Once again, I bring you all a toy review in the collectors series mini figure line-up. The Elements of Harmony Friends set actually took me a while to track down. Both Target and Toys R' Us carry it, yet their stock is usually incredibly low (at least in Arizona). This wasn't too surprising considering the earlier sets shipped with literally just two of each.
Anyway, with a little luck I was finally able to track one down at a random Target store out here. So lets get to reviewin!
I'll start with Fluttershy, since it has taken absolutely forever to finally get a model of her in blindbag form that wasn't a recolor of Rainbow Dash. She is fully decked out in her wavy mane and freakishly long tail. I wouldn't have it any other way. This one actually came out really well, with almost no little dings or marks that these things tend to have.
As cute as short mane Fluttershy is, it's nice to have one on model. I remember back when the one on the left was dropping for 200 bucks on Ebay due to rarity. Good times...
Onward to MANNY ROAR. This dude right here is why I even gave FiM a second chance when it first popped up years ago, and I'm amazed and happy they made a toy out of him. The wings and tail are made out of a much more flexible material, which I have mixed feelings on, but most of the collector style blindbags use the same stuff for their more artistic bits.
He is also one of the largest in amount of material used out of all these toys so far, beating even Gilda in that department. Overall, Manny is an awesome addition to the blindbag team.
Back to the mane cast with some Rarity. Mine actually came with some pretty bad brown blemishes on both the nose and horn as you can see in the image. That aside though, as part of the pilot episodes, she severs her tail, which is clearly shown in the toy (and on Steven Magnet found further down). It's a neat shoutout to the show, though if she were ever on her own, I could see people asking why she is missing her tail. I'm sure you all have a million Raritys if you collect these though, so it's cool to have a variant.
Just a quick comparison shot to her usual figure.
Nightmare Moon follows the alicorn model from some of the earlier blindbag sets, with a few neat little twists to set her apart. Her hoofboots are specifically tuned for her, and the paint is all unique to the character. Outside of the nose reminding me a bit of a snake, shes well done for how large she is.
And finally, we have the ultimate in fandom shoutouts - Steven Magnet! Yes, his actual name on the packing is indeed Steven. When this first popped up a while back, I was honestly amazed they pulled that one off. Is he the first cartoon character officially named from a Youtube auto-subtitle?
The toy itself is very well detailed, with Raritys tail adorning one side of his face to reflect the events of the show. His arms are a bit oddly positioned, with one way higher up on his body than the other. Other than that though, I couldn't be happier!
And that about covers it for the Elements of Harmony set! Final verdict? I'd say pick it up! We have some very unique characters in here that I'm sure Hasbro is rollin the dice on. If you can find it, buy it. We need more like this, and these toys are excellent additions to any molded pony collection. Just make sure you check each toy for blemishes like my poor Rarity up there. Assuming they even have more than one for you to be picky with.
