The My Little Pony Scrapbook: Pocket Friends Ponies (1992)

The Pocket Friends Ponies - four pockets of weird :)

"The Pocket Friends Ponies keep their pockets with them all the time, they are pockets full of fun. Full of fun and other surprises too..."
Pocket Friends Pony Backcards, UK

The Pocket Friends Ponies were introduced in the UK and in Europe in 1992. They had been sold on garish orange cards in North America in the previous year, where they were branded as Precious Pocket ponies. All the ponies had different names in each release region.

I still remember walking into a Woolworths store as a ten year old and staring blankly at these new ponies with their 3D symbols. Ten year old me thought they were so weird. I still ended up buying one, though! They remain one of the most odd Hasbro concepts in the G1 line.

Each pony had a 'pocket' which was attached as extra plastic to the pony's rump on one side (they had no symbol on the reverse). A small 'friend' or 'item' was attached to this pocket via a piece of silver gilt thread, and the 'friend/item' could be inserted into the pocket. Needless to say the thread breaking or the pocket coming off are common flaws with this set.

The accessories in the UK and Europe were a basic comb and a ribbon. In the North American release they came with flower brushes, as shown below.

Singing Pocket, Mint on Card
UK, 1992
Palette: Bright yellow
Image donated by Shivhae

Singing Pocket ("Sweet Pocket") Mint on Card
USA, 1991

If this wasn't enough to be going on with, there are numerous variations associated with this release. Like with all the ponies on sale in 1992 in the UK and in Europe, there are significant variations on the hair. There are also versions of the Pocket Friends ponies made in Spain (or at least, with no country of manufacture on their hooves), although most of the actual variations are not related to this fact at all.

Each pony probably has at least two hair variations, although I don't have examples of all of them at present in my collection. Fading pink, dark pink and coral hair, plus dark purple and blue hair swaps are known variations. There will be more about these on individual pages, but to date these are the hair variations I am aware of. These are not geographically limited - although those with poor quality hair are more common in Europe, the other versions are also available here.

Singing Pocket
Fading Pink/Dark blue mane, Dark Blue Tail
Non-fading pink/Dark Purple mane, Dark Purple Tail

Jingle Pocket
Coral/Blue mane, blue tail
(May be another version but unconfirmed)

Wriggle Pocket
Coral/Blue mane, Blue Tail?
Dark Pink/Blue mane, Blue Tail

Hopping Pocket
Non-fading pink/dark purple mane, dark purple tail
Fading pink/dark purple mane, dark purple tail

Hair in most cases can also be silky or rough, even somewhat curly (in the sense of "silky" and "curlyfrizz" as per the Rainbow Baby Pony set.

These variations mean that rerooting any of this set can have a detrimental impact on value as it means a rerooted pony can no longer be identified to their correct release.

The Pocket Friends ponies appeared in the My Little Pony comic in 1992-3. They were drawn in the style of their original American prototype images from the US catalogue, not in the actual forms in which they were sold. For this reason, Singing Pocket was always drawn as a unicorn, although she was an earth pony.

Pocket Friends Ponies (Precious Pocket) as shown in the US promotional catalogue (Hasbro Inc, 1991)

Pocket Friends in comic

Pocket Friends Ponies as drawn in the My Little Pony Comic (1992)

The image of Jingle Pocket in the walking pose was also used on the UK backcards and on the year's promotional leaflets.

Tuneful and Jingle Pocket on 1992 insert

Tuneful and Jingle Pocket on 1992 insert

Tuneful and Jingle Pocket (in walking pose) on UK insert, 1992

1992

Pocket Friends Ponies

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The Pocket Friends Ponies - four pockets of weird :)

Precious Pocket Ponies (North America, 1991), Pocket Friends Ponies (UK and Europe, 1992)