The Magic Hair Stripe

[Lilja]

You forgot Snowflake. Though she's another fashion rebel, as she breaks the glittery symbol rule.

Yeah, her white hair is kind of another unicorn trait she appropriated, along with her glittery symbol. But all the ponies in that set break away from the patterns US ponies were following at the time. With the exception of Honeycomb. I don't think there's anything that sets her apart from other pegasi at the time.

[Taffeta]

You forgot Snowflake. Though she's another fashion rebel, as she breaks the glittery symbol rule.

Yeah, her white hair is kind of another unicorn trait she appropriated, along with her glittery symbol. But all the ponies in that set break away from the patterns US ponies were following at the time. With the exception of Honeycomb. I don't think there's anything that sets her apart from other pegasi at the time.

As PKW would say, It's 1986! A lot of weird happened then. You're right. Hopscotch and Honeycomb are pretty regular to their breeds and Cherries Jubilee and Posey change symbol (CJ hair as well to straight) but are basically themselves with no additions. It's Gypsy and Snowflake who are the troublemakers.

[Khoufu]

What's so strange about Snowflake? Is it that her symbol only has one color?

[Lilja]

As PKW would say, It's 1986! A lot of weird happened then. You're right. Hopscotch and Honeycomb are pretty regular to their breeds and Cherries Jubilee and Posey change symbol (CJ hair as well to straight) but are basically themselves with no additions. It's Gypsy and Snowflake who are the troublemakers.

It's a subtle detail, but I believe Hopscotch is the first regular adult earth pony whose symbol is a single image, and not a small collection of the same object.

On the topic of streaks, what do we think of the fact that Magic Star and Truly both had a streak in their manes in their prototypes? Could they have been intended as unicorns at some point? Truly had a prototype baby that was a unicorn, and these ponies' symbols also seem to go along better with the themes unicorns/pegasi usually followed.
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[Khoufu]

Red and Green is a beautiful color combination. I wish it wasn't so heavily related to Christmas.

[Leave a Whisper]

As PKW would say, It's 1986! A lot of weird happened then. You're right. Hopscotch and Honeycomb are pretty regular to their breeds and Cherries Jubilee and Posey change symbol (CJ hair as well to straight) but are basically themselves with no additions. It's Gypsy and Snowflake who are the troublemakers.

It's a subtle detail, but I believe Hopscotch is the first regular adult earth pony whose symbol is a single image, and not a small collection of the same object.

On the topic of streaks, what do we think of the fact that Magic Star and Truly both had a streak in their manes in their prototypes? Could they have been intended as unicorns at some point? Truly had a prototype baby that was a unicorn, and these ponies' symbols also seem to go along better with the themes unicorns/pegasi usually followed.
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Hmm. I like it on Magic Star. She looks really bold like that. I don't like it on Truly.

[Ponyfan]

Don’t the Mountain Boys backcards mention them having control over weather? I like the unicorn/magic stripe. I think it adds a nice spot of color in a single color mane.  I didn’t know that Magic Star and Truly were supposed to have stripes in their manes.

Ponyfan

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I still like to think that the stripe indicates some sort of magical significance, and Magic Star does have "magic" right in her name. I do love how she looks with the stripe, too. Unicorn heritage?

What's so strange about Snowflake? Is it that her symbol only has one color?

I think it's that she's a pony but still has a glittery symbol, as glittery symbols were kept for pegasi or unicorns at first.

[Khoufu]

Huh. Sunlight was also an early Earth pony with a glittery symbol.

[Skeen]

Huh. Sunlight was also an early Earth pony with a glittery symbol.

But she was also in a set that all had glitter symbols and the same hair.

On the topic of streaks, what do we think of the fact that Magic Star and Truly both had a streak in their manes in their prototypes? Could they have been intended as unicorns at some point? Truly had a prototype baby that was a unicorn, and these ponies' symbols also seem to go along better with the themes unicorns/pegasi usually followed.
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What's weird is that Brazil Truly kept her blue streak even though she's a pegasus!  Though there are no unicorns in the Brazil line, all the unicorns that changed species still have the stripe - Ribbon, Gusty & baby, Milky Way, Twist.  Magic Star appears unchanged (aside from hair color variation of course), so it looks like Estrella got confusing info about what Truly looked like, or that maybe Hasbro didn't approve her final design until the last minute (maybe when they dropped the baby?). 

