Plush Ponies

Although the plush ponies were advertised alongside the regular line, they do seem to have been their own thing. There were three types of plush pony sold in the UK in the 1980s - standard plush, applause plush, and pyjama case plush.

The Standard Plush are the most common, and most of them were also sold in North America. This line included characters not sold as regular ponies in the UK, such as Glory, Medley, Moondancer (with pale pink hair instead of dark red) and Firefly. These ponies were advertised by Hasbro UK as "So Soft" ponies at times, which is very confusing to read now as an adult collector! They're also known online as "Hasbro Softies".

Without having clear catalogue evidence, it is not certain which characters were sold as plush in 1984 (if any were) and which were sold in 1985. Glory, Medley, Moondancer and Firefly were certainly in one of these earlier collections, however. Blossom, Cotton Candy and Bow-Tie plushes may have been available in 1984, and by 1985 they had been joined by Rainbow Ponies Parasol and Windy, as well as Groom & Style Ponies Posey and Cherries Jubilee. Most of the Standard Plush have open and closed mouth versions - exceptions are Cherries Jubilee and Posey (who only exist in closed mouth form) and Windy (who only exists in open mouth form). Each was sold with a brush - these had holes punched in the bottom to attach them to the pony in package, which is why, sometimes, pony brushes are found with holes on the handle!

Plush Posey MIB
UK 1985-6
Image from Straight Deals Toys

In 1986, Hasbro UK introduced its one and only UK exclusive standard plush, Honeycomb. The 1986 line included re-releases of Posey and Cherries Jubilee, which were described in the trade catalogue as "perennial favourites". Honeycomb is the only pony not sold in North America to have a plush version. She only exists in closed mouth form. An odd feature of Honeycomb is that she has blue eye-shadow (a fact which first led some collectors to believe her to be a custom, rather than an official release). A more logical explanation is that Hasbro used leftover Bow Tie eyes, which were already outlined in blue - making it appear that she was wearing make-up!

Plush Honeycomb
(UK, 1986)

The North American line had a range of mother and baby plushes in around 1985 or 1986. The UK did not have these, although one of the mother ponies, Lickety Split, was available in the UK. It may be that she was sold as part of the 1985 assortment, but this is at present unconfirmed.

Plush Lickety Split Mint in Box
UK, 1985?
Image from Straight Deals Toys

Applause Plush are less common to find on the second hand market. They were licenced by a company called Applause, rather than being made through Hasbro's own direct production. The history of these is a little murky. They also seem to have been sold stateside. Known Applause plush include Blossom, Glory, Cotton Candy and Firefly, either with embroidered or printed symbols. They are easily recogniseable by their goofy smiles :)

Pyjama Cases are unique to the UK, and were produced under licence by a company called Telitoy, most likely in 1985 and 1986. Each was a large, floppy plush, with a zip opening along the stomach through which a child could store their sleepwear. Pyjama cases like this were not uncommon in the 1980s in the UK, which probably explains the gimmick. The ponies had long, brushable hair, and their symbols were attached - either in fabric or plastic. Their eyes were also plastic, and are easily scratched.

The first release included Cotton Candy and Bow Tie, both in sleeping poses. As their eyes are closed, both Cotton Candy and Bow Tie have fabric lashes.

Bow Tie Pyjama Case
(Telitoy under licence, UK, 1985?)


Cotton Candy Pyjama Case
(Telitoy under licence, UK, 1985?)

The third pyjama case, Trickles, was sold most likely in 1986, when the regular pony should have been (but wasn't) available in the UK. Unlike her predecessors, she is sitting up, and her eyes are open. Her symbols are plastic, rather than cloth. She has long, rainbow hair which is fully brushable. As far as we can ascertain, she was the only pyjama case addition to the line in 1986. There were rumours in the nineties of another rainbow pony being in production, but no evidence of this has ever surfaced.

Trickles Pyjama Case
(Telitoy, under licence, UK 1986)

Stationery

Christmas, Cards, and Cadbury

Nothing said Christmas to a 1980s kid than My Little Pony. Or maybe that was just me! Most of my ponies came as the result of Christmas presents, birthday presents, or the spending of money received as presents on one of those occasions. Maybe that's why, for me, Christmas is an especially 'pony-themed' time of the year.

Although Hasbro did not produce an actual Christmas pony in the UK release until as late as 1992, there was plenty of pony stuff at Christmas before that point. Aside the actual toy line - which were prominent in stores in autumn and winter - there were also christmas cards, advent calendars, and even selection boxes (sponsored by or in conjunction with Cadbury).

