Explaining generation preferences (mostly toyline)

[Motion-Paradox]

Exactly as it says in the title: I've noticed that, while every generation has fans, some seem to be preferred more than others and I was wondering why. This is mostly to do with the toyline and I've included my theories why and explained my own preferences, mostly I'm just curious about what drives the patterns I've noticed

G1 I understand because it was the very first generation which a lot of the long time collectors have nostalgic fondness for, and even if you were born after it ended it still has some appeal. Even for those who don't like it, you can at least recognise it as the reason why the generation(s) you do like exists.

G2 I was surprised to find that so many people disliked it, I knew it wasn't very big in North America but I always presumed that it was because there was less to promote it and it didn't have a show, not that people actively disliked it. I know one of the big complaints is how different they look and that they were comparatively long & thin/didn't look like Ponies, though I always thought they looked more like Horses than Ponies.

G3 Is one I really wonder about, I know the animation was quite unpopular and somewhat polarising since most people seem to either love it or hate it. The toys on the other hand seem to be really popular among collectors and I confess I don't really understand why; they look the most like the first generation, but there are still noticable differences which don't quite do it for me, and this was the first generation to have the cutie mark on only one side. On the other hand this seems to be the first generation where adult collectors were really recognised by Hasbro and had merchandise made with older fans in mind.

G4 Is definitely one of the most successful and has a large fan base in it's own right, outside of the multi-generational fan base. It's also popular enough among long-time collectors, but then I've lately noticed that there's a faction of people who like older generations but not the current one and think the heads/faces look strange.

The G1.5/Pony Tales is well liked enough, but mostly glossed over and nobody really likes G3.5, especially newborn cuties


So from what I can tell among collectors the more popular generations are the ones where they look more pony-ish, the only skinnier pony toys (G2, Sweetheart Sisters, etc) that aren't comparatively unpopular are the Flutter Ponies, and brushable hair seems to preferred over molded (this one I'm a bit curious about since brushable hair does have more style options, but molded hair tends to be more show-accurate and I'm part of the minority that saw brushable hair as a more of a liability than an asset since it wouldn't stay in place). Also Sea Ponies seem more popular than Flutter Ponies & "Wingers"


As for my own preferences I think the reason behind them is partially that generation I owned as a child was G2 and I occasionally played with my babysitter's old G1 ponies when I stayed at her house so I had exposure to both,which caused me to be more comfortable with more stylised Pony toys than somebody who started with G1 and didn't see G2 until they were starting to move away from those sort of toys. There's also the fact that when G2 came out what drew me to them was that they were My Little Pony, not that they were Ponies if that makes sense; I know one part of what makes the toy line work is that most girls go through (and in some cases never leave) a phase where they're obsessed with horses and Ponies are both a horse toy and a doll, but I wasn't in that phase when G2 started.

However I was familiar with My Little Pony; I knew it was a thing and had heard a bit about it from people who actually existed during the 80s, one of my toys had a T.V. set where the sticker screen was likely meant to reference it, I even had vague recollections of watching what turned out to be Escape From Katrina, but I wasn't able to find videos of it until I was about 8 years old so it also had a certain amount of mystique for me as some other 80s shows did. So perhaps that's why I'm more tolerant of Ponies that are less Pony-like

[HoustonCollector72]

G2s look different because they were not really created by the same team at Hasbro
They were actually created and developed by Kenner, Kenner was bought  by Hasbro ,so these ponies came out under MLP Hasbro brand, but they had Kenner brand as well on their back cards

G2s are my Favorites G1s are my least Favorites .

[Leave a Whisper]

G2s look different because they were not really created by the same team at Hasbro
They were actually created and developed by Kenner, Kenner was bought  by Hasbro ,so these ponies came out under MLP Hasbro brand, but they had Kenner brand as well on their back cards

G2s are my Favorites G1s are my least Favorites .

Oh, I had no idea they were made by Kenner as I had never even seen G2s in stores. That's interesting info.

