BB Steamer's hat...variation?

[Oneleo1]

I stumbled across a variation in Steamers hat! (the size of the lettering) I am wondering if one is more common than the other? Anyone know anything about the variations?

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[hathorcat]

I think its the difference between the Adventure Boy Tracks and US Big Brother Steamer...I believe the larger writing is the US one and the smaller writing the Euro...

However, I have only ever seen 2 Tracks on their card [one in person that I owned and one in photographs] and although he had the smaller writing hat...its a big jump to say the above supposition is certainly true on the back of those two pieces of evidence. But with so many minor differences in hats between US/Euro it seems a likely source.

The other option is that maybe when Steamer was released again in the second Big Brother set he got the different smaller writing hat - [I havent seen a Steamer on a second set card before] and as the second set in the US was out at the same time as the Adventure Boy set maybe thats why the Adventure set got the different hat from the second edition boys in the US?

[Oneleo1]

do you think that one would be worth more than the other?

[Ivy]

minor variations are common in this sort of thing and while interesting rarely increases the value.

[hathorcat]

Technically the second edition one is a little harder to find...probably compare how often a non Pad Pend Big Bro comes up to how often a regular Pat Pend release of the same pony is available - not "hard to find" but certainly less common. There doesnt really tend to be much of a difference in price in the different Brothers so I guess the same could be said of the hat. But sometimes you never know...I know I paid about the $13ish for the hat I have but would probably pay another $5 on top of that for the small writing version as and when I track one down for sale...but thats just me "needing" every accessory variation...I would suspect most of the time both will be in the $15 region.

I think there is one of the smaller writing hats on ebay with his Streamer at the moment...its German so that backs up a little more the Euro release "theory"...I am still trying to suss out all the "hat connotations"...I keep thinking about posting a thread but then realise I am probably the only oddity quite as obsessed with such a little detail! Lol...

[tootie_tails]

I would love to find out more about boy pony acc variations!

I know hat variations have been reported before (size, squishy vs stiff, etc). Unfortunately it's hard to compare and conclude anything as the hats are kind of htf. Most collectors never have more than one or two of each at hand. And just looking at pictures it may be hard to spot the subtile differences.

I remember having two Barnacle hats at some point. One was smaller than the other and the paint was different, more detailed and elaborated on one of them. I wondered if it meant anything or if it was just a batch difference.

I also remember getting most of my boys from Germany long ago. Their hats were softer than other hats I have picked up later when upgrading. I was very surprised the first time I came across one of the more rigid hats. But then I saw someone in the US posting they had found a "squishy" hat wondering were it came from.
Does this make sense? Have any of you noticed this? Or would you say it's just due to batch differences, aging of the plastic and so on?

I have also had a boy pony and a hat bought separately where the hat was so small it was kind of hard to get it to fit on the pony. I had to really force it on, and it sat really tight over the pony's ears, almost like it wanted to slide up/off again. I *think* this was a Salty and Salty hat, not sure.
I think there are mold differences (in size) to the boy molds just as with collector pose molds (and most poses). So I guess if you got a 'big' pony and a hat made for a 'small' pony you would get that problem.