1991: Rockin' Beat Ponies

PRETTY BEAT

Plum purple earth pony with dark purple mane and tail, (red-orange streak in mane), blue eyeshadow, yellow and orange shapes and squiggles symbol.

Pretty Beat is a bit of an enigma. There are two distinct versions of this pony sold globally, one with a darker purple body and very definitely purple hair, and the other with a lighter purple body and very definitely blue hair.

Up until recently it was my belief that the blue haired version of Pretty Beat was not sold in the UK, because up to that point in my research no MIP versions had been found. However, thanks to the information of another collector, I can confirm that the alternate Pretty Beat was indeed sold in Europe as well as in the United States. This makes both editions globally released - for reasons only Hasbro have ever really understood.

I am still sure that, because the blue haired version exists in the marketing material for the UK pamphlets, she was probably the "first edition" of Pretty Beat, whereas the purple haired one - which is more commonly found in the UK - is the second edition. There are several variations during this year of production, and it may relate to a shift in manufacturing premises or some other technicality relating directly to Hasbro's processes. We may never know the reasons for sure.

Another thing that may have some bearing on it is that the Rockin' Beats were made to excess. They were sold in surplus at knock down prices at the end of production and I think Hasbro continued to make them even whilst the later pony lines were taking precedence. The Rockin' Beats and Glowin' Magic Ponies (both sets with variations) appeared in the animated Tales series, which may be significant in dating the variations to a particular time. It's speculation but perhaps the blue haired Pretty Beat is the original Rockin' Beat from the 1991-2 range, whereas the purple haired one was the continued production run one from the 1992-3 range. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure I bought my Pretty Beat in 1992, which leaves the whole area very grey.


Blue haired variant : Purple with blue mane and tail (red orange streak in mane), orange and yellow squiggles and shapes symbol)

Pretty Beat's back-card story is, predictably, about rhythm and keeping a "pretty" beat.

She is shown above with her original guitar.