Hasbro Softies: when pink ponies were shortpacked

[LadyMoondancer]

I was looking at an eBay auction for an old catalog for the toy company that had the license to make the plush G1 ponies, Hasbro Softies, back in the day.  It was the second year of Hasbro Softies I think, so the line-up didn't include Cotton Candy, Blossom, etc.  (You can find the auction if you search for "Aviva catalog Hasbro 1985".)

The distribution of the plush ponies was really interesting.

Posey, Lickety-Split, and Cherries Jubilee were shipped together, with four of each pony.

Moondancer (with pink hair and yellow horn), Glory, and Firefly were shipped together, with this distribution: 

Five Glories
Four Moondancers
Three Fireflies

Finally, the Rainbow pony assortment (Parasol, Starshine, Windy) shipped to retailers with this distribution:

Five Windies
Four Starshines
Three Parasols

I find it really interesting that the pink ponies were actually the least common.  (I was also surprised to find that golden-horned Moondancer and white-horned Glory were sold in the same year . . . I don't get it, LOL.)

[invaderhorizongreen]

Very interesting I found three of them at my local thrift store. I kept two of them.

[glitterball]

How interesting - I wonder how they decided upon what they thought would be the most popular colours?

[Taffeta]

It sounds like they acted based on characters they thought would sell better, rather than on colour.

[LNS]

Interesting. Surprising that there were fewer pink ponies, very much would have thought it would have been the reverse.

[kitkatvintage]

That is actually the second year assortment of those Plushies. The ones that were short packed were also part of the first set in the previous year. In the Unicorn & Pegasus set, Glory was the new character while Moondancer & Firefly were reissues (although all were technically different since they were the Open Mouth versions). Same with the Rainbow Ponies - Windy was new that year while Parasol & Starshine were the reissues.

[tootie_tails]

Shortpacking is always interesting..! Has anyone ever made a (pony) website dedicated to that or gathered information in one place? I don't think so?
In particular I'm interested in the odd number sets, like the seven characters (Patch, Bonbon...) for example. It seems Clover is the harder to find one in that set.

About these softies, this is probably the explanation:

That is actually the second year assortment of those Plushies. The ones that were short packed were also part of the first set in the previous year. In the Unicorn & Pegasus set, Glory was the new character while Moondancer & Firefly were reissues (although all were technically different since they were the Open Mouth versions). Same with the Rainbow Ponies - Windy was new that year while Parasol & Starshine were the reissues.

I agree about the horn difference. Why..? Hasbro were typically about symmetry. Made they just wanted them to have more variety? As the white ponies would look much like each other if they both had white horns. It seems they are in different "poses" as well?

 

[mlp4me]

I'd love to see a full image of every single release (including obvious hair color variations).

Every once in a blue moon I'll come across a softie, I love how no two ever look alike!

[Taffeta]

Shortpacking is always interesting..! Has anyone ever made a (pony) website dedicated to that or gathered information in one place? I don't think so?
In particular I'm interested in the odd number sets, like the seven characters (Patch, Bonbon...) for example. It seems Clover is the harder to find one in that set.

No, but somebody should. Though how much data exists for it I don't know. What would also be interesting is distribution and how different areas got different sets in larger quantities. Clover and Patch were always both difficult ponies to find in my area of the UK, which was the midlands, and we never got the second release of the set with stickers in this area. But other areas of the country did get them. I would love to know whether this is all down to stores ordering from hasbro and selling just what they got, or whether there was any element of stores picking quantities. Obviously they could pick what set, but the fact some ponies turn up more in some areas than others within a set suggests more going on.

Argos definitely picked a pony or two ponies from a set and sold only those (ie Princess Sapphire, not the others, Rosedust and Honeysuckle, Snowflake, Wind Whistler, etc). So that indicates stores COULD choose what they received...and also suggests some G1 in the UK at least may have just been cases of one pony. Unless Argos was an exception and everywhere else got whatever was going.

My guess for the 7 characters, if they did come as a box lot, is that there were probably one of each in the set and then two of either Melody or Starlight.

[kasin]

I would guess the yellow horn on Moondancer was just for variety. I actually find it odd that they chose to do Moondancer and Glory together since they are rather simular.  A Medley or Twilight plush would have been nice.

Release volume and area for non plush is a whole separate conversation and deserves it's own topic. Too bad no one has published rechord of what Hasbro factory ordered each run like how coin collectors have a exact number of coins minted per year and per design.

[Ponyfan]

I'm surprised the pink ponies were shortpacked. I love the Hasbro Softies but don't own any. I've wondered about Moondancer's horn and her pink hair also. Did Hasbro think the pink hair looked better on a white unicorn?


Ponyfan

[LadyMoondancer]

I'd love to see a compilation of the distribution of each pony set, but unfortunately it's really hard to find that info.  Even most of the Hasbro Toy Fair catalogs don't mention it.  I do remember someone posting a catalog on here that list the distribution of the Year earth ponies and unicorns & pegasi.  Cotton Candy was the most common of the earth pony set, followed by Blossom.  I don't remember the others.