[Sunset]

In regards to the brushable hair, up till this current generation being "show accurate" wasn't even a thing that crossed most people's minds.  Granted G4 has a wider range of distinct hair styles than previous generations.  But with even that aside, the cartoons were incidental to the My Little Pony brand.  It really was all about the toys.

And having comb-able hair makes it more like a "real" pony.  Think of it along the same lines as the difference between an action figure and just a figure.  The hair adds additional playability.

And this is my personal opinion but I like my ponies to be more like magical fantasy ponies than just anthro characters who just happen to be ponies.  If that makes sense.  That is why I never liked Tales because the ponies in that show behaved just like human beings down to having tv, phones and even occasionally walking on their back legs.

I do like and watch FiM but even it skirts too close to the line for me sometimes.  I don't like it when they are too cartoony or when they bend their legs in ways that wouldn't be possible for a real horse or time is spent in places like Manehatten which is too urban for my taste.

I guess it comes down to the difference between those like me who are fans of MLP because it's a line of fantasy horses and those who are fans of FiM primarily.  I've generally gotten the impression that being ponies was incidental to their enjoyment of the show.  Like if FiM was about cats or dogs or bunny rabbits then they would still enjoy it because for them it is more about the characters, the writing, and the animation.

That's not the case for me.  I enjoy FiM because it is MLP and not the other way around.

In regards to g2,  I think it was a case of too far, too fast.  It was the first gen after g1 and they just looked so different.  To be honest, I just don't find their faces to be very expressive.  And I'm not a huge fan of sweetheart sisters, either.

[Leave a Whisper]

Gen 1 is awesome! No pony gen can ever hope to compare to such a lush fantasy world and amazing diversity in the toyline.

I remember going online and discovering G2 and found the drastic design change very jarring. (This was when G3s were just starting to make appearances) So for a long time, I didn't look at them and was loving and buying  G3s because they looked like my childhood toys.

I found out through Arena members that some of them are very pretty, but their bodies, lack of species diversity and the fact that some have joints and pull out tails have kept me from adding any to my herd. Plus the ones that I want haven't popped up on ebay yet or are more then I'm willing to pay.

I don't like SHS much because I find their color schemes and symbols boring. The Sundazzle set is the only one I'd own. I never had Flutters growing up.

I transitioned into Tales easily and looked forward to watching it whenever it came on. I grew out of it, but still have a soft spot.

G3.5 and G4  jarred me too. I hate chibi style toys and any G4 fan who praises one, while spitting on the other, has a lotta nerve since, design-wise, G4s are closest to 3.5s. Large round heads, huge eyeballs, nearly non existent muzzles, stylized hair, skinny bodies and bell bottom legs. What does that sound like? Hmm lemme think...oh! G4 ponies!

I'm hoping G5 will return to bigger, more ponylike proportions.

Brushable hair was my substitute for dolls as I ignored Barbies and CPKs, but give me an MLP, or a Grand Champion? Yeah! The day Hasbro forsakes brushable ponies in favor of blindbags is the day they lose me as a customer. That'd be like abandoning the transforming aspects of Transformers completely for fixed figures. On the other hand it does get to be a pain having to brush a ton of brushables several times a month, but it won't stop me from buying more.

Show accuracy: There is one pony I've always  wished looked like her show counterpart, Whizzer, she'd look gorgeous with the red streak in her hair. I sometimes contemplate taking out her tail and adding a red streak.

G3 is one I've finally started watching, its not as bad or bland as people say, some of the songs are catchy and for kids who love anything really girly-girl its fine. I personally think so far that its a bit too sacharine for my taste. Seems a bit more like Tales. But its a cute show, I just prefer a leetle bit more action in my girls shows as I've grown up with the likes of She-Ra, Care Bears, Sailor Moon and MLP n Friends.

 Plus the toys are awesome Yes it does have a lot of color schemes besides purple, pink and white. Autumn Crisp, Waterfire, Wishawhirl, Port a bella, Kiwi Tart. They're a gorgeous gen!



