Scandinavian Gusty puffy sticker (for all you sticker obsessed collectors, like me)

[Taffeta]

Another interesting observation is that that's not a UK released Pretty & Pearly Baby Sea Pony. I have her mint on card from the Benelux and the card style is indeed the North American style artwork. I am sure I took a better picture of her, but for the time being:
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Should I assume from that advert that your set matched theirs or was it a mix and match set? I remember spending a lot of time in 1998 when the only online pictures of the US Set were from DV's insert scans going through and identifying the differences between the release we had here and the one in North America, so that I and my trade partners knew what was what and what ponies we both needed. I've always loved Sea Ponies.

 I knew there had to be a difference, because two of the ponies were different, and in the end only one pony is the same between the two releases. We didn't get the looking up pose here at all.

It seems like Sweden wasn't just importing from Hasbro UK but also Hasbro Rhode Island, and maybe other places as well (or putting its own orders in). Who really knows with the Fable Ponies.

Interesting that Shady is not a Movie pony in that image, even though she was a Movie Pony. Unless, of course, she wasn't sold as a Movie Pony in Sweden but only as a Pony Friend? Just because she's on the card, we've really learned that doesn't mean anything at all.

I love learning about releases in different areas. Ponyland, I wonder if I might be really cheeky and ask whether I can borrow the images of your Pony Friend CJ and Posey for the Scrapbook? I would like to reorganise my 1987 page a little so that Truly and Cupcake are a little more clearly defined as separate. I can't put a complete separate page for the set, but at the very least I can make the distinction (and I think that it would be awesome to have the Pony Friend CJ on the CJ page with Groom & Style and 1986 My Little Pony C.J!

(I am also really waiting with bated breath for when you dig out this very British advertising for the FF ponies. If it's anything like Bow Tie and her birthday suit, it will be hilarious)

[Ponyland]

Interesting that Shady is not a Movie pony in that image, even though she was a Movie Pony. Unless, of course, she wasn't sold as a Movie Pony in Sweden but only as a Pony Friend? Just because she's on the card, we've really learned that doesn't mean anything at all.

Oh, she was! I'm 100% positive as I have seen her on the Movie Star card here in Sweden (with the brown eyeliner) The wole set got discovered in that old toy shop I mentioned before (where I got my Trickles, and my Bride Confetti)

I have just never seen her on the Pony Friends card. But this advertising kind of proves it. I think they where sold just in the early spring of 1987 but got discontinued before the autumn. And maybe that's why they aren't on the club poster (the only characters not represented is Cupcake and Truly though) so they might just have missed them when putting it together.

Also the Play and Care babies II got sold at the same time as the Pony Friends, but baby Blossom is the one that represent the PaC set on the ad. It could be that both I and II was sold at the same time in the spring 1987 and they just randomly picked Baby Blossom to represent them.

( Play and Care I was avaliable in 1986 too, but not the Pac II set)

Should I assume from that advert that your set matched theirs or was it a mix and match set?

I haven't found out so much about the baby Sea Ponies yet. But it could be that we got the US version of card and ponies. I will have to investigate that a bit more though! But as the picture was taken here in Sweden it could be like that, but the ad has lot's of small errors everywhere, so I could be that a batch of ponies got shipped to them for photograps before the release that didn't match properly.
I will continue digging for proofs! I haven't found any MOC baby Sea Pony at all in Sweden so far.


edit:

I love learning about releases in different areas. Ponyland, I wonder if I might be really cheeky and ask whether I can borrow the images of your Pony Friend CJ and Posey for the Scrapbook? I would like to reorganise my 1987 page a little so that Truly and Cupcake are a little more clearly defined as separate. I can't put a complete separate page for the set, but at the very least I can make the distinction (and I think that it would be awesome to have the Pony Friend CJ on the CJ page with Groom & Style and 1986 My Little Pony C.J!

I think that could be arranged. it's kind of important to me that they get represented properly, and that they are a 1987 release that is different from the Movie Stars, as they where sold along side each other and not instead of or as an exteintion of them.
 
It would also be great if they could be linked together with your UK set with Gypsy in some way with the reusing of the card but a year later and the Hopscotch character (but the ditching of Snowflake in favor of Cupcake and Truly).

[Taffeta]

Yep. I am going to do some work on 1986 and 1987 My Little Pony sets and see if I can't do that exact thing. I may need to borrow your moc images on groom and style card to to do it properly, but sincevthese 'uk' cards cause so much confusion, I think it needs to be done. Let me know if you mind my doing this, as it is easier to write something in with evidence to back it up.

