1988:

SUNDAE BEST PONIES

Well, to be perfectly frank, these are - to me - one of the worst ideas Hasbro had. Insipid colours, badly re-made poses, and nauseating smells appear to be the foundation for the original set of scented ponies - released early in 1988. These six characters were one of the few sets issued intact in the UK from the North American release. However, it was never quite as simple as a transferred set. On the original insert which features these girls, they were mistakenly called "Ice Cream Ponies" - a name which never featured anywhere else in the UK for this set (and which may have been translated directly from the German set name, Eiskrem-Ponys). On their own backcards they were called Sundae Best Ponies, like in North America.

Four of the six also had different names in the UK release from the North American one - but even taking this into consideration, that insert failed to get the names the right way around. For the briefest of periods, Chocolate Chip was named Sorbet Surprise, Cherry Berry was named Chocolate Chip, and Sorbet Surprise was named Cherry Berry. This was corrected by the time the ponies actually hit the store shelves, though early comic stories featuring them did also feature mistaken identities. Oddly, in the North American promotional material, an image of Sorbet Surprise on a card with the label Cherry Berry appeared. Cherry Berry was a name not used in the US release, which makes me think that, in this case, North America changed their issue names, while the original names actually occurred in the UK release! (Whether they were attributed to the originally planned ponies, though, only Hasbro ever knew).

If you're not already confused by this, though, the insert also advertised an ice cream shaped clip that was supposed to come with the pony. All the evidence, however, points to the fact that - in the UK at least - these ponies were NOT sold with hair clips. So did the insert get anything right? Well, the basic features of the ponies are, I suppose, correct!


SUNDAE BEST PONIES: ERROR-BOUND INSERT (1987/2)

There were some variations on this theme also released in European countries - namely to Butter Kiss and to Chocolate Chip (more can be found on their individual pages). Due to their raised symbols, they featured six older poses that were 're-made' to encorporate the new design. This meant that the features of the pony were less well defined and often thinner - and the Pegasus Pony pose used by Peppermint Crunch now had her mouth closed instead of open.

Just to clarify, the correct names for the UK release of this set are as follows:
Blue unicorn = Chocolate Chip (US name: Coco Berry)
Pink earth pony/neon yellow hair = Cherry Berry (US name: Crunch Berry)
Green pegasus = Peppermint Crunch (same name in US)
Purple earth pony = Sorbet Surprise (US name: Sherbet)
Gold earth pony = Butter Kiss (US name: Swirly Whirly)
Pale pink/aqua earth pony = Banana Surprise (Same name in US)

SUNDAE BEST PONIES: 1988/9 insert (correct names)

The 1988/9 insert finally corrected the pony names and set name, and they continued to be sold through until 1989.