How long were each "wave" of G1s sold in stores?

[InkyMilk]

So, I was curious about that other thread asking about which ponies were made for each year, so of course I had to snoop and check it out for myself I was surprised to find that one of the 1989 ponies, the Prom Queen Sweetheart Sister Pony Pretty Belle is actually a pony I've had since my childhood! And since I highly highly doubt that anyone in my family went searching exclusively for a pony made in the exact year I was born, I can only assume she was actually given to me as an infant <3

Still, I found that my other childhood pony, a Baby Ballerina Tippytoes was released only a year later, so I'm once again so surprised that I would have had both these ponies since I was born, and still have them after all these years! And I got to thinking, were G1 ponies released the same way ponies are now? With each wave coming through the stores, sticking around a few months and then they were gone? Or did each wave maybe instead stick around a little bit longer, and there's a possibility whoever bought these ponies for me could have bought them maybe when I was a few years older?

[Clipper]

well i don't think they had waves back then..

ponies sat on shelves for years after the sets were out.. my first ponies were tic tac toe and bright eyes.. and they were from 1987.. I was born in 86.. I know I didn't get them until i was atleast 3 or 4.

Also, a lot of stores had old store stock.. toys didn't move as fast on the shelves and have a "shelf life" like they do now. so old stock, therefore wasn't put on clearance as often.

I remember seeing the baby ballerina ponies at Toy liquidators (aka k-bee) in like 1993, also some sparkle ponies and summer wing at Albertson's were on the shelves until 1994  and my mom wouldn't buy them for me.. :-(

[katrine2309]

Yup, I agree on the "no waves" thing. I'm born in '82, and my first two ponies Posey and Bowtie were released in '83. I don't think I got them when I was one year... Maybe two. And I have a clear memory (who I now actually also thinks holds true) of getting baby Glory when I was around five - meaning I had to get her in '87. That is a few years later than she was actually released and even though I can absolutely buy the "I live in Norway and therefore everything is released later than in the U.S.", I think that many years later is still a little bit out there... hehe. We're not that far behind on releases, not even in the 80's!

Also, I know for a fact that I got Dream Castle when I was five years old as that was the last present I ever got from my grandfather (he died shortly after). That would have been in May 1987. So, it seems like ponies were sold over a long period (years!) in the 80's and 90's.

[ValeofSpring]

Hello!  So I agree there were no "waves" exactly (in a way buyers at the time could tell), but if you stumble across the guides that went out to buyers for toy/department stores, you can see that different sets within a year had staggered releases.  I used to have the commercial buyers' guide for Year 2, and I remember that the basic twelve ponies that year came out in January and the Rainbow Ponies later that year.  Generally "Years," at least at first, ran a full calendar year.  So for instance Bow-Tie, Applejack, etc., were first manufactured in 1983 (date on hooves) but were first available for sale January 1984, and they ran to December 1984.  Of course they could linger in stores for as long as the stores let the stock sit.

Sadly the stores around me were very good at either selling out of ponies or sending the old stock back--I desperately wanted Blossom in 1985, but she was nowhere to be found!  Happily the MO one was available in 1986 and I got her then.  But yes, ponies were technically only "out" for about a year and if you wanted one after that . . . well, unless you were fortunate to find ones that lingered about (for instance, I bought a Firefly and Sunbeam around 1989, long after they were no longer "out"), then you were out of luck!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

They sat on shelves until they sold out, then they ordered more.    That's why collectors were finding G1 MOC/MIB goodies in shops through the '90s.  This is also why many sets are difficult to find - they weren't ordered in as many quantities.

The second set of Sea Ponies is an awesome example - the boxes were an odd size so they were often placed on higher shelves, they were slightly more expensive ($12 to a $8 pony) and therefore, the first set didn't sell super quickly - not nearly as much as $5 on-card ponies on shelf pegs.  So many retailers did not order the second set... 

