On Addiction

Hey all, it’s time to get serious for a bit. Bear with me here, ok?

Let’s talk about addiction, hot dogs, and My Little Pony.

Woah woah woah, where do you think you’re going? I’m not done yet. Are we all settled? Do you need some juice? Everyone good? Okay, good.

Alright. So.

My name is Samantha Kyle, and I’m an addict.

I’ve always had a bit of an addict streak in me; something will catch my fancy and it’ll be my favorite thing for a while, but eventually I start to take it too far and everyone tells me I need to cut back. That I have a problem. I’ve been through this many times with things ranging from Ben & Jerry’s containers to Red Bull to beef lo mein.

Enter My Little Pony.

I never watched the show when I was but a child of the ’80s, and aside from the one or two toys my aunts randomly gifted me at Christmas, I had no real love of ponies of any kind. Bunnies were where it was at, man. I mean, come on, they’ve got those ears, they hop, and I’ll be damned if those wiggly noses wouldn’t be the adorable death of me.

As such, no fond memories of My Little Pony exist for me. Cut to a couple of years ago when Lauren Faust rebooted the series with Friendship Is Magic. One day I sat down to give it a go because A. everyone was losing their shit over this show so there must be something about it and B. I’m a gurl so surely there’s no social repercussions to watching a show about ponies. So I sat. And I watched. Lord help me it was good.

It was really, really good.

So… the show had me. I couldn’t get enough. Around season 4 of this reboot, I casually joined a practice session with The Shake Ups in Ponyville for fun, and dang man but that had me too. At this point I’m watching the show, I’m drawing ponies and singing in a pony band, having one heck of a time living life and loving ponies until…

Blind bags.

Holy hell.

There are so many blind bag ponies in my house right now.

Then came brushables, plushes, and vinyls. Mind you, at this point I’m thinking, “naaaaah, I’m fine. This is fine and normal. It’s fiiiiine,” because it’s totally normal for a woman in her thirties to be collecting My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic toys. Way normal. Not weird at all.

The moment I realized I had a problem, like a serious for real not-just-a-hobby problem, was when I came across Munchy.

I’m aware that the initial release of the MLP franchise was to sell toys. That’s what all ‘80s cartoons were about. It’s all about the toys, and there are going to be new versions to sell every season.

Munchy popped up on my radar during a totally normal and not obsessive at all search for ponies online for whatever reason I had at the time like, I dunno, illustration reference? Sure, let’s go with that. Since I’m drawing ponies almost every day now like a completely normal person who doesn’t have a problem, it would be completely reasonable.

While wading through images of first generation pony toys that were mostly of the pink or rainbow variety, I noticed Munchy. It was like locking eyes with the most alluring person in the room at a crowded party. I was drawn to everything about her; the green eyes, the yellow coat, the peach mane, and that perfect cutie mark.

Munchy was part of the second set of the Twice as Fancy MLP toy line printed between 1987 and 1988. The special thing about this line was that each pony had double extra cutie marks. These cutie marks were not just on their flanks, but all over their back and sides, even creeping on to the cheeks or foreheads of some ponies. Munchy didn’t have just one perfect cutie mark, she had several.

Lord help me, this pony was covered in hot dogs.

It’s like she was made just for me.

I’m now on a quest for Munchy. If I ever own a single G1 MLP toy, it needs to be this beautiful pony covered in hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, and pickle slices. Deep within me is a visceral need for this hot dog pony and I won’t rest until I have it in my shaking, pony-obsessed grasp.

Some might say I have a pony problem. An addiction. That I need to dial it back a bit and give this pony thing a rest. I would agree with them.

But only after I get my hot dog pony.