My Little Pony Collecting.com

My Little Pony Trivia Tuesday

triviamaven — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:00:24 +0000

Here’s today’s question:

Often mistaken for My Little Pony toys, Hasbro also released colorful horses of a similar size as part of which of their other popular toy brands?

Think you know the answer? Go ahead and post it below.

The answer will post next Tuesday so watch this space!

Summer Hayes’ MLP Corner

Summer — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:32:44 +0000

Pony Project- Girl Power!

On Saturday night, the My Little Pony Project L.A. held its opening night at the Toy Art Gallery. We Love Fine hosted a live video feed from the event and I tuned in for a few minutes to watch people wave their arms and jump up and down in front of the camera obnoxiously, before deciding that I’d be much better served checking out the photos later (sans crazies). LA Weekly posted a great slide show of the event and I find it interesting that it highlights the artwork and the female fans almost exclusively. I’m sure that there were plenty of Bronies in attendance (I know I saw a few act a fool on the live feed), but from the photos you wouldn’t know they were a presence. I guess I don’t blame LA Weekly, girls typically look a lot better in rainbow wigs and glitter than most men!
Further Reading…Pony Style #3
I have only one missing My Little Pony from my Euro collection (Great Hair Highlights for those who might have her available for sale!) and just a handful of German exclusives left to hunt down so it is almost time for me to move on to another pony collecting focus. The question is which one? There are so many awesome foreign ponies from so many different places and it is going to be difficult to choose.

One country that I feel doesn’t get as much pony love as it should is Mexico, and after checking out Mexican Pony Paradise, it may be a contender! Peppermint Truly has put together a great website devoted solely to My Little Ponies exclusively sold in Mexico. She is a native of Mexico City and she grew up with these unique ponies and luckily, she has chosen to share her knowledge and the history of them with the rest of us.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’s Lauren Faust won an Emmy in 2008 for…

Hillary — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:00:56 +0000

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Your first guess was Powerpuff Girls, wasn’t it? But Lauren Faust, original executive producer of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, actually won an Emmy in 2008 for her work as head writer on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.

Out of Powerpuff Girls, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which show is your favorite?

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Royal Pony Wedding coming to DVD on August 7, 2012

Hillary — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:00:28 +0000

You can read the full press release here but it looks like we won’t have to wait very long for the wedding of the century to hit DVD as it will be out this summer. You can already pre-order the DVD on Amazon here.

It’s taking them a while, but it looks like Hasbro is finally getting these DVD releases right. What did you think of the wedding special? Will you be picking it up on DVD?

Summer Hayes’ MLP Corner

Summer — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:30:33 +0000

MY LITTLE PONY Fair Booth Guide Coming Soon!

The Fair staff is currently compiling our MY LITTLE PONY
Fair Booth Guide and we can’t wait to share it with you! With Ponies from all
four generations, custom creations, artwork and more, there is bound to be
something for you no matter what type of pony fan you are! Make sure to stop by
our Fair message board to chat about your Fair preparations, share tips with
first time Fair goers, or just have some friendly pony conversation.
Dressed Like a Dream: The 2012 MY LITTLE PONY Fair Costume Contest

Are you ready for the 2012 MY LITTLE PONY Fair Costume
contest? We had so much fun last year, that we decided to make it an annual
event and we can’t wait to see what wonderful MY LITTLE PONY themed costumes
you will come up with this year. In addition to the “Favorite Overall Costume”
award, we have expanded our contest and we will also be giving awards to the following categories: “Best G1, G2, or
G3 Inspired Costume”, “Best Friendship Is Magic
Inspired Costume”, “Best Child’s Costume”, and “Most Creative Costume.” If
dressing up isn’t your thing, don’t worry because you can still enjoy the
Costume Parade event and cast your vote for the costume awards.

My Little Pony Trivia Tuesday

triviamaven — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:00:25 +0000

Here’s today’s question:

Lauren Faust, the original executive producer of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, won an Emmy in 2008 for her work as head writer on what show?

Think you know the answer? Go ahead and post it below.

The answer will post next Tuesday so watch this space!

The War Horse / My Little Pony Friendship is Magic mash-up we’ve all been waiting for

Hillary — Tue, 01 May 2012 01:41:52 +0000

MAD TV presents My Little War Horse:

Summer Hayes’ MLP Corner

Summer — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:31:15 +0000

Planning, Packing, and Playing!

I’ve been a little light on posting this week due to lots of really awesome My Little Pony Fair planning stuff that is going on behind the scenes. I can’t wait to share the newest developments with all of you!

I’m also packing for this weekend’s Maryland Pony Meet event. I’ll be there selling and signing copies of all of my book titles and no doubt finding something new to add to my collection. I had a chance to go through my accessory stash over the weekend and I found a slew of extras that will be up for grabs including Big Brother brushes, Prom Sister frills, and Baby necklaces galore. I can’t wait to see some familiar faces, meet new pony fans, and talk ponies.

Speaking of packing, I’m kind of in love with this cute Bow-Tie suitcase. If only Hasbro had made it in standard luggage size, then I wouldn’t need my boring navy luggage.

Chuck E. Cheese: Where a kid can be a… My Little Pony?

Hillary — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:00:37 +0000

In the 80s and 90s, My Little Pony had a special promotion going with Chuck E. Cheese restaurants. One of your prize options was… a special My Little Pony with the Chuck E. Cheese logo symbol on her rump exclusive to Chuck E. Cheese locations. (Symbols are what cutie marks used to be called, youngster. )

She’s a pretty collectible G1 pony because of her rarity but I think she’s unusual for another reason. She’s the one and only MLP to ever have a corporate logo on her rump!

Doesn’t everyone like a little pony with their pizza?

Great moments in haggling!

Hillary — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:30:45 +0000

What was the best deal you ever scored on a rare or hard to find My Little Pony item?

In honor of the My Little Pony wedding, which of your ponies were married to each other?

Hillary — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 13:00:04 +0000

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Back in the early days of My Little Pony, Hasbro gave us all those brides and wedding dresses… you better believe we had some weddings. Summer did a great post tracing weddings, brides and wedding dresses throughout the history of MLP here.

In honor of the Wedding of the Century on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic today, I wanted to ask: When you were little, which ponies did you couple off? Which of your ponies were married to each other or coupled off?

If you got into MLP as an adult, tell us who you ship these days.

When I was little, my favorite pony couple was Moondancer (that I made male) and Glory. Their kids were Baby Moondancer (who, oddly enough, was still female and just totally Daddy’s little girl) and Baby Glory. (Pearlized Baby Glory and Moondancer were their freaky cousins from an alternate dimension. Obviously.)

I also had Special Edition Firefly married to original Firefly. Someone on Twitter told me this was weird and like marrying her to her clone which I never really thought about before. I think I renamed special edition Firefly something like Lighting so it wasn’t weird that they had the same name. That said, I have two friends in real life named Jamie (one male, one female) who are married so it’s not that weird.

My weirdest family was Wigwam who was married to Peppermint Crunch and lived in the Show Stable with their three kids: Little Racer, Frilly Flower, and Baby Wiggles. I keep meaning to commission a fan artist to draw me this because I definitely need a picture of this little family hanging in my office somewhere.

Lemon Drop moved into a Collector’s Case (which, let’s face it, are basically pony condos) with Peachy after Peachy sold the Pretty Parlor to Twilight and Sunbeam and their Teeny Tiny pony twins, Sniffles and Snookums (they waited a long time to have kids, clearly).

Tux ‘n Tails also left Satin ‘n Lace and ran off with Bow Tie. It was a huge scandal.

Anyway, that’s some of my childhood couplings. How about you?

Did anyone couple ponies from different generations?

Summer Hayes’ MLP Corner

Summer — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:30:45 +0000

My Brony Vocabulary Lesson… I’ve Been Schooled!

(image by j-brony)

I consider myself well versed in My Little Pony. Show me a pony and in most cases I can tell you their name, country of origin, known variations, year of release, and rough current market value. Show me some of the prattle on the Brony message boards and occasionally I get stumped and have to resort to a Google search (which more often than not leads to some questionable material.)

I’ve been a My Little Pony collector for ages and over the years, we collectors have developed our own language when it involves ponies. We use SS when we are talking about So Soft Ponies, TAF to abbreviate Twice As Fancy, TE to describe Twinkle Eyed Ponies and so on (For a complete list of My Little Pony acronyms and definitions check out this helpful post on the old Arena.)

I’ve taken for granted how confusing it must be for someone new to collecting who reads a sales listing like this one:

“Deflocked SS Truly has rubs to NDS symbol. This is not the Nirvana NSS version of this MLP. “

I think the above statements are very easy to read and understand, but to a collecting newbie I may as well be speaking in another language.

