1986:

BEDDY BYE EYE BABY PONIES

Well, to hear some collectors talk, you'd think that these little critters were the scourge of all ponyland - the evil that lurks under the bed, waiting to drag innocent unsuspecting ponies down to the depths of equine hell. You think I'm joking? I kid not. The Beddy Bye Eye Baby Ponies are considered by a good many collectors to be the uncollectable - the baby ponies people don't buy on account of their "ick" factor.

The irony is, of course, that there are tons of them about. Even here in the UK, where they were not generally sold (certainly these six were not), it's easy to acquire one or two for a really cheap price on Ebay. And the fact they are so common means one thing - that kids went for them in droves.

They're not really the evil within ponyland. Actually, they're fairly harmless - if odd looking - little ponies with a very popular theme from the mid 1980s. Dolls were doing it, so, Hasbro thought, why not ponies? As their name suggests, their eyes flutter open and shut depending on whether they are standing or lying down. The few Beddy Bye Eye Ponies sold in the UK referred to the feature as "Lullabye Eyes", but it is the same principle. The main drawback with the feature seems to have been that the eyes - built on a metal mechanism - had a tendency to go rusty if exposed to water or simply damp storage conditions. Of course, with kids around, ponies can wind up anywhere - so many Beddy Bye Eye Ponies found loose suffer from this unwelcome 'conjunctivitis'.

There were six characters - two unicorns, two pegasi and two earthlings. Four of the six were made as Play and Care Set Babies in Europe, where they did not have the fluttering eyes. Baby Lofty and Baby Shady were only ever sold in this set, though there is a Brazilian version of Baby Lofty without Beddy Bye Eyes.