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

[Taffeta]

You can come rummage my collection if I get to run away with your MOC Windy! (I am pretty sure it is you who has her *beady eyes*)...

Ahem. Back on topic.

That list is amazing. Thank you. I would love to see all the pictures, but even just having the list of data is helpful. I was going to ask about the original play and care sets so you've answered that for me, yay

...That image also looks like it has a curly year 3 American Bow Tie wearing ponywear. Any comments on that on or off the record? She doesn't look to be Italian. I wonder if this is like the UK, where they used US ponies as models on inserts or promotions but then sold different versions here. The 1990 Hasbro book has baby Splashes with purple hair, for example.

Bröllopsponny is now my new favourite term ever. Although I am sure my English brain is thoroughly butchering the pronunciation

Sea Ponies - which? Did you have the US ones? The UK ones? The Italian ones? Just the babies? Second set?

As for Green Tootsie. I guess the question is, how common is she over there second hand? How common is Shady? It's not conclusive but it's a start. It is interesting though. I'll keep that in mind even if we don't have a solution for it - I'll probably list them according to the backcard but I'll make sure I mention that they were advertised with Tootsie not Shady in one Swedish catalogue. But it is a great mystery

[katrine2309]

Ooh! This is so exciting! The picture Leikin linked to is the same I mentioned from an earlier post. What I also think is interesting with that one is that the Pretty Parlour is on sale. Suggesting it came earlier. I have a theory that the pretty Parlour was one of the first MLP items for sale in Norway (at least).

OK, so on to my ads. The first one I have is from oktober 1986:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/katinthewoods/30134431527/in/datetaken/

This ad has a lot of text. It seems to me that this is very clearly an introduction of My Little Pony. From the pictures we clearly see:
- Show Stable w/Lemon Drop
- Parasol (rainbow ponies)
- CP Applejack
- CP Bowtie
-Posey
- and Twinkles!

From the text they are describing my Little ponies (they are active, vain and likes to be brushed, cleaned and play dress-up). They are also describing other items they have such as raincoats, nightgown and night cap, a bedcover (not sure what they are referring to with that?), hairdresser saloon (this I am sure is a refernce to the pretty Parlour) and their own dog and cat (again, pretty parlour). I know we had the UK ponywear in the beginning. I still have my childhood ponywear and the raincoat and nightgown is UK They finish the ad with writing «Come and meet your My Little Pony in your nearest Ringo-store».

The next ad I have is from May 1987:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/katinthewoods/44351142314/in/datetaken/

Aaaaand yes, it is the exact same one as the previous. Oh joy... It seems ads were expensive back then too, and they were obviously so pleased with the first one that they used it again. Doesn’t help us much though...

The last one is from June 1988: https://www.flickr.com/photos/katinthewoods/44351142094/in/datetaken/

This one is interesting. The headline here is «New Friends» ( Nye Venner), but keep in mind that ads tend to not get updated too often (as we just learned from the previous ad). I think this might be covering ponies from fall 1987-spring 1988. They are also specifiying that this is «the real My Little Pony-series», indicating that fakies are being sold quite extensively From the picture we see:

Baby ponies - I suspect these to be the carded version.
Megan and Sundance - sporting their Megan and Sundance clothes
Flutterbye- indicating that Rainbow ponies are still being sold ( I suspect this to be old stock though)
- Cupcake - in her band uniform! But since she is the only one from this set I think she is old stock too.
- the movie stars - represented by Windwhistler, Magic Star, Buttons (I think they might be the «new friends» together with Megan and Sundance).
- aaand shy-pose Bowtie!

I actually think the most interesting pony here is shy-pose Bowtie. I know this is controversial in a sense, but I actually think she was sold here. We know there is a rare version of Applejack (shy-pose) being found in Sweden sometimes, and I distinctly remember that I knew Bowtie excisted in the shy-pose. I was a super envious kid, and usually liked what others had more than what I had myself (yes, it was a bad thing- but I grew up to be better. I promise! ). I always wanted Bowtie in the shy-pose, and I have a vague feeling admiring someone’s shy-pose Bowtie and then feeling guilty because I liked her more than my own CP Bowtie. I never put much weight behind the memory until I started seeing her in ads. Why would I want to have Bowtie in the shy-pose if I never knew she exsisted?

