Explaining generation preferences (mostly toyline)

[gullideth]

I collect G1 because that's what I had as a kid, they are familiar and bring back happy memories.  Also, I feel that over time many ponies are in dire need of restoration and I enjoy bringing them back from years of neglect.

G2 are odd, but cute. I have 4 that I didn't mean to get, but I won't let them go.  I won't purposely hunt for them but will grab them if the opportunity arises.

G3s, I have a ton! I got them all at flea markets, thrift shops or yard sales etc. I think they are so pretty.  I wish the cutie mark was on both sides as mentioned.  I had a booth at the flea market one weekend to sell things and almost took them.  I looked at them in the box and couldn't part with them. I store them under the bed and don't display them.

G3.5, Hate the ponies but think the babies are cute.  Go figure.  They look so misshapen, like someone exposed them to intense heat.

G4.  Nope.  With the exception of the Funko vinyls, no.  They are tiny, their faces are too animated, they seem cheaply made. I think they are marketed to both girls and boys so they aren't as "pretty" and fun to groom and dress up etc.  They all look alike.  I pick them up when I find them and sell them in a bin at the flea market. They are so mass produced...this Mane 6...... How many Pinkie Pies can you really have?

[Rachel8125]

I only collect G1s and it purely a nostalgia thing for me. I think if I'd have had G2s or G3s as a child I'd be collecting them.

But I agree with Taffeta about the brushable tails. That was a big attraction for me as I could spend hours plaiting them.

The G1s just seemed so magical to me and I had a very vivid imagination- my ponies were definitely my friends as a child!

I read the comics religiously and was in the My Little Pony Club which I loved- there was that element of somehow feeling involved.

I think all these little things added up to create a really fantastic range. The playsets were also so classic- the Grooming Parlour, Dream Castle, The Show Stable, Lullaby Nursery. It was a perfect little world for me!

[LadyMoondancer]

G1 had the most care put into it, and I think kids sensed it.  The quality of the hair, the quality of the plastic (yeah it started having issues years later, but it feels "just right" compared to hard brittle fakies or fakies with super thin squishy plastic), the backcard stories, the gorgeous watercolor art on the backcards . . . Even the fact that there were multiple brush molds and ribbon colors.  Like, they could have put a pink ribbon in with every pony because "girls love pink" and they could have made just one style of brush.  The fact that they went the extra mile just adds something.

One thing that G1 did better than any other generation was how they organized and promoted their sets.  They had small, well-defined sets of ponies and they advertised them in a way that kids would find easy to remember and keep track of:  on the backcards and in the brochures.

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The small text under the picture of Peachy?  That's a checklist of every pony in the brochure.  It's brilliant.  I collect backcards, and those frequently have checks or X's drawn on them too, to show which ponies a kid had.

Some of the other generations have had sets, like G3's Jewel ponies and G4's ribbon ponies, but they just don't seem as organized and well-defined as G1's sets.  G1 was really good at establishing:

1. These are the six ponies in the set.
2. Memorize their names.
3. You want them all.  Not one of them.  Not three of them. ALL of them.

I think this is one of the reasons G1 is so popular with collectors, (aside from the variety and quality).  It's satisfying to complete set, and since there are usually just six ponies in a set, it's easy to do.


With G4, to be honest the toys are disappointing to me and I don't think they would "make it" if it weren't for the TV show.  They're cute, but they're not great and some of them have cheap hair--a big mistake on Hasbro's part, IMO.  What really gets me is the lack of poses for the brushables.  It's like Hasbro is terrified of making more molds.  But they have no problem producing new blind bag molds (which look great)?  It's like if G1 had never made anything but the collector pose.

My other complaint about G4 is that the playsets are terrible.  (Exception: Canterlot Castle looks great.)  I don't know if they should even be called playsets, they tend to just be a backdrop.  It's a crying shame, because the small size of G4s means they could make more elaborate, multi-level playsets than ever before.  They could go crazy.  They could make a pony roller coaster, a pony haunted house, pony bumper cards, a pony spa, a non-blind bag playset of Twilight's library (I can't BELIEVE they never produced that!!), and instead they're like "Well, here's Applejack's barn.  Just the front of it, though.  With no details molded on the back."  And then they don't even paint half the molded details.  It just looks terribly lazy.

