Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard

[pandabear_chan]

I'm not really sure if Skates is an early name for Speedy. I second that the name doesn't relate to Speedy at all. Maybe she was considered in the second set of TE ponies?

It occacionally appeared on more backcards that non-released ponies were partially included. For example look at the backcard story of Love Letter. Do you see the name I mean?

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When I have time I may turn these "namely-only-known" ponies without a life into an actual custom pony...
I personally find it very cool giving them a life when they were considered in a backcard at least.

[Lilja]

Although the idea that a not-real pony should not appear in a backcard story is kind of null and void when you consider "Bobby" (Sweet Kisses Ponies' card)

It's of course not impossible for Hasbro to add a "backcard story only" pony, but I don't think it's likely under these specific circumstances. For one thing, Hasbro UK stories from 1993-94 don't work quite the same as Hasbro US stories from the '80s. They weren't used to cross-sell ponies from other sets as much (but a few exceptions exist). The Sweet Kisses backcard story added a character to emphasize the romance theme (and there was no suitable toy at the time to be used as a love interest), not to advertise another toy. There is no need to invent a new character just for two ponies to go ice skating. Any pony could've worked, but I guess they thought Speedy was the most suitable of the upcoming releases at the time.

I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for Speedy to be versed in ice skating as well as roller skating. Not every backcard story connects to the pony's symbol perfectly, and this story is meant to highlight Twist, not Speedy. But it's possible whoever wrote the story just picked "Skates" from a list of names and didn't realize the pony was roller skate themed.

Speculations are fun, and I understand it's more exciting to think we have another mystery pony on our hands, rather than just an alternative name for an existing pony. But it just doesn't seem very plausible to me. Having a pony named Skates and a pony with a roller skate symbol in the same set, and they're not the same pony... seems unlikely. Even having a roller skate themed pony and an ice skate themed pony at the same time sounds doubtful to me. Furthermore, why would they make Twist's story be about ice skating if there were plans for an ice skate pony? Shouldn't that have been the focus of her own story then? It's not impossible of course, but not the guess I would've gone with based on what we have.

[Taffeta]

It's not common, agreed. It's not actually common on any backcard, let alone the US ones. Although there are exceptions, like Bobby and like the unnamed mother ponies for the newborn twins. As I mentioned before, the examples in the UK are often ponies that did exist, but which Hasbro failed to eradicate from the story before releasing it here. I know that there's some examples of them changing the names - I think it's Love Melody..? or Lollipop? Who appears in Fifi's hair salon story in the place of whichever pony was originally there - maybe Taffy. But the Perfume Puff Palace story I am fairly sure still has an intruder in it, and I know Sugar Sweet's story has Lemon Treats in it. Still, those ponies do exist, so it's a different problem.

That said, unless Speedy's concept changed dramatically, or the backcard team had the wrong end of the stick with her concept, the story is awkward in its emphasis on ice skating. So at best it indicates a communication issue or a change of pony concept between this point and actual production.

Although there are not many examples of non-existent ponies in media, we also can't rule them out based on what we know did exist and was produced. We just don't have enough evidence to say for sure.

I did a quick hunt on the net for catalogue images of Speedy but I can't find any from the correct release. By the time Snuzzle's parlour came out here she was already out in the US and already "Speedy", so that doesn't help (the tags for Storm and Frosty came with that release, but they are officially 1987).

I would assume Prince Shy-One was probably a non-pony character, based on how common these are in backcard stories. I flipped through some of my own backcards and the non-pony characters are also somewhat common in the US stories as well. Often things like the moon and the stars and so on, but there's the nameless girl in Glory's story, among others.

It is also possible that when the story says 'the other ponies', it could mean other than Twist, rather than Twist and Skates. If Skates was a non-pony character then the theme etc would all be explained and consistent with other backcard stories including non-pony characters never produced. So right now that is a better angle for me than assuming Speedy's theme suddenly became ice skating.

[Lilja]

I think if Skates wasn't meant to be a pony, the text would've clarified what they were. If a character's species isn't specified in some way I'd assume it's either a pony or a human. With Prince Shy-One it could go either way. Since the story just refers to him as a prince and he's not portrayed as a love interest for any of the ponies, that makes me lean a little more towards a human. G1 ponies has interacted with human princes quite a few times after all.

I don't understand why Speedy being good at ice skating would be a problem. She can be good at more than one type of skating. If the writer of the stories was under the impression there was an ice skate pony in the set, why wouldn't they save that scenario for that pony's story instead? Why would they use it for a pony with pretzels for a symbol?

[Taffeta]

If Prince Shy-One could be either way, so could Skates. There's no real evidence either way though of course that also means you're free to believe what you prefer.

Likewise with Skates - there is no evidence this is Speedy. If you want to assume that it is, then that's fine. But we don't know and will never know for certain unless someone produces a production booklet that uses the name Skates for Speedy. Instead of just making sweeping assumptions, I went and tried to find such a thing to draw together the clues - but so far have failed to find it.

As I said, it's fine to believe whatever you like, but we can't assume anything for certain because there are multiple possibilities and no actual facts. There's nothing in Twist's story to suggest this is or isn't Speedy, or is or isn't a pony (like Prince Shy-One). And nothing in Speedy's story to suggest it either. All we have is the vague reality that another pony with a kind of skates existed around the same time.

Saying the type of skating didn't matter is rather like saying it doesn't matter if First Base and Quarterback play baseball (or rounders!) or American Football (or rugby) since they might as well both play each other's sports. Same thing, right? They both have balls in them.

I feel like unless someone has that catalogue with those guys in and can clear it up once and for all, we're just all going to have to go with whatever seems most logical to us.

[Lilja]

If Prince Shy-One could be either way, so could Skates. There's no real evidence either way though of course that also means you're free to believe what you prefer.