Newborn Cuties would insult the intelligence of a rock, especially considering there were far more quality shows out there for that specific age group like Sesame Street and Blues Clues.

[Baby Sugarberry]

G1 will always have nostalgia working for it.  I never cared for Tales much like Sunset - ponies that acted like people broke the believability for me.  Ponyland was a magical, fantastical place full of dangers and wonders around every corner, not a middle-school playground.  Just a note, Tales isn't really 1.5 since we go by toys and not shows - it's part and parcel with G1, even though it varied so much in story direction.

G2's were too big a departure from the original style to catch on here, I suspect.  They remind me more of deer than equines, and they lacked the endearing appeal of G1 - tiny eyes, overall weird proportions.

G3's worked because they didn't stray so far from the G1 style.  Sure the ears are a bit different (and more horse-like) but overall an average person probably wouldn't be able to tell a G1 from a G3 without some experience.  The large variety of toys and sets (though sadly not colors - white/pink/purple dominated like crazy) and that helped too.  Until we got to the corebore seven...

G4's, much like G3'5, bore me in their sameness/non-pony-ness.  No pose variety, poor quality, squished noses, deer ears.  The dark side of the fandom was the biggest nail in the coffin - won't ever rate highly in my estimation. Too tainted.

[Moonstar]

G1s were my childhood ponies. Like many others here I loved MLP from the get go because they were ponies that had adventures and still ate grass and the like not because of any of the more human like elements they were given in Tales (although I did like the characters in Tales the 'walking on two legs' style it often had really peeved little me).

G2s I liked fine but I thought of them as deer pony friends more than actual MLP. I was really sad when the line ended right after it started in the US or I would have collected more.

G3s had the look of G1 more but for some reason it never gave me the same warm feeling as the faces and style of G1 did and I stopped collecting them after a couple years.

I enjoy G4s and their chibi deer look but the more human element moments and Looney Tunes gags in the cartoon often pull me out of the show. Still I think I will someday own it on DVD... If I'm being very honest if Hasbro had kept the main 6 as their first rebooted G1 characters idea with Twilight, Posey, Surprise etc I would probably be an even bigger fan driven 50% on nostalgia alone

[goddessofpeep]

I collect all the generations, and I've been into ponies since pretty much when they first came out.  I've also been in the adult pony collector community for about 20 years now, so I've actually gotten to see the rise and fall of three generations(four if you count 3.5) as an adult collector.  There are some generations I like better than others, but there are unique positives for each generation.  I also was an adult collector as 3 of the 4 generations was announced, hit the market, was discussed, had its moment, and then declined.  I was into G1s for pretty much their 10 year run, though I had started to outgrow them(temporarily...) as that line came to an end.  I think collecting as an adult is not the same as buying them as a child, but I did get to see the rise and fall of all 4 generations.  Each one has something wonderful about it! 

I generally consider whatever cartoon that accompanies each generation as a glorified half hour toy commercial, so whatever's going on with that has no impact on the toys for me.

Apologies for the length:p  30 years of ponies is a lot to cover!

G1:
This is the most varied and unique of all the generations.  It had 10 years to do its thing, and they tried everything.  It had regular ponies, unicorns, pegasus ponies, sea ponies, baby ponies, boy ponies, flutter ponies, "adult" ponies(Dream Beauties), and teenage ponies.  It had a great variety of gimmicks from flutter ponies to wind up dancing ponies.  It had all sorts of playsets.  It was the only line that had separate outfits available to play dress up with your ponies.  The accessories for this generation were some of the best and most creative. 

They also experimented with this line a lot, and not just gimmicks.  It had an entire line of mini ponies, and some big ones too.  It had the best mail order program of all the generations.   And as many of us found out when we became adult collectors, it was the most localized of all the generations with unique ponies being made for local markets around the world. 

It also had the best quality control of all the generations.  There were some "Hasbro cheaped out" issues we discovered later like regrind, but on the whole these ponies held up really well.