By contrast, look at the amount of detail (all painted) and use of space on Twinkle Twirl's Dance Studio (G3). G3 had some great playsets.

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[Al-1701]

G1 also seemed to strike the right balance between realism and cartoonish charm.  The ponies are recognizable as ponies, but with proportions to make them cuter.  They also came in not only a variety of colors but a variety of saturations.  You had pastel ponies like Wind Whistler and vibrant ponies like Shady, and they were both some the same set.  You also had those backcard stories and so many books that featured so many different characters.  They also had the little details like blush on the cheeks.  There was definitely a lot of care and thought that went into G1.

G2 was an experiment by Kenner with results others are more able to explain than I am.

G3 tried to emulate G1 in many respects.  They have a similar overall design, variety of characters, and printed media for many of them.

G4 seems to be where the creativity has stopped for the toys.  Despite My Little Pony once again becoming a major force for Hasbro, they don't invest in it that much.  Yeah, no new molds for brushables and most of the playsets are pathetic.  Also is Faust the only one who can create pony characters anymore?  Everything is Mane 6 with the rest of the world nothing more than ballast and one-shot characters (which would be okay for the show if it was just the show but it's also the comic and other printed media).  Are we to honestly believe a land as large as Equestria has no other characters worth following?

[Rachel8125]

The quality of the hair, the quality of the plastic (yeah it started having issues years later, but it feels "just right" compared to hard brittle fakies or fakies with super thin squishy plastic), the backcard stories, the gorgeous watercolor art on the backcards . . . Even the fact that there were multiple brush molds and ribbon colors.  Like, they could have put a pink ribbon in with every pony because "girls love pink" and they could have made just one style of brush.  The fact that they went the extra mile just adds something.

One thing that G1 did better than any other generation was how they organized and promoted their sets.  They had small, well-defined sets of ponies and they advertised them in a way that kids would find easy to remember and keep track of:  on the backcards and in the brochures.

These are excellent points. I was thinking about the brushes earlier- the fact that you could have a bird, or a flower, or a star. To a child all these little things can add a little bit more magic. I love that you've said about the beautiful artwork too, because nobody makes such lovely packaging for toys anymore (as far as I can think).

[Big_Brother_Bufftusk]

G1...I think nostalgia reigns supreme for me on these, a lot of fond memories I have as a kid was acquiring new ones, having both dream castles, looking through stores (child world, kiddie city back in the day...) with absolute awe and wonder at all the cool things they have. I remember even well into the early '90s, kiddie city had this clearance isle that had TONS of overstock of pony playsets and some ponies, too. I just like the look, I like how they pose, and I like how they make me smile when I look at them...and how they stand the test of time, even with some of the 'issues' they have, for the most part they're fixable, and people have done some ASTOUNDING things with ones that appear beyond hope.

G2...I confess that, much as I wanted to like these when they first came out, hitting KB hardest...I didn't like them, at all initially. It took a bit of time before I began to appreciate them. Their quality is pretty good, not quite on par with G1 but now yet reaching the lower standard of the last decade or so. The only thing i dislike about this line now...everything that came after it was discontinued in the US is so flippin' hard to get, and expensive.

G3 I was excited for these, when they first started releasing them on ebay I was thrilled that they looked closer to the original G1's. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed with the playsets, didn't like the first castle...just seemed so plain. The quality of the hair was really my only issue with these, it frizzes the second you take some of them out of the package, and just doesn't display well...But fortunately not all of them were like that, least ones I've gotten. The line had it's heyday for the first few years and just sort of...fizzled out, the death of it was near with the 'core 7', and I was pretty much done by then. I remember them fondly and there's still enough variety to be collecting for awhile!

G3.5...I don't acknowledge that these exist.

