The My Little Pony Scrapbook: Princess Ponies: Alternate German Release (1988-9)

Prinzessin-Ponys

The release of the first set of Princess Ponies varied from place to place. The UK, Nordic countries and the Netherlands (probably also Belgium) had dragons, whilst North America had bushwoolies. Germany and France had no attendants with their Princesses, and they were sold on card. Additional to that, however, a set of variant Princesses - centred around German speaking countries - were also available.

I have put these in 1988 because I know Princess Ponies were available in German speaking countries in 1988 - but it is possible this particular set did not reach the market until 1989.

There was a regular release of Princess Ponies in Germany in around 1988, probably with no Pat. Pending on the hooves. Why the variant set happened - and exactly when - is less clear.

All the promotional material for the Princesses show their regular versions - but at least one of these releases must have been for the variant set. I know from looking at UK material, that Hasbro UK often used American promotional images even when there was a variation. It is likely the same thing was true in Europe.

The above advert, from a German magazine, presents Prinzessin Aquamarin. She looks like she has standard fading hair, but this is not conclusive as promotional material was often created using existing products, even if the actual released version was different.

Each Princess in this German release set has a different hair colour from the original release - although the tinsel is generally the same. Two have coral hair, two yellow and two non-fading pink. They also had the Pat Pend. stamp removed from their hooves.

I have never seen any of the alternate German Princesses mint on card (but I would like to!).

The alternate set are pictured below. Please note they do not have individual pages. I have listed them under their German release names, which were all gemstone based, but not necessarily the same gemstone as in the UK.

Although in all cases, the main variation relates to the hair, in the case of Perle, the body tone is also a more creamy shade of white. I don't know whether this is aging/discolouration (which is possible) or whether she was actually sold with this off-white colour. To date I have never seen one online anywhere with a pure white body the same shade as the regular version, but as Perle was not sold in the UK, I need more information from the relevant countries to know for sure.

I have been told that all of this set were sold with damsel hats with plain yellow ribbons, although my Saphir came to me loose with a regular UK-release Sapphire hat. It is possible that there were different versions of accessories with this release, as with the Princesses in the UK.

Prinzessin Opal

Prinzessin Perle

Prinzessin Saphir

Prinzessin Aquamarin
(image from JLM)

Prinzessin Rubin

Prinzessin Topas

1988-9?

Princess Ponies: Germany/Austria

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Prinzessin-Ponys