G2:
Oh, I was in the community when this one hit.  I saw the whole thing, and there was *a lot* of hate for the G2s when they first came out.  Most of the hate was directed at the design.  The whole "chubby" pony thing was pretty much standard in people's minds, and people didn't like the skinny look since it was so different from what they were expecting.  It was compared to Barbie's "thin is pretty" thing a lot.  It didn't help that the line in the USA wasn't very interesting, and the ponies were smaller than the G1s, but cost more due to the accessories.   

I didn't like the line to begin with, but the babies won me over:p   It's too bad the USA didn't get them, because that's what did it for me.  After I was hooked, I started to look around at the rest of the line, and I discovered a lot of good stuff.

G2s are all about the accessories for me.  While the first few releases(the ones the USA got) were strange and lackluster, the stuff in Europe was amazing.  The babies with their little outfits were adorable.  They got the neat playsets like the castle, the boat,  and - a personal favorite - the wedding carriage.  They tried a lot of unique ideas like ponies that talked,  ponies that "performed" magic tricks, and ponies that made music when you brushed their hair. 

The ponies themselves were also really interesting.  They didn't have as many different species, but they had the most amazing range of colors!  Combinations you'd just never see in any other line were all over G2s.  They still had their pinks and their purples, but G2s were anything but pastel.  A lot of the later ponies had strong, bold colors you just never see in MLP.  And once you got used to the slightly odd body and head design, they're actually quite nice looking molds.  As a collector with limited space, I'm always happy with smaller ponies too.  The quality of these was pretty good as well.  There are a few manufacturing flaws, but on the whole these ponies held up pretty well.

G3:
G3 was just fun to collect(for a while - they did release a lot, and it got a bit tiring after a few years).  Once things got started, they did not slow down.  And without prototypes and whatnot showing up on ebay all the time before things got shipped to stores, there were a lot of surprises.  I happened to live near a TRU that just happened to be the first one in the world to get a lot of stuff, and I'd check it every day.  I found a significant amount of previously unknown ponies, and the rush home to take pictures and post them up was always fun!

The ponies themselves had a lot of variety too!  And there were some *beautiful* ponies in this line.  The seasonal ponies were some of my favorites, and added in a lot of extra pony collecting fun around the holidays.  I wish they hadn't stopped that!  The accessories and playsets for this line were a lot of fun too.  I can't tell you how much I loved those scooters!  Some of the playsets were very well designed too.  The bigger of the two castles(forgot the exact name) was a real treat for me.  When fully opened, it was a massive playset, but they made it so that it could be fully collapsed for storage, or partially collapsed so it had a smaller footprint, but could be used as a tall display shelf.    They also had a great collection of accessory sets with various themes - each coming with a unique pony.  And they had a lot of ponywear sets.  Good stuff too, with real fabric.  Well, for a while at least:p

As a collector, G3 certainly kept me on my toes.  There were a lot of store exclusives with this line.  Some people complained about it, and it could get overwhelming really fast if you didn't keep up, but I liked having something to track down.  I had actually just moved to the city I'm currently living in when G3s first came out, and I learned to get around this place because I was forced to go all over the place to find ponies at different stores.  And the rewards for all that effort were pretty sweet!  TRU brought back the birthflower ponies, and added birthstone ponies into the mix.  Target had its holiday ponies and "impulse buy" babies, plus some random unique sets too!  Even KayBee and Kmart had their own special ponies, so did Family Dollar and Walmart.  Most of the time none of this was announced before hand.  It was entirely possible to walk into a store expecting not to buy anything, and walk out with something so brand spanking new that nobody's ever seen it before.

The ponies themselves were designed well.  They went back to the sort of "chubby" body of the G1s, but updated for the time.  I wasn't a fan of the single symbol, but I was a fan of Hasbro keeping the single pony price at about $5 like it was in the 80s.  I bought A LOT of ponies, and it added up.  Sadly, the cost cutting showed on this line, and manufacturing defects were common straight out of the box.  Still, I thought it was a fun line with a good mix of ponies, accessories, and playsets.  It had a lot of variety when it came to individual ponies, though it didn't have a lot of creativity with the species and body molds.  They did have a very good line of mini ponies with their Ponyville line.  It was really nice to see that, and some of the playsets from that line were *amazing*.  Some great accessories too!

