheaper to take risk. Hasbro was still burgeoning, not a top of the line listed company that has investors to keep happy. It was also the time when people could randomly get drunk and tweaked out, make B grade movies and chance into making big big hits like Star Wars. lol

Children from the new generation interact differently too. They "mature" faster, and they grow up with interactive content on iPads. Observing my housemate's daughter and my niece, they actually had problems with playing toys. They lose interest quickly if I don't play ponies with them, making sounds for them. They ask me how I play with ponies because they don't move on their own. My generation was the time when parents worked all day, and us children would stay home and play ourselves making up stories with toys. Imagine-play was part and parcel of our childhood, while TV didn't have so much programming going on all the time either. I think children nowadays grow up in an environment where interactive content are catered to them, and they have grown used to being entertained opposed to picking up something to create content for themselves. Hasbro has proven time and again that they rarely want to spend money or take unwanted risk bucking the trend to establish their products. Instead, they catch on quickly to ride the wave, and that has been the successful formula for them. The rehashing I've learned is not so much for collectors who are already into the toy line, rather it is for the new waves of young little fans every year who just come of age, and want their first little pony. It is to keep the staples of the show relevant and constantly available. The children market has shorter product life cycles than before, and kids enter and exit the toy phase quicker too. Naturally I can see Hasbro focusing on making ponies attractive to buy on the shelf (gimmicks and so on), but may not necessarily be fun to play. After all, kids are going to want them in the heat of the moment, and toss them out in favour of other more exciting stuff once their short attention span fizzle out.

I am not saying the younger generation is superficial, but the fact that they grow up in a different environment that changes faster, where everything is touch-screen and interactive. The whole idea of play and fun can be very different to them. It is fact from studies that children who grow up playing with the iPad have shorter attention span because their minds have been conditioned to receive instant feedback and gratification, such that when they are exposed to something less interactive or something doesn't latch on to their attention, they quickly move on to the next. It's like trying apps in the app store. Download, play - unhappy? - delete, and move on to the next app that works.

I would like to see an episode with the Candy Cane, Sundae Best, and  Sweetberry ponies. It'll also be nice to revisit the Princess Ponies and getting to know the 2nd set of Princess ponies.

Pretty! What colours did you use for her hair?

I actually kind of liked it. I bought extra accessories to spruce it up. I would say it's worth it if yu can get one between $2-10. Probably not worth the original retail price.

It's not sand, it's the rubber elastics. They break down easily within a year or two and crumble into bits like this. Too bad I didn't know you are from Singapore!!!! I was moving to NYC last August and had to give away over a hundred G3s. You could have been a lucky recipient.