OK, on to some interesting differences between Swedish/Norwegian releases.

Pretty Parlour: I am 100% sure we had the HK Peachy. My sister has her as a childhood and I’ve seen her plenty second-hand. I’m not sure if we also had Italy Peachy, but I haven’t seen her yet.

Baby ponies: When Sweden had it’s first release of PnC babies (include. AJ), I believe Norway had the US boxed releases of the first set of baby ponies. The reason I think so is based on personal memories, and childhood collections. I had baby Blossom with her accessories as a kid, and I remember the US box (I had it for years until my mom burned all my backcards... ). Also, my sister had baby Surprise with puffy and accessories. My neighbour had baby Moondancer with accessories. Aaand, this is a little embarassing but I’ll say it anyway, my friend had baby Glory with accessories. The reason I know for sure that she did is because I stole (yes, actually stole) her baby Glory’s crib blanket. You see, my baby Glory came on card and didn’t have her accessories and I loved that crib blanket. So, I took it. I still have it actually

And lastly, some replies to your questions Taffeta

Seaponies: I don’t know for sure which ones we had. What I can say is that we had them. We had the adults (not sure which sets) and we had babies. The only thing I know is that we had the US version of the Pretty ‘n Pearly set. I have Ripple as a childhood pony and she is the US-version.

Green/white Tootsie and Shady: I would say that green and white Tootsie is equally common second-hand. I see them both. A lot. Shady is also fairly common I think. She pops up every now and then. And she is often in childhood lots too.

[Shaz]

I have nothing productive to add to this discussion, but I just want to say that it is really interesting and I am loving seeing the adverts! 

[Taffeta]

Yay for more ads! These are brilliant (and thanks for the translation, too. Unfortunately my viking ancestry doesn't give me the power to read Norwegian or Swedish, sadly :/)

So, let's begin with the Elephant (or the pony) in the room...Bow Tie. She's in Leikin's Swedish ad and Katrine's norwegian one, so that makes it more than just a coincidence to me. It might be that in some ways your countries shared ponies and pictures like we shared them in later years with Germany, France, etc...BUT that seems convenient as these are different photo shoots. Bow Tie was in ponywear in Leikin's as well, but not the same outfit.

So, in the UK, Hasbro UK used the 1984 set (Bubbles etc) to advertise ponywear in the 1985 insert (all drawings, no photographs) but didn't advertise them as a set. I know they were still in stores around that time, it's pretty clear, because Hasbro UK never took old stuff off shelves if it was selling, and just added new things. But they didn't actively promote that set as a set after 1984. They also appear on Butterscotch's 1985 Gymkhana package (but not 1984 packaging, ironically). The way Bow Tie is used to advertise ponywear in both these ads makes me wonder if she's also old stock, like Katrine, you mentioned Cupcake etc.

So there are 2 options here as far as I can see, because she's definitely curly.

Either there was an import of curly Bow Tie in Scandinavian countries - at least, in Norway and in Sweden, apparently at different times, some years after Bow Tie was sold in the US.

OR

Bow Tie (and maybe Shy AJ) were sold on cards they weren't pictured on. So this leads me to ask the obvious question, given that we know there are at least 8 Fables on a card picturing 6...

Could AJ and Bow Tie (and maybe Green Tootsie) have all been sold on the Pony Friends card with Cupcake and co while not being pictured on that card?

With so little actual proof of MOC stuff this is just speculative. We didn't have the problem in the UK of ponies sold on cards they weren't pictured on unless Hasbro got it totally wrong and put a TE accidentally on a baby sea pony card in a factory glitch, so tracking sets is much easier. But since we know this happened in Scandinavia with the Fables (and I think with the set that had CP AJ and Bow Tie, because I think I remember you guys saying Hopscotch and Snowflake were on those cards too?)...is it possible?

Also, did white Tootsie happen over there in that 1985 set and green Tootsie maybe in the later one? Or was green Tootsie in the earlier set and white Tootsie not at all? I realised that's a blind spot for me, so while I'm on the subject...

The UK also had a habit of selling off old stock from the US in later years. We got US boxed Brush & Grows in 1991ish, even though they were out in the US in either 1988 or 1989 (I need to doublecheck that) and the carded BnGs were here in around 1989. I can't base assumptions on your countries on what happened in mine, but since there was such a close relationship between some of the things you had and the packaging and what we did, it's worth considering whether end of line year 3 ponies might have also made it to your part of the world through import.

