Merch review: Mini Art Case

Note the "MLP", just in case you don't know what My Little Pony means

Time for another of these quick reviews of bits and pieces of MLP merchandise I somehow still have! I picked this thing up in Poundland about five years ago. (This was back when Poundland stuff actually was £1, too, so it wasn't exactly extravagant!) It's fairly compact, as you can see in the first picture. 15cm ruler included merely for scale as usual – it's not included in the set. The outside is made of fairly flimsy plastic, with Twilight and Rainbow gazing out at you. As with much early Twilicorn-era merch, the princess's wings are not exactly convincing.

Clearly they got Dash to design the interior

Inside, you get three things. First, there's a set of six chunky felt-tip pens, with colours chosen in a vague approximation to the Mane Six's coats. They are blue, purple, pink, yellow, orange... and green. I suppose a white one wouldn't have been very useful! They write all right if you're slow, but excess pressure makes them dry out quickly. Opposite this is a watercolour set with eight colours: the six of the pens plus a lighter green and a darker pink. For a quid, these are not going to give pro painters any sleepless nights, and the brush is thin and the paint blocks are very small, but they do work.

On the back, Pinkie breaks the fourth wall. Nothing new there

The final goodie comes in the form of two small strips of stickers. These really do feel like an afterthought, and the average issue of the monthly magazine gives you many more (albeit not for £1). Both strips have the same three ponies – Twilight, Fluttershy (yay!) and Pinkie – plus one of the MLP logo and a couple of tiny stars and rainbows. These stickers are easy to lose, since unlike the other stuff they're not securely held into the inside of the case. Still, I think this is probably one of the nicer merch-for-a-quid buys I've made. With that price in mind, it gets three stars.

★★★