Spring Toy Fair 2012

Some lucky breaks are luckier than others! This year's toy fair yielded few new ponies for me; one was a so-so Best Wishes that looks like a clown. She is kind of cute that way, and even though her hair is coarse like any other pony that started with curly hair, she cleaned up kind of nice and I'm glad I went back for her.

The only other pony I bought, and the obvious star of the show...

I couldn't believe my luck when I picked her out of the pile; a pearly baby pony! But how much was I going to have to shell out for her? Each pony was individually priced; the seller could have asked for just about anything. I checked her tag and braced myself... she was labelled correctly as Baby Cotton Candy... I flipped the tag over... $10.


Wooooo really? I am lucky enough to find a Pearly MO baby and I only have to pay $10? That Ikea ad kept popping into me head... 'start the car..!!!!'


I toss the seller my money an ran because I sure felt like I was getting away with one there.


What a pony dream come true!! Could I possibly be more excited?

A womp-bomp-aloombomp A womp-bam-boom

I missed out on the fall toy fair this year, so not long after thanksgiving I made a trip to Cherry Bomb and walked out with a much-desired UK pony, Tutti Frutti. I have always been intrigued by this tropical, citrusy pony, and I am always excited to find foreign ponies on home soil! (Victoria, of course, being the most British of home soils, so maybe a UK exclusive is not so surprising out here..) Husband was having his haircut, then we met after at the Reef for lunch. 'Psst, look in the bag but don't open it...', grins all-around :)

I never noticed the stripe in her hair before, so that was an unexpected treat. I love that after all these years I am still learning (sometimes).

If you think I waited a long time to post about that, check this out: back around Aug 25, husband had a crazy idea of going to Walmart for un-pony related reasons, and I popped out the other end with 3 G4s. Ooops, how did that happen? No, really...

I had intended to get Applejack from the start, because I love that they reused a G1 and I'm especially happy that of all the ponies they could have picked, it was Applejack. Once seen in real life, I realized G4s are pretty damned cute, so I allowed myself one of each body type. Now that I have them, they are still really cute in an alien-deer kind of way. I don't think they look much like ponies, and I don't think I will be buying any others, but I am glad I have these ones. They may be cute but the line strays farther and farther from its original image, so I'm less and less interested in collecting them. They are great, they are just not what I collect... (lest anyone take any offense)

DVDs from Lyle's Place

Neither of them are any good. I was hopping the Flutter Valley one would be at least as good as The Movie, but it's not. Even though they were only $5 each, I can't say I feel like I got my money's worth...

Except to hear my husband's reaction to Bart Simpson as a unicorn. That was pretty damned funny.

Looking back on: Customs

Playoff Flames

This pony was made during The Playoffs. You know, the playoffs 2004, where Calgary shocked each and every one of us by not only making it to the playoffs, but advancing, and advancing, until the unthinkable happened... Stanley Cup run! It is generally accepted that the Flames really should have won- The Goal that should have won the game was not counted for some reason. We had a "thank you Flames" appreciation rally anyway. Whenever you hear a Calgarian referring to the playoffs, we don't mean the current ones; we mean The Playoffs of 2004! We still feel like we won.

This Custom is more to capture the feeling of the time, rather than because I'm a hockey fan, because I'm not really into sport. This pony has the home and away colours for her symbol; one on either side. Now, several years later, her paint is still sticky and is covered in gouges, and is overall in terrible condition, but I'm hanging on to her anyway.
I cannot explain to you guys what this did to transform our city, even if it was only for a little while. We had become a loving, friendly community overnight. It brought the city together in ways we never knew possible, even if you weren't a fan of the Flames, or even hockey in general ( like me).
It meant so much to me (and all of us) that I had to make a pony to commemorate. Toys R Us was handing out lego Stanley Cups, and that was just perfect for my custom! 

the Man Who Sold the World
The great thing about David Bowie is that with so many personas, he lends himself very well to custom ponies. This one is based on one of his earlier albums; one of my favourites! The hair is eerily close.
His symbol is the King of Diamonds, because that's the card that Bowie's holding on the cover.

Aladdin Sane

One of the most famous album covers of all time, Aladdin Sane is classic, and easily recognisable, which is why this is one of my favourite customs. His body sparkles all over, and his pace is painted with a lightning bolt. This custom started as a Milky Way with her horn mostly chewed off. I removed the rest of the horn to thread the top of his mullet through.

Brian Molko

This glam little number is based on the lead singer from Placebo. His symbol is the Elevator Music logo with a little pair of lips, glittery hair and thick black eyeliner. He was the cheapest custom I've ever made- the hair was in a free bin a a garage sale, and the flutter body was 5 cents. I sawed off the wing clip, and tried to sand it down, but it's easier said than done...! I used an image of this pony in my title graphic for my previous pony web page (RIP).

This pony was torn down and reborn as Make Do With What You've Got pony; another pony that was reflective of my life at one point- really more like therapy than anything else.

Silver Stiches

Based on the fabulous Siouxsie Sioux, this grim little custom is one of the last customs I made for a long, long time. I find her charming. Her name is a line in one of their songs, which sparked some appropriate imagery for this custom.

Raya

For a long time, I toyed with the idea of making a line of customs based on characters from Jem and the Holograms. This was the first attempt. The characters were basically chosen randomly, according to what kind of materials I had on hand.  

Stormer

Stormer was the next Jem custom in line, and I actually think she's rather cute. I though Stormer was such a cute character; a good girl on the bad girls' side. She just seemed so innocent, or at least naive. I did these Jem customs in Rock n Beat style, which made the most amount of sense to me, and I tried to paint their make-up in the same way as the characters one the show.

Spring Toy Fair 2011

Small but meaningful haul. Twilight, Hula Hula and Spunky the Camel all finish sets for me, and Hippity Hop all but finishes the So Softs; just missing Scrumptious now.

I considered Twilight my nemesis for a long, long time, and I am thrilled to have her. She's very pretty- I loved her colour combo since I was a kid watching Firefly's Adventure. "Oh Ember, one day you'll grow up to be your own special little pony". That she could disappear was too cool. Loved her pale hair vs her darkish body. Loved unicorns. Very happy me.

Hula Hula was also a bit of a nemesis because I had the other three in this set since childhood, but haven't been able to get my hands on her until now. Secretly I like her hair cut; I think the short hair really works on unicorns, so I don't even mind. 

Spunky also completes the set, though I've had lots of encounters with horrible condition Spunkies. I knew the right one would come around. She kind of has some matted original curl which I chose not to touch.

Hippity Hop is impeccable. It's hard to tell from my horrible pics, but her flocking is clean and nearly perfect. Couldn't be happier with her.

I could have picked up two more nemesis ponies, including a set completer, but with chewed off ears and missing tails, I just couldn't do it no matter how much I wanted them.