I think you remember her if I show you this pic:
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loginShort story: It was me who won her!
-yay!
When I saw the auction I immediately recognized her from my Hasbro Toy Fair catalog that I own and have drooled over for a long time. This catalog don't show the modeled and painted prototypes we can see in the TV commercial, but instead the ponies looks factory made.
Because you see, at first all the 6 little ponies where ment to have dots (not as a "symbol", but more like a decoration). This changed quickly just before they hit the stores in the spring 1983.
Before this change of the design happened, Hasbro needed to take pictures for the dealer catalog. And this is the picture you can see below. And most likely this picture was taken at Hasbro headquarters (Rhode Island), or in a studio close to it.
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loginThe design process of making a pony is quite long. I have figured it out to be something like this:
1: The first concept drawings
2: 3D clay sculpture representation from the drawings (the first prototype)
3: Wax casting from the clay sculpure
4: Silicone mold from wax figure
4: Hard copy (solid body) made in the silicone mold (you can then make a few, and hand paint them too).
5: A steel mold is then made from a hard copy (very expencive last step)
6: A First Shot is made in the steel mold, refers to when the mold is tested before mass production. Color in the plastic and paintings can differ.
7. Mass production.
The Blue Belle you see here is a First Shot pony, made for catalog photos. And the one in the TV Commercial is most likely a hand painted Hard Copy pony.
And Here she is, First Shot Blue Belle
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loginAnd with my Blue Belle FF pony (a bit of a color difference in body and hair).
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loginLonger forelock (and the hair plugs starts higher up)
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loginHer upper eyelashes are shorter, and eyecolor is a bit different.
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loginAnd did you notice the painted white podiums that the ponies are standing on.....?
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loginBlue Belle actually has white paint residue under her hoofs (how cool is that)!?
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login...And... I actually bought another pony from the same seller at the same time, (because she was a FF pony and I wanted to examine her)!
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loginLonger forelock with the plugs starting higher up...
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loginShorter upper eyelashes and a small eyecolor difference...
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loginAnd white paint residue under her hoofs...
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login...I think these two girls have been togheter from the start!
(And when the seller is from Rhode Island and list's 2 Flat Feet ponies at the same time, one of them being a strange color, the chance of them both being pre-release ponies isn't that low)
So, sorry it took so long for me to share! But I hope you will enjoy my pic's, and that we will have a nice and interesting discussion about this topic!
I have more pre-production stuff in my collection that I will be happy to share with you all!
(And please, my ponies will not be for sale or trade for any kind of amount. So I kindly ask you to not PM me about that).
Ponyhugs
//Tina