Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Seawinkle



Seawinkle was released in the first set of adult Sea Ponies, during Year 2 of G1 production; she is sort of an aqua blue color with seafoam green eyes and a light purple mane.  Since they do not have hooves, Sea Ponies have a slightly flattened bit on the bottoms of their tails where you will find their "hoof stamp."  Seawinkle's reads "©'84 Hasbro H.K. / Pat. Pend."

I always forget the Sea Ponies were introduced so early, and I'm always a little sad there weren't more of them produced.  There are a handful of baby sea pony sets, but only two sets of adult sea ponies. Poor sea ponies, not getting the love they deserve.



Sea Ponies did not have symbols, but they had colored accents on their fins; Seawinkle's fin tips are a lilacy purple.  I suppose since ponies' symbols were painted on their flanks, and sea ponies don't have flanks, Hasbro had not figured on a good place to put a symbol.  They did manage some more creative symbol placements for later sets, so I wish we could have seen some more creative adult sea ponies during those later years, but alas...

I don't have any of her accessories, as I got my Seawinkle secondhand at an antique shop for $5 USD.  I hope to get her shell stand one day, but for now I've discovered that sherry glasses make an excellent display option (as you can see from my photos, above).  Originally, Seawinkle came with a pink clam shell stand, a shell-shaped brush, a shell-shaped comb, and I believe a yellow ribbon; the brush and comb came in either pink or blue, but whether this was a random factory difference or a regional difference, I'm not sure.

Scan from contributor Breyer600 on My Little Wiki
Seawinkle's backcard has been uploaded to My Little Wiki, and you can see it above.  Her story reads:
Seawinkle dove off the dock, swam through the crystal clear blue water, and hopped aboard her new little sailboat.  "Seashell" she shouted, "Come take a sail with me!"  So Seashell swam out to the boat for a ride.  The wind was brisk and the little boat skimmed quickly across the calm blue water.  The two friends sailed on and on, returning home only when the sun was sinking low into the horizon.
What a sea pony would be doing on a dock or why she would need a boat is beyond me, but crazy nonsense is a running theme as far as My Little Pony backcard stories are concerned.  That is a huge part of their charm for me, though.  Seashell is a favorite pony of mine, so her being such good friends with Seawinkle makes me like this sea pony even more than I already did.

Sea Ponies have long been a favorite of mine,  although I only ever had one of the babies when I was a child.  Because she's my first adult sea pony, Seawinkle will always be very special to me.

Is Seawinkle a part of your collection?  Tell me about her in the comments!

Click the Fact Cloud to view it larger!

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Peachy (CF)



Peachy is an earth pony originally released during/just before Year 2 of G1's production; she came in what is known as the collector's pose, and was exclusive to the Pretty Parlor playset in either a flat-footed or a concave-footed version.  This post is for my concave-footed Peachy.

As her name might suggest, Peachy is a peach-colored pony.  She has a straight, standard-length pink mane, a pink tail, and blue eyes.  From top to bottom, left to right, the bottoms of her hooves are stamped "©1982 Hasbro/Pat Pending/Made in/Hong Kong".




Peachy's symbol is on both flanks:  her right side has 12 pink hearts, and her left side has 11 pink hearts.  Because she came with the Pretty Parlor, her accessories are the ones which came with that playset:
  • basic pink comb and pink heart-shaped brush
  • pink blanket
  • 2 ribbons (1 yellow, 1 green)
  • purple saddle, bridle, and reins
  • pink basket and purple basket strap
  • 1 flowered bonnet and 1 sunhat
  • 8 nameplates (one each for the original 6 ponies, plus one each for Peachy and Lemon Drop)
She also has a tabby cat companion, Twinkles.  When I bought my Pretty Parlor from a seller on eBay, Peachy was included in the sale.  These photos are her "before" shots - I haven't even given her a light surface clean since I got her, so you can see she came to me in pretty minty condition!  I never had this pony as a child, but she's very sweet-looking, and I love her soft color scheme.  Collector pose is also one of my favorite poses, as it makes me think of ponies standing in a field and grazing, or standing in a stall, waiting to be groomed and loved on.  Miraculously, mine even has a faint whiff of "pony smell" still, so she lives on my desk, where I can easily pick her up and sniff her occasionally.  I know exactly how insane that sounds, but other G1 collectors who remember pony smell from childhood - you know what I'm talking about here.

Each Little Pony had their own little story, usually printed on the back of their box or card, but ponies who came with a playset had their stories printed in the playset's leaflet.  Below is a scan of Peachy's story, borrowed from My Little Wiki (you can click the image to view it larger):

scan from contributor Breyer600 on My Little Wiki
Peachy's Fact File page has the following to say about her:
Peachy is the very friendliest of ponies who always has a smile for her friends, especially for her best friend Twinkles the cat.  She is cheerful whether it rains or shines.
 Do you have this version of Peachy in your collection, or did you have her as a child? Let me know about her in the comments!

Click the Fact Cloud to view larger!

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Pretty Parlor




The Pretty Parlor came out during/just before Year 2 of production, and was the very first G1 playset to be released.  I have the US version, but it was also released in the UK (as the Grooming Parlour) and in select European countries.  I believe all versions of the Pretty Parlor came with Peachy, although the back sticker appears to feature Butterscotch (at least on this version, as you can see from my photo).  



I got my Pretty Parlor on eBay, and you can see it is in pretty great condition apart from slight discoloration on some of the plastic and the top hinge of the door being broken - both flaws are pretty typical for a playset of this age, though.  I am also missing a couple of the accessories, but I was pleased to find this playset not only in good condition, but almost complete!  In addition to Peachy and Twinkles the cat, the Pretty Parlor originally came with:
  • basic pink comb and pink heart-shaped brush
  • pink blanket
  • 2 ribbons (1 yellow, 1 green)
  • purple saddle, bridle, and reins
  • pink basket and purple basket strap
  • 1 flowered bonnet and 1 sunhat
  • 8 nameplates (the original 6 ponies, plus Peachy and Lemon Drop)
My Pretty Parlor came to me with a yellow flowered bonnet and white sunhat, but some Pretty Parlors came with white flowered bonnets and yellow sunhats - whether this is a regional difference or totally random, I have no idea.  I also have no way of knowing for sure whether these hats were the ones which originally came with this Pretty Parlor, or if the previous owner just collected the accessories separately. I'm not really an accessory enthusiast, though, so it doesn't bother me if my Pretty Parlor's hats are not entirely accurate to its particular release.

Several of the playsets came with an animal companion for the included pony; the Pretty Parlor came with Twinkles the cat, an orange tabby, but there are regional variations:  the US release of Twinkles has brown facial features and stripes (like mine, shown below), but the UK and European releases have black facial features and stripes (as shown on My Little Wiki, The My Little Pony Scrapbook, and MLP Land).



Another variation collectors have noted with the Pretty Parlor is with Peachy - some playsets came with a flat-footed (FF) pony, whereas others came with a concave-footed (CF) pony.  Mine is the CF version.

I never had this playset as a kid, but I chose to make this my first post because you will be seeing it featured as the "set" for all my G1 pony photos!  I hope you will enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoy taking them.

Click the Fact Cloud to view larger!