Generation Three

The third incarnation of My Little Pony began in 2003 and is generally referred to as Generation Three (G3) by collectors. The revamped line of dolls was targeted to a younger audience than the previous lines.

Generation Three is set in the fictional town of Ponyville, which is centered around Celebration Castle. Only Earth Ponies were released from 2003 to 2005, but in 2005 and 2006 Pegasus Ponies and Unicorn Ponies were introduced.

Until late 2005, packaging came with Pony Points that were later used for exclusive mail orders. Unlike the G1 line, the Pony Points had to be mailed in to order; a customer could not pay a flat fee and add points to it to lower the price. Some of the ponies available with the Pony Points program were Dazzle Surprise, Sunshimmer and Love Wishes. Other merchandise included posters or a play mat to put buildings on. The points program ended on 31 January 2006.

While the line was simultaneously released in the U.S. and Europe, there are a few ponies unavailable in the U.S., such as Winter Snow and some small, fairy-like ponies called Breezies who first appeared in the animated feature The Princess Promenade. One of the most uncommon ponies in the G3 line was released by mistake in 2004. A Pinkie Pie with the words "2003 Licensing Show" embedded into her symbol was used to promote the My Little Pony toy line at the 2003 Spring Licensing Show, and were intended to be released only at that show in a limited edition of 300. Due to a packaging error, a few were packaged as regular ponies and sold in stores. Other limited-edition ponies have been the Pony Project promotional ponies and Rosey Posey, who was given to attendees at a charity dinner held by Hasbro.

Recognizing the older fans of its line, Hasbro has released special collector ponies noticeably different from the regular G3. While some had a general release as "Art Ponies", many are available through special events, such as the annual My Little Pony Collector's Convention and the San Diego Comic Con. These ponies are elaborately designed, such as the underwater-themed art pony which has fish and sea creatures printed all over its body, and come in matching display boxes. The 2011 SDCC pony is black and pink and has a kawaii skull instead of a "cutie mark". There is also a white pony available to customizers. Despite the G3 redesign as Core 7 and the advent of the G4 line, Hasbro has continued the collector-themed G3 ponies in their original poses.

Related lines

Petite Ponies

Petite Ponies were tiny pony figures sold in sets. Some had different characteristics, such as brushable hair, pearlised or glow-in-the-dark bodies. Under the base of each was an engraved hoof, which allowed the pony to function as a key to the Petite Playsets. Most of these smaller ponies had no official name, and many had the same symbols. They were sold from 1989 to 1991; only Earth Ponies and Pegasus Ponies were produced.

Dream Beauties

These larger figures made of hard plastic were advertised as "grown up" ponies and called Dream Beauties. Unlike My Little Ponies, they looked more like real horses in proportions and musculature. The Dream Beauties came in a range of decorated and accessorized styles, including plastic beads along the base of their manes, ornamentation in the style of carousel horses, glitter or pearlescent finishes, and elaborate "cutie marks", some extending the full length of the body. All were Earth Ponies, except for the three Highflying Beauties, which had large, multicolored wings. They were sold from 1989 to 1990.

My Little Kitty/Puppy/Bunny

Cat, dog and rabbit sets were sold under the Hasbro MLP logo during the early 1990s. Each Lil' Litters set consisted of a mother, two babies and a plastic comb. The mothers had flocked bodies, and the babies were miniature plastic figures. Kitty mothers had cottony tails, puppy mothers had either silky or cottony ears and bunny mothers had cottony tails and silky forelocks. There were also Nursery Family sets, featuring the puppy and kitty characters.

Takara Variants

In 1984, Takara (Later merged with Tomy to form Takara Tomy) released a line of My Little Pony toys, which were released in two types: Osharena Pony (おしゃれなポニー Osharena ponī?) and Kawaii Pony (かわいいポニー Kawaī ponī?). Only released in Japan, these are a more anthropomorphic take on the toyline and considered as the most rare of the G1 collection due to how they were released.

