Well, I learned a new word today thanks to this thread - passel.  "Passel of ponies" is just fun to say!  Passelofponiespasselofponiespasselofponies...   

Thanks for sharing the scans btw!  Oh, what simpler times...

2005 here!  This poll is really eye-opening... I assume the large amount of "less than a year" folks were mostly brought here through Friendship is Magic.  That's awesome!

Yeah, what can ya do?  Haters gonna hate.

I think something like a "clan-like" behavior is going to trump civility, unfortunately.  Being nasty towards the older gens is condoned, so more people will engage in it.  Plus, the anonymity of the internet often instigates rude behavior, because there are virtually no consequences for being so. 

As much as it annoys me that the rude bro.nies are "biting the hand that feeds them," or holding double standards on the "love and tolerate" philosophy, I still have to acknowledge that most of them are doing so because they're simply a product of their environment.  Without genuine, "real-life" communities around in the U.S. in the last several decades, most don't ever have the opportunity to adopt and practice better, more civil behavior, because they're not regularly exposed to it.  More significantly, they don't have to be civil, so they are not.  It's an unfortunate reality that we live in nowadays; it won't last forever (because it can't, frankly) but until then such behavior will continue as long as people can get away with it.   

Wow!  Hasbro made a villain into a toy for the first time in MLP's 30-year history!  That is incredible!!

And don't be hatin' on the bronies!  Bronies and old-school collectors have much in common.  Not least of which is that we want show-accurate toys.  I think the reason that bronies have successfully moved Hasbro to action is not because they screamed louder than collectors, but because their very numbers and output dwarfs that of the traditional adult collector demographic.  There are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of bronies worldwide, and the numbers just continue to grow.  Us collectors number in, what, perhaps a few thousand?
And bronies are incredibly prolific in showing their passion for the show - the quality and volume of fanworks is astounding.  Fanart, comics, music, fanfics, customs, plushies, PMVs, original animation - it's mind-blowing how much media is produced as a response to this show.  After months of continued, never-waning passion for the series, of course Hasbro is gonna sit up and take notice of this demographic, and assess them as a potential market.  I'm so happy they finally responded with some of the "most-wanted" merchandise, e.g. a white Celestia.

I really hope they produce enough toys to meet demand - I'm sure many a Toys R Us store is going to be swamped come autumn.  LOL!  And lets also hope that these toys sell well enough to encourage more "waves" of fan favorites made into official figurines.  I haven't been this excited for upcoming MLP merchandise in a very long time!