Discussion on the 'Fable' Set and G1 Pony releases in Scandinavia and environs

[Taffeta]

Yes, one other indication that the fables pre-dates the movie star ponies is that the fables all have glittery symbols.

That is also true, and a valid point

[katrine2309]

So, I decided to do some research today on this and found that I actually asked some questions around the Fable ponies back in August. The thread died pretty quickly as you were the only one answering, Taffeta

However, you did write something in that thread that made me pause Taffeta. You wrote something about the Fabel-ponys released in Germany, and that they are stamped Italy. So is this two different sets then? Or is it the same ponies, only one set is HK and the other Italy? Do we know if the German set is released with yellow Moondancer and Scandi Gusty?

I’m also assuming that this set released in Scandinavia (HK stamp) were also released in Australia and South- Africa?

In Sweden I’ve seen that this set is described in advertisement as Sago-ponys. Sago in swedish (or Saga in Norwegian) is translated to English as fable. It seem like the name really suits this set - even though the name only officially appears on the German card

[Taffeta]

I don't know the answer to the Fabel-Ponys set and whether the characters are the same or not. I have only seen Firefly/Feuerfunke on card for that set. But there is an yellow Italian Moondancer, so that would make sense to me..? And Italian Gusty also exists. I also remember that Powder used to be one of the more difficult Italian ponies to find. Wouldn't be a huge stretch to suppose that this release was the same but with Italian versions. Similar stuff happened with the Rainbows on vertical cards, after all...

ZuluSeashell via NightGlider posted images of her childhood backcards a while back on the SA Spotlight thread in the Nirvana forum. She had Gusty, Surprise and Sparkler's cards I think, all from new, and at least one of them I think has a Rand price label, so I think it's for absolute certain they were there. Just like the set with Truly and Cupcake.

I don't know about Australia and/or NZ. I have heard rumours. I don't know if we have any evidence yet that backs it up...

That's cool about the name! I like calling them Fable as it doesn't geographically locate them in one place. Also I wonder something else about the label, being that it exists on the German cards.

The Movie Star set in English don't have that label anywhere on their card, although the movie is mentioned. The name comes from how they were labelled in France, which is Cine Star. BUT in the Argos catalogue in 1986, Wind Whistler is sold as a Movie pony. I wonder if the same kind of thing happened unofficially in stores and store catalogues/shelf tags in other places. Hasbro UK also lists the 1985 Earth Pony set as Groom & Style, which is the name I use to distinguish them as it is official - but it also doesn't appear on the cards. It makes you wonder if some of these names were maybe on the cases of ponies sent to stores or in the store catalogues but not on the card.

Fable seems appropriate as a permanent set name for them in my opinion.

[katrine2309]

I know so very little about the Italian ponies, but I seem to bump into them all the time in my research on Scandinavian releases. Especially in the Danish releases. I might nede to look more closely on them I think

I also think the set name Fable pony suits these girls. And I would really like to see that it is a set name used as a standard name for them. I often feel like Gusty and yellow Moondancer usually get all the attention from this set, but I find the other ponies in this set equally interesting. After all, they are the only release of these ponies in Scandinavia! And none of them are super common to find in the wild. I’ve seen Truly more than I’ve seen Skyflier and Powder for instance.

Not to mention that I really like the name Fable Gusty, instead of Scandinavian Gusty (which is misleading as she was sold outside of Scandinavia too...).

Regarding the name Movie star; also the scandinavian toy catalogues describes these as «Film ponys/ film ponni». So even though they don’t have that reference on their card they were clearly linked to the movie in the catalogues here as well. I think you are right, it seems too likely a coincidence that ponies from the same set should be «accidentally» marketed with similar names across Europe. I think we can correctly assume that both the Fable pony and Movie star pony were terms officially used by Hasbro to describe these sets.