[Taffeta]

Huh. Sunlight was also an early Earth pony with a glittery symbol.

Sunlight is a rainbow pony. Snowflake is a regular pony. She has glittery symbols and she's the only one that does.

She also has freckles, like Gypsy, but then so do AJ and Bow Tie.

I think it may be true that Hopscotch has the first one object symbol for an earth pony...at least, she doesn't, but she does if you are talking about ponies without fur.

My brain is too frazzled to think about striped streaks and would-be unicorns, but Magic Star was Ponyland's most magical pony. Maybe she cast a spell.

[KottonKandy]

As PKW would say, It's 1986! A lot of weird happened then. You're right. Hopscotch and Honeycomb are pretty regular to their breeds and Cherries Jubilee and Posey change symbol (CJ hair as well to straight) but are basically themselves with no additions. It's Gypsy and Snowflake who are the troublemakers.

It's a subtle detail, but I believe Hopscotch is the first regular adult earth pony whose symbol is a single image, and not a small collection of the same object.

On the topic of streaks, what do we think of the fact that Magic Star and Truly both had a streak in their manes in their prototypes? Could they have been intended as unicorns at some point? Truly had a prototype baby that was a unicorn, and these ponies' symbols also seem to go along better with the themes unicorns/pegasi usually followed.
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Hmm. I like it on Magic Star. She looks really bold like that. I don't like it on Truly.

I'm the opposite. I think it's too many bright colors on Magic Star, but I like Truly's stripe. Probably because I just love pink and blue together in general.
It's so funny this topic was made. I was just thinking about the extra stripe and what its origins may have been a couple of days ago!

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I'll add a G4 bit under a spoiler, as someone pointed it out in a fanfic and it was sort of the driving force behind me making this topic in the first place:

Spoiler

Both Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer, unicorns with a talent in magic, have a stripe of a color in their hair that isn't their main (purple or purple/pink)
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This would be a nice nod to older gen fans, but there is a chance that because she is meant to be a bit of a foil to Twilight they just threw in the stripe to mirror her.

[Lilja]

I think it may be true that Hopscotch has the first one object symbol for an earth pony...at least, she doesn't, but she does if you are talking about ponies without fur.

Ah yeah, I tend to think of Hopscotch and her set as earlier ponies, but it's true that by the time they were out in the UK, the first set of so softs was out in the US. Maybe you could say her dark hair color sets her apart from other earths at the time, since dark hair colors was used for unicorns (and sea ponies) in the beginning, but it's a bit of a strech.

What's weird is that Brazil Truly kept her blue streak even though she's a pegasus!  Though there are no unicorns in the Brazil line, all the unicorns that changed species still have the stripe - Ribbon, Gusty & baby, Milky Way, Twist.  Magic Star appears unchanged (aside from hair color variation of course), so it looks like Estrella got confusing info about what Truly looked like, or that maybe Hasbro didn't approve her final design until the last minute (maybe when they dropped the baby?). 

Yeah, I wonder what happened there. I often wonder about non-us variations, if they differ the way they do because they were based on an earlier prototype. It seems sometimes that might be the case, but of course there can be other reasons as well. For the record, in the later 1986 toy fair catalog, Truly seems to have lost her streak (or maybe it's just hidden from view), but Magic Star still has hers.
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[Taffeta]

On an off topic note, in the corner of that cut image you can see Buttons with the small buttons symbol, but SoSoft. I guess they changed that design too.

Re the Mountain Boys, going back - some of them had weather related abilities. But in the UK it's really common for literally any pony to have magic of some kind, so I'm not sure if that's important or not.

The Brazil Truly thing is a great call. It does suggest earlier images were passed across to other Hasbros. It's sort of a game of fill in the missing prototype, as if the earliest Truly versions were unicorns like the baby prototype, Brazil would have made her into a different style. If she was always an earth pony, would there have been a point in doing this? Shady and Magic Star don't get that treatment. It makes sense that they changed her because she was originally a unicorn.

I think US prototypes are some of the most fun and interesting to look at because generally things came out in the US first, so the weird is mostly with them <3. I wish collectors had so many of them.

Re Hopscotch - I just see her as a regular pony to be honest. Though the symbol makes her more like Magic Star than Posey, as you say, SS Magic Star was out at the same time Hopscotch was, or maybe even before. Snowflake is unusual, but Hopscotch is pretty standard