G4...pretty much just paste anything anyone else has already said about what they dislike about it, and that's me. I don't want to get too overly negative about it so I just won't say anything. I just don't get why these are popular at all.

[Aliyahbetd]

Im glad someone mentioned the type of plastic used in these ponies. Although I missed g1s and grew up more in the G3 era, like Lady Moondancer said those G1 ponies just felt right; They were the perfect size and pleasingly squishy. As an adult collector, I can appreciate the fabulous colors and variety of G3s, but that hard plastic just doesn't do it (Was a very tactile child).

[Tak]

I collect them all. It's a close tie for g1 and g3 for which ponies I like best. G1 has the best size and I like that they're soft. G3 has those slh and so many color combos. I like styling both. G4 has some that are ok. Just so little variety and so small. G2 I'm very new to and really don't know them well enough for an opinion.

[Skeen]

G1 - nostalgia for me, but for a lot of people it's also that G1 was the FIRST.  There were no stale or re-used ideas.  Even re-issues got a significant new feature (turned into So Softs, or TAF Sundance, or the pearly MO babies), and no sets combined features.  SS ponies were the only SS ponies.  TE's were the only TE's.  There were no SS TE TAF hybrids.  Each set remained unique and special for its own gimmick.  And they didn't reuse the same characters over and over for each set each time.  Even the SS-upgraded ponies only got released those two times, and those particular ponies seem to be the ones that sold the best to begin with before they were SS-ed (like, how many normal Poseys and Licketys are kicking around in people's doubles bins, right?). 

G2 - G2 was the generation that came out after I started collecting, and was the first generation I could collect right from the store.  With G1's I wanted them of course, but I didn't "collect" them until after they stopped being produced.  But G2's were different.  I could hunt them in stores.  I remember being so overjoyed to see MLP in stores again that I remember everything about the first time I saw them, in a Target in Garden City, KS, the day after xmas in 1998.  How I got one of each because my aunt was there are said she'd buy several of them for my upcoming birthday and my mother bought me the rest.  How Ivy was the first one I saw, and remains my favorite G2 to this day.  I adored their little faces and tiny accessories.  It really did feel, later, like Hasbro/Kenner was cheaping out on them, but at the time I loved their simple color schemes and fun names, and the art for them was adorable.  They were really a reflection of toys of the time, where everything was willowy and bright.

G3 - came out right as I finished high school and while I loved them for looking like G1 and for being ponies in general, I came to rather dislike them because they, too, seemed cheap after a while.  Same brush, symbol on one side, no ribbon, same charm design in every package, same box for everyone, and for a while nothing new came out.  And then later the exclusives started to appear in stores we didn't have here, which made them hard to get, and the sets weren't as clearly defined as the G1's.    And then they started to flood the place, with ponies on every product you can imagine, and collecting them became hard to afford.  I had to start prioritizing, which I'd never had to do before.  Eventually I had to stop buying and start selling, and they never really interested me after that. But with that said there are some gorgeous G3's that I am happy to own.

G4 - I don't actively collect but I have select pieces I enjoy.  No real comment because I don't feel as connected to this gen as I have to the older ones.  I'm no longer a target audience; as a child, as an adult collector, or as a girl in general. 

[scarletjul]

G1 - As others have said, nostalgia plays a factor for me.  I wasn't big on ponies on the 80s, though I had a few.  However, there's an aesthetic quality to 80s toys in general that I love.  Ponies; Care Bears; Rainbow Brite...  The originals all share a certain vintage vibe that I appreciate.

Specifically, for g1s, I do think the size and variety helps.  They're a good weight.  They display well; you can actually see them on display.  There are a variety of ponies to choose from.  You have everything from earth ponies to sea ponies to ponies that talk.  The gimmicks usually worked and stood up to the test of time (with the exception of flutter wings ). The quality is impressive for a kid's toy; it seemed like Hasbro cared...  At least for awhile (I have questions about year 10.).