Regarding the baby ponies! Oh dear. So Sweden had the set with baby Applejack (for sure) but Norway may not have done?  Thank you Hasbro. -.-. That makes things so much (less) helpful xD.

I don't want to fall into the trap of generalising all Scandinavian releases as the same as I know they are not, even if there is a strong relationship in some areas. I think what I am going to try to do is where there are distinct sets for either or both of your countries, I will list them and try and be accurate with their distribution. I am open to correction on European stuff at all points, because it is so different in some areas from what I grew up with - but I find it so interesting and I really want to get to grips with it as it's all part of the bigger picture in Europe.

Katrine, Megan & Sundance in the 1988 picture is the same as the set sold in the UK in 1987, if that is accurate. We had a set wearing the Country Jamboree outfit. There was some debate a few years ago about whether this actually got sold here, but I have found enough Country Jamboree outfits here (and we didn't have Megan and Ponywear) to believe in it. Then Goddessofpeep produced the backcard to the box, so we know for sure it did exist. But it's not as common as the other release, and I wonder if maybe either leftover versions trotted over to Norway in 1988, or you guys took the bulk of the stock because the first release here was still selling well in 1987... The only problem with that theory is that Sundance in the foreground is clearly wearing one of the other M&S wear outfits. Which suggests maybe they're just advertising ponywear, and the set itself is irrelevant :/

Going back to the beginning. Inception of MLP in Norway - circa 1986? Is that about right?
Leikin, for Sweden, is that the same or earlier/later?

(Also, that really is CP Bow Tie. She looks so much like Bluebelle I had to do a doubletake, but thankfully it's Bow Tie, so I don't have to start asking even more OMG questions!)

[Leikin]

You can come rummage my collection if I get to run away with your MOC Windy! (I am pretty sure it is you who has her *beady eyes*)...

That would be me, yes. How did you know? 

A lot of interesting information coming, thanks for the ads Katrine! I tried to my yesterday, but it seems I cannot directupload, so I have to find a good site for picture sharing, or would photobucket work if I just link the pics?

I guess it would make kind of sence with bowtie, as the shy pose AJ on my poster is curly hair as well. So maybe we got them both? If maybe we had the same set as in the US second year, with green Tootsie and those, and then later got the set with CP bowtie and AJ, with white tootsie, and then snowflake and Hopscotch added. I know we had Hopscotch here, my friend had her, and they never went abroad (And I was soo envious, as I loved her colours).  I also have CP Bowtie and Applejack on the same card as Hopscotch and I think they are are all bought in Sweden.  I also have green Tootsie on that card (I found out when digging through my boxes yesterday. I had completley forgot that I had her ) But that one I'm not sure if it comes from Sweden or not.

But I think both white and green Tootsie appears second hand here. Shady as well. But I dont think Shady appears any more then the others from the movie star set, and I assume she would, if she had been part of another set as well. On the other hand, Cupcake and Truly does not come up often either, so I dont know.. 

For the pony friends card, I have seen (except Truly and Cupcake) both Cherries Jubilee and Posey MOC, so at least we know they where sold on that card. It IS possible that Shy pose AJ and Bowtie where sold on that card, as both the fable set and pony set seems to include 8 ponies, so it wouldnt be that far fetched that tthe pony friends did as well. That might be an even better theory then that we had the US second set, as CJ, Tootsie , Posey And LS also seem to have come on the UK style cards. So that would maybe make more sense to add shy pose BOwtie and AJ to another set, making that 8 ponies, than to have two sets including the same ponies.

I agree that the babies seem to be the carded ones in your ad. Otherwise thoy would probably have showed som accessories more then just the bottle . Pity they dont show the prices otherwise that could have been a clue as well, as for my ads, the PnC sets are about 80kr (10$) more expensive then the ones I suspect are the carded version. So I assume it would not be so much in price difference if it where the same ponies ^^
I had PnC baby AJ as a child. I also had some of the other babies, but no accessories, so I'm pretty sure we had both. I also have MIB PnC AJ, bought from a swedish store so, Im positive about that one
But it could be true that we had different releases for Swe/Nor. (I remember I should check my carded Firefly for you Katrine, but havent dug up that box yet )