I will be interested in what you discover about the baby seas. In the UK our first set was same as North America, but on different card. Same names...I think some accessories may differ but I am not certain without checking back.
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Second set only Beachcomber is the same in both UK and North America. Water Lily is in Tiny Bubbles' pose and Sunshower and Ripple in Sea Star's, Sea Star and Tiny Bubbles rereleased instead of Surf Rider and Beachcomber. Benelux definitely had the US style card and the same ponies as that release. My 2 have the wrong stickers, though for ponies from the right set. (Flat, like North America). I don't know if the six we had here were issued elsewhere. Some Twinkle Eyes sold on this card, I got mine from a seller in Germany. Cards here dated 1987.

UK release card (Water Lily)

Spoiler

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Tiny Bubbles.
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No Celebrate in the UK.

No Sea Sparkle Baby Sea Ponies in the UK.

Watercolor Baby Sea Ponies - four of six sold in the UK and Germany confirmed on blue bordered cards.
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 Foamy, Wavedancer, Seashore and Sealight. Misty and Seawinkle not in the UK but def. In Germany on German cards with US style art, so they had both. EinhornBaby has one of them and loaned me a picture.

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According to the card Chrissytree has from childhood, they were called Colour Change Baby Sea Ponies here.

Post Merge: August 25, 2015, 05:22:18 PM

Adding to this and double posting, but I have something to add on the Movie Star Ponies.

I was looking at your pictures and I realised there's a difference between the card of your ponies and the card I have for Wind Whistler. It's the top left hand pink oval with the text in it. Yours says six to collect. My card for Wind Whistler says As seen in the My Little Pony film. It's a subtle difference, but a difference all the same.

I did think that this might be the UK/Scandinavia variation because I was looking at the picture BabyDoll loaned me and it looks like her Wind Whistler has a sticker with the same card you have, but it isn't mentioned in the text. Perhaps not though. Perhaps it's not that simple...but it is a difference all the same.

I need to ask Chrissytree if she has a card for this set from her childhood...

[Ponyland]

I was looking at your pictures and I realised there's a difference between the card of your ponies and the card I have for Wind Whistler. It's the top left hand pink oval with the text in it. Yours says six to collect. My card for Wind Whistler says As seen in the My Little Pony film. It's a subtle difference, but a difference all the same.

I did think that this might be the UK/Scandinavia variation because I was looking at the picture BabyDoll loaned me and it looks like her Wind Whistler has a sticker with the same card you have, but it isn't mentioned in the text. Perhaps not though. Perhaps it's not that simple...but it is a difference all the same.

OMG!! This is really exciting news!!

Then we can actually separate them into two slightly different releases rater than just a batch variant (with the eyeliner) that continued to be sold over here!! And it isn't a sticker with the text "six to collect", it is printed on the card. So Hasbro bothered to change the card when they distributed  them over here.

I wonder why they changed it though? "The movie" was up on the cinemas in 1987 here around the same time that the set got released, so I don't understand the reason to change it. I have 2 swedish movie posters in my collection. I will have to check the dates for when the movie had its premiere here.

"As seen in the My Little Pony film" this sounds very British to me. But you are sure that yours came from abroad? (Although not Sweden because of the black eyeliner) If it was in the hands of a collector it might have crossed the border before?

_________________________________________________

On to another thing...

I'm working on mapping the danish release of ponies. As we often say "Scandinavia" on swedish sold ponies I feel that it is important to make collectors understand that Denmark had a different carded (and a bit crazy  ) range of ponies.
I was contacted by a danish toy collector wondering about some danish moc's that he had acquired. He wanted to know what I knew about them.
(I got really excited to see these sneak peek pictures!)




The first 6 earthlings, (italian made ponies). And on a "US type" card with danish text. I have seen similar before in other countries in Europe. It's quite similar to the BENELUX version of this set.
In Sweden we missed out on this set entirely.
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I have seen evidence that some of the first Unicorn and Pegasus ponies also was sold like this (italian made ponies) but probably on the "US type" Uni/Peg card. And they where probably available at the same time. I'm guessing around 1985.

The white italian Moondancer is rumored to have been sold in Germany, BUT she wasn't an official part of their range of ponies. They only got the Fable Ponies, but without any Moondancer. I think that the white one that often surface over there actually has traveled across the border from Denmark. (It's only a  short trip away with the ferry, and they sell toys on the boat too).


 __________________________________

 Around 1986 the craziness starts!


