My Little Pony Fair 2010

Collectors Convention

By Sheena McNeil
August 30, 2010

My Little Ponies are those cute plastic / vinyl toy ponies created by Hasbro. They began in the 80s, had a slightly "thinner" rebirth in the 90s, and a new yet retro look in the 2000s that then merged into something more akin to Littlest Pet Shop. New ponies are on the horizon yet again. As happens once a year, new and old collectors gathered to meet, share and grow by absorbing all this pony-filled weekend had to offer. Even Hasbro sent representatives, to answer questions and keep their eyes and ears open in the collecting community

Friday, July 16, 2010

Technically the My Little Pony Fair didn't start until Saturday, but Friday night was arrival day for most of us. I spent all week working on custom ponies for the Fair, including the night before (only getting a few hours sleep) and most of the day Friday. Then we were on the road for Louisville, KY — the spot of this year's Fair. It was my second MLP Fair, and I was totally excited. The Fair changes location every year, which might sound bad, but for me, it's great. This means that while I can't attend every Fair, I can attend some. After checking into our hotel, we headed to the pool area to get an early meet and greet with some of the other attendees / collectors. Then, it was back to our room so I could finish some art pieces for a couple contests. Not a whole lot going on, but I was so excited.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The morning started bright and early with the alarm clock on my phone waking me at 6:30 am. After quickly getting ready and eating some breakfast, we drove to the Galt House where the Fair is being held. Let me just say wow. That's a big and beautiful hotel (no wonder it cost twice as much to stay there as the hotel I was at — and that was with the Fair discount). A curious and excited bellhop helped us load my five large totes and a few boxes onto a cart for transport up to the ballroom on the third floor. My booths (two eight-foot long tables) were at the "back" of the room, which was fine with me, as that meant I was at the "front" when it came to where the Hasbro reps' tables were located. Nice.

This being my second Fair, I drew upon the knowledge gained from having a booth at the Memphis Fair in 2007. 1) get more booth space and 2) booth buddies are your friends. I had the perfect amount of booth space with the two tables. One was dedicated almost entirely to the G3 (third generation, released in the 2000s) ponies and the other split between the G1 (first generation, released in the 80s) ponies and my customs. I only needed two small boxes for my really cheap baits (poor condition ponies that need TLC or to be used for customizing) and fakies (non-Hasbro toy ponies, usually generic brands).

The layout this year helped with the booth buddies aspect, plus I had my hubby who came to support me. If you're wondering, he was not the only guy there. Some guys are collectors in their own right, others are supportive tag-alongs, and some start as tag-alongs and become mild collectors — some even create their own pony persona. My booths backed up to the booths of two fabulous collectors who were absolutely wonderful to spend the weekend chatting ponies with. One was the lovely Kar Red Roses, whom I was familiar with from the pony community online, with her Shrunken Head and Day of the Dead ponies. So awesome! The other was the oh-so-talented kitkatvintage, who brought an entourage of stuffed ponies created by herself. Stunning. Booth buddies, along with being great company for the slow points of the day, are great for when you want to leave your booth for any reason. My hubby was also wonderful help in this regard and, believe it or not, enjoyed himself immensely looking around, buying raffle tickets and chatting with other collectors / customizers.

Set-up was from 8 to 10 a.m., which was just enough time to get in, get my stuff unpacked and set up on the tables. I did not participate in the booth decorating contest — mainly because I didn't have time. Which was probably just as well, as there were some fabulous ones (most themed after the Kentucky Derby). The winning booth was by ashlyne, who had an entire stable (thanks partially to the large number of giant MLP plushes she was auctioning off). During those two hours I also took some time to go over the layout of the room, scouting for booths I wanted to visit for buying or trading, and just getting a feel for everything. At 10am, the doors were opened to the non-vendor attendees. The Fair had officially begun!