Now that the shoe is on the other foot and I find myself muddling through the newly established Brony subculture and terminology, I find myself frequently scratching my head as I try to decode their secret Brony language.

So far I’ve learned the following terms:

PMVs- Pony Music Videos made by fans

Fimfic- Friendship is Magic fan fiction

Pony shipping (and I don’t mean the kind that involves bubble wrap and a mailer… I’m quite familiar with that kind)- derived from the word “relationship”, is a general term for fans’ emotional and/or intellectual involvement with the ongoing development of romance in a work of fiction (This is totally copy and pasted from Wikipedia!)

Clop- I’m just gonna say I would have been better off not knowing about this one… at all…ever.

Is my life somehow richer with this new found knowledge? Probably not, but at least I know what Bronys are chatting about so I can either check it out or avoid it like the plague. Sure, I could stick to my own Pony corner of the web that I’ve happily inhabited for the past decade, but then I’d miss out on the interesting new perspective that Bronys bring to the table. They are rabid fans and I don’t blame them. My Little Pony is amazingly mind-blowingly awesome. I’ve just had twenty years to let it sink in.
Further Reading… Pony Style!
If you are like me, you can’t get enough My Little Pony news, trivia, and information. I have a huge list of pony related websites saved in my “favorites” and I always love to discover new ones so I’m challenging myself to blog a different pony website found on my favorites list each week.

This week I’d like to give a shout out to www.mylittleponycollecting.com ! With fun fan trivia, links to current My Little Pony products, collecting polls and discussions (not to mention they have my My Little Pony guides and run my blog posts.) Am I a bit biased by listing them as my first ”Further Reading” recommendation? Probably, but it is good reading, good people, and caters to all generations (G1-G4).

If you have a My Little Pony website that you’d like me to check out, feel free to email me the link. I’m always happy to hear from you!

My Little Pony Trivia Tuesday

triviamaven — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:00:24 +0000

Here’s today’s question:

What playful pizza place partnered with Hasbo in the 80s and 90s with an exclusive pony?

Think you know the answer? Go ahead and post it below.

The answer will post next Tuesday so watch this space!

Which type of My Little Pony is your favorite? Earth pony, pegasus or unicorn?

Hillary — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:29:26 +0000

Also… which would win in a fight to the death?

Summer Hayes’ MLP Corner

Summer — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:30:41 +0000

Maryland Pony Meet 2012

The deadline for registration for the 2012 Maryland Pony Meet (held April 28th) is April 21st. If you are thinking of joining other pony collectors for a day full of pony fun (and scooter races!) in the Baltimore area, head on over to MustBeJewel’s website to check out all the details.

I’ve attended this event several times and always have a great time. Plus, Jewel is an awesome hostess and has a giant Sweetheart Sister in her pony room. I think that alone is worth the trip (in case you needed another reason to attend). I’ll be there with a stack of books to sign and a few giveaway items at my table so stop by and say hello!
We Love Fine Design Contest Rating Time!

If you haven’t already rated your favorite fan submitted pony t-shirts on www.welovefine.com head on over and rate away. You must register on the site to be allowed to rate the entries, but they send you a 10% code for registering. You might as well order some pony gear while you are there.

My Little Pony Petite Ponies featured mini playsets long before Ponyville

Hillary — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:00:45 +0000

Oh, Petite Ponies!

My littlest ponies!

You’re this little, but I love you this big!

Your world is this little, but I love it this big!

Petite Ponies were plastic ponies of an inch high, some of which had brushable hair. Their bases had a horseshoe pattern that allowed you to activate their playset features. You can find a complete record of every Petite Pony and Petite Pony playset ever released in The My Little Pony G1 Collector’s Inventory.

I couldn’t find the original commercial with an English dub but the visuals are the same in this one:

I loved Petite Ponies. The Prancing Pretty Carousel was my favorite because it was more like a whole theme park. I especially liked the Petites as a kid because they were smaller and easier to get out without having to drag out all the full sized pony playsets. That said, I could never get into Dream Beauties.

Did you have any Petite Ponies in your collection?

Do you have a place to display your My Little Pony collection or is it packed away in storage?

Hillary — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:29:24 +0000

Do you have a pony room? Corner? Shelf? Or are you still waiting to have enough room to display your ponies?

Have a picture of your ponies? Want to show them off? You can upload them directly in the comments below by using the attach button or just link to them if they’re already on the web somewhere.