[Leikin]

I have the backcard for Surprise, I'll see if I can dig it up and get some info from it. I just dont know where it is right now, as all my collection is boxed
I might have some catalogue inserts as well, to give some clues about the dates. But I think the card says 1986.

Ponyland is the one that has most history of this for the swedish market. She is the owner of that MOC Powder, and I belive that she was the one mentioning the paler version of her, also she has a set of fable pony puffy stickers (maybe this was already mentioned in one of the linked threads though).

Firefly is def the curly haired version, although she does not seem easy to find here. I have seen her MOC though. But none from that set is common here either as it seems. At least not the ones we know and can distinguish from other releases, like moondancer and Gusty.
An odd thing though is that white moondancer is also appearing in some adds here. I'm not sure about the others, Glory, Sunbeam and Twillight, so it could just be that they used white moondancer as replacement for yellow moondancer.

I also belive they predate the movie stars, but the only "evidence" I have is that I had three ponies from the movie star set as a child, and none from the fable set. And if they had been released later then the movie stars, I guess I would have been all over it

[Taffeta]

@Leikin - it would be great if you do have the card and could dig up information. I've squinted at Zuluseashell's pictures but can only see so much and can't make out the date year.

If you happened to have any scans of the card or any inserts which are Swedish or from any Norse/Scandinavian country in origin, or even just lists of what is on them and at what year, that would be amazing.

The only problem I have with the year date on the card as the definitive is that the year date on the card sometimes doesn't actually match the release. And sometimes it does. Pretty much every bit of evidence I have for the Movie Stars puts them in 1987. Card. Sticker. Insert. Hasbro List. Hasbro catalogue. But Wind Whistler is listed in the Argos Catalogue, 1986. Gah! Go figure.

One other question while I'm picking your brains, guys.

The Pony Friends set with Truly and company. I am sure I have asked this before, but Posey and CJ from this set - European versions with dark symbols or light ones? I think Ponyland said once that CJ with the straight hair was a UK only release, but I can't remember whether the one in that set was the darker symboled curly CJ or the original lighter one.

Also, did Truly come with a stand? Does anyone know?

And finally - do you guys know if any pony was ever sold on this card in any Scandinavian country? Or if it's a card simply used for Italy/Spain variations and only printed in other languages for that purpose?

Spoiler

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[katrine2309]

Pony friends are the darker symbols. I’m fairly sure of that. The light version is from one of the earliest sets with CP Bowtie/Applejack. I have both Posey and CP Bowtie as childhood ponies. I got them around the same time, and my Posey has light symbols. I think I read a timeline from Ponyland that confirmed it.

I think the theory here is that the darker symbols came with the SS ponies. Since they all had darker symbols under their flocking, their European counterparts got them too. I’ve only seen curly haired CJ in the wild here- that doesn’t prove anything of course. Maybe Leikin knows more about that? CJ is one of the ponies I’ve dont very, very little research on...

I’ll dig around for some info on the backcard- I feel like I’ve seen it before...

I’m not sure about Truly’s stand to be honest. I want to say yes, but that is mostly based on a vague memory playing with Truly as a kid. My neighbour had her, and even though I remember thinking she was gorgeous I never really understood how to play with her because she always needed her stand to prevent her from falling over. It’s not a very solid memory, so I wouldn’t trust it much to be honest.... It could have been a homemade stand for all I know

[Taffeta]

I have this vague recollection of someone, maybe Joss (the person who first brought info about Truly and Cupcake to the community, she was South African) talking about a stand as well, but I can't see it mentioned on the card. I have a scan of the card I use on my site but it's tiny because I lost the original *cries*. But that set is 1987 too, right? I feel like it should be 1988 because do you need two sets with Shady in 1987? (I mean, Shady is awesome, but seriously?) xD. What do you guys think? I would like to classify it as accurately as possible...

