OVERVIEW: My Little Pony Generations 1 & 2

Moondancer

This is gonna be a long one! I've got a long history with MLPs.

The predecessor to MLP was My Pretty Pony, a much larger plastic pony, but that pony quickly gave way to what we know and love. 1982 gave us the first six MLPS: Cotton Candy, Butterscotch, Minty, Snuzzle, Blue Belle and Blossom. These original six had flat feet, which changed into the concave feet the rest of the pony line continued to have over the years. 1983's ponies gave us a wider variety of poses, much more animated than the original pose, and the line's first unicorns and pegasi. This is when I got into the line. Moondancer was my first pony. This one pictured to the left is actually not my childhood Moondancer. I think I may have traded her in the early days of my pony collecting. She was always overshadowed by my second pony: Glory.

Glory

Glory was my favorite for awhile. I loved her dark purple mane and tail. I got her the Pony Royal outfit and she wore the cape a lot. Not so much the shoes. I thought the shoes were kinda silly. I still have the cape, but the other pieces are long gone.

In 1984, I got Megan and Sundance. Sundance was my most ignored pony. I can't remember if the set was a gift and I wanted something else or what, but I did not care for poor Sundance. And Megan usually got her clothes taken. Perfuma (from She-Ra) wore her dress a lot and her shoes can still be found to this day on Scarlet Slydale, the sister from the Sylvanian Family foxes. I think I might still have the ratty dress somewhere, but Megan and Sundance are gone.

So Soft Heart Throb

1985 gave us the flocked So Soft ponies, which are some of my faves, even though my collection only has one left. Heart Throb became my new favorite pony in childhood. I loved petting her! And she's held up pretty well, despite how much I played with her. That's her to the left, 31 years old.

Because I loved Heart Throb so much, I also ended up with Baby Heart Throb with the beddy-bye eyes. I did like her at the time, but yeesh, those eyes are pretty creepy now! Baby HT is no longer part of my collection.

The Flutter ponies were next. I loved these delicate ponies, though like most 80s Flutter owners, it didn't take long for the wings on mine to break.

Forget-Me-Not

I went through a Moondancer/Glory situation with the Flutters. I got Honeysuckle first and she was very pretty, but Forget-Me-Not, my second one, eclipsed her. Forget-Me-Not is still my favorite Flutter, even though I have all of them now. (Tropical Breeze is my second fave.)

In 1986, the Twice Is Fancy line came out and I got Sugarberry. Then I got Princess Sparkle and her bushwoolie, Hugster. I still have Sugarberry, but not the princess or her bushwoolie.

I got Sniffles and Snookums, the newborn twins, next. I loved these tiny babies! I never got really into the regular babies, but the newborns were precious.

Somewhere in here, I picked up Seashell at a garage sale, but I don't remember the exact year.

High Flyer

I was mostly off ponies by that point, but one more caught my eye. I think I was in a grocery store, where, oddly enough, is where I got a lot of my toys. I saw a small box and fell in love with the pony inside. High Flyer was my only childhood Summer/Windy Wing and she was my favorite until the day I got Cool Breeze for my adult collection.

That was it for ponies until one day in 1990, when I lived in Orlando, I was in Publix (I think) with my mom. I was looking through the surprisingly large toy aisle near the checkout and I found a boy pony! I'd never gotten a boy pony before and he was a pirate and we were back in Florida again (I'd lived in Jacksonville for 1st grade), so I had to have him. And so Barnacle became a late collection addition.

Barnacle

Mildly back into ponies, I checked the local chain store. Couldn't tell you which chain, but probably KMart. I brought home Flower Dream from the Pretty Pony line. I liked the taller, skinnier body because it was something different. I also got Dreamy Siamese from the My Little Kitty line.

And that was it for many long years. I honestly cannot tell you how I got back into pony collecting or even when exactly I started. Possibly around 2000 after I graduated from undergrad. I got into dolls more slowly, with the Barbie Generation Girls, Bratz, My Scene and Lollipop Girls. I slowly switched from being a pony collector who also liked dolls to a doll collector who was selling off a lot of ponies to buy more dolls.

My adult collection was somewhat large. I can't even say huge or another big size word, because I knew people with pony ROOMS. Just rooms lined with shelf after shelf of ponies. I was not a completist, but I had certain sets that I aimed for.

Cool Breeze

I joined the MLPTP and became Cool Breeze WW. I was obsessed with the Summer and Windy Wing ponies and eventually got them all. My boxed Cool Breeze is the pride of my collection. I got all the Flutter ponies, too, though I never liked them as much.

