7 Things You Don’t Know About My Little Pony
Prepare to be amazed! Find out 7 things you don't know about My Little Pony...
1. The first My Little Pony toy was inspired by a chubby pony that Bonnie Zacherle, the creator of the brand, visited while she was living in Japan as a child. She was instantly obsessed with its fat little legs, and begged her father, a veterinarian, for a pony of her own. She didn’t get one. But she grew up to be an illustrator, and when Hasbro asked her to sketch her own design of a toy pony, she designed it to be as cuddly as the one she loved as a little girl.
2. The original My Pretty Pony, released in 1981, was 10 inches tall, made of hard plastic, and meant to be realistic and appeal to boys and girls. It had a lever on its chin that wiggled its ears and shook its tail. The toy did relatively well, but it didn’t take off until the Hasbro marketing team went over-the-top girly with a re-design, shaping the new, smaller ponies for an all-girl audience. Now dubbed “My Little Pony,” the ponies were softer and made in fun colors like shimmery pink, powder blue and sparkly lavender. And the best part: you could comb its purple hair and add glitter!
3. The first “My Little Pony” pals were released in 1982. Their names were Snuzzle, Butterscotch, Blue Belle, Minty, Blossom, and Cotton Candy. They made their feature debut in a TV animated short called “Rescue From Midnight Castle.”
4. The first My Little Pony film was released in 1986, and it was a bomb! The ponies got their own TV series from 1986-87.
5. For the past thirty-plus years, more than 600 different kinds of ponies have been released around the world! Collectors know them to exist in several “generations.” Generation 1 lasted from 1983 to 1992; Generation 2 saw smaller ponies and lasted from 1997 to 2003. Generation 3 went from 2003 to 2009 and returned to the original style of pony.
6. The success of the Transformers franchise, which made $700 million at the box office, inspired Hasbro to reboot the My Little Pony brand. Lauren Faust, the creator of the PowerPuff Girls, had approached Hasbro will another idea when the company unexpectedly asked her to weigh in. After doing a deep dive with the Ponies, she realized that as a kid she had loved making up her own adventures and personalities for her ponies. The characters she created were much cooler than the ones portrayed on the TV series. Inspired by her childhood friends, she based the characters of her My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic reboot series on the personalities she developed when she was just 8 years old!
7. In 2010, the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was launched and become a huge success for Discovery Kids. Last year’s movie version did well at the box office. We’ll be sure to see the ponies at the box office again soon!
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