Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Lalas and MLPs

I don't think there is anything too amazing or new in this set of pictures, so I'm going to try to breeze through this post a lot faster than my last one.

I've been on a quest to find myself a Spots, which I don't think is going to happen at this point, but I keep looking. So I've been seeing a lot of the Lalaloopsy aisle at various stores. I still have not seen even one Patch Treasurechest, but I have seen the 'twins' in their new single-doll packaging. I guess this is good, it was pretty expensive to try to buy them both together, but a little bit I think it's a shame to "split them up".

That said, I tend to think if I ever bought one of them it would be Berry. I just like her outfit a lot better... Well, that's not entirely true. The overalls on Sunny are actually really cute, it's just that the dresses are easier to share with other types of dolls, I think, so it might be better to get Berry. I probably won't though, simply because I don't want all of the big lalas, so I'm trying to concentrate on getting the ones that are most different from each other. Berry looks a bit like Crumbs, since they both have pink hair. Plus, how can I not want a doll that makes pancakes? XD

IMG_4760

As you can see on the packaging, I guess the twins are Toys R Us exclusives. I'd say that makes sense, since I don't ever see them at Target, but I see hardly any of these at Target. It is rare for them to have more than 1 or 2 dolls there at a time...

IMG_4761

I always love the back of the box illustrations - they are so cute! Lucky whoever gets to set these pictures up too, I bet that's really fun!

IMG_4755

Here's Sunny too. I do find her orange hair and little chick pet quite adorable!

IMG_4757

It looks like Sunny is billed as an early riser tho, so maybe she's not the doll for me... ;P

IMG_4758

The closest I've been able to get to Patch is the little picture on the back of the box. Ah well!

IMG_4756

I always love the handle designs. I wish I could do some sort of crafty thing with them...

The other Lala news is, of course, the mini Easter Lala that is a Target exclusive. Pictures of these have been floating around flickr, but in case you haven't seen her:

IMG_5386

(I really should've taken a better photo...)

IMG_5388

The little origin stories they give them are so cute and funny!

These are a bit hard to locate in the store, but I was able to pick up one for me and a friend. (I will do out of box photos soon). The only problem is that all of the ones I saw had some paint imperfections...

IMG_5539

They aren't super-obvious in the photo, but then again they are probably even less obvious in person, unless you have your nose right up to it. The biggest problem is that they ended up with circles around their eyes. Which is sort of funny in a character wearing pjs, actually... XD

I also did finally take my Blossom out of her box. She's been hanging out on my floor in her box for over a month now I think... ^^; I tried to do a nice springlike photo for her tho!

ADAW 15/52: Springtime with Honey Blossom

In addition to the Lalas, for whatever reason I took photos of just about all of the MLP stuff that they had in stock... I think it started because I noticed a whole bunch of stuff that made me laugh, and then just went on from there.

The most interesting thing to me is the 'hot air balloon'.

IMG_4818

It lights up and plays music. It's probably about the most ridiculous thing ever, so of course I kind of want it... XD I don't think I can fit something like this into my room tho honestly.

This is also pretty ridiculous, and therefore awesome:
IMG_4820

It seems to be basically a remote control car. But you can tell it's for girls 'cause it's pink and has rainbows and PONIES. sigh.
(But I do love that they gave Dash an aviator's scarf. Now if only she had goggles...

This one sort of boggles my mind:
IMG_4821

It's a... horse-drawn carriage for a horse? How does that work exactly?

The ponies seem to like carts this year...
IMG_4822

But I guess if you are going to give horses accessories, I like that they are things a horse might actually have, rather than the tennis rackets and stuff they were giving them a year or two ago. (how could a horse play tennis? I mean, come on!)

This is not as cute as re-ment, but still pretty cute...

IMG_4824

IMG_4825

I think I had a photo of that one up before, but oh well. You can admire Fluttershy's out of control hair... XD

Even tho they aren't *all* that horse-like, I like the faces on the smaller size ponies out now a lot better than I like the faces of the slightly bigger ponies that are also out now...

IMG_4823

Finally, some sort of giant gift set that I don't recall seeing before...

IMG_4819

I ended up buying a Fluttershy, because I think she's my favorite of this lot.

IMG_5439

The illustrations on the box are so cute!

IMG_5385

IMG5520

Even the illustration on the inside is kind of neat, even though it's difficult to see when the pony is in the box...

IMG_5518

Because of the joy of unlimited space when working with a digital camera and a free blogging host (well, flickr hosts the pictures and it's not free, but since I pay for it anyway...) I took photos of the whole catalog insert...

IMG_5521

IMG_5523

I don't think I've seen any of these light up ponies...

IMG_5524

IMG_5525

Don't think I've seen the fashion ponies yet either...

IMG_5526

I rather like Princess Celestia and her crazy stylized look. I may have to get her eventually too... (And NO! I am NOT going to start collecting MLPs! I'm not!)

IMG_5527

IMG_5528

Newborn Sweetie Belle kind of scares me. I'll leave her for the little kids...

IMG_5530

Then just for random amusing contrast some other 'horse' toys:

IMG_4832

Cinderella has a nicer carriage, but she doesn't let the horses ride in it with her...

IMG_4759

And then this giant horse is a taxi for a bunch of tiny animals - including what may be a tiny horse? Ah, toys can be so confusing!! ;P

5 comments:

aimee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
aimee said...

I got that gift set for Christmas. I love it.

Basically, what you are seeing is that there are still holdovers from the "Old Regime" of My Little Pony Land (the baby-er looking ponies with the larger heads and the far more nonsensical accessories) and marketing assholes who did not give a SHIT about the integrity of the brand, just what 3-6 year olds wanted "right this second" (and no, I am not kidding. I went on the Hasbro tour back in 2007 in conjunction with the 1st MLP convention in Providence we had a group discussion with the MLP team and they were totally cutthroat assholes covered in sprinkles and cotton candy. They did not appreciate the idea that My Little Pony could be generation spanning like Barbie now that all the kids who grew up playing with them might want to share them with their children. Not to mention they were dismissive and douchey because we were adults who were into toys. They didn't even have favorites from the original line, really. They named names, but really didn't have a connection with their childhood.)

The have since turned over brand stewardship over to Lauren Faust. Who is clearly a big old dork, still has her childhood collection, and gives a shit. Still, my little ponies will always have somewhat nonsensical accessories. It just goes with the territory since day one (really, did they need a ballet school in the 80's??)

Nightfall said...

Interesting! I had no idea about any of that. It's a shame the hasbro folks were so lame, but it's good someone better has taken over now at least. Judging by the fact that that fluttershy is the first pony I've bought since the originals, I'd say she's probably meeting with success at connecting to the originals... And I don't really mind the absurd accessories, I just have to laugh at them - esp. the carriage. The tennis rackets tho, I dunno, they irked me somehow. I think it was because they elasticked them to the ponies' knees. If they'd had them in their mouths I probably would've figured that was fair...

aimee said...

"The tennis rackets tho, I dunno, they irked me somehow. I think it was because they elasticked them to the ponies' knees."

EXACTLY. That is the point they cease to be "ponies (and I do use that loosely, they'd be horrifying monstrosities in real life and at real size/proportions)" and because grotesquely deformed humans.

davidd said...

"a horse-drawn carriage for horses..."

That is pretty funny! Perhaps the ponies have not yet been apprised of the Emancipation Proclamation.