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Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Mrs. Prospector on March 18, 2021, 08:50:34 AM

Title: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Mrs. Prospector on March 18, 2021, 08:50:34 AM

Sometimes, when I'm bored, I like to read the G1's backcard stories. I was looking at Twist's, and I found mention of a pony named Skates, who doesn't exist.

Spoiler

"Can you teach me to ice skate?" Twist eagerly asked Skates. They donned their warmest mittens and headed for the pond. Skates helped Twist lace up her ice skates properly, then showed her the correct way to jump, spin and do a figure eight. "Now you try it," Skates urged. Twist slowly glided to the middle of the pond and carefully jumped once, twice, then spun around. "Perfect!" Skates clapped. Twist took her position to perform a figure eight. She took one step forward, then another and another so that by the time she was finished, the skate marks left on the ice looked like a PRETZEL! The two friends laughed and laughed at the funny design until Skates said, "Tomorrow we'll show the other ponies how to put a little "twist" in their skating."

I'm thinking this was an early name for Speedy, or perhaps an unreleased ice-skating themed pony? I thought this was a little weird and wondered if anyone else noticed this!

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Ponyfan on March 18, 2021, 09:18:16 AM

That's really interesting.  I've never noticed it before but I never had SS Twist in my childhood ponies.  I think you're right that Skates may be an earlier name for Speedy and might have been her name around the same time that SS Hoppity Hop's prototype was a unicorn.


Ponyfan 

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: JanuaryJoy on March 18, 2021, 11:04:35 AM

Quote from: Mrs. Prospector on March 18, 2021, 08:50:34 AM

I'm thinking this was an early name for Speedy, or perhaps an unreleased ice-skating themed pony? I thought this was a little weird and wondered if anyone else noticed this!

Your hypothesis seems to add up. The first sets of Twinkle-Eyed Ponies and So-Soft ponies, where Speedy and Twist were introduced, are both Year 4. I can't find another pony from 1985-1986 that could've been realistically named Skates. What an interesting observation, I've never heard about this myself!

These circumstances remind me of how G1 Sprinkles was obviously supposed to be blue, but she seemingly changed to pink last minute before they could edit the playset's box... I really wish she was blue...
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Image sourced from My Little Wiki page.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Snapdragon on March 18, 2021, 11:21:03 AM

Oh wow, Skates would have been a super cute pony! I bet it was hard to trademark the name, though! "Skates" is pretty generic.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Taffeta on March 18, 2021, 11:24:40 AM

It's like the original names for Ice Crystal and Tornado are Frosty and Storm. One of which appears on a 1987 parlour tag. But I bet they were hard to trademark too.

I have Twist MOC but I never noticed that. Off to check my photos...

Yup, there it is O.o. How I missed that I don't know. Nice catch <3.

Spoiler

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Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Ponyfan on March 18, 2021, 12:30:58 PM

Quote from: JanuaryJoy on March 18, 2021, 11:04:35 AM

Quote from: Mrs. Prospector on March 18, 2021, 08:50:34 AM

I'm thinking this was an early name for Speedy, or perhaps an unreleased ice-skating themed pony? I thought this was a little weird and wondered if anyone else noticed this!

Your hypothesis seems to add up. The first sets of Twinkle-Eyed Ponies and So-Soft ponies, where Speedy and Twist were introduced, are both Year 4. I can't find another pony from 1985-1986 that could've been realistically named Skates. What an interesting observation, I've never heard about this myself!

These circumstances remind me of how G1 Sprinkles was obviously supposed to be blue, but she seemingly changed to pink last minute before they could edit the playset's box... I really wish she was blue...
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Image sourced from My Little Wiki page.

She's blue in the US advertisement also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuWQQTPtiUo

One reason I love the advertisements  is that they're full of prototype ponies that we modified for final production. :D

I didn't thin about the trademark side of things but I agree a name like Skates would probably be hard to trademark. 

Ponyfan

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Carrehz on March 18, 2021, 02:55:54 PM

Aww, Skates is cute! I like it better than "Speedy", actually. I love stuff like this :>

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Taffeta on March 18, 2021, 05:05:44 PM

So I looked at the story again and for a moment thought Skates might not be a pony - until the end, where it mentions 'other ponies' - which kind of implies Skates is meant to be a pony. Reading the story, it doesn't sound like Speedy, though. So that's a bit curious - maybe it is an unreleased pony concept after all!

Does someone have Speedy's US story for comparison? She was always and exclusively rollerskate related here but I don't know about the US release?

It's quite common for non-pony characters to feature in backcard stories, and Skates 'clapping' made me wonder, but that comment at the end does suggest Skates is also equine.

There are sometimes examples of pony names appearing in UK released stories where that pony didn't actually get a UK release (Ribbon, I think also one of the 2nd set Princesses) or only had one through imports (Lemon Treats). But those ponies at least existed...?