The adult clothing on the pic from 88 seems to be all US pony wear. I'm not sure we had any of them in Sweden, but If you had the US babies, maybe you got the clothes for US as well.
On the other hand, we also had the US pretty and pearly set. I had looking up Sunshower as a kid. So it seems we got some US stuff as well this is really anightmare to sort all out!

as for the beginning, I dont know really. The first ad I have dates back to 1986, and it doesnt mention it as something new, but the text tells us that now the ponies are celebrating a wedding in ponyland, which seems like they have been introduced before. Also, we had the Pretty Parlour, which is not part of any of my ads, and I would think that one predates the stable whos shows in the 86 catalogue. So maybe 85? or earlier 86 (as the catalogue was from the fall). Cant say for sure though, but it seems to have come somewhere before fall 1986 at least.

I like how they state that these are the real ones in the ad  Do you remember if it was common with fakies back then? ^^
And bad bad Katrine, who stole Glorys blanket!  Did your friend never notice? 

To make it even more confusing..    I'm following kitkatvintage on instagram and she was posting about the fable pony set recently, and wrote that it was sold in france as well, but without the addition of Powder and yellow moondancer.  I dont know if they had the same english cards, as I have never seen any with french language on them.

[katrine2309]

Ah, this is where it gets interesting and I’ll try to structure my answer as best as I can:

First, Bowtie: yes, she is the elephant in the room isn’t she I don’t think she was sold with the Pony friends, though. And after reading through what seems like a million posts at the swedish forum I am even more sure about it. There is a thread in there (a long one) trying to pin down all ponies sold in Sweden. Reading through it, I looked for anyone who confirmed to have a pony that could be connected to shy-pose Bowtie. I had a feeling you see, because I remember my neighbour had Cotton Candy. What I found was quite interesting. There was a confirmation on childhood ponies (bought in Sweden) for shy-pose Bowtie, CC Cotton Candy and Bubbles. That, combined with my own memories of Bowtie and Cotton Candy and the ads with shy-pose Bowtie I actually think she was sold here with her whole original set. And probably before 1986. But that is only a theory at this point

OK, second - seaponies: The PnP seaponies was sold both in Norway and Sweden for sure. I did find the toy brochure Leikin refers to from 1987 and the seapony that is being advertised is PnP Surf Rider. In the thread I mentioned from the swedish forum there are someone mentioning the first set of baby seaponies too, but there is no conclusion on this. I remember the adult seaponies from one of my friends house, but it is a fairly big consensus that the adults were never sold in Sweden. That might be the case in Norway as well(I might remember it wrong), or they were sold here but not in Sweden. I don’t really know.

Third, Megan and Sundance: I am fairly certain we did not get the release with the country jamboree outfit. I think they are promoting the ponywear. We did have the Megan and Sundance ponywear (I had country jamboree, flower darlings and the Beach outfit). I had Megan and Sundance as a kid (my sister did too) and they looked like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/katinthewoods/7545166214/in/album-72157630928483042/

What is stranger still though is that even though she is the US version, Sundance is NC. My sister’s is also NC. Weird? I think so at least.

 I don’t know that much about green Tootsie. We know that they were both sold here, and we know which card white Tootsie was sold on. But I don’t know which card green Tootsie came with... ? Maybe Leikin knows more about this? She was more involved in the swedish forum when all these discussions were ongoing still I’ll try to check if there is anything else I can find though.

[Leikin]

Haha, I'm also going though that thread on druvdalen.   But havent read through it yet, just a couple of pages. It's a pitty most of the images is gone though, and Rosses homepage, where she updated all the information. Maybe I can ask her if she still have it saved somewhere and can share it? She isnt collecting any longer, but I have her on facebook so I can ask if she have something or remembers something from back then. She did have a lot of Swedish sold MOCs back then too. She was one of the lucky few that lived close to that toystore that still sold new toys from the 80s.

I think the Megan and Sundance we has also was US clothes, but NC pony. Will see if I can find the pics from the swedish box, it it say anything of where they are made.

My MOC green Tootsie is on the same card as white Tootsie was sold on, but I cannot say for sure she was actually sold here, or if I got her from UK.

I think we have swayed away quite far from the original subject, But this is so interesting, so I dont mind Just keep it coming!!

