Idle chatter about My Little Pony

RagingMoon1987 here, and I apologize for the lack of activity lately.  It's been a couple of months since I last updated the blog, and a year and a half since I last talked about My Little Pony, but some recent minor events have prompted me to get active again.  Last month I went on a massive Etsy binge, buying everything within a certain price range.  Most of it is stuff for ball-jointed dolls, but I also found some things for my beat-up old Cabbage Patch Kid.  I also discovered that Etsy is a haven for reasonably priced vintage My Little Pony figures, mostly in the G1 style that I loved as a child.  Long story short, I bought three of them...and strangely enough, none of them are ponies that I owned as a child.  Indeed, all three ponies are older than I am.  So without further ado, let's meet my magical little equine friends!

PONY 1:  Medley
YEAR RELEASED:  1983
DATE OF ACQUISITION:  July 20th, 2016

Medley is four years older than I am, which would mean that she's lived to the ripe old age of 32.  Jeez, Secretariat didn't live to be that old!  Anywho, I got Medley because she's a character that I never owned, in a color that I don't remember owning, in a pose that I never owned.  It's odd that I don't remember ever owning a green pony during my childhood, but my mother and sister do.  My sister was constantly getting into my things, so she'd have good reason to remember.  I just don't understand why I wouldn't remember owning a pony in my favorite color.

When I added Medley to my small collection I noticed that she bears a striking resemblance to one of my combable G4 ponies, Lyra Heartstrings.

They're not exactly alike, but the similarities are uncanny.  Both ponies are mint-colored, and both have a musical theme.  The two are so much alike that they could be sisters...and since I can do what I like with my things, I've chosen to call them sisters!

As an added little bonus, Medley and Lyra also match my Shopkins Shoppie, Peppa Mint.

Such a shame that Peppa is for the most part a static figure, because she'd make a great rider for Medley.  I may review Peppa in a future post.

PONY 2:  Magic Star
YEAR RELEASED:  1985/1986
DATE OF ACQUISITION: July 22nd, 2016

Magic Star is a G1 So Soft pony, part of a line that was originally available before I was born.  The Softies are covered in flocking that makes them soft to the touch and dilutes their colors.  With her fuzz on, Magic Star is a pale yellow with a green and pink cutie mark.  When deflocked she is a bright lemon yellow.  I originally wanted Skippity Doo since she's green, but Skip wasn't available on Etsy so I settled for Magic Star.  Magic Star is in the same pose as Skip, which again is a pose I never owned when I was a child.  Indeed, I had no idea that Hasbro made ponies in a full rearing pose.  The Truly pose often required the use of a stand, but my Magic Star doesn't have hers.  No worries, though.  I usually brace her against Medley.  The Truly pose appears to be a tricky one to get here in the states, by the way.  According to My Little Wiki there were only six ponies in this pose, with half of them being foreign releases.  The three available in the U.S. were all Softies.

Flocking was the main selling point for So Soft ponies, and Magic Star doesn't disappoint.

She has a few minuscule rubs on her left back, but otherwise her flocking is very close to perfect.  I love how the flocking softens her yellow vinyl, too.  Without it she'd be DayGlo yellow, but with it on she takes a soft lemon yellow glow.  Magic Star genuinely feels soft, too.  I was expecting the flocking to be stiff like it is on those cheap bunny coin banks that you sometimes find around Easter.  Nope.  Magic Star's flocking feels like extra thick peach fuzz.  As soft and enticing as it is I try not to rub her too much, lest I rub off more flocking!  The fuzz, combined with a silky mane and tail make for a very pleasing purchase.

PONY 3:  Masquerade
YEAR RELEASED:  1985/1986
DATE OF ACQUISITION:  July 25th, 2016

Masquerade is a G1 Twinkle Eyed pony, part of yet another line that I never knew.  I originally wanted Mimic, another Twinkle Eyed pony, but you should see the prices some people want for a rare character like Mimic.  So I chose Masquerade, who coincidentally happens to be yellow and green like Magic Star is. The similarities aren't as obvious since Magic Star's flocking diffuses her color a lot, but these two could definitely be in the same family.  Cousins, maybe?  I think I'll make them cousins.