[LadyMoondancer]

Generally Hasbro planned the sets on a yearly basis, although some sets were staggered in release.  I think one of the brochures mentions this, perhaps the one with the Rainbow Curl ponies on it?

Anyway, generally stores would order ponies, then order more ponies once they ran out.  There wasn't a frantic push to get rid of, for example, the 1987 ponies on clearance in order to make way for the 1988 ponies.  (As far as I know, anyway.)  Ponies were ponies to the stores.  I actually found a fair amount of ponies at a surplus store in the late 90s . . . Whatever store they'd bought stock from had had a TON of Dance 'n Prance ponies.  Like, there was a brick wall in the middle of the toy aisle, except instead of being made of bricks it was made of D 'n P boxes.

I really wish current releases were as well organized.  It seems crazy to me not to provide kids with a yearly checklist to promote the "Gotta catch 'em all!" mentality.

[shabbychicdee]

i would say "waves"  but back i n the day they were sets then called "year"but now i would call them waves, like the wave with curly hair applejack and the one with short hair AJ.
Anyways some went really fast and others just sat there for years, i dont think they reduced to clear back then or not in nz. i remember the first Flat foots going fast and the glitter symbol ones (glorys set), i never even got to see the two sitting ponies nor the adult sea ponies in store. i guess how ever little girls loved the most didn't last long

[hokuspokus]

well i don't think they had waves back then..

ponies sat on shelves for years after the sets were out.. my first ponies were tic tac toe and bright eyes.. and they were from 1987.. I was born in 86.. I know I didn't get them until i was atleast 3 or 4.

I think so too.
I was born in '88 and had lots of G1, but i was 6 when i got my first pony. They have been in stores for years here too.

[ravengusty]

when i was a little pain in the butt ponies made as early as 1984 would still be on display at full price in woolworths in 1990. And slightly further on  I was a maaaaaaaaaaad pony obsessed child this is why my father keeps far away from my grown up pony collection, he says he saw enough of them when i was little lol

[hathorcat]

Yes I agree with everything said. It worked slightly different back then - hence the "sets" we use rather than "waves". Retailers bought in the sets which they thought would sell well each year and ponies would literally stay on shelves until they sold out. New sets were often added to the mix and this meant that not only were ponies which were released in some years found years after their official release but also that sets from different sets could sit on shelves along side one another.

[ravengusty]

Bringing back the memories 

I remember going to woolworths when i was about eight (1992) for my birthday I fell on my butt down one aisle trying to speed to the ponies then when i got there i remember definitely seeing masquerade and fizzy there were sweetie baby ponies I'm sure because I bought liquorice and another. And I think either that year of the year after I got the pretty palor (the big one with TAF Fifi)

good memories 

[spottedslug]

My mom tells me that she stood there while a guy opened up a big box of ponies to put them on the shelf in March 1984. She got Parasol at that time and I got myself Windy from the same store a week later. It was the first time she'd seen ponies in the stores and Parasol was my first pony.

[balletpot]

I was born in '79. This thing about ponies sitting on the shelves until they were sold and then they ordered new ones makes me wonder if this is why I never saw any twinkle eyed ponies when I was little. Maybe they missed that set? They were sold here though I've been told but I never saw any in my town. I had three MLP mugs (still do) as a child, two with twinkle eye ponies (Fizzy and Whizzer) and I never understood why the eyes looked so weird. I honestly didn't find out about twinkle eyed ponies until I started collecting, almost two years ago. The only "strange" ponies, as in "that's not what a pony is supposed to look like", I remember from when i was little were the princess ponies and the wingers.

[hathorcat]

That could be the case balletpot. Also not every retailer in every country carried every line and every set. They would often pick and choose what sets they took in order to compliment what they had elsewhere, what they had left of the line or even to fit the scale of commitment they gave the brand. Part of this is why some Playtsets, such as the Dream Castle and Lullabye Nursery were for sale consistently for several years during the line.