UK exclusives

[Taffeta]

Hrm. In that sense, I think not. I mean, I think there were times like that, but the key core problem with this particular example is that the Mountain Boys came out at the same time as the Big Brother Ponies in the North American release. THey couldn't have been not ordered because of a surfeit of Big Brothers when they were released at the same time.

We had Adventure Boys (the first set of Big Brothers) in 1988 and then the second set (called Big Brothers) in late 1988-9. Mountain Boys came first here in 1987. I personally think they were made because the Big Brother ponies are very American in their cultural representation. The cowboy hat, the American football helmet, the baseball helmet, etc - I wonder if Hasbro UK thought they were just a bit "too" American and so came up with their own stuff that would be more resonant to the UK kids. Hence Mountain Boys. This is all speculative though, as we did get the other boys after.

Probably because the sales of the boy ponies was successful, the Adventure Boys happened, but with a set rename and a lot of individual renames. First Base doesn't have the same connitations here as in the US, and tied him more to rounders. I imagine they tried to push Quarterback off as Rugby, despite the helmet.

Holly Dash is being sold in a very global economy made so by the internet. Her packaging is also almost the same in all countries. The only key difference is that the UK one says Hasbro UK, and so on.

By contrast, the Mountain Boys have cards which are very much in the style for artwork for 1987 in the United Kingdom (and other places which had similar distribution). North American art and UK art are very different things. If Hasbro RI were planning to bring the Mountain Boy Ponies out, then there'd be a paper trail for it somewhere along the line. Hasbro's website, I believe, has shown Holly Dash, just she didn't come out there. The Mountain Boys would have to appear in a 1987 catalogue of some kind in order for them to be considered as originating as an American line. There was no net then, but there were toy fairs, catalogues, store catalogues etc. If they were ever meant as part of the US line, someone would have found something somewhere because so much US paraphernalia has survived.

So the theory, yes, but the practice, no. Especially not for sets sold in such limited places, as opposed to continent-wide. We tended to import extras from you, not the other way around, because the North American line is huge in comparison to what was sold in other places, at least up till 1992.

I don't believe there is a single known set of ponies advertised for the US in pony form that didn't come out in the US but came out in other places in G1. That's significant, because Rhode Island is the mothership for My Little Pony, especially in G1. There are obviously ponies in the TV show (like 7 Characters) and such, but it's generally thought that show may have been made for a European audience anyway, with the terminology and themes involved.

I don't think there's a comparison between Holly Dash and the Mountain Boys. There's a better one between Holly Dash and Powder/Glory/Medley's lack of UK release, to be honest.

[Wardah]

In the 80s Hasbro UK came up with their own things instead of just distributing stuff made by the parent company?

[Taffeta]

Yep, very decidedly. Names, stories on cards and boxes, their own playsets like the Gymkhana...the green base waterfall...bearing in mind the stuff we did have the same as the US normally got here a little later, the Mountain Boys, if meantbfor US release, would probably have come out there first in 1986 but obviously did not.

Ponyland can tell you with more accuracy about the export side of Hasbro UK but, especially in the earlier years, there were a lot of differences that, if they had been meant for the US release, would appear in one of the surviving catalogues or would have appeared in one or other store. We know Holly Dash was never meant to be a UK pony...we have no such evidence with, say, Gypsy, and if you see the wide variety of ponies sold around Europe in that set you realise the diversity. Spain made and sold their own but Germany, Netherlands etc imported from Italian factories. The UK were the last place to have puffy stickers, too...we never had flat scented ones.

A good example of this are our pearly baby sea ponies. Clearly they were designed for this market as America had different versions and there would be no point in marketing 2 sets through the Mothership.

Lets not forget that MLP survived here 2 years after the US line folded, and Hasbro International, which remains based in London, was still creating new poses into 1994.

G1 is different from G4 in that regard. That is what nakes it so interesting...there is genuine diversity and not just accidents of distribution.

