1991

This year saw some seriously weird ponies. It also marked the reissue of an old favourite, if only in the United States.
Over here in the UK, we had a few exclusives this year, too - although they were also sold across Europe. Hasbro continued their name games, choosing different set or pony (or both) names on either side of the Atlantic, to confuse children and collectors for generations to come.

This was also the year of education for My Little Pony, featuring the Schooltime Ponies, the Playschool Babies and the My Little Pony Schoolhouse. The Schoolhouse would have a revival in 1993 when it featured as the school of the Seven Character Ponies in the My Little Pony Tales series - although the actual Seven Character ponies were too big to fit in it,being that it was designed for use by babies! In actuality, the playset was designed with the Playschool Babies in mind, hence its inclusion in this year's release. It continued to be reissued, however, whilst they did not.

This year also marked one other important change. Boy ponies without feathered hooves. Both Schooltime Pony Sportstime and Playschool baby Baby Schoolbag were intended as male characters, a fact supported by both comic and backcard evidence. Both were sold in poses commonly reserved for female ponies, however, causing some collectors still to refer to them as girls. There is some speculation that, by 1991, Hasbro had already rid themselves of the feathered hoof moulds used for earlier sets of male ponies. Sportstime and Baby Schoolbag would not be the only male ponies to feature female poses, however - it was a trend that would - and did! - continue pretty much up to the end.

This year also had many minor variations between issues/batches of ponies made, not all of which have been satisfactorily resolved by collectors. These variations include predominately hair colours ( such as blue/purple and pink/fading pink), but also occasionally pattern colours. I have done my best to include these on pages where I can.


UK INSERT ART: 1991-2