G2 What do you consider G2?

[Quill]

With the launch of G5, I've seen a lot of MLP generation timelines and video compilations appearing on social media (mainly from people new to the fandom). In them, they always label My Little Pony Tales as Generation 2. There's never any mention at all of what I consider the actual Generation 2:

My best guess is that new members of the fandom are being thrown off by the fact that G2 didn't really have its own animated media, and tend to deduce that a series that took place in the 90s must have been G2. I've always considered My Little Pony Tales as part of Generation 1, but it led me to wonder how everyone else divides the generations in the 90s? Where do you guys draw those lines between generations and sub-generations?

 

[Leave a Whisper]

G2 is G2. Anyone who insists on Tales not being G1, despite hard facts pointing otherwise, is just being a contrarian on purpose. Those sorts of fans really irk me, especially when G4 has several iterations that they readily accept being in the G4 time frame. They don't listen worth a crap. Sorry, not blowing up at you, its a pet peeve of mine.

 

[Tak]

Generation 2 wasn't as well known in America. It lasted longer in France. I think that most mainstream people don't even know it exists. Just because of the comparison in the amount of time it was broadcast. G1 was about ten years. G2 was only I year worldwide. G3 was 6 years. G4 lasted 9, so G2 is just mostly undiscovered by most.

 

[Leave a Whisper]

I never saw the G2s in stores. Didn't know they existed myself until I stumbled on the old Dream Valley site.

 

[StormMaeker]

To me, G2 is just the ponies that were released as G2, any merch with it and Friendship Gardens. That’s it.

Tales to me is just G1. If it’s the ones with G2 art on the covers it’s still G1 to me. “G1-with-the-G2-artwork-for-some-reason”

 

[Quill]

G2 is G2. Anyone who insists on Tales not being G1, despite hard facts pointing otherwise, is just being a contrarian on purpose. Those sorts of fans really irk me, especially when G4 has several iterations that they readily accept being in the G4 time frame. They don't listen worth a crap. Sorry, not blowing up at you, its a pet peeve of mine.

Oh I totally hear you! It's why I try to avoid certain areas of social media and hang out here instead.

To me, G2 is just the ponies that were released as G2, any merch with it and Friendship Gardens. That’s it.

Tales to me is just G1. If it’s the ones with G2 art on the covers it’s still G1 to me. “G1-with-the-G2-artwork-for-some-reason”

Those covers really confused me when I first saw them haha. So cute and pretty, but such a weird marketing decision.

 

[starbritesprinkles]

I first saw someone refer to Tales as G2 on Facebook a few weeks ago and had a real "WTF" moment. But it wasn't worth my time to dispute it. There's no easy way, really, to define the gens. You can't say anytime there's a break in production because we'd still be on G2 if that were the case. You can't say it's with every new show. We'd be on G6. And it isn't the animation style (also G6). And it isn't the toy style shift (G8). I guess you could say it's when a combination of those things shifts completely. Or just when Hasbro says, "Hey, we're relaunching MLP."

G1: 1982-1995 (US line ended in '92-'93)
G2: 1997-2003 (Was still being sold when G3 began)
G3: 2003-2011 (The last G3 was the 2011 MLP Fair exclusive when FIM was in full swing)
G4: 2010-2021 (Still being sold alongside ANG merch)
G5: 2021-

I don't think there has been a break in worldwide sales/production since 1997.

 

[Leave a Whisper]

Oh I'd say there is. The style of the ponies and the time frame they came out in.

 

[Luminary]

This is my first post!

G1 was sold from 1983-1995, G2 was sold from 1997-2003, G3 was 2003-2010, and G4 was 2010-2021, that means the Gens go 12 years, 7 years, 7 years, 11 years. G2, even if one remembers those years as a time without "real" ponies because they were only sold in Europe (I knew about the 1999 ponies from Dream Valley), was as large a generation as G3s, and not limited at all.

There are G2s I remember seeing in stores in America that the My Little Wiki web site says were only available in Europe, such as Moonshadow, Dainty Dove, and the Pretty Parlor with long haired Ivy. But I didn't get any G2s until 2003, myself, when I suddenly wanted boy ponies. If they had stayed in America I would have caved to the generation with the release of Princess Silver Swirl. Even if she was a fakie, I would have bought her.

If one wants to call My Little Pony Tales Gen 1.5 I would accept it because it was realist fiction instead of fantasy. But it is not G2. As much as I appreciate the youtube videos showing pony songs, it irks me too, as there was no generation that only lasted a few years. I hope many of the G2 artists are still alive to see that collectors that once rejected their designs like them now.

 

[Stellaluna]

To me, the toys will always be the dominant factor. So whatever toy line is reflected in the tv show, that's the Gen on the tv show. Tales pony toys were G1's, so it's G1. I've really only seen Bronys make the mistake that Tales is G2 since thier interest is almost entirely focused on the animated side of things, while toys are an afterthought - simply considered "merch" associated with a show. So yeah you're right. Because G2 toys never had a show that leaves them to assume Tales must be the G2 show.

 

[MustBeJewel]

The FAQ section is continuing to undergo a lot of construction, but in the meantime, here's this:

 

[Quill]

@MustBeJewel Your graphics are always so pretty!! I appreciate everyone's responses I guess I was just kind of stuck in the middle of not wanting to gatekeep MLP, but also seeing that error in generations and wanting to just

 

[Leave a Whisper]

@MustBeJewel Your graphics are always so pretty!! I appreciate everyone's responses I guess I was just kind of stuck in the middle of not wanting to gatekeep MLP, but also seeing that error in generations and wanting to just

View attachment 43435

Its not gate keeping. Its pointing out facts and correcting people who plug their ears like snotty children. They can call a whale a fish, but that doesn't make it true.

 

[MallowSweet]

I always considered Tales as a sort of Gen 1.5 but definitely not G2. I agree that since G2 didn't have an animated series it throws off some fans not as well versed in the toy timelines, especially with the DVD showing G2 art on the covers.

 

[maycrestmom]

I appreciate the clarification for G2 as definitely not Tales as I never thought of Tales as anything other than classic gen1 MLP. I don't remember ever seeing G2 in stores so I was one that thought MLP had only returned when G3'***** the shelves so at first I thought they were second generation kind of like when LPS returned. And it was kind of funny to me when there was a saberspark review of G5 where he pegged what I called the "big head" gen as G3 - so I get that there are alot of folks out there who have no idea how many incarnations MLPs have evolved over the decades. At this point I am just feeling old now that my kids have officially outgrown both G3 and FiM

 

[AzaleaArt]

I appreciate the clarification for G2 as definitely not Tales as I never thought of Tales as anything other than classic gen1 MLP. I don't remember ever seeing G2 in stores so I was one that thought MLP had only returned when G3'***** the shelves so at first I thought they were second generation kind of like when LPS returned. And it was kind of funny to me when there was a saberspark review of G5 where he pegged what I called the "big head" gen as G3 - so I get that there are alot of folks out there who have no idea how many incarnations MLPs have evolved over the decades. At this point I am just feeling old now that my kids have officially outgrown both G3 and FiM

On the plus side a lot of members on here thought they were too old for ponys at one point and then came back to them later in life so your kids might too