The only real stain on an otherwise great line was that this line introduced the "Core 7" concept, which of course morphed into the "Mane 6" garbage.

G4:
I'd have to say this is my least favorite line, and that's due to one thing: Mane 6.  If they got rid of that and started releasing even a moderate quantity of new characters, I'd be happy as a clam with G4s.

Even with that, this is still a good line.  I love small.  I always have, and I always will.  And it's not just about space issues, but that is a factor with a collection as big as mine.  G4s are the perfect size for me.  And they took the "little" from the MLP name seriously when they started with the blind bag stuff.  It was like Ponyville and Petites were reborn, and they've been doing it right with those.  Some of the best items out now are blind bag sized playsets and ponies. 

But they also went bigger for people who wanted a bit more from their ponies.  The Fashion Sized ponies brought back real ponywear for a while(not a fan of plastic clothes), and add in some variety to the line.  I also liked how they had unicorns and pegasus from the start instead of waiting a while to bring them out.  G4 seems to have the least varied ponies but the most varied lines.  They've got the blind bag line, the Fashion sized line, the regular(I refuse to call them "brushables") line, the POP pony line, and the new action figure style line looks interesting.  There's also a lot of merchandise for adult collectors with this line, which is a nice change of pace since we've been ignored so much up to now.

[archidraca]

G1 was my childhood pony. It had big ones, small ones, fat ones, skinny ones, boys, and girls. They looked like ponies or horses with big loving eyes. The cartoon was always secondary for my enjoyment of them as me and my friends had all of our own storylines.

G2 looked too deer-like. It went too far too fast for me at the same time I was beginning to 'outgrow' them. Plus, they're all the same. No diversity of body sizes. No poses that cried out 'male'. No or few other species than earth pony.

G3 won me over slowly. My mom was actually the catalyst for me starting back into collecting and she bought me my first G3. They did have plenty of poses and colors. Their bodies remind me of the G1s I love dearly. I liked how they had some species differences. I'm disappointed that there were no boys or differently sized ponies. Even in the cartoon.

G3.5 was overly anime-ish. Not just the super enlarged heads with cutesy ears. They have hoof-stumps that are teardrop shaped and looked one shallow breath away from being serial killers.

G4 walks that design back just far enough for me and the fact that I have a daughter to share the show with makes this an enjoyable generation for me. They're still deer-like but there is a diversity (on the show) of bodies, species, and sexes that I needed. It could be better but considering the path it took it could be much worse.

[northstar3184]

G1: I grew up with it. I love the diversity of characters and species.

G2: To me, they look awkward and cheap.

G3: At first I didn't like it, but it grew on me immensely. I especially love the great variety of holiday themed ponies. I do wish there were more unicorns and pegasi.

G4: I don't like the whole chibi look at all. It just makes the ponies look deformed and childish (yeah a weird adjective for a kids' toy).

If there is a G5: I'd like to see a return to a style more like G1 or G3. But it should take a cue from G4 in having more males.

[Sugarberry]

Goddessof Peep pretty much nailed most of my thoughts to a T.  Here are just a few tiny additions:

G1: Before ponies came out, there were Breyers.  Breakable, unplayable Breyers.  Sureeeeee.... the occasional plastic horse came up in the stores- flocked or crystal clear, hard, breakable plastic. But then ponies happened.  They had the colors- size, hair and most importantly- character.  The toys didn't need the cartoon to sell them.  They were charismatic and magical, with stories that told about their personalities and abilities.  From a pony who ate everyone else's flowers to a pony that made it rain- it was something unique.  The cartoon just simply brought them "MORE to life".

