How were store exclusive G3 ponies handled in Europe?

[PandoraFox]

I have a lovely G3 Royalette that I picked up at a flea market .
I looked up her name and such before, but checking some info on her again on My Little Wiki, taught me she was a Target exclusive.

And now I find myself curious how exclusive G3 ponies were handled in Europe.
I wasn't collecting ponies around the time of G3, so I don' t know if there were any sort of exclusive offers around here and I'm curious to know. We certainly don't have any Targets where I'm at.

Can anyone give me a bit of insight on that bit of pony history?
Like if they were exclusive to another store chain here, or just released like non exclusively?

[salemsparkler]

I found one too on a boot sale - BUT I think I remember the family was American (obviously Base people) - so, I think mine just came from the US.

xx

[LadyGuinevere]

It does vary from pony to pony - some were never sold  in Europe at all, others ended up as exclusives to different store chains. I think in the UK Tesco had a couple of sets that were Target exclusives, but not sure about elsewhere.

[mylittleponylover92]

I was given a Royalette! From the family who rented my parents house (and wrecked it) but they gave me 3 G3s they didnt want including her in July!

Had no idea either until I looked her up...shes in pretty good shape too! 

[PandoraFox]

I found one too on a boot sale - BUT I think I remember the family was American (obviously Base people) - so, I think mine just came from the US.
xx

I got mine from a few children at a flea market. I have no idea of she's an import or not, unfortunately.

It does vary from pony to pony - some were never sold  in Europe at all, others ended up as exclusives to different store chains. I think in the UK Tesco had a couple of sets that were Target exclusives, but not sure about elsewhere.

Thank you for the info. I wonder which chain could have gotten exclusives around here if any. We, kind of don't have Tesco's either.

I was given a Royalette! From the family who rented my parents house (and wrecked it) but they gave me 3 G3s they didnt want including her in July!

Had no idea either until I looked her up...shes in pretty good shape too! 

I'm lucky that she was in great shape as well. Did need some spa time, but she looks great now.
Sorry about your parents house though, that sounds awful.

[Vintergatan]

Actually, sometimes I wonder the same, as I have bumped into some ponies that were exclusive to US stores here. I assumed that they were somehow imported (there are a lot of Americans here) but you never know.

[Diamond]

Some ponies where released earlier on one side of the pond then others and then became general releases.  Others never came to one side or the other.  Winter Snow from the four seasons set was only on your side of the pond.  The rest of that set eventually got released in some form over here.  Also there was two sets of SLH late in the line that where only Euro releases.  Summer Hays book is really very good at sorting who came from where, and I recommend both books if you want to get into them and have a easy visual check list for when out hunting.

[PandoraFox]

Some ponies where released earlier on one side of the pond then others and then became general releases.  Others never came to one side or the other.  Winter Snow from the four seasons set was only on your side of the pond.  The rest of that set eventually got released in some form over here.  Also there was two sets of SLH late in the line that where only Euro releases.  Summer Hays book is really very good at sorting who came from where, and I recommend both books if you want to get into them and have a easy visual check list for when out hunting.

Oooh that book sounds really interesting, thank you.

[hathorcat]

I agree with Diamond, Summers G3 books are awesome for a who and where and when kind of information.

As LadyG says it depends which pony. Some ponies which were exclusive in the US remained exclusive to some retailers in Europe/Aus, some never made it out of the US or into every other country and there were even a few which were not exclusive to a specific retailer in the US which became exclusive to certain retailers over here. It was all down to how individual Hasbro subsidiaries sold sets/lines into retailers and which lines/sets they actually decided to take on from Hasbro US. For example the same retailer which has stores in 2 neighbouring countries may have taken a set as exclusive in one country but not been bothered about exclusivity in another country. Or Hasbro UK may have decided that they simply did not see a market or could not sell retailers on certain lines. Very confusing!

So the answer is "both" - some were sold exclusively and some non exclusively