Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 15

Sparkly Clear Applejack - Wave 4 #1

Today we have another of the "mane six". This sparkly clear version of Applejack is much paler orange/yellow than the version in the crystal rainbow collection.

Wedding Ponies Wave 2: Trixie Lulamoon

Trixie Lulamoon, The Great and Powerful Trixie, or just Trixie is the fourth and final pony in the second wave of the Pony Wedding toy set. Another favorite pony among fans it was necessary for me to order her online as I've not been able to find her in the store.Unfortunately mine came with some dents from the packaging, though I imagine they will go away with time.

Here is a comparison of the Pony Wedding Trixie with the Favorites Collection Trixie. They look exactly the same apart from the glitter cutie mark, but the Pony Wedding Trixie is marked with a code on the bottom of her hoof while the Favorites Collection Trixie is not.

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 14

Sparkly Clear Electric Sky - Wave 4 # 9

When I first saw this girl's symbol I thought I was going to hate her, but I actually had a fun time photographing her. I sort of like that it is hard to see her horn, so at first glance she looks like an earth pony.

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 13

Sparkly Clear Berry Green - Wave 4 # 11

Today's pony is a little mediocre in my opinion. Berry Green has a symbol of berries and it is green, and well grapes I suppose are technically berries, but I always think of them as grapes and she isn't very green... so I wish she had a different name. There have to be some good grape/wine related names like maybe "Dolcetto" or "Sherry". I suppose Hasbro wants to stay away from alcohol related names when possible though!

Wedding Ponies Wave 2: Sunny Rays

Sunny Rays is the third pony in the second wave of Pony Wedding toys. Yellow ponies in general seem to be well received and with the striking yellow and purple coloring Sunny Rays is a welcome addition to the lineup. Sunny Rays is also one of just a few ponies to have different vector art from the "recolored" standard art of the "mane" six. Hopefully this will show the beginning of more overlap between the cartoon's background characters and the physical toys.

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 12

Sparkly Clear Royal Riff - Wave 4 # 6

Today we got a stallion, and one with excellent symbols. I really like Royal Riff. The blue/purple plays on the "royal" and his symbol avoids the triple symbols of doom that were starting to get a little boring. 

Wedding Ponies Wave 2: Lyra Heartstrings

Lyra Heartstrings is another pony in the second set of Pony Wedding toys. Fans typically just call her Lyra. While I generally prefer to "hunt" for ponies in my local stores, I had to order Lyra from the Hasbro toyshop because she is never in the store. I think she may just be my favorite normal-sized G4 pony because her colors are so lovely!

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 11

Sparkly Clear Minuette - Wave 4 #5

Looks like it's "time" for another blue pony in this wave. I think this photo came out really cute. I like her blue eyes.

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 10

Metallic Shimmer Pinkie Pie - Wave 4 #24

Looks like we got another special metallic pony today, though I think it is harder to tell in the picture! I've mentioned before that Pinkie Pie is not my favorite pony but I actually like this figure a lot.

Wedding Ponies Wave 2: Cherry Berry

Cherry Berry is the first pony (alphabetically) in the second wave of ponies in the Pony Wedding set.
Her color scheme reminds me of a G1 pony named Shady. I like the pink/yellow combination as her hair really pops. The name is cute and matches her symbol and is believable as a pony name.

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 9

Sparkly Clear Shoeshine - Wave 4 # 23

I love that there have been so many blue ponies in this set. I'm not thrilled with  Shoeshine's name or symbol though. The symbol is generic and the name makes me think of a not very well to do pony.

Glimmerwing Ponies

I have discovered a troublesome thing about pony collecting. Sometimes a design you initially dislike will grow on you and then you are stuck getting ponies that you though you would be able to ignore.
Glimmerwing ponies are basic sized ponies with big, glittery wings. Since some of my favorite G1 ponies had butterfly wings, I really though I would like the glimmerwings but my initial reaction was that the wings were too big, to think, basically too plastic and cheap looking. I still think that, but the glimmerwings are growing on me. I guess sometimes it just takes a change in perspective...

Daisy Dreams was previously available as a basic pony, but only in Europe. I actually like her color combination, but find the color mismatch between the different kinds of plastic distracting. This is not unique to this pony, but the condition seems to be more noticeable in the glimmerwings line.

Trotting Pose Fluttershy is also available as a glimmerwing. I kind of don't understand the point of making ponies that already have wings into another pony that has wings, but it's Fluttershy and I think the wings actually look kind of cute on her.

I love the gradient coloring on Sweetsong's wings. I wish she has blue hair though.

I was surprised to find Diamond Rose as a glimmerwing as she was a recent basic pony as well, but I think she really works as a glimmerwing. At least I think she has the prettiest wings and coloring. I remember saying in my initial post about her that I wish she had a stained glass rose instead of a jewel, so maybe it is the fact that her wings look a bit like stained glass that I'm so enamored with her.

Here is a comparison shot of both versions of Diamond Rose. I just noticed that the lower placement of the jewel looks a little "off" on the pegasus mold, but due to the way the pieces come together all of the glimmerwings have symbols that are a little further "down" than normal. I wonder if in the future a lower symbol will indicate a future glimmerwing pony?

And here is a shot of all my butterfly ponies togther. All of these photos (except for the Diamond Rose comparison) were taken with my macro lens so that I could get up close and in focus on one part of a pony and (hopefully) artfully blur a little on another.

