The My Little Pony Scrapbook: Sundae Best Ponies

Sundae Best Ponies: The First Scented Pony Set

As the title suggests, these six new characters had ice cream themes and were scented. Yes. Scented. I'm being mean, but this set's perfumes are definitely best imagined and not experienced. If you are able to obtain one without scent, good for you!

The Sundae Best were originally released in North America in 1988, and they were the first scented pony set (at least in the UK release). Each Sundae Best pony came in (mostly) pastel colours, with a solid body colour and hair colour (no stripes in mane). They were constructed from older style poses, but these had been modified to accommodate a three-dimensional symbol, which was an ice cream sundae or dish of some kind for each pony. The set contained one unicorn, one pegasus, and four earth pony characters. All six were sold in all locations the set was available -which was...quite a lot of places.

Never mind.

Cherry Berry Mint on Card
UK, 1988-9
Image from Lady Guinevere

The art on the UK card is the same as that found in North America, but a UK card can be identified in two ways - one, the names on the back (four of the six ponies changed names in the UK) and secondly, the orange border around the edge of the card - which the North American release did not have. This UK card style is in keeping with sets released in 1989.

"Swirly Whirly"
Butter Kiss Mint on US Card (Benelux release)
Image from Shivhae

One other detail that is key between the release in North America and in the UK was the ice cream hairclip - which you will notice is absent on the UK Mint on Card pony. Though advertised with these on the insert over here, the ponies themselves did not have them in the UK. Clips were available with ponies in North America and in the Benelux countries, where the US carded versions were sold with import labels (as shown above).

This set was also sold in Sweden in 1988, probably on American cards, as they were promoted with American names and hairclips.

Sundae Best Ponies (With US names and clips)
Swedish Pony-Klub insert, 1988
Image from Leikin

UK Release Schedule -1988 or 1989?

Although the card style for the Sundae Best was typical of sets released in 1989, rather than 1988, we can theorise that they first emerged in the UK at the end of 1988. This is supported by the second newsletter of the 1988 UK Activity Club, which makes reference to Butter Kiss. Peppermint Crunch is also illustrated at the bottom of the page.

Sundae Best Reference,
UK Activity Club Newsletter, 1988

In fact, this graphic of Peppermint Crunch first appeared on the bottom of the final 1987 newsletter, which was released right before Christmas, and also depicted Love Melody (a Party Pony) and Tracks (an Adventure Boy Pony), as promotion for the new year. This might indicate that Hasbro anticipated the Sundae Best would be part of 1988, but ultimately they got shunted back a little bit (perhaps because of the naming confusion, see below).

The Sundae Best Set was formally re-introduced to pony kids in the first 1989 Activity Club newsletter. Here, the names and accessories are correct, and the image is probably taken from Hasbro's 1989 catalogue. The accompanying text makes it sound as though they have never been mentioned before!

My Little Pony Club, 1989
Introducing the Sundae Best Ponies. (Again).

Despite this apparent false start, it seems likely that the Sundae Best were in stores in the UK by the close of 1988, and would continue to be sold throughout 1989. For this reason, I have included them with 1988.

Sundae Best Ponies: Name Confusion

The release schedule is only one in a series of weird confusions that dog this set both here in the UK and over the Atlantic.

"Ice Cream Ponies"
Sundae Best Ponies, UK insert, 1988

The earliest insert appearance for this set came on an amended 1988 insert. Here they were called Ice Cream Ponies. This is the name under which these ponies were sold in Germany (Eiskrem-Ponys), so we can assume this was a projected European set name that, ultimately, got dropped. The insert advertises a hairclip, but this was not included in the UK release, only the North American/Benelux release. There is also an issue with the names of the ponies - three are mislabelled. Peppermint Crunch, Butter Kiss and Banana Surprise are correctly named, but Chocolate Chip is labelled as Sorbet Surprise, Cherry Berry is Chocolate Chip, and Sorbet Surprise is Cherry Berry.

These errors translated over to the UK pony comic in the very early stories involving these characters. It may be that Hasbro was still debating the name order, and changed them at the last minute.

This confusion is not helped by the fact four of the names in the UK are different from the names used in North America. Peppermint Crunch and Banana Surprise have the same names in both places. The other four are as follows:

Cherry Berry (UK) - Crunch Berry (North America)
Butter Kiss (UK) - Swirly Whirly (North America)
Chocolate Chip (UK) - Coco Berry (North America)
Sorbet Surprise (UK) - Sherbet (North America)

Correct Sundae Best names, UK (Banana Surprise's UK Card)

We usually assume that the names were changed when they reached the UK, to fit cultural sensibilities or for Hasbro's personal preference. But this set is different. We know, from surviving American catalogue records, that "Cherry Berry" originally appeared in the US production process - the catalogue shows Sorbet Surprise sealed on a card with this name:

Sorbet Surprise from
Promotional Catalogue

Sorbet Surprise on card marked "Cherry Berry"
Hasbro USA Catalogue, circa 1988
Image donated

We can guess that Sorbet Surprise's original production name in the US was Cherry Berry, the UK took that name on, the US removed it and the UK shifted it to a more cherry coloured pony. This paper trail indicates that some names used in the UK may actually be original production names from the US that were later changed over there, not here.

Another indication of late name changes in the North American release is the different fonts used for pony names on the card. Three ponies from the set have names written in capital letters (SWIRLY WHIRLY, SHERBET and CRUNCH BERRY) while three do not (Peppermint Crunch, Banana Surprise, Coco Berry).

Capitalised Name "Swirly Whirly"
US card, 1988
Image from Shivhae

Name not capitalised "Banana Surprise
US Card, 1988
Image from Shivhae

The debacle over the Crunch Berry/Cherry Berry name, plus the fact two of the names that are not capitalised are names seen in the UK, indicates that probably the capitalised names had late changes in production and those with properly punctuated names did not. While names like Sorbet Surprise and Chocolate Chip feel amended for the UK audience, we have to wonder whether Butter Kiss, like Cherry Berry, was an original American name changed late in production, and if not, what her original name was going to be.

The mystery rattles on.

Sundae Best Ponies: Variations in Production

If your head isn't already spinning from all of that name babble, the Sundae Best ponies also have some production variations. Versions exist in the mainstream made in Hong Kong (more common in the North American line) and China (more common in the UK and some parts of Europe).

Versions of Chocolate Chip

On top of that, Germany had two distinctly different versions of Butter Kiss and Chocolate Chip, which were probably not sold in other places. I am unclear whether the regular versions were also sold - I have not been able to find Mint on Card examples to confirm or deny this.

I need a lie down.

1988-9

Sundae Best Ponies

Nose pegs at the ready.

Search the Scrapbook

Sundae Best Ponies: The First Scented Pony Set

UK Release Schedule -1988 or 1989?

Sundae Best Ponies: Name Confusion

Sundae Best Ponies: Variations in Production

Ponies in this Set: North America (1988), UK and other European countries (1988-9)