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

Flutter Ponies

Set II


Flutter Ponies Set 2
The Second Set of Flutter Ponies
UK insert, 1987

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Ponies Sold in 1987 in the UK Movie Star Ponies | Mountain Boy Ponies | Birthday Party with Tutti Frutti | Princess Ponies (Set 1) |Snuzzle's Grooming Parlour | Megan and Sundance (Second Edition)| Twinkle Eye Ponies (UK Set II) | Flutter Ponies (Set II) | Newborn Twins (Set I, Partial) | Pretty & Pearly Baby Sea Ponies (UK Release) | Paradise Estate | Dream Castle | Lullabye Nursery | Baby Buggy | Baby Bonnet School of Dance

Other 1987 Ponies Twinkle Eyed Ponies (North America/Italy) | Pony Friends (Ponies) | Stockings | Pony Friends (Animals) | Soft Sleepy Newborns| Sea Sparkle Baby Sea Ponies | Satin Slipper Sweet Shoppe | Crimp & Curl Hair Salon (Perm Shoppe) (UK:1988) | Slumber Party Gift Set | Rainbow Ponies (Europe) | Twice as Fancy (Party) Ponies (UK:1988) | First Tooth Baby Ponies (UK:1988)| Big Brother Ponies (UK:1988) | So Soft Ponies (III) | Purse with Baby Crumpet | Baby Blue Ribbon

Reinventing the Flutter Ponies

Although the Flutter Ponies were extremely delicate, and broke very easily, Hasbro decided they were a solid enough toy release to give them another shot in 1987. This second set of ponies still had the same irridescent glazed wings, but the wing attachments had been updated, in theory to make them stronger. The colours and themes in this second set were also bolder than in the first.

As in 1986, each flutter had a little rhyme beginning "Flutter Ponies bring good luck," in the Uk release, which was written on the side panel of the box. The front of the box still stated that Flutters were 'good luck'.

The UK set featured re-releases for Rosedust and Morning Glory. The North American set featured a re-release of Lily instead of Morning Glory.


Flutter Pony Wing
Flutter Pony Wing (from Honeysuckle)
Note: This wing is original but has been repaired.

As before, the ponies were still designed to 'flutter'. Each pony had a little shell-shaped button on her back between her wings, and pressing it would allow the wings to 'flutter' up and down.
How to Flutter a Flutter
How to Flutter a Flutter
(UK Box, 1986)

This gimmick, however, was also the toy's greatest weakness. The wings were very delicate at the base where the mechanism was, and it did not take much for them to break off.
Second year wing fixing
Second Year Wing Fixing (Open/slot)

The second type of wing fixing did not prevent breakages, but it did make it easier to slip wings in and out of the socket (so in theory they could be put safely aside somewhere). It also made them easier to repair and to replace, which is why some of my first year flutters have second year wings.

A side-note - while most responsible custom wing makers either create completely different wings for ponies to wear, or make their wings distinctive with white tabs or other methods, there do exist replica wings which are difficult to tell from the originals. Buy with care.

Sharp eyed people will have realised that the image above shows Forget-Me-Not with second year wing fixings. Forget-Me-Not was not officially part of the 1987 line, but it seems that Hasbro introduced the updated wing fixings a little before the release of the 1987 set. Argos also still stocked first set flutters in 1987, meaning a high likelihood that the releases of these two sets overlapped.


1987 and 1988 releases in the UK and Europe


While sets in the UK sometimes came out a year after they had been available in North America, this did not happen with the flutters. I bought Tropical Breeze in 1987 with my birthday money - it's a vivid memory of staring up at the wall of flutters trying to decide who to buy. The second set also had stickers in the UK - 1987 was the last year for puffy stickers anywhere.

The Italian insert for 1987 shows what looks like the original set of Flutter Ponies, making it possible that the second set were sold there at a delay. Italy had its own design of boxes, so it is not clear if and how the second set were formally sold in this region.

The French release of this set do not have stickers, and this second release appears on the 1988 insert, suggesting that maybe France had them released at a delay. This is also supported by the fact that although the box art is the same, the French boxes use the 1988 style rainbow with the new font, whilst the UK ones had the 1987 style of font (see example below).

Wind Drifter MIB
Wind Drifter Mint in Box, UK (old rainbow, sticker included)
1987
Image from Babydoll

Wind Drifter Mint in French Box
Wind Drifter Mint in French Box (with updated rainbow, no sticker)
France, 1988
This set was also advertised in Germany.
German Advert for Flutter Ponies
"My name is Cloud Puff and I fly through the air. Will you be my pony mummy?"
German advert for Flutter Pony set, which, like the UK, includes Morning Glory rather than Lily.

The use of the new rainbow on the advert pictured above indicates they were also part of the 1988 line in German speaking countries.

About those accessories...


There are also some arguments over accessories for this set, which may be partially explained by the slightly staggered European release mentioned above.

The second set of flutters come with either a metallic ribbon or a thin one edged with gold. Although it has been suggested that this variation was regional, I think it relates to release date and batch. The Princess Ponies, also released in 1987, had thin gold edged ribbons as well, making a crossover of accessories very easy.

I purchased a complete Tropical Breeze with accessories and UK box from a US seller who had bought her on holiday in London. The seller told me she had bought this pony because she had not seen the set yet in the US. This suggests this pony came very early in the release. She also came with a metallic ribbon. I am certain that my childhood pony did not have a metallic ribbon, as I never had one as a kid, but the more telling evidence that this may be to do with release date is that all the French boxed Flutters I have seen have thin, gold-edged ribbons. France definitely still had the flutters on sale into 1988. This helps support the theory that the second set started with metallic ribbons and ended with ribbons like the Princess Ponies.

Accessory Comparison (Tropical Breeze)


French Release Ribbon
Ribbon with gold edge
(Sealed in box with Tropical Breeze, France 1988)
Tropical Breeze Metallic Ribbon
Metallic Blue Ribbon
(Pictured with pony's original UK box)




It is likely that this batch shift also impacted North America and other places these ponies were sold. The biggest problem confirming this hypothesis is that, aside the French boxed ponies, most MIB Flutters have their ribbons hidden from view when sealed, making a very small pool of evidence from which to work.


Flutter Ponies (Set II, confirmed for UK, France, Germany at least)