Which G4 ponies are considered 'International' releases? ADDED PICS

[Taffeta]

So as you guys know I am still sorting and cataloguing my collection. The trouble is I buy ponies without really thinking about what is sold where. My chief criteria for buying ponies are 'cheap' and 'pretty' so I tend to get the pony first and then find out who she is and where she fits in later. Recently I seem to buy ponies from Europe more than the US because I am taking advantage of the custom union while we still have it (>.> <.<) When I was identifying some of my ponies, I also decided to go look up which of my collection was sold where, I find that some sites aren't that clear.

Spoiler

I know that Holly Dash was meant to be sold in the US, appeared in small numbers I think in TX? And in Canada? But mostly appeared in the UK and the Netherlands...so she was an accidental one. Rarity from the same set as her I think had the same distribution. I remember shipping a few Raritys to the US in the past.

I know that Starswirl came with the Rarity carriage because I bought mine in Lille. I don't know if she ever came to the UK as I only saw her in France. Someone more expert might know?

I know Rainbow Flash was sold in a 2-pack (I have never seen her so I am assuming she was also on the continent not here).

Otherwise...I am not so sure. I think there was one which came with a playset in Europe, one that doesn't have an official name? I got her in a lot from France so I know she was sold there but don't know if she was sold here or anywhere else.

Can anyone give me a brief rundown?

I am only interested in non-mane 6 ponies as I have one of each but I don't really collect the mane 6.

On a secondary note, which ponies are considered particularly hard to find? I know about the above mentioned (Starswirl, Holly Dash etc), and I also know about Feathermay and Honeybuzz, but what about Snowcatcher? Sunny Rays? Diamond Mint? Twinkleshine?

Thanks people. I am off to try and work out how to get 15 G3 ponies into my G2 pony storage tub, which has space for about 8.

Edit to add a few pictures and annotations based on information from this thread. Please feel free to correct me.
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

L-R
Cheerilee (Wedding release? has forelock, 2012)
Meadow Flower (pearly wave 3 peg, think that's her name) 2017
Applejack (2011, has forelock)
Feather May (2011)
Rainbow Dash (which is unknown but I bought her for my MA graduation which was July 2012 so I suspect she's 2012?)
Twilight Sparkle (unicorn) - probably around the same time.
Lily Blossom (2011)
Honeybuzz (you can just about see her, she's a blob of hair ) 2011
Pinkie Pie (came in 2 pack with Dewdrop Dazzle in June 2012 from Lille)
Fluttershy (original eyes. Probably around 2012 I think?)
Wysteria (Target? I got her second hand and loose recently)
Ploomette (normal wings, tinsel in mane - International release? 2012ish?)
Starlight Glimmer (headband) - came from Austria in 2016
Rainbow Power Cheerilee
Sweetie Swirl? The unicorn from the playset with no name?
Twinkleshine (2011)
Sapphire Joy (Pearly wave 3, 2017)

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Sunny Rays (wedding, 2012)
Spitfire (new multipack TRU, 2017)
Snowcatcher (2011)
Trixie (Wedding, 2012)
Helia (I dunno what her set is called, but it's weird)
Sunset Shimmer (Genuinely no idea what version)
Dewdrop Dazzle (2011?) I got her in a 2 pack with Pinkie Pie in Lille in 2012.
Water Cutie Luna
Starswirl (Rarity's carriage, also came from Lille in 2012)

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

back row:
Honey Rays (I got her last year on clearance, not sure how old the release is)
Seaswirl (wave 3 pearly, 2017)
Cheerilee appears to have got into 2 photos, not sure how she did that.
I have 2 Cadences. One with plastic purple wings and one with shimmery wings. The former was second hand with Shining Armour. The other came from Prague in 2013 or 2014.
Holly Dash (rainbow power)
Blossomforth with water cutie wings (I got her in Lisbon last summer. No idea of her original release date)
Celestia with fabric wings (I got her from TKMaxx last year or the year before I think).

In London I have Fluttsi (FLuttershy who came with breezie) and four other pearlies - the non mane 6 from wave 1 and 2 so all 2017 (Coloratura, Starlight Glimmer, Pretzel, Cherry Berry). There's also a big disturbing Cadance pony in London who talks about weddings. Any ideas on her?

I have some MIB as well but they are easier to identify because dates are on the packages and also country of release. I have Octavia Melody pony in box with her doll, I guess she's part of Rainbow Power as well?

Finally, Buttonbelle and CMM Trixie with the breezies - how widespread?

