The MLP Arena

Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: NsMLPonies on July 20, 2017, 07:18:53 AM

Title: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: NsMLPonies on July 20, 2017, 07:18:53 AM
Good morning!

I was just wondering, is there a complete guide of every pony ever made? Even prototypes? I know that Mlp arena has a section for foreign ponies, but what about a guide for every pony?

Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: lovesbabysquirmy on July 20, 2017, 07:55:55 AM
Well there are a few actual printed books written by MLP Arena members....

the MLP Wiki probably has the most information though, right now.  A number of collecting websites went dead this year and haven't come back up, so we don't have as many ID and checklist sites right now.

And we are always discovering new ponies!  :)  Often Nirvana, but isn't that amazing, we still don't know ALL the ponies ever made! 
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: MidnightRarity on July 20, 2017, 08:08:52 AM
I know strawberryreef.com has one, but stopped updating in 2014.

MLPMERCH.com has one, but for more recent releases.

I hope I helped! :)
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Taffeta on July 20, 2017, 08:31:38 AM
Ponies are still coming out, so there's no such thing as a complete pony guide. It's basically impossible.

The Wiki probably has the greatest number of ponies on it, but it isn't complete.

Strawberry Reef is out of date and the errors it has aren't fixed because of that. Wiki does fix errors if you ask, so that's a better bet.

But it isn't complete. And it isn't foolproof. No site is.

You are probably better off cross-referencing several sites. It's only by doing that that you find the mistakes.

I am not a fan of printed books on MLP. Not because they are no good, but because their information is out of date the moment they are printed. A lot of information from the printed books, if not all, is also available on the web somewhere for free. The printed books with lists and stuff come into their own at conventions when you want to be able to easily check stuff off when buying them, but they're not practical solutions for 'complete' answers.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: TheBeatlesPkmnFan42 on July 20, 2017, 08:38:18 AM
I don't think there's one site that's got everything, but between My Little Wiki, Strawberry Reef, and MLP Merch (mainly the wiki and MLP Merch) I would imagine that's most things right there.

MLW has the most things I think but there's many more recent things it lacks information on. As others have said, Strawberry Reef has a lot but is even less up to date than the wiki, since it hasn't updated since 2015. MLP Merch is very, very extensive on generation 4 ponies, I've seen a ton of stuff on there I had no idea existed, primarily stuff made by 3rd party companies.

Beyond actual ponies, there's a lot of random MLP merchandise (books, clothes, etc) that aren't on any of these sites, as their main focus is mostly on pony figures themselves. I'm not sure if there's an extensive site for other types of merchandise out there, I haven't really checked.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Mewtwofan1 on July 20, 2017, 08:44:20 AM
I agree with everybody else. Ponies are still being made and new ones released. Unless one could see into the future and see what ponies will come, it's impossible to have a complete guide. Between the wiki, strawberry reef and mlp merch, you should have a pretty complete guide to pony.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Taffeta on July 20, 2017, 08:51:00 AM
I don't think there's one site that's got everything, but between My Little Wiki, Strawberry Reef, and MLP Merch (mainly the wiki and MLP Merch) I would imagine that's most things right there.

*cough*
*points at sig*
UK pony history here :P
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: TornadoTwist on July 20, 2017, 08:53:24 AM
We (MLPMerch) are slowly starting to add the other generations as well. We just finished making a website with ALL the Hasbro LPS (over 4700) and that took quite some time. But we're starting with the older gens now. :P
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: NsMLPonies on July 20, 2017, 09:06:40 AM
Thanks everyone! I guess I should have worded that differently. I meant to say is there a complete guide for G1, G2, G3 and G3.5 ponies.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Carrehz on July 20, 2017, 10:26:51 AM
Thanks everyone! I guess I should have worded that differently. I meant to say is there a complete guide for G1, G2, G3 and G3.5 ponies.

Depends on what you consider "complete". All the US G1s? All the US+UK G1s? Are we including Nirvanas in this? Squeakybutts, Colombians, Argies..? How about the UK oddball princesses? What about the off-shoots like Dream Beauties and Petites? Or merch like the porcelains, Stickles, etc? Do prototypes and OOAKs count?

