After the original announcement and availability at Amazon people spotted a second 12-figure box at Walmart, which we named Batch 1A quickly after. Instead of waiting for the second set to release at a later point we got a surprise update today: the second half of the set, Batch 1B, has just been released at Target!
Aside from the split of characters there are no other changes to the series. Even the codes on the packaging are exactly the same over all sets. More on that below.
This second half of the first batch (previously called waves) features Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Winona (black), Tank (blue), Angel, Gummy, Opalescence (black), a hippo and 4 unnamed unicorns.
Thanks to Victor & Samantha for the info and photos!

Earlier this week we found the first image of the brand new G4.5 blind bags set online, and just before the new year Walmart already released them in stores! (And Amazon now, too)
There's only one odd thing here: the set that was found on the shelves is a 12-pack, whereas the US normally gets a full 24-pack, just like the images we found earlier. Not only that, but the packaging only features English and French text, not Spanish as US releases usually have.
These 12-pack releases with two languages is commonly released in the UK, so it is possible that this set that hit the stores is a mix-up.
The figures included are the first set we posted in our previous post containing Tank, Winona, (brown) Angel, Opalescence, Lyra, Amethyst Star, unknown green pony, Gummy, Potion Nova, Cha Cha, a hippopotamus and Rarity.
While the Cutie Mark Crew confetti is gone, these new blind bags do come with another (potentially even messier) way of opening them: water! You can flip open the potion bottles, pour in some water, and after shaking them for a while the dust should dissolve and the pony will be revealed. Just make sure you close the potion bottle tight before shaking! (See photo and video of this below)
Update: First wave of Magical Potion Surprise is now on Amazon for just $2.99 each. Listing mentions 24 figures in contrast to the split box found in stores.

Thanks to SLPhotos for the photos & videos!

So while this technically could fit in a store finds post, we noticed that we didn't write an announcement post about this set yet! While it is present in our database, we thought it would be fitting to make a dedicated post for this release.

The heat wave is over and we're back in business with the latest MLP store finds! We got a lot of Cutie Mark Crew news for you this time, various other brand new sets, AR activity books and even a new Christmas ornament... in July!
If you happen to find brand new stuff in your local store, then feel free to write us a small message with photos.

Over on the Chinese online marketplace Taobao, and associated sites, a new "blind bag" collection set has been spotted: the Rainbow Road Trip Collection. This set is, as the name already reveals, part of the Rainbow Road Trip series and features the complete mane 6, the 3 princesses and Gummy!

While the figures are presented in their usual body style, the variants these come in are, almost, all new. The mini figures have a colored translucent body with large glitter flakes and painted manes and tails. Princess Twilight Sparkle comes with a pretty unique rainbow-colored wing finish too.
In addition to the ponies, we also get the first translucent Gummy, which shares his body mold with that of an earlier FiM Collection release.

Seeing as the collection is published on the marketplace including the full packaging we can assume that it won't take long before we're seeing these in stores. Price-wise the listings all translate to about $35, which seems logical for these sets as they're usually offered around the $30 mark at release.

A big surprise this week from Hasbro with the release of a new wave of blind bags! Last year we thought it was game over for the classic blind bag waves with the continuous release of Cutie Mark Crew figures, but this turns out the be just a pause.
This week an images was shared on Instagram showing two well-known blind bag ponies with new cards attached. As far as we can tell the ponies in this wave are all re-releases from earlier transparent lines, like Wave 14, 16 and 17, with one exception: Rainbow Smile. A trademarked name we couldn't find a reference to anywhere else, and judging by the name, color and pose it could be a new name for Rainbowshine.
All figures come with a fully transparent body, no painted mane/tail and no added glitter. Though, there seems to be some color variations from the earlier releases, and we spot usage of the new eye designs from later waves.
The figures were found in Mexico, and we didn't see them at the NY Toy Fair this year or last year. This raises the question whether the new wave (technically #25 if we exclude Best Gift Ever) is a worldwide release, or of this wave will only see specific countries. Still, if that latter is the case, they could still end up in discount stores like the budget EqG dolls.

Quite a lot of Cutie Mark Crew news lately isn't it? We received an interesting submission by one of our readers: Images for the 4th Series of the Cutie Mark Crew Blind Bags!
This time they have appeared on a Hungarian website called: JátékNet. We already knew long ago that this series would be beach themed due a mix-up with an Amazon Listing not long ago. I'll post the info below as well to keep it all in one place. Just like Series 3 this one will have the confetti packaging as well which I kinda dislike. I think some yellow or blue "houses" would have worked lovely with a nice beach backdrop.

Great news for fans of Cutie Mark Crew: the series 3 blind packs have been spotted at Meijer, AND the Amazon listing now has a limited stock available!
To start, the box seen in the photos was found in Chicago at Meijer, and were sold in the original 24-pack display box, which should still guarantee you a complete set. The boxes themselves don't have any codes to identify them, as far as we know. And as Meijer is not represented in every US state, you luckily can now also visit Amazon to buy them there. At the time of writing it's a very limited stock, but we're sure more packs will be added soon.

For a complete overview of the available figures in this 3rd series, be sure to visit our Cutie Mark Crew database and get ready to fill your wishlist and checklist!

Thanks to Victor for the photos!

While they are probably not going to be in time for the holiday shopping period, we're very close to a release of the Series 3 Cutie Mark Crew mystery packs in North America. The Canadian Amazon website just added images showing every detail of the upcoming 3rd series of Cutie Mark Crew packs, which have gotten a redesign from the earlier 2 sets. Sadly ordering is not possible at the time of writing, and the US site does not have the same listing online yet.

One big plot twist, however, is that these images surfaced on the listing of the Series 4 Cutie Mark Crew mystery packs, which still holds the same name and description. So either the description of the 4th series went out too soon, or we need to wait a bit longer for these photos to be updated to the correct ones.

Nevertheless, we already saw this set pop-up in The Philippines and an online listing in France, but this is the first listing with photos in Northern America that we know of. Though, the 5-packs already saw an early shelve release in the US.

Little reminder for those eager to open these packs once they get their hands on them: beware of the confetti inside! You'll make a whole lot of mess if you open these unprepared.

Below we have an overview of all the figures that are included in this wave. Want the full photo of each pony? We've updated the Cutie Mark Crew database with all high-quality photos, so you can now see every pony when extending your wishlist!