After the madness, confusion and omissions that typified 1986,
1987 felt like a return to some kind of sanity - at least here in
the UK line. At the same time, though, there was a new-found sense
of independence and identity with this year's releases. While
previous years had seen UK or European specific ponies released
(such as Hopscotch
or Snowflake),
these had generally been in place of missing sets, and overall
1986 was a year of missing ponies, just as much as it was new
ones. Likewise, although there was one name variation (Sweetie), the
names of ponies in the UK remained fairly consistent with those in
North America in 1986.
That was about to change.
1987 saw a complete set of ponies that were designed and marketed
for the UK (as well as being distributed through countries with UK
connections, such as the Nordic countries). These were the UK's
first set of adult boy ponies, the Mountain Boy Ponies, themed on
weather and natural phenomena and all featuring freckles. While
North America had its 'big brothers', Hasbro UK apparently
decided to go down a different line. Big Brothers would emerge
here, rebranded, in 1988...but they would have to wait their turn.
1987 also saw Hasbro UK take control of the Princess Pony
set and redesign it for a UK market. Instead of bushwoolies, the
princesses in the UK came with dragon attendants. They also all
had different names - based on gemstones - and accessories that
varied from their North American release.
While puffy stickers were long since gone in North America, the UK
kept them for this year. Sets like the Flutters only had stickers in the UK
release, not in Europe.
And although the full Birthday Party Gift Set from North America's
1986 release did not make it over here, Hasbro UK had their own
birthday pony, Tutti Frutti.
A snapshot of some of the UK range in 1987, featuring old and
new releases (Argos, 1987)
Among these new stars were some old favourites. Hasbro UK pared
down the North American Twinkle Eye sets to create their own
release for 1987, which were sealed on cards which, as far as I
can prove, were unique to the United Kingdom. And then there were
the Movie Stars - for Hasbro UK did not go down the line of
flocked So Soft Ponies to celebrate the release of My Little Pony
the Movie. Instead these six (or seven!) ponies were sold in the
regular style. Here too, the sense of independent identity is
apparent, as several of the Movie Stars have small (or great)
variations from their So Soft cousins.
It is important to note that playset release dates between the UK
and North America do not always (or even often) match up, and this
was the first year to officially feature the Baby Buggy in
the UK, complete with Baby Cuddles and her "lullabye" eyes, and
the Dance
School with Baby Half Note. It seems that Hasbro held back
some of the playsets over here in order to see how the line
established before bringing them forward, meaning that the years
between 1986 and 1988 had a lot of playset release activity.
Sadly, although pictured on the insert above, Hasbro UK's
intention to sell Paradise Estate with Paradise
(as promoted in the Fact File, and the promotional booklet) fell
through, perhaps because of the cost of the playset overall.
Paradise was left as an unproduced prototype, cancelled probably
very late in proceedings.
1987 is also a threshold year, however. It marks a shift between
packaging styles, which remained constant from 1985-6ish but would
change dramatically in 1988. Aside the removal of stickers,
already mentioned, changes were also being made to the packaging
font and rainbow design. 1987 was the last year of the 'old
rainbow' on pony cards. The curved y of the words "my" and "pony"
(seen on the above insert image) would also be replaced with a
straight-stemmed y from the following year.
Hasbro's decision to release the Fact File this year does not,
therefore, seem coincidental. A blue binder claiming to contain
all existing My Little Ponies (albeit not quite accurate on that
count) from inception to 1987, complete with images and small
story blurbs, this was one of the better horseshoe point offer
treasures available to kids in the UK during this year. It remains
a valuable resource for pony lore and character, as well as a
glimpse into how Hasbro saw its pony line five years in.