"Complete pony list" is a loaded question for G1 because it would be... very very hard, if not outright impossible, to make one. We're always finding new G1s, even now! It's easier with G3 and particularly G4 since people have documented all the releases of those the moment they came out, and of course there aren't Nirvanas and such. (Though there are the various prototypes and oddities that have come out of Taobao.. do Holly Blue/Trixieshy and Sweetie Blue "count" towards a "complete" list of G4s, for example?) G2's pretty much in the middle.

But I digress.. as other people have said, there isn't 'one' complete list, but there's several good sites and by cross-referencing, you'll generally get the info you need :)

All gens:
My Little Wiki (http://mylittlewiki.org/)
MLP Land (http://mlpland.com/?l=2) (I particularly love their ID feature)

G1:
My Little Pony Scrapbook (http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook/)
Our very own Nirvana Gallery (http://mlparena.com/archive/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=20319) and well, the Arena in general really XD

G2:
Rainbow Forest (http://gen2.aien-hime.com/)
Lavender Lagoon (http://lavenderlagoon.weebly.com/)

G3/G3.5:
Strawberry Reef (http://www.strawberryreef.com/) (also has other gens but is particularly good for G3/G3.5; no longer updated, but mostly accurate up to ~2015, AFAIK)

G4:
MLP Merch (http://www.mlpmerch.com) (*the* best source for G4 info, hands down)

I hope this helps!! :)

We (MLPMerch) are slowly starting to add the other generations as well. We just finished making a website with ALL the Hasbro LPS (over 4700) and that took quite some time. But we're starting with the older gens now. :P

Just to veer off-topic for a second - I keep meaning to PM you and thank you for LPS Merch!! I can't wait to dig through it when I have the time, I've been dying for a site like that for years now!!! Awesome work :)
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Baby Sugarberry on July 20, 2017, 10:54:43 AM
Short Answer: No.

Long Answer: No, because we don't know everything that was made. To this day new Nirvanas are turning up, and new things are being discovered about older gens.  It's probably impossible we'll know for certain that every variant and design has turned up unless someone invents a time machine. 
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: lostpony on July 20, 2017, 11:15:17 AM
Exciting!  Especially when you factor in all the merchandise.  It's like it's impossible to know everything so there is always something to discover even for the most experienced collectors.

If it were possible to simply know every last thing it'd be kinda closed and finite; instead it goes on forever.

Squeakybutts.  So cool!
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Taffeta on July 20, 2017, 11:46:20 AM
Short Answer: No.

Long Answer: No, because we don't know everything that was made. To this day new Nirvanas are turning up, and new things are being discovered about older gens.  It's probably impossible we'll know for certain that every variant and design has turned up unless someone invents a time machine. 

I really hope someone does. I don't want to go back in history and buy ponies or change anything. I would be fine with a viewing only time machine. But I want to see what was on shelves where and when and answer a lot of things we still don't know about things...sigh.

Also the sight of all those g1 on shelves I took for granted as a kid. I miss that.

Strawberry Reef is one of the best sites for G3 I think. It also has a great layout for quick reference for colour and such like that. But I would definitely advise cross-referencing information on G1 from there with other sites as it still has some really weird and obvious mistakes. For example, white Tootsie as a UK pony and from the Groom and Style set, and she's neither :/ Because it's not still being updated those errors won't be fixed -so yeah, great for quick ID reference but where detail is concerned, sometimes use with care. If you want to use an all-gen site, Wiki is better.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Foxtale on July 20, 2017, 12:05:34 PM
Echoing what everyone has said there is no one complete guide but it would be great one day if there were.

I use my books plus, mlp wiki, strawberry reef, mlp merch to name a few good sites. (I miss MLP Collector and Dream Valley so much!!!) There are also some really good checklists made by collectors! Combining all these gives you a good sense but there is no all answer.

If you have questions or are interested in anything in particular you've come to the right place.

Everyone here has a specialty and we are all quite knowledgeable!
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: lostpony on July 20, 2017, 03:52:03 PM
I don't want to go back in history and buy ponies or change anything. I would be fine with a viewing only time machine.

To wander off topic a little bit, a viewing-only time machine would be really cool!  What a great way to screw up the present without worrying about the "butterfly effect" where if you accidentally step on a pony with a butterfly symbol in the past you could eliminate all ponies in the present etc.