[katrine2309]

Ah! I didn’t see your post, Leikin! Oooh- this is so interesting. We are swaying way off the original post- although it is loosely connected to Fables through mapping down Scandinavian releases

Hmm, it is interesting with green Tootsie. I loosely remember discussions on this being two different sets though. Although I dont think anything was really conclusive on this?

It would be great to get some of the information collected back then- you were all on a roll for a while, but then it just seemed to fade out. Do you know if Ponyland is collecting still? It seems she was really active in many of these discussions too?

[Taffeta]

Spoiler

I am on a train and will come post properly when I get home. But it is my thread and I am very happy with the OT. I will change the title when I get back to include more general about Scandinavian ponies and then it won't be OT at all!

Okay, back home now. I've changed the thread title hopefully so now nothing is off topic Because really this is the kind of information I want to know (and I love it, being a geek)

@Leikin - I don't remember, but I think it came up in a conversation because I was bemoaning how UK Windy never comes up MOC when I have money to afford her! She was my first pony, and I had only ever seen her on sale once, but someone said you had one, so there must be at least 2. Which is good I guess..?

Back on topic!

The start date thing is complicated here too. Hasbro told me 1985. They're wrong, because I have catalogue proof of pony stuff from 1983 (again, the Grooming Parlour/Pretty Parlor) in the Argos catalogue, then ponies in 1984 and cards marked 1984 as well which are distinctly different from 1985 (the Rainbow Ponies being one such). I also had Windy in December 1984 (see how I connected that to make it on topic? ) so I know they were there in 1984 in time for Christmas. So Hasbro's list starts at 1985, but they were selling stuff prior to that. Ponyland I remember had something about the FF here in 1983 from a catalogue, but I haven't seen this :/ I believe we just had straight imports for that set, though. There's a kind of embryonic card evolution that goes on which I won;t bore you with, but suffice it to say, that's what makes sense.

It also makes sense that there would be imports in other places too in maybe the early part of those years. We got US end of line stuff because it's in English, yay, easy instant market. But you guys had packages in English too, so that must have made you fair game as well for such exports. Unfortunately unless we find a MOC one with a price tag on it naming a store and a currency, it's going to be hard to prove one way or another.

You could have had Bubbles' set from the UK or on UK cards, like with CJ's set. Or you could've had US ones, but that would be going back to 1983, whereas in the UK that set were still out in 1985. If you didn't have your own backcards, of course. I know there are some in Danish for early Italian ponies, right? (And we are talking about HK Bubbles, right?) In any case, you couldn't have had curly shy Bow Tie from here, because we didn't have her. We had straight hair shy and curly hair CP. So that must have either been on a US card or a completely different release (either on an existing card, or a new one). Do you have straight haired shy Bow Tie over there at all? Because if not, it seems unlikely you had the set the UK or the US had  - at least not in its entirety.

Bow Tie is still the elepony in the room for me But that's interesting anyway.

@Katrine - if you had M&S pony wear then that's probably the explanation. I imagine NC Sundance because that was the only Sundance in production at the time. I am not convinced NC Sundance is Spanish. Not least because her box says otherwise. But your box must have been different from the box we had in 1986. I guess you got that outfit because they made a bunch of them. Interestingly on the Movie Star card megan is shown in her UK outfit I think. But she does appear somewhere in the Uk comic in her US dress. :/

@Leikin - the MOC CJ on the Pony Friends card was dark symbol curly hair? Is that what you said before? Trying to keep it all straight for when I finally get around to revamping 1987. I actually have that variation now, but she came to me from the Netherlands.

I have not yet found another country in Europe that had the UK release of baby sea ponies. So I love baby sea ponies and at one point it was my mission to get them all MOC (I ran out of money >.> and they stopped being so cheap, so that didn't happen) but I do have a weird range of them and I know that there's a fair bit of weird with the 2nd and 4th sets in release (but Watercolor it mostly relates to Germany and why the heck they had the same ponies on 2 styles of card both in German).

Back to the pearlies. In the UK we had these in 1987. Pretty sure about that as an accurate date. The US had them in 1986. I have Tiny Bubbles and Sunshower on UK cards from 1987. I have Sunshower and Surf Rider (?) on Benelux cards (although I was told by a Dutch collector that they didn't have them in the Netherlands, so that is a puzzle!) but they are US style ponies and US art on the cards. Now you guys say both Norway and Sweden also had the looking up US pose set. So I have no idea what Hasbro UK were doing. More weird is that there are TE ponies on the cards for UK pearly baby sea ponies, which I'm sure you guys have seen. These originally were sold (lots of them) on ebay from German sellers. Not UK ones. So yeah. I have no clue.