[otocolobus_manul]

Star Swirl and Rainbow Flash for sure; I think the originals Skywishes and Ploomette, as well as a certain release of Daisy Dreams. Holly Dash and Rainbow Power Rarity as well. That's all I can think of at the moment.

[Skeen]

Yeah, I think Holly Dash at least was so scarce in the US she's considered an international release simply because it really looks like she wasn't meant ever to be released here and a couple of "oops" boxes got out.  Ploomette without giant wings was an international exclusive, not sure if she ever showed up here or not.  Daisy Dreams with her CM on her right side was an exclusive and then was released here with it on her other side as a bonus pony with Rarity and scooters. 

[Taffeta]

Didn't Holly Dash's release coincide with the US Dock strike? I seem to remember something like that? I still have the card for my one somewhere but I seem to remember US packaged ones appearing here. The packages are not super different but the European ones have a slew of languages on the back.

I have a Ploomette I think. She has tinsel in her hair?

I dunno about Daisy Dreams.

I've never seen Rainbow Flash in person yet, I don't think. Unless I walked past her at ponycon.

[Shy Violet]

I'll see what I can remember! These 3 for sure were International releases:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I bought mine from UK sellers as far as I remember but my ebay history doesn't go back far enough for me to confirm. So it's possible that one of them might have been from Europe.

Skywishes did end up getting a second release in the cutie mark magic line.

I also have a foggy memory of seeing the Rainbow Flash and Rainbow Dash 2 pack in my Toys R Us, I almost bought them for my daughter and this was before I started collecting them myself so I didn't know all their names yet. But I've never heard mention of anyone else seeing her in Canada so I think I must be imagining things.

The first release of Daisy Dreams and the First release of Ploomette without glimmer wings.

The one that came with a playset with no official name is probably Sweetie Swirl that came with the Carousel Boutique. She's listed as International Exclusive on Strawberry Reef but I know for sure that she was sold in Canada, I bought mine in store and I've found like 5 or 6 more thrifting. I don't know about the US.

The Water Cuties Luna and Twilight Sparkle I seem to recall not showing up in the US, similar situation to Holly Dash. I found these in Canada in very limited supply. I can check the backs of their boxes tomorrow, I only snapped quick pics tonight.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


As for hard to find ones, all the 2011 characters Lily Blossom, Blossomforth, Cupcake/Sugarcup, Lulu Luck, Dewdrop Dazzle, Flitterheart, Honeybuzz, Feathermay, Plumsweet, Snowcatcher, Twinkleshine and then Diamond Rose and Cherry Pie were also harder to find. Now I'm not sure if less of these were made or if it's because it was the early years and so many characters were made and there were fewer collectors at that point. I started collecting right after that when the wedding line came out and Trixie, Lyra and their set was in stores. I did end up finding all those earlier characters in store here, I just had to drive around a lot looking for stores with older stock still and found multiples. As far as distribution went here, it seemed that 2nd wave of anything had fewer ordered and any non mane 6 had fewer ordered (or they sold faster so it looked like there were more mane 6).

Also all the store exclusive sets like the Toys R Us sets and Minty from the Costco set seem to be uncommon.

Another thing that comes to mind is the 3rd wave of Pearlies. AJ, Meadow Flower, Sea Swirl and Sapphire Joy. My 2 closest Walmarts each got 1 box of them each and that was it. I didn't see them anywhere else here. I can't remember if the US got these or not. I know I shipped some to the US


That's all my memory is digging up right now. Hope that helps!

[tailrustedtealeaf]

The Water Cuties Luna and Twilight Sparkle I seem to recall not showing up in the US, similar situation to Holly Dash. I found these in Canada in very limited supply. I can check the backs of their boxes tomorrow, I only snapped quick pics tonight.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee63/xstormyx777/Ponies/B1BA72DF-6B62-4C84-B108-3D86267A1814_zpst6z4xzid.jpg

The Luna was definitely available here, she plagued my Five Below for ages after being available in Target.
Twilight though? I haven't seen her, nor Cadance, who was supposed to be in the same wave as Twilight.

Also all the store exclusive sets like the Toys R Us sets and Minty from the Costco set seem to be uncommon.

Another thing that comes to mind is the 3rd wave of Pearlies. AJ, Meadow Flower, Sea Swirl and Sapphire Joy. My 2 closest Walmarts each got 1 box of them each and that was it. I didn't see them anywhere else here. I can't remember if the US got these or not. I know I shipped some to the US

I'd argue that Minty is more common since TRU seems to have re-released the exact same Costco set. Dewdrop Dazzle got a rerelease in this set as well (although I'm not sure if her CM is on the same side). This was at least a year ago that this happened.
We...techinically got them? I know my workplace had a few and I scooped up Meadow Flower and Sea Swirl before they got sold out. I haven't seen them in any other areas, but I'm pretty sure we still have Applejack at my work, but not any of the others? Maybe they had more AJs per box than any others.