G2:  They aren't my thing.  I think the size is a problem, mainly because it's hard to see detail in something so small.  But Hasbro got something right here.  The winged ponies are beautiful.  The color combos are interesting.  The babies were adorable.  I appreciate that the company was exploring new ideas and still releasing dozens of new ponies.  Not in the US, but at least they were popular elsewhere.

G3:  I collected them for awhile.  The size here was better; you could see detail.  Lots of different sets and characters for awhile.  Lots of exclusives and holiday ponies.  That made pony hunting fun.  I really liked the holiday ponies and the birthflowers.  I liked the Pegasus ponies, too.  I think the problem here was the sudden focus on Core 7.  I understand that having such a diversified selection meant that they aren't selling.  But shrinking down to just 7 ponies really hurt sales.  Which led to...

G3.5 and more core 7.  I think they focused on the wrong age group here.  It's fine to sell to the preschool set, as long as you don't sell to *just* them.

G4:  I collected them for awhile, too.  I think they got in a rut for awhile, which they're finally pulling out of.  The variety that they are starting to release now is good, but their distribution is off.  The size of the brushables is not my favorite.  Again, I don't think you can see detail with something that small (I should add I do collect Sylvanians, but ponies are different.).  The playsets could use some work, but I like the idea of the small ones they've been releasing. 

I'm not as fond of the aesthetic nowadays, but I get that it's me. 

[aintnobuffalo]

I really like G1 and G3 because there is so much variety in the ponies. G1 will always have piece of my heart, because I played with them as a child. G4 is my favorite because of the show and because it got me into the collecting community. I love customizing them to look more like show characters, because in general I just fall in love with fictional characters with personality.  G2 though, I have never seen before coming into the community. They are fun in their own way, but their noses just seem strange to me. Since I have no connection to them, and since I have never bonded to them through the media that G1, G3, and G4 have had, I don't particularly care for them.

[Sparkle Pony]

G1:  I think it is a really nice line and there was clearly a lot of effort put into it, so it's no big surprise this is many people's favorite generation.  I would say that I personally find them a touch overrated.  They tended towards pastel colors a bit too much for my taste (of course there are some extremely vibrant ones like Speedy too!), at times they got much too gimmicky, and I find the size a bit too large.  Minor complaints in the long run but they are there.  I tend to really like the molds from this generation though, I like the delicate curves and the slightly angular legs.  The quality control was very good at this point too, not too much to complain about considering their age!

G2:  I only have 1 Happy Meal toy from this generation honestly!  I do think they are fun though, and would like to have some more.  Definitely they got a lot of flack because of the sheer amount of change compared to G1.  I think the odd distribution of this line frequently gets in the way of drawing in new collectors.

G3:  My personal favorite!  I remember hating them when I was a little kid ironically.  I like the often intense and striking color combinations that frequent this generation and these fit perfectly in my hand.  I really like the little details in the eyes too.  I understand the complaints about quality control, although I hope that it is largely restricted to a few cases in particular, like the bodies of Divine Shine ponies and certain hair colors deteriorating.  I find that their quality in general is comparable to G1, just a little worse.

G4:  I got into MLP through this generation although it is not really a favorite of mine anymore.  I don't mind the designs but the quality control is usually really poor.  It's such a shame, as I find their miniature size very fun!

[starryeyed]

so I'm not all that experienced or anything, but in my opinion, g1 is the best, followed by gs 2 and 3 (I like them both equally!) I'm too young to have experienced gs 1 and 2, and all my childhood ponies were g3, but anyway here are my opinions pretty much purely based on aesthetics.

G1: There's just something so magical about g1s! maybe it's because i love retro things, but i agree with other people who have posted talking about the care and detail that went into g1s!! They're just so magical, there's so much variety and the toys are just adorable. You don't really see that kind of style of toy anymore, you know? Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, because things go in and out of style and times change, but it seems right now that the focus in toys is making everything chibi, sleek, and cute (which I like, but there's hardly any variety in terms of style/aesthetics now!) Don't g1s just seem so elegant and gentle in contrast? anyway, i love them

G2: I don't know much about g2 because no one seems to talk about them, but i think they're cute enough! they still kinda have that elegant feel, and while I certainly don't think they're as cute as g1s (the're much more horse-like than pony-like), they're nice enough and i have a few of them on my wishlist.