Merchandise

Besides the ponies themselves, merchandise included children's bedding and room decorations, plush toys, puzzles, clothing, books and playsets. There were also unusual items such as a pomander and toy sewing machines. Two animated television series and a feature-length theatrical movie were aired during this period. In 1985, a picture disc featuring songs by Tony Markey was released.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of My Little Pony, Hasbro reproduced the original 1983 My Little Pony collection. The ponies reproduced were Blue Belle, Butterscotch, Cotton Candy, Snuzzle, Blossom and Minty. Hasbro has also reproduced the Generation One Rainbow Ponies, Moonstone, Parasol, Skydancer, Starshine, Sunlight and Windy.

Generation One Ponies key chains were sold in Japan. Ponies sold as key chains were Milky Way, Dancing Butterflies, Sugarberry, Starbow, Rainribbon, Sunribbon and Baby Stockings, which came in either red or green. They had comb-able hair, and came with a small comb. The key chains are rare, and valued by collectors.

Generations

The My Little Pony "generations" refer to toy lines, as classified by collectors. Their accompanying animated features fall into these generations by date.

Generation One
The original line of My Little Pony began with the Earth Ponies in 1982. The Earth Ponies were followed by Pegasus Ponies, Unicorn Ponies, Flutter Ponies and Sea Ponies. Flutter Ponies were smaller and thinner than Pegasus Ponies, and had fluttering wings. Windy Wing and the Summer Wing Ponies were smaller than the Flutter Ponies and were proportioned in a similar way, with larger, butterfly-like wings. The Sea Ponies resembled seahorses, and were produced as both adults and babies. There were also male ponies called 'Big Brother Ponies', which had slightly larger bodies and feathered hooves resembling those of Clydesdale horses.

Many different sets of Little Pony variations were produced, the first being the Rainbow Ponies in 1983. Other variations included the So-Soft Ponies (covered in flocking), Twinkle-Eyed Ponies which had rhinestones in place of eyes, Twice-As-Fancy Ponies with patterns covering most of the body, Brush 'n' Grow Ponies which had a longer-than-usual mane and tail stored inside the body, Pony Friends - animals designed in the same style as the ponies, such as a lion, giraffe, kangaroo and zebra, among others - and Baby Ponies, some of which were smaller versions of previously released ponies and presented as those ponies' foals. An animated television series, My Little Pony, ran from 1986 to 1987. The first generation of My Little Ponies was sold in the U.S. until 1992, and was marketed internationally until 1995. The final year of sales in the U.S. was advertised as the "celebration year" of My Little Pony.

Mail-order ponies
All packaging came with Horseshoe Points, which could be used to obtain discounts on special ponies available only through mail order. The Horseshoe Point program was offered in both the US and UK, although the items available for purchase varied by country. Mail-order ponies were generally reissues like Majesty, which was previously available only with the Dream Castle Playset, or unique ponies such as the first boy pony, Lucky the stallion. Another line of exclusively mail-order ponies was the Birthflower ponies, which featured a pony for every month of the year. All had white bodies with pink hair and tails; their names were Carnation, Violet, Daffodil, Daisy, Lily of the Valley, Rose, Water Lily, Poppy, Morning Glory, Cosmos, Chrysantheum and Holly. Special baby ponies, such as the Pearlized Baby Ponies and Twice-As-Fancy babies, were also available by mail order. Some mail-order ponies, such as Sweet Scoops, Goldilocks and Rapunzel are rare and sought after by collectors.

My Little Pony

My Little Pony is an entertainment franchise developed by Hasbro which is marketed primarily to girls. It started as a line of plastic pony toys developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger and Steve D'Aguanno which have been produced since 1983. The ponies feature colorful bodies, manes and a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks. These are referred to in the two most recent generations as "cutie marks." My Little Pony was revamped at least four times with new and more modern looks to appeal to a new market.

Following the original My Pretty Pony toy, introduced in 1981, My Little Pony was launched in 1983 and the line became popular during the 1980s. The original toy line ran from 1983 to 1995 (1992 in the US), and inspired animated specials, an animated feature length film, and four animated television series.

The brand was moderately profitable from early 1990s until the beginning of the 2010s when its popularity drastically exploded after the introduction of the fourth generation, following the unexpectedly great success of the 2010 animated television series.