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

Truly

Pony Friends, 1987

White rearing earth pony with dark pink mane and tail, teal dove with branch and neon pink hearts symbol

White earth pony with dark pink hair, dove with hearts
Pony Data
Set Pony Friends (1987)
Asst. Number 4855
Accessories ?
Pose Truly
Distribution Nordic Countries, South Africa, maybe Australia. NOT UK.
 
Other Versions So Soft (North America, 1985-6)

Search the Scrapbook
search engine by freefind advanced
Ponies Sold in 1987 in the UK Movie Star Ponies | Mountain Boy Ponies | Birthday Party with Tutti Frutti | Princess Ponies (Set 1) |Snuzzle's Grooming Parlour | Megan and Sundance (Second Edition)| Twinkle Eye Ponies (UK Set II) | Flutter Ponies (Set II) | Newborn Twins (Set I, Partial) | Pretty & Pearly Baby Sea Ponies (UK Release) Paradise Estate | Dream Castle | Lullabye Nursery | Baby Buggy | Baby Bonnet School of Dance

Other 1987 Ponies Twinkle Eyed Ponies (North America/Italy) | Pony Friends (Ponies) | Stockings | Pony Friends (Animals) | Soft Sleepy Newborns| Sea Sparkle Baby Sea Ponies | Satin Slipper Sweet Shoppe | Crimp & Curl Hair Salon (Perm Shoppe) (UK:1988) | Slumber Party Gift Set | Rainbow Ponies (Europe) | Twice as Fancy (Party) Ponies (UK:1988) | First Tooth Baby Ponies (UK:1988)| Big Brother Ponies (UK:1988) | So Soft Ponies (III) | Purse with Baby Crumpet | Baby Blue Ribbon


Pony Friends Truly.

Truly was sold in 1987 and maybe early 1988, in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and South Africa. She may also have seen a release in other places but this is not confirmed. She was NOT sold in the UK. She was sold in these places on a card in English, pictured below.

Truly's card
Truly's Backcard
Pony Friends, 1987
Image from Inger and Monika

Truly was made in the rearing pose, the same as her So Soft counterpart. She is one of only three mainstream ponies to feature this pose. As with the others, she has larger back hooves and holes in those hooves to accommodate a stand. Anecdotal evidence from collectors suggest that the Pony Friends version of Truly was also sold with a clear plastic stand. The one pictured above is shown with the stand from the So Soft, but there does not seem to be any real difference.

It is generally accepted that a Truly without flocking and with brown eyeliner is definitely an authentic Pony Friends Truly. The pony pictured at the top of this page has brown eyeliner, and came from Scandinavia.

However. Let's talk about eyeliner.

Eyeliner - Black or Brown? (Click to Expand)
As I just mentioned, it's generally accepted that a Pony Friends Truly has brown eyeliner, and all black eyeliner versions are deflocks.

On the surface, this seems to be a great way to authenticate your pony. But when this theory first circulated, it was pushed that only deflocked Movie Star ponies had black eyeliner as well - even though most every single Movie Star pony in the UK (including my childhood Shady) had black eyeliner. And there was also a spate of people trying to push the idea that the Buttons with three large buttons as a symbol, common in the UK, were all deflocks, despite the UK never having So Soft Ponies. These have since been debunked. Eyeliner is not important in identifying deflocks of Shady, Buttons, or any other Movie Star.

The reason it's harder to be sure with this set is the apparently limited distribution. Most of the evidence we have for them comes from collectors in Nordic countries - although the first person to ever contact me about Truly's existence, years ago, was in South Africa.

According to collective wisdom, based on observation and research, a Pony Friends Truly will have:
  • Sky blue eyes (not aqua)
  • A white body (not yellowed)
  • No trace of flocking anywhere, including between mane plugs, in hoof holes
  • Brown eyeliner

The first of these is already problematic. I have three So Soft Trulys in my collection, and their eye colours vary from sky blue to slightly aqua. Different batch production means that eye colours can vary. We cannot use this to determine a genuine Pony Friend Truly.

While it is true that deflocked white ponies can show some yellowing from glue staining or damage, this is actually not always the case. Some people are very good at this! This assumption also ignores the reality that white ponies can yellow - even ones without flocking. The white/yellow of a Truly's body plastic is pretty inconclusive in my opinion.