Have you ever convinced someone to join the herd?

Hillary — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:29:21 +0000

Have you ever gotten someone to start collecting, watching or otherwise become obsessed with My Little Pony? Who was it and how’d you do it?

My Little Pony Trivia Tuesday

triviamaven — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:00:23 +0000

Here’s today’s question:

What inch high plastic ponies and mini-playsets predated Ponyville?

Think you know the answer? Go ahead and post it below.

The answer will post next Tuesday so watch this space!

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Season 1 now available on Netflix Instant Watch

Hillary — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 06:54:20 +0000

While there’s no DVD release on the horizon yet, the entire first season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is now available to watch instantly on Netflix!

Suddenly that free two week trial never looked so good!

Will you be watching?

Summer Hayes’ MLP Corner

Summer — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:30:46 +0000

A Little Crazy About G1 Ponywear
It is no secret that my favorite My Little Pony generation is G1. While I practice “All Generation Appreciation” and actively collect from all generations, G1 will always be number one. I’m sure it is due to a mix of nostalgia as well as the thrill of never reaching the end. If I finish one part of my collection, I can simply change my collecting focus.

I’ve been spending some time organizing my accessories and Ponywear lately and I may be going a bit overboard in my attempt to organize. You may remember back in January when I posted about my wondrous labeler and how it is amazing and how much I love it. Anyway, I used said labeler with my Ponywear collection and I’m loving the results. It has inspired me to finish my Greek Ponywear collection just so I can make more labels (I think this may or may not be a sign of a problem). Regardless, check out some pictures of my organizational madness:

In this photo you can see the sets divided into plastic sleeves. If the outfit has shoes or other plastic pieces that could possibly leach color onto the fabrics, those items are placed in a smaller baggie inside the larger plastic sleeve and then each outfit is labeled by set name and individual outfit name. Each set has it’s own drawer (which is of course labeled.)

Here is a photo of all three plastic drawer units. I haven’t finished sorting my Euro Ponywear yet(hence the two unlabeled drawers in the unit on the right.)

I purchased these drawers at Walmart last fall for around $10 each and then all three drawer units fit perfectly inside a storage shelf that I purchased at Target. The storage shelves were on clearance and I think I paid about $6 each for them.

This shelf is basically the same as the shelf unit I bought, but a little pricier since the exact shelf units that I have are discontinued.

These are the same plastic drawers I purchased (a little cheaper than what I paid.)

You can also use your handy dandy copy of The My Little Pony G1 Collector’s Inventory to identify and check off your Ponywear pieces.

I challenge you to dig out your Ponywear and accessories and get organized and then list your extras on Ebay so myself and the other accessory addicts can buy them!

Is anyone writing an My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic spec script for Script Frenzy?

Hillary — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 01:00:10 +0000

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I know many pony fans are part of National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo because of the pony-ified sister event, National Pony Writing Month, so I have to ask: Are any of you taking the April Script Frenzy challenge? (It’s from the same people behind NaNoWriMo, kind of a sister event.)

The goal is 100 pages of a script done by the end of April which means you could easily write three to four episodes for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (because a page is about a minute of screen time so a 30 minute episode would be about 30 pages) as spec scripts and maybe submit them to the show. Think about it. It’s like fan fiction, that might actually become canon! There’s definately something tempting about that.

And even if you later decide not to submit your scripts to the show, it’s still a fun challenge to have a very productive fan fiction writing month.

I’m already in so you don’t have to be worried about doing it alone. If anyone else is, you can find me on the Script Frenzy site here.

So… are you thinking of trying it?

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Toy Origins: Pinkie Pie

Hillary — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 01:00:11 +0000

The Original 2003 Pinkie Pie
[photo credit MyLittleWiki

I’ve been wanting to do a series like this for a long time so a big thanks to trviamaven for teeing me up with last week’s trivia question. Now if only we can sneak them all in as trivia columns, I might actually get to do the whole series.

Pinkie Pie debuted first debuted in 2003 as part of the Glitter Celebration Set. She was actually in both the first and second set of Glitter Celebration ponies in two different poses, an early example of the overexposure that would eventually make her infamous with collectors.

See, Hasbro has long insisted that pink ponies sell better than ponies of any other color and Pinkie Pie soon became one of the most hated characters ever as the market was flooded with version after version of this same pony in a variety of poses and styles. Even many of the collector exclusive ponies during the early years of G3 were just special versions of Pinkie Pie. The situation only got worse when she was named one of the Core 7.

