The new "Gaurdians of Harmony" toys

[LadyMoondancer]

But I am the girl who, as a child, played games with friends that involved zombie overlords invading ponyland, among other things. So I guess I like that concept much more.

Same with me, my "pony play" always involved bad guys.  (This role usually fell to Barbie.)  I wasn't influenced by the cartoon much, because I hardly saw any of it;  it was just my natural inclination to have the ponies curb-stomping villains and fighting evil.  Not befriending evil;  fighting it.  Physically.  Especially Bouquet and Fizzy because their horns were in the perfect position for dramatically stabbing bad guys.

I will add, too, this anecdote from a voice actor who attended 2005 SDCC (at the height of G3):

I overhead two girls playing with a wealth of My Little Ponies, and the residents of "Unicornia" were evidently (in the girls' created world) at odds with the residents of "Ponyville." More specifically, the unicorn MLP's were in the midst of a raid on Ponyville.

A raid that was (apparently) not going well. That is, until the unicorns had had enough, and one of the girls belted out:

"Unicorns! TRANSFORM!"

Let's reflect on the fact that two little girls whose ponies hailed from the uber-friendly, everyone-is-best-friends world of G3 played with their pony toys by splitting them into armies and engaging them in battle.  It's a natural way for kids to play--and not just little boys, but little girls too.  I am happy to see toys that I would have loved as a kid, that a new generation of kids will have an opportunity to take on adventures.

[Al-1701]

They should have sold the show's rogues gallery.  Forget fur-bobs.  Give us lava demons, ice orcs, troggles, pennas, crabnasties, flories, penguin soldiers, Lavan, Grogar, Squirk, Crunch, and Erebus.

And we are inclined to think of conflict.  Conflict, whether violent or competitive or diplomatic is how we get ahead.  So, fighting toys make sense for even girls.

[Taffeta]

But I am the girl who, as a child, played games with friends that involved zombie overlords invading ponyland, among other things. So I guess I like that concept much more.

Same with me, my "pony play" always involved bad guys.  (This role usually fell to Barbie.)  I wasn't influenced by the cartoon much, because I hardly saw any of it;  it was just my natural inclination to have the ponies curb-stomping villains and fighting evil.  Not befriending evil;  fighting it.  Physically.  Especially Bouquet and Fizzy because their horns were in the perfect position for dramatically stabbing bad guys.

Funny you should say that. My friend had both those ponies, and I had Tuneful, and guess what? We employed them in that vein, sometimes, when the boys at school took our ponies and threw them on the roof. We had to teach them that was BAD. They used to run scared...

...Maybe I just wasn't a normal pony kid.

I digress. I wasn't influenced by the cartoons either, as I didn't have them as a child - but I think that element of not-girly is important with G1. I don't consider myself a tomboy but I also wasn't a girly girl. I find the fashion and party accessory element patronising and although G1 had a lot of flowers and pink and stuff, it wasn't all rooted in that. They had different stories, they did slightly questionable things (like Moondancer to Cotton Candy, or Majesty in the uk comic) and they were more rounded. G3 and G4 both seemed overloaded on things involving fashion, hairstyling (not that this is bad, but not if it's one of a limited range of options), cakes/sweets/baking/cooking and other stereotypically girly things in the toyline, but that isn't all that girls want. The success of things like Monster High kind of proves that, and maybe GOH is trying to capitalise on that fact too, at last.

I want more monsters. Even monsters who are ponies.

This is why Chrysalis is my favourite EQG doll.

I will say, though, that Nightmare Moon sounds amazing as a villain when dubbed in Japanese...

[Leave a Whisper]

But I am the girl who, as a child, played games with friends that involved zombie overlords invading ponyland, among other things. So I guess I like that concept much more.

Same with me, my "pony play" always involved bad guys.  (This role usually fell to Barbie.)  I wasn't influenced by the cartoon much, because I hardly saw any of it;  it was just my natural inclination to have the ponies curb-stomping villains and fighting evil.  Not befriending evil;  fighting it.  Physically.  Especially Bouquet and Fizzy because their horns were in the perfect position for dramatically stabbing bad guys.

