Sorry, I'm not meaning to take away from South Africa, or imply that the US are central; I was writing as I was thinking and thought that everything was connected to the goal of understanding more about the South African ponies by looking at some of these details generally. I think I'm showing how little I understand about how these things work, and I may have been making or implying improper connections unintentionally. Your breakdown did make everything a bit clearer, though.

I found it interesting too how she termed them; she seems to know a lot about them, but that terminology seems so definitive when there are still so many questions. It could be subjective, but it could mean something, too.

These ponies are so mysterious!

OOOOOOOO look at those stickers!!

Oh boy, this is getting so interesting. I kept poking around the internet to see other cards and boxes, whatever I can find available, and from what I've been able to find and see, I've noticed that Greek packaging and Danish packaging don't explicitly mention copyright or licence information. The Danish card for Alternate Birthflower December has only a Hasbro logo in the bottom left corner on the front, and an 'Import' marker in the bottom right corner. Nothing on the back. An Australian card for April, though, has copyright information on the back at the bottom. I just can't tell if it mentions a licence or not, but I don't think so. The Greek packages don't typically have anything aside from an El Greco logo; I thought I found copyright writing of some sort on one of the Collector Pony boxes on eBay right now, but after translating, it just lets one know to collect all eight ponies in different colours. One of the Pony Wear boxes had a Hasbro logo on the back in the bottom right corner, with 'Patented by Hasbro U.S.', but that's all that I saw on any of the Greek packages. A Belgian card for the Rabbit Pony has Dutch and German on the front (aside from 'For 3 years and older' in French), and Dutch and French on the back with copyright and distribution information, but no mention of a licence. A German card for Baby Sunribbon has copyright information on the back in German, but nothing about a licence. A German card for Nachtlicht also mentions no licence. An Italian box for Minty mentions copyright and licence.

Aside from the Greeks, I've noticed a theme of mentioning a licence if the ponies are not made in either Hong Kong or China. If the ponies are made in either of those two places, then there is at least a small mention of Hasbro somewhere, but not of a licence. I'm curious about cards from France for those made in France, as well as Colombian, Mexican, and Venezuelan packaging to see how they are formatted and what information they disclose.

I'm not sure what this all could say about the South Africans, but if wide-release ponies were sold in South Africa alongside the South African ponies, which have Hong Kong on their hooves, it might not be odd that there's no mention of a licence, and they could very well be genuine as opposed to knock-offs. But then, I wonder, was a South African pony on that South African card, or was it a wide-release pony on that South African card?

ALSO! Just found this thread over on the Trading Post where Seashell, under ZuluSeashell, posted in November of last year. She has clearer photos of the backcard! Interestingly, I went to save them for my digital reference collection of others' packages, and they automatically showed up with the names 'FakieBackcard1gif' and 'FakieBackcard2gif'. Hmmm...

If it helps at all, I remembered seeing 2 MOC Piggies, one Brekkar and one not, on eBay right now, so I went to have a look at the photos, and took some screenshots. I hesitate to post them as I don't know the etiquette, but I could if it's deemed okay on here. But, while there is still a bit of fuzziness, I was able to zoom in a bit and see some of the fine print on the cards. The non-Brekkar one says, '1984 MB España S.A. under Berne and Universal Copyright Convention. Made in Valencia, Spain in 1984'. underneath is a disclaimer in Spanish basically saying that the actual colours of the items may vary from those shown on the card. This information is on the back at the bottom. The Brekkar has this information on the front at the bottom, just to the left of the bubble. It says, '1984 MB España S.A. - under Berne and Universal Copyright Convention. Made in Spain.'. On both, I believe that © is present before 1984, but they are both just fuzzy enough that I can't say for sure.

I'm still trying to see if I can find a Brazilian card or something for comparison, but I was able at least to find these.

Okay, I managed to find two photos of Brazilian packaging, an Os Fofinhos card, and a Baby Buggy box. Between the two, I was able to get most of the fine print. The card has the information split into two parts at the bottom, one part on the left, the other on the right, and the box has it all in one place on one of the sides. From the card, this is what I have:


The box has the same information, with two additional lines. I couldn't make out part of the first additional line, but here's the additional information:


I hope this can bring even the littlest bit of insight concerning these mysterious South African ponies. 

Oh my goodness, these are making me giggle way too much.

I found this thread when I went hunting for some photos. It's archived, but a lot of the photos there are still showing so you can see the comparison. 

Oh good!

Yes indeed: cat pee. It WAS a surprise when I opened the package. Which is why there is a photo of the head on the floor. I wasn't touching that any more than necessary.

I am so baffled by that. Yeah, I wouldn't touch it any more than necessary either, were I to receive a pony in that state. Wow.

@mewthemew : It looks like a custom project gone wrong, my goodness!