G3 Prototypes

White Ponies

These prototypes are pearly, shiny white, and they are VERY STICKY to the touch. Oh every prototype was also scribbled some description notes and the cost to produce them. On the average, it seems to cost Hasbro $0.08 to produce a single pony.My favourite one is the clear pony with violet hair. She is SO PRETTY!

I can be painfully pedantic, and had tried to take picture of all the prototypes on the display side and the sides with description and the cost of producing them.

Pink Ponies

It might be of interest to take note of the pink pony in the hoochie pose with the orangehair. If you noticed, her non-display front leg is actually STRAIGHT and not bent like the actual products that we own - a true prototype in its own right. Wish i can own her :/

Applejack Diner Sign

Hehe, this has nothing to do with the fair, but on the way home, we caught sight of a restaurant called Applejack Diner, and I had to take a picture of that!

G1 Prototypes

Lavender My Pretty Pony

Pretty PonyI am not sure if the lavender Pretty Pony was a prototype, but it was something I've never seen before.


Copper/Bronze Mold & Prototype

Kirk showed us the copper/bronze mold of a Collector's Pose pony. Shared with us a few facts and properties of plastics. He was saying that if you soak a pony in a bucket of acetone, it can grow a few times bigger than the original size. He described pony plastics as plastics with "no memory". You can soak it in boiling water, take it out remold it and it adheres to your manipulation when it cools. Another tidbit was that, the plastics are extremely porous, so if you get a marker smear on it and try to rub it with a solvent like acetone, the colour goes deeper into the plastic and stays permernant there. To get rid of marks, it is better to "scrap" it off.

Another trivia from Kirk was that about 80-90% of the original pony molds have been MELTED AND RECYCLED to make molds for other stuff. Most of what was left from the 80s were actually saved by packrat employees like him. ^^


Bell Jar Pony

In the jar is a pony that looks like a Sweet Talking Pony pose. According to Kirk, the prototype is made of jewellery wax. He said something about creating something using the reduction method that I have no memory about, so if anyone remembers anything at all, please contribute! Kirk was very nice. He was quick to remove the jar cover to let collectors take pictures of the ponies, but I intentionally wanted to take the pony in the bell jar itself as it reminds me of the magical rose locked in the bell jar in the Beauty and the Beast movie from Disney.

Re-released G1 Ponies
The molds for the Rainbow Ponies were gone. Kirk explained that what they did was to do a digital scan of an existing toy onto a special computer and reconstucted a mold from there. He claims that they were virtually a replica of the original, but being a painfully detailed person, I'd digress. I think the new molds have lost quite some details somewhat.

Footstamp

See the little metal piece? Recognise the wordings? I intially thought it was weird that the stamp was a little cylinder.


Pony Bride Pose



When we showed Kirk a Pony Bride, his response was "I don't remember who created her, it wasn't me", although I wasn't sure if the pose was created by him or not. He also noted that he made Gusty's pose, and even though he didn't create the shy Bowtie pose when I showed him a Bowtie, his first response was "Ah Applejack is in that pose too!"


Megan Prototype

Megan's legs fall off when you pick her up and some of us thought she'll look slightly more interesting with her legs wide open! LOL It was a lousy joke.

Sea Ponies Prototype Trivia
Kirk mentioned about seaponies and how he had fun with them. He also mentioned that he still has a seapony prototype in Hasbro that was never produced which has a poseable tail!!!

Prototype Combs for Pretty
Kirk mentioned having some problems making the combs, but I wasn't really listening, so someone else who was tuning in and remember, please fill in the blanks! The combs were huge, and I've put in my Sweetie Belle as a guage for you to see how long they were. I was told by princessluna that these were later miniaturised into accessories for the Brush & Grow Ponies - kewl isn't it? Even Kirk didn't remember that.

With the sorts of molds they were using, they needed to be able to lift the molds straight up off the object. The problem comes when designers come up with things like raised hearts on the sides of the brush. The sculptor then has to deal with the problem of following the design without creating undercuts on the mold that will make it impossible to lift it straight up. That's why the bottom of the hearts on the brushes almost fade flat into the brush.

