My Little Pony is a good thing turned terribly terribly wrong. In the 80's they were these amazingly simple, mesmerizing creatures. Short and chunky, plastic bodies and brushable acrylic hair, a simple symbol on their sides saying who they were. "Earth ponies," unicorns, pegasi/pegasuses intermixed. They were simple, they were magic, in their little world on earth and in the clouds alike. Simple. Something there for those of us who did not want the forced "beauty" of Barbie, the conformity. Something for those of us who wanted magic. Who wanted to make our own fun instead of having it handed to us, color-coordinated and accessorized.
Sure, you could buy accessories for the ponies—simple things like bandanas and shoes, mostly. But who wanted to? All the "pony girls" I knew bought maybe a few things, but the fun, the magic, was in the ponies.
Now, a Terrible Thing™ has happened. After taking MLP off the market for some years, "they" decided to reinstate the line. Redoing them completely. Destroying everything that was good and right about the originals.
The new ponies are slim, tall, and trim-waisted. Fitting the traditional "human" standard of "beauty." They have fancy hair and come with a million accessories and outfits. One of them comes with a tiny plastic cell phone for godsake! Another with roller-skates. These ponies' personalities are spelled out, described to a millimeter. You are not allowed to make them what you want. You are told what they are. Instead of Medley, the pegasus, magical, there is a "shopping" pony, an "animal lovers" pony a... you get the idea. Instead of a generic pair of tiny rubber hoof-shaped shoes to put on whatever pony one desires as the mood suits, each has her own complete wardrobe, accessories...
My Little Pony, as they were, are no more. In place we have equine Barbie dolls; they were beautiful things that have become as hollow and meaningless as the plastic they are made from...