1986:

So Soft Ponies

The second set of the So Soft pony craze slots somewhere roughly between the original set and the 1987 final set, though it was not properly defined as a set of six at the time. In fact, many of the original set continued to be sold at the same time as these six new characters, who simply replaced six of the original group. For that reason, some of the original So Soft ponies -such as Ribbon - can be found sealed on both styles of cards.

The illustrations on the backs of the cards for the new set were more than a little wonky. Twist had the wrong colour hair and Skippety Doo had sprouted wings, to name just two of the mistaken illustrations. Each of the new six ponies were original characters and not based on any pony that had gone before. One of the set, Skippety-Doo, was made in the rearing pose that Magic Star and Truly had made so memorable the year before. She would also be sold with the same hard to find clear stand. Bouncy and Fifi would go on to have 'baby' versions in the later First Tooth Baby Pony set of 1987, and Hippety Hop was carried over into the 1987 So Soft set.

Though odd ones have shown up in specific areas of the UK, this set as a whole was never issued in the UK via official channels. As before, So Soft Ponies were omitted entirely from the line - but this time there would be no fuzz-free alternative. In fact, it is only in the variant Brazilian editions that some of these characters (namely Twist) would be produced without flocking.

I am still trying to work out where the heck "Skippety Doo" and "Hippety Hop" came from in terms of names...