Why My Little Pony?

[hyenacub]

I think the original popularity was that...little girls (and boys too) often loved horses in the 80s...I think horses were THE thing then.  And also many little girls love pastels.  And yes, boys too.    This combines horses AND pastels!  PLUS...they had silky, brushable hair!  Most girl like to brush and style hair.  And accessories!  Combs and ribbons and bottles for the babies, anbd playpens, and...  And then there are the bright colors on the cards, and rainbows, and magic...

What's not to like? 

[StarDragon]

Rainbows, mythical graceful horses, adventures!

That's what sucked me in when I was 2 and kept me ever since.

[RAMChYLD]

They were cheap toys a kid could afford on an allowance

Says you. I don't know any kid who gets 25 Malaysian dollars a day (Yeah, our income and allowance standards are very bad over here).

As for horses, yeah, I agree. Boys love horses too. After all, knights and cowboys rode on horses. I love horses when I was a kid too- and I just remembered- to the point where one of my imaginary friends was a magical flying horse (note that I call it a flying horse, not a pegasi. Because he isn't. He doesn't have wings, and yet he has the magical ability to defy gravity and hover in mid-air).

[StarDragon]

When I asked my brother if he liked horses back in '96 or so, he like them. I asked again in 2000 and he said "horses are for girls!!!" lol. I remember watching ponies with him when we were really little. I would watch care bears with him too.

[LadyMoondancer]

They remind me of a poem about unicorns:

Oh, this is the creature that doesn't exist.
They didn't know that, and in any case--
Its neck, its bearing, its stride,
And the light of its calm gaze--they have loved.

In fact, it never was.  But since they loved it
A pure animal came to be.

They always left enough space. 
And in that space, clear and unlocked,
It freely raised its head and did not
Need to be.

Hasbro always left enough space.  They sketched a fantastic world, a world that could hold anything. 

Transformers was about warring robots.  G.I. Joe was about warring humans.  But My Little Pony was about whatever you wanted it to be about.  Tea parties, adventure, birthdays, danger, even death.  There was always enough space, and it was always a space that you, the child, created as much as Hasbro ever did.   Truly, they were My Little Pony, and Your Little Pony.  Our Little Ponies.

Aside from the beautiful simplicity of the toys, the splendor and quality surrounding My Little Ponies--particularly the lovely backcard art and the individualized backcard stories--added to the wonder of them.  They were clearly for "us" (little kids), but they were important enough that they had elicited care from grown-ups.

One of the reasons it was so easy to identify (and in many cases avoid) fakies, IMO.

[popyduggan]

     It's the cartoon for me, I was always aware of MLP as long as I've been around but I was always about action figures because they had remarkable character traits like in GI Joe, Zartan is paranoid schizophrenic who can impersonate anyone and he only eats chocolate donuts and grape soda and Tomax and Zamot are twin mercenaries who can share thoughts or feel each others' pain.

I'd always thought that MLP was all pandery girl fodder like "teeheehee, we're having a pretty tea party teeheehee", but the show opened my mind to see how the ponies can have unique personalities and each episode makes me feel positive like I should go out and create something.

The fans are probably as creative, just look at those 2 hooligans;visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I think it's ironic this franchise is fresh after so many years while other retro stuff is rehashed adnauseum, I mean they're still makin' those friggin' ninja turtles/power rangers/etc..

I assume the show is why a lot of members have 2011/2012 join dates.

[Sugar]

I can only speak for myself, but I've loved horses and had horse toys since before I was a year old.  My mum loves horses, she still collects carousel figurines/music boxes, so it was kinda normal to me to have horses to play with, from a Marvel the Mustang ride-on toy to the Breyers and rag-doll horses I grew up with.  When My Little Pony came out I was twelve, and even though it was a "little girl's toy," it was more horses, beautifully coloured somewhat magical horses, and I was hooked.  No contest!   I just never got rid of them, and when I rediscovered what was left of my collection of them earlier this year, I happily got back into the collecting thing.  The cartoon was like, super duper bonus!

[Wardah]

I think it might be the same reason why Monster High is so popular. They were colorful and imaginative. I think if they had stuck to the original "natural" colored horse concept they would not have lasted very long at all.

[bagheera86]

Because every girl loves ponies, even more so if their pastel coloured, and even MORE so if their magical and have long hair to braid and play with.

[scarletjul]

They remind me of a poem about unicorns:

Oh, this is the creature that doesn't exist.
They didn't know that, and in any case--
Its neck, its bearing, its stride,
And the light of its calm gaze--they have loved.

In fact, it never was.  But since they loved it
A pure animal came to be.

They always left enough space. 
And in that space, clear and unlocked,
It freely raised its head and did not
Need to be.

Hasbro always left enough space.  They sketched a fantastic world, a world that could hold anything. 

Transformers was about warring robots.  G.I. Joe was about warring humans.  But My Little Pony was about whatever you wanted it to be about.  Tea parties, adventure, birthdays, danger, even death.  There was always enough space, and it was always a space that you, the child, created as much as Hasbro ever did.   Truly, they were My Little Pony, and Your Little Pony.  Our Little Ponies.

Aside from the beautiful simplicity of the toys, the splendor and quality surrounding My Little Ponies--particularly the lovely backcard art and the individualized backcard stories--added to the wonder of them.  They were clearly for "us" (little kids), but they were important enough that they had elicited care from grown-ups.

One of the reasons it was so easy to identify (and in many cases avoid) fakies, IMO.

Love the poem; it's very sweet. 

I think Hasbro picked an idea that kids would run towards (bright, colorful ponies) and determined the best way to market it.  Simple as that (which of course, isn't simple at all.). But small children all over love horses, so what better toy is there than to give them a small collection of fanciful horses of their very own?  Add in good marketing, good products and stories and an adult's mind for nostalgia and they got a hit. 

[shabbychicdee]

Oh! I was thinking about this just the other day...how funny!

For me its simple...ponies were THE toy for me when I was a little girl - they were the toy I treasured and played with the most - they accompanied me every where and they were "special" gifts and adored toys. So when it came to a hobby and a wish to reconnect with memories, ponies were obvious for me

this same here.
i started out with care bears being my toy, then discovered mlp and it was my all time fav above any toy i had as a kid.
also all the accessories i remember loving, all the playsets, i didnt like dolls but these still had hair to brush and i loved horses when i was a kid too

[hathorcat]

Why the toy is successful with children and why its successful with collectors are 2 different things I think. Personally the reason I gave at the start it "probably" why most adult collectors come back to them - childhood memories. But also toy collecting - across everything from dolls to trains sets as you know are massive hobbies. For children, I would guess the success is that "every girl [or boy sometimes] wants a pony" - no matter where you are from in the western world that stereotypical statement seems to ring pretty true across a lot of childhoods. Therefore little plastic, multi coloured ponies fulfil that wish demand. Unlike now G1s were an expensive buy in for parents [$4/£4 per pony 30 years ago] so ponies were also "special" toys for a lot of children - perhaps thats why they were also so treasured when young.