The My Little Pony Scrapbook: G1 in the UK and Europe

Bouquet

 Brush & Grow Pony, 1988-90

White unicorn pony with yellow, fading pink, blue and red-orange mane and tail, red hat symbol

Bouquet
Pony Data
Set  Brush & Grow Ponies, 1988-90
Asst. Number 4615
Accessories Long handled dark purple brush, two wide orange ribbons, lavender shooting star clip, pink three hearts clip.
-
Long handled rich blue comb in boxed release only?
Pose Fizzy
Distribution Worldwide
Other Versions Versions exist made in Hong Kong & China.

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Ponies Sold in 1989 in the UK First Tooth Baby Ponies | Big Brother Ponies II |Kiss Curl's Grooming Parlour | Windy Wing Ponies| Happytails Ponies (Import) | Crimp & Curl Hair Salon | Baby Buggy | Sundae Best Ponies | Brush & Grow Ponies | Princess Brush & Grow Ponies | Perfume Puff Palace (UK: 1989) |Sparkle Ponies (Store) | Perfume Puff Ponies | Scrub-a-Dub Tub | Sweet Dreams Crib | Club Newborn 1989 | Loving Families (individual and gift set) | Loving Family Accessories| MUMMY CHARMS

Other 1989 Ponies Princess Ponies (Germany/Austria) |Sparkle Ponies (Mail Order) | Newborn Twins II (Partial, Germany/France) | Twice as Fancy Megan & Sundance | Goldilocks | Sweet Scoops | Chuck. E. Cheese Baby | Valentine Twins | Satin & Lace (Lavender) | Coat/Tux 'n' Tails | Twice as Fancy Baby Ponies | Birthday Baby Ponies | Merry-Go-Round Ponies (UK: 1990 | Candy Cane Ponies (UK: 1990) | Sunshine Ponies (UK: 1990) | Dance & Prance Ponies (UK: 1990) | Fancy Pants Babies (UK: 1990 - partial) | Playtime Baby Brother Ponies (UK: 1990 - partial) | Newborn Babies (UK: 1990) | Sweetheart Sister Ponies (UK: 1990 - partial) | Baby Ponies with Pretty Pals | Pearly Baby Ponies | Pretty Mane Ponies | Baby Sister Ponies | Dream Castle (Lavender)



Bouquet


Bouquet was the only unicorn pony made available in the Brush and Grow Pony set. The set was originally sold in North America in 1988, but reached the UK and Europe in around 1989. Here, they were officially sold on cards.

Mint on Card Bouquet
Bouquet Mint on Card
UK release, 1989
Image from Shivhae

 The cards had their own European art on the back, which was unusual for packages in 1989.  The carded releases do not seem to have come with combs, but did come with everything else. The wide ribbons  were folded underneath the brush (thanks to LadyG for this information).

Please note that my Bouquet's pink streak has faded to white.

 While the cards advertised ponies made in China, the majority of Brush & Grow ponies available in the UK second-hand market are made in Hong Kong. Chinese versions do exist, but most of them are found on the European continent, and may indicate a slightly later release here.
In around 1990-1, the now-defunct store Woolworths, which often carried My Little Pony toys through the eighties and nineties, imported boxed versions of the Brush & Grow Ponies and sold them as 'store exclusives'.

MIB Bouquet
Bouquet Mint in Box
North American Release 1988
UK import release via Woolworths 1990-1

The American boxes stated that ponies were made in Hong Kong. These boxed versions were probably surplus stock purchased by Woolworths from an American supplier as clearance, and this may explain why Hong Kong Brush & Grows are so common here. I actually never saw a carded Brush & Grow in stores where I lived, so it is possible not all store chains in the UK carried them.

The carded versions are known to have been sold in the UK, the Benelux (on English cards with import labels), German speaking countries, Spain and France (translated). It is likely they were also sold in Italy, but the method is not known.

Bouquet's Character

Of all the ponies in the Generation 1 line, Bouquet is the best example of how symbols and pony identity have no real relationship to one another. This concept of 'cutie marks', brought in in Generation 3 and mutated into a monster in Generation 4, does not, thankfully, chain down the destinies of ponies in Generation 1. Instead, a pony whose name is to do with flowers just happens to fly around Ponyland on a giant hat. This is all perfectly normal. Nothing to see here.

In fact, Bouquet doesn't just fly around Ponyland on her hat. In one colour-in story she competes in a boat competition using it as her vessel. (This contest has several odd vessels, however, so it doesn't really stand out). In another story, she falls foul of the Breeze Boggart, a mischievous imp whose strong winds try and blow away yet another hat she's just acquired. Of course, Bouquet ends up flying away with it.

Bouquet and the Breeze Boggart
Gone with the...Breeze?
My Little Pony Comic, 1989
Well. Maybe it's her destiny after all.