#My little pony figures how to#

But on the whole, My Little Pony has been introducing children to a world of fantastic adventure for almost 40 years. toy buyers, and was in production for only two years in North America, although it continued for several years more in Europe.

There have been times when no Ponies were being produced Generation 2 is especially infamous for failing to gain traction with U.S. Today it’s impossible to imagine a toy landscape without My Little Pony. The original line of My Little Pony toys and their associated media are referred to as “Generation 1” My Little Ponies, and were based on/inspired by designs created by Zacherle, who got her start in greeting card illustration. My Little Pony was launched in the United States in 1982 and officially concluded in 1995, several years after the line had waned in popularity and been discontinued in the United States.

#My little pony figures how to#

The brightly colored, chunky equines were for fantasy-loving little girls who didn’t want to learn to be better mommies as much as they wanted to learn how to fight monsters and go on epic quests.

The design and marketing choices also rendered that world functionally optional, and eventually bolstered the theme with complex playsets that could fit into any desired mold. Zacherle and company provided children with opportunities for non-specific pretend play set against a complex fantasy world. My Little Pony filled a niche no one had realized existed, except for maybe its creator, Bonnie Zacherle, and her team at Hasbro. When the original My Little Pony toy line - preceded by her larger sister, My Pretty Pony - galloped onto the scene, it was something like we’d never seen before. Let’s talk about epic dynasties and perilous quests, about evil witches and terrible beasts, about dragons and dangers, about the sort of stakes that aren’t usually included in toy lines geared at little girls*. The Horse Girl Canon is Polygon's celebration and exploration of the books, films, TV, toys, and games that have become essential to the cross-generational 'Horse Girl' life.