Baby Sea Ponies are here!

It was probably inevitable that, after having adult Sea Ponies, Hasbro would ultimately introduce babies. Unlike with the land-based ponies, however, none of the Baby Sea Ponies produced in 1986 (or, in fact, ever) were designed to match a particular adult. They had their own names and their own identities.

After 1985, there were no more adult Sea Ponies, but Hasbro would produce four sets of Baby Sea Ponies in total, each with distinct styles - between 1985-6 and 1988-9.

Like the adult Sea Ponies, the babies were intended to swim in water, and they had the little hole behind the ear to help with their buoyancy. Unlike the adults, however, they did not contain an internal weight, and instead came with a float - in the form of an animal or bird themed rubber ring. This fitted around their body and allowed them to balance on the water surface. While styles of floats were introduced and reused between sets, each Baby Sea Pony had her own design. The first three floats introduced were 'fish', 'turtle' and 'duck'. They came in one of two poses in this first year release, and were sold with whale brushes, ribbons and puffy stickers.

Sea Shimmer Mint on Card
UK, 1986

Unfortunately, as with the adult Sea Ponies, exposure to water often meant ponies becoming wet inside, and internal mould is not an uncommon feature of these ponies second hand.

This set was sold in North America in the tail end of 1985, and was in UK stores for certain in 1986. It was also sold in Benelux countries (on North American style, English language cards marked up with a sticker in Dutch and French). They were sold in France on translated versions of the UK style card, and in Italy on a card unique to the Italian release.

Two of the set - Backstroke and Sea Star - were offered through the Argos Catalogue in Spring/Summer 1986. They retailed for £2.75, meaning that this set likely sold for between £2.50 and £3.50 when in stores.

Backstroke and Sea Star in Argos
Spring/Summer 1986

Argos's sales pitch was weirdly specific, describing Backstroke as a very keen swimmer, and Sea Star as a pony who loved making sandcastles. Clearly someone in the cataloguing team read the backcard stories before writing!

While the ponies were basically the same, the cards in the UK and North America were different. There are also occasional float variation differences, with minor colour shades indicating different batches, and slightly different print on the base.

Tiny Bubbles' backcard
UK, 1986