There's no real good way for me to discuss my old collection, because I can't remember the order I got them in and there's no online documentation or anything. So I'm going to use the Dream Valley site and go year by year, mentioning which ones I had and loved.

Minty was the only original six pony I really liked. I still have her concave foot version, but I did have the flat foot once.

Shovels and Sandcastle

I also wasn't real into the simplicity of Year 2. I had Applejack and Sunbeam, but none of the Rainbow ponies lasted long in my collection and neither did the first year Sea Ponies.

From Year 3, I had Cherries Jubilee, Sky Flier, Powder, Gusty and I think Pinwheel. All of them are gone now. I had Baby Glory, but no longer, and I still have an odd Baby Firefly that I pulled out of a trade box and randomly loved.

Gypsy

I had Sea Breeze, White Cap and Sea Mist from the rarer second set of Sea Ponies. I held onto them for awhile, but all three are gone now.

From Year 4, I have all the Flutters and Pearly Baby Sea Shimmer.

Year 5 had the best So Softs, except my precious Heart Throb. I had Twilight, Angel, Bangles and the ever awesome Crumpet, whom I miss. I want her back. The Year 5 Twinkle Eyes had the always sought after Mimic. I owned her for a time, but was never satisfied with her condition and sold her. I still have Bright Eyes though, who is so cute. Dancing Butterflies and Up Up and Away joined my Sugarberry for awhile.

Flowerburst

I had a few Bushwoolies, but never got real into the princesses. I did get all the Big Brothers, though not all were complete, of course. Those accessories are rare! I had Baby Tic-Tac-Toe and I still have newborns Dibbles and Nibbles. I had all the Pony Friends.

The Year 6 Twice As Fancy line was even better than the first. Munchy! Night Glider! Why did I sell them? Wah! I have Bonnie Bonnets now, but she's the only one. I had Princesses Taffeta and Misty. From the Sundae Best, I had Swirly Whirly, and Pretty Vision and Bouquet from the Brush 'n' Grows. I had the new Big Brothers for this year, plus the two baby brothers. I have newborns Sandcastle and Shovels still. They're pictured up there. This is the year of the Summer Wings. Have all those. I had some of the Watercolor Baby Sea Ponies and I had all the new Pony Friends. I still have Edgar and Oakly. From the Sweetberry ponies, I still have Cherry Treats. I had Blueberry Baskets and possibly some others.

Sweet Sundrop

Year 7's Merry Go Round line was neat. I had Sparkler, Sunnybunch, Diamond Dreams and Flower Bouquet. I had Candy Cane pony Lemon Treats with great hair. I had all the Sunshine ponies, and Perfume Puff Daisy Sweet and Sweet Lily. I had Princess Brush & Glow Glittering Gem, though I don't think I sought her out. I had all the Playtime Baby Brothers, and still have Leaper, Racer and Waddles. I think I had all the single-packed newborns, and all the Windy Wings, of course. I wasn't a big collector of the Sweetheart Sisters, but Flowerburst is one of my top ponies. She's splendid. I had all the Pretty Pals, but only Lucky Leaf of the babies. I still have Hoppy and Leafy.

Fancy Mermaid Ponies

Being a fan of neon, I loved the Tropical Ponies from Year 8 and still have all 4. Sweet Sundrop from the Prom Queen Sweetheart Sisters is one of my top ponies. She's gorgeous.

From Year 9, I had all the Rockin' Beat ponies and a couple Glow 'n' Shows. I had Rainbow Baby Rainribbon.

Springy

I loved a lot of the Year 10 offerings. I have all three Colorswirls and all three Sundazzles. I had all three Paradise Babies, but now just have Beachball. I have the three Fancy Mermaids, shown above.

Whew! That's a lot. But now I have to go through the exclusives and internationals. This is where a lot of my money went!

From the US exclusive mail order ponies, I had Hollywood the Flutter, a few of the pearlized babies, the Valentine's Day twins, the Christmas baby, and the Chuck E Cheese baby. Of the rarer mail orders, I had babies Sugarberry, Up Up and Away, Dancing Butterflies and Sweet Tooth from the Twice As Fancy babies. I regret selling those because Sugarberry is the only one I have left. She was my prize for winning the trivia contest at one of the last pony meets I went to.

Baby Sugarberry

I also had Scribbles and Dabble, two of the most sought after mail orders. I sold Dabble not that long ago. She was gorgeous, but I needed money for something. Probably dolls. I also had both Birthday Baby ponies, who are really rare. I sold Sugarcake, but Gametime is still with me. I'm not sure what it is about the dusky pink pony with golden yellow hair, but I love her.

