HOME | DD

Description

I'm a bit burnt out on drawing stuff recently, as I'm in the middle of several big projects that I can't seem to get inspired to work on. So this is a rework of something I did awhile back, but never published to DeviantArt, to fill some space.

Applejack occupies a strange place in the My Little Pony franchise. In every generation of My Little Pony, a version of this character appears. Sort of... if you're generous with G2 and G3.5's general weirdness. The only other MLP character like this is Spike the dragon, though you can't do the same stretching to get Spike into G2 or G3.5 that you can with Applejack.

First off, Applejack is in fact the name of an alcoholic drink. The creators knew this when they named this character from a children’s toy line. They just liked the name and that’s that.

'My Pretty Pony' started in 1981, which due to production costs got redesigned as much smaller and simpler toys the next year as ‘My Little Pony’ instead. So if you count that prototyping year, next year (2021) will be the franchise’s fortieth year.

Starting from the left we have the Generation 2 'Friendship Garden' pony Bright Bramley, as drawn on the toy packaging. Originally released in 1999 as part of the Magic Motion line which were mini-playsets with a single pony and bunch of related accessories. G2 was a relatively weird generation of MLP. It didn’t have any characters in common with G1 officially and was produced primarily in Europe. Bright Bramley having almost the same color-scheme as G1 Applejack, an apple cutie-mark, and that name (Bramley is a type of apple) marks her as related to Applejack if nothing else. In retrospect I'm surprised FiM didn't have a slightly bigger school, with Bright Bramley as one of the teachers (since that was her 'theme' in G2), just to get some G2 stuff back into the overall franchise. But then, Hasbro has had a lot of copyright/trademark issues with MLP over the years due to some poor business planning decisions they've made swapping between generations, so I'm not *that* surprised.

Next is the Generation 3 Applejack, where they did a complete redesign of the character for some reason, giving her a red coat with green/yellow striped mane, and a cutie-mark of a single apple on a checked picnic blanket. Originally released in 2003 in some store-specific toy lines, this version never appeared in an animation. Another one did, though, we’ll get to her later.

Next is the Generation 1 Applejack. Orange body, yellow mane, with a cluster of seven apples as a cutie-mark. Originally released as part of the Year Two line in 1983 with her appearing in the 1984 My Little Pony special that got released later as part of the My Little Pony and Friends cartoon series. She became a favorite in Europe, appearing as one of the main cast in the comics and books printed over there, despite only rarely appearing in America. For example, she didn't appear in G1's second series 'My Little Pony Tales', but then that one was just as weird as G2 even though they kept the exact same art-style as the rest of G1. She also resembles at least one version of the original My Pretty Pony toy, with the orange-brown body and blonde mane. They didn't have cutie-marks at that point though, so it's a bit of a stretch.

Next is the Generation 3.5 Applejack. This one’s a bit of bodge, as there was no G3.5 toy release for Applejack, and exactly when G3.5 started is a bit confusing due to the toy line, the animations, and whatnot all switching art styles several times, at different times from each other. However, Applejack appeared in several G3.x animations with the G3 cutie-mark and mane, but with an orange body like G1. So here is Applejack in the G3.5 style, using the color schemes from the G3 animations, as a compromise.

And now the Generation 4, or ‘Friendship is Magic’ incarnation that most are now familiar with. Same orange body and yellow mane, and now with three apples as a cutie mark. Released in 2010 as part of the multi-media relaunch of the MLP franchise and now as one of the main characters.

Next is the new Generation 4.5 ‘Pony Life’ incarnation, launched in 2020. Technically the same character and design, just a new art style. Not sure how long this art-style is going to last, as G5 is still speculative at this point.

And finally, is the Equestria Girls incarnation, as she appears in the animated series/films in 2013, as the actual dolls are awful and I’m not going to try to reproduce those.

Description

I'm a bit burnt out on drawing stuff recently, as I'm in the middle of several big projects that I can't seem to get inspired to work on. So this is a rework of something I did awhile back, but never published to DeviantArt, to fill some space.

Applejack occupies a strange place in the My Little Pony franchise. In every generation of My Little Pony, a version of this character appears. Sort of... if you're generous with G2 and G3.5's general weirdness. The only other MLP character like this is Spike the dragon, though you can't do the same stretching to get Spike into G2 or G3.5 that you can with Applejack.

First off, Applejack is in fact the name of an alcoholic drink. The creators knew this when they named this character from a children’s toy line. They just liked the name and that’s that.

'My Pretty Pony' started in 1981, which due to production costs got redesigned as much smaller and simpler toys the next year as ‘My Little Pony’ instead. So if you count that prototyping year, next year (2021) will be the franchise’s fortieth year.

Starting from the left we have the Generation 2 'Friendship Garden' pony Bright Bramley, as drawn on the toy packaging. Originally released in 1999 as part of the Magic Motion line which were mini-playsets with a single pony and bunch of related accessories. G2 was a relatively weird generation of MLP. It didn’t have any characters in common with G1 officially and was produced primarily in Europe. Bright Bramley having almost the same color-scheme as G1 Applejack, an apple cutie-mark, and that name (Bramley is a type of apple) marks her as related to Applejack if nothing else. In retrospect I'm surprised FiM didn't have a slightly bigger school, with Bright Bramley as one of the teachers (since that was her 'theme' in G2), just to get some G2 stuff back into the overall franchise. But then, Hasbro has had a lot of copyright/trademark issues with MLP over the years due to some poor business planning decisions they've made swapping between generations, so I'm not *that* surprised.

Next is the Generation 3 Applejack, where they did a complete redesign of the character for some reason, giving her a red coat with green/yellow striped mane, and a cutie-mark of a single apple on a checked picnic blanket. Originally released in 2003 in some store-specific toy lines, this version never appeared in an animation. Another one did, though, we’ll get to her later.

Next is the Generation 1 Applejack. Orange body, yellow mane, with a cluster of seven apples as a cutie-mark. Originally released as part of the Year Two line in 1983 with her appearing in the 1984 My Little Pony special that got released later as part of the My Little Pony and Friends cartoon series. She became a favorite in Europe, appearing as one of the main cast in the comics and books printed over there, despite only rarely appearing in America. For example, she didn't appear in G1's second series 'My Little Pony Tales', but then that one was just as weird as G2 even though they kept the exact same art-style as the rest of G1. She also resembles at least one version of the original My Pretty Pony toy, with the orange-brown body and blonde mane. They didn't have cutie-marks at that point though, so it's a bit of a stretch.

Next is the Generation 3.5 Applejack. This one’s a bit of bodge, as there was no G3.5 toy release for Applejack, and exactly when G3.5 started is a bit confusing due to the toy line, the animations, and whatnot all switching art styles several times, at different times from each other. However, Applejack appeared in several G3.x animations with the G3 cutie-mark and mane, but with an orange body like G1. So here is Applejack in the G3.5 style, using the color schemes from the G3 animations, as a compromise.

And now the Generation 4, or ‘Friendship is Magic’ incarnation that most are now familiar with. Same orange body and yellow mane, and now with three apples as a cutie mark. Released in 2010 as part of the multi-media relaunch of the MLP franchise and now as one of the main characters.

Next is the new Generation 4.5 ‘Pony Life’ incarnation, launched in 2020. Technically the same character and design, just a new art style. Not sure how long this art-style is going to last, as G5 is still speculative at this point.

And finally, is the Equestria Girls incarnation, as she appears in the animated series/films in 2013, as the actual dolls are awful and I’m not going to try to reproduce those.