Now that G3's are nearing 20 years old...

[OleGrayMane]

Way too new, but getting there.

[banditpony]

20 years old = vintage to me.

[Glitter Yolk]

I normally consider 20+ vintage when it comes to toys, but they're just on the cusp. I still see them way more often than G1, haha.

[Kiwi]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[tailrustedtealeaf]

The latest ones were just released 10 years ago, so I'd hesitate to label them as being vintage. Maybe in, like, 5 years I'll be more willing to label them as such.

[Safflower]

The latest ones were just released 10 years ago, so I'd hesitate to label them as being vintage. Maybe in, like, 5 years I'll be more willing to label them as such.

That's what I was thinking - the oldest ones are almost 20, but the newest ones are definitely not! I would be hesitant to say any toy from the 2000s is vintage.

It is scaring me how old the early G3s are getting though.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Egads!  Get off my lawn, you whippersnappers!  *waves cane*  I'm not OLD! 

[JazzMatazz]

dang making me feel old

[shabbychicdee]

I thought classification went retro, vintage, antique, primitive?  I know the classifications aren't 100% clear especially when sellers just use them wily nily to their benefit. But regardless I can't see g3 as vintage yet, maybe  after the go around the 20 year bend it's still a bit early.

don't forgot ancient

[BubbleTea]

I think what stops many from considering G3 vintage (probably even in the future when the line is 20+ years old) is that they do still look really modern. I'm not up to date with how toy aisles look like at supermarkets, but I'd bet G3 ponies wouldn't look out of place, like G1s would.

True. G1s have a certain look and aesthetic that toys longer have nowadays. They have soft, simple color schemes with very basic (yet appealing and cute) eyes and symbols. Even the TAF's have very organic looking symbols that look like they came from a painting or something.

Nowadays toys have huge eyes with quite garish color schemes that consist of mostly only bright pink or a very artificial blue. Anything that is sparkly has a weird glossy and hard look to it. oh and they're blobby spheres 90% of the time. They look and feel so artificial....

[Esbayne]

@_@ God I just can't believe G3 is almost 20. Makes sense, they were my childhood ponies and I'm 21 now. But jesus... lol.

[LadyMoondancer]

I figure only the G3s who have hit 20 years old are vintage . . . so original Kimono will hit "vintage" way sooner than Core 7 Starsong.

But yeah, honestly they were released a long time ago, which I only fully realized when ADULTS started showing up in the community talking about the G3s they had in their childhood.  It was definitely a shock at first, ha ha!  Time marches on . . .

[Taffeta]

I thought classification went retro, vintage, antique, primitive?  I know the classifications aren't 100% clear especially when sellers just use them wily nily to their benefit. But regardless I can't see g3 as vintage yet, maybe  after the go around the 20 year bend it's still a bit early.

don't forgot ancient

Seeing all these distinctions and thinking about G3 as vintage, I am wondering what it makes people who grew up with G1 o.o. Antique? Ancient?

I love that people who grew up with G3 are now a part of our community as adults. It shows the pony love continuing and it didn't really happen so much with G2 because their sales were so restricted really in comparison. G3 were really popular when they were out among collectors here, and it's not hard to understand why kids who grew up with them would want to collect them - though maybe G4 and all the publicity is part of that too, reminding adults of their childhood toys and nostalgia.

Still not old enough to me to be vintage...

Although as I said before, it does depend how you define vintage. If you see it like wine, you can have a vintage year. So Kimono etc are MLP of 2003 vintage in that sense. And vintage can also be an original product of some kind - and these are legit MLPs, so they might be seen as vintage there too.

But in age terms, 25 and not a moment sooner And as LM said, it goes by individual pony release and their years.

Putting it in perspective, the youngest G1 ponies (Dutch release) are still only 24 this year. Those are quite exceptional in their limited release, so if you think even mainstream european ponies from 1994 have only JUST reached 25. The last ponies in the US are 27. That's still quite young really. They are just about vintage. G2 and G3, not yet.

[starbritesprinkles]

The very last G3s released were the SDCC and Pony Fair exclusives in 2011. That's only eight years ago, so I'm not ready to go "vintage G3" yet. But I can see why they're being labeled as such. There is SO. MUCH. G4. out there that it becomes harder to find anything else in a general search.

[Pokeyonekenobie]

I did a little research on the terminology.  It differs a little between auction houses and car collectors but it seems to me that Classic refers to cars that are 20 yrs old, Antique in cars is 45 years old, and Vintage cars were made between 1919 and 1930.

https://www.wcshipping.com/blog/classics-cars-vs-vintage-vs-antique

With the auction house, Antique is anything 100 years or older and Vintage refers to something at least 50 years old.  Retro imitates an older style.

http://calauctions.com/the-difference-between-vintage-antique-and-retro/

This site says antique is 100, true vintage is 50, and vintage is between 20 and 100.

https://www.retrokids.com/blogs/news/what-s-the-difference-between-vintage-and-retro

So I'd say G3s are bordering on "Classic" while G1s could hold the distinction of "True Vintage" within the Pony community, given that the oldest ones are closest to being 50 years old.  G2 would then be "Vintage" while G4 is "Contemporary" but I wouldn't expect people selling on eBay to use those terms.  Most people on eBay are just trying to sell their item and will put what they think will get attention of buyers.