The First Sea Ponies in the UK

Swimming Ponies

The tail of the adult sea ponies were weighted with metal weights, in order to help the pony swim upright when put in the water. They were also equipped with a little hole by the mane line to help buoyancy. You might have guessed that this was not a great combination, as ponies ended up taking on water, and internal rust or mould on surviving examples is not uncommon. The tail was designed to fit into a slot in the shell tray when the pony was not in use.

Adult Sea Pony Tail

The UK: US Overlap

These three adult sea ponies were the first release, but the UK would follow a year or two later with an overlapping release featuring one common character. In the early UK pony books, too, there are examples where the names of the US ponies appear, despite the UK release being pictured. This has led to some speculation about the overlap character (Wavedancer in the US, Wavebreaker in the UK) and whether she is the same pony, or different. Fundamentally, the pony herself is the same, but her name, packaging and accessories differed enough that some collectors prefer to treat them as different individuals.

The later editions of those same books were corrected to feature the three actual names of the UK release, which were Seaspray, Wavebreaker and Surfdancer. All three were given individual characters in the UK, and were prominent in early stories

The Sea Ponies in Comic and Storybook Lore

Perhaps because the UK had a limited early cast (albeit bolstered by early ponies not released here), the three Sea Ponies were key characters. Seaspray had a boat, and often went exploring. Surfdancer was the titular character of a miniworld adventure with a mermaid, while Wavebreaker also often appeared in early stories. The sea ponies sang a lot, sometimes warnings - and this is probably a throwback to the singing sea ponies from the early American animation. Despite being water-bound, they played an active role in keeping Ponyland on an even keel.

Seaspray, Surfdancer and Wavebreaker
From the My Little Pony Comic

UK Sea Pony Packages

The adult Sea Ponies were officially part of the 1985 line, according to Hasbro's inserts and list. But in reality they were a product of 1984. The style of their boxes, with the absence of a story and the style of art, demonstrates this very clearly. I have the three boxes for my adult Sea Ponies, and they are all stamped on the inside with 1985 dates, probably indicating their batch release schedule. This means that most likely the adult Sea Ponies were out for Christmas 1984 and continued into summer 1985. They may also have persisted in shops beyond this point - a well known photograph of a store display in the UK from around 1986 shows them still available. They maintained the same packaging throughout. The image at the top of the page, featuring the three of them, was the top of the box. The ponies stood inside, on an insert tray, with a plastic window covering the large frontal hole. The pony's name featured in the bottom front corner, as seen below.

Sea Pony Box Front
United Kingdom Release

The sides and back of the box were also decorated with pictures of the Sea Ponies. All three ponies are shown on the back, with names and hair braiding information - something which was a common feature of many early UK packages.

Sea Pony Box Back, 1984-5
United Kingdom Release

Adult Sea Ponies in Europe

There seems to have been a mixture of set releases in Europe. There are certainly versions of these three "UK" characters made in Italy, who were widely available across several western European countries during the early-mid eighties. The colours of these ponies were slightly different from the UK release, and they all had the trademark Italian blue eyes. They also had 'I' on the tail, designating Italy rather than 'HK' for Hong Kong. They were definitely on sale in the Netherlands and Belgium in around 1986-7.

Italian Surfdancer.
(image from Shivhae)

Italy itself may also have had these, although their insert from 1987 suggests that they may have had the North American release as well. Italy was somewhat on its own trajectory in the early 1980s, and cannot be taken as indicative of wider European patterns.

Italian Insert, 1987
Featuring the North American Sea Ponies