Friday, August 31, 2012

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 3

Today's blind bag is finally a new face!

Sparkly Clear Sassaflash - Wave 4 # 15

I have mixed feelings about Sassaflash. I think her name is a little silly, but I love her body color and symbol. Is it a wonderbolts symbol or a homage to G1 Firefly? I wish she had different color eyes though, these ones look too brown.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Blind Bag Ponies

When I was a very little girl I had a set or two of petite my little ponies. These were hard, molded ponies that had a brushable tail. The G4 pony line also has a model of smaller ponies, but these are sold with a twist. Each pony (about 2" tall) comes in a sealed package so it is a surprise which pony you get. Though of course there are secret codes and sets you can buy as well! Here are all of my blind bags. I'm actually only missing one of the first wave, Roseluck #13.


The sparking ponies were the "special" ponies in the first set of blind bags but recently Target has been carrying a set of "crystal" ponies in every color of the rainbow. However, there are some differences between the releases.
Normal sparkle Rainbow Dash is on the left and "crystal set" Rainbow Dash is on the right.

Up to this point the blind bag size ponies have only come in five styles. (Two each of earth and unicorn, but all pegasi share the same mold)

Recently however, there have been several new molded characters. These are typically released three to a package in a sort of theme. The Cloudsdale package includes Gilda the Griffin, a random Wonderbolt pony, and Rainbow Dash. For being as little as they are, the toys are actually pretty high quality.


Unfortunately my wonderbolt pony is missing a bit of paint though. And as you may imagine though, she is just a little top-heavy.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 2

Another familiar face on our second day of blogging about the Wave 4 Blind Bag Ponies.

Sparkly Clear Pinkie Pie - Wave 4 # 7

Honestly, I like the "sparkly clear" versions of the ponies, but I wish the glitter were inside the ponies like we had back in G1.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 1

As I reached into the box of blind bags I accidentally grabbed two bags instead of one. One bag slipped and fell into my lap. I figured this pony was very anxious to get out so I would open it first.

Metallic Shimmer Rarity - Wave 4 #12

Apparently the three "special edition" ponies in this particular set are called "metallic shimmer" ponies. It's pretty good luck that I happened to open one in my very first bag.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Introducing the Fluttershy/Trixie Hybrid Pony

Hooray, my first factory error/prototype/chinese reject pony is here!


This lovely girl is a mix of Trixie's color palette and Fluttershy's symbol. Interestingly enough the hybrid pony is in a different pose and has a different eye style and color. I think she's a very unique addition to my collection and I adore her! I'm sure that has nothing to do with my love for blue ponies...



I started wondering what I should call her though. I kind of dislike when a name is obviously based on the cutie mark (which in Equestria, ponies don't get until they have an epiphany of self discovery). So I wanted a name that would combine blue and butterflies and came up with Powder. Powder is a type of blue and I also imagine the scales of butterfly wings to be powdery.




Which leads you to wondering what her personality would be like. Fluttershy and Trixie are about as opposite end of the spectrum as you can get. I imagine Powder as a nature lover, and she really loves butterflies and studies them. She's basically the Audubon of butterflies in Equestria.


Saturday, August 25, 2012

Let's Blog Blind Bags Ponies Wave 4

Hooray, I scored a box of Wave 4 Blind Bag Figures! Fluttershy is posing pretty with them here. I thought an update of, oh I have glittery ponies might be a little boring so instead I'll open and photograph the blind bags one by one and post them in-between more normal updates.  Maybe by the time I finish with the box, we will have more information about the upcoming season.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Shining Armor & Princess Cadence

When the pony community first got word of Shining Armor reactions were mixed. Many of us were excited to finally have specifically boy pony molds, something that had been missing since the first generation of ponies. Others hated his troll hair, or the fact that Cadance was an alicorn. With some time though, I think the fandom has settled quite a bit. The wedding castle playset has finally been released and I thinkthe fandom has settled, and accepted the two newlyweds much easier than I expected.


I am not a huge fan of the troll hair, but I think in this context it works just fine. I didn't realize the castle would require so much assembly though!

One thing I find really interesting about the pony community is the treatment of Cadance. I don't know if it is inattention, or a what but 99% of the fandom ignores the official spelling of "Cadance" and uses "Cadence". I am completely fine with this and have even done it myself, but I am secretly grateful for it. I know Hasbro just can't use simple names like it did in the 80's and part of that is how copyright works, but it seems like the first real act of solidarity in the pony fandom.

