#pony mail

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BIGGEST PONY HAUL!!!

[ponyguru]

Just a quick post tonight - a HQG1C buy from around Halloween! I couldn’t resist a glowing Halloween dragon - or two! 🤣 And I don’t think I ever got this color of hair for my boy blanks, so I got one for my collection! 💖 🐉

[daywalkers-fic]

Hellooo, I'm also writing a story in a setting inspired by late 1800s America but quite different and a bit escapist in some aspects.

I wanted to ask, how do you handle the issue of colonialism in such a story, even when the story itself doesn't strive to be historically realistic. I want to write some decent rep for some indigenous characters but what Im concerned with is..is it an alright to make my setting resemble an American environment of that time but with colonialism missing from that universe..or is it irresponsible and erasure? If I add an equivalent, how do I go about acknowledging it?

I'm sorry,.I'm aware you're not indigenous but I still wanted to ask for your general thoughts on the topic considering you're working with the same genre with a fresh inclusive perspective. Also if you know any indigenous writers/individuals who happen to be into westerns I would love to know!

ooo hi! it’s always really fun to hear about other people’s works-in-progress :’)

to start, I want to plug @writingwithcolor as a total gem of a resource !! it is run by a panel of bipoc writers. I really recommend taking the time to explore their blog: they have research guides, resource recommendations, break downs of sterotypes and tropes + very meaningful answers to many writers sending asks.

one of their moderators, Lesya, is of the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) and Wyandot (Huron) in Canada. they’ve acknowledged that since they are not from territories that have been historically associated with the “old west” (more southwestern and plains), they can’t give specifics. still, they speak as an Indigenous person and writer:

together with the other moderators, Lesya has written many posts that made me re-think a lot of things (quite literally helping reorient myself on the questions of what exactly am I trying to write, why in this setting/time period, and with whom in mind)

Is the Western genre dead?

Destroying imperialism to avoid discussing racism?

On addressing native issues in a cowboy story

Tragedy exploitation and characters of colour

Guide on Cowboys: Cowboys of Colour in the West

Alternate History and Historical Accuracy

(1800s western) non-racist White characters interacting with Black and Native people

Highlighting points from the last linked post (above) that I very much agree with + and adding some notes onto them:

consider the setting of the world, even if it is fictional, where is it inspired by?

Lesya: “the western front is a catchall and has a collection of tropes akin to Fantasy World 29, but if you want to have some grounding in history, pick a state whose history you feel you can work with and do research roughly in that geographic area (e.g what Nation or tribe you are discussing, what the state policies [of genocide] at the time were…)”

I was exited to take this as an opportunity for me to really learn more about Plains and Southwestern Indigenous history since I from the Great Lakes region of North America! I believe a foundational resource is: https://www.whose.land/en/ that gives you a starting point of whose traditional territory is the land you’re on, and/or what region and then subsequently, whose land is inspiring your story. “Indigenous” is not a monolith. Each geographical region has its own peoples, culture, history!

what is your comfort level with writing about colonialism? Is the goal historical accuracy or alternative history?

Lesya: “the 1800s was a period of pure, unadulterated racism”

Yeah 1800s is synonymous with racism. Racism was necessary to justify colonialism. It justified slavery. It justified genocide. Sciences developing “studies” and “proof” in biology and psychology at this time even helped reaffirm the idea that Black and Indigenous peoples were indeed subhuman. This was codified in laws and policies around the world. Meanwhile, industrialization and “development” was paid for with the blood and labour of marginalized peoples (the working class, migrants, and most especially, black and brown people).

Lesya: “If you’re looking for any sort of grounding in historical reality, you’re dealing with that climate. There is absolutely, positively, no way around it. There is no way to make modern anti-racism and modern levels of ignorance fit in anything grounded historically.”

that said, historical fantasy and fluffy escapism is ok, too! again, depends on your goals, capacities, intentions.

Lesya: “It’s okay if you’re not comfortable. But, you’re going to need to start looking at essentially creating a historical AU where the racism at the time was a lot less, which means colonialism at the time would be a lot less, which means ‘The Western Front’ is going to look a lot different.”

After all, the “wildness” of the “west” had in part been defined by the belief that all of this unsettled, traditional Indigenous territory was dangerous. These Lands and its inhabitants were “wild”—savage—and ought to be “tamed”.

Lesya: “If you’d rather write fluffy escapism, make Black and Native people equal for literally no reason other than you want the story to be safe for those groups to read. Pick a rough geographic area just to give your Indigenous peoples around this Western Front town a culture (or three, because the Western front is full of nomadic groups), and you’ll be fine. But it will be historical fantasy, and should really be treated as such”

finally, something I’d keep in mind is that anything you write will be biased because it came from you! After all, you are an individual with beliefs and experiences and ideas. They all impact how you carry yourself and see the world everyday, and these will impact how you interact with a fictional world too. This isn’t inherently “bad”—this should be something to keep in mind especially if you’re writing about a character with a different race, class, health, gender than you. For example, if you hold prejudice in your own life, it will probably be read in how you write certain characters, storylines, etc.

I apologize how long this took me to answer, I really had to sit down and think about this too. I hope you find this of use to you! and on the last part of the ask: I know of James Welch (Blackfoot and A'aninin), an author whose written many books set in 19th century America from the perspective of an Indigenous protagonist. Does anyone else have recommendations? In other revisionist-western/anti-western media, Los Colonos (2023) has been on my to-watch list for sometime!

[support-ponies]

Your past is not today~

Help Support the Blog :)

[mlp-pic-a-day]

And here is G1 Mail Order Goldilocks.