HK made Sparkler, but on a danish texted earth pony card. I guess this is their version of the Fable Pony set, as they needed those characters too.  Not sure why they decided on the earth pony card and not the Fable Pony card. And I still need to figure out if Powder and yellow Moondancer was a part of this set, or if they just had the 6 characters that Germany got (no real need to distribute Moondancer twice if the italian version where available).
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It looks like they got the UK version of earth ponies with green Tootsie. No danish text, so I think this is just simply an import. Doesn't need to be official either. BUT at the same time they had the white Tootsie (also sold in Sweden) but on a uni/peg card with danish text.  This could be a version of our swedish set with Hopscotch, Snowflake and white Tootsie. It makes some sense at least.
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And the baby ponies (that we also got in Sweden on the same card but with english text) had a danish texted card.
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I'm really hoping that he will sell them to me sometime so that I can examine them more, and document them properly. For now he will hold on to them though. But I'm happy that we could learn a bit more about the danish release of ponies.
And maybe find a new way to describe ponies as the "Scandinavian" term isn't really correct if Denmark isn't included... I'm not sure they had the Pony Friends.

[Taffeta]

OMG!! This is really exciting news!!

Then we can actually separate them into two slightly different releases rater than just a batch variant (with the eyeliner) that continued to be sold over here!! And it isn't a sticker with the text "six to collect", it is printed on the card. So Hasbro bothered to change the card when they distributed  them over here.

When I said sticker, I meant a puffy one inside the package, not a sticker on the card. Sorry for not being clear. I'm not certain, but it looks like something between her hooves behind her tail. Babydoll has the pony, though...I'm only working from an image and I might be wrong. I've yet to see an English language MOC with a puffy sticker, despite knowing the things exist.

As you say, two distinct releases at the very least, in English language.

I wonder why they changed it though? "The movie" was up on the cinemas in 1987 here around the same time that the set got released, so I don't understand the reason to change it. I have 2 swedish movie posters in my collection. I will have to check the dates for when the movie had its premiere here.

I'm a bit confused about it too. They're sold as movie ponies in 1987 in Argos, but in absolutely nothing else I know of over here is that connection made. Hasbro refer to them as My Little Pony, Ponies, basic ponies...they appear in stories without any connection to the movie themes or characterisation (in the UK, for example, Shady was the psychadelic visionary with her magic sunglasses, Magic Star was the most magical pony in ponyland and had a wand...Wind Whistler was decidedly frivolous...and Gusty was the kind and gentle ponyland nurse, just to cover four really different characterisations). They never had a card story but their factfile entries back that characterisation up. Hasbro UK did a terrible job of linking these with the movie, despite the movie coming out here. This happened in July 1986, according to the comic advert. I had Shady as a kid, but remember absolutely zero about the movie nor the fact she was apparently connected to it in some way. If I didn't know better I'd almost imagine there was a completely different non-movie style card and we'd all been duped somehow, but that's nuts.

Also with both versions of Buttons, there were seven, not six. Did you have both versions too?

"As seen in the My Little Pony film" this sounds very British to me.

It is. It's funny how it's advertised here as the film but Argos used the word movie. Movie is a much more common term here now than it was in the eighties. Film would've resonated better, probably. I don't know. Hasbro UK probably packaged the ponies, though, and their copyright is on the card, so I don't know if much can be made of that.

But you are sure that yours came from abroad? (Although not Sweden because of the black eyeliner) If it was in the hands of a collector it might have crossed the border before?

I know that I bought it from abroad, because in transit from abroad the pony fell off the card. That's why I am certain. WHere it originated from I am not sure, but it came to me from abroad and nothing was said then that it had originated in the UK. As we've discussed before, stickers happened in the UK in 1987, apparently!

My other one, Shady, is French and came from Paris. A girl I knew there found a whole ton of them. She kept Shady for me because she knew I wanted one. I do know that the Dutch (Benelux?) release of this card is bilingual, and isn't the same as the French - the French name for Shady is also not the same as the Canadian one (Incognito not Petit Ombre), which suggests a lot of different releases and translations and stuff going on in two parts of the world.

I haven't seen a German one.

On to another thing...

I'm working on mapping the danish release of ponies. As we often say "Scandinavia" on swedish sold ponies I feel that it is important to make collectors understand that Denmark had a different carded (and a bit crazy  ) range of ponies.

All that Danish information is super interesting, and especially because the card style for the ponies where Danish text is involved is more based on the style of card used in North American releases, not those produced here. Whereas Sweden seems to have gone much more down the "UK" style line (sorry >.>) in terms of packaging, Denmark has gone a completely different direction. I have been a bit uneasy about the term Scandinavian pony for a while, but without knowing for sure...

Those cards do remind me a bit of the German Bow Tie, whose card had no name on it but "Mein Kleines Pony" instead...

Slightly annoyed that we seem to be the only country in Europe not deemed worthy of a fable pony equivalent ><

[Ponyland]

Slightly annoyed that we seem to be the only country in Europe not deemed worthy of a fable pony equivalent ><

*pat on head*
 


edit:

Also with both versions of Buttons, there were seven, not six. Did you have both versions too?