I will add, too, this anecdote from a voice actor who attended 2005 SDCC (at the height of G3):

I overhead two girls playing with a wealth of My Little Ponies, and the residents of "Unicornia" were evidently (in the girls' created world) at odds with the residents of "Ponyville." More specifically, the unicorn MLP's were in the midst of a raid on Ponyville.

A raid that was (apparently) not going well. That is, until the unicorns had had enough, and one of the girls belted out:

"Unicorns! TRANSFORM!"

Let's reflect on the fact that two little girls whose ponies hailed from the uber-friendly, everyone-is-best-friends world of G3 played with their pony toys by splitting them into armies and engaging them in battle.  It's a natural way for kids to play--and not just little boys, but little girls too.  I am happy to see toys that I would have loved as a kid, that a new generation of kids will have an opportunity to take on adventures.

That sounds like they were having a great time! 

[Al-1701]

I digress. I wasn't influenced by the cartoons either, as I didn't have them as a child - but I think that element of not-girly is important with G1. I don't consider myself a tomboy but I also wasn't a girly girl. I find the fashion and party accessory element patronising and although G1 had a lot of flowers and pink and stuff, it wasn't all rooted in that. They had different stories, they did slightly questionable things (like Moondancer to Cotton Candy, or Majesty in the uk comic) and they were more rounded. G3 and G4 both seemed overloaded on things involving fashion, hairstyling (not that this is bad, but not if it's one of a limited range of options), cakes/sweets/baking/cooking and other stereotypically girly things in the toyline, but that isn't all that girls want. The success of things like Monster High kind of proves that, and maybe GOH is trying to capitalise on that fact too, at last.

I don't know if "not-girly" is the right term but well rounded.  These are ponies who wore bows in their tails after all.  In fact, it basically said being "girly" is not bad and not the be all and end all of your existence.  They ponies weren't weak, weren't always sweet, and cared about more than vanity like so many brands for girls.  Considering the big thing about My Little Pony was the doll hair manes and tails, but it didn't dominate any media related to them (outside of one very bad story in the series).  Instead, it was their sapience and apparent magnetism for trouble.

The issue here is we're not really expanding the brand.  It's the same characters only with stuff on them to make them battlers.  We supposedly have this massive (and heavily militarized I might add) country full of ponies, and only six can do anything?

[Wardah]

But I am the girl who, as a child, played games with friends that involved zombie overlords invading ponyland, among other things. So I guess I like that concept much more.

Same with me, my "pony play" always involved bad guys.  (This role usually fell to Barbie.)  I wasn't influenced by the cartoon much, because I hardly saw any of it;  it was just my natural inclination to have the ponies curb-stomping villains and fighting evil.  Not befriending evil;  fighting it.  Physically.  Especially Bouquet and Fizzy because their horns were in the perfect position for dramatically stabbing bad guys.

Funny you should say that. My friend had both those ponies, and I had Tuneful, and guess what? We employed them in that vein, sometimes, when the boys at school took our ponies and threw them on the roof. We had to teach them that was BAD. They used to run scared...

...Maybe I just wasn't a normal pony kid.

I digress. I wasn't influenced by the cartoons either, as I didn't have them as a child - but I think that element of not-girly is important with G1. I don't consider myself a tomboy but I also wasn't a girly girl. I find the fashion and party accessory element patronising and although G1 had a lot of flowers and pink and stuff, it wasn't all rooted in that. They had different stories, they did slightly questionable things (like Moondancer to Cotton Candy, or Majesty in the uk comic) and they were more rounded. G3 and G4 both seemed overloaded on things involving fashion, hairstyling (not that this is bad, but not if it's one of a limited range of options), cakes/sweets/baking/cooking and other stereotypically girly things in the toyline, but that isn't all that girls want. The success of things like Monster High kind of proves that, and maybe GOH is trying to capitalise on that fact too, at last.

Monster High really doesn't try to buck the whole fashion and hairstyling thing. The only thing they capitalized on that was different was that it was OK to be unusual or weird or odd which is why I love it. The line that really bucked that and proved that girls were interested in "action play" was the DCSHG.