I am assuming the Rainbow Pony set was the ones on pretty vertical cards that we also didn't get (grr), not US imports? As Flutterbye is pictured then it seems logical to assume if that were the case, you had them on Flutterbye cards. Does Starflower show up second hand in either country?

Final thought. The MOC early German packaged ponies I have either have printed on the card "Das Original Hasbro Pony! or a sticker which says the same stuck on them (sometimes more than one).

Spoiler

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Hopser has a sticker, but on the 1988 card it's part of the thing:

Spoiler

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And they just went to town with Trixi xD

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I guess she was doubly genuine! It's interesting that this fixation with "genuine" timeline wise kind of coincides with your ads as well. Hopser being around 1986, I guess, and Trixi and Zuckersuss being 1988.


Perhaps there was a more thriving fakie market in parts of Europe than in the UK? I don't remember many fakies as a kid here. And our cards didn't bother with that, nor our advertising. Now there are tons of fakies since G3 and G4. But in G1? Not sure. We did see them at carboot sales, but they weren't a flood like they are now. And clearly not enough to bother Hasbro UK.

[katrine2309]

It seems to be I got a little overly excited yesterday regarding Bowtie I think you are absolutely right Taffeta. We might have gotten some early releases of i.e. Bubbles, but at this point it is really difficult to say unless a MOC shows up with a pricetag. And of course, our curly, shy Bowtie can’t be connected to that regardless, because as you say- it was the straight-haired version that was sold with Bubbles

Anyway, I did found yet another swedish collector saying she had shy- Bowtie as a kid. So it is starting to solidify that she was sold in Scandinavia. It is possible that she came on the Pony friends card, but another possibility is that she was an «upgrade» for the early earth ponies.

Something like this;

First release:
CP Bowtie
CP AJ
CJ (lighter symbols)
Tootsie (white or green?)
Posey (pink tulips)
Lickety (pink cones)

Then- upgrade:
Shy Bowtie
Shy AJ
Tootsie (green or white?)
Hopscotch
Snowflake

And then one or all of these might have transferred over as well.
CJ (upgrade?)
Posey (upgrade?)
Lickety (upgrade?)

So this is just a theory, and I don’t know enough yet about the LS, CJ and Posey releases to say anything about potential upgrades for them or if they stayed the same or were not included at all. I heard rumours that the darker symbols were also found on this card, and that there have been pointed out to be eight ponies in this set on an ad. But I have no proof of that yet.

Over to another set, Pony Friends:
The darker symbols were sold on the Pony Friends card, incl dark symbol CJ I think. I didn’t find anything to confirm other than posts from Ponyland. So we need to confirm with something else to be completely sure. Do we have an overview over the ponies we believe was in this set? If there were three sets of early earth ponies overlapping it would make sense that they continued on with some of the same releases, as they did in previous releases.

The Fables it seems was the only release here of early unis and pegs, until the Movie Stars arrived. I think we have a good overview of that set. However, what is interesting though is that looking through the swedish forum yesterday I came across a picture with lots of MOCs from the store-find in Sweden a couple of years ago. There was quite clearly a Sparkler on a US uni & peg card. Confused yet? I think however this isn’t as weird as one would think. It makes sense that we would get some left-over US stock, and it would explain why I knew about ponies such as Medley and Glory pre-movie, pre-TV show and pre-Norwegian cartoon. It would also explain why the US uni & peg card always gave me a spark of recognition.

The Rainbow ponies is another story. We actually had them on both cards apparently. I know I saw one with Moonstone on the horisontal card in that picture with the MOC lot. Reading through the swedish forum though there seems to be consensus that they also were sold on the vertical cards. We did have Starflower. She has been confirmed as a childhood pony by several swedish collectors,and I’ve seen her in lots both in Norway and Sweden. Although not often. Interestingly enough, I think it was you Leikin (?) who pointed out that Moonstone had been seen advertised with this set instead of Starflower? But we did have all of them, both first and second set.

Puh! I have more thoughts on this, but my head needs a break

[Taffeta]

Two quick observations...