An undercut is a place in a mold where it goes under a protrusion on the object that's being made. It's an area that will catch as you try to separate the mold from the object it just made. Depending on the casting method and what sort of object it is, it can even be difficult to get the resin/plastic/whatever into that area. They're tough to work with, so not good in a mass production situation like ponies.

G1 Pose Sketches

Thanks to girlbuffalo1 for sharing what the purpose of the G1 line art is for. Jessica (the marketing lady) has reworked that line art to give to vendors who want to produce things like t-shirts with G1's on them and other licensed stuff. I think it's really great art and will look quite nice--now if some companies can get on board and start producing stuff with it on it!

Hasbro Licensing Department & Associates

Jess Rosemary & Lyn Fletcher

Sitting beside the sculptors were Jess Rosemary and Lyn Fletcher.

Jess was the licensing representative of Hasbro. She is the one who does the Licensing Show stuff, and in her hand is a Licensing Show Pinkie Pie who is her darling favourite. She was very friendly and had licensing guideline samples for us to flip through. I forgot to take a picture of the books she had, but anyone who has a picture of those, pls share! Jess is also somewhat Lyn's "boss" as she represents Hasbro in liasing with Harper Colins in the production of G3 storybooks.

Lyn Fletcher, in case no one has any idea, is one of the artists drawing for G3 storybooks commissioned by Harper Collins. G3 storybook illustrations have been done by several artists, but Lyn's style is always easily distinguished from the rest. Her ponies always have beautifully drawn hair with elaborate curls and soft & rounded facial features that reminds you of a perfect cherubin baby with fair skin, sparkly blue eyes and perfect blonde curls. To top that off is Lyn's signature trademak of always giving her ponies cheekblushes. When I talked to Lyn and Jess, Lyn jokingly expressed that Jess didn't like the cheekblushes, but I could tell from Lyn's satisfied facial expression that at least someone appreciates the details she puts into the G3 ponies. I completely enjoy her illustrations and only collect G3 books done by her, and wish that she can continue to do so as she brings on the innocence to G3 ponies that were so reminiscent of G1s.

Lynn told me that Harper Colin might be moving her from My Little Ponies to doing illustrations for Fisher Price instead.

Hasbro Sculptors

Kirk Hindman - "Father" of MLPs

Then there was first and foremost Kirk Hindman, who literally laboured to create ponies. He has been working in Hasbro for almost 20 years and was responsible for making quite a few of the G1 molds. He was a senior sculptor and shared a lot of his production knowledge with us. It was to drool for! According to him, the Collector's Pose has been edited/modified 3 times, and each time they get taller and taller.

Giant Dancing Pinkie Pie Trivia
Kirk Hindman claims that he is partially blamed that Pinkie Pie was made. He was showing us some rubber material, and said that he was originally asked to make a blue prototype of a dancing pony. But he convinced the designers to let him make it in pink, the original colour so that he didn't have to go through another tedious process of "fighting out the pink with the blue". Eventually somehow, maybe out of convenience, the designers went with making Pinkie Pie instead.

Grace GarciaNext was Grace Garcia, who is the next upcoming sculpting starlet talent for Hasbro (just to make it sound glamourous ). She didn't do much MLPs previously, but according to her, she is starting to receive more and more MLP sculpting assignment, and Kirk seemed eager to pass on his skills and knowledge to her. In fact, Grace actually sculpted a pony head right in front of us. She also said something about her experimenting with a few pony poses, so we shall wait and see if anything at all passes the marketing department's approval litmus test.

Hasbro Marketing Representatives

Jessica Mariah

First there was a marketing lady named Jessica Mariah(?? not sure of her last name) whom I forgot to take a picture of. She answered a few of my queries. Our convo sort of went like this:

Why are there so little pegs and unicorns for G3 as if they are "ethnic minorities"? Is there any reason or religious rational for that?

Ans: No, as far as Hasbro is concerned, there are no religious reasons behind that. We do not have such kind of restrictions here in the USA. We choose to focus on earth ponies because we think that they are what My Little Pony is all about.

Is there a particular system that Hasbro had employed to select exactly which pony gets to become part of the core 7?