For collectors who were used to a wide variety of ponies, colors and symbols, the glut of Pinkie Pies lead to collectors getting sick of her, begging Hasbro to turn their attention to new ponies or, at least, different ponies. But while collectors may have had mixed feelings, Hasbro embraced her fully making her the unofficial face of the new wave of ponies that began in 2003 and continues into today.

Pinkie Pie was also the very first pony made into a walkaround character.

In 2010, Pinkie Pie joined the cast of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Though there was talk of changing her into a pegasus (as they did with fellow 2003 release, Rainbow Dash) they ultimately left her as an earth pony. As the show brought her to a whole new audience of children and bronies, Pinkie Pie has enjoyed new found popularity with her new bubbly personality.

Has the new show finally redeemed this MLP black horse? Only time will tell.

But with Friendship is Magic borrowing so heavily from the first generation of MLP, I had to take a look back to see if maybe there was a proto-Pinkie Pie hidden somewhere in a past generation. Let’s see… pink hair, pink body and balloons… Might her distant ancestor be Twice as Fancy Up, Up and Away released between 1986-87? Her balloons are green and yellow instead of blue and yellow but the similarities are there.

How do you feel about Pinkie Pie? Do you still harbor some ill will or has she wormed her way into your heart?

If you were a My Little Pony, where would you want to live?

Hillary — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:29:43 +0000

If you could live inside of any My Little Pony building either from the cartoon shows or playsets, which would it be and why?

Summer Hayes’ MLP Corner

Summer — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:30:47 +0000

To Buy or Not to Buy?
It has been quite some time since I’ve had the time or energy to browse Ebay and other online sales sites. However, now that I’m spending time cataloguing my collection again, I’m determined to fill in a few gaps and find myself looking for new ponies to add to my collection. If you are familiar with Ebay, you can appreciate how easy it is to be sucked into the vortex of online auctions and sales. It isn’t something I allow myself to do regularly, but when I do I go all out.

Currently on my radar are a few missing G3 items. While they aren’t terribly exciting to track down, it is fun having a focus and a goal to work towards. I think that’s part of the appeal of collecting My Little Pony (aside from the ponies themselves.) I’m also actively seeking the last few Euro/German ponies that I’m missing. While I’ve made these my focus, it doesn’t stop other things from catching my eye. In the past month, I’ve added 3 Venezuelans, and a Peruvian. Plus, I’ve received a few packages from Europe.

I think my mail carrier has suspicions that I might be involved in shady international dealings. Little does she know I run an international pony cartel.
A collecting moral dilemma
If you frequent Ebay and search “My Little Pony” with any regularity (which I do) or if you read about the latest pony news on one of the myriad of My Little Pony message boards (which I also do.) You may have noticed unreleased My Little Pony toys being offered for sale from a certain Asian website. Resellers in the US have begun to purchase these desirable items from said website and then turn a hefty profit. Or maybe you have noticed fellow collectors who bulk order from this Asian site and then sell to members at cost.

Just to be clear, the purpose of writing this is not to chide resellers or to point fingers at bulk ordering collectors. To the resellers that can snag a bargain and then make a profit- more power to you, and I think it is great that collectors are willing to help each other out when tracking down pony items. It is just one of the qualities that make the Pony community so great. Where I’m finding issue (if there truly is one) is the origin of these ponies. Are they legally obtained?

I think it is strange that there are multiple unreleased pony items being sold sans packaging. While some of these items/designs may find their way to store shelves in the future, there are others that are clearly the product of factory mess-ups that were never intended for sale. An example of this is this Rainbow Dash:

Clearly, this was an “oops” moment. Rainbow Dash is supposed to have wings and she doesn’t! Or this one:

Rarity ended up with Princess Celestia’s hair colors. Oops!

Curious minds (mine included) are finding themselves wondering. Were people in China given these ponies to do what they please straight from the factory which is resulting in sellers trying to make a buck on online websites. Or are these items the product of factory workers sneaking product out the back door?

As a collector, I’ll admit these oddities are a pretty awesome addition to any collection. At the same time, I find myself wondering if by buying these items I’m supporting illegal activity (a.k.a. stealing ponies.) The moral dilemma perpetuates.

If you have any thoughts or insight on this issue I’d love to hear it!