On the topic of Princess Cadece, there are actually two slightly different versions out.
The Cadence on the left comes in a set with a full size Luna and Celestia. They all have tinsel hair and glitter on the wings and horn.
The Cadence on the right comes in the castle playset with her husband Shining Armor.

I just received a notice the other day that most recent batch of ponies I ordered from Hasbro have shipped. I was hoping they would appear today, but it looks like that is unlikely.

Monday, August 20, 2012

TRU Exclusive Favorites Set

The fan favorite's set was announced at the toy fair and collectors have been waiting for it since. I never pre-ordered a copy because I happened to be busy when the preorders page went live and then I forgot about it. Well, it sounds like these sets are showing up in stores before the preorders have been filled and collectors are getting emails of their items being on backorder or just cancelled. I was tipped on twitter that the local Toys R Us claimed to have some of the sets in stock so I rushed home, grabbed the car, and drove to TRU before the other local bronies could buy them all.


I've seen some people complaining about the price of this set (the MSRP is $39.99) but I had a $5 TRU coupon to apply, so I got 7 ponies for $35 which works out to about $5 per pony and is about what they are individually (if not a little less) so I really don't see why people are complaining about it.


Nightmare Moon is the big villain from season one and the community was really surprised and thrilled when they announced the toy. She is the first villain ever sold under the my little pony brand, as far as I recall the first black my little pony as well. 

The second most anticipated pony in the set is Trixie, the antagonist of the episode boast Busters. Her personality might need some work, but her toy is lovely. I adore the combination blue/white of her hair.


Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon3 is a welcome addition to this set, though fans seem to be split about her eyeglasses. I personally would have preferred her to have painted eyes, and accessory glasses, but I am not going to complain about them making a toy more show accurate than anticipated.



I think Lemony Gem steals the show from the other fan favorites with her lovely combination. The light blue hair on all of the ponies in this set has a different texture to it and seems to shine more than normal.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash consistently top the charts when we as a fandom are polled about the best/favorite pony. It's no surprise both are included in the favorites set, though since I already have several different Pinkies (this is the only one with a glitter cutie mark) I wish the set had more previously unreleased ponies.


Rainbow Dash also has a glittery symbol and some pretty stunning box hair here.

Flower wishes completes the set, but she also illustrates a problem with a lot of the pony packaging. It's too tight and often leaves dents in the pony!


This is the dent a little closer. The horror, the horror!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

First Wave Plush Complete

The other day I had some excellent pony luck... without going to the store. Perhaps it would be in my best interest to send Ben out pony hunting for me in the future as he found a Rainbow Dash plush I was missing in my last update at a Target.


Notice the pin? That came from my fabulous coworker "J" who happened to notice it at hot topic and got it for me as a gift!


So here are all of the first wave 5" plush together. I really hope the do sell well so that we can get the others released in the future. (Or at least fluttershy).

Also you may notice that I have updated the site banner as I thought the other one was looking a little old and I noticed that I am about 75 hits away from 12,000! Wow.

Actually I've been very fortunate to find most of the new merchandise lately except for the elusive toys r us (TRU) exclusives.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Pony Plush

My local target got so many pony things in the other day. It's good for the blog but bad for my wallet...



The pony fandom, especially the bronies have been clamoring for pony plush toys for quite a while now. These ones (Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie) are about five inches which seem a bit on the small side to me, but I guess Hasbro considers this a "safe" plush size. There is also supposed to be a Rainbow Dash in this "set" but there were none at my Target so someone(s) must have already snatched her.

They are quite soft but I personally dislike the hair. And of course I am sad this set doesn't include my favorite pony fluttershy. I'm honestly not a huge Pinkie Pie fan as I feel they made her the brand mascot instead of Twilight. Also I'm burned out on purple and pink from previous pony experiences. But I thought this Pinkie was pretty cute so she came home with me despite her being my least favorite.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Surprise!

Oh look I drew something! Are you surprised are you? 
Sadly I actually drew this for the EQD training grounds and then failed to submit it because I misread the directions. Now I have to wait for a catch up upload night. 

In other news I was able to order a pretty big pony order from target.com the other day so maybe new ponies and pictures soon!