ITT I Attempt to Bring Back G1: Proto Phase 1

[CoonhoundBetty]

This is really interesting to read! DH is an artist, and the models remind me of the green clay/wax stuff he would use to make molds in college, and then cast in bronze. He is predominately a metal artist now, even though he went to college for ceramics (I have been harassing him to make a certain something from G4, but so far, paid commissions come first LOL).

He works in CAD and all those 3D rendering programs that I just go all glaze-eyed when he tries to show me. Right now, he is a mentor for one of the local high school robotics teams, and it's been pretty cool to see his designs come to life. He really wants a 3D printer for home use (our DD has already told Daddy that he has to make her ponies haha!), since he has already built a plasma CNC in our garage. Once we move to a new house, he wants to build a water jet. Boys and their toys...if you're curious, you can see some of his stuff at www.nsculpture.com

Well, that went slightly off-topic, I apologize. I am really curious to see where you are going to go next, your sculpting is gorgeous.

[mlp4me]

The moulds look GREAT! But yeah, can you get Hasrro on board to maybe support a test production? Do we need to campaign here/fairs, etc for a serious push? You know you will have the backing.
Even if they're blanks we can make use of them! They sold blank G3's... Let's call these 1.5's. LOL

[LadyMoondancer]

I would not bring Hasbro's attention to this at all.   If Hasbro isn't contacted they can go "la la la, we don't see what you're doing there. *wink wink*"  They have been pretty forgiving about fanworks in the past, even for their current line, so hopefully they will pretend not to notice this project.

But if they ARE contacted, they almost have to give a cease & desist.  Otherwise it looks they aren't actively defending their copyright, which can be grounds for them losing their copyright.

TL;DR:  Please nobody contact Hasbro about this.

[Leave a Whisper]

First those sea ponies are awesome and I'd love to have one of yours. Second to those questioning the fact that it may be difficult to bring new consumers in or whatever, you seem to forget that the My Little Pony brand is a toy for kids first and foremost and a collector's item after.  There are a lot of kids who are introduced to old brands and tv show toys and think "hey! new toy to play with!" not "hey how much will this be worth in 30 years" or "hey I better stock up now or i'll miss it when it's gone"

[Mirnyj]

I sort of missed your aim or goal... Are you going to present your desings to Hasbro in the end or are you going to confront copyright and produce them yourself some other way? I'm feeling very torn about this... 

[rybett]

Picking up my "fainted at the sight of the awesomeness" daughter and going to WOM's house to play with the pretties.

[banditpony]

I sort of missed your aim or goal... Are you going to present your desings to Hasbro in the end or are you going to confront copyright and produce them yourself some other way? I'm feeling very torn about this... 

I'm also confused.

Are you planning on reproducing ponies yourself? Out of what material?

[Diamond]

Interesting, are you casting the heads and the making the bodies?

[hathorcat]

I am going to pop this over to Arts & Crafts for you

[WingsOfMasquerade]

Boy posted to 1st post.

To Banditpony:
I don't know what material I could use. I was hoping someone knew of something. Some kind of plastic. Or a mold-making technique where these things could be used to create a "master mold" that could be used infinite times to get some kind of plastic ponies out of it. But I don't know about that process.

To Diamond:
You have figured it out. The heads & legs are cast from G1s, mixed, matched, and then given new bodies. The wings & fins are also cast. I knew I could never measure up to whoever did these things originally. The symmetry on the eye-indentation alone is some kind of miracle. The obtuse angle of the back foot chisel shape is also really something to behold. No one notices this stuff until you actually try to DO IT yourself and everything just goes awry or is lumpy or somesuch nonsense. The ponies are entirely ceramic, polished, sanded and multicoated to get what you see.

To Mirnyj
I went in without a plan. I don't actually know what to do now. I was hoping that exposing the project to the community here/as many people as possible and I could get some suggestions or help on what the next step should be.

To CoonhoundBetty
If he does get the 3D printer, I believe thingiverse has some brony-done differently posed ponies to help make what the kids want. Instead of...Hasbro's line of infinite "we'll cast the same mold 1 billion times 4 feet on floor standing with precisely the same face but in different colors yayayayay" plan of action. If some pony game eventually gets something with OK 3D sprites those can also be dumped into 3d print programs & created without too much trouble.
It's what Jazwares did for their Sonic the Hedgehog action figures...they just took the sprite's head out of the game so it would be "game accurate" instead of the messy-mess that companies before such as Toy Island did.

To Leave a Whisper:
Yes to "toys first"! All the way. Not precious porcelains or 50 dollar ponies in deluxe-o-matic packaging for 'no touch' shelves. Playable for kids & fun, but nostalgic as in REAL nostalgia like bubble card packaging for the people who DO remember but DONT collect. (and also for anyone who is a collector, of course) But it'd have to be accessible. Hasbro CLEARLY has someone in there on a G1 tangent, those Playskool Moondancer, the Gusty mug, Sundance on a "Brony" mens's shirt...allowing G1 likenesses all over the G4 comics...They're throwing G1 around like a rag-doll flaunting it at everyone but then...no actual toys?

So I have:
Never tell Hasbro or they'll send lawyers to ruin it
Do tell Hasbro so they see what's up

I don't actually have any idea on what's best.
This was just something no one ever did before, on this scale, with a level of "believability" in that the item is something that 'could be' real.