Who's your Fave? 2003 Accessory Playset Ponies

[cola]

Here's something different! I have been waiting for this poll. A lot of really great looking ponies this time, with awesome accessories. Also, a lot of celebrations. Rainbow, Sparkle, and Birthday, and Moonlight and Picnic- My head would be spinning. I didn't realize just how many parties G3 was throwing! And I wasn't invited?!

Moonlight Celebration

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MOONDANCER is so excited -- she's having a moonlight slumber party tonight, and all her friends are invited. She's been prancing around Ponyville all day, inviting every pony she sees. She needs to gather just a few more things to make this the best party ever!

Notes: She resembles a Sparkle Celebration pony, with one color in her hair, but no tinsel. Her accessories are as follows: Brush, Charm, Boom Box (that plays music!), Bottle of soda, two cups, blanket, teddy bear, cell phone, two hair curlers and popcorn. The radio/boom box sounds like it plays some sort of midi electronic music. Despite the soda bottle being blue, it looks to be lemon (maybe Ramune? or some sort of similar, vague citrus taste?) This set came with 4 horseshoe points

Birthday Celebration

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She comes with a cardboard pop out sheet
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Notes: Razzaroo and the other ponies in these playsets resemble Rainbow Celebration ponies, with multicolored manes. The back of the box mentions the cake is rainbow berry flavor. The song "Happy Birthday to you" is copyrighted, but still used for the cake when her magnet hoof touches the cake platter. Her accessory are as follows: A Cake (that plays music), a candle, four slices of cakes with forks, four bunny slippers, a comb, a present, a teddy bear/candy tab to put in the present box, and all sorts of party games and activities made of cardboard for the ponies to enjoy. This set came with 4 horseshoe points

I also found an online instructions link... if you wanted to view the instructions in HQ: https://instructions.hasbro.com/api/download/60201_en-us_my-little-pony-birthday-celebration-with-razzaroo-pony.pdf


Picnic Celebration (Toys R Us Exclusive)

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If you're looking for APPLEJACK, you can almost always find her in Pony Park, having a picnic next to Rainbowberry Fountain! She loves to pack a basket full of yummy treats and share them with her friends. Sometimes she takes her basket to Pony Beach, and goes for a swim after lunch!
(This information is from the inside of the tag on the bag, rather than it being printed on the back of the bag's cardboard insert)

Notes: Quite a few different accessory molds are reused after 2003, and this set is no exception with it's nice variety of items. Applejack was only released twice, in Picnic Celebration and within the same year in Tea Party. She was reproduced for Basic Fun's G3 Retro line, but it was a bit of an odd reproduction I think, in comparison. Her accessories are as follows: An apple shaped vinyl bag (which was part of the packaging), Picnic Basket, 3 pairs of apples, 3 sandwiches on plates, 3 forks and knives with napkins, 3 cups, a bottle of soda, one piece of pie on a pie server, tree trunk with raccoon (which pops out when her magnet touch the tree trunk), brush, a charm and friendship ribbon (Bracelet). The tag mentions the pie is chocolate fudge, the sandwiches are peanut butter and jelly- however the insides are a vague purple jelly color. The soda looks to be apple and cherry. I think this is one of the few times a G3 pony comes with an animal friend. This set came with 6 horseshoe points

Tea Party (KB Toys exclusive distribution, and in other stores internationally)

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SPRING FEVER likes anything new. She's always the first to try a new recipe, and the first to wear the latest fashions. She loves to see new flowers peeking out from under the snow, and hear baby bird's singing in their nests. But most of all, she loves to make new friends!

Applejack's backcard from Picnic Celebration is included on the package, however her information is the same.

Notes: Both ponies are released alone this year, Spring Fever came out for a seasonal release with slightly different colors apparently. Applejack came in the Picnic Celebration set mentioned above. Their accessories are as follows: A vinyl carry bag (which is part of the packaging), teapot, creamer, sugar bowl, 3 teacups with saucers, 2 brushes and a playmat. I could not find an image of just the playmat from a resource, so instead I took one from Mercari. This set came with 6 horseshoe points

Image sources: Hasbro Instructions, Strawberry Reef, MLPMerch, My Little Wiki, Silverfall's Ponytopia, Mercari, Poshmark, Ebay
Backcards and other information: My Little Wiki, Silverfall's Ponytopia, Ebay, Listing images

So just imo, there's not a single bad set here. I have my own biases on the individual ponies and accessories- these sets are amazing. They remind me of LPS, and I see the inspiration G5's own team took when designing their own playline. I think G3's style, accessibility and functions worked wonderfully. I noticed though, that as years go on, accessory counts go down. That applies to almost every toy line, but MLP especially. Maybe thing got too expensive, and if they did testing on it, they would see it's worth it to keep these high accessory counts.

