Skip to main content

Fake Plastic Horses.


The other day, I was watching TV on mute - I find all noises distracting - when an advert for My Little Pony came on-screen.
“Does that even still exist?” I asked my wife (a pointless question, as it clearly did).
“Yes,” she replied. “For some reason, they're very popular with teenage boys.”

This blew my mind. Why would they be interested in it? Surely they’re the completely wrong catchment. Not because they’re boys - I don’t hold with toys being gender specific - but because they’re entirely the wrong age group to appreciate it.

For one, My Little Pony was designed for pre-and-infant-school kids; the gumpf-selling bastion Argos lists them as suitable for kids of 3+. But what confuses me the most is the current teen generation isn’t even the right age to enjoy them for nostalgic reasons, as they’d be too young to remember them first time around.

I can’t fathom it out. Am I missing something massive? Why would they be into a toy with no purpose, least of all to people approaching adulthood? It’s not as if they teach you anything about equestria, which is ironic, as Equestria is apparently the name of the land the My Little Pony figurines are meant to inhabit. Horses don’t come in lurid primary colours, with manes as long as they are tall. The only thing My Little Pony teaches you is how to own a tiny plastic horse.

 When I questioned my wife’s assertion, she assured me it was true and said I should Google it. I wasn’t falling for that; the day you look up ‘Do teenagers like My Little Pony?’ is the day the police come knocking on your door; that, or Jeeves will swing by, asking why you searched the whole question and not just a few key words.

Popular posts from this blog

Not The Bayeux One.

The Carole King album Tapestry has been my 'getting-ready-in-the-morning' soundtrack for the past few weeks.  It's been a favourite album ever since I was a student, which makes for a pleasantly gentle way to usher in the start of a day. I've always been a fan of a well-crafted song, which is something of a Carole King hallmark, ever since she started writing with her first husband in the early Sixties. Tapestry may be an unimaginative choice for a favourite LP, as it suggests I haven't delved that far into her career, but it's still an undoubted classic; anything with '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman', 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' and 'You've Got A Friend' on it can't really fail; if nothing else, it proves she likes writing songs with long titles.  Next month, she's set to perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at a gig in Hyde Park, which I would have loved to have gone to, if it weren...

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...

Hitchin is Mine.

As of six o’clock tonight, I take over the Hitchin is Yours Twitter account for a week; a stewardship I’m anxious to get right. I’m proud of my hometown. It’s a great place to live, with so much going for it. I've always sold it to my non-Hitchinite friends; so much so, that a lot have gone on to move here. Any town expansion plans are partly my fault. Feel free to picket outside my house. I love its history and architecture. Take St Mary’s Church, for example. The building is beautiful inside and out, and huge for a town of our size. There has been a place of worship on site since the 7 th Century. Much of the present building dates from the 1300s. You wouldn't get that in America. (Don't forget the British Schools Museum too.)  Hitchin is a hive for creative people and a hub for the arts. It boast two theatres, two comedy clubs, a couple of art galleries, a festival for world music and a thriving music scene. This drew...