Musings on G1

[Strawberry Swirl]

I think the main reason pony was as successful as it was, was the Gotta catch em all! aspect. Most people know kids and adults alike like to collect things, don't we? But it's less of a collect-a-thon with the same thing being put out. I still really like G4 for what it is but I think Hasbro has totally forgotten what made MLP a success. And I hate to say it but I don't anticipate them remembering that unless somebody like us comes in and makes them go back to creating different characters.

Post Merge: July 28, 2020, 03:26:42 PM

@ZeldatheHorseman - I just can't stand Megan. xD. She was blissfully absent from 95% of the comics. It was wonderful. The ponies got to save each other themselves.

I understand why she was the "main character" in the animation but yes. I don't hate her but if you're making a series about ponies, how come they take a back seat in the cartoon, especially in an era where pretty much every toy got its own cartoon?

[Lilja]

Rollerskating - rollerskating outfit nudge? Or too early? I am not sure what year ponywear happened in the US.

I'm fairly sure the only reason she is on roller skates is because Hasbro knew they were making a rollerskating accessory pack (seems like an extremely random thing to throw in otherwise). But possibly the full outfit hadn't been designed yet at that point, because if it had been I'm sure she would've been wearing it. 

[Taffeta]

Rollerskating - rollerskating outfit nudge? Or too early? I am not sure what year ponywear happened in the US.

I'm fairly sure the only reason she is on roller skates is because Hasbro knew they were making a rollerskating accessory pack (seems like an extremely random thing to throw in otherwise). But possibly the full outfit hadn't been designed yet at that point, because if it had I'm sure she would've been wearing it. 

Rollerskating is particularly 'eighties' I guess

[brightberry]

As a kid, it was pretty much impossible for me to "catch them all" before stores moved to the next set.  I just didn't have that kind of money and my parents were not going to buy me all the ponies.  I got them as presents for my birthday and Christmas and that was it.  So I just picked my favorites.  I never knew any kids that had all of the ponies.  Most of us only had a few each.

Even so, it was so exciting when new ponies came out!  I didn't mind the So-soft and Twinkle-Eyed gimmicks.  But as time progressed, I quickly started losing track of them all.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Rollerskating - rollerskating outfit nudge? Or too early? I am not sure what year ponywear happened in the US.

Ponywear was out in 1984, so I am pretty sure that's a nudge for Great Skates, yes. The animators evidently working from the finalized product, though, since the skates don't match up and she doesn't have the rest of the paraphernalia (as opposed to when pony wear showed up in the regular episodes). It inspired me to buy Great Skates, and Glory.
In any case, rollerskating unicorn = beautiful

@ZeldatheHorseman - I just can't stand Megan. xD. She was blissfully absent from 95% of the comics. It was wonderful. The ponies got to save each other themselves.

Aw, I like her. She's kinda like MLP's equivalent of Dorothy (book Dorothy in particular). And the way I see it, it was her pony friends who molded her into a leader in the first place.

[LadyAmalthea]

There was one episode/special that had a fashion show at the end (Escape from Catrina maybe?), where the ponies paraded all of the Ponywear out...it was definitely a blatant display of advertising! Not sure if the roller skating outfit was part of that one as well, but I imagine it sold a lot of pony outfits.

[Taffeta]

Also not a fan of the Wizard of Oz.

I mostly had one pony from a set, and never one from all the ponies in the year. I had more than one pony from a couple of sets - Mountain Boys and Party Ponies I had 3 of each. And I had one princess new and one second hand. The only complete set I ever had was the Rockin' Beats.

But the idea of collecting them all was pushed so hard.

I was always happy if I had different ponies from my friends and my sister. I would actively choose not to buy certain ponies when I knew they already had them (I remember this especially with Bouquet).

Dressed like a Dream is at the end of Escape from Catrina Don't think the rollerskates outfit is in that though. It would've been out in the UK at that time but maybe not in the US.

[LadyMoondancer]

I think I would have liked Megan better if she was purely a sidekick / wide-eyed human who had to have the ponies' world explained to her, and one of the ponies was the Noble Pony Leader. 

(Or they could have a committee or be a Pony Collective, I don't care about their system of government just please not Megan as the defacto leader.  Just make her the Spike Witwicky of G1 MLP and I'm fine with her.)

[flutterscotch]

Yes, I think the venn diagram of hair play, cute pastel things, and horses are things that will always be appealing to a subset of children.  It was a stroke of marketing genius to be honest.

I stopped wanting them as a kid when the gimmicks really got ramped up. When the "My Little Pony Mommy" commercials started was when I noped out or wanting new ones as a kid, I had Firefly and her baby, Glory and her baby, Blossom and her baby and Cotton Candy and her baby...I did not wanna be a My Little Pony Grandma by the age of 8.  So I got one So Soft, and that was about it, and poor Buttons was always "the bad guy".  Did not like the cartoons, my ponies battled dragons and lived at Snake Mountain when they weren't playing the "carousel game".  So I really only got a solid 2-3 years of collecting as a child and they are still The Most Nostalgic Thing™ for me.

I may have wanted updated versions like when TAF Milky Way came out and I really wanted her to be an extra-fancy Twilight, but honestly how many of the same figure did you need? After all, I only had one Strawberry Shortcake, and didn't want the Party Pleaser because the original was enough. It definitely would have been weird to have more than one Megan. And I didn't like her that much anyway.  Probably jealousy.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

@LadyMoondancer
Except then people would call her a useless sidekick character who deserves to be disemboweled with a turkey baster or something, given some of the whinging I've seen on Transformers forums (I don't share that sentiment, but I've seen it entirely too often )...