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Ponyfan on March 18, 2021, 05:18:49 PM

Here's Speedy's US story from My Little Wiki


The ponies decided to spend a rainy afternoon exploring the attic of the Paradise Estate. As they dug through the boxes, Speedy discovered a pair of blue roller skates with a note attached that HANDLE WITH CARE. "What could be so special about an old pair of Skates?" she wondered. As soon as the rain stopped, Speedy and the other ponies raced outdoors to try out the skates. Carefully, she stepped into the skates when, suddenly, she was speeding along the ground, faster than a rocket! She zoomed up a hill and into the air, whooshing through a surprised cloud, before floating down to where Bouncy stood, laughing with delight. "What a ride," Speedy exclaimed. Then she asked with a big smile, "Who's next?"


Ponyfan

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Carrehz on March 19, 2021, 08:08:44 AM

Quote from: Taffeta on March 18, 2021, 05:05:44 PM

and Skates 'clapping' made me wonder

I don't remember which it was, but one of the newborn twin backcards mentions mittens for the ponies' "hands", so it wouldn't be the first time the backcards forgot they were dealing with hooved animals >_<

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: tailrustedtealeaf on March 19, 2021, 08:50:27 AM

My first instinct was that it was a nonpony magical human like I see from the UK comics with fairies, but this was Stateside and Skates is a very pony name.
Reminds me a bit of "Queen Seahorse" from Wave Runners story, it would be neat to see how many backcards refer to entities and those in other sets.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: lovesbabysquirmy on March 20, 2021, 07:40:06 AM

Quote from: Carrehz on March 19, 2021, 08:08:44 AM

Quote from: Taffeta on March 18, 2021, 05:05:44 PM

and Skates 'clapping' made me wonder

I don't remember which it was, but one of the newborn twin backcards mentions mittens for the ponies' "hands", so it wouldn't be the first time the backcards forgot they were dealing with hooved animals >_<

I am going with this theory.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Taffeta on March 20, 2021, 08:49:07 AM

I guess there's no reason why a story can't refer to a pony that was never made. The TV show involved characters like the ancestor of Mimic and Knightshade, so...?

Good point on the clapping. I think Twist's story also mentioned mittens.

Like TRTL my instinct was that it might be one of the many non-pony characters that exist in ponyland lore but these are more common in UK stories/comics. That said, some of those stories are the same in the US, so that's also a possibility.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Lilja on March 20, 2021, 12:23:35 PM

The point of having different ponies interact with each other in the backcard stories was to advertise those other ponies to kids. It's extremely unlikely Hasbro would put in a "backcard story only" pony when they had 100+ actual toy ponies they could feature instead.

I'm 99% sure Skates is an early name for Speedy, or maybe even just a placeholder name. Her symbol is a pair of skates, so I find it unlikely there'd be another pony in the same set with that name. It seems likely they'd make sure to update Speedy's own backcard story, but forget to do it in another pony's story where she's mentioned (especially when there were so many characters to keep track of at this point).

The year 4 So Soft and Twinkle Eye sets are a bit special, since it was the only time Hasbro added more characters to a set in the middle of a release year and updated the backcard art for it. They might've been rushed out quickly to meet demand, which would explain all these errors, like how 4/6 of the new So Softs don't match up exactly to their toys on the edited backcard art.

It's always interesting to get an insight into the creation process behind MLP like this. Some have also speculated Bangles might've been a pegasus at some point in development since her backcard mentions her flying. Although I'm not so sure that would necessarily be the case.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Taffeta on March 20, 2021, 03:55:24 PM

Hrm. I mean, the Speedy argument makes the most sense, but the ice skates...not so much. UNLESS what happened was that someone in Hasbro's story department knew there was a skating related pony in the works, but not what kind of skates. Maybe Speedy was originally going to be ice skating themed, and then they thought, no, let's go with rollerskates and so it got changed and the story team never got to know about it. That seems the most plausible suggestion.

I'm not so much with the idea that the mid-season update matters all that much. We see a ton of production changes/errors/whatever going on throughout release years when you see sets transferring from one locality to another. Names change multiple times - sometimes during production as well as before, which we see with the Sundae Best. We see ponies changing species, like the Dance & Prance pegasus ponies did between advertising and release. And technically all sets that had updates or amendments had them with updated and amended artwork as well. Years are not set in stone...they tend to overlap anyway.

It seems more likely that it was just an error in communication whereby someone was told the basic concept of a pony coming out and that concept happened to be different.

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), the existence of Ace, Lancer and Teddy who had massive promotion through various media, Lady Lessons and Miss Hackney - not to mention the wide cast of other non-released characters from MLP Tales when it would have been better to use more of the released lines from those years. And the nameless "mother" ponies that appear on the card stories of certain newborn twins as well. Add to that the entire cast of non-pony invented characters that do appear on backcard stories and it's not so farfetched to imagine a nonexistent pony could be included in a backcard story.

So while it may be Speedy, or it could be a concept pony that was wiped, it could just as easily be made up to fit the cute pretzel skating story the writers wanted to use to promote Twist.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: pandabear_chan on March 22, 2021, 02:33:12 AM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Lilja on March 22, 2021, 03:31:55 AM

Quote from: Taffeta on March 20, 2021, 03:55:24 PM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Taffeta on March 22, 2021, 04:25:43 AM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Lilja on March 22, 2021, 05:40:13 AM

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. :biggrin:

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?

