ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — My Little Pony finally made it to the winner's circle.
After years as an also-ran, the pastel-colored ponies were enshrined in the National Toy Hall of Fame on Tuesday, along with Transformers action figures and the Phase 10 card game.
The honorees rose to the top in voting by a panel of experts and the public from among 12 finalists. This year's field included: the party game Apples to Apples, balloons, “Choose Your Own Adventure” gamebooks, Hess Toy Trucks, Pokémon Trading Card Game, remote-controlled vehicles, Sequence, the stick horse and trampoline.
“These are three very deserving toys that showcase the wide range of how people play,” Christopher Bensch, vice president for collections and chief curator, said in a statement. “But for My Little Pony in particular, this year is extra validating. The beloved toy was a finalist seven times before finally crossing the finish line!”
Hasbro's mini-horses, distinguishable by different “cutie marks” on their haunches, were introduced in the 1980s and reintroduced in 2003, outselling even Barbie for several years.
The collectibles were recognized for encouraging fantasy and storytelling — the kind of creative play the Hall of Fame demands of inductees — along with popularity over time.
“The My Little Pony line has endured for decades because it combines several traditional forms of doll play with children’s fascination with horses," said Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, curator of dolls and toys. “The variety of figures promotes collecting as a pastime, too.”
Phase 10 was introduced by inventor and entrepreneur Ken Johnson in 1982. Today, Mattel sells 2 million decks of the card game annually in 30 countries and more than 20 languages. That makes it one of the bestselling card games in the world, according to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, where the Toy Hall of Fame is housed.
In the style of rummy, the game challenges players to collect groups of cards to complete 10 phases in sequential order before their opponents.
"Whether played in its original form or in one of its variations, Phase 10 has become an iconic game title that continues to encourage multigenerational social and competitive play,” said Mirek Stolee, the museum's curator of board games and puzzles.
Transformers came along in the 1980s, when Hasbro bought the rights to several existing Japanese toy lines featuring transforming robots. They were first marketed with a cartoon and have since graduated to a series of live-action films. Social media sites allow for debates over which figures are must-haves, as well as demonstrations of the sometimes complex process of manipulating them from robot to vehicle or other alternate form.
Regular new Transformers characters keep collectors coming back, Bensch said, "but the toys are also popular because they are so suited to the ways kids play. The toy line feeds kids’ imaginations and fantasy play.”
Anyone can nominate a toy for the Hall of Fame. Museum staff narrows the field to 12 finalists each year. Fans can cast votes online for their favorites and their results are counted alongside ballots from a national advisory committee of historians, educators and others with industry expertise.
This undated photo provided by the The Strong museum, in Rochester, NY, shows the 2024 National Toy Hall of Fame Inductees: My Little Pony, Phase 10, and Transformers. (The Strong via AP)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — U.S. and Polish officials inaugurated a NATO missile defense base in northern Poland on Wednesday, with Polish officials welcoming it as a significant step in securing the country and the NATO alliance at a time of war in neighboring Ukraine.
The U.S. missile defense base, which is being integrated into NATO's defenses, was originally planned under U.S. President George W. Bush as a way to protect Europe from ballistic threats from Iran. Poland, however, has always seen it as a form of U.S. protection in case of Russia aggression, fears that have grown since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin protested the plan from the start, and on Wednesday denounced the base as a challenge to its own military potential that would require measures “to ensure parity.”
Polish officials, who gathered with the U.S. ambassador and other officials, welcomed it as historic step that increases the U.S. commitment to the security of Europe at a time of uncertainty due to the war in Ukraine. There are also concerns about whether Donald Trump will remain as committed to Europe's security when he returns to the White House in January.
“The whole world will see clearly that this is not Russia's sphere of interest anymore,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the ceremony in Redzikowo. “From the Polish point of view, this is strategically the most important thing.”
Poland’s Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called the opening of the base with its hundreds of U.S. Navy personnel “an extraordinary event in the history of the security of Poland, the U.S. and NATO.” He said the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are showing the importance of air defenses.
“The base in Redzikowo means the eternal presence of American and allied troops on the territory of the Republic of Poland and, strategically for Poland, it is one of the most important events in history after 1989," he said.
The facility is equipped with the U.S. Navy's modern Aegis Ashore system, which can detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in the initial phase of their flight. It is the second land element of Aegis Ashore in Europe after the first such installation went into operation in Romania in 2016.
Asked about the base during a news briefing Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed his concerns about the U.S. plans even during the Bush administration.
“We then insisted that the Americans saying all these plans are aimed against the ephemeral Iranian threat are in fact a lie, that all these plans were drawn up from the very beginning as an attempt to militarily contain our potential,” he said.
“This is the advancement of American military infrastructure on European territory towards our borders. This is nothing other than an attempt to contain our potential. And, of course, this leads to the adoption of appropriate measures to ensure parity,” Peskov added.
Later in the day, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited Warsaw for meetings with Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, another gesture of NATO unity. He praised Poland for its contributions to the alliance, including its high level of defense spending.
“With this, you are building one of the biggest armies in NATO,” Rutte said at a joint news conference with Tusk.
Tusk, who is preparing for Poland to take over the rotating leadership of the European Union on Jan. 1, said he has been speaking with other European leaders to make sure they remain committed to Ukraine being involved in any future negotiations about its fate.
“This means that EU member states should ensure that future decisions regarding, God willing, ending the war or freezing the conflict, are made in full agreement and with the participation of the interested states, those from the eastern flank, but above all Ukraine itself," Tusk said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, meets with Poland's President Andrzej Duda, right, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
