Heck Yeah, Pony Scans!

I always thought the Show Stable and Pretty Parlor were introduced in Year 2 (1984), but here they are in the 1983 Sears Wishbook alongside the Collector ponies! (And reissued My Pretty Pony.)

This does make sense since both playsets have references to the Collector ponies. Their symbols are on the flags of the Show Stable and the Pretty Parlor has name tags for the Collector ponies.

Also, there's a rare flat-foot version of Peachy. The flat foot Collector pony mold, the earliest one, had a tendency to fall on its nose so somewhere in the middle of Year One it was replaced with the similar looking but less tippy concave foot mold. Which points to some Peachy's being produced quite early. By Year 2 the flat foot pose was totally phased out.

Custom Twinkle Eye pony Minty

I bought industrial epoxy at Home Depot, but it was more liquidy than the clay-like epoxies I'm used to. So I cut a bit out of a rag and stuck the gem to it. Then I used a trimmed down drinking straw to spread epoxy on the inside of the eye socket. I pushed the gem / rag up through the neck hole with my pinkie finger and pushed the gem into place.

Flatback acrylic craft gems work great for twinkle eyes!

Mane is rerooted!

One stripe to go

She has half her mane now!

I took out her mane with pliers, a side from one stripe of white

Minty won the poll on which Collector pony to turn into a Twinkle Eye! Here she is, eyeless. The pins mark where the four colors of mane will go.

While I'm on the topic of the 2023 retro Collector ponies, I just checked Amazon and found Minty and Butterscotch for $10 USD each. Yes, finally an uninflated price!!! Still waiting on the others to drop.

I wonder if this means Basic Fun has finally started stocking them? The higher prices are markups from third party sellers.

>> link to Butterscotch <<

>> link to Minty <<

More comparison pictures of 2017 Basic Fun Minty (left) and 2023 Basic Fun Minty (right), from @mylittleponytraveler on Instagram

The eyes, body color, and hair colors are all different. So is the symbol!

Unlike later ponies, the Collector Ponies had subtly different symbols on each side of her body. (For example, vintage Butterscotch has six butterflies on one side, seven on the other.) 2023 BF Minty's symbol is based on the righthand symbol of vintage Minty, whereas 2017 BF Minty's symbol is based on the lefthand symbol of vintage Minty.

Commercial for the 2023 Basic Fun Collector ponies

Flat Foot ponies versus Concave Foot ponies

Here’s an example of a Flat Foot pony (left) and a Concave Foot pony (right).  Both ponies are Blue Belles and as you can see there’s also some color difference.  

The only ponies with flat feet versions are the original six collector ponies (Cotton Candy, Blossom, Blue Belle, Minty, Butterscotch, Snuzzle) and Peachy.