Baby Stella and Baby Night Song: mistaken identity

[LadyMoondancer]

Guys, get ready to have your minds BLOWN!     I think we've collectively been switching these ponies names for years.

Every time I see these ponies MOC, the orange baby is on a Baby Night Song card and the white baby is on a Baby Stella card.  And for years I just assumed, "Oh, that one is miscarded!"

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But then it slowly dawned on me that every single one I've ever seen has been "miscarded".  So like.  What if they're not miscarded at all?

In addition, these are the non-English names for the babies:

salmon orange baby

Spanish - Baby Nanas.  Meaning: Baby Lullabye
German - Glitzer.  Meaning: glitter
French - Chansonnette. Meaning: little song or ditty
Dutch - Nachtliedje.  Meaning: night song

white baby

Spanish - Estela. Meaning: comet tail
Italian - Stellina. Meaning: little star
French - Stella. Meaning: star
Dutch - Stella. Meaning: star
German - Sternschnuppe. Meaning: shooting star

So the orange baby is usually associated with music.  (Except the "glitter" name, but the German backcard story still describes her singing at night.) 

I think the basis for the name confusion is the backcard being unclear and the UK comics, which do call the orange pony Stella and the white one Night Song.

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If you only had this backcard to go off of, it would be hard to tell which pony is which.

And I suspect this is exactly what the UK comic people had to work with.  My theory is Hasbro sent them the following:

* the individual stories for the babies
* the very same image as is on the backcard, with all the names written at the bottom, not next to the ponies

The comics people then had to suss out which pony was which.  Well, Baby Mischief's backcard story mentions a kite.  Baby Explorer's backcard story mentions a balloon.  For the other two babies, they guessed that the pony with the HUGE STAR ON HER RUMP was named Stella.

But this is Hasbro, the company that named the Glittery Sweetheart sister covered with stars "Sunblossom" instead of "Starflash", so they guessed wrong. 

Also note that it's really hard to see Baby Explorer's horn here unless you already know to look for it;  the comics people always drew Baby Explorer as an Earth pony.  Which further makes me think the backcard image is what they had to go off of.

Finally, here's a gallery of carded Stellas and Night Songs.  Now, some of these COULD be the same pony being resold, but some are clearly different.  Different shelfwear, different price tag placement, a Night Song with white hair being sold and then one with pink hair, etc.

Spoiler

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Anyway, I hope you found this interesting!  I find it kind of fascinating.  There's always something new to discover with MLP, even after all these years. 

[Leave a Whisper]

That's pretty interesting. Good observation.

[Carrehz]

I remember a previous thread about this Did this set ever show up in a catalog or anything else that would list them with their names? It's so frustrating how vague the backcards for this set are. I do agree that signs point to it being a comic error though.

(And I still say the Glittery SHS names got switched accidentally at some point during production :p)

[Ponyfan]

Could it have been a last minute name change like we saw with the Sundae Best ponies?

http://www.mylittlewiki.org/wiki/File:213.jpg


I always thought they were on the wrong cards too.  To me Baby Night Song is the white one and Baby Stella is orange.



Ponyfan

[Ponybookworm]

Could it have been a last minute name change like we saw with the Sundae Best ponies?

http://www.mylittlewiki.org/wiki/File:213.jpg


I always thought they were on the wrong cards too.  To me Baby Night Song is the white one and Baby Stella is orange.



Ponyfan

Same, it makes more sense in my mind that way. White & pastel is often associated with shyness in the Ponyworld, & Night Song's story mentions her only singing at night, whereas Stella wants to be famous, & it makes more sense for the one seeking fame to be brighter-coloured.

On the Sundae Best topic, at least three of that set were always sold on mis-named cards here. Chocolate Chip's card said Sorbet Surprise, Sorbet's said Cherry Berry, & Cherry Berry's said Chocolate Chip. Hence many confused children, including me who at first though Sorbet Surprise was the unicorn...

[Taffeta]

This actually isn't a new controversy at all, it's been in discussion among UK peoples for well over a decade now.

I do notice Wiki is matching the backcards in naming at the moment. I don't know if that's a new thing, or if it's been like that for a while.

I'll hold up my hand and say that the naming of white/Night Song and Stella/Orange is down to me. I didn't have any of these as a child, and only could go on the comics. At the time, there weren't any MIP examples floating around that early for Night Song or Stella.

I think Chrissytree was the first to raise it with me about the carding situation. And then a whole bunch appeared with the cards the other way around. I mentioned it on my site but with caution.

The naming of the Sundae Best is completely different, and also a lot more bizarre. I don't want to deviate this thread, but believe me, it's a lot more complex. We can discuss that somewhere else if someone wants.

I think the Starlights were consistent in their naming in the comics, though. I also remember a feature page on Night Song for one of the calendar entries or something? Unlike the Sundae Best, there's no insert - correct or otherwise - with the names on the ponies.

The comics did not draw ponies or create them from backcards. They drew them from prototype images, some of which came from the US (see the pocket ponies as a great example of this, so are the winged dance and prance). I believe the comic people received images from Hasbro's promotional department. They didn't just pick up what we all saw in stores. If they did that in the way you're suggesting, we'd see a lot more naming issues than just with this set. All the sets from this year have names listed at the bottom like that. How would you know which is Baby Flicker just from the photograph? You wouldn't. You'd need something else.

I think all promo photos of this set have explorer's forelock concealing her horn.

The comics did not correct the artwork even when the ponies later changed design, as we see with unicorn Singing Pocket, the winged Player and Songster, Star Hopper with white hair, Baby Splashes with purple hair, AB on Baby Alphabet, feather hooved baby Schoolbag, etc. Even purple baby Mischief is evidence of this. That indicates the comic getting developmental material way ahead of store release. That could only have come from Hasbro.

The real answer may well be in the Hasbro UK 1991 product booklet. I only have 1990, but it does record names by ponies in the photos, so it seems possible that this is what happened in 1991, and the Hasbro booklet identified them in the way the comic did. Then for some reason, packaging happened differently.

I did some digging with this vis a vis my list from Hasbro and the photos I have from inserts in 1991, but these are not consistent enough between sets to give any clues.

I feel like Hasbro probably named both ponies both things, but at different times. This is the best explanation that I have. I would like to see more evidence, honestly, to find out what Hasbro's intent was. In the meantime, I think collectors should go with what suits them best, and just be aware this controversy exists.

I blame baby Mischief.
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^^ If this can happen, anything is possible.

[Leave a Whisper]

And now for the latest episode of Switched at Birth

[Carrehz]

And now for the latest episode of Switched at Birth