Included in our registration packs were two very important things: the vouchers to purchase the exclusive MLP release for this year's Fair, and a card you needed to get signed by 10 vendors in order to turn it in as a free raffle entry. I quickly ran to get the Fair T-shirt, and then my hubby was kind enough to stand in line with our vouchers to purchase the exclusives (thank you Hasbro for giving us a green pony!) while I manned the booth for the morning's first potential customers. My first sale was the best one. A little girl, probably no more than seven or eight, with dad in tow had found "her" pony for sale at my booth and was clapping and squealing with excitement. They had to make a quick circuit of the room to find the money-keeper / mother, but were back to make the purchase final. The dad was happy that she was appeased so early in the day, the girl was beside herself with happiness, and it brought a true smile to my face to see the joy of ponies passed on to another generation. In case you're wondering, she bought a G1 Princess Tiffany (the oldies are the best).

Before I knew it, it was time to register all my customs and art for the various contests. We were allowed two entries in every category. None of mine placed, but I still had fun making them. Categories included Hasbro-based customs, original customs, handicraft, artwork, pony-sized derby hats and "Loo-ah-vul" inspired. Saturday's pony games included bingo (pony style), a "last straw" game (using straws to blow Smarties candy pieces), and "Gallop Through Ponyland" (life-size version based on Candyland) — all-ages fun for everyone. I did not play any of today's games, partially because I was so busy with my booth and just spending time with pony people.

At 1 p.m., it was time for the Q&A with Hasbro's US merchandise reps. For ease and prevention of having repeat questions and / or questions they couldn't answer, things were arranged ahead of time. A couple months ago, we were all allowed to pose questions on the MLPArena.com board so the questions could be compiled and approved ahead of time. Thankfully, they kept it a true Q&A with audience participation by handing out the questions to audience members before it started. I was able to ask one of the questions, but what I was even happier about was that some of the questions that I had posed originally were asked and answered (different colored blank ponies here we come!). We learned many important things. Some, like no boy ponies and no villains in the cartoons, were expected but still drew groans of displeasure. Others, like the stopping of the "Core 7," drew a huge cheer from the entire room! (Core 7 is Hasbro's most recent attempt to catch the market by only producing 7 ponies, all in the same pose, with slightly different accessories or symbol variants — most collectors and moms said "No" to buying multiples of the same pony). We also learned more about the new animated series coming this fall and what the new look for ponies is going to be (the latter of which I'll talk more about later). Oddly enough, we also learned that Hasbro's US marketing department doesn't necessarily talk with marketing departments in other countries, as the reps were totally unaware of the latest wave of "dollymix" ponies in the UK. There were still a few questions they could only answer as "not at this time" or "we don't know / can't tell you", but overall it was a positive Q&A session.

Right after this was the launch of a new book for collectors: The My Little Pony G2 Collector’s Inventory. The last "big" event of the day was a demonstration by RowdyCowgirl on how to flock a pony. It's not a complicated procedure, but seeing it in person is extremely helpful! The rest of my day was spent browsing, buying, trading, selling and schmoozing. It was so nice to catch up with friends I'd met before, others I knew only through the MLP boards online and meeting some completely new friends. Everyone was very nice, and while most of the collectors attending were from the US, there was a large showing from our Canadian friends, a few from "down under" and even a group from Switzerland! How fantastic is that? Except for a few baits, I was able to stick to my wistlists — which is quite an impressive feat, but also a necessary one. Without my list I would end up buying duplicates due to the "look, it's so pretty" factor that hits when you're in a room full of the thing you love.

