My Little Pony discussion

[BWprowl]

You don't mention hair-accuracy in the review, but I know you were talking about it earlier. I'll agree that the hair not being accurate is an issue, but here's an interesting argument I heard for it a while back: If the Ponies came with their hair styled perfectly accurately out of the package, that would deny girls/fans the fun of styling it themselves, which is one of the main selling points of the line.

[Dominic]

The hair accuracy would go under the general header of "general show accuracy". Even the sculpts are not on model to the show. Yes, I can which characters are which. But, MLP does not seem to have the on-model consistency of late beast era TF or most of the UT era. (I still hold "Cybertron" as the standard in this regard.)

I am assuming that actually wanting to comb the hair is a girl thing is based on some inherent, or at least deeply socialized, difference between genders. I was *annoyed* when I had to comb the hair on Fluttershy. (I just wanted to put Fluttershy up on the shelf. Is that so wrong?) I like customizing figures. I like fiddling with them. But, as I said above, I do not even like combing my own hair. I consider combing a toy's hair to actually be *negative* value. (It is tedious and not at all engaging.)

I actually would have bought that "Legends" set ,f there were any reason to think that I could get all 6 of the core ponies in that scale/aesthetic.


Dom
-seriously considering getting blister carded Fluttershy in order to get the rabbit, and "Voyager" Twilight for Spike. (And, hey, that would yield some custom fodder bodies.)

[BWprowl]

Dom
-seriously considering getting blister carded Fluttershy in order to get the rabbit, and "Voyager" Twilight for Spike. (And, hey, that would yield some custom fodder bodies.)

Eh, the rabbit that comes with Fluttershy is pretty clearly not Angel. In fact, aside from Winona, none of the 'pets' that the Ponies come with match the pets they have in the show (a pity, since I would probably buy the hell out of a Pinkie toy if she came with Gummy).

Just sayin', I know that quite a few people enjoy brushing/styling Pony hair. I'm neutral towards it.

[Dominic]

Really? Okay, maybe I am just projecting my own slovenly behavior onto other people then. I just have a hard time believing that comb-able hair is such a huge part of the pony hobby that it needs to take priority over the toys looking correctly like the show.

Dom
-notices that girl toys seem to have less design work towards engineering.

[BWprowl]

Dom
-notices that girl toys seem to have less design work towards engineering.

Me too, and I'm wondering how fans of this feel about that. I know I'd pay pretty good money for more accurate, fully-articulated versions of the mane cast of FiM.

[Dominic]

Heh, "mane cast".

I get the feeling that girl toys are made more for display than for play though.

"Barbie" has little narrative that I can see. (When I worked at a comic store back in the 90s, I flipped though an issue of the Barble comic. It was like a bastardization of a coloring book and a Gladstone comic.) I cannot even see how one would play with "Barbie".

In the case of MLP, there would be some character interactions. But, but toys are not really set up for active. One could have characters interacting, or even arguing. But, there is little reason to have Rarity trying to impale Applejack with her horn, and thus no need for Rarity to be able to be in a charge pose. Most of the character interactions would consist of verbal exchanges in the woods, in the barn on in Twilights Ultra price point balloon.


Dom
-place joke about grown men displaying, rather than playing with, toys here: ________________

[BWprowl]

Aw come on, you know there's more than that. I mean, just in the second episode you've got Rarity kicking a Manticore in the freaking face, plus Twilight charging Night Mare Moon. Later Dash Leeroy Jenkinses a dragon, and the latest episode featured all-out pie-based warfare with a herd of buffalo. There's plenty of potential for Action Poses, if the toys permitted that. Hell, Lauren Faust conceived the show the way it is because when she was a little girl, she liked to have her Ponies go on rip-roaring exciting adventures, and wanted to instill some of that into this new series.

[Dominic]

Yeah, except why would a kid be posing their pony figures for action packed battles....with characters that do not have figures? The line itself does not provide a need for articulation.

The only characters one can get are the core ponies and a few secondary characters that are on good terms with said ponies. Unless one wants to assume that underlying animosities between the characters explode spectacularly, most of the character interactions would be verbal and involve static poses.


Dom
-I mean really, and people complain about a lack of bad guys in other lines.....

[BWprowl]

Phooey, you're no fun. I just like being able to fiddle my toys into different poses.

[Dominic]

I like posing my figures too. But, I rarely feel the need to pose them in out of character stances. (For example, SnakeEyes or Storm Shadow get dynamic poses. But, Cobra Commander does not.)


Dom
-rather likes DvD's suggested name of "Khandi Khorne" for one of the Chaos ponies.