I don’t want to jump on the ‘80s nostalgia bandwagon, but I discovered something unsettling on a recent visit to Toys ‘R’ Us. Sometime in the past couple decades My Little Pony was slimmed down and posed up to be sassier and perkier. A modernized My Little Pony!
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the pastel plastic equines, Hasbro is offering three-pony sets of the old version for retro oldsters like us. Imagine my dismay when I realized the beloved little ponies I played with were plodding and frumpy compared to today’s new-and-improved ones. I was a child in the Dark Ages!
Ponyville isn’t the only toy world to have undergone a transformation. I refuse to accept that Strawberry Shortcake wears jeans instead of a pinafore. I don’t want a doll who looks like me—I want one who gets to wear the “frocks” I’ve only read about in books by Frances Hodgson Burnett!
I know that toy companies must address a changing market to stay relevant, but I can’t help but feel a bit sad at this evolution.What’s next—svelte, cell-phone-chatting Care Bears?
4 comments:
Maybe Smurfs with shirts? or Shirt Tales with pants? or Knight Rider with a non-Hoff driver and a Mustang--oh, wait, they just did that. or Gummi Bears who drink Red Bull instead of Gummiberry juice.
(I'm showing my age, aren't I? Okay, shutting up now.)
You know, the thing about being an American male is that you can't be nostalgic about the pop culture you grew up with because the moment you try, you realize it was all just paranoid anti-Communist agitprop.
agitprop?
I think your My Little Ponies looked better. The legs on the new ones are way too close together. Horses don't look like that.
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