Masquerade is a Pegasus like Medley, but I can't remember if I ever had a pony posed like Masquerade or not.  If I did she must not have stood out much because I don't remember her.

Eyes are crucial to Twinkle Eyed ponies, so let's take a look at Masquerade's.

In true Twinkle Eyed fashion, Masquerade boasts a lovely pair of green plastic gemstone eyes.  These are the kind of eyes that would've driven my sister nuts.  I find them a little creepy myself, in fact!  These are special eyes, though; none of my other ponies have eyes like this.  And unless I can find Mimic, none of them ever will!

So those are my new girls so far!  I promised both my mother and myself that I would not create a new collection that equals the size of my burgeoning childhood herd...but I'll have to admit, that's going to be a tough promise to keep!  Mimic and Skippity Doo are still on my wish list, as are Raincurl, Princess Royal Pink, Lovebeam, and Dandelion.  I've also developed a fondness for So Soft Lofty, who is a buttery shade of yellow underneath her fuzz, and a couple of Beddy Bye-Eyed Babies.  But for now, Masquerade, Medley, and Magic Star will do nicely.  Here they all are together, Equestria Girls included, much to Equestria Twilight's delight!

Yep, I got Derpy in there too!  Remember when I said I wanted a Derpy?  I was fortunate enough to get Funko Derpy and not Funko Pop! Derpy.  I like Funko Pop! figures, but when it came to Derpy I wanted the figure that showed her disconjugate eyes a bit better.  I've also got a random Apple Bloom, whom I picked up in a Funko Blind Bag.  I didn't count the tiny blind bag ponies, since I'm using those as ball-jointed doll props.  If I were to add those into the mix my collection would probably be up to twenty.

I'll be tackling another trendy eighties toy in my next post, so stay tuned!

Hugs, kisses, and cookies,
RagingMoon1987

Dolly Dress Discussion: new Vi and Va outfits

MGA Entertainment's Vi and Va dolls were only introduced this past spring, but I think they may already be discontinued.  Their Facebook page lies quiet (last entry was on May 27th), and when I went to Target yesterday I didn't see any of the dolls.  In fact, I only saw the dolls there ONCE!!!  That one time I was smart enough to grab one of the outfits, and I promptly discovered that some of Mattel's dolls can wear it, as can Lalaloopsy Girls and Pinkie Cooper dolls.  Today I found two more outfits at Goodwill; these two were originally intended for Viviana and Valentina themselves.

I don't know if you can see those price stickers or not, but if you can, you may see that the prices are marked WAY DOWN.  Since these dresses are constructed differently from the one intended for Roxxi, my plan is to fit these to the dolls that can wear Roxxi's dress.

For a refresher, these dolls, from left, are Twilight Sparkle (Hasbro), Stacie (Mattel), Princess Malucia (Mattel), Pepper Parson (Bridge Direct), and Pix E. Flutters (MGA Entertainment).  Notice that Stacie is still wearing Roxxi's dress!  But first things first.  I have a Bratz Girlz Yasmin in my midst, and she has nothing to wear but shoes and painted-on undergarments.

Vi and Va were small-bodied MGA dolls just like Yasmin is, so that's given me an idea...and I think you know where I'm going with it!  Just for grins, let's see how she looks in the Roxxi dress.

Houston, we have a problem.  The Vi and Va dolls have small bodies, but Yasmin's is even smaller!  This hangs on her.  No way can she wear it.  Perhaps she can wear the other dresses?  They are constructed differently, having honest-to-God sleeves instead of plastic spaghetti straps that the Roxxi dress has.  We'll soon see!  Here's Valentina's dress.

Valentina (Va) is/was the younger sibling and got this cute white dress.  The dress is trimmed in bright pink ribbons and pale pink jersey fabric that is printed with pink and blue flowers.  It comes with a pink plastic headband and...YELLOW shoes???  Those shoes do not match anything about that dress, so what MGA was thinking there, I'll never know.  Anywho, the set is rounded out with a plastic doll/figurine, again for reasons that I'll never know.  There's got to be a reason for its inclusion, but that's not the point of this post.

