My Little Pony has again made the list of finalists for the National Toy Hall of Fame. Maybe the seventh time will be a charm.
The pastel toy horse with the silky mane is among this year’s 12 contenders, said the announcement Wednesday from the Strong National Museum of Play, in Rochester, N.Y.
Introduced in the early 1980s, My Little Pony became an immediate hit, for a time outselling Barbie and spawning movies and TV shows. The 2010 animated series “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” led to the baffling trend of “bronies,” a fandom of grown men.
Despite the popularity, My Little Pony has always fallen short in the annual balloting for the Toy Hall of Fame — taking a backseat to not only Barbie, American Girl and Cabbage Patch Kids but a stick and a cardboard box.
Another ’80s favorite, Transformers action figures, is also on the short list again after multiple fails.
The hall of fame, launched in 1998, every year inducts a few toys based on voting by the public as well as input from an expert panel.
This year’s finalists:
The party game Apples to Apples
Balloons
Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks
Hess Toy Trucks
My Little Pony
The card game Phase 10
Pokémon Trading Card Game
Remote-controlled vehicles
The board game Sequence
Stick horse
Trampoline
Transformers
(Trivia item from the museum’s press release: The trampoline was patented in 1945 under the name “Tumbling Device.”)
The public can vote through Wednesday, Sept. 25, at toyhalloffame.org, and the winners will be announced in November.
Toy Hall of Fame inductees: Full list through 2023
alphabet blocks
American Girl Doll,
Atari 2600 Game System
baby doll
Baby Nancy
ball
Barbie
baseball cards
bicycle
Big Wheel
blanket
bubbles
Cabbage Patch Kids
Candy Land
cardboard box
checkers
chess
Clue
coloring book
Crayola Crayons
dollhouse
dominoes
Duncan Yo-Yo
Dungeons & Dragons
Easy-Bake Oven
Erector Set
Etch A Sketch
Fisher-Price Corn Popper
Fisher-Price Little People
Frisbee
G.I. Joe
The Game of Life
Hot Wheels
Hula Hoop
jack-in-the-box
jacks
Jenga
jigsaw puzzle
jump rope
kite
LEGO
Lincoln Logs
Lionel Trains
Lite-Brite
little green army men
Magic 8 Ball
Magic: The Gathering
marbles
Masters of the Universe
Matchbox Cars
Monopoly
Mr. Potato Head
Nerf
Nintendo Game Boy
paper airplane
pinball
Play-Doh
playing cards
puppet
Radio Flyer Wagon
Raggedy Ann and Andy
Risk
rocking horse
roller skates
rubber duck
Rubik’s Cube
sand
Scrabble
sidewalk chalk
Silly Putty
skateboard
Slinky
Star Wars action figures
stick
Super Soaker
swing
teddy bear
Tinkertoy
Tonka Trucks
top
Twister
Uno
View-Master
Wiffle Ball
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