[goddessofpeep]

There are a handful of G4s that should have hit regular stores here(Target, TRU, etc), but ended up at discount stores like Big Lots and/or dollar stores.  I think the last wave of Pearlies belongs to this group.  A lot of these were supposed to be released normally, and many of them appear in brochures, but for some reason they just got dumped into the reject pile and sent off to the discount chains.

There are also some that showed up on amazon, but never hit stores.   

I used to think the distribution of G3s was bad, but it's just impossible to figure out what's going on with the G4s.   There were a few regular G3s that ended up at places like Marshall's and TJ Max instead of the regular stores, but they were few and far between.

Someone needs to make a definitive G4 checklist at some point.  It's just too confusing!

[LadyMoondancer]

Snowcatcher, Feathermay, and the rest of that set were available in the US.  (Unsure about other places, just know I personally saw them in stores in the US.)  They weren't particularly hard to find at the time.  I am unsure if they're truly "HTF" now;  I feel like it's more a case of them having a lot of demand. I find ponies from that set at Value Village pretty regularly.

(Forgive me if this wasn't what you were asking, I'm really sleep deprived right now.)

[Taffeta]

*gives LM a pillow*

No, that was pretty much what I was asking, that and the internationals, just to check what I have in context.

I have the Water Cutie Luna. She's the only one of those I have and she came in the same lot as the one from the parlour which everyone's called Sweetie Swirl, so I got her from France. The only other Water Cutie I have is Diamond Mint.

I half expected US and Canada to be different and it's interesting that that's the case.

The Ploomette I have doesn'#t have big wings, she has tinsel in her mane but not her tail.

My Dewdrop Dazzle came in a 2 pack with Pinkie Pie. I never saw her when they were originally meant to be out. I found her in Lille in 2012 at the same time as finding Starswirl and carriage. Dewdrop Dazzle was one I was specifically targeting so I was really happy to find her. THEN the TRU set came out after that but I don't really know whether there's any difference between her releases.

Lily Blossom was one of my first 3 from Porvoo in Finland with Applejack and Rarity back in 2011 so I guess she's one of the early ones.

I have Sky Wishes MOC but not the European one, the other.

I know I have Feathermay, Honeybuzz, Snowcatcher, Twinkleshine, Cupcake. My sister has a really wrecked Blossomforth. I know these aren't UK only - actually I think their distribution here was bad. I only ever saw them in Hamleys in October of 2011 and never again after that. The first 2 I bought then, the rest I've got second hand since but none from the UK.

Wave 3 pearlies appeared in my London Smyths store for 2 weeks before Christmas and then vanished. I'm not sure we had a proper release of those either.

Given all the stuff you guys have told me, I think I can figure out what I have, which versions etc. Thanks for help xD. If I was more organised I'd probably have posted a bunch of pictures but I'm not that organised.

I kind of assumed before making this post that the G4 pony I need to take the best care of is probably Starswirl. I think that's still probably the case now .

[Moonbreeze]

The Rainbow Power Fashion Style ponies?
I'm not sure where exactly they were released. But distribution was quite problematic (again).
We only got Applejack and Daisy Dreams in a pharmacy  here

[Taffeta]

The Rainbow Power Fashion Style ponies?
I'm not sure where exactly they were released. But distribution was quite problematic (again).
We only got Applejack and Daisy Dreams in a pharmacy  here

I don't generally collect FS at all due to space (I wish I could!) so I am not really sure which they are or how many versions there are of most of these. I know there was a FS Daisy Dreams on sale here in the UK at discount in Smyths for a while going back a few years. They had a lot of them. I have a FS Daisy Dreams but I got her second hand and with no stuff - I just liked her colours, and I needed a friend for FS size Spitfire who I got at ponycon and who was looking lonely surrounded by tiny friends. If there's only one Daisy Dreams FS release, I guess this is her, but if there are multiple, how will I narrow it down?

If these were Rainbow Power, does that all link in with the distribution issues around Holly Dash and company maybe?

[Mlp Sunsparkle]

I can add that I have never seen Starswirl, rainbow flash, Skywishes (original), or regular ploomette here. I also don’t remember seeing daisy dreams or dewdrop dazzle’s first release here.

