As a child of the 80's (born in the tail end of the 70's), my heart remains with the G1 ponies. I totally skipped the G2's, and G3's kickstarted me into collecting again. The 3.5's I managed to never see, and then came the G4 explosion of everything mane 6, FiM and brony. I adore the size, colors and beauty of the varieties of ponies available in the G1 and G3 lines (more variety in G1, more colors in G3) and you got what you paid for. If you bought a $5.00 pony, you GOT $5.00 worth of MLP. I think G4 is cute and I collect them, but not as anxiously as I did G1 and G3. (Right now, I'm LOVING all of the G1 love I'm seeing out there.... I'd love to see that line make a return like it did a little bit during G3) They're awfully small and not as easy to work with for hair styling and painting (for those of us who customize). I know they're meant for little hands, but still.... as someone who works with a young lady who lacks a lot of fine motor skills, the larger ponies are just better all around.
I saw the two new princess ponies the other night at the walmart across from my house. It was the first bit of variety I've seen in the G4 line in this Rainbow Power wave. (Not counting the snowglobe ponies) It was nice to see, especially since the princesses are a bit larger than the mane 6. I may actually start an army of them simply because of their size. (The princesses were one of my favorite kinds in the G1 line)
I must say one other thing: I picked up some EG dolls in a thrift store visit a few weeks ago. It was my first time holding one. If anyone here collects them and has deboxed them, is it just me who thinks that they're a little cheap-feeling, say, compared to a Barbie doll? :-/ I won't lie, I was disappointed in Hasbro for the quality of them.