Of course everyone is free to believe what they prefer, have I ever said otherwise? I personally don't think Skates is meant to be a human or anything other than a pony, but you're free to if you like.

Likewise with Skates - there is no evidence this is Speedy.

I never claimed there was evidence, but there are a few things that point to it:
*The name is Skates. Speedy's symbol is a pair of roller skates.
*Speedy is one of the new characters that was introduced at the same time as Twist.
*There were LOTS of errors in how these particular new characters were portrayed on the backcards.
*It's odd to use an ice skating scenario for a pretzel pony if there also exists an ice skate pony.
*Wouldn't be the first time an early name was accidentally used for a pony.

I have argued why I think Skates is most likely an early name for Speedy. This is not the same as me saying this is absolutely the case. I like reading others' speculations, but I'd need to hear more arguments to be swayed more into believing any of the other explanations.

[Wardah]

If Prince Shy-One could be either way, so could Skates. There's no real evidence either way though of course that also means you're free to believe what you prefer.

Of course everyone is free to believe what they prefer, have I ever said otherwise? I personally don't think Skates is meant to be a human or anything other than a pony, but you're free to if you like.

I honestly don't think either of them could be human. Those names are too weird to belong to people.

[Lilja]

I honestly don't think either of them could be human. Those names are too weird to belong to people.

That's a fair point for sure! The Romance Ponies' release is also close to the Tales era, when there definitely wouldn't be any humans around. But Shy-One is referred to as "the prince", and Love Letter is referred to as "the pony", which would be a bit confusing if the prince was also a pony.

I wasn't able to find all of the other Romance Pony stories, but Love Story talks to a "Pixie Princess" in hers. Maybe the prince is also a pixie and this is his "sweetheart"? Seems like they were going for a fairy tale feel for the stories in this set anyhow.

[Carrehz]

Lilja summed up my feelings on this perfectly... I think you're all overcomplicating/overthinking things, to be honest. The most simple answer is usually the most likely one I really don't see why Speedy can ONLY be into rollerskating.

[Lilja]

I really don't see why Speedy can ONLY be into rollerskating.

Thanks for the reassurance! I was worrying if I was missing something there. I don't think it'd be too weird for Quarterback to play baseball with Slugger either, although it would be weird if it was in Quarterback's own backcard story. Likewise with Speedy, it would seem a bit off if her own story was about ice skating, but I don't see a problem with her ice skating in another pony's story.

BTW for anyone interested, I found scans of all the Romance Ponies' backcards here:
https://mylittleponyaccessories.weebly.com/page-5-rainbow-baby---so-soft-pony.html#
Sadly wasn't able to learn anything more about Prince Shy-One. But I was surprised to see Brandy and Spike appear in Love Token's story!

[Nemesis]

I feel like that blue Sprinkles prototype must exist in a Hasbro warehouse somewhere. Imagine if it actually turned up for sale someday....

[Taffeta]

I'm really just playing devil's advocate - I'm not really a fan of sweeping generalisations. I don't have anything against it being Speedy, I just haven't seen anything that suggests it is (yet). If such information were to emerge to shift the narrative, then I'd shift my opinion, but yeah. I like something more concrete.

You can call it overthinking; I prefer to think of it as not jumping to convenient conclusions just because they're there.

So leaving that alone, the Romance Pony cards.

I think this is different, because this is a UK card and the UK pony lore is full of non-pony characters from various fantastical or animal or fairytale backgrounds. Several ponies have special friendships with such characters, and a lot of these feature on UK backcard stories. For me that one's a lot easier to theorise on, because there are so many other examples:

Spoiler

All these are from the same rough few years around the Romance Pony release in the UK, just some examples from my folder. Note at least one references an unreleased pony character.

Merry Treat - Father Christmas
Snowdrop - the sad white cloud
Baby Rainfeather - the sad little duckling
Baby Countalot - Lady Lessons* (this one is a pony, she did appear in the comics - and seems to have been an unreleased concept that never made it to toy stage)
Sugar Sweet - Lemon Treats* (Pony released in the US set and sold here via import - story probably same as US)
Tippy Toes - Mr Sun
Baby Sweet Steps - a happy clover leaf
Baby Bright Bow - Rainbow Curl Ponies (released pony set)
Baby Starbow - the stars
Baby SunRibbon - a sunbeam
Happyglow - dull stars
Starglow - other stars
Wriggle Pocket  -  Wriggle the Fish (pocket friend)
Love Letter - Prince Shy-One
Love Story - Pixie princess
Spangling Secret - Star Fairies

But even though early US cards did influence the UK, Twist wasn't sold here, so her story would never have been consulted. This is also probably why I find it hard to visualise Speedy as an ice skater, because her personality in the UK comic was influenced by her US backcard story, and she rollerskates around ponyland, racing other ponies like Trucker and so on and so forth.

[Lilja]

One more observation! I noticed the word "Skates" is capitalized at one point in Speedy's story. I don't see any reason why it would be. But if Speedy's name originally was Skates in the story, it could be easy to accidentally capitalize the word skates too, even if it refers to actual roller skates and not the pony.
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The Romance Pony stories were a fun and interesting read for sure! Did not expect to see Spike and Brandy mentioned, or Dream Valley, which I don't think is mentioned in any US backcard stories? I mostly associate that place name with cartoon, but possibly it was used in the UK comic too. It's really interesting that the German version of Love Story's story () replaces the pixie princess with one of the Drink 'n Wet babies instead. Making it more similar to the early US stories were they often cross-advertise ponies from other sets like that.

[Carrehz]

Oooh, good catch, Lilja!

[Leikin]

No theories from me, but as a "not so much fan" of Speedy, I would have loved if she where Ice-skating themed instead.  Light Blue with light pink and white hair