The My Little Pony Scrapbook: Baby Ponies and Pretty Pals

Baby Ponies with Pretty Pals

After the presumed success of the My Little Pony animal friends, Hasbro tried a new variation on the same theme. Merging the idea of twins with pony friends, they came up with the Baby Pony and Pretty Pal sets. Each set included a baby pony and her baby animal friend, as well as a brush and comb and an array of accessories with which to care for them. The accessory styles were drawn from earlier baby pony releases, sometimes in new colours.

This is a very odd idea, honestly, and Hasbro UK clearly thought so too - this set never made it to the UK. It did, however, make it to Germany at the very least. German boxed versions of this set feature Mainsail under the rainbow, indicating a 1990 release, which is supported by German advertising material. My thanks to Chrissytree for the German insert images.

"Baby-Ponys Mit Spielfreund"
German Promotional Booklet 1990
Image from Chrissytree

The set was promoted again in one of Germany's 1991 inserts, although this one only pictured two sets rather than the whole four. We can assume, though, that it's more likely all four sets were still on sale in Germany and maybe other German speaking countries in 1991.

"Nothing Can Separate Them!"
Baby Ponies and Pretty Pals, German Promotional Booklet 1991
Image from Chrissytree

I picked up the below Mint in Package German boxed set at a carboot sale here in the UK in the late 1990s. The price written on it in £ may have been the price at the carboot sale, but looks more like pricing at a market stall or clearance outlet.

Baby Fleecy and Baby Woolly MIB
Germany, 1990

I believe it was one of several ponies that came from a local collector's collection, and therefore may have been kept in package deliberately. But whether it was found here or imported from overseas is unknown. A lot of German packaged ponies were sold on clearance in the UK towards the end of the line, so it is possible that happened here. We'll probably never know for sure, but I did find my Baby Lucky Leaf loose here as well.

Whether this set saw a release anywhere else in Europe is unclear. I have never seen a bordered 1990 card in any language other than German, but I am not sure whether there were imports of the American boxed version in other places.

One other weird thing that exists, but which is NOT official My Little Pony and was made as a knock off, are some fakie versions of the pretty pals. These were known to be sold in the Netherlands and in Belgium, and they used the moulds of the Pretty Pal set quite convincingly - but the plastic feels a lot softer and there is no Hasbro stamp on the hooves. The colouring is different and so, sometimes, is the symbol.

White Woolly Fakie (left) and green Leafy fakie (right)
Leafy image from Shivhae

Baby Ponies and Pretty Pals

Now we have baby animals, too!

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Baby Ponies with Pretty Pals

Ponies and Pals in this Set: North America (1989) and Germany (1990)