[Nappercasper]

The only true UK exclusives I consider are UK oddballs princesses and happy tails.

[Taffeta]

The only true UK exclusives I consider are UK oddballs princesses and happy tails.

See, I almost don't count them because they are end of line oddballs, though undoubtedly it is what they are!

Uk exclusives are simply the ponies sold only here, though. They don't have to be oddballs to be that. Probably what differentiates a UK only pony from one sold in other European places is to a large degree what Wardah said about companies deciding what to stock, but it can't all be explained that way. I guess that is why we still have questions.

Ponyland - was Baby Applejack in Sweden? I know their box style was in France but am unsure whether Baby Applejack made it there and I know your market had babies we didnt, so wondered if you had her??

[Ponyland]

 

If I remember correctly Wavedancer is from 1984 and Wavebreaker is from 1985. And in that way Seaspray could have been inspired by High Tide or the opposite  (pink hair/yellow body)

Yeah, I was just being cheeky. I know they were the other way around, although based on the fact stories started to happen in the UK from 1985, and the fact there are no stories on the Sea Pony boxes, I think they are probably 1984-5, like the Rainbow Ponies, rather than straight 1985. Their box is dated 1984.  They may even be the first Hasbro UK deviation. Who knows? Unfortunately I no longer have the MIB Sealight I used to have so can't compare directly, but the art is very different from the US package as well, and it does include instructions on how to braid hair! Hasbro UK still obsessed with braiding, even if they have to change the graphic to make it a sea pony instead!

I don't think Seaspray has anything to do with High Tide, honestly...the Fact File features four of the year 3 Sea Ponies but none were sold here as far as I can tell. I don't think High Tide is one of them, so there seems to be no real connection between her and the UK at all. Easier to just sell High Tide here, rather than make your own...

Seaspray and Surfdancer are not in the fact file, nor is Wavebreaker.

Yeah, I was just being cheeky.

yes I know! Just wanted to make it clear for everybody else here since it is a common mistake to think of them as available at the same time as the first US sea ponies, being so similar otherwise ( a set of 3 sea ponies, one looking just like the US one).

I don't think Seaspray has anything to do with High Tide, honestly..

No probably not, but it is fun that two yellow sea ponies with pink hair occurred at the same time!

I think they are probably 1984-5

As they are a part of the 1985 insert, I place them with that range of ponies, if they occurred earlier than the rest of the 1985 range is hard to know unless we find other advertising (or the official Hasbor UK catalog that retailers could order from). But most packages has a copyright stamp a year earlier than the release due to them being designed a year before they are ready to be sold.

[Taffeta]

I think they are probably 1984-5

As they are a part of the 1985 insert, I place them with that range of ponies, if they occurred earlier than the rest of the 1985 range is hard to know unless we find other advertising (or the official Hasbor UK catalog that retailers could order from). But most packages has a copyright stamp a year earlier than the release due to them being designed a year before they are ready to be sold.

Mm, they were definitely out in 1985. I have a photo sent to me by a lovely person of a display somewhere in London from 1985 and they are clearly on the shelves. The 2 boxes I have are both stamped 1985 on the inlay, though at different times of the year.

1985 also makes sense creatively and productively, because the lady I corresponded with there in the 1990s told me that Hasbro UK's "inception" was in 1985. I take that to mean the time when they were organising pony stuff themselves as opposed to importing and packaging other stuff, which is where most of the deviations come in.

The reason I think they might have come a little earlier, though, rests in the style of card. We can prove that the set with Bubbles and Seashell were sold here in 1984. The earliest insert that I know of shows them:

Spoiler

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

The style of card used for this set is basic and with no story for the pony, just them all pictured with names on the back and the names are printed in text along the side, not in bigger text at the top (as we see in 1985 cards with Groom & Style) or in a banner, either at the top or under the rainbow.