Thanks for checking on the card

I agree darker symbols happened alongside the SS over in the States. We also had Big Buttons (heh) which I have seen called a fake/deflock on one site from someone in Scandinavia, but she was so plentiful at second hand markets here in the 1990s, I am certain that's not the case. We never had SS ponies, so the likelihood of about 30 or 40 Buttons being deflocked perfectly for carboot sale is impossible and silly. She was sold here with buttons and stars and with big buttons. I found both mine here, and enough of each to know we had both, but because there is a serious problem with MOC items surviving from the UK from the early period, no MOC one with big buttons exists as far as I know.

It's like silver star Milky Way. I *know* we had her in the UK as well as the white star one, and on UK card, because I had silver star from new and my best friend had white star. I remember it because we were so excited about them being the same but different, and I remember the pink card, I never saw the white US card till online collecting much later. But I have never seen a silver star on a UK card. Largely because, to be honest, I've not seen that many party ponies MOC, period. Not on English card, anyway. :/

It really means sometimes we're approximating info based on imported ponies on the same card - which is why I don't want to make assumptions about exported ponies that look like they're the same based on the card!

CJ is a pony I have a soft spot for. I have quite a few different ones and have done a bit of research on her...but I have not seen her MOC for that set, so hence asking you guys

[Leikin]

oh, I just want to go home and dig into my boxes now ^^

I belive the CJ that came on that card is the curly hair version. I think I have pictures saved at home. Need to check.

I also think I have seen Mily Way with silver stars on pink card, but need to double check that as well.

I dont know if Truly came with a stand, but I suspect she did. Looking at the card on your site, the outline of the bubble seem similar to the one of the SS one, so it looks like it might have included a stand. And I think I have seen stands included with her here when sold. Not often though.

I think I have a pamphlet dated 87 wich include Truly and Cupcake, however, Im not sure if Shady actually was included in this set. I have never seen her MOC on this card (although, I have only seen a few of them MOC on this card) and I think she was replaced by another pony in this pamplet, but I cant remember which one.

for the german card, I dont think I have seen anything like that in english language, so I dont belive we had that card. All ponies included where sold on other cards here.  But this is the same card as spanish Cupido and Agua Limon was sold on also, wasnt it?

[Taffeta]

Leikin, I want to come and dig through your collection too! xD.

That's interesting about Shady on the insert, because I noticed on the back of the card, Shady's name is misprinted as Shady's for some reason. Weird observation but there you go. Unfortunately because your part of the world had the habit of selling ponies on cards where they weren't pictured, Shady being on the card doesn't prove anything. But if you say they're on the 87 insert then they have to be categorised for 1987 and that is what I will do. I haven't got to that point yet, but when I do, I will include Shady and await further confirmation of what the insert said, if and when you manage to locate it.

I have a stand with my Truly, but I don't know if it was originally hers or added to her since, as they're not exactly that hard to come by in auction lots if you look for them :/

I really wish I still had my early childhood backcards.

I don't know about the spanish ponies. Nirvana is a step outside my expertise I just know that different language versions exist and have seen Italian and Spanish Hopscotch on this card...the Italian one on German card is the only one I own, though, the others I've only seen in photographs.

[katrine2309]

No, it might not seem like a good strategy to release two sets with shady at the same time. But then again Hasbro did so with Posey and Lickety Split didn’t they? I’m fairly certain that the two first sets (Groom and style and the set with white tootsie) overlapped. Leikin, do you remember?

It wouldn’t surprise me if Shady had two releases at more or less the same time. I saw in a Swedish ad/toy catalogue that Pony friends and movie stars were both sold in spring -87. For the autumn catalogue in 87, only the Movie star ponies were left, which led me to the theory that Pony Friends might have been released in 1986.

But then again, it could just be their focus on advertising. In Norway I found an ad including both movie star ponies and Cupcake from summer 1988 with the title “New pony friends”. Although I am fairly sure that they all were sold in stores here before that. You can’t really trust it without multiple sources.