I think it's almost impossible for me to chose just one pony to be the best amongst this line up. I don't particularly love Spring Fever's design, although I quite like her palette, so sorry Spring Fever fans! I think it's the pink coat- her mane totally rocks though. Applejack, Moondancer and Razzaroo all have really strong designs for me personally. I think Moondancer is my favourite pony out of these, but it's a very tight race. Accessory wise, Razzaroo is the most creative with the pop outs and cake, but I can't ignore Picnic Celebration's awesome bag. Sorry to drop Tea Party like I just did, but it is not the best out of this line up. I do think it has great points the others don't have- like two ponies, a way to store accessories, a playmat.

Unfortunately, almost every pony in this poll will not return, despite how much I hyped them up and celebrated them. I see these sets along with the playsets of 2003 to be some of the best G3 has to offer personally. That's not to say there isn't more to look forward to, but I have a real soft spot for things like this. Accessories, great designs, bags...Just, a lot of things I like about MLP in one set. Spring Fever will make a come back during the 2003 Seasonal poll. I'll hold off on the special release and video ponies for now. Maybe I'll wait until we get to 2004 to revisit them.

This is a very different poll from the others for me- there's just a lot to capture. Let me know if I should be splitting these in the future. I was thinking in a few weeks I'll make a poll for just 2003s playsets, and maybe the spring baskets as a whole.

 

happy voting!

Edit: moved accidentally misplaced notes.

[Ponybookworm]

VERY hard choice as all are gorgeous & suit their sets well (don't start me on Tea Leaf having a slumber set rather than a tea set!!!)
But in the end blue won out & I chose Moondancer. She is stunning!!!

[Leave a Whisper]

Tough choice between Moondancer and Razzaroo. I like Applejack a lot too. I'll goooo wiiiiith Razz. I'd love to have her someday. She's one of the only two ponies I like on that pose.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Moondancer.  Love blue ponies!

[BlackCurtains]

Moondancer for sure.

I thought Spring Fever was yellow?

[Leave a Whisper]

Moondancer for sure.

I thought Spring Fever was yellow?

I think that's Spring Parade.

[BlackCurtains]

Ah, you're right! And she's orange not yellow. I should know that

[brightberry]

I love that you add their descriptions!

I've always preferred Applejack.  I remember looking at her on Amazon when she first came out but had some excuse not to buy her.   I did get the 35th version though.


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[Taffeta]

I actually didn't own her until a year or two ago, when I found one in a charity shop, but I am going with Applejack. Principally because my sister brought hers back from Australia, before she was actually on sale in the UK, and there was something kind of neat about her red and green that appealed to me.

I do like Moondancer as well though I'm not keen on her or Razz's poses.

Spring Fever should belong with the seasons and isn't a playset pony for me

[Leave a Whisper]

Ah, you're right! And she's orange not yellow. I should know that

I get them confused all the time. 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

At one point I owned all of these ponies but now I find it a struggle to remember all the G3 names

[Ponyfan]

I'm going with Applejack. Something about her being that deep shade of red really sets her apart from most of the other G3 ponies.  I have and Moondancer, but none of the accesories.


Ponyfan

[Destiny]

This was really hard. I went with Moondancer.
They're all so pretty and the sets were so neat. I think I only managed to get Razz back then, but remember really wanting Moondancer and Applejack as well.

I love that you add their descriptions!

I've always preferred Applejack.  I remember looking at her on Amazon when she first came out but had some excuse not to buy her.   I did get the 35th version though.


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That photo is gorgeous! Applejack and Autumn Skye really compliment eachother.

[Griffin]

Moondancer is a beautiful pony but I'm going with Applejack, considering the sets as a whole that one appeals to me the most (and if I'd been a kid at the time, I'm sure I would've loved those accessories, I was always into realistic-looking food miniatures...) 

I don't have any of these ponies or their accessories in my collection, though.

[Leave a Whisper]

I love that you add their descriptions!

I've always preferred Applejack.  I remember looking at her on Amazon when she first came out but had some excuse not to buy her.   I did get the 35th version though.


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What a pretty photo!