I had a Cadbury My Little Pony selection box in - almost certainly - 1986. Not much survives from it now (it's a bit of a miracle that any of it does, given that I was very young at the time), but it would probably have had a purple box (Cadbury's theme colour). There was a story book you could put together (which I did) and also pony cut outs that you could make and stand up.

Surviving fragments of the 1986 Cadbury Selection Box

The Snowflake and Baby Tiddly Winks at the top of the above pictures are survivors from my childhood selection box, although neither were officially "paper dolls" for telling the story. Looking at them, I think they were cut from the box, as you can just see the edge of a chocolate bar behind Snowflake's tail, and it was common for selection boxes to display the contents on the front of the box. I have also cut my own slits in the bottom to make them stand up, although for the most part they were stuck on my wall as a kid. You can see how they fitted together on the original box in the image above.

The cut outs at the bottom of the above picture were acquired later, and these were the actual paper dolls that were intended to help the child 'tell the story'. I do not think they are complete, as the accompanying instruction notes show Gusty and Snowflake (in actual paper doll form) as well as the above Peach Blossom, Baby Tiddly Winks and Fizzy. You can still see the dotted line around the above figures, and I think these were probably on the back of the Selection box to be cut out, though I cannot be 100% sure. You can see the size difference between Baby Tiddly Winks in both forms, and I imagine Gusty and Snowflake were also more in scale with Gusty in this form. (I am looking for these, if anyone has them to complete the pony set!).

Image on Selection Box "Play and Read" instructions

The instructions also show a backdrop featuring Dream Castle. I have no memory of this at all, but I think it likely that it made up the bulk of the Selection box back, along with the pony, cloud, balloon and shooting star cut outs, in order for a child to act out the included story.

Selection box story book and instructions/notes
UK, 1986

The actual story itself was a small booklet, featuring the ponies in the selection box paper doll range. My original childhood one is pictured above, and has been repaired (as it was well read!). I do have a better one somewhere, which I will photograph when able. Snowflake is pictured on the front in her Pony Christmas outfit, although it doesn't seem like there was a cut out of her dressed this way.

Cadbury's relationship with Hasbro in 1986 seems to have been significant, as there were also other pieces of Cadbury-sponsored merchandise available in this year. One example is a matching card game, which featured several of the ponies available that year. The object of the game was to gather matching sets of four cards with the same pony. 

Sample Cards from Cadbury's Card Game, plus Cadbury logo on back of card
UK, 1986

There were various advent calendars also available, particularly in the early 1990s. The one survivor I have from my childhood is pictured at the top of this page, and features the Rainbow Ponies that were never sold here. It also dates from 1986.

Another survivor from my childhood are christmas cards - one featuring Powder and one featuring Powder and Confetti. The same set featured a card with Firefly. Powder was not sold in the UK, but Confetti was released in 1986 and 1987. At least one of these cards was received from my primary school's secretary, which means I must have been at school at the time. It seems possible the same cards may have been available as late as 1988.

Christmas Cards circa 1986-8
UK.

There were also occasionally christmas cards given away free with the pony comic, or with the My Little Pony club.

Lunchboxes, Bags and Flasks

Bluebird licenced merchandise - lunchbox, flask and satchel
Argos 1987

The lunchboxes and flasks were made under licence by Bluebird, who made a lot of childrens' lunch equipment back in the eighties. The characters on this lunch box (Bubbles and Cotton Candy) were earlier characters, and this set was probably available as early as 1985 or 1986.

I had a couple of pony flasks as a kid - one I removed the picture from completely, so I have no idea which one it was. I also had a flask and lunchbox set - which I did take to school - but mine featured the Party Ponies - I remember Lollipop being prominent on the front. That was probably available from 1988, and superseded the one shown above.

In the case of bags, there are such a wide variety of bags in the UK release that this page would probably crash if I tried to include all of them. The one pictured, above, was a larger strapped shoulder bag, but there were countless small bags, handbags, purses, and even bags with hair to groom. There were also a couple of purses and card wallets - not sure why kids needed them, but we had them just in case. Hasbro went big on the pony merchandise throughout the eighties and into the nineties.

One thing I haven't mentioned here (and need to get a good photo) is the tray table. There were at least three different designs sold here in the UK that I remember. One featured the Loving Family Ponies (Bright Bouquet I believe). One had Gypsy and some ponies from her set. The other I am not sure of without checking. These were metal trays with fold-out legs, but there were also laminated dinner mats featuring pony characters. I had one of those as a child, but who knows where it is now.

Clothing, Shoes and Hair Accessories

Coming Soon

Duvets, Cushions and Wallpaper

Coming Soon