Back on topic, I find strawberryreef to be a great resource for the basics and regret that I never got to explore the recently-deceased Dream Valley and other sites before they vanished.

There's a printed "My Little Pony G1 Collector's Inventory" on Amazon that claims to be complete with accessories and playsets of everything through 97, and there's a G2 and a G3 one as well.  Does anyone here who knows anything have experience with these books to know if they're any good at all?  I'm interested in scooping them up for fun reading and pictures even if they aren't internationally complete.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Sunset on July 20, 2017, 08:21:56 PM
I don't want to go back in history and buy ponies or change anything. I would be fine with a viewing only time machine.

To wander off topic a little bit, a viewing-only time machine would be really cool!  What a great way to screw up the present without worrying about the "butterfly effect" where if you accidentally step on a pony with a butterfly symbol in the past you could eliminate all ponies in the present etc.

Back on topic, I find strawberryreef to be a great resource for the basics and regret that I never got to explore the recently-deceased Dream Valley and other sites before they vanished.

There's a printed "My Little Pony G1 Collector's Inventory" on Amazon that claims to be complete with accessories and playsets of everything through 97, and there's a G2 and a G3 one as well.  Does anyone here who knows anything have experience with these books to know if they're any good at all?  I'm interested in scooping them up for fun reading and pictures even if they aren't internationally complete.

For Dream Valley and some of the defunct sites you could try the Wayback Machine.  For Dream Valley You could look at both the most recent years when there were actual photos and the early years when they used the backcards.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Shy Violet on July 20, 2017, 10:13:41 PM
http://www.ponylandpress.com/ (http://www.ponylandpress.com/) Is another one I reference lots but I'm not sure how up to date it is
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: lostpony on July 20, 2017, 11:10:55 PM
Hey thanks Ponyland Press seems like a great site.  Haven't seen it before but I just checked it out and it's well organized as to pose, year and set and who came with what accessories etc.  Seems to be a bit incomplete/has a broken link here and there, but not too bad.

Helped me figure out the pose of Bright Eyes, Pina Colada, and Strawberry Surprise is called Crumpet's pose, and helped me to be sure a pony I just picked up today is in fact a fakie.  Crumpet pose, light pink sparkle pony with only a single row of hair populated (but has a line for a second row that has no holes and no forelock but there are little dents where the plug holes would be) and slightly off eye paint (too much iris) and under the right front hoof where it should say Hasbro it's a bit lumpy like the name was sloppily masked before stealing the mold.  Says Made in, and China under the rear hooves....the plastic smells different too.  Oh yeah symbol is three small yellow hearts.  Unless it's an obscure Nirvana, it's an amazing fakie.  I'll get it in a brag post with some other junk from the last couple weeks i suppose.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: bright rabbit 1 on July 20, 2017, 11:28:21 PM
http://www.ponylandpress.com/ (http://www.ponylandpress.com/) Is another one I reference lots but I'm not sure how up to date it is

It said it was going to update in 2017, but it hasn't been yet.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Foxtale on July 21, 2017, 07:11:00 AM
Also don't forget the wonderful Arena's out and coming soon site!!!

http://cat352.wixsite.com/mlparena/new

Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: lostpony on July 21, 2017, 11:06:00 AM
Wow that's a lot of G4.  How come not updated after 2015?
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Taffeta on July 21, 2017, 12:12:12 PM
I know that one set of collector guides have a good reputation among collectors, and one or two older ones don't. I don't know which they are though so I can't be sure.

I don't miss DV.
Title: Re: Is there a COMPLETE pony guide?!?
Post by: Stormness_1 on July 23, 2017, 12:47:49 AM
Summer's guides are generally the most well regarded, she's Sweet Tune here on the arena, and she also does the US Fair. They do however only completely cover the US lines, and a few merch lines. I also find the G3&4 books a little confusing because they are separated by year, and not gen, soI have to remember what year something is to find it in the books in the case of G3, and G4 isn't complete, obviously. Deb Birge's (Gypsy's?) latest book is o-kaaay, but being nirvana it's definitely not complete. It does have a nice rarity scale for known nirvanas, which I  really quite like! I wouldn't get her older books though, they're rather outdated.

However anything pony can generally be found online, and if not, there's a wealth of knowledge here in the pony community, you just have to ask!
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