Flutter pony variations

[01mlplover]

Can anyone tell me more about the 2 versions of flutter ponies? I never knew there was such a thing til I seen a comment about it awhile back. Flutter ponies have always been one of my favorites and I just discovered I got some new variations in a lot I bought. Is there a reason there are 2 versions? One seems slimmer in the face than the other and the legs are positioned slightly different...

[Princess Fizzy]

I know that some of the flutter ponies from Spain look slightly different, that may be what you have. My little wiki lists honeysuckle, forget-me-not & peach blossom as having spanish variants. There are also some UK variants with different hair colors & missing wing holder pieces.

Also, at least some of the European countries had different accessories than the USA for some of the flutter ponies. Some countries got puffy stickers with at least the first set of flutters while the US got the flat stickers. The second set of flutters came with colored metallic ribbons in the US, but in some other countries the second set came with gold trimmed ribbons similar to the princess ponys.

I'm sure that there are others on this site that can give you much more informed info, but for starters I would look at the bottom of your flutters feet as a lot of the Spanish variants either say 'SPAIN' or have no country marks on the bottom of there feet.

[Taffeta]

I suspect the OP is talking about the large head and small head variations, although there are also variations of some ponies that have both first year and second year wing fixings (and some other minor features to match). This seems to predominately affect the three in the walking pose (Honeysuckle etc).

I don't have any of the large headed flutters. They seem to show up mostly in the US.

Thinking about it, there are quite a lot of flutter variations!

[Crowning_Glory13]

Ok I am crazy for flutter ponies. I search for fat head Lily as I had her as a kid. I think we need pictures of what you have:)

[LadyMoondancer]

It's a real mystery why there are two versions of flutters (large head and small head).  The most dramatic difference is on the Honeysuckle pose!

Both versions are both stamped "made in China".  My own childhood flutters were all small head (Honeysuckle, Forget-Me-Not, and Peach Blossom) and I am in the US, but I know other people in the US who had the big head versions.

The Year 4 US flutters also had two versions of packaging (the image on the front was changed), but that doesn't seem to be connected to the molds--because I've seen both large-head and small-heads MIB in the same box type.

(The box variation is:  some boxes had Honeysuckle and Morning Glory standing demurely on the front, others had them dive-bombing, lol.)

Anyway, my guess is that two different factories were producing the flutters and using slightly different molds.  Maybe two factories in China.

[Taffeta]

(The box variation is:  some boxes had Honeysuckle and Morning Glory standing demurely on the front, others had them dive-bombing, lol.)

Most of my flutter boxes are UK so I had never noticed that. That's weirdly awesome. I have a US Morning GLory in her box hidden on my shelf. I wonder which version she has...

I also wonder why that happened o.O.

(UK boxes have Lily and Rosedust on the front for that set, and only change with the second set, where I think Lily is turned into Wing Song on the front)

[Matcha]

Does anyone have comparison pics of the fat head vs small head flutters? I'd be interested to see which ones of my flutters are fat headed! OO:

[Ponyfan]

I'm in the US and my childhood Honeysucke is a large head.


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I didn't even know there was another mold for her until I got back in to ponies and posted her picture. 


Ponyfan

[LadyMoondancer]

I've got some pictures here:

http://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/167639979667

Also the eyes are a way to tell:

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If your flutter pony looks like a dopey Madonna from a classical painting, she's a big-head.  If she looks like she is pretending not to see someone she despises, she's a small-head. 

(Interestingly I just looked on eBay and saw the big head / small head variation with Tropical Breeze, from the 2nd set.)

[Leave a Whisper]

I've got some pictures here:

http://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/167639979667

Also the eyes are a way to tell:

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If your flutter pony looks like a dopey Madonna from a classical painting, she's a big-head.  If she looks like she is pretending not to see someone she despises, she's a small-head. 

(Interestingly I just looked on eBay and saw the big head / small head variation with Tropical Breeze, from the 2nd set.)

Those descriptions are hilarious!

[01mlplover]

It's a real mystery why there are two versions of flutters (large head and small head).  The most dramatic difference is on the Honeysuckle pose!

Both versions are both stamped "made in China".  My own childhood flutters were all small head (Honeysuckle, Forget-Me-Not, and Peach Blossom) and I am in the US, but I know other people in the US who had the big head versions.

The Year 4 US flutters also had two versions of packaging (the image on the front was changed), but that doesn't seem to be connected to the molds--because I've seen both large-head and small-heads MIB in the same box type.

(The box variation is:  some boxes had Honeysuckle and Morning Glory standing demurely on the front, others had them dive-bombing, lol.)

Anyway, my guess is that two different factories were producing the flutters and using slightly different molds.  Maybe two factories in China.

This is very helpful. The two ponies I have are forget me not and rose dust. Now I’m very interested in collecting both versions for all my flutter ponies. If I get the ambition I’ll take some pics and post them here.

[Carrehz]

If your flutter pony looks like a dopey Madonna from a classical painting, she's a big-head.  If she looks like she is pretending not to see someone she despises, she's a small-head. 

[Baby Sugarberry]

IIRC all the first-wave flutters have big and small head versions of themselves.  It's only really notable when you have one of each side-by-side, they really are completely different moulds.  Their existence puzzles me to this day; from the little we know about vinyl toy manufacturing, moulds are *expensive as all heck* to produce.  So are the original sculpts the moulds are made from.  They were done by hand back in the day.  Someone spent a considerable amount of time, effort and money to retool both flutter poses.  If it was just the 'walking' pose I could maybe see it was a stability issue they tried to address, the same way the flatfoot mould was redone with a higher head so they don't tip over as easily, but that doesn't explain why the 'standing' flutter would have also been altered.

[LadyMoondancer]

Okay, here's something interesting . . .

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^ This pic is from My Little Wiki.  Hong Kong High Flyer on the left, China on the right.  Compare their eyes to the flutter eye picture earlier in the thread . . .

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Perhaps one flutter pony mold actually was used in Hong Kong, despite the "Made in China" footstamp?

[Noasar]

I never realised there were variants either! I have the small head versions but thinking back I had a fat head version as a child, I remember being really confused about why the head was so weird looking!