1986: Play and Care Set/Beddy Bye Eye Baby Ponies

BABY GUSTY

White baby unicorn pony with dark green mane and tail (red streak in mane), painted lavender maple leaves symbol.

In my experience, it is Baby Gusty of the four Play and Care Set Baby Ponies from 1986 who is the most difficult to find - indeed, in ten years carbooting, the one pictured above is the only one I have managed to locate! As with several sets from this year, the characterisation of the pony in the comic and other UK mediums was weak. Baby Gusty played little if any major part in any of the stories of the time - and yet I always remember her as one of those baby ponies I wasn't quite sure existed. That, if nothing else, goes to show how poor distribution of this set was nationwide.

Of course, the Play and Care Set version was not the only incarnation of Baby Gusty.

BABY GUSTY (Beddy Bye Eye Version)

In North America and some parts of Europe and Australasia, she was sold as part of the year's gimmick - the Beddy Bye Eye Baby Pony set. This version is much more common on the second hand market, though she was never sold in the United Kingdom at all.