After a week of calling around here in Arizona, I finally nailed a Toys R' Us with a Favorites collection in stock (the last one at that, I seem to run into this situation a lot). It was pulled from their website a while back, so the only way to check is to call. The actual employees commented on how popular My Little Pony stuff is right now. Apparently they had a few Zecoras back on the 16th and completely ran out in a day. Hopefully I will still be able to pull off that glowy Zebra army! Hasbro! We need more ponies!
Anyhow, you guys wanted more review, so here you go! Below the break is my review on the Favorites Collection.
Have your obligatory box shot, It stuck out like a sore thumb in the pink isle, even though they had it buried way at the bottom. Aside from the Rarity and Pinkie Pie recolors, the creepy atmosphere is a welcome change. Technically it's Hasbro's first real foray into specifically targeting us (bronies), and not walking through the store with a giant pink box was almost refreshing for once.
As for the toys themselves, lets start off with Nightmare Moon! I was honestly pretty surprised at the quality on this one. The only other brushable pony I have is Scootaloo (minus the McDonalds toys), so I have no clue what I'm going to do with that aspect, but everything else about her is excellent. The paint is crisp, her design is sinister, and overall it looks genuinely like Nightmare Moon.
I also compare it to my molded Celestia toy from a while back to see if they changed anything on the actual base model. The hoofboot design is identical, but the face is completely new. There have been a few variations of that specific toy though, so I'm not sure if this one is rolling with one of the updated models. Regardless, she looks good from the front, which has always been one of dislikes on the average pony model figure.
Have some intermission before we get into the next big one. To the left is Flower Wishes (Daisy being the fandom name) and to the right is Lemony Gem (Or Lemon Hearts, though they appear to have removed her hearts and replaced them with gems. It was probably a copyright thing). As you can see from the back of the box above, the eye styles are similar to both Pinkie Pie and Rarity.
Onward to DJ-Pon3, aka the second reason this set is of interest to you! She's pretty much our fandom pony right up there with Derpy. It's nice to see her get some toy treatment! I'd kill for an official molded one.
One thing to note that you have probably already noticed; she has indented eye slots from the original blank mold still in place. The glasses don't fully cover them. It's nothing to riot over, but purists might be a bit alarmed.
The hair strands themselves come in two tones. It will require a bit of work, but separating them and fixing it up will most likely give you a pretty accurate mane to her show counterpart.
Onward to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash! You know all about these two. They have had similar toys forever minus the glittery cutie mark. Sadly I think I got a defective Pinkie Pie. Her balloons are half missing. I am not sure if multiple sets suffer from this, but I don't see any residue or loose glitter to point at the packaging as the culprit.
And finally, the Great and Powerful Trixie (AKA Lulamoon). She too has toys floating around in single packs already, but they seem just as rare as this set at the moment. I'm hoping we see some hat and cape in the future. Trixie looks almost naked without!
And that about covers it! Overall, its a pretty solid group of ponies! Nightmare Moon is definitely my favorite of the pack. If anything it would be worth picking up just for her and Scratch. There are a few manufacturing bugs, but that is unavoidable in the mass produced toy world. I was a bit worried that the glitter would flake off and trash my computer desk, but it seems to be stuck on there well enough. I'd say pick it up if you run into it! I've always preferred the molded sets, primarily the miniature collections, but for my first foray into the world of mane brushing, I'm happy with it.
Obligatory welcoming to the herd for yet another Trixie:
And I'm out! See you next time with some Spa Pony set when it releases this September!
