Prototype furbob toys? Edit: And Flutter Pony Hideaway??

[kestral_kitsune]

oh man I think I would have been a very happy kid if we had the furbobs

[FantasticFirefly]

I also question why the Flutter Hideaway was denied being put into production

Because the economic downturn that year (1987 I think) meant that parents would be tightening their purse strings on non-necessary purchases, and it wouldn't have made sense to put a glut of playsets on the market. 

AH! this makes perfect sense, because all the pieces are are totally adorable. Couldn't have been the design or quality. The crash began in Hong Kong, and traveled across the world. US and Canada it was known as "Black Monday" oct, 19, 1987. Terrible year, and was the largest one-day market crash in history. So yeah, kinda put a stop to the growth of the more frivolous purchases of the pre-crash mid 1980's.

[Lilja]

!!! I didn't notice this!! aaaaahh I want to see the full version so much ;__; I've always loved those prototype dolls.

They must have been really close to release before they were cancelled. The actual backcard looks like they edited out the human companions at the last minute, and even left in Baby Sundance (and apparently Spunky and Kingsley switched places): http://mylittlewiki.org/w/images/c/c4/ZigZagBackcard.jpg

So sad we missed out on these!

[Foxtale]

Love seeing some of the images again. Seeing all of Ruth's artwork and hearing her stories were  one of the highlights of my Fair experience this year. Such beautiful and detailed pieces (and creative) that were produced (and not produced).

There were a lot of the Flutter Hideaway posters so I wonder if they will be sold again next year. I was so busy with my booth I regret not having a poster autographed. >.<

[shabbychicdee]

Love seeing some of the images again. Seeing all of Ruth's artwork and hearing her stories were  one of the highlights of my Fair experience this year. Such beautiful and detailed pieces (and creative) that were produced (and not produced).

There were a lot of the Flutter Hideaway posters so I wonder if they will be sold again next year. I was so busy with my booth I regret not having a poster autographed. >.<

poster, aw aw is there any pics of the posters, can someone scan them. would love one too

[Carrehz]

!!! I didn't notice this!! aaaaahh I want to see the full version so much ;__; I've always loved those prototype dolls.

They must have been really close to release before they were cancelled. The actual backcard looks like they edited out the human companions at the last minute, and even left in Baby Sundance (and apparently Spunky and Kingsley switched places): http://mylittlewiki.org/w/images/c/c4/ZigZagBackcard.jpg

So sad we missed out on these!

I never even noticed Baby Sundance on that backcard before now!! (I mean, I knew she was there, but it didn't click with me that she was leftover from the prototype stage until now.. if that makes sense ) aaaaa I wonder why they got so far just to cancel them in the end..

[PinkRosedust]

Wow, how cool is this!? All these years later and these photos of prototypes and artwork of things that were never released are still around. That's amazing! And of course it's always sad too, learning about even more MLP goodness that could have been.

[SunnyDazeAhead]

The Flutter Hideaway sounds like a play set I dearly would've loved to have for my flutter ponies. It's so creative and unique. All that exquisite detail!! It's really a shame it never made it to production. I love the idea of these mischievous ponies romping around playing in the clouds while manipulating the weather!!

[Epona]

Welcome to the arena Ruth Bush!

Yes, Ruth Bush brought them to the recent Fair, along with a bunch of other cool stuff! They were pretty neat, and she let me hold them! She brought photographs of the Flutter Hideaway prototype and the detailed drawings used to make it... "mechanicals" I think she called them? Plus the illustrations for the sheets of stickers that would have been applied. She didn't have an actual prototype of it, but she said that one might still exist somewhere in "the vault" at Hasbro. (Yeah...) She also had drawings of the Fairy Tail bird playset that was going to be a remake of the Flutter Pony Hideaway mold, because of course Hasbro loves to reuse their playsets -- even playsets that get scrapped!

I took some pictures, but I don't have them uploaded anywhere. Plus they're just cellphone snaps in a dim room, so not the greatest. (Honestly, the lighting and set-up in the pavilion were awful for such an interesting presentation. The lighting was better at the paid talk but you didn't get to peer through all her nifty mementos because there was 1) no room to spread them out and 2) other presentations sandwiched on either side of the time slot. ) Hopefully someone with a proper camera got some good pictures of all her wonderful unproduced items and will share them! Seriously, so much good stuff... Princess pony jewelry! A sink to go with the Scrub-a-Dub tub! Weird "baby flutter pony" winger prototypes! A set of patchwork(??) ponies! It really felt like the hundreds of things that actually got produced were just the tip of the crazy pony iceberg.

What "vault"? Tell me more???