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 8

Sparkly Clear Trixie Lulamoon - Wave 4 # 3

No wonder Trixie decided to call herself The Great and Powerful Trixie. The last name Lulamoon is just a little odd. Thank goodness most of us just ignore it anyway.  Have I mentioned before that I am a sucker for blue ponies? Even if Trixie didn't have a cool counterpart in the show I would still like this design as I like all of the colors and the symbol.

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 7

 

Sparkly Clear Fluttershy - Wave 4 #2

Another Fluttershy to add to my growing Army! It isn't very different from the rainbow collection of ponies that are this size, so it takes a little of the fun out of it, but a fun pony to open nonetheless.

Traveling Ponies - Cherry Pie and Diamond Rose

I feel bad for Hasbro toy marketing some times. On one hand you have an enormously popular TV series with distinct, lovable, very marketable characters. Obviously you want these toys to be available in the stores at all times because well, wouldn't you be upset if you were a little kid that loved Fluttershy, but you couldn't buy one because she was released 2 years ago? On the other hand collectors and many bronies already have the "mane" six and it is frustrating to not see a variety of new ponies.  It seems like the rule of thumb is to have one wave with the six "mane" ponies and two new ponies followed by several waves of a mix of "mane" six and new ponies.

The Traveling Ponies set (they come with a suitcase/luggage, and paper tickets) happens to only have two new ponies.

Cherry Pie is a pink unicorn with yellow mane and a cherry pie symbol. While it is a disappointment to have yet another pink pony, I do like the pink/yellow combination. Also, I'm glad to see we are getting more ponies in the "trotting" pose that aren't part of a more expensive playset. Perhaps some new poses may be on the horizon.

If Cherry Pie seems a little run of the mill I think Diamond Rose more than makes up for it by being just lovely. I'm a sucker for white ponies, but I feel like if there is going to be pink everywhere this is a better, more stunning way to do it. I do wish the cutie mark was a little higher and less generic. Imagine a stained glass style rose!

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 6

Sparkly Clear Crimson Gala - Wave 4 # 4

I can't help but be a little disappointed with this pony. I love the name and even the pink body (I like pink, just not on EVERY pony) but what the heck is her symbol supposed to be? In the show "red gala" has a similar symbol which is possible supposed to be apple cupcakes, but yeah, I would never be  able to see that on the little pony!

Fashion Style Cadence & Shining Armor

Fashion Style ponies are a bit bigger than their basic counterparts. Of course this means they are more expensive and come with a bunch of fashion accessories. Some people are really into accessories, but even when I played with my toys as a kid I hated my animals to have any kind of clothing or "human stuff". I guess you could call me a real romantic!

I have a Fashion Style Fluttershy, but that is because Fluttershy is my favorite pony. Recently a Fashion Style Set was released with Cadence and Shining Armor and I thought they looked cool enough that I wanted to purchase them. Of course the first thing I did was strip them of their clothing.

Here is Cadence. I think i might actually like the glitter and tinsel hair better on these larger ponies.

And here is the groom Shining Armor. I actually don't know why they chose to go with the mohawk look, his hair doesn't look like that in the show, and the smaller figure of him has "troll hair". I think the hairstyle is kind of cute though!.

Here is the couple together. I actually do like Shining's eye shape here. It can look a little odd from some angles, but here it makes him look a little determined. You can see how he got to be captain of the royal guard.

And here is the couple in a more traditional wedding pose! Funny how the same "determined" eyes can look kind of lovey-dovey here.

Blind Bag Wave 4: Day 5

Sparky Clear Twilight Velvet - Wave 4 # 22

Twilight Velvet may be one of my favorite blind bags in this set. Sometimes I think the triple symbols are a bit much but I feel it works really well with this pony. I love the symbol, the color combinations, and how she reminds you of the glittery snow around the holidays.

Talk like Zecora Day - BB Wave 4: Day 4

Sparkly Clear Merry May - Wave 4 #8

Well I think the designers, they did great.

This little pony of green

makes me think of newborn spring

The review above I did revise

it only took a few tries!

In other news, please beware
TRU gave me quite a scare

If they raised my price, it may cause fits
so save your money and count your bits!

In non rhyme- I went to purchase a Zecora today and she rang up $14.99. I got the cashier to reduce to $9.99, but it has confirmed to have happened to another pony member in CT, except her shelf sticker said $14.99 as well. So watch your prices everyone!

Alicorn Roundup

Winged unicorns, often called "alicorns" in the pony fandom are a special breed in Equestria. They have wings and a horn where a majority of the ponies are either unicorn, pegasus or earth ponies. Thus far all of the alicorns in the show have had a special role to play, be it raising the sun or threatening eternal darkness. In the toy forms the alicorns tend to be taller than the normal pony mold as well.

Princess Celestia is part of a new set that includes the alicorn Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. They all have glitter horns and wings. This Princess Celestia is still pink, unlike the show Celestia which is white. This one also happens to have a shoddy paint job on her leg. I feel this tends to happen the most with yellow paint. Supposedly it has to do with the pigments in yellow paint.

You may remember this picture from an earlier post about Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. To reiterate The Cadence from the alicorn pack is on the left (sparkly) while the other Cadence is from the wedding castle playset. Since we do not (yet) have a toy for Queen Chrysalis just pretend that second Cadence is the changling Queen.

And who can forget the alicorns of the night? Nightmare Moon (black) and Princess Luna are two sides of the same coin. I really hope Princess Luna will get some more time in season three. I think she is such an interesting character and I would hate to see her "eclipsed" by Cadence in the upcoming season.

Now I have a question for my readers. If a group of seagulls is a flock and a group of dragons is a flight and a group of unicorns is a glory.... what the heck is a group of alicorns?