Nope, she is a UK batch. I think as it has been mentioned before that she probably slipped over from the SS line in the beginning. And that they just a bit later changed her design. It's not so expensive to alter the design on paint works in the factory, and they probably just had their reasons (like with PaC baby Heart Throb).   

Post Merge: August 29, 2015, 11:10:28 AM

All that Danish information is super interesting, and especially because the card style for the ponies where Danish text is involved is more based on the style of card used in North American releases, not those produced here. Whereas Sweden seems to have gone much more down the "UK" style line (sorry >.>) in terms of packaging, Denmark has gone a completely different direction. I have been a bit uneasy about the term Scandinavian pony for a while, but without knowing for sure...

Those cards do remind me a bit of the German Bow Tie, whose card had no name on it but "Mein Kleines Pony" instead...

I think this can have something to do with the card of the Benelux countries. They got A LOT of "US type" card and ponies. Not as a foreign import, but more as a official range of ponies adjusted to their own languages.
Denmark is like the gate in to Scandinavia, and has a lot more continental influences because of that. So I think that they maybe had the same kind of distributor as Benelux, maybe they collaborated.
And it will be very interesting to find out where the ponies got packed. It can't really be in the US because of the use of italian ponies.

I will have to dig out a little more pictures of German moc's as well to compare with.
It's fun with our german Bow-Tie moc in that way that it is the only version where they kept the "My Little Pony" rainbow logo and added the german text as a translation below.
But they still used a Hasbro UK card, and not the US type card like in Denmark. We need to find out where the connection is..


edit again:

here is a pic I borrowed from google for comparison:

Benelux sea shell
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and the danish:

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edit again:

Benelux card first version "US style" cards
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Greek card (used the same year in Europe, and it is a "US style" card)
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Danish card (this is the second "US style" card and not the first that came with italian ponies.
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"to all children who believes in adventures, a beautiful little fantasy pony with hair to brush (groom) and style" -translated from the front of the card.


I really want to know what kind of sticker this tootsie came with!! 

[Taffeta]

Slightly annoyed that we seem to be the only country in Europe not deemed worthy of a fable pony equivalent ><

*pat on head*
 

We woz robbed >.>


edit:

Nope, she is a UK batch. I think as it has been mentioned before that she probably slipped over from the SS line in the beginning. And that they just a bit later changed her design. It's not so expensive to alter the design on paint works in the factory, and they probably just had their reasons (like with PaC baby Heart Throb).   

Which one was the UK batch? Big buttons or Buttons & Stars? Big Buttons is on the card and on the insert, but I have a MOC one on my site which was sent to me from someone in your part of the world and the symbol is Buttons and Stars...

I think this can have something to do with the card of the Benelux countries. They got A LOT of "US type" card and ponies. Not as a foreign import, but more as a official range of ponies adjusted to their own languages.

Agreed. In fact, I'm pretty sure there was both, as (I think I posted before) I have Princess Moondust all marked up in English but with stickers on to indicate distribution in Holland and Belgium (no mention of Luxembourg). The only packing difference is 2 points instead of 3 on her box (my Pristina and Sunbeam both have 3, I think...). I am a little sure that one of my MOC Megan and Sundance wear cards is also in English with the American art style but has the age guidance in Dutch and French in the top corner. We didn't get Megan and Sundance wear here as far as I am aware, although we did get Pretty Ups and Pony Packs, and with ponies not sold here pictured on the card and inserts. There are some sets here, too, where it's not clear whether our packaging was the same or different from the North American release. Ponies like Sparkle Ponies and Sundae Best had only a coloured border around the very rim and a different colour of name bubble, the art was all the same. You wonder why they bothered, especially with the Sparkle Ponies, where no names changed. I think the Sundae Best may have had slightly different stories but I would need to get my cards out and check. Summer Wing boxes over here seem to have been the same as the US box, but with UK distribution marks on them. It kinda proves that there's not one simple way of doing things, even here where we're meant to be distributing stuff. It makes me wonder if everything was decided on a set by set basis and the same rules didn't always apply from year to year or even pony by pony.

I used to have that Benelux Seashell, but I got rid of all my MOC Italian ponies after some unpleasant experiences in the community with another member over them. You're right, though, there's a similarity and a geographic closeness that makes that make sense. I've actually been to Denmark (and Sweden, but only by train to Malmo for the day  ) and they are very close to the Benelux.

I really want to know what kind of sticker this tootsie came with!! 

LOL So close, and yet so far

When you add to this equation the fact there was a Dutch/French language release of the Movie Stars (UK style card) and that some sets appeared in German in both UK "style" and US "style" packages, I think that we're only really scratching the surface of what we think we know.

[invaderhorizongreen]

This is very interesting, I never knew there were slight differences in them.