Moonstone is on the Flutterbye vertical card. Not Starflower. She is on a different card. Without Flutterbye.

Also to muddle things more. I had a bunch of packaging from here in the UK from someone 's childhood collection. All bought in the UK. It included 4 rainbow cards. Starshine, Skydancer and Moonstone (vertical UK 1984 style) ans Sunlight...which is US. I checked with the owner who confirmed they had no ponies sent from the US. So it seems we might have had some rainbow imports too. Just not the missing set. ..

[Leikin]

@Leikin - I don't remember, but I think it came up in a conversation because I was bemoaning how UK Windy never comes up MOC when I have money to afford her! She was my first pony, and I had only ever seen her on sale once, but someone said you had one, so there must be at least 2. Which is good I guess..?

I actually got her on UK Ebay maybe less then a year ago   Unfortunately I'm not planning on selling her in the nearest future, but will keep you in mind if I I ever decide to let her go

Just a short update from me on some points. Others I will check when back home, where I have all my pictures saved.

For the early years earth ponies I have seen 8 different characters on card,
CP Applejack
CP Bowtie
Lickety Split (Both dark and light cones)
Posey (both dark and light Tulips)
Tootsie (both green and white)
Cherries Jubilee, curly hair (cant say what colour on her cherries right now though)
Hopscotch
Snowflake

Pictured on my poster is also 8 earth ponies, same characters as above, with green tootsie (not white) But with Shy pose curly hair applejack instead of CP applejack. But I have never seen the shy pose on that card.  I think it says 86 on the cards, but that doesnt neccecerly mean anything more than they where not sold before 86 at least

Katrine with the lot of mocs pictured, do you mean the one with yellow moondancer MOC in the pile? I think that the person had others in that as well, not only what was foun in that store, but what they may have bought otherwise as well, as there are a few that seems to not belong to Sweden (there was a TE on a seaponycard in there as well, and I think Tafetta said that they alre originated from Germany)

The Rainbow ponies I belive we had both vertical and horisontal cards. In my brochyre from 87 I think, which is mentioned in the swedish thread, Moonstone is pictured with the second set of rainbows, instead of starflower. As She rarely shows up second hand, while the other rainbows from that set does quite often, I raised the question if she had been sold at all in Sweden (maybe you have seen that thread as well Katrine?).  But several people confirmed to have had her as a child, so she must have been. My theory is that she was sold on the horisontal cards, same as in US. Most of my MOC 2 set rainbows came from that Swedish store with old stock, so they are sweden sold. 
Another collector who had a lot of MOCs from someone who had collected them in Sweden back in the 80s, had several of the vertical card 2 set rainbows, so we had those as well. Aaand, finally, a few weeks ago, another swedish collector shared her pics from her childhood collection, with a vertical card 2nd set rainbow, with Moonstones name on it. So, If we had both sets, and on the vertical cards, Starflower was replaced by Moonstone, that would explain why starflower is so much harder to find second hand here, then the rest of the set.
For the first set of rainbows, I dont know if we had them all, or just a few rereleases. I have not seen any of the vertical carded ones here in Sweden, and the only horisontal carded one from that set, that I got from the Swedish store, is Moonstone, on a second set US rainbow card, so she must have been part of ther rereleased for the second set. 
I only had 2nd set rainbows as a child, but I know some have had Windy at least, my cousin had Parasol and some seem to pop up second hand as well, but they might be part of rerelease with the others, and not part of the first set.

[Taffeta]

So for rainbow confusion clarity, I realise these are both Spanish cards but I have the Starflower one in German as well. I have only ever seen the Flutterbye one in English but it doesn't mean the other one doesn't exist as well. But for some reason there are 2 set formations at work here :/

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The Spanish cards are dated 1986 and 1988 respectively and the accessories differ, but again, that's the Spanish release. I guess that Starflower being less common may mean that you had both these sets on English card but fewer of the latter one...but I'm just speculating based on the probability you had the Flutterbye set. Moonstone, as you see, is on that card If you had 2 releases of Rainbows but Moonstone only appeared in one and Starflower only appeared in one, that would make both harder to find than the others, right?

I don't know how Parasol might or might not fit into that.