YASMIN

The Roxxi dress didn't fit Yasmin, but out of curiosity I put the Valentina dress on her anyway.  And...

...lo and behold, Yasmin looks pretty good!  The dress is big on her, but since it's got sleeves instead of clear spaghetti straps, it doesn't sag as much.  This is perfect for Yasmin's little girl self.  As a bonus, the headband fits.  I neglected to photograph this part, but Yasmin's head is big enough for it.  Since Bratz Girls have shoe-feet on pegs like all other Bratz, Yasmin won't be able to wear the yellow shoes.  No great loss.

STACIE

This looks okay on Stacie, but the fit is tight.  The Velcro only partially goes together in back.  It's also short to the point of comical.  It's hard to tell because the skirt is so full, but trust me on this one.  I doubt I'll put Stacie in this again.  The headband was too big, and the shoes didn't fit Stacie's flat feet.

PRINCESS MALUCIA

This is the first doll I've tried that could even come close to wearing the shoes.  They don't fit Mal very well, but they do go on and stay on reasonably well.  As for the dress itself, it flatters Mal's body better than it does Stacie's.  The Velcro goes together all the way, and the skirt provides more coverage, though it's still pretty short.  The headband sort of fit, but it wanted to slip over Mal's eyes constantly so I took it off.  Not that Mal needs a headband or shoes anyway.  She has her own shoes, plus a crown, both in a shade of pink that will coordinate with this dress.  This is princessey enough that I'd put it on Mal again, provided that she has her own crown and shoes.

PEPPER PARSON

The bodice is a smidge big around Pepper's chest, but other than that this fits her fine.  Since Pepper has shorter legs than Stacie and Mal, the skirt falls lower and looks less vampy.  The shoes did not fit, so Pepper is wearing Mal's.  Okay, they don't match perfectly, but I like pink shoes better with this dress than I do those danged yellow ones!  The headband WOULD have fit, but Pepper's smooth little head would not allow it.  Stretching the band over her ears could've technically worked, but that would've put a lot of strain on the plastic so I abandoned that idea and left Pepper as is for the photograph.

PIX E. FLUTTERS

Pix has a unique egg-shaped body, so I wasn't expecting this dress to fit her.  Much to my surprise, it does, and it looks pretty good.  The bodice is big at the top, and maybe the skirt is a little short, but Pix has such a cartoonish body that this isn't a huge deal.  Neither the shoes or the headband fit, which is too bad because the shoes are very similar in color to Pix's hair.  Since this dress clashes with Pix's coloring I put her stock shoes on.  Their white flower decorations help tie the look together a little better.  In short, I love the way this looks on Pix.

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

As with most of the dolls above, this dress is loose around Twilight's chest.  She's on the short side, so the skirt hangs at a reasonable length.  The shoes and the headband both fit and fit surprisingly well; the shoes fall off occasionally, but Twilight can wear them better than any of the other dolls I've shared.  They match her yellow leg a little too closely though, so if I were to put this on Twilight again I'd probably use her stock shoes.  I probably won't make Twilight wear this again, though, because it doesn't suit her character.  This is more like something that Pinkie Pie would wear.  I'm not a huge fan of Pinkie Pie, by the way.  Her voice irritates me.

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With Valentina's dress out of the way, here's Viviana's.

Viviana (Vi) got an outfit that looks more like a pajamas set than a dress.  It has a pale blue smock top with a flowered collar and matching flowered shorts.  The shoes are pink and the headband is blue, but they are otherwise the same as those that came with Valentina's dress, so I probably won't discuss them.  Another funny-looking little doll makes an appearance, and again I'm at a loss for reasons why.  I'll probably pose these plastic dolls with my Nenderoid figures.  LOL, didn't think I had any, did ya!!!  Yep, I do.  I was hoping for some Puella Magi Madoka Magica figures (Kyoko's my gal!), but Hastings only had Idolmaster 1 and 2.  They're cute little figures, regardless of what character they are, but I digress.