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Taffeta on March 22, 2021, 06:24:02 AM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Lilja on March 22, 2021, 07:01:12 AM

Quote from: Taffeta on March 22, 2021, 06:24:02 AM

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.

Quote from: Taffeta on March 22, 2021, 06:24:02 AM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Wardah on March 22, 2021, 08:11:35 AM

Quote from: Lilja on March 22, 2021, 07:01:12 AM

Quote from: Taffeta on March 22, 2021, 06:24:02 AM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Lilja on March 22, 2021, 08:38:45 AM

Quote from: Wardah on March 22, 2021, 08:11:35 AM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Carrehz on March 22, 2021, 08:53:10 AM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Lilja on March 22, 2021, 09:56:21 AM

Quote from: Carrehz on March 22, 2021, 08:53:10 AM

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. :lookround: 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!

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Nemesis on March 22, 2021, 10:00:41 AM

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

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Taffeta on March 22, 2021, 10:34:03 AM

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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Lilja on March 23, 2021, 06:45:27 AM

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 (:biggrin:) 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.

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Carrehz on March 23, 2021, 08:01:33 AM

Oooh, good catch, Lilja!

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Leikin on March 29, 2021, 12:50:38 PM

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  :inlove:

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Taffeta on March 29, 2021, 01:18:50 PM

Speedy's story was already posted earlier in the thread, with the capitalisation. I had assumed you guys were already basing your assumption on that...I guess not? Not that it matters since we won't know for sure unless more information surfaces...

So Majesty was a much more important character in the UK comic, so was Spike, DC was probably still around in some of the stories as well. We didn't really have PE in stories beyond one or two around the time it was 'discovered' and then featured in a handful of issues. The core of Ponyland was around DC so it's not weird for them to be included on a UK card IMO. Dream Valley, however...yeah. I would also associate that name more with the cartoon than the comic, so that *is* an interesting insert.

On the substitution of name in the German version - that may be because of a different release timeline...

I don't have the German insert with the romance ponies on, but I know that the dutch/french insert has the Playschool babies on it, when they were no longer available at the same time as the romances here in the UK. It would make sense to change the story to promote whatever was out at the same time.

Although with that said, the Rainbow babies have stories relating to Rainbow Mountain and the Rainbow Curl ponies on occasion, and they were from a previous year, so maybe it's just Hasbro Germany being more efficient.

TBH I find that more interesting than the capitalised skates :)

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Leave a Whisper on March 29, 2021, 02:11:34 PM

Quote from: Mrs. Prospector on March 18, 2021, 08:50:34 AM

Sometimes, when I'm bored, I like to read the G1's backcard stories. I was looking at Twist's, and I found mention of a pony named Skates, who doesn't exist.

Spoiler

"Can you teach me to ice skate?" Twist eagerly asked Skates. They donned their warmest mittens and headed for the pond. Skates helped Twist lace up her ice skates properly, then showed her the correct way to jump, spin and do a figure eight. "Now you try it," Skates urged. Twist slowly glided to the middle of the pond and carefully jumped once, twice, then spun around. "Perfect!" Skates clapped. Twist took her position to perform a figure eight. She took one step forward, then another and another so that by the time she was finished, the skate marks left on the ice looked like a PRETZEL! The two friends laughed and laughed at the funny design until Skates said, "Tomorrow we'll show the other ponies how to put a little "twist" in their skating."

I'm thinking this was an early name for Speedy, or perhaps an unreleased ice-skating themed pony? I thought this was a little weird and wondered if anyone else noticed this!

I kinda assumed that her skates were magical and could talk when I first read her backstory.  Never woulda thought of it being a pony. :blush:

Title: Re: Who's Skates? An oddity on Twist's backcard
Post by: Lilja on April 02, 2021, 10:58:05 AM

Quote from: Taffeta on March 29, 2021, 01:18:50 PM

Speedy's story was already posted earlier in the thread, with the capitalisation. I had assumed you guys were already basing your assumption on that...I guess not?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I didn't notice it right away and it doesn't seem like a thing most people would. While there's no direct evidence that Skates refers to Speedy, it'd be a big coincidence if it didn't considering she's a pony from the exact same timeframe and her symbol is a literal pair of skates (and considering how nearly all of the newly added ponies on this backcard differ from their final produced toys in some way, which is also very unusual). Likewise it'd be a big coincidence that the word skates just happened to be incorrectly capitalized in Speedy's own story.

Quote from: Taffeta on March 29, 2021, 01:18:50 PM

TBH I find that more interesting than the capitalised skates :)

I actually do find it interesting, since it possibly gives some insight into how these things are put together. This is all speculative of course, but it makes sense to me that the story was first written with Skates being the name for the pony. Then someone proofread it and thought "oops, forgot to capitalize the pony's name here", without reading the sentence too carefully and not realizing it was about a pair of actual skates. Then finally the name Skates was replaced by Speedy, but the capitalization error still slipped by. (And no, I'm not saying this is definitely what happened, it's my personal speculation based on what we have)