Lesson 9: My Little Pony G3, toy line

Previous Lesson: Lesson 8: My Little Pony G2'a PC Raising Sim Game: Friendship Gardens.

MLP G3 began in 2003, and much like previous gens, Hasbro only released Earth Ponies early on, later adding pegasi and unicorns by 2006. The line lasted for 6 years, ending in 2009, at which point G3.5 began. The toy line was the second incarnation to set the ponies in Ponyvile (the first being My Little Pony Tales), which was also home to Celebration Castle.

Pictured Above:
Celebration Castle, the playset that made Dream Castle look freaking butch!

G3 was known for having a wide variety of poses and outfits, but gone were the more elaborate accessories that came with G2 ponies. It was back to just a brush for these fillies. G3 is also notable for coining the term "cutie marks", which would be touched on more extensively in the G4 cartoon.
Earyl G3 ponies had a nagnet in one of their hooves, which would activity different playset items. WARNING: The magnets were very powerful and would damage electrical equipment if exposure was prolonged.

This toy line was given a worldwide release, and this time is stuck due to better sales within the U.S. and Canada, likely due to G3 ponies more resembling the original first generation ones.

Oddly, there was some inverse effect in action, as there were a few ponies not available outside of the U.S., including: Winter Snow, along with some small fairy-ish ponies that first appeared in The Princess Promenade, which were called Breezies. There was also a version of Pinkie Pie that was supposed to be limited edition only that had packeted and put on shelves with other ponies by mistake. Whoops. There were only about 300 of this model of Pinkie made. It had the words "2003 Licensing Show" embedded into her cutie mark.

Hasbro caught onto the fact that it had older fans who collected the G1 Ponies in their youths, so they released a special collector's line that were a bit different from the rest of G3. Thus began the annual My Little pony Collector's Convention and the San Diego Comic Con. Some of these were put into general release as "Art Ponies". These models of the toys were given elaborate designs with various themed imagery printed all over its body. They'd also have matching box part.
Despite the G3 line having ended, Hasbro continues to make "Art Ponies" to this toy.

G3 also had Ponyville figurines, which were solid plastic and smaller than the rest of the line.

Core 7: In 2009 Hasbro redesigned and narrowed the scope of the My Little Pony characters to seven main characters: Cheerilee, Toola-Roola, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Starsong. The ponies' bodies were shrunk, their heads were larger and their eyes took on a more innocent, childlike appearance. The hair styles of these ponies were also changed, and many relationships were altered in an effort to give the ponies more personality. For example, Cheerilee became Scootaloo's older sister.

In all, the toys are considered to be a solid addition to the franchise by fans.

Complete List of G3 Ponies:

Ponies came in the following models: Glitter Ponis, Rainbow maned Ponies, Seasonal Celebration ponies (released at the appropriate time of year),

Earth Ponies:

Pegasi:

Unicorn:

Reoocurring Ponies:

Now, you might recognize a few faces from a later Gen here.

Fluttershy

Pinkie Pie

Rainbow Dash

Rarity

Chicken, er...Scootloo

Cheerilee

Sweetie Belle

Yep, that's right. Several characters that would appear in the G4 toy line and TV show premiered in G3 on top of the many concepts that came from the G1 cartoons.

Next Lesson: My Little Pony G3's Animated Features