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.