This blog isn't dead, no, but a bit inactive since my interests and focus has shifted more towards merch than ponies themselves. I've also had less time to do things, I'm very busy with work and such and don't have a crazy amount of freetime. Should I post here anymore, please expect official scans and artwork, maybe the occasional pony photo. Very rarely, art. I have some things in mind, I just gotta have time to do it! I have some other things in the works, but I'm kind of saving it for later...
I've owned this card for a couple years, I actually scanned this last year, but never did anything with it... oops!
It's eye-catching with lots of nice bold colours and designs, slightly glossy, and embossed. It has a nice feel to it compared to the Halloween card, which is just simple, flat cardstock.
I didn't bother scanning the inside of the card either since it didn't have any art. If you wanted to know what it says:
Wishing all this and MORE for an awesome granddaughter… YOU!
Happy Easter
This card is on Hallmark's site, but with some changes. Mine is egg shaped with blue text, while the one on their site has a yellow background, is rectangular-shaped, with pink foil text and details. I think I like mine better!
Green Minty is a relatively well-known piece of trivia-- she was originally designed with green hair. More and more pieces of merchandise and advertising have been found using old renders of "Green Minty", but they are typically low quality.
Are there any good-quality "Green Minty"s to be found?
Yes! And in a very obvious place, too.
I was looking for more information on the Harper-Collins published G3 books and, naturally, they had a section of their own website dedicated to little activities. One of these activities include a match game PDF, where the image can be easily extracted:
On the same website is a GIF featuring all the Celebration ponies.
PAUSE! What was that?!
Green AND white Minty! Most people depict Minty with either solid pink or pink-and-dark pink hair nowadays, but in the early days of G3 she was described as having white and pink hair, her toys had streaks of white hair, and her animated appearance in A Charming Birthday had white in her hair. The inclusion had to start somewhere, and this was probably it! Not just solid green at one point!
These graphics also include "Orange Sparkleworks" which admittedly isn't as exciting as Green Minty because Orange Sparkleworks exists in the very accessible Meet the Ponies, released in 2003.
I think I have a thing or two else that have Green Minty, but I'll have to dig them up and scan them. 🙂
The second sticker mystery pony, from 2006 Reader's Digest Children's Books, the Fun Days in Ponyville: Storybook and Playset (what a mouthful)! I wish it was summer when I posted her, haha.
Less fanfare here. The fansite Ponytopia's list of unused trademarks has "Banana Split", however, I couldn't find proof that that was ever going to be used as a pony name. Hasbro did file a trademark in 1996 for "Banana Split" for what they describe as a "parlor game". Compare this to other pony names, which have the straightforward description of "intended to cover the category of toy ponies and accessories for use therewith". Nonetheless, Banana Split seems to be an obvious name choice here.
As for her release, I'm not sure. She doesn't really fit in with the rest of the lineup for 2006, which focuses much more on pastel pinks, blues, and purples, nor is there a standard "Perfectly Pony" type line. If I had to guess, she would probably be an unused pony from 2005. Playsets will typically come with a unique character, but the Super Sundaes Ice Cream Parlor came with rereleases-- she may have been intended to be packaged with it. If not intended for the Ice Cream Parlor, 2005 does have a "Perfectly Pony" line, which she would've fit right in. She is also comparable to Alphabittle and Caribbean Delight, also released in 2005. Dazzle Bright ponies are considered to be 2005, so she could very well have also been a Dazzle Bright pony (in that case, she is comparable to Coconut Cream), or even a Sunny Scents pony (vanilla scent, easily).
Released in 2006 by Reader's Digest Children's Books, the Fun Days in Ponyville: Storybook and Playset comes with multiple stickers of ponies and backdrops to play with, along with a storybook.
I tried to do more research into this set for this post, unfortunately, the Reader's Digest site as well as its store site had not been helpful... lots of random books, even Winnie the Pooh had its own section, but there was no pony. It seems to be a more obscure release in general. The book itself is relatively hard to come by, and it's even rarer to see the playset.
The book itself is nothing special. It doesn't tell an incredible story, just one that's typical of G3. At first glance, the stickers are also not so exciting. There is a nice variety, yes, and even "accessory" stickers to play with as well, like pieces of food or water wells. The case folds out to reveal scenes of the castle grounds, or the beach.
I'm trying to collect as many G3 books as possible. As I mentioned before, I don't ever expect anything absolutely spectacular. It's all a matter of completion and documentation. And of course I want a more obscure release in my collection.
Did buying a weird book pay off?
Absolutely.
In the midst of the typical Pinkie Pies and Rainbow Dashes was a completely new face:
I haven't seen this pony before in my life, nor would I know what to search to find her. I completely skipped over her at first because I just thought she was Twinkle Twirl! A surprise to see the pumpkin and the slice of pie there instead of stars!
Given that Abra-Ca-Dabra is also included as a sticker, I have to wonder, is this what Pumpkin Tart was supposed to be? It was always odd that Pumpkin Tart had very little to do with pumpkins, right? Or maybe this was going to be a third pony in the set, considering that the Easter and Christmas ponies also were released in trios? I have been calling her Pumpkin Spice, but know that there's no name included anywhere in the set. I know the Ponytopia fansite kept tabs of unused pony names, but there's nothing on that list that quite fits her. The closest one on that list is probably Puddin' Pie, I guess just because she has a slice of pie on her. Pumpkin Pie would be an obvious pick for her as well. Curiously, she has noisy hair, similar to how ponies were rendered in art in 2005 (Island Delight especially). If she was released as a toy, would she have had tinsel?
