1986: My Little Pony

HONEYCOMB

White pegasus pony with neon yellow mane and tail, glittering gold and black bees symbol.

At first glance, it's easy to confuse Honeycomb with Surprise from the North American Pegasus Pony edition. They share pose, body tone and hair colour, and even their eyes are the same shade of lavender. And it seems likely that Honeycomb, issued the year after Surprise first made her debut, was in fact the UK equivalent. Some collectors refer to them as "sisters".

The main differences between the two characters are, of course, the symbols and the fact that Honeycomb always has straight, silky hair whereas Surprise was meant to have curls. It's unclear whether Honeycomb got a release in continental Europe or not - I'm still unsure, though I know that the set in which Snowflake and Hopscotch appeared in France did not include her. She was certainly sold in the UK and probably Australia.

In terms of personality, Honeycomb logically had a connection with all things honey and bee related. She was also oddly pictured as a unicorn in the Fact File - though she was only ever sold as a pegasus. Further evidence that Hasbro got easily confused about Honeycomb can be seen by the following image:

HONEYCOMB mint on SNOWFLAKE'S CARD

Interesting to note is that the shade of brush and ribbon on my MOC pony (above) appear much lighter than those in the picture on the right from L.D, but I cannot confirm whether the right hand one has been affected by lighting. The brush and Ribbon "Honeyflake" has, above, are definitely hers and not Snowflake's, as Snowflake's are blue. She does have a sticker; unfortunately it is facing the card so whose sticker remains a mystery. Whether there are any other mismatched ponies from this set is unclear (though I would love to know if anyone has one!)

Thanks to LD for the picture of MOC Honeycomb on the right.