Ponies in Eastern Europe? (With digressions on other parts of Europe & Asia!)

[Taffeta]

That's also horrible romanisation.

Just saying.

I searched both in English and Japanese with the proper romanisation/in kanji/in kana and hit nothing MLP at all. The search term on that site only shows up that site, absolutely no others, so that doesn't add to it's reliability.

The Hasbro MLP page for Japan also doesn't mention it. It talks about an airing series, not one that's finished, so I guess that's FIM.
http://www.mylittlepony.jp/about/07/index.html
There are pictures of the G1 Rainbows on there but nothing we haven't seen before with retro stuff.

Japan did have some weird retro stuff in the 1990s, like the baby sugarberry keychain...I think that had a rainbow logo reflecting G2 if I remember rightly? It was definitely right at the end of the 1990s.

In any case, I think that any MLP in Japan would've been Mai Ritoru Ponii something. Takara ponies are, and so is FIM, albeit FIM is mai ritoru ponii yuujou wa mahou.

It could be the name of an episode, and it could be the name of an episode from a fansub that someone got the wrong impression of. I am sceptical, but I admit, mostly because I hate people who romanise chou as tyou.

[banditpony]

Re:Japan

The girl who sold her childhood takara made a comment about g1s in Japan I thought. I can't recall if they were on a base or what.. but I'm sure someone can dig it up

[Shaz]

I did have my doubts about Kun Dono whatsit, and I don't even know any Japanese!

[bladed]

That's also horrible romanisation.

Just saying.

I searched both in English and Japanese with the proper romanisation/in kanji/in kana and hit nothing MLP at all. The search term on that site only shows up that site, absolutely no others, so that doesn't add to it's reliability.

The Hasbro MLP page for Japan also doesn't mention it. It talks about an airing series, not one that's finished, so I guess that's FIM.
http://www.mylittlepony.jp/about/07/index.html
There are pictures of the G1 Rainbows on there but nothing we haven't seen before with retro stuff.

Japan did have some weird retro stuff in the 1990s, like the baby sugarberry keychain...I think that had a rainbow logo reflecting G2 if I remember rightly? It was definitely right at the end of the 1990s.

In any case, I think that any MLP in Japan would've been Mai Ritoru Ponii something. Takara ponies are, and so is FIM, albeit FIM is mai ritoru ponii yuujou wa mahou.

It could be the name of an episode, and it could be the name of an episode from a fansub that someone got the wrong impression of. I am sceptical, but I admit, mostly because I hate people who romanise chou as tyou.

tomodachi wa mahou

the fansubs i've found just straight up use the english names (on niconico anyway), so if it is from a fansub it's something that doesn't seem to be around anymore. i can't even think of what episode title it would be a translation of? maybe a fansub group, but i can't think of much else.

[banditpony]

Here in my mind I had an idea of a fansub/dub on a VHS...

[bladed]

Here in my mind I had an idea of a fansub/dub on a VHS...

ah, don't know why that didn't cross my mind since i've encountered many from america and such... i feel like the videos i found have gone through an amount of reuploading, or were fetched from a lower quality source, because even the highest quality uploads had a visible fuzz around the subtitles (i'd expect the video itself not to be great quality yeah, but the subtitles themselves like i said looked lower quality, and usually i see a contrast between the quality of the subs and the video if older stuff is subtitled, but i also could be talking rubbish)

but back to the point... i didn't look that much into it... but i didn't see much in the little time i searched. if this was a thing and there was discussion online then it's limited to maybe like, small forums which i didn't look at...

[banditpony]

Here in my mind I had an idea of a fansub/dub on a VHS...

ah, don't know why that didn't cross my mind since i've encountered many from america and such... i feel like the videos i found have gone through an amount of reuploading, or were fetched from a lower quality source, because even the highest quality uploads had a visible fuzz around the subtitles (i'd expect the video itself not to be great quality yeah, but the subtitles themselves like i said looked lower quality, and usually i see a contrast between the quality of the subs and the video if older stuff is subtitled, but i also could be talking rubbish)

but back to the point... i didn't look that much into it... but i didn't see much in the little time i searched. if this was a thing and there was discussion online then it's limited to maybe like, small forums which i didn't look at...

Ah I meant that I feel like whatever what distributed back in the 80/90s was on VHS and probably didn't make its way to the internet. (as by now, they could just rip a DVD and place subs on).

[Taffeta]

Here in my mind I had an idea of a fansub/dub on a VHS...

ah, don't know why that didn't cross my mind since i've encountered many from america and such... i feel like the videos i found have gone through an amount of reuploading, or were fetched from a lower quality source, because even the highest quality uploads had a visible fuzz around the subtitles (i'd expect the video itself not to be great quality yeah, but the subtitles themselves like i said looked lower quality, and usually i see a contrast between the quality of the subs and the video if older stuff is subtitled, but i also could be talking rubbish)

but back to the point... i didn't look that much into it... but i didn't see much in the little time i searched. if this was a thing and there was discussion online then it's limited to maybe like, small forums which i didn't look at...