That characterization was lacking in G2.  They came into the stores quietly.  They looked different.  I liked them all the same, but without commercials or cartoons, their itty bitty snapshots of character on their backcards did very little to help them.  There was no life and no personality in the line here in the US and it died.  When I went to France in 2000, I was enchanted with the babies.  They had a magazine too- with t-shirts and videos, diaries and merchandise.  Character is important, and there were two things that went wrong in G2- the tiny, squinty eyes and the rounded noses. 

G3 returned to a look closer to G1.  Loveeed the holiday ponies!   The downfall there was too much strangeness in the line.  Ponies with their names written all over their bodies... too many characters without characterization.  The show was cute, but aimed at too young of an audience.  Most non-farm girls that are heavy into horses are 7+.  That's when many parents start riding lessons or horse camps.  The cartoons were cute, but aimed at 4-5 year olds.  The g3.5 one was aimed much lower...
I like 3.5 as a toyline, but the toys themselves would have been better suited and marketed for Playschool, pre-kindergarten level.     

Humans hate being talked down to at any age.  G4 brought back real interactions and palatable, complex  storylines.  Toy-wise, they remembered the eyes, and the ears are large because the ears help convey emotions as they would on a real animal.  They look different, but they also look believable.  They stagnated on the mane 6 too long, as they did with 3.5, and the Pony-mania stuff had too much weirdness again, but the rest of the line was still varied.  The water cuties are kind of neat, but they still have a very long way to go to improve interest.  It needs more male characters- 6 years in and still no brushable Big McIntosh.  I like the pony character nods to G1, but wish they'd stop trying to bring back G1 villains that are so far removed from their original selves.  The danger to this toy line is really in the marketers still being too caught up in gender bias and political correctness.  If they cannot get over the "girls won't want to buy boy-ponies" idea, they will shut own the little-girl-princess themes of "happily-ever-after" and continue to take out a huge portion of potential sales.  > Still waiting for brushable Big Mac and Flash Sentry, Rainbow Swoop, Wonderbolt team...   

[Ponyfan]

I grew up during the G1 era and had a lot of ponies. G1 one is still my favorite today. I would watch MLP and Tales on Disney sometimes. I even had some petite ponies and one Dream Beauty. I also had the Baby Bonnet School of Dance and the nursery. I did go through a time when I thought I would never really be in to ponies again and gave two of my ponies away and threw away a Starshine that I thought couldn't be saved and my nursery because it was broken. I wish I would have kept the nursery.  G1 also had the best variety of ponies

G2's: I never saw these in stores so they're probably my least favorite generation due to how different they look.

G3's: It took a long time for me to appreciate G3s because they were so different than G1s but eventually they become my second favorite generation.  I passed up exclusive ponies many times though before I started liking them. The G3 line went downhill with the Core 7 very much like G4's mane 6.

G3.5 The ponies were sort of cute but kind of strange looking also.

G4: second least favorite generation although I do pick a G4 sometimes that appeals to me.


Ponyfan

[Malicieuse]

G1: I did have G1 ponies as a kid but i was a bit too young to remember seeing them in stores or anything like that. (I was about 2 years old)
They are my favorite gen simply because nothing can beat it when it comes to both quality and variation.

G2: This was the first gen i got clear memories of and it actually did quite well in my country. There was a kind of points/bar code program that gave out free ponies if you got enough of said points. I remember getting Hip Holly in that way and being so very happy as i had never even seen her in stores. There was also a computer game that i played and a CD with music and stories that i would listen to. So i don't agree with them having no personality. I always thought they were the most elegant looking generation and i adore that they all have eye gems.
The fact i got fond memories of them makes me love them even more.

G3: It was an awesome gen and i would like to tell my younger self that i was actually getting spoiled back than. I know how back than i (and other people) would complain how too many ponies had flowers for a symbol and it seems really silly now...I think G3 ponies had a great design and a ton of variation. (Though there should have been more unicorns) Back than i wasn't too bothered by all the USA exclusives because there was always something new to find in stores over here too. It never felt like i ran out of ponies to collect. I could just go to a store and pick a new one up if i would have liked to. That is something i really miss these days.
The animations...it was aimed at a young target audience but it never bothered me as much as it seemed to did other people. Than again, the animations were not my main concern. (Also, G3 Spike is actually my favorite.)

