Grooming/Pretty Parlour name cards... Minty in UK?

[Artemesia's Garden]

Hi, I have two sets of name cards in different styles. One set has a thicker type font and the other has a thinner type font, each set has a different pattern of symbols on them as well. Some of those with a thinner type font are double-sided. I keep buying these cards (addicted), but I only want to keep one set and pass on the spares. Does anyone have pictures of sets of cards and where they were bought/found at all? I don't mind if they are low res. Many thanks in advance. If I find out which set most likely came with my original UK Grooming parlour I will have some spares and others for re-homing.

UPDATE I found this really great thread, thank you Ashlyne: http://www.mlptp.net/index.php?threads/pretty-parlor-name-tags-from-around-the-world.84567/

There are more here, thank you Chrissytree: https://mylittleponyaccessories.weebly.com/page-4-poof-n-puff---school.html
And I will also be checking this one as well: http://www.mlparena.com/archive/Forums/viewtopic/p=810248.html

As an aside, this is quite a simple explanation of FF/CF releases of the Collector Pose ponies in the UK: http://www.ghostofthedoll.co.uk/mylittlepony-1.php#collector... not sure who to thank here. CP Bowtie and Applejack are explained here, thank you Taffeta: http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/1985_earthponies.htm

[Taffeta]

So just to add to the CF/FF ponies here in the UK...

All the FF were sold here, probably on US import cards, in 1983. I have spoken to people who remember them and had them and I think Ponyland has the UK promo material for them. They're also quite common here.

As GotD notes, the CF ponies in the UK worked like this:
Blossom & CC (1984 Earth Pony set)
Butterscotch (1984 and 1984 Gymkhana)
Snuzzle (1987 parlour)

Additional to this, Bluebelle was sold in Argos in 1984 and 1985. Not the rest of the set, just Bluebelle.

Snuzzle was also sold as a freebie in 1985(?) with the Baby Bow Tie stroller in Argos (Store exclusive as far as I can tell).

I've yet to find a means by which Minty was sold here as a CF, and I have only found her once, but I am sure there was a method. I just don't have proof of it right now.

Basically they were all around in 1984-5 except Snuzzle who ran over to 1987. I have a theory that this was how Hasbro got rid of excess MO Collector Ponies from the US, by inventing ways to sell them in the UK

As you noted, AJ and Bow Tie are from 1985 but they are separate from these as part of a different set.

I'm glad you resolved your problem with the parlour tags.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I've yet to find a means by which Minty was sold here as a CF, and I have only found her once, but I am sure there was a method. I just don't have proof of it right now.

Basically they were all around in 1984-5 except Snuzzle who ran over to 1987. I have a theory that this was how Hasbro got rid of excess MO Collector Ponies from the US, by inventing ways to sell them in the UK

Thank you! I'm glad you replied to this thread I decided to keep the thinner single sided cards. I also have a full USA set which I'm keeping because it includes Minty!

The bit on GOTD that I found very interesting is this:

Collectors Ponies

"Do you remember Cotton Candy, Blossom, Minty, Snuzzle, Blue Belle, and Butterscotch? They remember you!"

In early 1986 the six Original Ponies from Year 1 were re-issued as a special offer, which was available for two years in various forms. They had regular concave feet (rather than flat like the originals) and were a slightly different shape to fit in with the current design.

Blossom and Cotton Candy had already returned in Year 2's Earth Ponies, whilst Butterscotch was previously sold in Year 2's UK "Gymkhana" playset. Snuzzle would be later sold with the UK re-issue of the "Grooming Parlour" playset in Year 5.

So according to GOTD there was a re-issue of Cotton Candy, Blossom, Minty, Snuzzle, Blue Belle, and Butterscotch sold as a 'special offer' in 1986 and according to thier description and photos they came packaged exactly the same way as USA mail order. I compared the "poster" on GOTD with the USA MO one and it's exactly the same.  It's good that we have found scans of the Argos catalogues and can verify that Blue Belle was sold through argos and that extra Snuzzles were sold with the stroller as well. But it's a shame that we don't know anything about Minty. Could it be telling that there is no Parlour name tag for her among the UK sets? So I wondered whether it's possible that Minty was sold in the UK but only in USA MO packaging in 1986/7. Last year I bought a cellophane bag with an insert, comb and ribbon for Minty from a UK-based ebay seller who didn't realise that it was the exact same packaging as USA mail order. She just sold it as 'accessories for Minty'. She wasn't very chatty though unfortunately.

I also want to know whether that quote on GOTD is from a TV advert and in which case where they saw it?!! Finally, just to say I don't remember anyone having Minty when I was a kid and I'm really curious about this now.

[Taffeta]

I wish I could say decisively if we had that MO offer or not. I have no paperwork for it but I can believe that we might have had excess stock from the mail order sold here. I am just not sure how. I know a flier exists for Ember in the UK and for Lucky, but not for the collector ponies...

I was too young in 1986 (only 4) sigh. But you make a great point about the tag and the fact you mention it makes me wonder too.

The Minty question is one I am still working on xD.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Thank you for making this thread! Having acquired the Pretty Parlor recently, I've been wanting to replicate the official name cards for all who have them and do up homemade name cards for those who don't. This is a big help since now I know who all had an official one.

[Artemesia's Garden]

Thank you for making this thread! Having acquired the Pretty Parlor recently, I've been wanting to replicate the official name cards for all who have them and do up homemade name cards for those who don't. This is a big help since now I know who all had an official one.

You're very welcome, initially no-one replied and I had a moment of doubt thinking maybe I'm being really boring  but I love details and I know Taffeta does, too.  I'd love to see your homemade name cards. They will be fun to design. I found that standard PVA glue gives a similar finish to the USA cards and Aileen's Tacky Glue gives a more matte finish like the UK cards.

Post Merge: April 09, 2019, 10:17:19 AM

I wish I could say decisively if we had that MO offer or not. I have no paperwork for it but I can believe that we might have had excess stock from the mail order sold here. I am just not sure how. I know a flier exists for Ember in the UK and for Lucky, but not for the collector ponies...

I was too young in 1986 (only 4) sigh. But you make a great point about the tag and the fact you mention it makes me wonder too.

The Minty question is one I am still working on xD.

So the grail would be to find a special offer flyer or tv advert corresponding to the info on GOTD. I guess we can only keep a look out!

[Taffeta]

I tend to assume the info on GoTD is international, thus the comments about the MO ponies apply to the US line but not specifically to the UK. GoTD is somewhat better regarding UK stuff than a lot of the mainstream sites but I am not certain that they're trying to say we had those as MO ponies, just that they were released as MO ponies somewhere.

My instinct is that there's no real evidence for it in 1986. Chrissytree did dig out a trail for Ember which we'd long expected had happened here, but it's easy to explain most of the CF versions of the collector ponies through other releases. While I think probably a lot of these may have been surplus MO ponies, I think we'd have found some evidence if an offer had happened in 1986. Just, I can't 100% rule it out, because stuff has appeared before that changes our understanding.

I think the fact the collector ponies are obscure here helps the case against. Also, I know the wording on GoTD reflects the wording on the US flier for the mail order, thanks to Unicorn's scans some months back...

So right now I think we didn't have them via MO here.

But I am always open to evidence proving otherwise

I am certain we had Flat Foot Minty. I would really love to find a paper trail for Concave Foot Minty in the UK. Challenge issued

[lunar_scythe]

I can throw another twist in for you... Collector Pose ponies of the main six were ALSO sold on the same cards, and with the same combs, as the FF ones in the US; so if US imports were sold for the FF ones, the same could be true of the CP ones. I assume these were sold in 1983 in the US, after the flat foot versions but before year 2, but I have no proof.