[katrine2309]

For the early years earth ponies I have seen 8 different characters on card,
CP Applejack
CP Bowtie
Lickety Split (Both dark and light cones)
Posey (both dark and light Tulips)
Tootsie (both green and white)
Cherries Jubilee, curly hair (cant say what colour on her cherries right now though)
Hopscotch
Snowflake

Pictured on my poster is also 8 earth ponies, same characters as above, with green tootsie (not white) But with Shy pose curly hair applejack instead of CP applejack. But I have never seen the shy pose on that card.  I think it says 86 on the cards, but that doesnt neccecerly mean anything more than they where not sold before 86 at least

This is interesting, and it in some ways supports the theory that this set was released, then re-released:

First: CP Bowtie, CP AJ, CJ (paler symbols), Tootsie (green or white?), Posey (pink tulips), Lickety (pink cones).

Re-release: shy Bowtie, shy AJ, CJ (darker symbols), Tootsie (green or white?), Posey (magenta), Lickety (magenta), Hopscotch, Snowflake.

I’m excited about this! *looking forward to hours of time spent to try to prove this theory* I also did see that Ponyland  talked about this as two sets, but I can’t find anything specific as to why she also came to that conclusion. She talks about «new information» that proves it, but never what that information is. I haven’t seen anyone putting shy Bowtie or AJ into this set though (but then again, they are mysterious and elusive).

Katrine with the lot of mocs pictured, do you mean the one with yellow moondancer MOC in the pile? I think that the person had others in that as well, not only what was foun in that store, but what they may have bought otherwise as well, as there are a few that seems to not belong to Sweden (there was a TE on a seaponycard in there as well, and I think Tafetta said that they alre originated from Germany)

Ah well, that explains a lot. However, I have mostly looked at the Pony Friends and Fable set. Are we certain that those at least are from the swedish store? I was under the impression that we could assume they were? Or should I disregard that photo altogether do you think?

I raised the question if she had been sold at all in Sweden (maybe you have seen that thread as well Katrine?). 

Yes, that was the thread I meant. Is it you that have that brochure by the way? It is awesome! The artwork is really good- I am a little jealous of that one

I only had 2nd set rainbows as a child, but I know some have had Windy at least, my cousin had Parasol and some seem to pop up second hand as well, but they might be part of rerelease with the others, and not part of the first set.

Yes, I have also found both Moonstone, Starshine, Parasol and several Windy’s second-hand. I remember my neighbour had Parasol and Skydancer. My friend had Starshine. I can’t say for sure if the first set was released here, but I think it was more than just a few lest-over stock. I do find too many of them second-hand. Not as many as say, Flutterbye, but still... Also, it is the ads with Parasol from 86-87 from Norway. It seems to me that the rainbows were released together with the early earth ponies. They might have released them all together in 1986 of course, but that seems odd since the swedish toy Catalogue from 87 specifies six rainbow ponies. It is of course also possible that this set was released differently in Norway and Sweden. They did with the PnC babies from that year, so perhaps they did with the rainbows too? Is Parasol used in swedish ads from 86-87?

@Taffeta: I’ve never seen those two backcards before! So fun to see! It is possible that they did a switch like this. It would explain why Starflower is so rare here. Although, I notice that they also switched Parasol with Flutterbye. I don’t know with Sweden, but both of those are very common to find second-hand over here. Flutterbye is perhaps the pony I find most of. She is always there wouldn’t a switch in sets like this imply that Parasol and Flutterbye would be difficult to find too?

Edit: The set with Flutterbye on the Spanish card is the exact same set advertised in your brouchure, Leikin! That was a very big coincidence to just be a random thing! Would it be possible that we had three releases of rainbows? First set of rainbows, and then these two? But you mentioned something about set 2 rainbows on horizontal cards, Leikin?

[LadyMoondancer]

Third, Megan and Sundance: I am fairly certain we did not get the release with the country jamboree outfit. I think they are promoting the ponywear. We did have the Megan and Sundance ponywear (I had country jamboree, flower darlings and the Beach outfit). I had Megan and Sundance as a kid (my sister did too) and they looked like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/katinthewoods/7545166214/in/album-72157630928483042/

What is stranger still though is that even though she is the US version, Sundance is NC. My sister’s is also NC. Weird? I think so at least.

Looks like you got "So-Soft Megan" (the version released with SS Sundance in the US).  SS Megan has stronger eyeshadow than NSS Megan.

First release:

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Second release:

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