Snowcatcher’s Wave was the same for me too, Taffeta. It would’ve been late October 2011 (as my birthday is November) when I saw them all in toysrus. My parents had started leaving so I only got a quick glance at each. I asked for all of them for my b-day and they could only find snowcatcher. So they were here for max 3 weeks and never returned I have only found lulu luck, feathermay and (another) snowcatcher secondhand.

Maybe I didn’t look in the right places, but I never found Wave 1 or 2 blind bags here. The first wave I saw was 3. I think the wave 2 blind bags are considered international releases?

About the water cuties Twilight and Cadence: I never saw them on shelves as such, I found them in a box on the floor of toyrus, and they scanned at the till, so they probably went up after that. I never saw them anywhere else or in toysrus again though. Also: I used to see “TRU” on here and think it was a special shop in the USA that I had never heard of! 

Another limited fashion style release was the cutie mark magic rarity and rainbow dash. They had their gala dresses on, and are made in India. I think they mostly got to target in Australia. I think this was an issue of skipping over them to put in new ponies, rather than an intentional exclusive however (like Wave 3 Pearlies). I did manage to find the rainbow dash in TKmaxx! I have her MIB so if there’s any distribution info on the box that is useful then let me know

Sorry for the rambling!
Mlp Sunsparkle x

[Taffeta]

I can add that I have never seen Starswirl, rainbow flash, Skywishes (original), or regular ploomette here. I also don’t remember seeing daisy dreams or dewdrop dazzle’s first release here.

Snowcatcher’s Wave was the same for me too, Taffeta. It would’ve been late October 2011 (as my birthday is November) when I saw them all in toysrus. My parents had started leaving so I only got a quick glance at each. I asked for all of them for my b-day and they could only find snowcatcher. So they were here for max 3 weeks and never returned I have only found lulu luck, feathermay and (another) snowcatcher secondhand.

Thank you for this especially. It's nice to have a second perspective about those from here. I see Starswirl as European and not UK. Maybe she came here a little but I don't think she was really meant to. I think they were more bribing people in France etc to buy the Rarity carriage, whereas apparently kids here just bought it? I dunno.

I suspect Rainbow Flash was in Galeries La Fayette when I found Starswirl. I remember I stopped to look and saw Dewdrop Dazzle in a 2 pack with Pinkie Pie and I snapped it up because I so wanted Dewdrop. Then I remember the carriage and agonising for a bit over buying another Rarity, but Starswirl was so pretty I did get it. Then I had to get stuff back on the Eurostar so I didn't buy any others. I am sure there were other 2 packs. Looking at wiki I suspect Daisy Dreams might have been in one, and Rainbow Flash was probably the other. I remember thinking about a purple one but not getting her because of carrying them back. In the end I chose Starswirl instead. And I still don't like Rainbow Flash enough to buy her now, so I guess I didn't bother much about her.

I remember Feather May and Honeybuzz were a little more expensive in Hamleys. I had just moved to London for the first time, and sister was with me helping me move stuff, and this was a trip to get ponies as a homewarming kind of present. I am sure that others were there too. Twinkleshine probably - I have her now thanks to the lovely little.fox but she didn't stand out to me then because Feather May and Honeybuzz were so bright. I don't remember if Snowcatcher or any of the others were there. If they hadn't been more expensive (I think £7 each?) I might have bought more. It's a shame because in many ways those are some of the nicest G4.

Where does Sunny Rays fit into all of this? I got her with Snowcatcher from the US before Christmas but I have no idea who she is or where she fits in. Also I have a Celestia with big wings that's the same size as a normal brushable? What's up with her?

On the subject of Daisy Dreams, the information about the CM was really useful. I think the one I have is the later release from the playset.

Thank you everyone for your help so far, I am learning stuff and figuring out how my G4 ponies fit together.

[Mlp Sunsparkle]

No problem Taffeta 

Sunny rays was one of the pony wedding singles. I think she was out with cherry berry, Trixie, Lyra, and a few mane 6. I bought her first, Then I got Trixie and Lyra when they came out. I’m not sure where else she was sold but I bought mine in Asda so I think she was a worldwide release. I didn’t have the money to buy cherry berry but I’m pretty sure the four of them were out at the same time I believe have a pic of when I got Trixie and Lyra on my camera, so I’ll get the date and add it here
Mlp Sunsparkle x

[Taffeta]

Ah. She's one from that other set I never saw here (I searched for Lyra and never did find her >.<  mine came from the US). That would explain why I didn't know anything about her. Seems they had patchy UK distribution. I'm guessing then about 2012ish?