G3: actually pretty similar to g1 i think!! however, i don't like them quite as much just because they're lacking that retro aspect/feel hehehe. very cute, kind of a more sleek, shiny feel compared to g1s, but they're definitely some quality toys!!

G3.5: i dont think anyone likes these to be honest?? they've always just seemed... so strange to me. they feel weirdly lumpy you know?? and disproportionate, even though they're supposed to be that way, they just seem too disproportionate, idk. (especially their heads, they seem so out of place on that body)

G4: the show is pretty okay, but it's kind of hard to get into the mainstream g4 fandom without being really creeped out really quickly, you know?? but since I'm just talking about the toys here, and I don't really like this gen toy-wise. mainly because i like when there's a wide variety of different characters, like what's been done in all previous gens. with this gen i feel like they're pretty much releasing the 6 same figures over and over just with (sometimes minor) variations. sure, occasionally they'll release like one background character or something, but it really just isn't the same.,,, i also wish they would release any actual alternate poses! (and if you REALLY want me to nitpick, i think their eyes are a bit too low on their head! it bothers me!!) anyway, i have a few g4s that i got as gifts and they're okay, but they're really just not my favorite.

those are just my opinions though!!

[Wardah]

Aesthetically I love all Gens, even 3.5 has its own charm. But as someone who grew up loving the original LPS line (I didn't have a childhood pony line as I was too late for G1 and when G2 came out it wasn't even on my radar because by then I was obsessed with the vidya games) one thing I like the most about G1 is they had so many creative gimmicks. So Softs, Perfume Puffs, Twinkle Eyes, Glow and Shows, the list goes on and on. No other Gen seems to have that kind of variety, even G3.

[Bekuno]

G1 wasn't the generation I grew up with, but it is my favorite and what I prefer. It has different poses, sets, types, and all the characters were unique and rarely released more than once. They're something very special about them that you just don't see in toys today. Even the show was pretty cute (but I prefer the Tales series myself) and Rescue at Midnight Castle is my favorite piece of pony media. So many playsets and accessories and such beautiful artwork! I just think G1 trumps everything.

G2 I like because it veered off in such a different direction. It had a lot of interesting sets, some characters were reused but not to the extent of how they are now, but I know it's not preferred because it's so different. I kinda like the the more thin look of the ponies. The 90's had a lot of weird toy reboots, mlp included. But I don't dislike them at all, I find them to be charming!

G3 was my childhood generation so it's my source for nostalgia. It brought back G1's uniqueness with tons of different ponies and sets and poses. Also, the playsets!!! They're so great, I love a good playset. The specials weren't amazing in terms of quality but I always found them to be pretty adorable. This line was really wonderful until core 7 happened. I do like a few of the core 7 ponies but ughhhh the reuse of the same seven ponies is so bland.

G3.5 is just not my thing. I think they;re weird looking, if not a little creepy as well. I don't like the babydoll aesthetic that the line had going on. The specials were for a much younger audience and just eh. In my opinion the mommy ponies are the only good things to come out of this generation. The ponyville figures are also kind of cute.

G4 has it's goods and bads. The show is wonderful up to a point (late season 4 is where it got bad for me) and the toys are cute except for the constant use of the same 6 characters over and over. I know some side characters get reused too but it's still better than the mane 6 again. I love any non-mane 6 character that they make though, there's not a single one I don't like (except maybe discord). There's a lack of poses which is a real shame, the playsets aren't that great, and god do I hate when they changed the plastic and hair quality. I have more of them than any other gen but that's just because they're so easily available and multiple companies produce different toys. I'm not too picky about brushable or molded hair but I understand why others are. I think the other types of merchandise and plushies are a really great part of G4. Same with the books and especially the comics.