Ans: Er....actually I don't think so. We mostly select the ones we think will sell best with little girls representing a colour and develop their characters.

Ok, then how come 4 of the 7 ponies are in varying hues of pink and not the rainbow?

Ans: Personally, my favourite was Minty, but she wasn't included because she didn't sell well. We did try to sell other colours, but at the end of the day, little girls still want pink ponies. However, do keep a lookout this year or next, Minty *MIGHT* make a brief appearance. We did try during product testing, but some colours just don't sell. I think the ponies might look slightly different in 2009 but not for sure *trails off thinking about what else to say*....

This was the rough gist of what Jessica siad, but I cant remember in full detail after a sleep.

Yeah, I noticed that in Singapore, yellow ponies always get left on the shelf.

Ans: I seem to recall a yellow pony we recently released. She's Royal Bouquet.Ans: Thank you, yes, I think she sort of got eliminated.

Hasbro Supermodel Marketing

Last but not least, is another marketing representative from Hasbro. I have her picture but stupid me didn't get her name. She was at least a head taller than me, and looked like a supermodel. She has been an intern at Hasbro for 4 weeks so far, but she's witty, open and highly accepting of opinions. I had a wonderful time chatting with her and thought she deserved some recognition.

Sunday ~ BIG Show!

After a not a exciting day with Hasbro, I went to the convention just hoping to find ponies on my wantlist, and not quite interested in paying attention to the Hasbro table. At about 10 or 11 I think, everything changed. PhyllieBean (was it you!? I was so excited it didnt register well!) came up to me and said "Hey, you see that lady? She's Lyn Fletcher, just as you requested on the board..." and I freaked out immediately! Lyn Fletcher was approachable and amiable, and in sum, a wonderful person to talk to. On top of that, I saw a different Hasbro crew stream in later at 1pm with awesome stuff in their hands. Before I go into intricate details, allow me to introduce the awesome people on that day. See separate post on them.

Ponyville - Pinkie Pie's Balloon House Concept Art

Pony Project Giant Ponies

Anyway to start off the true highlights of the fair, below are pictures from the Hasbro booth display. The first one is made from some celebrity I think. She looks like a porcelain pony and she's literally made up of dots that are raised. Then there's the other 2 ponies everyone have seen, Twinkle Hope and the large version of the fair exclusive pony which I named Providence - lame I know, but it is easier to remember. I didn't get to attend the Hasbro tour on Friday, but the Sunday session with Hasbro more than made up for it.

Cheap China: Porcelain Pony

Literally made up of raised dots, the style some what reminds me of work from [Theodore van Russely-link]. I normally refer to her as Porcelain Pony, but for some unknown reason, the name Cheap China sounds highly appealing to me. The artist who made this pony must have a love for beautiful china designs, and probably Asian as well.

I enjoyed the artist's careful eye for detail. The design was definitely no easy feat, being so intricate. On top of that, they were constructed from dots, and furthermore, on an uneven canvas on a shape of a pony.

Providence: Giant Fair Exclusive Pony

On the right is a picture of what I suppose to be the "prototype" of the fair exclusive pony, albeit in giant form. She is pinkish magenta with intricate pink designs. Although there was no official name given to the pony, she was easily named by many collectors after the city she was showcased in, aptly called Provience. I said "easily" because the name came almost too naturally from so many people concurrently.

Providence was indeed the right name for the pony because despite strong opposition raised by collectors against more pink ponies, Hasbro still insisted on coming up with YET another pink pony for this year's exclusive. If it is not fate, then there must be some divine intervention somewhere that prohibits ponies of other colours from being made. How odd that Hasbro claims that they produce toys based on market research when they make pink ponies for collectors who outrightly declare that they want some colour else. I must say it is retardness at work. Somewhere deep under the Hasbro psyche is a pink demon telling that everyone loves pink even when no one said so. Reminds me of my Maths teachers in primary school where they keep telling us children that Maths was fun and we all love their subject. I scored 12/100 for one of my Maths exams - that was how much I loved Maths.

We're currently under the painful occupation of the Pink Crusade.

