abbracadabbling: HALLOWEEN 09: My Little Pony Mod-Party Pointers

16 October 2009

HALLOWEEN 09: My Little Pony Mod-Party Pointers

Halloween '09 continues on the comicsblog today in pop-culture collision bang. While guys my age spent their 1980's pitting Hasbro GI JOE's against Transformers, Generation X girls kept busy brushing out My Little Ponies in numbers that made Hasbro's 1983 horsey line outsell Mattel's Barbie.

Hasbro's done amazingly well surfing the 80's resurgence wave with so many of their products -- they relaunched My Little Pony in 2003 -- that it's only a matter of time before a live-action Pony finds the trail to the mall movieplex.

If Hasbro and Hollywood do pony-up cash for a feature flick, it's looking like they'll sell tickets to a GenX crowd without GenY kids in tow. Creating custom-painted or "modded" My Little Ponies has become a huge horsey fad lately, and it's as big in Britain as it is in the United States. Who knew, right?

Well, now you do, dabblers. And if you're a teacher or a parent with a Halloween party to plan for the grade school set, we think a My Little Pony Painting Party would really do the trick. While our suggestion probably wouldn't fly if the kids have car keys, younger girls as well as boys should get a kick "dressing up" their Pony in superhero or Han Solo duds or as one their favorite Twilight and New Moon crushes. Plus, we can't think of a party idea that's this much fun that also gives your kids' artistic muscles an unexpected work out.

Halloween Pony-favors shouldn't make you say "neigh", either. Though single My Little Pony dolls are generally priced between $6.50 and $7.00, large retailers like Wal-Mart and Target often carry these dolls for less, and I came across several of last year's Ponies with a three-buck price tag at a local discount store when I was preparing to write this blog. Toys-R-Us probably has the best deal going right now: they're currently running a "Buy 2, Get 3rd Free" on many of their toys, including My Little Pony. And don't forget to check for coupons on-line -- we found a $5.00 off $20 purchase coupon for Toys R Us at Coupons.com here.

Other than the toys, easy-to-get art supplies are all that remains. School art departments should be fully-stocked with everything needed to paint or dress-up a pony, but if not, the dollar store and fabric outlets are great places to start. We recommend acrylic paints for this job -- they dry fast, stay on, and will trick-out every kid's Pony in a glossy, good way. Online art suppliers like Blick have fantastic variety of paints, brushes, paper, and pointers for budding Picasso's are everywhere on the 'net, too. We located great painting advice for beginners here and found some short and handy how-to's on You Tube here.

As you'll see, My Little Pony mods are quite the rage. Comic book illustrator Junko Mizuno (Marvel Comics' Strange Tales) was hired by Hasbro to complete a custom mod, and independent artists like the British deviant-artist Eponyart and Mari Kasurinen are just a few of the expanding Pony-modding community. Here's a few of our favorites: