1991: Glowing Magic Ponies

DAZZLEGLOW

Pinkish purple unicorn with blue and pink striped mane and tail, three yellow umbrellas symbol, pink hearts and yellow stars.

Dazzleglow has, for a long time, been a subject of debate about her release and variations and such like. She's actually the one from the set that has gathered the most attention for this, because of the very distinct differences noted between two versions of her release.

The pony featured at the top of this page is the normal pony for the release in the United Kingdom. By no means does that necessarily say she is the only one sold here, but to date, there is no evidence to suggest the blue hearted variation of this pony was sold in Europe or the UK at all.

::The Blue Heart Controversy::

Some years ago, it was rumoured that the Blue Heart Dazzleglow was the UK version of this pony.The source of this rumour appears to be the use of blue-heart on the UK insert and backcard photo for this year.

DAZZLEGLOW
(as featured on UK backcard, Happyglow's card, 1991)

This anomaly is clearly explained with a bit of cross-referencing of sets and releases across this year. The common practice for UK/European advertising this year was to use images of the ponies available in the US line, because they were already in production prior to the UK release. The above photo of Dazzleglow thus appears on the back of the MOC card pony shown to the top right of the page, who clearly has PINK hearts, not BLUE.

The evidence for where Blue Heart was actually released is pretty conclusive. The top right MOC image on this page is from the UK, and, as mentioned, this pony has pink hearts. Compare this to the image below:

DAZZLEGLOW with BLUE HEARTS
(Mint on North American Card)

It is easy to see that this is a US style backcard, and the pony sealed on it has blue hearts. This confirms that blue-heart Dazzleglow was definitely released in the US. This also makes much more sense. Let's not forget that the promotional photographs must have been taken early on in the production. This is supported by the US commercial for the set, which also features the blue-hearted pony:

BLUE HEART DAZZLEGLOW (US TV COMMERCIAL)

There is also a prototype Glowing Magic pony, found in the US, which is a hybrid using Sunspot's body, and this plastic is filled with glowing circles and blue squares. This can be seen here at the MLP Wiki. All of this evidence suggests that the blue heart concept was an early idea used at the start but later discarded in favour of pink.

The US had this set before the UK, as was the normal pattern of pony releases. This explains why blue-hearted Dazzleglow AND pink-hearted Dazzleglow both appear in the US - but not in Europe or the UK.

In conclusion, Blue Heart Dazzleglow is a North American Pony.

Thanks to Shivhae for the image of US MOC Dazzleglow.

Unfortunately, the Dazzle Crazy doesn't end there.

::Dazzleglow: Variations::

I have a few different Dazzleglows, all pictured on this page.

The one above, as discussed, has a lighter, opaqueish body, and pink hearts, not blue. Her hair is sky blue and pink, and is of the coarser fibre often noted in European release ponies for this year across different sets. For this reason, I have headlined the page with her, because I believe her to be the general norm among UK release ponies. However, I cannot be 100% sure that ALL Dazzleglows in the UK fitted her description, because there are SO MANY variations ;)

Other versions of Dazzleglow:

"FIRST EDITION?" DAZZLEGLOW: blue hearts & aqua/pink mane and tail version

PINK HEART DAZZLEGLOW with AQUA/PALE PINK mane and tail (bought from the US)

The Dazzleglow on the right, above, was also purchased from the US, but I can be less concise with her provenance. This pony has pink hearts, but her hair is the same colour scheme as the one with blue hearts; aqua and fading pink. Her body is more opaque and she is not as dark in colour.

The consistency of her hair is more in keeping with the curly/rougher haired ponies, and though she has suffered a little bit over the years in comparison, I do not think she ever had silky smooth fibres as her tail is naturally wavy. I think it probable this version of Dazzleglow was released in the UK and the US, but it is possible that this is the "Second Edition" Dazzleglow released in the US, after they stopped the blue hearts.

Comparing the three Dazzleglows, horn to horn!
(ignore the yellow on blue-heart's mane, this is just the light. It is actually all pale pink xD)

I feel there are many more Dazzleglows out there, and the hunt continues ;)

UK COMIC DEPICTIONS OF DAZZLEGLOW (DIFFERENT ISSUES)

As if we weren't confused enough, the UK comic was also very confused about what Dazzleglow was meant to look like. At no point was she drawn with hearts and stars, but in different comic editions, she had blue stars, blue and yellow stars and pink and white stars, with variations to her apparent hair colour. It is possible that these images were drawn from more than one basic promotional image.