Twinkle Hope: Charity Pony

This pony was designed by I think a Japanese artist who's apparently extremely famous. Twinkle Hope was meant to be mass produced as a charity pony for orphanages. Hasbro did one a few years back, and now they're doing another one in Twice As Fancy (TAF) style.

The great thing about this artist is that she keeps her design simple and kiddish, which I guess makes it easy for most people buying a toy easy to relate to. Stars - who can't relate to stars? It may not look the most sophisticated, but it sure is my favourite among the 3 giant ponies on showcase.

Saturday ~ No Show

The Hasbro Q&A started at 11am and people started gathering to the announcement stage. Sadly, I feel the Q&A wasn't such a success. Hasbro's responses were mostly generic. They were not anything collectors haven't already know, so it was a little dry and boring. The things they showed werent very exciting either. The "upcoming products in fall" have all been released in Asia and Australia a month or so ago. It got a little sad towards the last 10-15mins since people starting walking off and you can hear the background noises growing louder than the Hasbro panel using a microphone. The Hasbro crew that day were VERY nice, but I just felt their content that day weren't too engaging.

Why were G2s left out of the timeline?

My question to the panel was why the G2s were missing from the Hasbro timeline. Hasbro admitted that it was a blatant mistake on their part and they are looking to revise the timeline.

Chirpy Hasbro Marketing Girl

The lady shown in the picture is part of the marketing team for MLPs. I forgot her name, but if anyone remembers, please let me know! She's holding a picture done by Bonnie just for her. She was easy going and had a chirpy personality.

I didn't take pictures of Bonnie since I assumed other collectors would have taken heaps of pics of her, and personally I wasn't too excited to see her since I thought that even though it was great that she started the collector's pose, it wasn't her concept that took flight. In fact, I feel that it was the 2nd year ponies such as Bubbles, AJ, Bowtie and the unicorns and pegasi that really made MLPs popular.To see pictures of Bonnie and the Saturday Hasbro crew, please see SkyFlier's post:http://www.mlptp.net/forums/mlp-disc...es-posted.html

Introduction

Rhode Island - 21st-22nd June 08 - this is more of a flash back. I originally posted this on the MLPTP right after the meet, but there are valuable information that I am afraid will disappear eventually in time. Most importantly, I want the information for myself. I am reposting it on my blog so that I can retain it for an infinite amount of time.

Saturday - 21st June 08
We got into the convention, set up the tables and had everything arranged. I scooted off to see goodies surfacing from tables. I was the rare few male collectors on the online community, and rarer still, because I was Asian as well. It wasn't difficult to recognise who I was even if I went there as a pile of ash. I got to meet heaps of great people on the boards, but I had problems remembering names even though I recognised their faces. I forgot who I told that one of my aim was to bring home a Mountain Boy - Tornado in particular - because I've been waiting one for ages but never really had the motivation to go all out (ie. sell my parents, pawn my baby niece...etc) to acquire one. The same lady came back to me 5 minutes later and kindly notified me that a table at the front had the WHOLE SET of MOUNTAIN BOYS for sale! My mind swirled blankly for a split second and then went "!!!!!!" for the next few hiphenated moments as I took giant sweeping steps, literally flying towards the front table, and had to jam-brake myself as I made a rough halt in front of some of the most coveted ponies in the collecting community standing on little steps, showing off (at the very least) very good to mint conditions, sporting great shiny hair, clean bodies and minimal to no paint wear. Boy, I was excited. I caught myself chanting "MINE! MINE! MINE!" and felt relief when no one seemed to notice. I did some massive buying at the table (scored all the Mountain Boys at one go), and almost had to leave on a stretcher because I was overly thrilled and broke at the same time; a pauper's bliss that will eventually lead to a stroke.

Mountain Boys

Top (left to right): Ice Crystal, Tornado, Lightning
Bottom (left to right): Sunburst, Fireball, Thundercloud

Also, just thought I'll add one interesting detail to the pony fair. It just so happened that we had the Pony Fair, a gay parade and a Baptist Convention all taking place on the same weekend in Rhode Island. It was so coincidental that I found it HILARIOUS! God sure has a way of smiling his wisdom on his children on earth. :D