Allsparkle General Discussion

“It’s so weird. It’s
like, before I lost my memories, I mean, I was the same
person. I liked the same music, liked the same foods,
had the same sense of humor. I mean, I was still me I
suppose. But it’s still like two completely different
lives.”
Samantha chuckled a bit. “I think anyone who’s
part of the alpha generation of plainerills can relate to
that,” she mused.
“I keep seeing this greenish unicorn with a
jeweled eye and five foamy glasses on its flank.”
Samantha snorted and laughed, tilting her head
amused. “That would be Fizzy. I have one of the
originals from 1986, I believe. Somewhere around
there. Of course, it’s in my ‘do not touch’ menagerie.”
Lucia raised an eyebrow. “Talk about your
long-lasting franchises!”
“Plainerills are still human, many of them given
to nostalgia. There’s a lot of things still around
probably only because Plainerills grew up with them:
Transformers, My Little Pony, Star Wars…English, even
if it has undergone some changes. I can get you another
one if you want. Sausage links or patties?”
“Links please. And, yeah, if it’s okay. My old
one didn’t make the trip to the orphanage.”
Samantha nodded. “We can go to the toy store
sometime today if you want. You seem to be obsessed
with the violin, but you can’t live by violin alone.”

-----

Samantha walked down the aisles of the toy
store with her companions. Sheila had a rough time
convincing the employees to let her in the building.
Reassuring them that she was in fact sapient finally
convinced them to let her in, though they still gave her
the occasional uneasy glance.
Samantha smiled as they came to the My Little
Pony isle. Though the molds for the actual toys of
previous centuries had been long lost, many of the same
characters had been remade. It heartened her that the
characters she loved as a kid were still being made all
these years later, however much the toys themselves
may have changed. Not only that, but if Lucia and Runa
were anything to judge by, the kids still loved them.
Lucia found her Fizzy and smiled broadly. “It
looks exactly the same!”
Samantha smiled as Lucia fawned over the toy.
Runa checked her own wallet and smiled as she saw she
had saved enough for the one she was looking at and
picked up a pink Pegasus with two blue lightning bolts
on the flank. “Oh! Firefly,” Samantha noted with a grin.
“Nice!”
“And which one were you going to pick up?” a
familiar voice asked from down the aisle. Samantha
turned to see Christine walking down the aisle.
“What are you doing here? I thought I left you
in charge.”
“You did. I had a little talk with Marco.”
“I read your report. I approve. I still think, no, I
know it’s going to come back to haunt me later. But
given the situation, it was the right move.”
“I thought you might approve. At the very least,
you’ll have some bit of moral high ground when it does
come to bite you in the…”
Samantha rushed to cover Christine’s mouth.
“Maybe we should be getting you a jar. And it’s not so
much about having the moral high ground. I just want to make sure we gave him every chance to do the right
thing.”
“Yeah, I know,” Christine said, swiping
Samantha’s hand away from her mouth, “claim the
moral high ground. So, which one are you going to pick
up?”
Samantha sighed. “Anyway, I read the report.
So, what’s up?”
“I’m on my break. I thought I’d pick up the new
Street Fighter.”
Runa perked up. “No kidding! That’s out?”
“What number are they on now?” Lucia asked,
dragging her eyes from Fizzy for the first time since
finding her.
“Ugh! Roman numerals,” Christine moaned.
“After you get past the X’s, V’s and I’s, even I have
trouble with the crazy things!”
“You’re better with it than I am, then,” Lucia
noted.
Samantha grinned. “Well, I know what we’ll be
doing once we get home.”
“Uh huh,” Christine grinned. “So, which one
were you going to pick up?”
Samantha sighed, looking down the aisle and
picking up a Generation 3 Minty. “Happy?”
Christine laughed as she looked down the aisle
herself, picking out a Fizzlepop Berrytwist.
“Supremely!”
“Does this mean we don’t have to grow out of
our toys when we grow older,” Lucia asked hopefully.
“I think it would be really sad if you did,”
Samantha said, ruffling her hair and leading everyone to
the video game section.

----

Lucia looked curiously at Sofia but followed as
she stood and led her into another room. “This used to
be my room, didn’t it?” Lucia asked, trying to
concentrate on the half-remembered memory.”
“I never changed anything. Everything that’s in
this room belongs to you. Feel free to take whatever.”
Lucia scrunched up her nose at the thought.
She wanted nothing from them. She looked at the violin
she used to play. The one she had now was much
higher quality than that beginner's toy. All of the sheet
music had been replaced. All of the music albums were
either replaced or were groups she had outgrown.
There truly was nothing she wanted from them…until
she saw it.
The green unicorn with five frothy mugs on its
flank sat on the nightstand next to the bed. “Fizzy,” she
barely breathed.
“That always was your favorite toy aside from
the violin,” Sofia said.
Lucia could feel an electric excitement ripple
through her body as she reached out to touch the piece
of plastic. A stray tear trickled down her cheek as she
held it in her hands. It really did look exactly like the
one Samantha had bought her, except for the tail that
was cut into a bob and the hair that was styled in
cornrow braids.
“Will you ever be able to forgive us?”
Lucia let out a slightly self-deprecating laugh.
“It should be easy, shouldn’t it? I mean, you’ve seen the
PSA my friends and I made. I was able to forgive Kate
for what she did to Missy. This should be easy, right?”

Hasbro updated a Amazon UK page with this artwork. And that's why some people think it could be the art style for G6.

But, if you read the comments on the article, it seems like Andy Price has already de-comfirmed this as being what G6 is. He might be wrong, but he's closer to the action than any of us are.

I don't hate it. But, it does look more like artwork for a line of G1-ified G4 toys, rather than something you'd see in a modern-day cartoon. I hate to say it, but this art style is a little too detailed for modern cartoons. I'm mostly talking about Fluttershy, here.

I wouldn't mind seeing a special in this art-style. I'm not sure if I'd want it to be the basis for a whole cartoon series, though. But, I'd have to see it in motion.

I think it's growing on me. But, something about it makes me think, if Hasbro actually did go with this art style, that the show would be targeted to a younger audience. I'm not sure why I think that. There's just something about this art-style that gives me "Nick Junior"-vibes. I'm really not sure why. Maybe because, other than obviously reminding me of MLP G1, it kind of gives me "Little Bear" or "Franklin" vibes?

So, yeah. Probably not actually what G6 will be. But, worth sharing. It's fun to see these characters in different art-styles, at least.