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Messages - Lilja
16
« on: April 22, 2022, 01:57:10 AM »
Absolute favs! Even though yeah, Megan is not a nice looking doll and Sundance is honestly pretty boring. But nostalgia trumps all!  Never had them as a child, but I sure wanted them! Only saw them in a store once when I was very young. If I could only have one MLP set this would be it! 
17
« on: April 22, 2022, 01:33:11 AM »
The reason Rescue at Midnight Castle looks the way it does is that Hasbro hadn't established a uniform art style for MLP in the beginning. If you look at the earliest commercials and books from 1983-1984 the art style can differ a lot. So I'm guessing the animators for RaMC were more free in how they drew the ponies. Escape from Catrina was also animated by Toei and the animation style is the same as RaMC, but the art style for the ponies is more in line with what Hasbro had established by then. Toei only animated the witches segments for MLP the Movie, while AKOM animated everything else. The parts that have both witches and ponies were done by AKOM, so you basically never see any of the ponies animated by Toei. This seems intentional, like they didn't want the style to clash for the ponies, but didn't care if it did for the witches. visitors can't see pics , please register or loginvisitors can't see pics , please register or loginToei also animated most of the commercials, from the first Rainbow Pony commercial, up until they stopped having animated segments around 1989. They certainly have some anime moments.  visitors can't see pics , please register or loginAs far as I know Toei didn't animate anything for the MLP n Friends TV series, or at least nothing looks like it to me. Probably a cost saving measure. Quality animation likely wasn't considered important for MLP due to the young target audience and the fact that the toyline was already popular as is. Jem on the other hand has the majority of episodes animated by Toei, while only a few are done by other studios.
18
« on: February 21, 2022, 12:17:26 AM »
Yeah, as I understand it the episode's script (or maybe treatment?) was written first, before Hasbro had decided what the toys would look like. But if Hasbro immediately decided they wanted her to be an alicorn, a unicorn prototype wouldn't have been made. I've never seen any concept art of her as a unicorn either. Would've been nice if we could see the storyboards for the episode, to see what Cadance looked like in those.
19
« on: February 15, 2022, 04:02:23 PM »
Ohh, I remember this. It makes me wish there were images out there of proto Cadence back when she was still a unicorn.
Would also have loved to see it! But although the writer's original intention was for Cadance to be a unicorn, Hasbro may always have wanted her to be an alicorn. It seems they had decided that princess equalled alicorn at that point.
20
« on: February 15, 2022, 03:50:47 PM »
Spoiler Horse phase -> Fantasy phase -> Domestic/Modern Phase "Horse phase" obviously being the bridles and saddles, but also Megan's inclusion. The stable is also very horsey, but what makes it even MORE horsey are the trough accessories! Early MLP feels like "horses, but what if it was purple?" rather than how we know it today. "Fantasy phase" is the mainstream view of MLP. No need to explain further. Magical little ponies with magical little powers living in castles and going on adventures. "Domestic/Modern Phase" is obviously Tales, but also the shift of the brand entirely. From "magical ponies in castles" to "prom queen ponies" and "house furniture playset and pregnant mom pony". G1 is the most baby-heavy of all the gens, but instead of just "babies" there's an emphasis on "families" like, obviously, the Family sets (Sweet Celebrations, etc) in late-G1. A quick glance at MLW (which I know isn't the authority on MLP history, but it's good enough with something like this), early G1 looks like it's mostly adult ponies with some babies. But by year 7-8, it's halved, with a LOT of baby releases... like half adult ponies, half babies. Of course when I mean family I mean "mom, dad, baby", not "random orphaned baby" and "adult pony with her cloned baby self". I know G1's progress was just a matter of them refreshing the brand to make it more appealing to its demographic, but it sort of repeats itself with the other gens: G2: Simple Phase -> Fantasy Phase -> Domestic Phase G2 started off with basic playsets and themes, went onto the royalty thing, then finished off with a mansion mom and baby playset. The focus on babies as time went on I think also contributes to the "domesticity" of the gen, since if you have babies, you probably will want to roleplay "family" stories. Cooking, school, and gardening playsets as well. G3: Simple Phase -> Fantasy Phase -> Domestic/Baby Phase G3 started off with very simple stories that didn't do much, but A Very Minty Christmas and The Runaway Rainbow gave the ponies more exciting adventures to go on halfway through the gen. Finish off the "Fantasy Phase" with Twinkle Wish Adventure. These ponies are going on adventures across the land and not just planning parties in Ponyville like the Free Media movies. As for "Domesticity", we have the Ponyville playsets-- ponies living in a town, a society, rather than a magical world. Ultimately, the gen wraps up altogether with Newborn Cuties. Gens seem to have a focus on babies at the end of their run...? Is this a "last ditch effort" to make money? "OK we gotta bring out the big guns, give them babies. Little girls love babies." G4: Simple Phase -> Fantasy Phase -> Domestic Phase "Simple Phase" being the "slice of life" early episodes of FiM, "Fantasy Phase" being the more... "geek franchise" later seasons, and "Domestic Phase" being Pony Life. "Modern Phase" also fits Pony Life, just as Tales was G1's "Modern Phase". Although they came before PL, you could throw in a brief "baby phase" with the... 2 sets of baby Mane 6 merch we got...?  (The 6-pack minifigures and the Pinkie/Twilight dolls) G5 has just begun but I wonder if we'll see a similar pattern. Maybe Hasbro can shake things up and give us babies right away. 
It's fun to look at how certain themes are repeated across the generations! Hasbro seems to have been pretty adamant about not having anything too horse-themed in MLP after the first year of G1 (even if the Show Stable and Parlor ended up being rereleased later). It was nice to see a brief return to it in G4. I find it interesting that the final year of G1 (1994) for most of Europe is basically all baby ponies, with very few new adults released. I'm guessing they were the easiest to sell with their low price point. However out of the four sets, only one (surprise newborns) is baby themed in any way. The others have themes and designs that could just as easily have been used for adult ponies. Similarly, many of the later baby sets in the US G1 line simply reuse themes from earlier adult sets. Personally I kind of miss the human/pony interaction from G1, and it's probably something we'll never see again (I guess Equestria Girls is as close as we'll get). It's obviously something Hasbro left behind a long time ago, as kids are more likely to and are encouraged to identify with the ponies. But to me Megan & Sundance will always be an essential part of MLP.
21
« on: February 01, 2022, 11:07:52 AM »
@Lilja, I didn't know that. Although was it a genuine prototype? My first thought on that was do the HQcustom people make a white base in that pose?
visitors can't see pics , please register or loginSaved a picture. Looks genuine to me, and it did sell for $1100. (I realized the reason the seller listed it as "Baby Brother Sweet Celebrations" is probably because it's the only pony in that pose sold in US stores) Also got to add that I found this sentence in the article very funny: "The Medley ponies are notable for their Pegasus-like tiny wings on their side." (as if it's a unique feature to her only  ) There's so much text in this article that seems like it was added just to meet a word count.
22
« on: January 24, 2022, 01:14:32 PM »
Love this pony a lot! She might seem boring if you look at the G1 range as a whole, but I think to appreciate her you need to look at it from the perspective of the time she came out in. In 1983 she and her set mates were completely unique and set the standard for all MLPs that followed. I think that's very cool! I think of her as the "original pony" even though she wasn't first. She's iconic!
Since CC is the only one of the original six to retain the spotted symbol that originally all of them were intended to have, I think of her as the ur-pony. At least she's the one that's closest to the original concept.
23
« on: January 24, 2022, 12:59:37 PM »
I love unconventional symbols (Star Hopper, Alphabittle) but I don't shy away from more classical ones. The right color scheme can make a pony really pop out, like Heart Throb! I find her "simple", but well executed: pink on pink and winged hearts works for a Valentine-themed pony, and making her a pegasus ties with her symbol and rounds the whole thing together. I love designs like that.
This is a good analysis! There is something impressive about those simple designs that get it "just right". I think Posey is another one example where the design elements come together very well (she's popular for a reason!) Also, I've decided baby ponies are not for me, doesn't matter the generation. I prefer adult proportions better.
While I like baby ponies a lot, I do find the G1 babies difficult to collect in a satisfying manner. I love the early idea of babies being smaller versions of certain adult ponies, but it makes me feel compelled to complete the pairs even if I wouldn't have wanted to get the other pony otherwise (especially if it's a baby missing its mom). Plus sometimes either the mom or the baby is HTF/expensive, and I don't want a huge collection in the end. The baby accessories are also super cute, but can be a pain to find and complete the sets. Then there's all those weird gimmicks so many baby sets have. As a result of all this, few babies end up staying in my collection.