YASMIN

I'll go in the same order, with Yasmin going first.

This set is big on Yasmin, but not intolerably so.  Since it looks like a pajamas set the big fit can be forgiven.  Hey, who the heck wants to sleep in tight pajamas???  I sure don't!  The headband fits and the shoes don't.

STACIE

I wish I had a little teddy bear to pose in Stacie's arm.  This set suits her wonderfully well.  It's not too big or too small, and it looks like something a girl her age would wear to bed.  I'm loving this.

PRINCESS MALUCIA

Likewise, Princess Malucia wears this like a champ.  She doesn't wear it quite as well as Stacie does, but this is good enough for Mal to wear to a pajama party thrown by one of her common acquaintances.  The shoes fit reasonably well, but frankly, this set could've done without the shoes.  I only put them on Mal because her high-heeled feet look weird without shoes.

PEPPER PARSON

This set looks cute on Pepper as well, but I'm starting to think that EVERYTHING looks cute on Pepper.  Everything that I've tried on her looks adorable.  It probably helps that Pepper's coloring is rather neutral; black and white both match everything!

PIX E. FLUTTERS

Again, I was afraid that this wouldn't fit Pix's egg-shaped body, and this time I had to contend with pants legs!  Pix's sizable feet don't always fit through pants.  As it turns out, I needn't have worried.  Pix wears this with aplomb.  Her tights even match the flowered collar and shorts, but to be perfectly honest, I probably won't put this on Pix very often.  She already has a cute set of pajamas, and they match her coloring better than these do.

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

Once again, Twilight is the only one who can wear the complete outfit.  The shoes fit reasonably well, and so does the headband.  As a bonus, this outfit suits Twilight's coloring better; you can't see the streaks in her hair very well, but they're pink and blue like this outfit.  Twilight definitely will wear this again.

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In short, these Vi and Va dresses are good for Pinkie Cooper, Equestria Girls, Lalaloopsy Girls, and the Princess Malucia doll.  Stacie and the older Bratz Kidz can wear some of these outfits, but the fit is hit and miss.  If you have any of the dolls I mentioned in the first sentence, I highly recommend these outfits.  Hasbro, MGA Entertainment, and Mattel have all been lax about releasing new outfits for their dolls, so these Vi and Va clothes are an excellent way to rectify that.  

The Vi and Va series has one more dress available, that one belonging to flaxen-haired Felicia.  Here's what it looks like:

What on God's green earth is up with these accessories???  Who would wear a pink headband with a blue and black ensemble???  Brother!  Anywho, Felicia's outfit is the only one I don't own now.  Given the fact that the three dresses I do have fit all my dolls differently, this one will probably be full of surprises.  I hope desperately that I can find it, maybe tucked away in Target's discount section?  That would be fabulous.  

Yours truly, 

RagingMoon1987

On Pinkie Cooper and the Equestria Girls

The weather continues to be...well, less than perfect here.  The sun was out today and will be out tomorrow, but this weekend it's supposed to ice over.  Since I've already got cabin fever I dragged out some of my dolls and began playing Dolly Dress Shuffle with my girls.  You may or may not remember that my Equestria Girl can wear Lalaloopsy Girl clothing, but not the other way around.  Since Twilight Sparkle has a skinny little frame I wondered if she could wear Pinkie Cooper clothing.  Not one to sit idle, I grabbed Twilight and Pepper Parson out of the dolly bin and tried it out.  The results came out pretty good.  Here's what Pepper looks like in Twilight's clothes:

The top doesn't close all the way in back...

...and the skirt was difficult to get around Pepper's chunky little thighs, but overall this works pretty well. 

Pepper's dress fits Twilight like it was made for her.

The colors of this dress don't flatter Twilight as well as they do Pepper, but other than that the dress looks great.  The only problem with this swap is shoes.  Twilight has rather sizable feet, and Pepper has small feet.

Pepper could actually wear Twilight's shoes pretty well if her feet (paws?) weren't so small.  Her calves are thick enough that these shoes can stay on without falling off, though they still slide around a lot.  Regardless of the fit, they look very cute on Pepper, and they finish the look.

