Lets Discuss Megan and Sundance!

[Taffeta]

If you ever do find that Megan and Sundance in box, please send me the picture. Even if you buy it first before you do, I would just like to fill the gaps in my UK box design mental database. I still am missing a few in my collection that I know the appearance of, thanks to other collectors, but that's one of the question mark sets.

1987 was a kinda weird year, though. At least, there are three inserts dated 1987, but reality suggests the second 2 are probably more into 1988. However they feature some of the ponies in the US 1987 line, which means they might have blurred over. It's not clear. What I have found, though, is that ponies that did not go on to be continuously released in the new blue insert featuring Strawberry Fair - there are not many examples of them or their cards flying about.

I am currently aware of three Mountain Boy ponies from 6 MOC or mostly so (Sunburst x2, Ice Crystal, Tornado). I'm aware of one British stickered flutter pony MIB in a collector's collection (Wind Drifter), and a handful of French 1987 design boxes. I've seen one Sniffles and Snookums set in collector hands - I've the boxes for both sets but haven't ever seen MIB Nibbles and Dibbles in UK box. There are not many stickered Movie Star Ponies, either. Even the Princesses, which were released again into 1988 in boxes, are really not easy to find MIB. I think we have yet to see a Princess Pearl, but we KNOW she exists. (And in case of doubt, I have her box, too, so ).

Megan and Sundance fit into this year. Chances are that, one day, the box will surface. The MIB may not. I am not convinced that there are surviving examples of all MLP sold in the UK sealed in box. I've never seen the 1988 twins MIB, either (their box is dated 1987, but is not the same as the 1987 twins nor identical to the US 1988 twin box). There are far fewer Adventure Boy Pony cards - and I've never seen a Chief, Barnacle or Wigwam on a UK style of card. They were sold here, but whether there ewas a unique card or not, who knows? I don't think there are any surviving MOC examples of the y2 earth pony set on UK card, either, but they still had a distinct UK release with a unique card.

So I'm getting card geeky now, but the point I'm making is that there have been sets I've dismissed as being on the same card as either Europe or the North American release, only to be proven wrong when a card surfaces in a collection or an ebay lot.

It's my hope to one day complete all those gaps and know for sure, but right now I'm of the opinion Megan and Sundance II is a viable 'thing' and there is, somewhere, a very pretty 1987 box to go with it.

[buttonso]

What an interesting thread!! I don't really have anything to add (no MIB-anything G1 in my collection lol)-- but I do like Megan and Sundance. I only have regular Megan and Sundance, TAF Sundance by herself and BBE Sundance. I have a M&S thermos a friend of mine found at a thrift store, too. But that's it!

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Love seeing the photos, especially of the MIB stuff. You guys have great collections!

[Sweet_Stuff]

What an interesting thread!! I don't really have anything to add (no MIB-anything G1 in my collection lol)-- but I do like Megan and Sundance. I only have regular Megan and Sundance, TAF Sundance by herself and BBE Sundance. I have a M&S thermos a friend of mine found at a thrift store, too. But that's it!

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Love seeing the photos, especially of the MIB stuff. You guys have great collections!

Your picture is just too cute!! 

I don't have nothing else to contribute to the thread, other than saying the Megan and Molly dolls are kinda creepy.. 

[daffodil101]

Your picture is just too cute!! 

I don't have nothing else to contribute to the thread, other than saying the Megan and Molly dolls are kinda creepy.. 

Looool!  I have to admit, for a while I've thought the same!  I was lucky enough to get an MIB original Megan and Sundance, and while I absolutely love the artwork and the Megan/Molly from the cartoons, I do agree the dolls are a little weird :p  Though I think that about most dolls, never been a doll person.  Hasbro's forte is definitely PONIES!  I would like to one day get a loose Megan and Molly, just to complete my collection.  (I think that the old Lady Lovely locks dolls would make a good Megan too, their faces look a bit better :p )

My favourite thing about Megan and Sundance is their outfits!  I have 5 of the 6 Megan and Ponywear MOC, will have to take some photos when I get home and post!!

[Sweet_Stuff]

Your picture is just too cute!! 

I don't have nothing else to contribute to the thread, other than saying the Megan and Molly dolls are kinda creepy.. 

Looool!  I have to admit, for a while I've thought the same!  I was lucky enough to get an MIB original Megan and Sundance, and while I absolutely love the artwork and the Megan/Molly from the cartoons, I do agree the dolls are a little weird :p  Though I think that about most dolls, never been a doll person.  Hasbro's forte is definitely PONIES!  I would like to one day get a loose Megan and Molly, just to complete my collection.  (I think that the old Lady Lovely locks dolls would make a good Megan too, their faces look a bit better :p )

My favourite thing about Megan and Sundance is their outfits!  I have 5 of the 6 Megan and Ponywear MOC, will have to take some photos when I get home and post!!

  Yes, agreed on the LLL dolls!

