I is so smart. I made NEW PONY!

So...I was VERY bored. And this is what I did. I just made a core 8th and 9th pony.... 

Meet Pinkity

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now meet Rari Pie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The End  

LOL so what do you think do my Frankenstein head switching? They make pretty interesting poses.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Retros G1.5 Aren't Up to the Originals?

"Some of you can be a little to picky.You have to appreciate them for what they are. A remake of a classic. And how many remakes can ever live up to the original? They are definatly not the same but they are cute in their own way!" - these are the golden words from Skylar on the MlpArena. Unfortunately, MountainCai doesn't think so! If a mountain doesn't think so, then nothing matters as they all seem small and trivial.

I don't think it is so much a problem living up to standards, but rather, Hasbro is in fact cheating on the materials/quality of the repros compared to the real G1s. Get it? CHEAT, like a husband cheats on a wife kind of cheat. For G1s, they get ribbons with a "thick" feel that you only find being used on Godiva gift chocolate boxes today mostly. The new ribbons are shorter, and they're really thin. The symbols are cheaply slapped on with a layer of gloss smeared across to ensure they stick on like a sticker.

Next, for the mold, it could have been better. Problem is not because it is a repro off an old pony, but rather, the Hasbro sculptors themselves don't really see much difference in the details! At the pony fair, the guy Kirk said he was quite impressed that their technology allowed them to so-call "scan" an existing pony into a computer and they produce a new mold from there. Pretty much like a photocopy I guess. He claims that the new mold is just like a replica. I did voice out that I thought the new molds did lose out some details, but he didn't seem to think the same way. :P I think Hasbro could have tweaked and improved the molds if they wanted to, but it just didn't seem important to them. I mean if you are really interested in catering to the collectors' community, surely you will at least make the effort to execute aesthetics with a little more precision? And I can really see why MLPs are losing out to LPS, new or retro release.

I would say if Hasbro cared a little more, the retro releases would have lived up to the originals in terms of quality standards and expectations. Sadly, Hasbro's idea of meeting standards is very different from us collectors, so there is nothing much we can do, but take it or leave it. I don't think sales is too bad, but neither is it so good that Hasbro is encouraged to rush out more. Anyway, even though I think I may sound quite negative about the retro, they're not exactly lost causes. I do realise that the Rainbows look better OUT of package than in the package. I took mine out because I had to ship them home to Singapore, and they look much prettier, even with the smaller eyes! I guess you can call it making the best of what you have ^^ They're not thaaaaaaat bad, yet, they could have been better. I think it's probably the "could have been" part that turns a lot of people off, and it's within Hasbro's ability to achieve that is not being done. AHHHHHH, the horror on how Hasbro stinges on us and still expects us to fork out the money; just makes us feel like we're only worthy of borderline importance sometimes.

Leeching in Monterey

Ok after 1.5 months of living on the east coast with my friend princessluna11706, I'm dead broke, because everyone knows how expensive things in New York can get. And not to mention how unfathomably one can spend over one short weekend in Rhode Island at the MLP Fair. I became broke as naturally as breathing air. God knew that way in advance, but he didn't bother telling me, not even in my dreams... . Of course I was upset, but SO HAPPY that I had all the ponies I wanted at the same time. I've been planning to visit my cousin in Monterey, but have been dragging my plans because princessluna11706 said we had to go to Boston on 4th of July, which was not a regretable trip by the way! It was AMEN haven there. I had such a wonderful time admiring the Museum of Fine Arts and dancing in the aquarium, taking videos of every fish or fishlet I came across. Anyway, I've finally DONE it! After my trip to San Jose and Fremont to Bridgetsmum & Chief's, I took an expensive 1.5 hour airbus for eeek $35! It only costs me $15 to travel from NYC to Boston - URGGGH so cheap!

Monterey in summer has the temperature of winter in Brisbane, Australia - LOL! A weak summer I'd say, but the view was breathtaking. The harsh sea coast with all the eroded rocks and sparse patches of remaining plateu reminded me of a time long gone. An epic tale of a tragic hero started playing in my mind of a charming adonis with curly dark hair, with clear cobalt blue eyes. Then suddenly, somehow his face was replaced by my own, and then I realised what an ugly dream it was. I don't like to diss myself, but even I can scare myself sometimes. It's a fact, not fiction.

