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

The UK Pony Fact File

"...Theirs is a magical world, where every day brings a new adventure."


My Little Pony Fact File
The My Little Pony Fact File
UK, 1987

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The UK Fact File

In 1987, Hasbro UK introduced the "My Little Pony Fact File", which was, as per the advertising, a guide to 'all the My Little Ponies' that lived in Ponyland. It contained 125 ponies, as well as some pets and colouring pages at the back for owners to create their own pony designs. The file's cover featured ponies available in the UK in 1987, with the exception of Forget-Me-Not, who seems to have snuck in in the background!

My Little Pony Fact File Advertisment
The Fact File advertisement in the My Little Pony Comic
Circa late 1987

The Fact File was not available in stores. It was only available via horseshoe points. I remember having to beg, plead and wheedle my parents for it - but in the end, I succeeded. The file pictured at the top of the page is my original childhood Fact File. For that reason, it has been much loved and used - for a long time it was my only guide to the early pony range.

The ponies were arranged within the Fact File in sets, beginning with "My Little Pony" (which comprised all early earth, pegasus and unicorn adult ponies, including playset ponies, up to 1987). Subsequent sets were more organised, including Rainbow Ponies, Twinkle Eyed Ponies, Flutter Ponies, Boy Ponies, Baby Ponies and so on.

Some Myths about the Fact File

1. Not all the stories in the Fact File are UK backcard stories.
Some of the stories do come from UK backcards, but these are mostly ponies that were available in 1987. For example, the Fact File stories for the Princess Ponies, released in 1987, match exactly (as seen in the comparison of Princess Pearl, below).

Princess Pearl's Fact File EntryPrincess Pearl's Box Story
Princess Pearl's Fact File and Box stories
UK, 1987
There are, however, other ponies from 1987 which do not match the backcard. The fact file entry for Magic Star calls her the 'most magical pony in the Ponyland', but there is no mention of this on her backcard, as can be seen below. Because Magic Star was a Movie Star pony, her card was all about promoting what happened in the Film, and not about her character. In fact, the Fact File entry is based far more heavily on So Soft Magic Star's American backcard story, and this happens in quite a few other cases as well.
Magic Star, Fact FIleMagic Star from her backcard
Magic Star's Fact File Entry and backcard
UK, 1987

For ponies sold prior to 1987, the stories in the Fact File may be approximations of their backcard story, but few are exact matches. In the case of some ponies, their release predates backcard stories, so new ones were invented. The Fact File was the first, and only place that I ever saw ponies like Butterscotch, Minty and Snuzzle as a child, as they never appeared in the comics.

2. Not all the ponies in the Fact File were sold in the UK.
Considering that the Fact File claimed to be advertising the whole range of My Little Pony, there were some odd anomalies in the ponies included. The UK never had So Soft Ponies, but Lofty, Paradise and Ribbon all made an appearance, despite never being made in regular versions (outside of Nirvana franchises).

Medley, Glory, Firefly, Surprise and all the other early unicorns, pegasus ponies and second set Rainbow ponies were also included, despite never being available in the UK. And, in the Adult Sea Pony section, the three Adult Sea Ponies from the UK line were omitted, and instead, four of the 1985 North American release characters were present. Very confusing for me as a child.

3. The Fact File is always accurate!
I think this one is pretty much debunked by now, but the Fact File does include Paradise with Paradise Estate, although this plan was withdrawn before the Estate made it to the UK shelves. It also includes some weird artistic issues, such as Pinwheel with no horn, Honeycomb as a unicorn and Minty in purple.
Minty in the Fact File in purplePinwheel as an earth pony in the fact fileHoneycomb as a unicorn in the factfile
Artistic errors in the Fact File - Minty, Pinwheel and Honeycomb.

With that acknowledged, the File is a very useful and cute resource for ponies, and details their characters and sometimes, magic tricks as well. The ponies are named correctly (albeit Bluebelle is spelt Bluebell - I can't currently confirm this as a unique UK spelling for her name). Where UK names exist, these are also correct (eg Sweetie). The Fact File also correctly lists only two sets of Newborn Twins - Sniffles and Snookums and Nibbles and Dibbles, although Hasbro originally promoted three sets. The names on the stickers for the released twins are often incorrect, but the Fact File has the names correct.

You can see a lot more entries from the Fact File by visiting the Fact File Blog (not affiliated with the Scrapbook) here.


The My Little Pony Scrapbook: UK Fact File