How do I be sure it's a non-U.S. release?

[Tak]

I have a bowtie in the collectors pose. Her feet are stamped 1982 and Hong Kong. I can't find anything saying she was released in this pose in America.
My other bowtie's are only stamped on the front feet.

[LadyPinwheel]

I think the CP Bowtie is from Europe/UK

[Baby Sugarberry]

Neither CP Applejack nor Bowtie were ever released in the Americas in that form, only in the shy pose.

[pinkkittywinks]

Collectors pose Apple Jack and Bow Tie which are marked Hong Kong are Euro release only they were sold in the UK and other parts of Europe.

http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/bow_tie.htm

This website is very helpful

http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/index.html

Love pkw xxx

[Tak]

So do UK releases count as nirvanas? Are some of the other overseas releases marked as china, or Hong Kong?

[jrr74]

I asked a very similar question recently and was told these ponies are considered European exclusives, but that it all depends on who you talk to.  In fact, it was a member on the arena that coined the phrase nirvana pony and if you look at the nirvana forum, there is a actual list of which ponies are considered nirvanas.

[Tak]

I'll do that thanks. 

[LadyGuinevere]

While there are some Hong Kong and China ponies that fall under the Nirvana umbrella, the standard issue UK and Euro ponies generally do not

http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,283451.0.html

[Taffeta]

Collectors pose Apple Jack and Bow Tie which are marked Hong Kong are Euro release only they were sold in the UK and other parts of Europe.

http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/bow_tie.htm

This website is very helpful

http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/index.html

Love pkw xxx

*Gives PKW cookies* thank you for the site plug

Tak - the reason there is confusion about Nirvana even among members now is because when pony online collecting first began, it was a predominately US and Canada-based affair. Most of the collectors were from that part of the world, and it was only bit by bit that it became more global. So back then, when a few of us got online from the UK, there were only scrappy bits of information about mythical ponies we had (or were rumoured to have) here. And some variants and ponies now considered Nirvanas got assumed to be UK.

As knowledge spread, information increased and people from lots of countries appeared online, it became easier to separate. The Nirvana term I think came into being about six years after the first information about European and UK ponies hit the internet, though, so that created room for confusion. Unfortunately it also means there are still a lot of popular but unfounded myths floating around about what pony was sold where.

But, now, we do have a really global community and so there's a distinction between Nirvana, non-US and North American release. I actually dislike this way of classifying - Nirvana is fine as variant ponies and such, but I don't think that we should be talking about US and non US release in the way that we generally do. The reason is that the shy pose Bow Tie with straight hair was sold pretty globally, so kids here grew up with her just like kids in the US. But the collector pose Bow Tie is only from Europe and the UK release, so she is European. And, the curly haired Bow Tie in the shy pose was sold in North America, but not in Europe. So I think there are these categories:

Global ponies,
North American ponies, (sometimes also Australia/NZ)
 UK only ponies (eg Gypsy)
European ponies including the UK (Sometimes also Australia/NZ)
European ponies not including the UK (Germany and Holland both have unique ponies which are sometimes included under Nirvana, but I don't tend to consider them so)
Nirvana Ponies  (mostly other country made variations, but also alt BF ponies fit in here)

It's complicated but if you tend to think that ponies made in countries other than Hong Kong and China are Nirvana, you are probably on the right track. The exception is Thailand for the Fancy Pants Babies as all North American Fancy Pants baby ponies were made in Thailand. European ones were made in China.

PKW linked my site, which is written about all the mainstream ponies but from/including the UK/Euro perspective,. And if you have any issues or queries with any of those types of ponies you can always just ask

[Tak]

Thank you 

[pinkkittywinks]

This has reminded me!

I first started recollecting around 13-14 years ago. I dug out my collection and started to look them up online. Before I found Taffeta's website, the only information I could find on CP Bowtie and Applejack said that they were made in Italy, there was nothing on the CP HK release versions. I was so confused!

Love pkw xxx

[Taffeta]

I remember talking to Helen on the phone back in 1997 and mentioning Snowflake, and she said, "who?" At which point my whole understanding of pony stuff was thrown into confusion. I had seen DV and all the ponies I knew that the US had had which we didn't, but I had no...clue...that it went both ways really until then. Not beyond the 1993 and 1994 ponies, which were beyond the US release run anyway.

At which point I remember getting out all my DV printouts and looking at the poses and realising...there were MORE OF THEM than anyone had thought. With Confetti, Bow Tie, AJ, and the Baby Sea Ponies...

It was a very fun but very confusing time O.o. I had to take physical images of so many ponies and mail them to Helen, and she was sending me really specific instructions about what she wanted based on those images. But she never could tell with poses, so a lot of that stuff was still theory for me until I got online properly myself in April 1998, and was not just restricted to one hour a week at the library.