Now for the internationals! There were a lot of variants of ponies we got in the US. There were non-so soft versions of ones we only had flocked. Non-beddy-bye-eye versions of BBE babies. You get it. I had Baby Gusty from the non-beddy-bye-eyes. I also had a non-so soft Twist from Brazil that was stunning.

Baby Gametime

I had all the Starlight Babies, which came out in the US as transparent ponies with glitter. The interationals had opaque bodies but with a sheen to them. I still have Baby Stella. The alternate princess ponies came with dragons like Spike instead of bushwoolies. I had all those dragons! They cost me a ton.

I'm just going to make a list of the others I had: Gypsy (pictured way up there, one of my faves), Honeycomb, Snowflake, Hopscotch, Baby Applejack, Nightlight (why did I sell her?), Mountain Boys Fireball, Thundercloud and Sunburst, the activity club white newborn, Baby Alphabet, Sweet Clover, Cherry Sweet, Clover from My Little Pony Tales, Hip Hop, the Bedtime newborns, the Seaside Babies, Candy Babies Lollipop and Candy, the Jewelry Babies, newborn Baby Bouncy, Dutch Diary Pony, Dutch Shell Pony, and Dutch Cat Pony (baby).

Bedtime newborns

To sum up, basically I had a load of expensive imported ponies! And only a few remain in my collection. I sold the majority off as I got more and more into dolls. I still have the Bedtime newborns, seen here to the right, plus Gypsy, the white activity club newborn, and Fireball. Fireball is awesome. I love all the Mountain Boys, but this guy is king.

Fireball

I miss a lot of the ones I sold. I'd buy the Jewelry Babies back for sure, and the Candy Babies, along with Licorice, who I never got. I'd have all the Twice As Fancy babies and all the Mountain Boys. Nightlight, too, and Brazilian Twist. I doubt I will ever be back into ponies enough to spend as much as it would require to get any of these back though.

So those were the ponies themselves, but I was known for liking random stuff other than your typical pony figures. I was one of the only people with a complete set of Mommy Charms. I had a ton of figural stampers and pencil toppers. I had a couple plush, but nothing much. It was the small figural stuff that caught my eye. I even had a special case to fit all the Mommy Charms in and I sold them as a complete set in that case. Then bought my favorite one again so I could have one left.

Figural stampers

I was very active on the old MLPTP board and made a lot of friends. I attended so many pony meets, I can't even tell you an exact number. And all of them were in Canada! Mom and I would drive up, attend the meet and drive back. Most of them were sleepovers, but we lived so close to the border, it was easy enough to travel. We brought our favorite collection pieces, traded and sold all sorts of things, played games and just talked. And I was by no means a pony guru! I only won that trivia contest because the two girls holding the meet weren't in it. Which of course was fair, but their knowledge blew mine out of the water, so them holding the meet took out the biggest competition. That and one of the questions involved Mommy Charms! I think we had to name off several, which I had no problem with.

Generation 1 or G1 MLPs will always be the best MLPs for me, but I did briefly get into G2s. These are possibly the least popular MLPs that were ever made, though I think they're highly underrated. Most collectors turned up their noses at them, but when I went to conventions, I brought my favorite and she made them think twice.

G2 Copper Glow

Copper Glow was one of a line of three ponies that were alicorns. They had weird clip-on plastic wings with glitter in them, which I set aside immediately. Silver Glow and Golden Glow were the other two, and I had them, along with several other G2s, but only Copper Glow and Baby Noel remain.

A lot of people make custom ponies, but I never got into those. I have one single custom from my G1 days, and that's a tiny newborn dyed red and painted like she was a newborn seaside baby. I will always champion red ponies. There are not enough of them.

I also recently bought a custom pony that is absolutely brilliant. She was molded...actually molded...and is just like the original Sparkle Ponies.

Custom pony Genie

Genie is spectacularly beautiful and I had to have one. Her head even turns! Unlike the originals. And she has symbols on both sides. She's just gorgeous and I hope they continue to make new designs.

I'm going to tackle G3 ponies soon, since I've actually gotten back into them very recently. G4 may wait until the release of the reboot style new ones, which I LOVE in case anyone was wondering.

I hope you've had fun reading all this! MLP is a major topic, since I was so hardcore into them for so long.

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine.

RECOMMENDED SITES:
http://www.kimsites.net/dreamvalley/
There may be better guides out there, but this is the one I've always referenced. There are also guides out there in the form of actual books! I have a couple of those and they're awesome.