You know what? I just don’t care. Yes, I’m a guy. Yes, I’m big and hairy and loud. But, by golly, the new My Little Pony show is pretty good. Now, I’m no Bronie or anything. I just have kids, and that’s one of the shows I don’t mind watching when they are watching it. So I definitely don’t mind building some MLP models. And I’m not going to apologize for it.

I decided to let my two older kiddos each pick out one of the six models for me to build this time. My daughter picked Rainbow Dash, and my son picked Applejack. He probably would have picked Rainbow Dash, but I let my daughter pick first. So those are the two I’ve built this time. I’ll build the other four in the future, probably in pairs, but for right now, this is what I’ve done. Not gonna do the build-and-review-six-models-at-once thing again. Nope.

I rather like how these models turn out. I had a little bit of trouble getting all the edges aligned right, but it’s probably not as obvious to others as it is to me. I like the dynamic poses, and the bright colors. And the hair… I think they did a great job with the hair, to be honest. It’s very… flow-ey. And, having built a lot of Legends models now, I don’t even mind the squared-off edges, it’s kinda become it’s own style, in a way. Oh, and if you can’t tell, I don’t really worry about fingerprints on models. It happens. And it apparently really shows on these models.

Speaking of Legends, way back when they released these models I wondered why they didn’t just go ahead and call them Legends models. I mean, that’s kinda what they look like, right? Just with four legs, instead of two legs and two arms. But, having now built them, I understand why. There is a lot more curving and just enough more challenge that I think it broke out of the target challenge demographic the Legends line was aiming for. That’s not to say they were incredibly difficult, just that they require a few more developed skills than the legends line, especially the ability to follow curves that change direction and degrees.

Before I get into any specific details about each of these builds individually, I do want to point out one thing that I found lacking in both sets of instructions. It’s pretty obvious, as you get near the conclusion of the build, but never indicated (as far as I can find) in the instructions. As you finish forming each of the legs, you need to bend them out a little, right where the leg meets the body. I kinda looked end-on and worked to make the bottom of the hooves approximately perpendicular to the sides of the body. Otherwise the ponies will be standing on their… tippie-hooves?

Another general comment is a downside to the “dynamic” poses, with one leg raised. It looks good, don’t get me wrong. But it also creates some issues with balancing, especially for Applejack, what with both the big hat and the pony-tail-not-on-her-tail. She was often teetering on the three legs, and Ranbow Dash didn’t need too much convincing to tip right over herself. My solution was to fold up a bit of the scrap sheet (left over after clipping out the parts) and wedging it up inside the back left leg. Basically adding a little more counterweight to that side.

The final general-advice note I’d like to give is that forming these curves is made easiest by just getting them up close to the part they are going to attach to, and just trying to match it gently. Another suggestion is this: use something big to round the parts a little at first, just a general smooshing towards the eventual shape, be it an S-curve or a large C-shaped curve, whatever. Find a battery, or a marker or something, and use that to start your shaping, as it kinda “breaks-in” the curve etchings, and makes them easier to finesse into the final shape you want.

For Rainbow Dash, most of the build is pretty straight forward, with the big focus being that giant swath of hair on top of her head. Be sure, when working on the very top parts, to keep track of parts 11 and 12. Don’t get them mixed up. Luckily, the middle-tab on top is off-center, so that helps some. And when it comes time to put part 27 on the back of her head, make sure to follow the call-out instructions. Don’t attach it until the head has bee attached to the body (which is quite an interesting exercise in-and-of itself, there’s not much play room in there). In addition, you might find it a lot easier to align and attach part 27 if you fold down her wings quite a bit. If you are gentle, you can always fold them back up afterwards.

For Applejack, my biggest struggles came in the form of the hat, and her tail-tail (not to be confused with her pony-tail). That hat was super confusing for me, not in forming it and shaping it… but in keeping track of / identifying the right slots to use when attaching things to it. This is not helped by some of the steps showing the attachment having the slots completely obscured by other parts. Not to mention the fact that there just seem to be way too many slots to begin with. As for the tail – my main struggle here was trying to get the thin strip to follow the correct path around the end, where the band is. That’s some tight corners next to some tight curves in a small area. I’m not entirely pleased with my results, but I’m not too disappointed, either. It’s a challenge, though.

Unsurprisingly, this post has turned out a bit shorter than my last build post, despite being a post for two builds. But I’ll tell you, it’s nice to have a chill, low-key build or two to follow up the work that went into building the Terminator model (as well as writing up that ridiculously long post). Rainbow Dash took me just under an hour to complete, while Applejack took me just over an hour. Feel free to watch the build videos in the YouTube embeds below: