1993

After the death of the North American line in 1992, My Little Pony continued on in Europe for three more years. In the case of the United Kingdom, the line would span into 1994 before finally admitting defeat, and there would be many new characters between then and the end.

There is an amount of irony involved in this year's release too, since many of 1993's released characters were actually extremely well known in North America. Although none of them were sold there, a new television series of My Little Pony was made in 1992 and featured the Seven Character Ponies and the Family Friend and Family Baby Ponies from this year's line. Consequently, there are many North American collectors who are keen to add these to their collections.

Although in some cases their animated forms were not exactly true to the ponies, these characters are easily recognisable on screen!

The UK pony comic was also drawing to a close in 1993, and the final set of editions focused in on the same characters as the television series. However, the comic also introduced us to Princess Sparkle, this year's 'gimmick' pony. Many of the other stars this year were back to basics ponies with little except their on screen characters to recommend them to buyers.

In some ways, this was a nice touch, after the massively gimmicky releases of the earlier 1990s!

However, that was not to deny 1993 it's own particular 'gimmicks'. Besides Princess Sparkle and her fibre-optic crown, this year also gave us ponies who could rollerskate and a brand new type of hair-styling pony!