NBBE Baby Hearthrob necklace: blue or white?

[Ponyland]

Yup - she was in an English box and she had hearts on her wings.

I did bring this up in the past but was firmly advised of the split as per your list Stern...more specifically UK for the non wings and Europe in general for with the wings. The only speculation I have is that she could be a Scandinavian release. Their boxes were in English as well. However, she didnt have any stickers on her and she came from a US seller who was selling part of their collection so that doesnt help for the source. Alternatively its likely that all countries got the with wings version and then a smaller later release perhaps just in the UK got the non winged version.

Yes she is a Scandinavian release! We got exactly the same pony and acc. as  in Germany, but with an english box. I think we got them at the same time as well. Germany didn't have any english text on their boxes, but in Sweden we have a tradition of learning english at young age. We didn't have any swedish boxed ponies.

Our spanish made baby Lemon Drop ( that was also sold in France but in a box with french text on it) was also packed in a english box.

And my sources, and information that I have gathered is that US was first with BBE baby Heart Throb ( no wings on hearts, just as her mummy SS Heart Throb) and UK followed with the "play and care set" baby Heart Throb (no wings on hearts, just like the BBE version) and they didn't get any mummy for her.

A little later the rest of europe (or at least some countries) followed with the updated version (with wings on the hearts) to match the mummy that we got ( in Sweden this was the standard Heart Throb with glitter symbols, and in  Germany this was the Italian release.)

Do I make any sense? I can try do explain better but I'm in a hurry now

[hathorcat]

Yes thats right we didnt get any mummy for Baby Heart Throb so there was no reason for a wingless heart version to be thought of as inconsistent

Edit: If we did only get the wingless version in the UK then I dont think there was much of a difference in time line between when the UK and Euro versions were released as she features in both UK and a German seller catalogue for the same year . I had thought perhaps we all got the same pony and then the UK got a later release but if we certainly only got the wingless version then she was released around the same time as the winged version

[Ponyland]

Yes thats right we didnt get any mummy for Baby Heart Throb so there was no reason for a wingless heart version to be thought of as inconsistent

Edit: If we did only get the wingless version in the UK then I dont think there was much of a difference in time line between when the UK and Euro versions were released as she features in both UK and a German seller catalogue for the same year . I had thought perhaps we all got the same pony and then the UK got a later release but if we certainly only got the wingless version then she was released around the same time as the winged version

Yes there wheren't much of a time diffence. We got our baby just a little bit later then what
 UK did in 1986.
According to my Hasbro catalogue, UK it was first ment to get 4 "lullaby eyed" ponies in the play and care set, so it was a quick change from that to the normal eyed versions.
And when that was settled they spread out to the rest of us.

I have never found any evidence that UK got the winged heart version, but you never know for sure. But I'm really sure that the no-wings version is the first one. And a UK exclusive, as you got her first.

[hathorcat]

Its very cool the lines which changed so radically between catalogue and store and why some decisions like "with wings" or "without" wings on the symbols were such a significant issue...you have to wonder who and why the decisions were made dont you?

[Ponyland]

Its very cool the lines which changed so radically between catalogue and store and why some decisions like "with wings" or "without" wings on the symbols were such a significant issue...you have to wonder who and why the decisions were made dont you?

Yes.. somewhere there must have been a person who thought like "Wait, maybe we will not sell as many ponies as we could have if it doesn't look like its mummy! Lets change it NOW! (but don't tell UK)"

Often I think changes is about difficulties in the manufacturing process. If you can save some money by change a hair color, or some material, you do it. I'ts all about profit in the end...

But to ad wings must have been something else. Maybe the distributors of MLP in other countries did some sort of request.. (not sure if thats really the case, but somewhere someone must have said something to make a change)


edit:

I'm thinking about the carded first six babies with only a bottle as an accessory.
In Scandinavia we got them with glitter symbols (as the parents had glitter symbols, and where sold at the same time). But in Germany they had painted symbols ( just like the Italian mummys had painted metallic symbols). And we got these babies at the same time to, in the beginning of 1986!

Someone must have thought this over!.. It can't just be a random change!

[hathorcat]

Its a level of thought and production change which is actually rather impressive when you think about it. Although these changes are minor they would have likely cost more money rather than saved it - its odd to compare how determined they were back in the 80s to maintain a consistency when you compare it to the slap dash approach of now with the G4s where ponies dont even get symbols on both sides.

[Ivy]

The fact that they changed them when they took them overseas -still boggles my mind - I think the BBE's did do pretty well over in the US. I wonder what made them change them - or maybe the cost to make the BBE's was too high?

[partypony566]

NBBE is so much cuter

[Ivy]

you only say that because you didn't grow up playing with the BBE ones. BBE Baby Heartthrob, BBE Baby Ribbon and of course BBE Baby Gusty -are all childhood orginals for me.

[hathorcat]

The fact that they changed them when they took them overseas -still boggles my mind - I think the BBE's did do pretty well over in the US. I wonder what made them change them - or maybe the cost to make the BBE's was too high?

It would have been a Hasbro UK decision to not carry the US line over - it is odd. We certainly had baby dolls with sleepy eyes so its not as though the concept was unfashionable here. I sometimes wonder if Hasbro UK didnt just have its own little "thing" going on - that kind of determined to be different approach and order in lines which were different from the US. I mean why do we get Snowflake and Hopscotch etc but miss out on the So Soft line? There doesnt seem an obvious commercial reason other than each Hasbro sub deciding to go its own way.

[Ivy]

I wonder if it was the cost there too - the extra cost of making the SS ponies... with the flocking - the extra cost of adding bbe's to babies...

[partypony566]

you only say that because you didn't grow up playing with the BBE ones. BBE Baby Heartthrob, BBE Baby Ribbon and of course BBE Baby Gusty -are all childhood orginals for me.

I did actually, I still have my childhood BBE CUddles with the buggy

[LadyMoondancer]

you only say that because you didn't grow up playing with the BBE ones. BBE Baby Heartthrob, BBE Baby Ribbon and of course BBE Baby Gusty -are all childhood orginals for me.

Gotta disagree with that one--I grew up playing with BBE Baby Heart Throb, but even as a kid I would look at her and think . . . "Why didn't they make her cute like the others?"

I was so jealous when I found out about the NBBE versions!  (True fact: I only picked out Baby Heart Throb because I liked her playpen.)

What amazes me is how determinedly the comics people flaunted Firefly, Moondancer, Bubbles, and a bunch of other ponies who, I have heard, were never released in the UK.  Maybe it was to make them crave the expensive castle even more? "Mummy, mummy, look!! A pony who is ACTUALLY IN THE COMICS!!  Please can I have her, oh please?"

[hathorcat]

Oh there are plenty of ponies in the comics and books we never received - considering how well the comics are used to promote new sets it is very weird indeed.

It could well have been cost Ivy - perhaps it was cheaper per unit to have "simple" ponies rather than the more complicated ones with flocking and beddy bye eyes - therefore it made more financial sense to keep to existing moulds and essentially create exclusives [all be it in previously release moulds] than to buy into the gimmicky US lines.

[SweetTune]

you only say that because you didn't grow up playing with the BBE ones. BBE Baby Heartthrob, BBE Baby Ribbon and of course BBE Baby Gusty -are all childhood orginals for me.

I had the bbe babies and I always pretended they were sick like in the bright lights episode. They didn't have there shadows so they looked sickly.