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!

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos! And a very informative post. The Grooming Parlour was my first ever pony playset, handed down from my mch older sister. It's such a simplistic set and yet it brings back many happy memories for me. :)

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    1. Thanks so much! And yes, it's very simple, but I think that's part of what makes it such a nice set to have. What a nice thing to get as a hand-me-down!

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