The only ponies I have packaging for that fit this more basic style are the year 2 Earth Ponies, the Rainbow Ponies and the Adult Sea Ponies. Absolutely for sure Rainbow Ponies and Sea Ponies were out in 1985, but I suspect they began in late 1984. I say this as I know for a fact the Rainbow Ponies were out then (I had one for Christmas 1984, which pretty much seals it). I suspect they came out for Christmas 1984, and becuase of that, they didn't get the 1985 style of card.

The crux of it for me is that the Groom & Style ponies are also 1985, on the 1985 insert, on Hasbro's 1985 list - and their cards are dated 1985. What I have learned about Hasbro UK is that their releases don't match up with the idea of years that North American releases seem to eschew, and things seem to have arrived at different points during years but it was not uncommon for ponies to emerge the autumn before their actual release date, for the Christmas rush.

For illustrative purposes,

Spoiler

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Packaging dated 1984. No story, name of pony features usually at the bottom of the card or box at the front in small writing. Skydancer's card is damaged but I think it's still visible; I can't get to my MOC sunlight at present.

Spoiler

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Packaging dated 1985 - a story for each pony, names on the front near the top of the packaging (in the P&C set it's in the yellow balloon, and in Lickety Split's it is under the rainbow in larger font).

While all of these ponies (except the Bubbles and Seashell set, which feature only to model ponywear) are on the 1985 insert, the two types of packaging makes me pretty sure that they came in waves - Sea Ponies, Rainbows first, Groom & Style and PaC later. The same kind of thing exists with the Gymkhana set - the box I have is from 1985, but there is an older box from the year before.

1984 is still very much a dark age for UK MLP release though, and that's a fact.

In terms of the Adult Sea Ponies, it's a bit mysterious why those and not the North American ones. Sea Ponies are a weirdity (new word, yay) here. The Fact File includes 4 Y3 Adult Sea Ponies we never had as far as I know. The Hasbro list just says Sea Ponies...no names listed. The boxes are pretty clear though, and they appeared in stories when I was a kid so I never thought anything of it. Seaspray, Surfdancer and Wavebreaker were just the norm, though I have this feeling there is SOMETHING in the UK that shows Sealight (unnamed)...I just can't remember what it is off the top of my head! It may be the 1985 annual but I can't get at it to check...

[wondermintUK]

Thanks for the replies - very interesting discussion.  I agree with the comments that UK is used too often as interchangeable with Europe, when each country within Europe seems to have had its own variations. 

No one mentioned bride Confetti - is she only UK given she appears in the running pose from USA and other Euro countries?  I did wonder if Baby Bowtie and Baby Lemon Drop (in same pose) and Baby Applejack were on the list.  I had also wondered about the 3 (or 2 depending how you class them) adult sea ponies, Butterscotch with Gymkhana, forward-facing pearly sea ponies and the fan club babies.  What about the lipstick ponies?     

Anyone know about ponies from other gens?


ETA:  Taffeta, I'm so pleased you saw my exhibition!  I only wish we'd been able to meet up.  Baby Sugarcake would love to meet her twin sister sometime

[Taffeta]

Yeah, I'm sorry about that too - it was a bit last minute in the end and unfortunately we didn't get to arrange anything. Lots of pretty ponies and Sugarcake was beautiful!Just renewed my intent to get one one day!

In response to your question, Confetti was definitely in France as I have seen her in French language box. Same as our box, just translated. Greece had the box but it seems with their iwn pony...I don't know about ither places.

There is a NC Baby Bow Tie in a different pose in Spain, not sure whether our one made it to other places though. Baby Applejack I imagine may have also been in France as I have seen Baby Blossom from the set Mib in the same box we had fir that set, but that doesn't totally prove anything.

Pretty sure at the moment 5 of the 6 pearky baby sea ponies were at the very least on limited release in Europe, and may have been UK only. That is all the set bar Beachcomber. (Tiny Bubbles, Sea Star, Water Lily, Ripple, Sunshower).

Lipstick ponies (Sweet Kisses) are pan European and may have also got to Aus/NZ.