Anypony remember "The world's greatest tea party"?

[Princess Celestia 615]

If I were to become a furry, then a 4-hoof pony costume like this is the only option. They are sooo lovely!

 

I was actually ready to buy a plane ticket right away for me and my daughter when this started. But various reasons made it not possible to go on a trip. This is at least one of my strongest pony memories from pre. G4. The songs are fantastic and the stage performance top class. Many think they sure looked corny, but no, I'm sold on the concept!

[Princess Celestia 615]

And this one is hilarious.

Recorded by the crew at a sound check just after the stage was ready set up. Ponies doing non pony musicals *lol*

 

[Fhaolan 4,468]

I found a recording of the entire play at one point; I can't find it now. It looked like a reasonably good panto-style performance. (Panto is style of English play, where the audience is encouraged to call out, cheer, boo, and sing along with the performers. You don't see it much in the 'states.) It didn't translate very well into a video though as the audience interaction is an important part of the experience.

I admit to being a bit distracted trying to figure out how the performers were able to see out of those costumes. There must be eyeholes hidden in the widow-peaks of the manes. Either that or the performers are dead blind and are doing it all by rote. 

[Princess Celestia 615]

3 hours ago, Fhaolan said:

I found a recording of the entire play at one point; I can't find it now. It looked like a reasonably good panto-style performance. (Panto is style of English play, where the audience is encouraged to call out, cheer, boo, and sing along with the performers. You don't see it much in the 'states.) It didn't translate very well into a video though as the audience interaction is an important part of the experience.

I admit to being a bit distracted trying to figure out how the performers were able to see out of those costumes. There must be eyeholes hidden in the widow-peaks of the manes. Either that or the performers are dead blind and are doing it all by rote. 

That one have I missed, hope we can find it. Maybe they have in ears, and stage cordinators to help them out? Some kind of vision must be possible in a limited way. I would love to see a costume and it's construction. And where are they today? I would trade my house for one *lol* 

[Fhaolan 4,468]

1 hour ago, Princess Celestia said:

That one have I missed, hope we can find it. Maybe they have in ears, and stage cordinators to help them out? Some kind of vision must be possible in a limited way. I would love to see a costume and it's construction. And where are they today? I would trade my hose for one *lol* 

Yeah, I've been doing cosplay and costumes for decades, and these are unusually structured suits. There's lots of things out there that have *parts* of them set up in similar ways (quadsuits, centaursuits, etc.), but this (and the G4 MLP Live shows from 2011) are the only time I've seen costumes put together this way in their entirety. 

[Princess Celestia 615]

1 hour ago, Fhaolan said:

Yeah, I've been doing cosplay and costumes for decades, and these are unusually structured suits. There's lots of things out there that have *parts* of them set up in similar ways (quadsuits, centaursuits, etc.), but this (and the G4 MLP Live shows from 2011) are the only time I've seen costumes put together this way in their entirety. 

Do you think it's a hard one to build? I really wish we could see something of how they where put together, today they have no commercial value left at all. So why not "show it all"?

How is the eyes and mouth controlled? In the close up in the last video 3:03 you can clearly hear the mechanical linkage for the moving parts. *lol*

The back legs that just seems to be dangling have some kind of control, if you look closely. Also the whole "back flank" must be secured with a belt or something, that still make the actor quite swift and flexible to do the dancing performance they do.

There must be a lot of people involved in this production and in the later MLP live show, that have both pictures and information. But how to reach them? IDN?

 

[Princess Celestia 615]

Here is a video of a similar costume type. Sadly I don't understand anything of what she says.

 

[Fhaolan 4,468]

4 hours ago, Princess Celestia said:

Do you think it's a hard one to build? I really wish we could see something of how they where put together, today they have no commercial value left at all. So why not "show it all"?

How is the eyes and mouth controlled? In the close up in the last video 3:03 you can clearly hear the mechanical linkage for the moving parts. *lol*

The back legs that just seems to be dangling have some kind of control, if you look closely. Also the whole "back flank" must be secured with a belt or something, that still make the actor quite swift and flexible to do the dancing performance they do.

There must be a lot of people involved in this production and in the later MLP live show, that have both pictures and information. But how to reach them? IDN?

 

Without the old patterns, it's gonna be a pain to pull it together. This wanders into the intersection between mascot-style fursuits and puppetry. I mean, it's not the really complex stuff put out by the Henson Workshop and the like, but it's still going to be annoying without patterns.

[Princess Celestia 615]

On 2023-04-16 at 3:20 AM, Fhaolan said:

Without the old patterns, it's gonna be a pain to pull it together. This wanders into the intersection between mascot-style fursuits and puppetry. I mean, it's not the really complex stuff put out by the Henson Workshop and the like, but it's still going to be annoying without patterns.

I think they are built by Henson, because of the Vee Corporation behind the musical. But I don't find any source of it. The only way to make a suit, is probably to "reverse engineere" one from the pictures. Not an easy task for a beginner. But why not? Nothing is impossible.