There is another curious pony included in this set as well, but this one is more seasonally appropriate. 😉🎃🍂
🌈🍂 My Little Pony Magazine (Egmont) | Special Issue (October 22, 2003) | Bedtime Story: Wish Upon a Rainbow 🍂🌈
Happy first day of fall! 🍁
Trying a new watermark for this one. It's not as obtrusive as I initially wanted it. I recognize it won't stop theft, but I can at least try.
Entire text below:
Wish Upon a Rainbow
The Little Ponies have plenty of fun and adventures together in Ponyland. Would you like to come and play too?
[Page 1 illustration: Artwork of Kimono and Rainbow Dash frolicking through some autumn leaves against a generic sky-and-grass background.]
One bright autumn day , Rainbow Dash and her friend, Kimono, were playing a game. They were stamping leaves under their feet and seeing who could make the loudest CRUNCH!
"I like this game! smiled Kimono.
"My favourite game is riding rainbows," replied Rainbow Dash.
"I remember a long time ago," Kimono began, "when flying Pegasus Ponies used to ride the rainbows; the skies glowed with colour!"
"What a beautiful sight that must have been!" smiled Rainbow Dash. Then she sighed. "But I've ridden all the rainbows in Ponyland!"
"Are you sure?" asked Kimono. "A rainbow is a funny thing; one minute it's there and the next it's not. You have to be quick to catch it!" Rainbow Dash looked puzzled.
[Page 2 illustration: Rainbow Dash and Kimono run towards a rainbow in the distance. The background includes the G3-typical meadow and waterfall.]
Just as the two Ponies were shaking off the autumn leaves that had stuck to their feet, Rainbow Dash spotted a rainbow. It glittered far away in the distance, behind the big waterfall.
"There's one now! Let's go!" Rainbow Dash gasped excitedly. The ponies galloped off to try and catch the rainbow. But when they got there, they were too late. The rainbow had disappeared and dark clouds covered the sky.
"Oh that's a shame!" said Rainbow Dash, rather sadly. "I was looking forward to riding that rainbow. Now the sun has gone behind those clouds, there won't be another rainbow today."
[Page 3 illustration: A bird's-eye view of Rainbow Dash and Kimono, standing in a meadow filled with flowers and a creek, looking up towards the sky at a rainbow.]
"Don't look so glum, Rainbow Dash," Kimono said with a knowing smile. "A rainbow can appear when you are least expecting it."
"I wish it would stay fine all day," moaned Rainbow Dash.
Suddenly, as if by magic, beams of sunlight began to shine through the clouds and a brand new rainbow appeared in front of their eyes.
"Wow!" gasped Rainbow Dash in delight, "What a beautiful rainbow!"
"It's the most colourful one I've ever seen!" added Kimono. And she had seen a lot of rainbows.
[Page 4 illustration: Sweetberry, Minty, Kimono, and Rainbow Dash all slide down the rainbow, high in the sky.]
On the other side of the river, Sunny Daze stopped in her tracks when she saw the shimmering rainbow.
"What a pretty sight!" she giggled.
Soon, Minty and Sweetberry saw the giant rainbow too and everyone came along to join in on the fun. All the Ponies had a lovely time, riding and sliding up and down the rainbow, especially Rainbow Dash!
"But how did you know we would see a new rainbow?" Rainbow Dash asked Kimono.
Kimono smiled. "Ponyland is a magical place, where anything can happen," she said wisely. "You just have to wish hard enough!"
"Cutie Pie" is where the name "Pinkie Pie" likely originated from since it's a common enough and recognizable phrase, it's easy to understand the inspiration. But at some point it looks like it wasn't just inspiration... could that be her original name?
Although the cards are printed 2003, G3 launched in that spring/summer, so it was too late for these to have come out. I remember handing these very cards out for Valentines Day 2004, which is when they more likely came out on store shelves. Of course, they were surely printed later in 2003, hence the date. But I have to wonder, with the Cutie Pie trademark in mind, how early were these printed?
I couldn't find any information about Pinkie Pie's original name. It very well could be an error on American Greetings' part, and if so, it's funny it ended up on the final product. Ironically, there is no actual trademark of "Cutie Pie" by Hasbro. There was a Pinkie Pie one, though, from November 2002.
My local Walmart’s toy department is a mess. It hasn’t gone through its reset yet, it’s very empty. For months the only MLP-related thing they’ve had in stock is the Smashin Fashion set with DJ P0N-3 and Pinkie Pie, which has probably been shelf-warming since March. I wanted to look around anyway since G5 things have been popping up at Walmarts lately. It was easy to miss, but there was a box of Pipp Petals plushes in the middle shelf, not at all where the Smashins were!
There weren’t any price tags around, but she rang up as $4.97, with the name on the receipt simply being “MLP PIPP”.
Here she is! Not the most exciting release, but I’ll take what I can get! And the funny thing is, usually, plushes like this will come in an assortment, but the box only had Pipp...
She’s 6 and a half inches tall. She has four thin pieces of hair, three of which are sewn on. Her bangs are in two pieces and are sewn by her right ear, while there’s another piece that comes down and is sewn by her jaw, on the left side. The other lock is completely loose. The crown is sewn on by the ears, while the middle part is loose, so you can tuck the lock into there to style it properly (Pipp in the above photo hasn’t had her hair fixed, while the one below has). The pieces for the crown and wings are much thicker than the hair.
The Cutie Marks are embroidered on both sides, with the bottom part of the music note being a light pink rather than white like we’ve seen.
The tag is punched into her left ear and has the old G4 logo on it, as does the tag on her left leg.
The inside of the tag has nothing of interest.
The back of the tag only has “Pipp” on it, not “Pipp Petals” or “Princess Petals”, “Princess Pipp”, etc.
While the quality of the plush isn’t amazing, I guess it’s not bad for $5. It makes me nostalgic for carnival prizes...
