Tickle in the United States
Tickle was sold in North America as part of the second release of
Rainbow Ponies, issued in around 1985. She used one of the new
poses for the year, as well as having the updated, more daring
colours in her hair. These Rainbow Ponies still had four colours,
but were generally bolder in shade than the first six ponies had
been. Tickle was sold on the same kind of horizontal card as those
from the first set, but now there were ten ponies pictured instead
of six.
Tickle was not sold in the United Kingdom,
although she did appear in stories around 1986-7.
Tickle in Other Places
Tickle was part of several European releases, where she was
often found made in Italy or Spain, sometimes with alternate
colouring. She was also available through subsequent horseshoe
point mail in offers up to around 1986. Some anecdotal evidence
suggests this set - on the US card - might have appeared in
Sweden and Norway as well, possibly as end of line imports.
The Scandinavian/Australian/South African Rainbow Tickle
Tickle was sold in at least one of the Rainbow Pony
releases in Scandinavia (at least, Sweden and Norway), South
Africa and probably also Australia. This release happened
probably around 1986-7, based on the design of the card.These
cards were in English and the pony was made in Hong Kong.
Tickle's accessories are likely to have been more or less the
same as the set sold in North America, with possible shade
differences due to later batch production on brush, comb and
ribbon. This is based on anecdotal evidence from collectors in
Sweden.
Tickle's Character
Tickle's fact file and back card entries both suggest that,
despite her name, her feathers were more to do with pillows than
they were actually tickling anyone. Her fact file simply describes
her having a special pillow hidden in the clouds, whilst her
backcard story elaborates on her helping the baby ponies get to
sleep with her special soft feather pillows.
Tickle is turned to stone
My Little Pony Comic
In one of the comic stories, Tickle was randomly turned to stone
by a sorcerer, leading Lemon Drop on a quest to find a
feather with which to break the spell.