I have seen(and sold) Snuzzle and Blossom(with the comb, not the brush she had with the year 2 set), and still own 2 MOC concave foot Blue Belles.

[Taffeta]

Yeah. That is the other problem. I genuinely don't know and can't prove whether that happened here or not.

All I know for sure is that we had the FF ponies (Ponyland kindly posted the ad for that in the early UK ponies thread)...enough of them show up here to be evidence we had them officially.

But 5 of the other 6 can be explained through other releases without the need for the CF carding.

Blossom and Cotton Candy via the 1984 earth set release
Butterscotch via Gymkhana in 1984 and 1985
Bluebelle sold in Argos in 1984 and 1985 as a solo pony (maybe on that card!)
Snuzzle sold in Argos with the Baby Bow Tie Stroller (1985) and with the Snuzzle Grooming Parlour (1987).

Minty is the missing one. Minty is also the rarest. But I don't have much data in how much she shows up (CF) here.

Blossom and Cotton Candy obviously came on card but not the same card, that's pretty easy to prove as I have Blosson's card from 1984. It has the CP pony art on the front but the 1984 earth set on the back.

Butterscotch came in a narrow, flat box, not on a backcard, with the accessories, both in 1984 and 1985, though the boxes are different.

Bluebelle - no idea. Only have Argos catalogue which only mentions the accessories also available with the MO. Argos shows loose items and was a catalogue store, so this evidence is probably lost.

Snuzzle - also no idea. I can guess with the parlour she was sold just with the playset like Peachy, as the box is edited up for her and it's officially her playset. It is possible the Baby Bow Tie Argos exclusive set had her on card, but just as likely she came in a baggie as an extra freebie.

Minty...>????

Goibng back to the topic of this thread, I've never found a FF Peachy in the UK. And the UK box is dated 1983, but it is a UK box (I think Bluebelle may be on that as well, actually...can't remember offhand) not a US reprint. And the tags being different is also interesting.

We know the Parlour came out first here in Autumn of 1983. It's in the 1983 Argos catalogue. It's possible it had names of ponies other than the first six because the next release was going to be Bow Tie's set in 1984 and so it had those names along with others from 1984 like Lemon Drop and Butterscotch (I think.). Whether there was ever an imported parlour here with the first six pony tags I don't know. But I've never heard of one being found here.

And the lack of a Minty card makes me wonder...again...whether the FF ponies were as much part of Hasbro UK's project or a trial run to test the market for a proper release of Bow Tie and company in 1984...

I also think it's hard to classify tags by parlour except for Snuzzle's.

Peachy's parlour was released in the UK in 1983.
Then again in 1984.
Then again in 1985
Then again in 1986
Then Snuzzle's parlour happened in 1987.
Then Kiss Curl's parlour happened in 1988.
And in 1989.
And possibly was still on sale in 1990.

KC's parlour obviously has just the one general tag. But I am fairly sure the tags got updated at intervals to reflect the ponies on sale at the same time.

Probably the single sided ones are first, but some of the doublesided ones also come with Peachy's parlour.

[lunar_scythe]

Random side question... sorta OT, but have stickers of Blue Belle, Minty, Butterscotch, and Snuzzle ever been found? 

Since all later ponies came with stickers, that's another way to tell what set they are from; the MOC Blossom I had came on the FF backcard(front and backside both), comb and ribbon, no sticker.

[Taffeta]

To just prove the UK makes less sense than anything ever in pony terms. Although the UK had puffy stickers longer than the US did, not all ponies in 1984-5 had them.

Snuzzle has a sticker (round, puffy) from the 1987 parlour.

The others don't.

Butterscotch's Gymkhana didn't have a sticker in 1984 or 1985 as far as I am aware. Chrissytree would know for sure but I am pretty sure.

But nor did Baby Bow Tie's stroller in 1985 or the adult sea ponies in the UK which were also 1984/5.

So yeah. Only Snuzzle.

