The My Little Pony Scrapbook: G1 in the UK and Europe

1984

Rainbow Ponies

Rainbows and Sparkles and Rainbows!


Backcard image

The 1984 Rainbow Pony UK Backcard

Search the Scrapbook
search engine by freefind advanced
Ponies Sold in 1984 in the UK Rainbow Ponies (Set One) | Earth Ponies | Show Stable | Adult Sea Ponies (UK) | Butterscotch's Gymkhana | Baby Ember (Mail Order) | Bluebelle (Concave) | The Grooming Parlour

Other 1984 Ponies Unicorn and Pegasus Ponies (Set One) | Adult Sea Ponies (N.America) | Dream Castle (UK:1985) | The Waterfall (UK:1985) | Dream Castle (UK:1985) | Baby Buggy (UK:1987) | Lullabye Nursery (UK:1986)

Also available in 1985 in the UK.

Rainbow Ponies in the United Kingdom

Although officially part of the 1985 release, there are two good reasons why I am sure Rainbow Ponies were released in the UK in 1984. The first is stylistic - the design of the card and the lack of backcard story is in keeping with the art style on the Adult Sea Pony and Earth Pony packages, which come from a similar time window.

The other reason is that Windy was my first pony, and I had her for Christmas, 1984. So we can confidently posit that the Rainbow Ponies came out in the autumn/winter of 1984 and remained in stores throughout 1985. This was the only complete set of Rainbow Ponies sold in the United Kingdom, and it is not impossible that the set was still being sold into 1986. They retailed from between £2.85 (Argos) to £3.99 (B&C), and were available in a wide array of stores, including British Home Stores (where my mother bought Windy) and Boots.

Starshine from Argos
Starshine, as advertised in the 1985 Argos Catalogue
(thanks to Garej for this scan)


The US release of this set had horizontal cards, while the UK ones were vertical. Despite the distinctive difference in design, however, the accessories between countries were the same. All ponies were sold with a shooting star brush with a rainbow sticker on the back, a matching basic comb and ribbon.

Rainbow Pony Packaging: UK and US


Pony packaging
Rainbow Pony Packaging (Starshine, UK)


he packaging between the UK and the US is very distinctive. Both first and second set releases in North America came on horizontal cards (the pictured Parasol is from 1985). By contrast, the UK set (first set only) were on vertical cards.
The US cards also had backcard stories, which were absent on the UK cards.

The star brush is pointing downwards on all UK and European rainbow pony carded releases, but pointing upwards on all the US release cards.

In spite of this, the accessories are the same in both places.

The back of the UK card also includes a guide on how to braid a pony's tail - something which was frequently present on early UK packaging.
US Rainbow Pony Packaging Y2
 
Rainbow Pony Packaging
(United States)


Special Features of the Rainbow Pony Set

This might sound obvious, but the clearest special feature of the Rainbow Ponies was that they had 'rainbow' hair! In reality, the first set of Rainbow Ponies each had hair in four colours - magenta pink, yellow, green and blue. They also all had glittery symbols, not just the unicorn and pegasus ponies. The set used the new unicorn and pegasus ponies also featured in the Unicorn and Pegasus release that never came to the UK.

All of this set were cast in pastel colours.

The Rainbow Ponies were out for a long time in various places, and for this reason, there are small variations and batch differences.
Batch differences
An example of Parasol from two different batches, with hair and body shade differences.

Sometimes colouring can be slightly lighter or darker. Some ponies discolour or fade over time. Some ponies have paint underneath their glittery symbol and some don't. This means that the ponies pictured in this section may not exactly match to your own pony, but should be approximate matches.

Ponies in this Set