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

Baby Susie and Spot

Best Friends Babies (1993)

Blue baby pony with yellow mane and tail, yellow dalmation puppy symbol


Baby Susie and Spot
Pony Data
Set Best Friends Baby (1993)
Asst. Number 14010
(UK and Europe)
Accessories Yellow and blue dalmatian puppy "Spot"
Pose Ember
Distribution UK, most of Europe
Australasia
 
Other Versions Version exists in Baby Blossom's pose, see below.

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Ponies Sold in 1993 in the UK
Bedtime Newborns | Best Friends Babies | Hairdo Ponies | Rainbow Family Babies and Adults (Family Friends and Family Babies) | Rollerskates Ponies | Secret Surprise Ponies | Seven Characters (My Little Pony Tales) | Sweet Kisses Ponies (UK/Europe)| Princess Sparkle | Bridal Beauty | Birthday/Anniversary Pony  |Bridal Beauty | Cookery Ponies | Kitchen | Schoolhouse

Other 1993 Ponies Nesthäckchen-Baby-Ponys/Bébé-Nurserie



Baby Susie and Spot

Baby Susie and Spot were the puppy-themed pair from the Best Friends Babies set. She came with a small rubber dalmation puppy figure called 'Spot', which is extremely difficult to find second-hand, because of how small he is. Ironically, at the end of the pony line, these pets were available as freebies with the last edition of the MLP Comic, meaning that there are more pets than ponies out there - but they still fetch a higher price on the second hand market than their pony pals.

Susie was not sold with any other accessories. Her packaging was translated into various languages for different countries in which she was sold, and the backcard story was a joint one between all babies in the set.


MOC Baby Susie and Spot
Baby Susie and Spot Mint on Card
German Release



Alt Pose Baby Susie

This version of Baby Susie appeared on Ebay many many years ago, perhaps around 2000. Unfortunately I no longer have the record for the ebay sale, so I can't be certain of exactly when it was, but I know it was still early, in a time when pictures were not so common on ebay, when ponies were still shoved in scanners where pictures appeared, and gallery pictures on ebay were not a thing. You still had to click the auction to see the pony!  It was also a time in which UK pony information was still fluid, and not everyone was really keyed up on poses, releases and things like that. For this reason, she was just on sale as "Baby Susie UK exclusive."

Baby Susie in Baby
              Blossom's Posr

I purchased her for a final bid of around $21 (It was in the UK, but this was also before Ebay.co.uk began and there were no sales in anything other than US dollars. At the time, I assumed she was just a variation sold in other countries, as we were discovering still variants in pose and in colouring at the time. But as the years passed, it became clear that she was something else.

A Baby Susie in this pose does appear in the promotional Hasbro catalogue for 1993 (unfortunately I do not have permission to include the scans here). Whether this pony is the one photographed or not is not clear - personally I am doubtful, but I do think that it gives a clue as to her origin. She is not a prototype in the sense of something unfinished, but she is a perfectly produced pony down to symbol and hair and everything. She is almost identical to my childhood Baby Susie except for the pose - her eyes are a slightly bolder pink but that is basically all.
Comparing Baby Susies
Comparing Alt Baby Susie with my childhood Baby Susie

My theories are that she is either:

a: A promotional baby made for toy fair promotion purposes. This means there were probably a handful made for each country, but she is the only currently known survivor.

b: A sample product when Hasbro were determining which pose to use for which pony. It is possible they made samples in both this pose and the Ember pose before deciding to go with the Ember pose.

Either way, her exact origins are mysterious. All that can be said for sure is that she was found, sold and bought in the UK some time around the turn of the milennium.

She has been to several pony meets and conventions and has been fully authenticated by many other collectors. She is also not the only example of an alternate posed baby from this set - you can find out more about the other on Baby Billie's page.


Baby Susie's Character

Because they had the misfortune to be on sale during the Tales era, this set of baby ponies were denied the usual appearances in the UK comic that earlier sets would have had. They never appeared in any stories, thus we have no characterisation for them beyond their combined story on the backcard, which is featured below.

Best Friends Baby
              Card
Best Friends Baby Backcard

It describes the babies and their animal pets having fun, but doesn't really tell us much about any of them.