We really could do with a list O.O.

I know that in the UK there are a lot of weird hybrids floating around with either mismatched Princess parts, like this:
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or Happytail parts, or a mix of the two. Sel (Reaperfox) was the first to flag those up and she has a bunch of them, but the one most people think of is Bobbie:
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I know there are painted Seaside Babies, which Rainbow Magic had (I don't know if she still does?) but I don't think I've seen them IRL. I know LadyG has, though. Obviously we also know about at least 3 painted Schooltime ponies as well.

The two Best Friends Babies are a bit more of a...we don't really know whether they are prototypes or not. They look pretty finished to me. LadyG has Baby Billie in Ember's pose:
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/baby_billie.htm
and I have Baby Susie in Baby Blossom's pose.
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/baby_susie.htm
 Other than the pose variation, they are pretty much the same as the original issue ones, so we thought they might be an alt release somewhere, but no country has claimed them so we're still bemused by what they are. There might be two Baby Billies, we're not certain. Nobody's ever seen a Baby Katie, either.

This is just for the stuff found in the UK though. I have no idea what other stuff might be out there or where.

Ember, in the interests of full and thorough information, I've done some pictures of my two NC UK release Sundances in the shy pose, so you can see the comparison. As you'll see, the country of manufacturer has been taken out on the hooves, but they are slightly different shades of colour in hair/symbol between editions.  I'll post the links since the images are big.

http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/meganandsundance_uk_1.jpg
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/meganandsundance_uk_2.jpg
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/meganandsundance_uk_symbols.jpg
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/meganandsundance_uk_tails.jpg

The hair quality on your pony is imo much better quality than any of the actually released UK ones. I don't suppose they would use better quality hair on the proto and then use cheaper materials for the real thing, and, since she's made in HK, where I believe the US Sundances were all made, it seems more logical that, if she is a prototype, she originated there

.Reading it, it seems Drusilla said she bought it at a yard sale in Dollars, a currency not used in the UK. Its provenance is apparently Ontario, which is Canada...which makes more sense seeing as SS Sundance was sold there . She wasn't sold here.

Nice to see the images though. Nice thread.

Blackpool is a mite different since it used iconic images from 1986 for the display, and the display ran long after MLP ended. Blackpool Illuminations are a popular tourist thing here so I guess it was one theme they used?

Sundance was sold here though, so her depiction is no surprise,

The painted ponies are definitely much later than 1997/8 because at that time I was still helping build a full list online of what was available here and the Schooltime ponies were NOT on DV when I came online in 97/98. I don't remember them being found, so it was probably in my hiatus from the community around when LadyG says.

 I don't pretend I knew every detail of every find back then but since this is the timeframe I was actively involved in opening up UK info to the global market, I am sure I would at least have heard of it. Or if not me, Helen would have and would have asked me, because she was right on the ball with variants and rare stuff; she had Argentinian and Brazilian ponies YEARS before they became a community concern. If it had been in 98, she would've raised it with me .

Paintingtime came from a car boot sale. Ember, if Sundance really did come from here, she must have done so also. 1997/8 is too early for UK pony meets, but it is very possible that the seller might have got it from a car boot sale here, and confused her terms. Car boot sale is a funny phrase.

The thing that bothers me is that you just said finding it in the UK around that time gives it authenticity. Aside from the fact I found probably around a thousand ponies at car boot sales in the 1990s here and none were prototypes, there is a logic to finding prototype Schooltime Ponies here. They are UK ponies and would havebeen first designed somewhere in Europe.

Sundance is NOT a UK pony. She never had even the variations here that the US pony did. Her being found here acts as a minus against her, not a plus.

I don't think it is my place to comment on the authenticity of a pony on here when I have not seen it in person, but we have long since moved beyond the period of collecting where saying something came from the UK is justification for it being unusual. There are now hundreds of UK collectors online and we have a much better knowledge of what was and was not UK related.

There is no reason to think Sundance showing up here adds or takes from her authenticity. There are still people who claim something is Uk when what they actually mean is it looks different from what they are used to seeing. A lot of things never sold here still get tagged UK, and a lot of things which used to be tagged as UK have taken many years of work from collectors to properly catalogue.

In this instance,  no matter how you look at it, any prototype Sundance must have come from the country who invented her; America. That being so, if she was found here, she travelled. This means the UK link is incidental and far less important than her appearance and design.

@Tootie Tails, yes. The misnaming caused a LOT of issues back then, so even seeing it now, this many years on, makes me twitchy

Interesting. Thanks for that, Pkw. I also think Ember's Paintingtime is not the one from the insert because the symbol is more  outlined, the paint brushes are different and she seems a darker shade, but it does make me wonder if this is how those kinds of ponies came about. It might also resolve why the insert pics for the Playschool babies show such an odd mix of poses, and I know there  are other painted ponies outside of this set which have been reported.