Ah I meant that I feel like whatever what distributed back in the 80/90s was on VHS and probably didn't make its way to the internet. (as by now, they could just rip a DVD and place subs on).

That's a good possibility, actually. Because that was a thing back before it became much easier (I never saw any material like that but I have heard about them.) I think you might have hit it.

Like Bladed, I can't think of a specific episode for which that would be a title, but I guess it could be the Prince & the Pony? Or Wouldbe Dragonslayer? It's still quite vague but meh.

@Bladed - tomodachi wa mahou, is it? I don't watch FIM in any language, so I knew I'd seen the subtitle in Japanese somewhere but I just assumed it was yuujou because yuujou is friendship. I guess in Japanese friends are magic? xD

In any case, I think that wiki info is bogus. And I know there are different ways to romanise Japanese. But I'm sorry. tyou for chou just rubs me up the wrong way.

[bladed]

Ah I meant that I feel like whatever what distributed back in the 80/90s was on VHS and probably didn't make its way to the internet. (as by now, they could just rip a DVD and place subs on).

woops

taffeta, yup! the concept of friends itself is magic, lol... (also, FiM isn't currently airing in japan last i checked - only the first two seasons aired, starting in 2013, so i don't know why the website says that unless they just never update it, or include reruns)

as a side note - the uploader doesn't have many episodes, so... i also noticed some oddities in the translations (at least from the perspective of an english speaker? mostly with colloquial stuff i'd say) so the title on fullwiki may be from an old, maybe a bit wonky translation, or a misreading? (can't think of anything off the top of my head though) too many possibilities lol.

[Taffeta]

Ah I meant that I feel like whatever what distributed back in the 80/90s was on VHS and probably didn't make its way to the internet. (as by now, they could just rip a DVD and place subs on).

woops

taffeta, yup! the concept of friends itself is magic, lol... (also, FiM isn't currently airing in japan - only the first two seasons aired, starting in 2013, so i don't know why the website says that unless they just never update it)

It's dated 2015 but I don't suppose airing in Japan matters as the text says it is airing across the world. Present tense. Which is true. It doesn't mention Japan specifically in any way at all. Which is quite clever really, keeping the platform alive in case they want to use it again without telling any fibs...

Also, Mahou (no) Tomodachi actually makes more sense to me in that case >.> Let's have some Magical Friends, as an extension of Mahou Shoujo! Yay!

This has got way off topic now, though. Back to Europe...

[LadyMoondancer]

Meanwhile, the Polish translation sounds, um, strange: "A single voice artist translated all dialogue, over the still-audible American actors."

That sounds AMAZING.

[BrightLight]

I'm from Budapest and the majority of ponies that most European countries had were available here. I'm also pretty sure that the alternate birthflower ponies were available here as well, because I used to find them regularly at the flea market.

Oooh! Really? That is super excisting! I never heard that the alt.birthflowers were sold anywhere else than Denmark and Australia! Hmm, which countries do you think about when you say majority of Europe though? From my knowledge the European releases were a little all over the place and there are quite a lot of ponies that are exclusive to just a few countries. Someone mentioned baby Honeycomb? Do you remember if that baby set were sold in Hungary?

Unfortunately I don't remember too much, because I was very young and more into dolls back then, but I remember seeing these in stores:
Princesses with dragons, Sunshine Ponies, Merry Go Round Ponies, Dance 'n Prance, Glitter Sweetheart Sisters, Bridal Beauty & Pony Bride, Rainbow Curl Ponies, Tropical Ponies (Pina Colada is the most common pony here), Rocking Beat Ponies, Precious Pockets, Cookery Ponies, Flower Ponies, Schooltime Ponies & Schoolhouse

I don't remember anything about Baby Honeycomb, but I have one from the flea market and I also have two Baby Cherries Jubilees (one from flea market and one from a childhood collection), so it is possible that they were available here.

I assume these were sold here as well, since they are relatively common in the second hand market:
Peachy & Lemondrop (both very common), first and second edition of Rainbow Ponies, alt. Birthflowers, Baby Ponies (Baby Cotton Candy, Baby Glory & Baby Moondancer are very common), Earth Ponies (Cherries Jubilee and Posey are the more common ones), Baby Cuddles, Baby Tiddley Winks, First Tooth Babies, Sweetberry Ponies (my friend has Boysenberry Pie and she says she got her from a toystore here), Baby Fancy Pants, Snowflake, Hopscotch, some of the Newborn Twins, Newborns, Loving Family, Drink 'n Wet, Merry Treat, Glow 'N Show, Rainbow Babies, Baby Ballerinas, Secret Surprise, Teeny Tiny Babies, Birthday Pony, Starlight Babies, Rollerskate Ponies, Sweet Kisses, Good Weather, Sweet Clover, Family Friends

