The above example (from Blossom), is very similar in front to the card sold in North America. It features the six Collector Ponies on the front, although most of those characters were not available as part of the set. Blossom's name is printed in blue font at the bottom of the card. The offer in the corner is for the baby pony known as Ember, and a flier would be included within the package. I have seen it suggested that this card may have been used for the flat footed ponies, but this seems unlikely due to both the timing of this card/release and the diverse ways in which the flat footed ponies were sold. For these new characters to feature on the Flat Foot card would be anachronistic, as four of them did not exist. Ember's offer also dates it to 1984, rather than earlier on.

 The confusion is clearly understandable, however, due to the similarity of the front of the card and the inclusion in the set of Blossom and Cotton Candy.

The back of the card is where the real differences lie, and this reveals who it was truly designed for. While in North America, the six Earth Ponies were part of a wider collection including Unicorn and Pegasus ponies, these characters were never released in the United Kingdom, and they are omitted from the card accordingly.

 The six Earth ponies appear very similar between the two cards at first glance, but if you look carefully you can see that the UK card has more adornment in the ponies' hair, incorporating braids and ribbons to a greater degree. The UK card also offers a guide on how to braid your pony's hair. These instructions would be a staple of pony packaging in the UK right through until 1988, although the pony shown in the example would change. Conveniently, the 1984 card shows Blossom.

The one other key difference is that the US card features a story, but stories did not enter the UK packaging sphere till late in 1984-early 1985, and even then they were much shorter than most North American stories until well into 1987-8. The early UK line preferred to put its storytelling into the comics, not onto the cards!

Special Features of the 1984 Earth Pony Set

This set also marked a move away from the uniform pose introduced in 1982-3. Two new moulds were added to the line, one with a turned head, and another sitting down. This sitting pose was not used again in the mainstream line (although some variant lines used it). This is thought to be a combination of problems with the mould at the factory (it went through various design stages) and the difficulty of dressing sitting ponies in ponywear.

The two new standing ponies also came with freckled cheeks - a feature which would be re-used down the line, and especially here in the UK. They would also see other re-releases in 1985.

Although there are some minor batch differences between individual ponies, there are no real differences between the 1984 set as sold in the UK and the one sold in North America. In some European countries, these characters were also sold, but they were sometimes made in other places than Hong Kong, such as Italy and France. Some of these versions had slightly different features from the mainstream Hong Kong releases.

A lot of early merchandise was made to feature these six characters, such as clothes hangers and games - and they would all appear in early story books and comics, making them some of the best loved characters of the early line. Although not quite as iconic as the 1985 earth pony release, this set eclipsed the original Collector Pony set in the imaginations of UK children, and thus are considered by many the 'first' proper Earth Pony set here.

The Original Earth Ponies and Merchandise

These ponies were not uncommon characters in merchandise in the early years. Coin banks, pomanders and games featured these characters. There were also a set of pencil toppers, shaped like these ponies. This was the beginning of pony merchandise, which would grow over later years.