I see her as a valued friend who they can rely on in a spot, and who they trust with one of their most powerful weapons, but aren't hopeless without. And IMO she was shown to grow into and earn the leadership role (After first not believing she could be any use to them). I would see her as subordinate to Majesty if Majesty was present (in my head, Majesty = queen, supreme leader while Megan = knight + steward).

Dressed like a Dream is at the end of Escape from Catrina Don't think the rollerskates outfit is in that though. It would've been out in the UK at that time but maybe not in the US.

Great Skates was out in the US the preceding year, so by the time of EfC it was last year's product. "Dressed Like a Dream" features:
* Sweet Dreams (the one 1983-1984 set in the sequence)
* Party Time, Pom Pom Pony
* Ready For Rainbows
* From the Designer Collection (simplified, but you can tell by the earring and the color of the purple)
* Hearts and Candy
* Lights, Camera, Action (also simplified, but the color and the masquerade mask/movie star glasses make it clear)
* Pageant Queen
* Sweetness and Lace
* Pony Luv
* Something Old, Something New
And a made-up-for-animation baby version of "Pony Royal" (with a different crown), worn by Baby Moondancer.
That sequence is also notable as the only appearance of Megan's default dress in the cartoon.

[Taffeta]

The end of Escape from Catrina - maybe the whole episode given the cast - always reminds me of the Jem ep Glitter and Gold...the pseudo start-non start of season 2 of Jem, which is basically a glorified advertisement for the year's new dolls and most importantly, fashions. It's even called 'Glitter and Gold' which is the name of a Jem line of outfits and also releases of both Jem and Rio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx_N8NJHcfo
^^ brief clip (showing off GnG Jem, Rio and the new Rockin' Roadster look)
It's a horrible song I apologise.

Promoting new fashions in the show was pretty much a thing anyway but that one episode is just...in your face. And Dressed like a Dream reminds me of that. Or the other way round. Either or. Well done Hasbro.

I actually made a cape like that for Baby Moondancer when I got her. I say made. I stole a random red cape I had in a carboot lot from a barbie and my keyper Princess's crown xD. Probably have a photo somewhere, since I recreated Dressed like a Dream.

...Not sure about Megan's dress though. We didn't have that here, ours had a different outfit when the set was released in 86, and she wasn't a priority for me, so it was a while till I had one of those.

I do remember as a kid actively saying I didn't want Sundance because I didn't want Megan.

And this without really seeing Megan in the TV show, because by the time I saw an episode with her in she was no longer on sale. Plus she was barely in the comics. So I took against her because she was blond haired and blue eyed and all dolls at the time here seemed to be blond haired and blue eyed.

The irony being that I was also blond haired and blue eyed at the time. But I never wanted a doll that looked like me, I wanted a doll that was interesting and not just a smaller version of Barbie :/

Not really sure whether my Megan hate stems from that or the fact that she got to go to ponyland and I was jealous. But as an adult it's because she's a really annoying character in the animation 90% of the time.

Fun fact, Jem also has a kid called Danny in one ep, with freckles and red hair. He's a runaway. I always headcanon some wonderful trauma involving Megan being bossy - who honestly, would probably get on great with Jerrica ><

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

@Taffeta
Megan's dress in "Dressed Like a Dream" is the one her first release in the US came with, and that's the only time it shows up. At all other times she's either in outfits made up for the cartoon, or "Megan and Pony Wear" outfits.

Megan comes off as responsible, kind, and supportive of her friends to me when I watch. I personally imagine that as extending to things like midwifery for mother ponies when needed (based on her farmgirl background).

[Taffeta]

@Taffeta
Megan's dress in "Dressed Like a Dream" is the one her first release in the US came with, and that's the only time it shows up. At all other times she's either in outfits made up for the cartoon, or "Megan and Pony Wear" outfits.=

Yes, I know it is xD But the UK didn't have the first release Megan dress everywhere else in the world had. We had the jumpsuit with the wrap skirt, and then in 1987, Country Jamboree.

Spoiler

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(I figure you know this but ref image for anyone who isn't sure what I mean).

So I had to go to actual effort to get the US dress and I can't remember now whether I had it or not when I did DLAD with my ponies.

We're going back almost 20 years and my brain is getting old

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Ahhh okay. I missed the part about you reenacting it with your ponies

[Wardah]

I think the main reason pony was as successful as it was, was the Gotta catch em all! aspect. Most people know kids and adults alike like to collect things, don't we? But it's less of a collect-a-thon with the same thing being put out. I still really like G4 for what it is but I think Hasbro has totally forgotten what made MLP a success. And I hate to say it but I don't anticipate them remembering that unless somebody like us comes in and makes them go back to creating different characters.

As a kid, it was pretty much impossible for me to "catch them all" before stores moved to the next set.  I just didn't have that kind of money and my parents were not going to buy me all the ponies.  I got them as presents for my birthday and Christmas and that was it.  So I just picked my favorites.  I never knew any kids that had all of the ponies.  Most of us only had a few each.

I think that's why they came out with the Blind Bag ponies. At 3 bucks a pop it's a lot easier to "catch them all".