1984:

Adult Sea Ponies

North American Edition

United Kingdom Edition

Here is where the lines begin to get a little bit blurry. There were, to begin with, three characters in the new ponies-with0ut-legs concept that was introduced during this year. The trouble is, the three characters released depended on where you were in the world!

The first MLP bath toys, in essence, each Adult Sea Pony had the trademark style eyes and hair, but a curled, moulded "seahorse" tail instead of legs. They had no symbols, but the tails were weighted to allow them to swim upright in the bath. They were each accompanied by coloured seashells, which not only provided them with a stand but also which doubled as a soap dish (if you were so inclined!) Each shell had a sucker on the back, to attach it to bathroom tiles. All you need, in fact, for a seatime pony adventure.

In North America, the three characters issued were Sealight, Seawinkle and Wavedancer. They made a famous debut in the first pony television special, "Rescue at Midnight Castle", where they hoicked Applejack and Megan out of a raging river. They also had a song which sticks in the mind of most pony collectors who have heard it ;) but I digress.

In the UK, however, the release was a little more murky. In a book during 1984 (The Man In The Moon), the US sea pony names were given, alongside pictures of the United Kingdom ponies. Later the book would be reprinted with the names corrected. The basis for the UK release seems to have been the same as that of the US one. Two of the three seashells used were the same, and "Wavebreaker" was really no different at all from the North American "Wavedancer". Her only difference was the colour of her shell. Surfdancer and Seawinkle shared body and fin paint - if not hair - colours. Only Seaspray and Sealight provided any real diversity between the lines.

Sealight and Seawinkle never saw sale in the United Kingdom, and Surfdancer and Seaspray never saw sale in North America, though Italian versions of them litter the European continent!

All ponies are pictured with their correct shells - however Seaspray has been known to be sold in the UK with Surfdancer's pink shell (thanks to Selena for this information!)