New 35th Anniversary Collector Ponies Spotted! Pics!

[Taffeta]

Their very brisk response:

Thank you for reaching out to us, we love to see this much interest in our ponies! We are launching MLP retro in Europe with the G1 Rainbow Ponies and they will be available across Europe through various distributors and retailers. The new collections that are area specific right now probably will be for a while, but there is a chance that they could make their way around the world too. We do also have more MLP products in development for the fall, but we can't release which ones they are just quite yet. Once again, thank you so much for your feedback. It's very helpful to us. And as always, please stay tuned to our social media pages for the latest information because news will be posted as we get it!

So they're beginning as regional but it's not impossible they'll cross-borders later. I imagine it depends on sales and popularity so we need to support this.
Also there's more stuff coming but no idea what yet - so it's not just these, there will be more, no idea if they are regional again though...

No confirmation or denial for stuff for Australia and NZ, Tulips etc - push them on this point so they know you are interested in these.
Nothing about Peachy.

And I read into this - it matters that we contact them, it matters that we tell them stuff, it basically matters. And even if it only matters a little bit, if there are ponies you want to see in the release in your area, don't rely on someone else to tell them or assume they'll just know. Contact them and TELL THEM.
ANd if your area of the world isn't mentioned yet, contact them and TELL THEM.
They said "this much" interest, which implies a lot of contact already, but it doesn't hurt to keep it going.

And I will be happy to trade Rainbows for collector ponies when they come out here if people want to do that. I'm also not worried about exclusives if I have something I can trade to get the things I can't find.

[Leave a Whisper]

Why aren't other places getting Rainbow ponies? That's not cool. Oh well whatever. I can get us the original rainbows for cheap anyway.

Bridge Direct won't be getting anymore of my money.

[PrincessNikki]

im happy for europe being able to get them. I am so sad about the rainbows being "Region locked", but im just glad at least some people are getting them and they are brightening people's days. Maybe if we keep asking about them being available elsewhere as well then they will reconsider. Wishful thinking.

That being said, I finally found the first waves on an end cap at the Ulmerton Target in the Tampa Bay area, so if anyone lives around here, as of today they had all but cotton candy and I bought a blue belle for myself. so there are 4 left!

[Taffeta]

I suspect that if they sell well in these regions, ponies will also travel. They haven't ruled it out from happening. Just that for a while they will be region locked. The future is open and they haven't committed either way for the long term so let's wait and see...

[glitterball]

I suspect that if they sell well in these regions, ponies will also travel. They haven't ruled it out from happening. Just that for a while they will be region locked. The future is open and they haven't committed either way for the long term so let's wait and see...

They are testing the water, it is a lot of time, effort and money to invest in releasing all these ponies throughout the globe! I guess they are just being cautious - after all, look at how much more "available" retro Strawberry Shortcake is today 

[Leave a Whisper]

I suspect that if they sell well in these regions, ponies will also travel. They haven't ruled it out from happening. Just that for a while they will be region locked. The future is open and they haven't committed either way for the long term so let's wait and see...

I know. But there's the problem of it also being store exclusive for me personally. I'm not paying Target's ridiculous shipping prices for a ten dollar toy, when I can get an original for less then ten dollars which includes shipping.

The SSC dolls for example, are easily accessible in 3 different stores and my daughter still wants them. These are not.

Hasbro and Bridge Direct clearly didn't think this through and Hasbro is terrible with store exclusives.

 I had to go out of my way to try and snag  Brainstorm and Perceptor at Walgreens and always came home empty handed.

 I had no chance at all of getting TLS Lickety-Split and Snuzzle because we have no BaM and neither Hot Topic, nor TrU could be bothered to carry them.

The scalpers hear about this kinda thing and come sniffing around.

[Taffeta]

I suspect that if they sell well in these regions, ponies will also travel. They haven't ruled it out from happening. Just that for a while they will be region locked. The future is open and they haven't committed either way for the long term so let's wait and see...

I know. But there's the problem of it also being store exclusive for me personally. I'm not paying Target's ridiculous shipping prices for a ten dollar toy, when I can get an original for less then ten dollas which includes shipping.

The SSC dolls for example, are easily accessible and my daughter still wants them. These are not.

Hasbro and Bridge Direct didn't think this through clearly and Hasbro alone is terrible with store exclusives. I had to go out of my way to try and snag  Brainstorm and Perceptor at Walgreens and always came home empty handed. I had no chance at all of getting TLS Lickety-Split and Snuzzle because we have no BaM and neither Hot Topic, nor TrU could be bothered to carry them.

The scalpers hear about this kinda thing and come sniffing around.

It's not a store exclusive in the US, the website says TRU will have them too they just probably haven't got there

[Leave a Whisper]

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Nurse Redheart still remains a walgreen exclusive.

Target and Walgreen exclusives Octane, Kup and Blitzwing have just started showing up at TrU and Walmart, but Perceptor and Brainstorm never have.

