1987 Argos Catalogue!

[Noasar]

My friend just tagged me in this on Facebook...

https://www.totgu.com/have-a-look-at-the-1987-argos-catalogue/

Look at the ponies!! £24.95 for a Dream castle! What a bargain!

What I wouldn’t give to own a time machine 

[LadyMoondancer]

I love, absolutely LOVE, old catalogs!  Seeing the ponies and playsets all new and neatly brushed . . . remembering how excited I would get pouring over the catalogs as a kid . . . <3

Just remember that inflation means they weren't too much of a bargain.  The castle cost the equivalent of £67 in today's GBP.  Yikes!!  (But who am I kidding, I'd totally pay that much for it brand new, lol.)

Wow, was Princess Sapphire the only princess offered through mail order?  Does that mean she is a bit more common than the other princesses in the UK?

Also, did anyone get ponies through these catalogs as a kid?  In the US you could get ponies through Sears and a few other catalogs. If you got, for example, Applejack through the catalog, Applejack would be the exact same pony as a "store-bought" Applejack BUT she did not come on a blister card. Instead she came in a box, and the box was decorated with images from the backcard.  The pony inside was in a baggie with her accessories, similar to what you'd see with 'true' mail order ponies (like Baby Lucky etc.)

I'm curious if UK catalog-order ponies also came in boxes, or if they had the same packaging as store-bought ponies.

[glitterball]

Ah, I ordered the Grooming Parlour with Peachy from this very catalogue!

80s Argos catalogues worked like this:

you browse the catalogue at home or in-store.
You then go to the store, fill-in a little paper form with the catalogue codes of the items you want.
You pay at the cash desk.
They print your receipt - and a letter (e.g. A, B or C) to tell you where to stand at the collection point, along with your order number.
You stand and wait for the conveyor belt to deliver your goodies and the assistant to check them off your receipt.
Then off you go, with your goodies!

^ this is what I did with some birthday money that I had saved - I went especially into town with my babysitter to buy my Peachy! I felt so grown up!  ah, happy days 


ETA -
these were, to my knowledge, the same packaging as regular store-bought items, but may have come in an extra cardboard box just for protection when stored in the warehouse behind the scenes.

[Taffeta]

I've been using Argos images and info a lot on my site over the years and it's really interesting not only to see the price changes between years but also the ponies they had and the fact they didn't always have full sets but often specific ponies from a set, eg Snowflake, Princess Sapphire, etc. I think the earliest pony reference I have found in the catalogues is 1983 which is a Hasbro prototype parlour (I know we've had a discussion about that before though). I have a few Index scans as well but Index didn't last as long....

Unfortunately because there aren't many stores like this there's limited evidence left behind. I have a few price labels on backcards which gives some idea of prices in different stores but that's kind of haphazard and even if kids kept backcards, often if they were presents price tags may not still be attached. Argos is really good because MLP is basically in every catalogue from 1983 to the early 1990s and that's more than one catalogue a year, often. And there are a lot of people out there who COLLECT this kind of catalogue. That means the evidence has survived where other store information hasn't. As a historian I appreciate that fact

You really get a sense for whether the sales and the ponies available match up with Hasbro's information or what we remember. Argos prices were generally a little lower than the market recommended price I think. And their release years for certain ponies don't entirely match up with what was meant to be going on in that year which just proves that MLP in the UK didn't really have any organisation xD.

Argos are also good because most of their images are taken themselves, not from catalogues. So they show the real thing...

@LM, Argos isn't like Sears. It's a catalogue shop but it isn't mail order. What happens is that you fill in a slip with the code for the pony and then go and pay at the till. You then get a receipt and they fetch it from the storeroom. Argos still works this way now, albeit the selection process is digital rather than pen and paper (sadly!).

 Towards the end of MLP it was "one supplied" so you would get a random pony from the set and it still is that way, but as the early catalogues show, it wasn't always that way. Up to around 1988 or 1989 they selected particular ponies from the set to market. So they had one set of twins, and a couple of flutters, and one Princess pony, apparently!

Argos also sometimes had unique exclusive offers like Snuzzle with the Baby Bow TIe stroller. I don't know how this was packaged. All ponies that came from Argos normally came on normal cards or in normal boxes, they're no different from other store releases. But I don't know about the Snuzzle/Baby Bow Tie one because I'm not sure at this point how they were packaged. Argos is the only evidence I have for Bluebelle CF being sold in the UK and she was sold through Argos at least 2 years running, but again, I don't know about her packaging. They may have been carded or may have been left overs from the US mail order.

HOWEVER my parents definitely got some of my childhood ponies from Argos. Mum remembers on one occasion getting them to pull up all the ones they had in stock and then choosing which one she knew I wanted. I am guessing by process of elimination that was probably Songster and her packaging was entirely normal. I think it likely my Sapphire also came from Argos as my parents really struggled to find Princess ponies in stores and she's the only one I had as a kid. It's also possible my Secret Surprise pony came this way, because I had never heard of them before I got one, and they are in the 1992 catalogue. Again, her packaging is normal.

[Nymphmews]

Ohhh what I would give for those mlp bedsheets and blanket on the fourth page!

I used to sit with the Argos catalogue and cut out all the items I wanted and stick them in a little scrapbook haha. I’m sure I’m not the only one

[Taffeta]

Ohhh what I would give for those mlp bedsheets and blanket on the fourth page!

I used to sit with the Argos catalogue and cut out all the items I wanted and stick them in a little scrapbook haha. I’m sure I’m not the only one

I absolutely did this too. Unfortunately I have never found any of them, so I must have thrown them all out All the Argos and Index scans I have are digitised...:/

Edit to add: Apparently that one is from Autumn/Winter 1987, so in time for Christmas 1987 I guess? The Spring/Summer catalogue has Water Lily and Megan and Sundance in Country Jamboree instead which suggests something of a stock turnover in this short period of time? There are also some from the 1986 line there too...

Spoiler

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Also, apparently Dream Castle was £22.95 in 1986, so £24.95 is a rip off!

[CinnamonOnions]

Oohh this is so sweet and interesting to go trough!! Thanks for sharing. (:
Even though I grew up in the early 2000s, this still manages to bring some nostalgia as I can spot some things I had/wanted as a kid on this catalogue and I grew up in a house that had barely changed in thirty years.

[Shaz]

Me, scrolling through: 'Oh, wow, Pound Puppies! Keypers! PONIES! '. I totally want one of those MLP satchels.

I'm too young to have seen G1 ponies in Argos, but I do remember visiting the shop and filling out the paper forms so I feel quite nostalgic!

[mlp4me]

Ah, memories...

[BethyVic]

Thank you for sharing, I love looking at he catalogs from when I was a kid. I loved looking through the pages and circling everything I wanted. I usually got a few of them. But it was fun to pretend I might get all of them.

[Foxtale]

I love old ads!