I need to go back and rewatch some of these commercials again. I had some from Kim at DV years ago on VHS as part of a trade, but there are many more around now.

Weird how they switched the ponies, too.

Slightly OT, sorry 

Re the test moulds, granted, but aside from wondering how they got conveniently to the UK when it was an already established mould, I think it unlikely in Sundance's case because her eye looks far too finished except for the colouring. Test moulds don't come with eyes and again, we are talking about a lot of work to create a new version of this pony which had already sold fine for 2 years and ultimately was not changed.

As I said before, Hasbro UK also had some changes duringbthese years, with NC and China ponies alongside HK ones. Sundance is NC in the Uk in general, and so you would think that if theybwere going to change the pose they would do it when moving factory. The fact is, they did not.

Ugh. My tablet does not want me to type coherently tonight. Sorry.

So, this is going a bit off topic, but seeing the close up of Paintingtime made me think of something. I've been doing the 1991 pages for the Scrapbook lately, and I've been doing the Schooltime pony pages today...so that's why this has dawned on me now.

I realise this is a bit off topic from Sundance, but it just struck me suddenly.

http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/schooltimeinsert.jpg

THis is the UK insert for the Schooltime Ponies from 1990-1. I always thought they looked a mite weird in this photo, especially their eyes. Now, the symbol on this one looks more edged than yours, Ember, so I may be well off base, but I wonder if that's the basis for the painted ponies? If not for this image, then for something else. TV commercial, maybe?

If that's the case, though, it makes it less likely that Sundance relates to the UK since, if Hasbro UK painted pony bodies as idea bases, they wouldn't have made Sundance. There are no white CP ponies in Hasbro UK's catalogue for the entire of the MLP release range, since there are no Birthflower Ponies over here. They wouldn't have had any white bodies to work with, so they would've probably needed to paint a Peachy or someone to make a proto-Sundance, and, with her being such a success in the US and the UK in the first year, I don't really think they'd go to the trouble of trying. If she is a test model, she must come originally from somewhere else. Even if she took a trip here at some point

 I still think there are more questions than answers where she is concerned, though this whole discussion is still really interesting.

 And, as I said, the whole Schooltime pony thing...just occured to me.

Sorry for the quality of the image. My scanner is dead so I'm having to use my camera, which hates me at the moment.

Hi all

This is a really weird and specific "want" but with all the discussions on the GnS and with my doing edits on the 1991 section of my site, I've got kinda interested in this again.

I am looking for Baby Sunribbon, Baby Rainribbon and Baby Bright Bow in good condition.
However, I am only looking for a specific type of Rainbow Baby Pony - the ones with silky smooth straight hair rather than those with the wavy/curly type of hair that my ponies mostly have.

I realise that's a bit confusing, so I would love to see pictures if you have a Rainbow Baby to sell. The silky straight haired versions seem to be more commonly found in North America. Blue haired Baby Starbow is also one of that set, but I already have her.

Basically, this page/section
http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/1991_rainbowbabies.htm
has images of the Rainbow Baby ponies I already have, most from childhood. If you have one to sell and its hair looks different from the ones pictured, that's probably what I'm looking for.

I live in the UK, but have paypal. If I can get all three from the same person, that would be awesome, but I'll consider all fair offers seriously.

I'm happy to join in any conversations about GnS ponies!

Both of my Brightglows have straight hair, but my UK Starglow came off  her badly damaged card with curly hair. My US version had straight hair. The UK one is also way more opaque, but I think opaqueness is just a variation in the plastic.

That's interesting. I don't remember whether my sister's Starglow was actually CURLY when she came off card in 1992, it's too long ago and the pony has been too loved since - but she does genuinely have a coarser fibre of hair than my US bought Starglow (which, having aquired loose, I can only say I got it from the US). Naynie's pony's hair is also wavy, it's definitely never been straight like my Starglow's. Sadly it's in storage, with her Happyglow, so I don't have access to it right at the moment and am working from my photo and memory ><.

As I said before, this hair thing spreads to other sets. BlushingBlue touched on it with Singing/Sweet Pocket and her hair being that way. The Rainbow Babies I had as a kid are also like that, especially Baby RainRibbon. So are the Rockin' Beats. There are a lot of mixed hair and coarser hair fibre ponies on sale in Europe in the 1991-2 line...which would suggest a shift in manufacture...but if these came up in the States as well, it maybe suggests the US KEPT issuing them after that first year, while we only got them at a slightly later date.

Maybe they're just playing ponies in the Customs office. Or, trying to work out how such a small package of plastic has such a high customs value. Fingers crossed she;s not held up too much longer