 The Baby Merponies are supposed to be at Wal-Mart as well, but are only at Toys r Us.

[StrawberryScoops]

I just got an email response back from Bridge Direct confirmating the Rainbow Ponies are European exclusives. They have no current plans to release them elsewhere but said maybe someday that would change. So let’s keep letting them know we all want all sets released wherever we live!

To be honest, I'm not that upset by this. I mean, if both Europe and the States are not each getting the releases, then it's only fair that one gets one and one gets the other. And we can always trade with each other on the forum.

This reminds me of the blind bag thing, how the States got Wave One, but then Wave Two was in Europe only.

I'd really prefer to there to be no exclusives period. That everywhere could get all the sets. I'm still worried about not getting any of these where I live and having no sets to offer in trade. I've contacted Indigo, and the stores in my area, and both know nothing about them. I've been torn between being excited about these being made and scared that I won't be able to get any. I know I'm luckier than some as Canada is supposed to get some and some regions don't even have that information yet. I just feel like it would be a lot less stressful if everyone knew they'd be able to buy them in local stores and not have to worry about currency conversions, mark ups, and shipping.

[Skeen]

An interesting bit of trivia:

The prototype/1st draft of the First Born porcelain was identical to the nameless pony in the movie.  I believe it's WildShadow with the pic of her in the Extra Special catalogue. 

[Sunset]

I'm just glad that these are a thing regardless of whether some of them aren't released in my country.  Better that there be a g1 presence somewhere than that nobody gets ponies, right?

Also, remember that Habsro/the Bridge Direct isn't just deciding not to have ponies everywhere just to be mean.  If Target and Toys R Us are the only ones selling them in the US, it's because those where the only stores *willing* to carry them.  It's not that Hasbro/TBD spurns Walmart.  It's that Walmart doesn't want to sell the retro ponies or that they couldn't come to a mutualy beneficial agreement.  (Or tBD is a smaller company and just isn't capable of producing on that level.). Non of these things are the "fault" of Hasbro or the Bridge Direct.

In regards to actual store exclusives, again it's not Hasbro saying "*hehehe* lets make ponies hard to find!"   No, it's Walgreens/Khols/TRU/Walmart going to Hasbro and saying, "Yes, we will carry your items but in return we want something exclusive to our store to encourage people to come to *our* store to buy your items."

In regards to US vs Europe releases.  Well, so long as we have one for one to trade with each other then I'm ok with that.  Of course, ideally everyone would be able to easily buy everything.  But if the choice is that everyone will only have the availability of 6 ponies, then I'd rather have the option of trading for Rainbow ponies  rather than everyone gets collector ponies and *noone* gets Rainbow ponies (or vice versa)



About mystery pony.  I've actually been thinking about that.  Ideally, she would have a name in line with the other Rainbow ponies.  One word or compound word.  They could just call her Rainbow.  I don't think anyone actually has *just* "Rainbow" as a name.  But it is kind of bland.  "Prism" might be nice.  Since she is often referred to as the mystery pony then "Mystery" might be fun, too.

I also saw about the petition for the celestial ponies.  I'd certainly buy them if they made them.  I kind of feel like mystery pony might be a better candidate to start with just because she would be simpler to make and she did actually have an appearance in the original special.  But Hasbro has been putting out the artwork for the celestial ponies in its licensed stuff so they definitly have that going for them.  It may come down to whether TBD wants to test the waters with a single pony or with a set first.  Of course, that is if they ever decide to do unreleased ponies at all.

[Taffeta]

Pony distribution has always been a bit crazy. I mean in G1 Woolworths in the Uk went to the trouble of importing US sets and so you had US exclusive candy canes in Woolworths and then the regular release candy canes in other stores...except there were 2 in Woolworths that were not available anywhere else. (And in spite of that, I don't remember ever seeing a candy cane in a store, but I must have seen one in Woolworths, as I have a christmas list from my childhood which says the name Molasses and she was never called that in any comic or anything else...I must have read it off her box in store).

The worst exclusives for me have always been TRU till now, when I actually have a TRU. But the absolute worst in the past with G3 was Target because they never came to the UK. Now at least other stories pick those up. But we still don't get Walgreens etc ponies over here.

I don't think exclusives are such a thing in the UK as maybe in the US. TRU does carry exclusives but they're a US store. Tesco does have exclusive labels on Songbird Serenade's singing pony thingy but in their advertising they have photos which show the Target logo. Target exclusive ponies which were meant to go to Argos or Tesco have turned up at Entertainer. But then I know from the surviving catalogues that Argos had some weird exclusives (such as Snuzzle with Baby Bow Tie's stroller O.o) and Woolworths did like shoving extra ponies into playsets for offers around Christmas (hence teeny tiny ponies in the kitchen, talk about health and safety violation - no adult supervision? At least put a cookery pony in there! :p)

Baby merponies are everywhere here, so I think that's just your Walmart stocking badly :/ But with the pearlies, it was interesting that Entertainer had wave 1 and TRU wave 2 here for ages but at the same time. And ultimately the only place I saw wave 3 was Smyths in London. I am going to assume that was accidental on the part of Hasbro's distribution, but that's how it turned out. Wave 1 did eventually show up in TRU.

