The My Little Pony Scrapbook: Paradise Estate

Pony Data
Set	Paradise Estate
Asst. Number	4900 (North America)
Accessories	Honestly, too many to list. See pictures for details.
Pose	No Pony Included
Distribution	Worldwide
Other Versions

Paradise Estate in the UK

The Paradise Estate was the crowning glory of all My Little Pony playsets. It's recommended retail price was £60 (which was the main reason I never had one, LOL), the Estate was first introduced in the My Little Pony Movie, as an alternate home for the Ponies after the Smooze wiped out Dream Castle. Technically, therefore, it belongs in 1986 - but it's UK release coincided with the characters from the film in 1987, which is why it's here. Equipped with furniture of all kinds - televisions, couches, clocks, lamps, tables, chairs - even a fridge of goodies and a swimming pool - this was literally, every pony's paradise.

Paradise Estate
Hasbro's Official 1987 Catalogue, UK

The above photo is from the Hasbro promotional catalogue, courtesy of Pranceatron. You can hardly miss Paradise in the foreground, as a regular pegasus pony.

At some point, Paradise was going to come with Paradise Estate in the UK. Not only the Hasbro catalogue, but also the insert for the year and the list Hasbro sent me mentions the playset "With Paradise Pony." The Fact File also includes Paradise on her own individual page, and its entry for Paradise Estate makes clear mention of her, indicating that she was originally going to come with the set. She can just be seen in the rear of the image, under the pool canopy.

Paradise Estate featuring Paradise in the UK Fact File
1987

By the time the playset hit the store shelves, it was decidedly sans pony -which has been confirmed by many UK pony collectors who had the set from new. It is also supported by the 1987 Autumn/Winter Argos catalogue, which offers it for sale with no mention of a pony. This late appearance may have been ahead of Christmas, but it also might indicate a production delay.

Paradise Estate with no pony included
Argos Catalogue, Autumn/Winter 1987
Image courtesy of Retromash

The advert in the My Little Pony comic featured many of the year's little ponies - but Paradise was neither pictured or mentioned in the notes. It is clear that this had nothing to do with the UK's lack of So Soft Ponies - the Hasbro catalogue clearly shows her as a regular little pony. The most logical reasoning seems to be that the playset was already expensive enough without a pony companion. It is also possible that all estates sold in the UK were US imports, as they were all sold here in American boxes.

It may be that Hasbro were just a bit ambitious with this massive set. Two offers in the Pony Club, in 1986 and 1987 offered the set as a prize for a lucky child who designed their own pony house. Despite this kind of promotion, and a brief flurry in the comic, however, Paradise Estate faded into the background by the end of 1988.

Paradise Estate (Open)
Click image to see more pictures of Paradise Estate in action

As a child I loved Paradise (too many reruns of the Revolt of Paradise Estate...Boom, boom, boom!). It's a real shame that we never had the pony. Although she exists in the mainsteam line in North America as a So Soft, it's not the same. The only 'regular' release version of Paradise that was made was released in Brazil, under license from Estrela, but she was sold on card and had no connection to the Estate.

Brazilian Paradise Mint on Card
Image from Babydoll

1987

Paradise Estate

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Paradise Estate in the UK

Playset Ponies Sold in the UK in 1987