Ok... I have to ask....

[Bibinettepony]

  WOW this topic is more and more interesting!! it is like we work for the police and we are searching for information about what happened... 

Ember: I love your pics: I also love a lot how you have accesoired her  so cute!!

[Ember1]

Hey Taffeta
We do know hasbro did make a bunch of test molds and those test molds have been found in mostly been found in white. I remember seeing a white big brother test mold too. What of they used one of these molds to make sundance? I havent a clue if she was made in the UK but we cant know for sure. Here are a few test molds that i use to own.
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Also check out this link to see a collector's pose white test mold.. She was at Hasbro's table at the 2008 pony meet along with a whole bunch of other prototypes.

http://mountaincai.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-little-pony-fair-2008.html

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[shabbychicdee]

wow im so happy for you, she is an amazing find/win, big congrats. i would love to see loads more photos
she's so beautiful. my dream is to find a one of prototype of one of my favorite early ponies like a FF lemon drop and that first tooth baby sundance ah if only. you are so lucky. i should visit the nirvana forum more often.
it makes me so happy when i see pony peeps in the arena community with finds like these 

[Lady Starflower]

WOW this topic is more and more interesting!! it is like we work for the police and we are searching for information about what happened... 

Ember: I love your pics: I also love a lot how you have accesoired her  so cute!!

Hahaha I love this!! We are like dectectives lol

[Ember1]

Here are a few more photos

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[Lady Starflower]

She's really pretty. I really like her in that pose. Thanks for sharing more pics

[pinkkittywinks]

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.

I spent quite some time watching the old commercials hoping to spot any of the prototype ponies we know of from paperwork. I do know that so far I have not been able to find any with a CP Sundance. The Painting time used in the commercials I have seen is not Ember1's pony, the symbol is reversed and quite distinctive, and the pony in the commercial had a regular symbol. I can't rule out that is is not the pony which taffeta has shown us pictures of since the quality is not good enough to make out the details of the symbol.

On watching the the Euro adverts I noticed that Italy ponies are shown if they were to be standard release in the particular country the advert was made for. Many commercials are just dubbed and have a country "add on" at the end, El Greco is an example of this.  I also notice that in the Flutter and Princess Brush and Grow commercials they swap between prototype ponies (as seen in the leaflets, adverts or buyer brochures) and the actual release pony.

I hope this helps

Love pkw xxx

[Taffeta]

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.

[Ember1]

Pinkkittywinks.. I can say for sure the one Taffeta showed us in her pamphlet is not my pony.. Mine has reversed symbols and the one in the pamphlet has normal facing symbols. Since there are so many different prototypes of the same pony.. Aka the commercial, the pamphlet and the one I have, its probably safe to assume that the process to creating one pony was consisted of a design phase and once approved, the final production phase.. They probably had the finalist chosen at the end of the design phase pose for the catalogue photos. I hypothasize that  sundance and paintingtime are from the early design phase. I bet there were a lot of rejects from this phase.. Some in different poses..etc

[pinkkittywinks]

I didn't say Ember1's Painting time was the same pony in the pamphlet because i know she isn't I wanted to expand on what Taffeta had said about the pamphlet and that Ember1's Painting Time , as far I can tell isn't in either that pamphlet or the commercial I watched

Love pkw xxx

[Ember1]

oh ok .. my bad... no worries pkw.. I am just glad we know a little more about prototypes than we did yesterday Do we know who owns music time on the arena? I would love to see if she has a plastic washer like sundance and painting time.

[LadyGuinevere]

Not positive where Music Time (or Playtime as there were three of them that were found together), but I think Lancer may have one of them.

[Ember1]

Lancer has music time then because I have seen music time's photo be posted on the arena by her owner and I couldnt remember who it was..

[angelponies]

Super Congrats on her!!! I think that she is a prototype along with Painting Time, they both have the same kinda paint look and they both have those tail ties that look the same, I have seen them on other ponies that were legit too, You have such awesome pony luck!! And they are some of the best dressed and accessorized guys and gals too!!!

[tootie_tails]

The "prototype Sundance" looks too much like a custom to me...
(Sorry ember, if we ever find out that she really is genuine I will be the first to apologize for not having faith in her)

I want to believe, but there are some things that bothers me. Her symbol appears to be painted on, just the way it typically looks on a custom pony.. The hair looks like replacement hair. And the cable tie.. It's such a common item to use for customizing and repairing. I know you said you found a tie in the Painting Time prototype which is great and a good clue but it's in no way a proof.

The hair weave, it looks genuine but it can still be done by a customizer. I mean I can do it, and I don't think of myself as particularly skilled, it just takes longer time. I once measured the time consumed doing "normal" rehairing compared to the time it took to do a weave like that and it came out like this: making a genuine looking weave took me about 2.5 times the time it took me to do the same amount normal rehairing. 

The provenence story seems a bit...random.

The seller had many ponies for sale, individuals and in groups. Some of them look strange or have obviously been tampered with. For example there is a Sundance body with a Moondancer head on and with a Moondancer tail put in...
She also had 2-3 birthflower ponies, the white ones in collector pose.

With that said, I do hope she is real. She is beautiful and my heart jumped when I spotted the auction. I considered bidding on her myself but decided not to when I looked into the other auctions from the seller and saw the Moondancer hybrid. It scared me off.
Of course all my doubts could just be my jealousy talking. Although the same thing could be said about the lucky buyer - if you had paid ~$1300 for a pony you would be biased towards thinking of it as genuine. 

edit to add a link to the auction with the hybrid in:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/171692383434