Weird pink Baby Billie's bunny... may have found some new info!

[Strandperle]

Some here may remember that I started this thread some time ago, wondering about my pink little weirdo bunny:

http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,384116.0.html

We also discussed it here http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,379732.msg1550688.html#msg1550688
and here too http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,298880.msg241777.html#msg241777

Picture is broken (thanks, photobucket!) but here it is again:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I may have found some new information now. I stumbled across this photo in an auction in Germany:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


The seller states that these are her childhood ponies. I already sent her a message if she can confirm that the pink bunny came with this Baby Billie.
If she does, this would be a small sensation for me! I got mine from a German seller too. So this might be something like a German/European variant of the bunny and the mystery might finally be solved!

[Mewtwofan1]

Oh I can't wait to have this solved!

[Strandperle]

The seller answered. She said all of her ponies and accessories were stored away in a box. She can't remember them in their original packing as she was -of course- a child back then But the three pets were in that box too, and she didn't have the purple bunny, so most likely this is the exact bunny her baby Billie came with.

I am pretty excited!

[Taffeta]

This is interesting! I have to admit the first thing I did was look at the poses of the ponies but they are normal. But not all German sets came with a pale bunny, so it must have been a batch. My moc one is German and her bunny is normal. Unless it came with the German comic in which case all bets are off. Leftover pets did come with the UK comic which is how I have all 3 pets loose from childhood even though I don't have all 3 ponies from then so it isn't totally impossible...

We are sure this wasn't another toy line? She looks a little different somehow  (other than the obvious )

But this is a set for which unexplained things remain...

[Strandperle]

I'm pretty sure it doesn't belong to another toy line. I searched GotD high and low and some other great vintage toy sites too and never stumbled across anything like it.

My moc one is German and her bunny is normal.

I noticed that too, when I saw the MOC picture on your website I also know of German collectors who still have their purple bunny from childhood.

[Breyer600]

There was a post a couple of months ago showing the bunny coming with a Sindy outfit: http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,386203.msg1643131.html#msg1643131 

[Strandperle]

Looks very similar, thanks for sharing! But both mine and the one currently on ebay have painted noses while the Sindy bunny seems to have her nose not painted... does anyboy know if these outfits were released in Germany?

Now I will dig through boxes with Barbie accessories even more to find that kitty 

I also ask myself why the purple bunny wasn't in the seller's childhood collection box. But there could be many explanations for that... without a moc picture we'll never know for sure I guess.

[Taffeta]

Looks very similar, thanks for sharing! But both mine and the one currently on ebay have painted noses while the Sindy bunny seems to have her nose not painted... does anyboy know if these outfits were released in Germany?

If that bottom Sindy image is a prototype photo then the details could be different in actual release. To what extent is unclear but it would probably answer the nose paint issue.

The irony of all this is that in the pamphlet for this set of ponies Billie herself is in paler colours, but her bunny isn't.

This set has so many secrets still and I guess we will never get to the bottom of them. It depends when the Sindy sets came out and where but it is not impossible one supplemented the other.

[Strandperle]

Do we have a moc picture of that Sindy nightgown or any other information? Does anybody have it?

To be honest, I am still pretty convinced that the bunny came with the pony because of this childhood pony auction...

[ringwraith10]

Wow, this is all very interesting to read about! I don't have any info to bring to the table (as I am from the US and don't have a ton of experience with European accessories), but variations are certainly interesting.

[Breyer600]

I was able to find one MOC picture of the outfit, but unfortunately it's not a good shot of the bunny.   

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Zooming in, the nose does look like it's lighter and so it might be painted, but it's such a poor angle it's hard to be certain.  Hopefully, someone else will be able to find another picture or have the set themselves.

[Taffeta]

At the very least it confirms that there is no major difference in colour from the prototype picture. I suppose whether some Billie toys came with that bunny depends on the timing of the two releases and whether Hasbro ran out of one and used another.

We probably can't prove that unless we find a MOC Billie with the pale bunny. But because it's this set and nobody yet has been able to explain alt pose Billie and Susie, I believe anything is theoretically possible with them.

On the weird childhood collection aspects, I had a lot I bought a few years back from someone who had kept all their ponies with accessories and backcards (UK ones). I bought the lot for the cards. In the UK, we had both versions of Twisty Tail, but the US pose one was in a box (imported from the US by Woolworths) and the Posey pose one on card (the official UK release). But this lot had in it Twisty Tail in her US pose and the UK card. I emailed the seller and she was 100% certain they had only ever had one Brush and Grow and that was Twisty Tail. I have never seen any proof that the US pose pony could have ever come on the UK card, but that circumstantial evidence means that until I see one that does exist, I can never be certain either way. I think this might be the case with your seller's auction and the Billie bunny.

In short, it seems like it shouldn't make sense, and isn't possible. But sometimes things that don't make sense and aren't possible are Hasbro's speciality.

Just look at the weird UK princesses.

[dragonfly]

I'm fascinated!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

So interesting to read about!

[LNS]

Very interesting. Would not put it past Hasbro to have used one from another line if they ran out of one from the other line.