The flocking traces are another matter. If your pony has any flocking traces, that settles the argument immediately. Flocking techniques are very sophisticated, and some deflockers are very skilled at removing the vast majority of fur. This can be conclusive, but it is a good idea to get second, third and even fourth in-person opinions from other collectors before determining whether your pony is authentic.

Now, the final point. Back to the eyeliner. So, do all Pony Friends Trulys have brown eyeliner?

Or let me ask another question. If a person in Sweden finds a Truly with black eyeliner in a second hand shop, is it more likely to be a Pony Friend (a set actually sold there) or a deflocked So Soft (a set not sold there)?

I saw this discussion go down some years ago, and it reminded me of the Big Buttons debacle. If a pony is in a place of origin, and it looks like the pony sold in that place of origin, chances are it's that pony. If that pony doesn't meet the online assumptions, then it makes sense to look at the evidence again.

Some years back, I acquired a Truly with no flocking and black eyeliner. Because of the discussion about brown eyeliner, I assumed she was a deflock (even though she had come from Europe!) and I took her to university with me as my room mascot. In 2017-18, I took her to Ponycon, where I showed her to multiple collectors, several of whom had experience with deflocking. They unanimously determined that she had never been flocked.

This Truly has sky blue eyes, is white and has soft plastic. She has not a thread of flocking anywhere on her body. Her head is still originally sealed, and she came from Europe. But she has black eyeliner. And, as the above discussion proves, she's not the only one.

Black Eyeliner Truly
Truly with Black Eyeliner

If this Truly really has never been flocked, though, it means that everything we think we know about Pony Friends Truly is wrong.

Let me go back a moment to Buttons and the 'three big buttons' vs 'buttons and stars' confusion. The most likely explanation for that is that at the end of the So Soft line, some unflocked Buttons ponies were shipped out on Movie Star cards, before they updated the symbol. The set probably came out in the UK earlier than in Scandinavia, so that's why they all show up here.

Truly and Cupcake are basically the same as their So Soft counterparts. Why should we not expect the same thing to happen here?

I examined my So Soft Trulys again, and aside the eye colour disparity, there are also symbol variations. This is interesting, because there's symbol colour differences with my brown and black eyeliner ponies as well. It's just that the one that matches the So Soft more closely is the one with BROWN eyeliner. What is also interesting is that the black eyeliner pony from the earlier mentioned second hand shop in Sweden has a very similar colour symbol to my black eyeliner pony, suggesting they came from the same batch. The image below shows the distinction of the symbols between black, brown eyeliners and one of the So Softs. You'll notice that the black eyeliner pony is actually the whitest of the three.
.

Truly's Symbols
Comparing Symbols: Truly x 3


So, are random deflocks showing up in second hand markets in Europe, or could it be that the earlier ponies in this set had black eyeliner, and then switched over to brown later in production, as we see with the Movie Stars? This certainly happened with European Cherries Jubilee, who was sold with black eyeliner in the Netherlands in 1986, but has also been found with brown eyeliner in Scandinavia. Remember, the assortment number for that earlier set is the same as that for Truly's set.

Without a Mint on Card pony to prove it, however, this remains a grey area. It's true there are a lot of deflocks out there, and I would assume any pony showing up in North America without a pretty good authentication story is probably more likely to be a deflock than not.

People will also have their own views on this, and that's fine. It remains true that the vast majority of Pony Friends Trulys definitely have brown eyeliner. And there are a good number of deflocks out there.


If you are buying a Pony Friends Truly, here are some things you can look out for (aside eyeliner)

There may well be other black eyeliner mysteries out there. But to err on the safe side, it's probably better to seek one out with brown eyeliner.


Truly's Character

In the animation, Truly was a Southern Belle, with a slightly ditzy but likeable personality. She had no magic in the animation, as this was generally debarred earth ponies in the TV series. Boo hiss! Her backcard story from her Pony Friends card suggests she had magic relating to the weather and could turn dreary days into bright and cheery ones. She could also make rainbow balloons fill the sky to cheer up the clouds to stop them raining. Basically she was a cheer-up hug with hooves. I think I like this characterisation best :)



"Pony Friends" Set, 1987 (Scandinavia, Finland, South Africa, NOT UK)*