1993: Seven Characters

BRIGHT EYES

Aqua earth pony with bright orange mane and tail, pink notebook and blue pen symbol

As a child, Bright Eyes was always my favourite of the Seven Characters, and I have a vivid memory of hunting down and buying my Bright Eyes on holiday in Barmouth (North Wales) in the summer of 1993. She was the only one that I had before they went on clearance, and even now I have a special soft spot for her. (Sadly, though, it means that her card is long gone into the ether!)

In the animated series, Bright Eyes has a tendency to be bossy and a know-all, but in the UK comics she was shy and awkward, smart but unobtrusive and particularly coy around her classmate Lancer. In the animated series, Lancer and Bright Eyes also have something of an attraction to one another - though it is almost thwarted by their friends trying to be helpful.

I really liked the shy and sweet Bright Eyes better than the animated one, and so she's still the Bright Eyes that's most vivid in my mind when I think of this pony's characterisation.

Bright Eyes was also the basis for one of the 1995 Dutch release ponies, Dagboek-Pony.