Note that the slope of her foot is perfect for those huge platform heels.  I think that if Pepper had larger feet the fit would be near perfect.

There's no way that Twilight can shove her big feet (hooves?) into Pepper's dinky little shoes.

In all honesty the only problem that I have with this is the fact that these dresses don't really look complete without shoes.  In Pepper's case the problem can be remedied with another fashion pack.  There were three separate fashions available for Pepper and her canine compadres, and one of them happens to have purple shoes:

This fashion was meant for Pepper's buddy Ginger Jones, but all three characters can share fashions so no biggie.  Those shoes would match Twilight's default outfit without much fuss.  Doesn't solve Twilight's shoe problem, though.  Maybe some ball-jointed doll shoes will fit?  Might be worth a looksie.

It's amazing what you'll learn when you shed your adult façade for five minutes.  No, I didn't learn anything super-duper-important, but at least Pepper and Twilight have some more clothing options.  Small wonder that I never get any reviews done anymore, though.  I'm always too busy tinkering around with clothes on my older dolls!  LOL

Happy Ash Wednesday,
RagingMoon1987

The return of My Little Pony

My intention was to get a review of one of the new Lalaloopsy Girls up sometime this week.  I've had it in draft form for about a month, being slowed down by computer problems and personal obligations, but it'll be ready pretty soon.  But right now, it's time for a trip down a branch of Memory Lane that I thought I'd left far, far behind.  I was a tomboy as a child, but I did have a special fondness for My Little Pony.  I had a huge collection of them; the majority were G1 ponies in various colors and styles.  Some of the ponies talked, lit up, sparkled, or were dressed in cute clothes, and some were just pretty and fun to have.  None of my collection exists today; after I outgrew it I assume that it was trundled off to the childrens' home that we used to have here in Malden.  If that's the case then I hope some little girls had some fun times with those ponies.  Some of them (as you will soon see) were quite beautiful, perfect companions for some child.

Fast-forward eighteen years to 2014.  I have been trying to resist the new G4 ponies for two reasons.  One, I need another collection of stuff like I need a third leg tacked on.  And two, I'm not a huge fan of the G4 ponies.  They do very little to remind me of the friends I had as a child.  Equestria Girls hadn't won me over either, although I was willing to admit their faces were cute.  All that resistance came to an end earlier this month.  Now I have these:

One Hasbro Neon Rainbow Rocks Equestria Girl and one Funko Pop! figure.  Both of these are Twilight Sparkle, the character which I more or less chose as my favorite.  Truth be told, I actually prefer Rainbow Dash because of her coloring...but there wasn't a Rainbow Dash Funko Pop! figure available at the Wal-Mart where I went.  I had spent the day with my insufferable uncle and some dumb bimbo had entered the 20-item checkout lane with about sixty different items in her cart, so I needed a pick-me-up.  While the checkout lady rang up the huge purchase I browsed the Funko shelves.  The MLP figures caught my eye but the only characters there were Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle.  The last thing I wanted was a danged all-pink pony (about half of my old collection had been pink), so I grabbed Twilight and stuck her in the shopping cart, thinking she'd make a cute companion to my Lalaloopsies.

Equestria Twilight came along on the sixteenth.  Having found Funko Twilight I thought it might be cute to find some other figurines and dolls to go with her.  We're lucky enough to still have a nice Kmart close to where we are, so we went over there to browse and look for Christmas trees.  Kmart's toy isle had a surprisingly good selection of Monster High dolls, a stack of untouched Lalaloopsy duds, and every Equestria character you could want...except Twilight Sparkle.  The next day brought a trip to the local Dollar General, and I found my Twilight there.  She's a nice doll for a Dollar Store Cheapie; her hair is nice and soft, and she's well painted.  She doesn't look as nicely constructed as the more expensive Equestria girls though, so my intention is to find one of those and compare the two.  Hey, since I'm starting a Twilight Sparkle collection, I might as well!