[Taffeta]

No, it might not seem like a good strategy to release two sets with shady at the same time. But then again Hasbro did so with Posey and Lickety Split didn’t they? I’m fairly certain that the two first sets (Groom and style and the set with white tootsie) overlapped. Leikin, do you remember?

It wouldn’t surprise me if Shady had two releases at more or less the same time. I saw in a Swedish ad/toy catalogue that Pony friends and movie stars were both sold in spring -87. For the autumn catalogue in 87, only the Movie star ponies were left, which led me to the theory that Pony Friends might have been released in 1986.

But then again, it could just be their focus on advertising. In Norway I found an ad including both movie star ponies and Cupcake from summer 1988 with the title “New pony friends”. Although I am fairly sure that they all were sold in stores here before that. You can’t really trust it without multiple sources.

I would love to see those ads O.O. Any chance of that? I obviously won't use them on the site or anything, but it would be amazing to see them anyway.

And that helps hugely. Remembering the Movie Stars lost stickers...maybe that makes them particularly late over there. A thought or a theory...

The Mountain Boys here happened in 1987. Because of that, the Adventure Boys got shunted back to 1988. That caused a lot of confusion because the Brothers have 1987 on their card too, and are on a 1987 insert. I have Hasbro's list, though, and it says Mountain Boys for 1987, Adventure Boys for 1988 (with second set 1989 as Big Brother Ponies) . The card style I have for Tug is also definitely 1988, and no stickers! You see where I am going with this...

We know that the Movie Stars are 1987 in the UK for sure. And you guys had the same packaging. The UK ones seemed to stop with stickers during 1987, so they must've kept going later than that. Any chance they did the same over there and that their set was maybe pushed back to make way for Truly and co? Truly's card is MUCH more like the art for 1986 albeit modified than 1987. So it makes sense they'd be in the slot between Fables and Movie Stars. Maybe, like the Mountain Boys here, they were only there for a short time. I estimate Mountain Boys happened in about 6 months here, between October, when my Mum first saw them as new stuff before my sister was born, and Spring. I had 3 of the set between November and February 1987 and I loved them. I would have definitely been looking for the others if they had still been around after that, but I never saw the other 3. (I still have never seen Lightning MOC :'( )

[katrine2309]

The Norwegian ads I can post here for sure! They are all mine, and I have them lying around somewhere I have to look for the Swedish ads. I know where I saw them first (on the Swedish forum), but the pictures are not there anymore and I never saved them 

I always thought it made sense that Pony friends came in between Fables and Movie stars. But I think they were a fairly popular set. I see a lot of Truly’s second-hand here. They were probably longer for sale than the Fables, or at least had more stock. I’m not really sure which. Hmm, I’ll try to dig up those Swedish ads - maybe they will tell us more or if we are really lucky, Leikin already knows and have all the ads saved on her PC

I actually  think we more or less followed your release of the big brothers here in Norway. I got Barnacle from my aunt, and I have a picture of that day holding him. I am 100% sure that was in 1989. Of course that isn’t actual proof or anything

[Taffeta]

Hehe xD I can be so concrete with the Mountain Boys because Mum bought Sunburst because she knew I didn't have him as they were brand new. And my sister being born is a concrete and immovable event. Thus 1987! Case proven

I also have some photos with her as a baby her first Christmas, which helps me to date other things that are in the photo behind her - Dream Castle and Tropical Breeze - because I know I had the castle for my birthday and Tropi with the birthday money. So that must've also been 1987.

Yay for babies and dating items!

It's harder for me to know with Shady here whether I had her in 1987 or not. I have a comic in which I wrote she was my favourite pony and that I had 8 ponies and was aged 5 (lol). But mathematically I'm not sure if I had her or not then :/ I always have trouble figuring out the timeline for my first eight ponies to see if she was number 8 I also don't know if she had a sticker, I can't remember, so that doesn't help either.

The style of card helps with the 1987/1988 divide a LOT....but it doesn't help with ponies who were out in 1987 and who might've carried on to 1988...like the Princess Ponies here, who kept on sale with the 1987 boxes in 1988 (sigh).