24
« on: January 16, 2022, 06:29:33 AM »
This was pure torture to read! Basically every other sentence in the article contains a factual error. Or (possibly even more annoying to me) statements that are somewhat based in fact, but they phrase it in a way that would give most people the completely wrong impression. It's unfortunate that some of the misleading phrasing comes from the MLPWiki, but the writer of the article further muddles things up to make them even more misleading. But yeah, this article clearly isn't intended for MLP collectors, but rather the general populace who find it amusing that old toys are selling for a lot of money (and might want to check if any of their old toys are on the list). It's not an accurate account of what buying/selling old MLPs in general is really like, but most who click on the article won't care. I don't know where the prototype information came from but suspect a confusion between the prototype birthday babies and the real release, since the SC family are also party themed.
A "Prototype Baby Brother Sweet Celebrations" was listed on eBay back in November last year. Basically a white blank of the baby brother pose without hair or paint. So there was likely no connection to the prototype mail order birthday babies.
25
« on: January 12, 2022, 01:29:21 PM »
TJ's design in The End of Flutter Valley was a bit closer to MPP.
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Forgot TJ made an appearance in that one! They got the blaze and lost the appaloosa spots, indeed making them closer to MPP. But I remain very doubtful that was anyone's intention, as MPP would've been discontinued for three years at that point. And it's still a pretty generic horse design. Whatever the case I think it's very charming that a regular simple colored horse that appeared for a brief few seconds on a cartoon full of colorful talking fantasy horses stuck in people's mind to the point that it's still being brought up decades later. 
26
« on: January 12, 2022, 12:33:26 PM »
visitors can't see pics , please register or loginTJ has somewhat the same body and hair color as MPP, but they don't share the same body markings whatsoever. And there aren't a lot of different colors you can expect a generic horse to have. I don't think TJ was intended to represent MPP, since it had certainly been discontinued by year 2 and Hasbro would have no interest in advertising it. More likely TJ is just there to serve the story, to establish Megan as a horse girl. However, ever since the MLP collector community formed online, TJ has always been the source of rumors and speculations. Many have claimed that an official TJ toy did exist, even though no one could provide evidence. Maybe MPP is a part of this, as some collectors might've seen one as a child and mistaken it for TJ.
27
« on: November 17, 2021, 10:24:43 AM »
I don't think anyone was betting on that set being next after the TEs! I'm guessing BF chose this set because they will be eye-catching on store shelves. The hope might be that this will increase sales and will offset the cost of producing two new molds (although that has been the norm for most previous sets). This will also give them a good collection of molds to fall back on for possible future releases. It probably also helps that it's only three ponies so they can easily make the full set. It's surprising they didn't go with the TAFs instead, since it's a similar gimmick and those ponies are very iconic and beloved. For the second TAF set they even have access to most of the molds already. But perhaps the Flower Fantasy ponies are just a bit more fanciful.
28
« on: September 24, 2021, 10:36:17 AM »
It was a good watch! Some great music, environments and atmosphere. Rather weak "villain" and any possible allusions to real life societal issues seemed rather confused in what they were trying to say. Similar to Disney movies for better or worse, it felt very much like a carefully engineered product (but this is what MLP always has been, you just notice this more as an adult).
Got the feeling that a big part of the plot was formed while they were still considering using the revamped mane 6 concepts with swapped species. What happened to Sunny at the end would've made a lot of sense for an earth pony Twilight. And it's interesting the unicorns live in a very nature-based society in a forest, since concept Fluttershy was a unicorn. Izzy's introductory scene would probably also have been funnier if it was a pony with Fluttershy's personality.
29
« on: September 16, 2021, 04:19:46 AM »
That custom looks great! Good use of a fakie! This pony has very nice colors! Seems like she would've worked fine as a toy (but maybe she would've needed some pink on her to be Hasbro-approved ). The names given to the non-toy G3 ponies on the wiki are all fan names, right? None of them were given official names anywhere?
30
« on: September 14, 2021, 03:42:00 AM »
I have a Baby Glory that's like that, and I believe I've seen several Baby Surprises that lack their eye whites too. It tends to not be apparent unless you inspect them closely.
Might be a European variation, most likely the ones that were sold on card with a bottle only. They were a "budget release" so perhaps Hasbro figured they could skimp on the eye whites for the white ponies. It's one less paint application, and it's not going to be as noticeable on a baby pony as it might've been on an adult.
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