These are somewhat rarer, but I have some from flea markets and I think it's possible that they were sold here:
Collector Ponies, Sundance, Flutters, Twinkle Eyes, some of the Big Brothers, Honeycomb, Gypsy, Twice as Fancy Ponies from year 5, Brush 'n Grow, Sundae Best, Flower Sweetheart Sisters, Windy Wings, Candy Cane, Talking Ponies (English and German), Tutti Frutti, Princess Sparkle, Hairdo Ponies, Romance Ponies, Best Friends Babies, Bedtime Newborns

I also found these here but they are less common and I'm not sure how they ended up here:
some ponies from the Slumber Party Set, German Rainbow Ponies (my guess is that they were bought in Austria and Germany), Baby Blubberchen, Baby Lollipop, a few Dutch ponies, some Italians

We had 4 TV commercials, one for the Sunshine ponies which you probably saw here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUe0rwgQ4NI

There's another one, it starts at 2:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkg_QZelzxs
I don't know, I never saw Surprise or Skyflier anywhere for sale in Hungary and the commercial is from 1991.

I can't find the other two commercials, but those were for Merry Go Round Ponies and the Schoolhouse.

[Taffeta]

That is so interesting. It sounds like maybe Hungary got a mixture of the things that were out in different parts of Europe.

I also wonder how many of the "German" ponies actually came to Hungary via Austria.

I just wonder in what time frame this happened, and whether all these ponies appeared simultaneously or over an extended period from the early 1980s. It does sound like a pretty decent range and European mix of ponies The early pony commercial being from 1991 makes me wonder if maybe stuff arrived in a different order over there.

The fact you mention Slumber Party ponies is also interesting to me. The UK had some of these in weird distribution in around 1995-1996. We found one of the twins at the carboot sale and had no idea who she was. Since then I found Baby NightCap in a mostly boxed...I think Spanish language kitchen set...and then at the local market in 1996ish we found Pink Dreams and the other twin - both in clear plastic bags with a grey cardboard label with just the rainbow on and My little pony, nothing else. Pink Dreams had her wings attached to a piece of cardboard. I had no idea who she was either, as she wasn't officially sold here, so I called her Kitty xD. It sounds as though maybe something similar might have happened over there...

Pillow Talk is the only one I've never heard of being found wild in the UK, which suggests that all the others were ditched over here separately, not with the set. I've found all the others. Some multiple times. But never Pillow Talk and never any of the accessories.

Some of the ponies who are less common second hand over there may have travelled, though. I have found a bunch of ponies here which definitely didn't get sold here, and Europe is quite a fluid place for pony travel, especially since the 1990s.

Commercial is so cute. Sunshine pony one shows US sold ponies, but that doens't necessarily mean anything. Theme is the same as in the US except for the language...but again, that happened here too...

[Shaz]

BrightLight, thank you so much for all that information! I'm still processing it all! Every so often I go "they had Princesses with dragons in Hungary!" or "Gypsy has been found second-hand in Hungary!" The adverts are cute too.

Ponies do seem to have migrated about a bit, which does make sorting out European releases rather complicated, especially 20-30 years later! I had wondered if some ponies came into Hungary from Austria and/or Germany.

I'm currently in search of info regarding Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Lithuania!
* Poland had the cartoon and My Little Wiki is telling me they had European ponies too. I want to know which ponies they had (I'm starting to think 'European' is a bit of a vague term....). And I want to see the weird Polish cartoon with only one voice actor!
* I have seen the cartoon in Czech but am not sure if Czechoslovakia (as it was until 1989, I think) had any G1 ponies.
* The unreliable fullwiki list says that MLP n Friends was translated into Lithuanian. This page (http://einhornbaby.contract-killers.de/wissenswertes.htm) also mentions MLP as existing in Czech and Lithuanian. I'd like to know more! I have seen so much G4 and G3 while looking up about Lithuanian ponies. They did at least have some cute G3 activity and story books published by Egmont, genuine G3 ponies, and some oddly cute G3.5 fakies which I think were probably imported from Russia. But of course I want to know about G1!
* And I still have nothing at all about Latvia and Estonia. I have a tentative idea that finding out about Lithuania might provide some clues.

[Taffeta]

My Little Wiki is telling me they had European ponies too. I want to know which ponies they had (I'm starting to think 'European' is a bit of a vague term....).

It is absolutely a vague term, because it seems like most European countries had some distinction from one another in the release. But because the internet sees these things as binary (it used to be US = UK, now US = Europe or EU) a lot of that distinction has been lost to time. The further we get from release the harder it is to put together that evidence, and it may well be that there are some things we won't ever get to know now. :/

Einhornbaby may come and comment on the Czech and Lithuanian.

When we had Lithuanian exchange students stay with us in the 1990s, neither of them knew about MLP. But that's two people from a whole country (both were girls though)! so it might not mean anything. It was pretty unusual back then to have a school exchange with Lithuania anyway.