Got playsets in the early 80's? Would love input on common playsets from you!

[FantasticFirefly]

-what I need. folks who owned, or still own common playsets from new. and remember when they got them (which year? time? like christmas 1984 etc) and which pony was included.
- ponies in question: CF Peachy (pretty parlor) Lemon Drop (show stable) Majesty (dream castle) Sprinkles (waterfall)
*edit to add* I am mostly focused on US/Canada releases. But, elsewhere is fine too! Just please include the country a set was from.

Now, what do all these ponies have in common? There are two versions of the playset releases.
One version is the same quality as all our other ponies. hair curls into a nice bob, not overly difficult to find in good condition without heavy discoloration or fading.

The other version?
Lots of wonky! The easiest "tell" though as to which you own is the hair. These have flat hair that almost seems a touch too short on some, with ends that appear jagged like they were haircut victims- the texture is cheaper then normal pony hair. it doesn't want to hold the MLP bob. The quality as well on the rest of the pony is far more suspect and the consistency in quality you normally see with ponies is out the window on these. Funky rooting is common. plugs too far apart, too close together on the outer row. not following guidelines, giving meandering hair lines or too far down the head or way too far back making them look balding. The pigments on paints want to fade so easily and change colour more easily. Lots of majestys who's eyes turned periwinkle from purple. Peachys with white hearts faded from pink. (even kept out of sunny windows) etc. They are far more prone to aging issues, yellowing, brown spots. head body missmatch. looking close they seem so much lower in quality then the others in every component (body, hair, paints). I will call these "Flat hair" issues from now on.

I have a personal theory.
All these playsets came in boxes where contents could not be seen. While single ponies came on bubble cards so you see the pony you actually get at the store.
So Hasbro provided a lower cost (quality) "Flat hair" pony to provide a playset for a set cost they had in mind.
*Edit to add*

"Maybe Hasbro got some kind of discount deal on it?"
When you place a production order they will build it to the costs you request/spec. Hence why I think it's a cost issue. they knew what the traditional quality of a pony cost, and opted for cheaper. Low quality pony for a better quality playset? or simply the fact one doesn't see the pony until after purchase and it reduced the cost of the set to what the market wanted to pay (and the market wanted a pony included- so a bonus freebie quality?)? I don't know.

Even children can be picky. I have bought childhood lots where the owner was upset that those ones (flat hair ponies) always looked so cheap. even as kids it bothered them they got a "defective" pony. or had issues out of the box (bad missmatch, sloppy rooting and paint). I am wondering if Flat hair ponies got issued right after Flat Foot Peachy got retired (who was of good quality). and THEN the traditional MLP quality ponies ended up replacing the flat hairs soon after (customer feedback is my guess). Since any of the playsets released after the ones I mention here always include a MLP quality toy.

Anyone who can shed light on this would be awesome.
Oh, an example! I'm far too lazy to go hunting through boxes for all of them but I did share this photo of two dream castle issue majesty's on facebook to show everyone what I mean. .
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Left: traditional quality Majesty. this was the Acc I got with a childhood batch I picked up, the dragon included in the castle was the darker one (like the one included in the lavender castle).
Right: Flat Hair Majesty. I have found this version MIB and included with these accessories multiple times in small childhood lots in US/Canada. the dragons have always been lighter spikes.

[LadyMoondancer]

Personally I have only seen Sprinkles and Majesty with flat hair.  They also both have the same shade of blue.  Maybe Hasbro got some kind of discount deal on it?  I'm especially sad for Majesty; the queen should have better hair!  And then the pony pattern balding, yikes.  I think it was intentional, to allow her crown to sit nicely.

I had NBBE Cuddles and concave foot Peachy as a kid and they both had normal high-quality hair.  I didn't have Lemon Drop as a kid but I've picked up many secondhand and they had normal MLP hair.

Edit:  About Peachy's hearts changing color, it's just due to the color of pink they used for her symbols.  It also occurs on Love Melody, Heart Throb (but not Baby Heart Throb), part of Scoops' symbol, Posey, and Baby Crumpet. It happens if they've been left at the mercy of the sun's UV rays for a long time.

Peachy doesn't really have any quality issues, IMO.  She is indistinguisable from any other early pony. 

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Here's a comparison of my childhood Cotton Candy and Peachy.

[Juliepants]

My Lemon Drop has flat hair syndrome as well.

Jules x

[Einhornbaby]

Located in Germany
My childhood Lemon Drop (purple roof stable) came with great quality while my childhood friends Lemon Drop (pink roof) came with super flat hair and no forelock too.

[FantasticFirefly]

Personally I have only seen Sprinkles and Majesty with flat hair.  They also both have the same shade of blue.  Maybe Hasbro got some kind of discount deal on it?  I'm especially sad for Majesty; the queen should have better hair!  And then the pony pattern balding, yikes.  I think it was intentional, to allow her crown to sit nicely.

I had NBBE Cuddles and concave foot Peachy as a kid and they both had normal high-quality hair.  I didn't have Lemon Drop as a kid but I've picked up many secondhand and they had normal MLP hair.

Edit:  About Peachy's hearts changing color, it's just due to the color of pink they used for her symbols.  It also occurs on Love Melody, Heart Throb (but not Baby Heart Throb), part of Scoops' symbol, Posey, and Baby Crumpet. It happens if they've been left at the mercy of the sun's UV rays for a long time.

