Pony Friends
1987
Ponyland's Menagerie
Pony Friends
North America, 1987
Pony Friends - the animals this time!
The first set of four "Pony Friends" was sold in North America in
1987. They were sold on cards, which featured the four new
characters on the back and on the front. This was a new type of
concept for the pony line, as none of the characters included were
actually "Ponies". The set comprised a zebra, a lion, a giraffe
and a camel, in the same interesting colour schemes usually found
on the ponies. How and why these creatures had arrived in Ponyland
remained a mystery, however, for they did not exist in the UK and
thus did not appear in the comic stories.
Kingsley, Mint on Card
North America, 1987
Two of these characters would be re-issued in 1988, along with
four new characters.
Promotional material from Hasbro's catalogue in North America
indicates that this set were originally to be sold with dolls, in
the style of Megan's sister Molly. The dolls were even named in
the catalogue, as Cornelia, Zinnia, Alyssa and Kendall, and had
distinct hair colours - but the idea was scrapped before
production. Early misinformation suggested that these might have
been sold with the UK release of the set - but as we didn't have
one, that idea soon fizzled out. As the 1987 release for Molly and
Baby Sundance was also scrapped, it seems that the decision was
not taken to expand the 'Molly' doll side of things and just focus
on the four legged friends instead.
Baby Sundance - with first tooth - appeared on the artwork for the
first set of Pony Friends' backcard, suggesting her removal was
late on in production, and that she and Molly were intended to be
a part of this wider set, before they were pulled.