[hathorcat]

I dont believe we ever got her Jamboree set in box...I believe her releases varied only with apron design rather than full out outfit changes. Perhaps she was supposed to be released with the Jamboree set or perhaps it was a simple image swap on a leaflet (hardly the only case of this happening as LadyM pointed out).

The skirt variations pop up more than you think, its just that you perhaps dont expect to see them and they are easily over looked. She would have turned up MIB by now...I have seen everything MIB/MOC over the years that had a UK release and Megan & Sundance were an early common release rather than a later/limited release.

[LadyMoondancer]

I think the face on the Megan doll is pretty nice, but the Molly doll just looks odd.  Too bad, the drawn illustrations of Molly on the box are very cute.

I don't like the TAF Megan head though, it's just too big.

[Taffeta]

I dont believe we ever got her Jamboree set in box...I believe her releases varied only with apron design rather than full out outfit changes. Perhaps she was supposed to be released with the Jamboree set or perhaps it was a simple image swap on a leaflet (hardly the only case of this happening as LadyM pointed out).

That doesn't sit with me. I am tempted to assume we had it, in however small a quantity, than we didn't, because Country Jamboree shows up here...and it got all the way to the comic stage of advertising. And the comic doesn't just picture it but describes it in absolute detail. It is also in the movie, the outfit, which would've made it logical to release here, so I think it existed. Whether it was same box or not, couldn't tell you...but I think it existed. And I'll keep my mind open on this because the UK is never logical.

Besides, it's in the 1987 Argos Catalogue, and Argos used to unpack and photo actual items for their catalogues.
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I included the description because it seems very clear cut. Compare with previous year's Argos...
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Being home means I can upload these at last

Note how the description for 86 mentions the skirt, but there's no mention of the skirt in the 87 description, and the picture shows Country Jamboree.

Hasbro catalogue:

Spoiler

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(Image courtesy of Pranceatron)
And just so people don't have to go back through the thread, the comic images are here:
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/mlpmedia/advert_ms2.html
with the detailed description of Megan's outfit.

 The only thing that is an anomaly is what happened with the cape, as it's in the comic advert but not mentioned in the store catalogue. So without a MIB we can't know that for certain. It also looks like the same brush and comb, but it's not the same photo of the brush and comb as for the previous year. A new photo was taken, and the only reason to do that is if the issue changed significantly from the previous year. New photo, new description - new release. My conclusion, anyhow. On the balance of probabilities, I think it existed.

When I got my Megan and Sundance, with Country Jamboree jumpsuit, Megan was wearing it, and her hair is different from my other one. Less curly. The Argos one also appears to be less curly, but that may be coincidence. I got my CJ Megan at a carboot sale here in the UK, in an area of the country not overly gifted with imports from the United States or Canada. It is the only M&S outfit I have found in the UK, ever.

I genuinely don't believe every single thing that was released here exists MIB/MOC still. So finding one MIB is highly unlikely even if it did exist. I think it's unlikely we've seen everything and it's a closed door. I think that we just have less material left to deal with, and so the more subtle things slip under the radar. It's easy to assume you've seen everything if you stop expecting to be surprised by something minor.

I'm still looking for a full MIB image of the 1988 twins from UK release and have been for a very long time, so I'm open to every possibility. And I haven't ruled out the possibility of a UK box for the first tooth babies, either, although I have never seen one different from the US release yet.

EDIT TO ADD - completely by coincidence, I was talking to a friend of mine and mentioned about UK backcards, and she sent me a link to pictures of the cards she has. One of the ones she has in her possession is the Megan and Sundance box with them dressed as Country Jamboree and it has Wind Whistler on the back and in the story, too. It's 1987 art style but not an edited version of the 1986 box. I am asking her to either come post it here or for permission to post it here in the thread.

I think that closes the argument, though. If there's a box, it came with a pony. Therefore the issue happened, and it's not a myth.

[ashlyne]

Love this information, Taffeta!   Do you know if these catalog items were available for mail order, or did they feature store-bought items?   If they were mail order, that would explain why we haven't seen a boxed version.   It does seem possible from that first catalog pic and description that Country Jamboree Megan was released in the UK.

So no bridles were released with any UK Megan & Sundance sets, correct?  And if CJ Megan was released in the UK, Sundance may or may not have had a matching cape.   And no shoes, it seems. unless production changed from the catalog pics.

Several years ago, I bought a childhood collection Megan & Sundance set with Country Jamboree clothing from a UK seller.   I held onto it just in case the rumors turned out to be true.   But I have no real way to know if the seller got it from another country and pieced the set together.  I'm going to hang on to it just in case

I believe I added the bridle to this set because it looked good with it. Not 100% sure, but I wasn't as finicky with my pony releases a decade ago!  Sundance's cape did come with this set, I do remember that.
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[Taffeta]

@ Ashlyne, I think you posted as I edited

As I just mentioned, a friend of mine has the box and I have a picture of it. It features them in Country Jamboree with Wind Whistler the mentioned pegasus, not Honeycomb. It's in the UK style of art for 1987 and I have asked her permission to post it here in the thread.