The day ended with all of us leaving our booths as-is and trusting the hotel to lock the room (which they did). Some of us took pictures of our inventory just to be on the safe side. Then, a group of about 30 of us walked a few blocks to the Old Spaghetti Factory for a wonderful evening of good food and great company. Part of the fun of the whole experience is this, spending time with people who understand the obsession and love it.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Day Two began with an extra hour of sleep because there was no set-up time. The catch is, the room opens to all at 9 a.m. so you need to be there on time or your booth will be unattended while people are milling about. Also, as Day Two, things were much slower for a while. There were many people who came just for Saturday and were not attending on Sunday. If you're looking to sell without making lots of crazy deals, it means you'll sell less on Day Two. On the flip side, Day Two means some people are making all kinds of deals and gimmick-sales to get rid of their inventory. Some are as simple as more haggling options, buy-one, get-one (BOGO) or a certain percentage off. Others get very creative like the "as many ponies as you can hold in one hand, without touching your body, for $7." I personally spent some time digging through bins and piles of ponies on my hands and knees on the floor, looking for bait. That's part of the fun. I was able to get many "bait" ponies for free, as people just wanted to be rid of certain ones. At the end of the day, there's also a table that becomes the "free" table, where people leave things they couldn't sell but don't want to take home. I found a few things I wanted, and made sure that no G1s were left on the table after everyone else was done with it. I just can't leave a G1 stranded!

More games including two more rounds of bingo, a Bushwoolie bean-bag toss, hopscotch, trivia and an art game. I participated in the art game. It had a great twist that certainly leveled the playing field between artists of all ages and skills. The challenge? Sit on the ground, put a paper plate on top of your head and, in just 60 seconds, use a crayon to draw a pony on the plate. The results were hilarious. In trivia I did much better than I thought I would, making it to the final three! It had multiple rounds with questions based on all three generations of ponies. It also had a twist that allowed for the possibility of remaining in the game after you missed a question. However, the best part was the MC, who had fun manning the mike and making off-topic comments.

Sunday's featured speaker was representing KLECT — an "online inventory system that can help you record, catalog, and even insure your My Little Pony collection." It seems like it would be very helpful for newer collectors. Those of us whose collections are in the thousands and included variants and ponies from other countries might not find it as useful. We were very glad the rep was there to explain how this free program works. I also spent a few more minutes talking with the Hasbro reps about the new line of ponies. While a vast improvement over the disproportions of the current G3.5s (which were more akin to their Littlest Pet Shop line), they are still a bit odd in shape with mouse-like heads. Good news is they will be a mix of old favorites and new ponies with no Core 7; plus, they still have comable hair and there's a really awesome pegacorn, taller than all the others, in armor that I must have. The blue pegasus with rainbow hair on their promotional poster looks great and has certainly piqued my interest after the horrible fall-out many, including myself, had with the introduction of G3.5 ponies and the Core 7.

Then came the part I'd been waiting all weekend for — the auction of the giant stuffed ponies from ashlyne's booth. I had my eye on one a few months ago when she announced she would be auctioning them. And yes, I won her! For a good price too! Thankfully, I sold enough that, minus hotel and dog boarding, I was going home with money in my pocket. The sales also left me with enough room to stuff this three foot tall stuffed pony into the car among all my totes and boxes for the drive home. The auction was fun to watch even if you weren't bidding, because they had live bids at the end, complete with "going once, going twice, sold!" The afternoon finished with the raffle drawings and the announcements of the contest winners. Most of us wished the contests had some audience / attendee favorite category, but as it was, the panel of Fair organizers voted privately on the winners.

Then began the mad rush to pack everything up and be out of the room by 5 p.m. A few last minute sales and deals happened, and many pictures were snapped. Bellhops were summoned to help move all our totes to our cars (we had the same one, who actually knew the name of the giant plush I won and was still so excited to have seen all of this). Another MLP Fair completed. This year was so much fun. There were no fights or problems. It all went smoothly. We're all already ready for next year and are ready to share and use all the new knowledge we gleaned from our speakers and the Hasbro reps. I've said it before, the my favorite part was spending so much fun, positive time with other collectors and customizers. In the simplest terms, it makes me happy.

My Little Pony:The Official Hasbro Site
MLP Arena
MLP Trading Post
MLP Fair Site