General Design of a Typical My Little Pony

There are many ways to design a pony, and that's probably why there can be so many pony fakies out there. Cute ponies are no longer a niche in a toyline. If you look at every popular toylines out there like Barbie or Strawberry Shortcake or something as sad as Bratz, every toy manufacturer wants a bite of the pony/horse pie. Everyone saw the need to diversify, ALL EXCEPT Hasbro. Hasbro created My Little Ponies and started a trend that's true, but they don't have the guts to challenge their competitors in saturated areas such as human dolls that they tried to perpetrate back in the 80s with the Megan doll, and eventually the Moondreamer doll line that didn't do too well, but was an obvious extension from the seeming success of the past 3 different releases of the Megan doll. I would say there is too much market research but too little actual experimentation from Hasbro. They may have focus groups and so on, but these are only small representative samples that are daringly used to reflect the world as a whole. That is simply biased qualitative research I feel. Ok, so this may sound too much like vindictive personal attacks on Hasbro's marketing moves, and in truth, I admit 90% is true!!! I can be very honest and hurtful most of the time.

Anyway, my point is - after a long sidetrack ranting - Hasbro has lost sight of making MLPs an age 3-6 toy. They claim they are trying to make toys for a younger age group, but yet they're not willing to shake off the "I'm so hip and cool" impression that their ponies now have that clearly belong to toys from the older age groups. Not that it is always a bad thing, but Hasbro is seriously putting in a luke-warm effort, making the ponies standing neither here nor there. They're not cool enough for the older children and too cool for the younger kiddos to relate to. Therefore, in my grading system of design success, they get a capital F (for FAILURE!).

The initial design moto from Hasbro was that they intent to make ponies an innocent toyline, free from fashion and bohemian strive from existing toylines on the market. Barbie is the typical OMG dropdead grogeous exemplar of fashion and the "it" girls club. As for Bratz with their unconventional attractive ugliness, it's definitely part of the bohemian sect. I mean which boy in the world wants to marry a girl with a head bigger than his football when he's 18? And little girls see Bratz as their "role model"? I can't help but LOL, ROFL and LMAO at the same time. If words can be animated, you'll see my action abbreviations fly. Instead of what they set out to do, Hasbro actually made a simplified version of the above said things. It was pure horror when I discovered my beloved ponies were all suffering from full time work that involved tea parties and costume balls 24/7. Even at slumber parties, they can be having crumpet magic.

I can't say I am a talented designer or anything, and my only credential is that I babysit my baby niece and little cousins, and by watching how they interact with other children, I roughly understand what makes them tick and want to react, and therefore, what kind of looks and play endears easily to them most.

In my opinion, small children don't understand what being cool and fashionable means. Age 3-6 is the time when they like to "monkey see monkey do"; they tend to either copy older kids or they find someone who looks their age and they copy each other. Therefore, the quickest way to create a pony that hits off directly with a child would be to make a pony look like a child. A pony is not gimmicky like some other toys on the market, nor do they have a strong storyline or successful cartoon to back them up, so their appearance is extremely important. In the illustration above, I've noted what I think are defining traits that are attractive to a child of age 3-6.

Baby Sweet Tooth

As many of you would know by now, I can such a purist when it comes to breed and colour when it comes to my ponies. Oh sounds so racist :D If you ever get to know me better, you'll discover that I'm actually an open-minded and endearing person to hang out with! Most people do not give themselves a chance to find out, SADLY! The above picture was taken at our first Singapore My Little Pony Meet last year 2007! The yellow baby pegasus is obviously Baby Dancing Butterflies. As for the blue baby, it's my custom Baby Sweet Tooth. The official mail order from Hasbro made her as a unicorn, which was a big NOOOOOOO. She looked nothing like her mum! She's too blue, wrong breed and symbols too bold. The purist in me manifested innately like a mutant ability when I chanced upon a baity Baby Fifi. Poor baby knew what was coming even before I threw her my signature dirty look. I had to tell her verbally just to confirm her fears. It wasn't too bad. 3 hours of nip-tuck and she's looks like a factory made rare baby pony. Her hair was from a fakie by the way. I don't even remember what the fakie looked like because I've used her and she's done and so had to be gone. Good riddance!

Sweet Tooth thanked me many times for her baby that looks like her. Do you know how many times she took her unicorn baby out shopping and people didn't think it was her baby? She jokingly said she picked her baby up from the garbage and everyone believed her. Even I believed her! Geez and I know everything in Ponyland like God knows the world!

If you are wondering who the odd looking adult Twice As Fancy (TAF) pony is, then LET ME INTRODUCE YOU! She's Argentina Love Melody. Why is she so screwed up looking? I have no idea. She's a yellowed cream colour, almost like a discoloured white pony, but her colouring is so solidly even it's impossible to be discolouration. She's weird but beautiful. She was really common on ebay at one point of time, but has suddenly disappeared into oblivion, so now I guess, she can be quite expensive.