It exists, 100% for sure. And that's what I love about the UK. No matter how much we think we know, there's always something waiting to surprise us

And no, no bridles in the UK as far as I am aware. Never seen any reference or photo with them in.

We also didn't have a great MO program here, but the catalogue I posted images from never did mail order in the 1980s. They do online now, but at that time you went to the shop, wrote the number of the item, checked it was in stock and they brought it from the stock room. Same is true today in person. This was a boxed item to store, but the existence of the box kinda makes that academic

As I said before, though, there are a lot of UK packages not yet confirmed. I strongly believe there are still a few out there we haven't seen yet and may never see. MIB UK stuff is a lot harder to find than US stuff, UK cards from the early years are much much much rarer than any from the US release. This means that it's possible for a card to have existed but no surviving examples will ever surface. This is especially sad for me but I live in hope for each one of them to show up.

(And my friend's photo now made me really happy that I know there's a surviving example of this box in the community, safe and not in danger of being destroyed).

[ashlyne]

It exists, 100% for sure. And that's what I love about the UK. No matter how much we think we know, there's always something waiting to surprise us

That's right!   There's always something for a seasoned collector to hunt, no matter how long you've collected.   I hope we get to see that box.   I would love to know what the contents list says.   I have an empty UK box, but I'm sure it's the common version. Still, I should double-check. 

[Taffeta]

So squinting at the story for the 1987 issue, its this funny irony which came up in discussion on the movie ponies and their characters in another thread. Wind Whistler, who in the UK stories was presented as an idiot who whistled a lot, is written like her animated self with long and complex words. No doubt this was done, like the Movie Star ponies, with the movie release in mind (and that's why Country Jamboree). Hasbro UK are so weird. I don't know if it's the same story as any of the North American Megan and Sundances, but it's definitely not the same as the 1986 one.

"But I am sure that you will concur that experiences of that nature are preferable in retrospect"
~Wind Whistler.

^^...yeah.

Also, the boxes for both Megan and Sundance issues in the UK are not easy to find, the wrap skirt one is just more common because the other one barely exists on the radar till now...but they're none of them really common.

The contents are usually on the front flap of the box, and I'm not sure that is remaining - I think it's just the back, and the image on the back correlates most with the drawn insert. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it is the same image, flipped.

Argos's image confuses me a bit because I would generally say the comic advert was the most accurate depiction. But Argos is missing a cape. O.o.

[Ivy]

I hope she does let you post a picture I would love to see it - from both the catalog and comic picture it looks like the brush and comb were the same as the first release a white flower brush and comb.

[Taffeta]

Yeah, I got permission so give me a few minutes and I will switch to the pc to upload it.

Edit: Here it is. If you squint you can read the story, and see the 1987 date at the bottom.

Spoiler

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(image courtesy of goddessofpeep)

For comparison, here's the 1986 one from my own collection. It's cut off on my photo a bit but you can just see that box is dated 1986.

Spoiler

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For full size link to read the 1986 story and just about see date:
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/megsunbox3.jpg

Thinking more on that skirt variation, too - the fact that the variation is pictured on the 1986 box and insert but the more common stitched bows version is shown in the 1986 Argos catalogue helps to tie that entirely to 1986, rather than spilling over into 1987. It makes sense, too - not the variation, LOL, but the fact that Megan and the movie ponies and Country Jamboree outfit all needed a way to get onto the UK shelves around the time following the Movie release. The movie was designed to promote the ponies and accessories out in the North American line, but all of those release sets had to be contrived specially to make money from them in the UK line.

So I think maybe the UK M&S timeline is like this:
1986 - wrap skirt (first with the pattern as shown on the box, then with the other pattern because it's not on the box)
1987 - Country Jamboree to cover the movie

Probably with more selling in the first release and the fact that 1987's lines in general got shunted along in a funny way, CJ Megan and Sundance was not on shelves as long as maybe it could've been. Some stores may not have stocked it, even - but thankfully Argos did, which helps us to pinpoint it definitely being available in around the Summer of 1987. That is super early, though, really - considering the Mountain Boys began appearing in October of 1987. The Movie Star ponies' card is actually dated 1986, I think - so I wonder whether these sets were actually being rushed through andout by Hasbro to match that Movie aftermath, and then production stopped in favour of all the newer lines coming over from the North American release (Party Ponies, Adventure Boys, etc, which we got a little later, but who also have 1987 dated cards)

[ashlyne]

Good enough proof for me!    Thanks Taffeta (and goddessofpeep)!   So exciting to have this sorted out further, and a big piece of the puzzle added. 

The image shoes shoes for Sundance. Also notice "Colours and contents may vary from theme illustrated" in the bottom right corner.