Maybe better to do something unique from scratch with 4-legs? Is there any patterns to be found some where for a 4-leg costume? The head is no doubt, the trickiest part.

[Princess Celestia 615]

I have sent VE Corp. (today V-Star) a mail, let's see if I get an answer.

[Princess Celestia 615]

On 2023-04-17 at 9:01 AM, Princess Celestia said:

I have sent VE Corp. (today V-Star) a mail, let's see if I get an answer.

Naaah! of course they haven't answered that silly question.

 

[Princess Celestia 615]

I really would love to build a quad fursuit/pony puppet thing. It dosen't seems to difficult. The only problem is TIME, I don't have time to cut and glue for weeks to get a suit ready. I have tried with different chineese suppliers, but no one wants to ship just ONE suit to my country *SIGH*

Well I don't give up, new attempts awaits, stay tuned.

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

Somehow these look much better than the G4 quadruped suits that I saw at Hascon, even though there's what... 30 years of technology between them?

[Princess Celestia 615]

Yes they look awesome, for some reason I think they are the best one I have seen.

Here is some other opinions from the web:

"The stage show received negative reviews from critics, audiences and fans alike, especially with the unappealing costumes of the ponies."

"The story is nothing but singing about tea and parties and nothing else, with filler thrown into it and with a moral tracked on in the end. The costumes are nothing but a pure nightmare, especially with the Ladybugs. Their back legs don't even move at all, instead float for the entire live show. The songs are very forgettable and unoriginal, with mediocre lyrics."

DVD Verdict also reviewed the release, writing that "providing your impressionable youngster won't get creeped out by the sight of her beloved two-dimensional animated pony pals suddenly transforming into real-life visions of surreal terror, there's a solid chance they'll be smiling and mumbling through the lyrics and demanding with some vigor that you take them to the next live My Little Pony show—or else."

Seems that I'm a bit screwy that really LOVE this show and the costumes.

Yes we are all different, luckily! *lol*

 

[Princess Celestia 615]

Excuse my craziness! Just ordered a quad-suit OC from china. I found a company willing to ship. I won't say how much it costs, because it's too crazy just to come up with something so stupid! It takes about 30 days for them to make one according to my ideas, but it's probably worth the wait. Then it takes time with shipping also added to that. It won't be like the G3 ponies, they couldn't do that because the head seems molded, but more like the G4 foam style. Without moving eyelids. It will be the start of new crazy convention exercises!

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

7 hours ago, Princess Celestia said:

Yes they look awesome, for some reason I think they are the best one I have seen.

Here is some other opinions from the web:

"The stage show received negative reviews from critics, audiences and fans alike, especially with the unappealing costumes of the ponies."

"The story is nothing but singing about tea and parties and nothing else, with filler thrown into it and with a moral tracked on in the end. The costumes are nothing but a pure nightmare, especially with the Ladybugs. Their back legs don't even move at all, instead float for the entire live show. The songs are very forgettable and unoriginal, with mediocre lyrics."

DVD Verdict also reviewed the release, writing that "providing your impressionable youngster won't get creeped out by the sight of her beloved two-dimensional animated pony pals suddenly transforming into real-life visions of surreal terror, there's a solid chance they'll be smiling and mumbling through the lyrics and demanding with some vigor that you take them to the next live My Little Pony show—or else."

Seems that I'm a bit screwy that really LOVE this show and the costumes.

Yes we are all different, luckily! *lol*

 

Not sure what generation you are, but there are those of us who were practically raised on this kind of entertainment. What I'll just refer to as "fursuit shows" was a staple of kids entertainment for a long time because it was cheaper than animation. Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo's Circus, the Elephant Show, Barney the Purple Dinosaur, Teletubbies, etc. In some cases, shows featuring these suit "puppets" supplemented an animated series, such as the aforementioned Winnie the Pooh. Rainbow Brite had an animated series but also a couple of TV specials with live children acting alongside adult-height costumes of the main protagonists. Pretty sure Care Bears did this at some point as well. And of course, Disney took full advantage of the fact that some of the character suits featured in these shows, were the same costumes that can be found running around the themeparks, waving from parade floats, and performing at live stage shows.

This kind of entertainment of course bled into the animatronic theater, the most infamous being Chuck E. Cheese. So terrifying was this concept to some, that it inspired one of the most beloved horror videogame IP's of all time.

I was one of the kids who was never scared of the Chuck E. Cheese band characters, and the same went for a lot of this kind of entertainment. Just like with clowns or furry costumes, it seems like it's something that either inspires people to run in for a hug, or run for the hills.

I will say though that the "floating hind legs" is something that kind of bothers me. It's also odd that this is even a thing anymore, because Jim Henson's Creature Shop figured out a pretty simple solution to it long ago.

[Moony the Cat 3,697]

Since i watched everything from My Little Pony, i watched this weird Live Action Stage Show as well, i even have the rare Dvd of it.

But i dont remember liking it all that much. Funfact: Some of the children in the audience are young boys, proving Bronys existed pre Gen-4.