G4: Well, i can't deny it is very popular. Maybe a bit too popular as i could have gone without some of the things the new fanbase brought along. The show is entertaining and the toys are cute but...boring. Too much the same stuff and too many of the same characters.
Another problem for me is that the toyline doesn't seem to do that well over here. We get none of the exclusives and waves get skipped because the old stock just isn't selling. This is happening a lot with the single brushables. Things like the EQG dolls have stopped appearing and others never show up at all. We never got any of those big blind bag sets or the EQG mini figures.
Because of that i hardly still check toystores and i haven't bought as many ponies as i did in the G3 era. I do like G4 but it doesn't seem to working as well as previous gens in my country.

[Aflame]

g1- the original and best i remember them in woolworths and had 150 in my childhood herd (still have them )i only lost 1 tiddely winks in asda i liked the cartoon but the animation was a bit dodgy sometimes. and apart from the colour look more like ponies than the other gens

g2- looked like the ripoffs that used to be in pound stretcher ! didn't like these at all ! i only have 1

g3- they were ok i liked the artist ponies and the ponyzillas but apart from that i only buy them to custom

g3.5-    thats all i have to say about them !

g4- they are ok i have the mane 6  but they don't seem to have a very good quality control i seem to see lots of flaws .also some of the vynals and 1plush i like the cartoon and just wish the g1 cartoon  was as good a quality !

[Taffeta]

I have the same memories as Goddessofpeep and Sugarberry of the fallout when G2 hit. I think part of the reason it was such a hostile time was because the core age of the collecting community then was mostly much younger, plus it was the first My Little Pony new experiment following G1, and a lot of people were resistant to it. The Pony Dream poem I have somewhere still on my site was inspired by the stuff that happened back then, between Shadows and other factions. It was nasty. I'm really glad ponyland came through it; I'm even more glad G2 has its own loyal collectors, fans and advocates. All the generations to me have their value among different sections of the community, so all of them ought to be shared and celebrated here, even if we don't all like all of them. My issue with the anti-G2 people back in 1997-9 is the same as my issue with the anti-anything-before-G4 brony faction. Basically, if you don't like it, don't collect it, and leave it for the people who do to enjoy

So going back to the original breakdown.

I also dislike this 1.5 thing that's appeared recently. It smack of something imposed on older generation MLP by the experiences of G3 and the influence of the cartoon from G4 and that's anachronistic to me as a historian. I don't have any issue with generations, but I do have issue with cross-contamination of terminology. For example, the word 'cutie mark' applied to pony symbols in G1 makes me spit feathers. It's a G3 and G4 term, let's keep it where it belongs.

I'm a G1 collector, though I have some of all generations. I bought a lot of new G2 when they came out, here and on trips to France. Some of these are still in packages and I keep randomly digging them up in the attic. I graduated with a G3 Rainbow Dash, because she looked like she was inspired by a G1 rainbow pony, and my first pony was Rainbow pony Windy as a child. I subsequently graduated with G4 Rainbow Dash for my Masters - same rationale.

But it's only the G1 I grew up with. To me, though, the G1 show is irrelevant (which is why I reject this G1.5 nonsense). The ponies from the MLP Tales are not "MLP Tales ponies", they are Seven Characters, they were released by Hasbro in the UK and Europe as toys using the old moulds (some dating back to 1984), using the old style of basic body tone and basic hair tone, and even with the card style having the name on a white banner under the rainbow, commonly seen on cards in around 1986). There is absolutely nothing about the Seven Characters that makes them a different generation to what came before. The G3.5 change form. Almost all of the ponies sold in the European release years between 1992 and 1994/5 use significantly old pony moulds, and those that are new are based on the same style as the older G1 moulds. Especially the Baby Sapphire mould, which definitely is based off Baby Unicorn (1984).

