The My Little Pony Scrapbook: Sparkle Ponies (Store, 1989)

Sparkle Ponies: Store Release, 1989

After the Mail Order release of the Sparkle Ponies in 1988, Hasbro decided to give these characters a wider airing, and they were released in stores in 1989. I have a vivid memory of choosing between Sky Rocket and Napper in Woolworths in around that year - I chose Sky Rocket because of her bright red hair.

The Sparkle Ponies were also available in some stores in the UK at the end of the My Little Pony line as part of Hasbro's stock clearance. My sister had Napper from new in 1995 for her eighth birthday, and my three mint on card Sparkle Ponies were obtained from this same store in around 1998, for £4.99 each.

Two main differences exist between store released ponies and their Mail Order counterparts - firstly, Napper and Star Hopper had different colour hair (Starhopper's hair was now yellow, not white, and Napper's was now lavender instead of green). Secondly, the store released ponies did not have tiny versions of their symbols on their cheeks.

Like the Mail Order ponies, however, the Sparkle Ponies were made of translucent plastic, with tiny bits of glitter embedded into it. They also had streaks of tinsel in their hair. All of the ponies had single coloured tinsel except Twinkler, who had three colours of tinsel in her mane and tail.

The cards used in the North American release and in the UK release were broadly the same, and there were no changes of name between locations. The back of the cards featured the same artwork and stories on both. The fronts of the card were a bit more distinctive. Both featured the same pony - Sunspot - and the same message about the set's theme. The UK card had a blue thin border around the edge of the card, however, as well as yellow name and set bubbles, and smaller font on the rainbow logo. The rainbow's colours were also a little different, and, probably because of the border, appears smaller overall.

Sunspot, Mint on Card
UK card, 1989

In North America these bubbles were coloured in pink. There was no border, and the font on the rainbow was bigger.

Twinkler, Mint on Card
USA, 1989
Image from Shivhae

The yellow bubble version of the cards were translated into Spanish, German and French. It is not clear what version was sold in the Benelux.

In most places, the set were sold with just a brush or a comb and no ribbon. In Spain, however, the whole set were sold with regular release ribbons (not thin gold edged ones like the mail order).

1989

Sparkle Ponies (Store)

Search the Scrapbook

Sparkle Ponies: Store Release, 1989

Sparkle Ponies (Store release, 1989, North America, UK, Europe and other locations)