With the mystery pony, I have always unofficially called her First Born, but then you can argue she is called that in the ceramic because she was maybe one of the first designs for rainbow ponies or something along those lines. I think naming her Rainbow would be a trademarking nightmare.

I suppose she could be called 'Rainbow of Light' for obvious reasons.

In any case, regional or not, if everywhere gets something, there's a chance to trade. I like that there were exclusives everywhere in the eighties becauase it allowed for trade. But I'd rather have exclusives nowhere than one place getting everything and another nothing. I guess we'll just see how it pans out...

[LadyMoondancer]

The Bridge Direct ponies definitely aren't Target exclusives; Target labels their exclusives VERY obviously with their Target logo on the front.  (Look at the Fashion Styling superhero G4s or the recent Fashion Styling six pack to see the logo.)

On First Born and the mystery pony, I honestly think their similarities are a coincidence.  White magical horse + rainbows is a really common, iconic look.  Whisper the Winged Unicorn also looks similar to both of them (besides being a winged unicorn obviously) and so does Starlite from Rainbow Brite, and so do Lisa Frank horses . . . My guess is that Hasbro told Sunbow "hey, we're making Rainbow ponies so put them in too" and Sunbow misunderstood and put in a very "rainbow-y" pony. 

I know that mystery pony carries Twinkles on her back but I don't think she's a "proto-Peachy" because Peachy was suuuuch an early pony (she even has a flat-foot version) and mystery pony is too "fancy" to be a Year 1 design.

Regardless of origins, I'd love for Mystery Pony to be a 'real' pony.  And hey, maybe she can just be named Mystery. 

I'm just glad that these are a thing regardless of whether some of them aren't released in my country.  Better that there be a g1 presence somewhere than that nobody gets ponies, right?

Also, remember that Habsro/the Bridge Direct isn't just deciding not to have ponies everywhere just to be mean.  If Target and Toys R Us are the only ones selling them in the US, it's because those where the only stores *willing* to carry them.  It's not that Hasbro/TBD spurns Walmart.  It's that Walmart doesn't want to sell the retro ponies or that they couldn't come to a mutualy beneficial agreement.  (Or tBD is a smaller company and just isn't capable of producing on that level.). Non of these things are the "fault" of Hasbro or the Bridge Direct.

In regards to actual store exclusives, again it's not Hasbro saying "*hehehe* lets make ponies hard to find!"   No, it's Walgreens/Khols/TRU/Walmart going to Hasbro and saying, "Yes, we will carry your items but in return we want something exclusive to our store to encourage people to come to *our* store to buy your items."

I agree with all of this.   And it's not like it's a choice between "Nurse Redheart is a Walgreens exclusive or Nurse Redheart is a general release";  it's a choice between "Nurse Redheart is a Walgreens exclusive or Nurse Redheart never exists as a toy and no one gets her at all."

Like, imagine if Hasbro UK had said, "We don't want to produce ponies that aren't available to EVERYONE" and had just . . . not made the Mountain Boys, the Flower ponies, Baby Applejack etc, because Hasbro US wasn't interested in them.  I'm so very happy they exist, even if it means a little extra postage and effort to get them. 

[Taffeta]

Like, imagine if Hasbro UK had said, "We don't want to produce ponies that aren't available to EVERYONE" and had just . . . not made the Mountain Boys, the Flower ponies, Baby Applejack etc, because Hasbro US wasn't interested in them.  I'm so very happy they exist, even if it means a little extra postage and effort to get them. 

>.> UK geek prod...Flower Ponies are pan-European. not specifically UK And technically Mountain Boys happened in Scandinavia too.
*runs far far away*

At least they didn't say "Well, we're going to put the Mountain Boys in the stories but can't be bothered to sell them here." Like they did with Glory, Medley etc to us as kids.
Oh wait, yes they did. MLP Tales O.O.
*facepalm* I think we can safely say Hasbro distribution is a fail.

[LadyMoondancer]

Ah, I didn't mean to imply that they were only sold in the UK . . . but that they weren't produced everywhere (the US, South America) . . . I mean if we're getting technical literally no pony has had a universal release.  Like Japan didn't get any "normal" (non-Takara) MLPs at all as far as I know.  No one outside Japan got Takaras.  Russia probably didn't get anything since the 80s were the during the Cold War.  Etc.

I mean, sure paying extra postage for a pony is annoying, but . . . we have the internet, so I don't really see it as that big of a deal, I guess?  Imagine if this was pre-internet days and the only way to get ponies from other countries (if you were even AWARE of them) was to beg relatives who were going on vacation, or advertise in fan zines.

The main reason I hope the Rainbow ponies come to the US isn't even for collectors, but for all the non-collectors who would buy them for their kids if they saw them on the shelves.