As for my old collection, I'm going to replace the ones I really loved.  Three long-lost friends beckon from my memories.  I can hear them hollering "Moony, come find me!"  Here they are:

G1 Raincurl (Rainbow Cloud in Britain), from the Rainbow Curl Pony line.  When I was about two I fell in love with my cousin Lacy's My Little Pony figure.  Daddy took pity on me and bought me this one.  "It's the prettiest one they had," he said, and I apparently agreed; upon seeing Raincurl my words reportedly were "Mine's prettier than Lacy's!"  As the first and the most attractive of the ponies, Raincurl always played the matriarch.  As an aside, the Rainbow Curl line included three other ponies.  Their names were Streaky, Ringlet, and Stripes.

G1 Princess Royal Pink.  I'm not sure what line this was, but she had a companion named Princess Royal Purple.  Pink was a gift for doing well in preschool.  She was the first pony I received that had any sort of accessories other than a brush; she came with a silver tiara and a pink robe with a fuzzy collar that I loved.  Notice that she has rooted eyelashes.  Oh, the fun I had with my Princess Pink's eyelashes!  I'd wet them down and make them look like she was crying, so she could play a damsel-in-distress role.

G1 Lovebeam, from the stunning Colorswirl line.  She is another pony that has special memories attached; I received her for my fifth birthday and fell in love with her stripes.  She reminded me of orange sherbet, one of my favorite treats.  I also loved how her ears were two different colors.  Lovebeam's Colorswirl companions were Starswirl and Springy, both of who also remind me of sherbet!

In addition, I'd like to find a bright green pony; green has always been my favorite color, and yet during all those years I spent hoarding MLP figures I never had even ONE green pony.  I like G3 Dandelion a lot, but I don't know how hard she'd be to find since she was a MLP Fair pony (year was 2010).  Here's what Dandelion looks like.  She's green and pink, which happens to be one of my favorite color combinations:

There's also this one, whom I never owned as a child:

This is Skippity Doo, a G1 So Soft pony.  The Softies were available before I was born, thus I never owned any.  They came with flocking all over, and I love fuzzy things so I adore this.  I also love the contrast between her body and her hair.

There's also Mimic, another pony that I never knew.

Mimic is a Twinkle-Eyed Pony, meaning that she has plastic gems for eyes.  Like the So Soft Ponies, Twinkle-Eyed Ponies were released before I was born.  In fact, the two lines were available at the same time!  1986 certainly was an interesting year for ponies!  Anywho, Mimic is something of an enigma among MLP fans; there was only one version of her, and that version had only a very brief run.  Thus Mimic is rare and eagerly sought-after.  Challenge accepted, Hasbro.

And finally, just for laughs, I'd like to find this.  She's not green, but she's still cute.

Derpy!  Nope, they didn't have her at Wal-Mart either.  I assume that either that shipment had no Derpy figures, or they'd all been bought because she's a fan favorite.  Personally I feel a special kinship towards Derpy since I'm something of a derp myself at times, and because we both love muffins.  Plus, she'll make a good contrast in a collection that will largely be Twilight Sparkle and a few throwbacks.  For some weird reason I can't help hoping that she'll become an Equestria Girl.  There's already been what appeared to be some fan art depicting Derpy as an animated Equestria Girl, so I guess there's room to hope!  I've only seen about three Derpy figures advertised, by the way.  Maybe I should've chosen her as my sole favorite, since there are a billion Twilight Sparkle figures out there.

By the way...remember how I said I thought Funko Twilight might make a good companion for my Lalaloopsies?  Well...I was right!

One final little digression:  with the exception of shoes, Equestria Twilight can wear Pix's clothes with aplomb.

Okay, the pajamas are baggy at the waist, but this is still a success for the most part.  That's good to know.  If MGA Entertainment decides to make some threads for the Lalaloopsy Girls then Twilight may benefit as well!  By the way, SPOILER ALERT:  Twilight is the exception regarding Pix E. Flutters' uniquely sized clothes. 

How about y'all?  Do I have any MLP fans among my followers?  Kindly share your memories.

Yours happily,
RagingMoon1987