1- Majesty/Sprinkles. Ok, in the order of finding traditional quality MLP with the eartly playset issues.
1 Peachy - VERY easy.
2 Lemon Drop - easy.
3 Majesty - Less common*.
4 Sprinkles - Least common of the traditional quality counterparts.
my guess- we see less waterfalls then the other sets. she came with a large sized set that wasn't some variety of home or stable that could store some kinder clutter when not in use. and it also encouraged water play by little kids out of a bathtub. I know my mother would have noped on buying any of her kids that set for the water issue alone. many parents think of the space something takes up vs. amount of use and the mess a kid can make with a specific toy in purchase or not decisions.

*Now many collectors mistakenly believe that the better quality store issue Majesty's are the elusive MO issues. which can lead to people stashing any extras away in their collections (or asking an ungodly sum for what actually is a common on ebay). outside of collecting community she's been easy to find. less seen then the other two (lemon drop and peachy)- but not as less seen as within collector groups for sale marked correctly.

"I think it was intentional, to allow her crown to sit nicely." - I will compare my versions to see if the guidelines differ at all. & see if the guideline is set back some for this on the flat hair version. I have found plenty of them (flat hair) that had hair to the horn and one I remember was in the horn.


Paint fading- yes, all paint will fade. and red pigments are one of the first to go (so pink to white, red out of purple leaving a periwinkle). It's not that it doesn't happen to others (keep those ponies out of UV folks!) It's that I notice it happens easier with the lesser quality flat hair ponies. they will be in batches of immaculately cared for original owner stuff, where the person told me they never brought them outside and always played gently with them in the basement (and I believe them because it looks like they were bought new yesterday). you find things in these same batches like perfect curls, intact flutter wings, crisp paper pieces, bright unfaded pink hair and the eyes on flat hair majesty and the hearts on flat hair peachy will still be faded from what they were originally. (again, I think Hasbro ordered them to be cheap. using lower grade materials and cheaper more unstable pigments that even fade quickly under artificial incandescent/fluorescent light)

"Maybe Hasbro got some kind of discount deal on it?"
When you place a production order they will build it to the costs you request/spec. Hence why I think it's a cost issue. they knew what the traditional quality of a pony cost, and opted for cheaper. Low quality pony for a better quality playset? or simply the fact one doesn't see the pony until after purchase and it reduced the cost of the set to what the market wanted to pay (and the market wanted a pony included- so a bonus freebie quality?)? I don't know.

[jrr74]

I would have had all of the first released play sets seeing how I only collected ponies years 2-4.  My Peachy and Lemon Drop both have the good hair, poor Majesty though-she has the dreaded stick-straight hair.  Lost Sprinkles along the way so no help there.

[hathorcat]

I love the idea of it being as clean cut but I will think its perhaps more a reflection on the sheer volume as well as number of years some of these sets were released over and over and over again. Unlike many ponies which may have had a single year release, so many playsets had multiple year releases. In addition a lot of them were boxed in one country with the items inside sourced from multiple locations. We dont know if Hasbro used the same factories for both its rigid plastics and its softer mould ponies or if this changed over time.

I know what you mean about the clear hair difference in Majesty and Sprinkles and I do agree its an early to later release thing. But the other issues with early release playset ponies, I dont think are specific to earlier releases I think you are as likely to encounter the issues with them at any point of release. If anything all playset ponies I think seem to perhaps be a little cheaper made no doubt to make it cost effective to include them.

[FantasticFirefly]

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised with that either. random luck of the draw.
I know there's all sorts of more minor differences. not too fussed about that, and playset ponies overall are more prone to issues, sold so much over years of the line. two stamps/four stamps on CF and such. it was just that flat hair difference I assumed happened all around the same period (and flat-hair ponies seemed much noticeably poorer quality overall then anything else). I never found a flat hair majesty (yet?) with a later spike.

And then the pony pattern balding, yikes.  I think it was intentional, to allow her crown to sit nicely.

LadyMoondancer I compared the guidelines for rooting. so you are correct- less hair on top was intentional with that version. nice hair majesty's guideline for that row comes to just before her horn (like my pic) and the flat hair goes a touch past her ears (which I have found ones going one way or another past the mark. I think the one in my photo has a little more hair then she should up there).

[Foxtale]

Love this thread, I am going to keep an eye on it. I hope more people have input. I was too young to get any playsets firsthand, except for the Petite Houses.

[Squirtsquirt]

I got all the early playsets when I was a kid, but part of the problem with telling what version is that I styled most of their hair.  My Majesty has fancy braided hair, so it's not...flat or loose anymore.  Lemon Drop wore a saddle and bridle for years, holding her hair down (and ultimately staining her back were the saddle sat on it, so the poor girl is permanently branded pink )

Peachy and Sprinkles I don't know for sure, but I think Sprinkles also has a hair do...some of the pretty braids I did I left in, so this many years later, their hair is still styled.  As I go through my storage unit for ponies to sell, I'll grab my childhood ponies and see what I can find.  I'm not 100% sure if the ponies are in the boxes with my other ponies or with the playsets, but either way, I'll take a look.

Honestly, I never noticed a difference before.

[ValeofSpring]

Ugggh, yes, the flat hair that Majesty and Sprinkles sometimes have is just awful. It makes you really appreciate regular quality MLP hair. And receding hairline Majesty just makes it so much worse! I've wondered if Hasbro did this to accommodate the original design of the crown (if you look on the box, the crown holds on by curving around the pony's ears), but it may have been so that the damsel hat could sit flat. Either way, terrible idea.

On a slightly side note, I greatly prefer how Majesty and Sprinkles look at the playset boxes to how they actually came. They fooled around with Majesty's symbol and of course Sprinkles went from blue to that drab lavender!

I did have the Waterfall as a child and fortunately my Sprinkles came with regular hair. I would definitely remember if she'd had flat hair. Incidentally I also got the MO pink Sprinkles and Majesty.