Tuneful and Tunefull

Tuneful Mint on Card
UK, 1992
Image donated by ebay seller

The North American spelling of this name was actually Tunefull - but almost nobody online ever uses it. Instead, she is mostly known as Tuneful, with one l. This in fact was her official name spelling in the UK, making her the only pony in the whole G1 line where the UK name has become default. We have to take small victories when we find them!

Tuneful's UK name spelling
Tuneful's Backcard, UK 1992

The Rockin' Beat set is the only full set I had from new as a child, and I still have all their original backcards. You can see from the price label on the image above that she retailed for £5.99 in Woolworths in 1992. By some fluke I have a childhood diary page surviving from February 1992 which reveals I bought Tuneful at the end of that month.

This dating becomes important when looking at the variations between Tuneful/Tunefull releases. While we cannot say with 100% certainty that these variations were regionally located, the fact I bought a red haired Tuneful in early 1992 does suggest that the change was deliberate. The caveat to this is that 1992 saw a lot of weird things going on with hair across the UK and European release, and this may also be another symptom of that.

"Tunefull"
Version with red-orange mane and tail

The red-orange haired version of Tuneful has a lighter body tone than my childhood one from the UK, and is more commonly found in North America. Although she was pictured on the back of the UK card, I have no evidence of her being found here second hand or bought here new. My pony came from the USA. Her hair is also softer than my childhood Tuneful's. although this could be a symptom of having lived with me for so many years, it is also true that red haired Tunefuls often show up second hand with rougher hair. Obviously rerooting a red haired Tuneful defeats the object of owning her, so this gives collectors a fun challenge in how to fix the mess.

Tuneful's Character

Tuneful had two different iterations in the My Little Pony comic, due to the introduction of the My Little Pony Tales narrative. She was originally introduced in 1992, where she was a unicorn, and had a particular magic trick which allowed her to amplify very tiny sounds. She had extremely keen hearing and enjoyed listening to butterflies singing. Her magic made it possible for others to hear the song as well. She was a confident, friendly pony in this iteration, who wasn't afraid to lead the way.

Tuneful's Comic Versions
My Little Pony Comic, 1992-3

In the My Little Pony Tales revamp, Tuneful was a member of Melody's band, the Rockin' Beats. She had no magic, and often appeared either in green or without a horn, or both. In an early story she did still have her unicorn horn, but this was the exception rather than the rule - unicorns and magic were not allowed in the Tales world. Tuneful's personality had also changed, making her a lot more shy and uncertain. In one story, she suffers from stage fright and has to be coaxed onto the stage to perform.