[Leikin]

Leikin, I want to come and dig through your collection too! xD.

You are most welcome, as long as I can come and dig through your collection too! 

I didnt find my backcards, but some other stuff.

One toy catalogue from fall 1986 wich includes
My little pony
Regnbågsponny (rainbow pony)
Sagoponny (fable pony)
Bröllopsponny (Bridal pony, Confetti Wedding Bells)
Babyset (Play and care, first set with CC, Blossom and baby Appleajack)
Barnvagn (Baby Cuddles with Buggy)
Stall (Show stable)
Slott (Dream castle)
Kläder (Pony Wear)

A christmas catalogue for 1986/87 (not mine, but belonging to Cherilee on the swedish forum. Uses the same picture as from above catalogue)
https://postimg.cc/dLHmGGBd
2 - Baby Set (again, play n care first release)
3 - My little pony Spilta (Pretty Parlour, we had italy Peachy, dont know if we had HK as well)
4 - My little pony stort stall (Show stable)
5 - My little pony barnvagn (Buggy with cuddles)
6 - Regnbågsponny (Rainbow pony)
7 - My little pony Drömslott (dream castle)
8 - My little pony bröllopspony (confetti wedding bells, I guess it was this christmas I received that one, the only pony I actually remember when I got as a child )
9 - Ponyhästar (just translates "pony horses". Says there are 8 to choose from, looking at the numbering on the pics, it seems to be referring to the earth ponies)

Another catalogue from fall 1987 including
A - Paradise Estate
B - Regnbågsponny (rainbowpony)
C - Filmponny (movie star)
D - Party Kläder (Paty pony wear)
E - Babypnony (baby pony, and, looking at the price difference between the PnC babies from the other catalogie, Im pretty sure these are the carded original six babies.
F - Sjöponny (Seapony)
G - Babykläder (baby Pony wear with pocket pals)
H - Megan och Sundance (Same as US version?)
I - Baby Buggy (with Cuddles)
J - Stroller ( Baby Lemon Drop with pink stroller, I'm not sure which version, but I guess NC, as I'm not 100% sure we had the HK one.

So it seems that the fable ponies where out in fall 1986, and then disapeared in 1987, whereas the rainbowponies stayed for another season/Year (but I think we both had the US carded and UK carded sets here, so it might be different releases of them as well) And in 1987 the movie star ponies where introduced.

I also have a poster that I belive is swedish (got it from a neighbours daughters childhood collection)
Is has no year on it, but I guess it dates somewhere between 1986/1987, as it contains both the fable ponies and movie stars. Funny thing though, Gusty is the fable pony version, but is set alongside with the movie stars, so I guess they thought it silly to add her twice ^^
Also, it shows white moondancer instead of yellow
What is odd though, is that the christmas catalogue from between the other two catalogue, dont mentiones either the movie stars, nor the fable ponies (even though some of them appears on the picture). But on the other hand, the christmas catalogue is from a toy store, while the other fall catalogues are from the importer, so it might be explained that they where available here, just not carried by that particular toy store at that time.

Interesting here is the earth ponies, mixing both CP Bowtie with shy pose applejack, dark cone lickety split, and green tootsie.   But they are 8 to choose from, just as mentioned in the christmas catalogue. 

And, I found in an old thread at the swedish forum, discussing swedish releases, that my brochure shows green Tootsie instead of Shady in the set with Truly and Cupcake. But I dont know which one is the right one. as it seems both fable Gusty and movie star Gusty where somewhat available at the same time, I guess two releases of Shady could be released. Although Shady would be the same, whereas Gusty is a little bit different in the both releases. Another theory was that Shady was pictured instead of Snowflake on the card, but as Snowflake also was included with the earth ponies along with green tootsie it seems odd... This one is really intruiging 

So, now I just need to figure out how to upload the images from my phone..