Nowhere near as rare as Rapunzel but... not the easiest either.

[build-a-stim]

muffins (2015) for @lamiin

X | X | X || X | X | X || X | X | X

[travelling-my-little-pony]

It's the first day of the month, so it's Love Wishes with a letterbox day!

Here is Love Wishes with a group of knitted polar animals on a letterbox. In Exmouth, in Devon, England.

[thenewgraymare]

Rapunzel

You know those amazing Pony dreams where you find rare and unreleased ponies at a thrift shop or garage sale for like $1 each? Well, I had that happen in real life and the ponies are still here!

Yesterday was the Marysville Toy Show and I had a blast vending it. The promoters really go all out with their themes and ensuring the vendors have a great experience. This year’s theme was GI Joe. Their logo display evoked a military encampment, with a cot and lantern inside one side, a Jeep exiting the other side, a helicopter landing pad, rafting rapids, and smoked shark over a fire pit. And, to top it all off, a paratrooper dropping by to join in the fun. Vendors were given folders stating our name, rank, and location. Inside were custom dog tags with our name on them, the toy show, and “Mission Holy Grail.”

I set up my space and then browsed a little bit. Since my display took nearly the full four hours allotted to set up, I didn’t get much time to really shop and find goodies for myself. I mentally noted a few spots to check in the morning and headed home myself.

The next morning, just before we opened to the early buyers, a friend tipped me off to a table I had somehow missed and I headed over to see what ponies they had. I wasn’t expecting much-- probably overpriced or some fakies. But then, from a distance, I spotted pink with yellow hair and the shine of pink tinsel. I dared to hope and picked up my pace. When I tell you I was shaking when I grabbed that pony, I am not exaggerating in the least. It was Rapunzel, the mail order I nearly had as a kid and my dad never sent in the filled out form with collected pony points. Then I grabbed blue hearts Dazzle Glow. Oh, and is that a pearly Baby Cotton Candy? And pearly Baby Blossom? AND pearly Baby Moondreamer? Wait, that’s ALL the pearly mail order babies! Spunky too! Tropical ponies, and Perfume Puffs and Candy Cane ponies. Gimme all the ponies and nobody pinch me because I like this dream.

I asked the vendor how much and they were all less than $10 each. I gladly took the entire lot and danced back to my booth. I’m still in shock. I never thought I’d be lucky enough to own a Rapunzel after not getting her as a kid.

Mission Holy Grail? Mission accomplished!

[hubbman2]

I LOVE THIS SHOW AND JUST FINISHED IT AND TJERES LIKE SO LITTLE CONTENT TYSM BOTH OF YOU FOR PROVIDING!!!!!! AMAZINF ART!!!!!!!

Thanks from both of us <3

[serendippertyy]

Can I please have a Muffins/Ditzy? :>>>

always happy to draw ditzy!! ^^ 🫧💌

[burgeredagent]

i heart when they're next to each other💪❤️

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PONY MAIL!!!! G3 BOOK HAUL!

all in mint condition too!

[ponyguru]

This is a delayed #mailcall from several weeks ago, before my road trip! I didn’t have time to take photos before I left, so I’ve been saving the candy til now too!! 🤣 These came from the fabulous @glitternsold who found the Canadian exclusive ponies at her local TRU, and I asked if she could pretty pretty pretty pretty pleeeease get me one too! And she very kindly did - and even stuffed the box with all sorts of amazing Canadian candy we don’t get down here! 🥰 I’ve never tried ketchup chips!! I’m so excited for all of the goodies, and the sweet note too! 🥺 Thank you so much @glitternsold you rock!!! 💖 And I included all of my usual MIB photos for the “Make Your Mark Collection”, if anyone wants closeups! But they will be going under my Christmas tree this year, so no loose photos for a few weeks, sorry! 😜 The candy, however, only has minutes to live… 🤣

[daywalkers-fic]

Hello! I was so excited to stumble upon your blog because a "queer gothic fiction set in the 1880s american west" is so, so up my alley. I've been out of the writeblr loop for a while--thanks to a certain video game we both love--so I was wondering if there are any western writeblrs you'd recommend I check out? (Or any writeblr really, I'm not picky).

Side Note: Your wip and cast of characters (Célie and Frances in particular) got me like 👀👀👀. Does your rag-tag outlaw gang have a name or are they not into that sort of thing?

hello!!!! I was so happy to have stumbled into your blog as well 💖 I bookmarked your blackwater series to cozy up and marathon through it soon ahhh

I have not been active in the writing side of tumblr and don't know any other western writeblrs ;-; I am a big fan of art-tumblr with darling cowboy ocs. many blogs have short blurbs and excerpts with their characters (found all in this tag). I also love interactive fiction (counts as writeblr? for me anyways!). here are western-themed ones I really adore: Larkin by KC, Wasteland Pony Express by katieaki, Shadows of the Gun by Emma, The Ballad of Devil's Creek by GC Betker

Celie and Frances;;; oh my I am trying not to have favourites but I do have a soft spot for a few of them including these two hehe. My outlaw gang has not a name yet hmm I have not found a good one for them yet :')

@larkin-if / @katieaki / @shadowsofthegun-if / @devilscreekballad

[support-ponies]

٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´-

[mlp-pic-a-day]

Twice as Fancy Baby - Milky Way

These were Mail Order exclusives and tend to be difficult to find nowadays. What's more interesting and slightly oddball is how the type of pony could change. Adult Milky Way is a unicorn!