So yeah. That actually annoyed me, seeing them split up like that. G1 is not defined by its TV output. G4 is. That's the difference, and people have begun looking at G1 through G4 influenced eyes, which again is an annoying anachronism.

 In G1, there were tons of ponies who never appeared in TV shows, so technically you'd have to have G1.1 G 1.2 G1.3 to cover all those sets included or not included in different animation. The fact is the animation for G1, while cute and, in my opinion, better than FIM, covers a short amount of time and is largely unimportant to the ponies themselves.

Here in the UK we had the comics, and they covered way more ponies, characters, releases than the animation. They also covered the Seven Characters. To me the canon of ponies in G1 comes from the comics, the backcards, and my own childhood memories. It has nothing to do with the cartoon at all.

So while I respect the other generations, and I have some of all of them, I don't have a connection to them in the same way. I think G1 isn't a choice between character and toy; but growing up here, the relationship between character and toy was defined very differently and not dependent on animation. I think that is true for G1 as a whole. If you consider the great possibility that MLP Tales' animation was created for a European audience, not an American one (and there is compelling evidence to suggest that in the cartoon, with the inclusion of football, the UK name for the Glowing Magic ponies, and other stuff), then you are also looking at a cartoon designed to sell toys, not existing for its own purpose. In which case, it's another G1 animation used as toy product marketing. And we should not see it in any other light.

In terms of G2, I think they are cute, if rather deer-like. They are the most unique expression of My Little Pony yet. I think what damaged the G2 line was just as much the repetition with Ivy, Sunsparkle/Dance, Light Heart etc. There are some really pretty later G2 ponies, but they didn't make it to the US release, and unfortunately MLP viewpoints/popularity is always going to be driven by the US market, as Hasbro is a US company and I imagine the US still makes up the biggest portion of the pony buying market. Here in the UK we had more than the US, but not as much as in Europe. Most of the more obscure ones, like Hip Holly, we got in Paris on various trips there during my A Level years. Some of them I still don't know the English names for.

In terms of G3, people were really happy when this came out. It seemed more of a return to G1 type ponies. The trouble with G3 for me is that they started very well, and there are some really stunning ideas in there, but there were too many exclusives that Europe didn't get. I gave up with G3 because I hated Hasbro's insular approach to this line. There were about 2x as many ponies coming out in the US as in Europe and we no longer had anything of our own to trade back across the sea. The other issue I had with G3 was the prevalence of pink. And, as time has proven, the materials used are not necessarily so long-lasting. That does concern me a little as regards G4, too.

I only remember watching one or two G3 animations. Was never really that caught up in it.

In terms of G4 - they're fine. They're cute and small and I like picking them up as souvenirs. I find the show encapsulates all of the things Lauren Faust said was bad about G1 animation (although none of those things were ever in G1 animation at all). Parties. Fashion. I dunno, I just find the whole thing too superficial. Rarity in the cave with the gems is still hilarious, though. I just couldn't get into the show at all. I also really hate the elements of the online community that have made G4 a nasty thing - but those people are not here, and I am not going to dwell on them or taint other fans with those brushes.

I like that Hasbro is finally bringing more characters for G4, but there is not enough variety in style, species, pose or any of those things. It's a cheap and easy production line, but when you consider all the experimentation that Hasbro did for G1, it's not even close. I sadly concluded the other day that, if I had been a kid now, I would've never got into MLP at all. I'd have been all about Monster High - because it has a uniqueness and an effort to create character detail with the toys (diaries, etc). There is nothing of this nature in G4 MLP. It's reliant on kids liking and watching the show, and I don't like it, so I guess I wouldn't buy into it.

I do like the Equestria Girls, but I think that's partly because Rainbow Rocks emulates elements of Jem...

Oh yes, finally.

No brushable hair = no Taffeta buying ponies. Ponies should have proper manes and tails. Not interested in any that do not.