It's a good question though...because it increases the possibility of them being surplus MO ponies or imports of US carded ones without stickers...

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Thank you for making this thread! Having acquired the Pretty Parlor recently, I've been wanting to replicate the official name cards for all who have them and do up homemade name cards for those who don't. This is a big help since now I know who all had an official one.

You're very welcome, initially no-one replied and I had a moment of doubt thinking maybe I'm being really boring  but I love details and I know Taffeta does, too.  I'd love to see your homemade name cards. They will be fun to design. I found that standard PVA glue gives a similar finish to the USA cards and Aileen's Tacky Glue gives a more matte finish like the UK cards.

I was thinking of spraying them with gloss clear-coat after mounting them to cardboard, to match the Peachy tag that came with the reissue parlor

[Artemesia's Garden]

Taffeta, I think I searched for UK stuff on GOTD but then strayed back into USA related stuff, just being a bit too hopeful! I don't know why I never collected the flat foot ponies, but I have all the common UK/USA CP CF ponies. For now I will just have to assume my CF Minty is from the USA, and it's nice that she has a feasible pack and accessories to go with her if so.

Lunar Scythe stickers are definitley worth adding to the story! I love stickers. You probably already know but here were also some packs of glittery puffy sticker sets sold in the UK seperate from ponies. They feature Peachy, Blossom, Lemon Drop and Bubbles but not Minty as far as I know. I have quite a few but can't be sure I have a complete set.

Zelda, that sounds lovely, can't wait to see them. I love seeing retro/repro/custom stuff that people make.

[Taffeta]

So long as you don't mind the thread deviation, Artie, I think the whole issue of lack of representation in media is probably extremely relevant.

I mention a lot the purple Minty in the fact file and it isn't the only mistake (Pinwheel is an earth pony, Honeycomb is a unicorn, etc) but it's just that she's so obscure and then there she is in purple. When I first found Minty at the carboot sale I didn't know she was Minty, because she was green.

As a kid I didn't know who Minty, Bluebelle, Snuzzle or Butterscotch were. This in spite of the fact I had my first ponies in 1984 and 1985 and was choosing my own ponies by 1987. They were the weird odd ponies in the fact file I hadn't heard of. Ironically I knew who Glory, etc were even though they were not sold here. But not Butterscotch who had 2 years with the Gymkhana.

They're none of them ever in the comics. (Nor is Cascade, though, I also didn't know who she was as a kid). I think Cascade is in the first annual but I never had that as a child. I can't remember if Butterscotch is.

One of the arguments for the retros not coming to Europe was the general idea from Hasbro UK that they wouldn't have nostalgia for UK and Europeans because the rainbows were more well known. I argued the case for Cotton Candy, Blossom and Butterscotch because I felt they were probably known and remembered, but in truth, Hasbro UK were probably right.

Hasbro didn't make much if any effort to promote the original 6. I had no idea they were the original 6 till I found DV in 1997. Whereas in the US they not only were the original 6, kids were constantly reminded of it by the mail order issue, "remember us?"

Of course none of this rules out CF Minty being sold here. I have found the CF one here once, and you bought yours from someone here, so it doesn't rule it out. The problem is that, if, like Bluebelle, she was a store exclusive that was only sold in a particular chain, we don't have the evidence. We know about Bluebelle because of the Argos catalogues. We don't have much equivalent surviving for other stores which, in general, didn't use catalogues to promote their stock :/

[Artemesia's Garden]

So long as you don't mind the thread deviation, Artie, I think the whole issue of lack of representation in media is probably extremely relevant.

No I like it

When I first found Minty at the carboot sale

Wow!!

The problem is that, if, like Bluebelle, she was a store exclusive that was only sold in a particular chain, we don't have the evidence. We know about Bluebelle because of the Argos catalogues. We don't have much equivalent surviving for other stores which, in general, didn't use catalogues to promote their stock :/

Just wondering about Woolworths...