Variations on a US theme


Baby Starburst=pink w/blue/yellow streak, pants with pink & blue stars & moons.
Baby Splashes = yellow w/pink/blue streak, pants with blue ducks.

Playtime Baby Ponies

Whilst in America there was a set of six Fancy Pants Ponies, in the United Kingdom there were only four, which were combined with two Playtime Baby Brother Ponies. The American Fancy Pants babies were made in Thailand, whilst the UK versions were made in China. This inevitably led to differences between the two sets of ponies. Pictured here are two of the set; the two which show best the variations. The other two, Baby Glider and Baby Dots & Hearts have slight differences in expression and maybe shade of their symbol, but are not as much of a variation as these two.
As can be seen from the picture, both babies have a different colour forelock, wheras there US counterparts did not. Also, Baby Splashes' hair is pink, not purple, and Baby Starburst has pink and blue stars, not yellow and blue. Strangely only the European packaging shows the ponies in their rightful colours - all the comics have Baby Splashes with purple hair and Baby Starburst with no streak.


Bow Tie - blue w/pink hair, pink bows
Applejack - orange w/yellow hair, apples
 
 
 

It is unsure what date these two ponies were officially released. They were never available on the US market in this form, however in the UK it is important to note that we had BOTH versions of Applejack and Bow Tie here, and while both Bow Ties are equally common, the shy pose Applejack is easier to find than the straight head version - however both are VERY common on the second hand market.

Although Bow Tie is not pictured on this card, it seems highly likely that she was issued (or re-issued) in this year with the regular My Little Pony set, since she is extremely common to find loose on the second hand market. Although the shy pose Bow Tie was issued in 1984 along with the other imported ponies which made up our initial issue, UK Pose Bow Tie was *PROBABLY* first issued along with the 'Groom and Style Pony' set in 1985. It seems unlikely that she could have been issued before this since she was sold with curly hair and there are no cases of ponies being issued before then with curls. It seems therefore that Alt pose Applejack and Bow Tie were available in stores between 1985 and early 1987, when Gypsy and her set were withdrawn in favour of the Non So Soft Ponies.
 Both are Made in Hong Kong, although there areItalian made versions.

OTHER VARIANTS

l-r
Two European @enigmas@
White star Milky Way
Euro Pose Twisty Tail

Both of the above were sold in Europe and the UK, HOWEVER the silver starred version of Milky Way was also sold in the UK, whilst the US pose version of Twisty Tail was not sold anywhere in Europe to the best of my knowledge, certainly not in the UK.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks to
http://www.graphicsbydezign.com/
for the background image