I found some...

I had seen a number of people, on the Craft Bronies group and elsewhere, writing about the "Blind Bag" ponies. (Well, technically, they are called "Kiosk Ponies," I suppose because the bags are designed to be sold off a free-standing kiosk).

I had one...having received it as a freebee with a We Love Fine order. But I hadn't seen them for sale anywhere (despite having checked the usual places when they first came out).

Well, I made my weekend trip to the Mart of Wal. As I've said before, I kind of hate shopping there (for various reasons, but the greatest one being that at busy times, people behave so BADLY there). I had picked up the yogurt and fruit and skim milk and other things I needed, and since it was 7 am, the place was empty, and I had some time, I decided to take a swing by the "Girl's Toys" section.

(As much as I disliked Barbie and her ilk when I was a kid...there's something I find oddly comforting as an adult walking through those two candy-colored aisles. And I will observe that I wish the La La Loopsy dolls existed when I was a child.)

I was looking, without much hope, for the blind bag ponies. They'd never had them before, but I figured, I might as well look.

Bingo.



They had one open box (with most of the bags sold) and one unopened box. I opened the unopened box (After all, this is wal-mart, it's not like there's a shopclerk there to scold me for it), figuring that if there are any local Bronies who bothered to look up the codes of the various blindbags online, it might just be less-desirable figures left in the picked-over box. (I did take several of the bags out of the picked-over box, though, just to be fair).

(And yes, there is a list somewhere online - I think Equestria Daily linked it - telling what pony corresponds to a numeric code stamped on the bag. So, if, for example, you reeeeeeeeeaaalllly wanted a Roseluck, but no other pony, if you knew the code, you could sort through a box of the blind bags and find the one you wanted without opening any. I didn't bother to download the code, because, for one reason, I thought I'd never see the blindbag ponies in a store. But the main reason? Part of the fun of these kind of things for me is the surprise...you don't know what you're going to get. (If I do wind up with any duplicate ponies, I'll "rehome" them - either with some other adult pony fan, or if I find a child who likes Ponies...)

This is, I think, one of the small consolations of being a single grown-up (or a Monkey-Fighting Adult, to euphemize an Ally Brosh-ism). You have a bigger allowance. And if the budget holds, you can spend that allowance on whatever you want*.

(*I specified "Single" earlier, because if you're part of a couple...well, there are other budgetary constraints and things to worry about. But if you live alone and you want to spend the money you might have spent on a pizza "from out" on ponies, no one cares at all).

The thing I like about these kind of small toys is that they do kind of call back happy childhood memories. No, I didn't have My Little Ponies when I was a kid - I was actually a bit old for the first ever generation of them and was more into other things - but there were similar small toys.

I remember the first U.S. run of the Smurfs. They were wildly popular - so much so, that I remember the local shop that sold them was rationing them for a while (I can't remember if it was one per customer, or two, or what). I didn't have many Smurfs; as I think I said once before the intersection of my having money and the store having Smurfs was rare enough (coupled with how rare it was for me to get down there; I had to be downtown with a parent for some other reason) that it was uncommon I could get one.

I suppose the scarcity was part of the desirability. (I remember when they stopped being so "hot," and the popular kids had moved onto the next fad, and you could find Smurfettes on a regular basis - early on, the Smurfette was the highly-desired, almost-never-found figure). And the fact that the "cool kids" at school had them probably contributed.

But they were also fun to play with. You could build Lego houses for them, or pretend they were farming on the carpet (dragging your finger through the pile made it look like furrows...) And you could tuck one in a pocket when you had to go to the dentist or do something equally scary. Or they were easily portable toys when you went traveling.

(I don't remember now what Smurfs cost. Could it possibly have been as much as $2.50? That number sticks in my mind but that seems kind of high, considering we're talking 1980 or thereabouts dollars. Maybe they were $1.50. All I knew is that they were expensive relative to my allowance.)

I also remember my dad occasionally rolling his eyes over the "frivolity" of such purchases, and on occasion suggest we saved our money for something "better." I don't know. I understand that if you're handing a kid an allowance, it probably pains a bit to see them blow it immediately on cheap and apparently short-lived toys (however - I still have my Smurfs...they are tucked away in the corner of a dresser one of the rooms in my parents' house).

So in a way, these ponies are, for me, like the rock to wind a string around that a lot of adults are looking for.

But I also think that you shouldn't always judge "frivolous" purchases. Neither my brother nor I grew up to be spendthrifts (despite the fact that I now wonder at the fact that I was willing to mow the near-acre of lawn - with a regular, walk-behind mower, not a lawn tractor - for $2.50, and then spend that money on stuff.) But I think, if the budget allows, the occasional "frivolous" purchase is good. For one thing, frivolity is fun. Without frivolity, we might as all wear black and grey all the time and farm rocks. And for another - spending money frivolously, I think, maybe reminds us (or at least, it reminds me) of the limitations of money. And that being grasping and tight and always worrying about money isn't necessarily healthy either (as compared to throwing money away). There's a happy medium - and I think I strike that - of budgeting carefully so all the bills are paid in full and on time, there's enough money to cover emergencies when they crop up, and YET there is enough money for the occasional spur-of-the-moment fun splurge.

(For example: I'd rather be able to spend $20 once every month or two on something silly like ponies, rather than have the latest-and-greatest smart phone with a high-usage plan. But that's just me. For other people, the fancy phone might be more worth it).

And I think also adults should not be judged on "frivolous" purchases (with the caveat: as long as they are not going into unsustainable debt, or are shorting some necessary area of life). For example, I so don't get the Pandora jewelry thing, but I know it makes a lot of women happy. And if they can afford the occasional Pandora splurge, God bless them and may they wear it in good health. I think we get into problems...and we make ourselves small and mean...when we look at other people's lives and say, "no, they should not be doing that; that is silly and wasteful."

But at any rate: Got my blindbag ponies!

Then I was faced with a dilemma: do I open them all at once and enjoy a short time of intensive pony joy, or do I parcel them out, and only open one as a reward for something particularly well done** or as a consolation after a difficult day?

(**I remember my third grade teacher, Mrs. Irish, used to have a "treasure box" of small, inexpensive toys, and if you did really well on a test (this was not ALWAYS, it was only certain tests), or you went over-and-above on an assignment, or she caught you doing something nice for someone else, you got to pick one. And you can quibble about the pedagogical value of rewarding kids materially for a good grade on a test...but I admit I always looked forward to the "treasure box" coming out.)

In some ways, I'm pretty good at delayed gratification and willpower. (Why, then, oh why, why am I not a size six...part of me wails).

So I decided to open ONE now, and save the others for later.

And this is what I got:

Because Sparkle Rainbow Dash is best blindbag pony.