Hasbro Softies (Mother and Baby Sets and Rainbow Ponies)

 

::Mother and Baby Sets:: ::Rainbow Ponies ::


    Hasbro Softies made their first appearance early in My Little Pony history; they were sold from 1983-1986. They were the official line of plushes from Hasbro and they had a long and successful run. The actual names of the plushes are Softies. You may hear them referred to by a variety of names, most commonly as plushes. Also, Softies and Plushies. Each is about 12 inches tall, has a soft body, comb able mane and tail, round plastic eyes, and sewn-on symbols. They also have a standard Hasbro Softies tag (see example right) and a twined loop on their backs, these shouldn't be removed unless they were cut off from the plush. Also, there are. They also come with a square tag and a comb (with a hole in the end of it). Star shine's tag example is pictured below, each tag featured that particular pony. It also bears the My Little Pony logo. The tag and comb usually get separated from the pony over time.

Hasbro Softies came in a variety of colors and styles, all based on My Little Ponies from the 1982, 1983, and 1984 with the exception of the International exclusive, Honeycomb. The first issues were earth ponies, having no horn or wings. Later, Unicorns and Pegasus were issued as well. Even later, beautiful Rainbow Ponies made an appearance. Then, lastly, the Mother and Baby Sets were issued.

Hasbro Softies were not the only My Little Pony plushes to be issued, there are also the Applause Plushes. The Applause plushes were just four ponies issued in 1982. Those ponies are Blossom, Cotton Candy, Firefly, and Glory, there are no International exclusives. They are more slender than the Softies and have other subtle differences as well. The Applause versions are not Hasbro Softies, they have a completely different name. They are My Little Pony however, with the standard My Little Pony logo.

Other closely related issues: Firstly, I believe this list to be complete, I've heard rumors of other International Hasbro Sofites, but haven't seen any surface. If there are any, they are not standard U. K. and European issues, they are some type of variants. There are a soft of fabric Brazilian types, this is an example of variants. There are also a variety of Pajama Cases (rare Trickles, Bowtie, and Cotton Candy). They are not listed in this section.


Mother and Baby Sets (Year 4)

Each Mother and Baby Set came packaged together with both mother and child plus a brush. The International versions are boxed and it's probable that the U. S. cards were packaged in the same manner. The adults are standard, being either Earth Ponies or Pegasus. The babies match the mothers, but have immensely curly hair. The babies are smaller than the adults and have a small bow pinned near the ear area.

Interestingly, all the ponies are from a variety of sets of actual ponies, everything from Earth Ponies to Beddy-Bye Eyes Baby Ponies. Each will be listed with its particular pony.

Thanks to Inglemist for photographs below.

Lickety-Split (earth pony) is pinkish lavender with with light lavender hair. She may often be described as pink in color instead of lavender, her colors teeter between pale lavender and pink. Her symbol two ice cream cones (white ice cream, lavender cones). Her eyes are periwinkle eyes and her eyelids are lavender pink. The plus version of Lickety-Split was first released in 1984 in the Earth Pony set. See also, Earth Ponies.
Baby Lickety Split (earth pony) is pinkish lavender with light lavender (originally curly) hair. She may often be described as pink in color instead of lavender, her colors teeter between pale lavender and pink. Her symbol is a single pink and white ice cream cone. She has periwinkle eyes and her eyelids are lavender pink.
See also, Beddy-Bye Eyes Baby Ponies.

Lofty (Pegasus) is yellow with golden yellow hair and her symbol is a a pink hot air balloon.with a star accent. Her eyes are yellow and she has lighter yellow eyelids. She has yellow wing accents. See also, So Soft Ponies.
Baby Lofty (Pegasus) is yellow with golden yellow (originally curly) hair and a pink hot air balloon. Her eyes are yellow and she has lighter yellow eyelids. She has yellow wing accents. See also, Beddy-Bye Eyes Baby Ponies.

Surprise (Pegasus) is white with chartreuse hair. Her symbol is a single purple balloon with a pink string. Her eyes are purple and her eyelids are white; her wing accents are purple. See also, Unicorns and Pegasus.
Baby Surprise (Pegasus) is white with chartreuse (originally curly) hair. Her symbol is a single purple balloon with a pink string. Her eyes are purple and her eyelids are white; her wing accents are purple. See also, Baby Ponies.

 

 

 

Rainbow Ponies (Year 3-Year 4)

The release date above is speculated, finding the actual release dates for the later items is sometimes difficult. I'm not certain, but they could have possibly been released as early as Year 2. They were certainly released in Year 3 and Year 4.

These beautiful Rainbow Ponies have Rainbow colored hair. There is are Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasus. There are two versions of both Parasol and Starshine. They vary from each other in mane color and have varying open and closed-mouths. Also, each came with a comb. Earth ponies comb with a flower comb and Unicorns and Pegasus comb with a shooting star comb.

All came with individual tags featuring that particular pony and having a poem on the tag. Poems are individualized, however they all end with the same line. Here's an example:
Hello! I'm Starshine a rainbow pegasus!
I love adventures and making new friends.
Please be my friend.
Will you comb and braid my long rainbow hair and tie it with a ribbon?

Related Ponies: Rainbow Ponies.

Thanks to Inglemist for photographs below.

Parasol (earth pony) is pink with rainbow hair. Her symbol is three umbrellas (purple canopy and blue holder).  Her eyes are periwinkle and her eyelids are pink. Version1: Closed-mouth version, has a purple streak in her hair; pictured left. Version 2: Open-mouthed version, has a pink streak in her hair, pictured right. The two versions have different streak colors, one purple and one pink; this is not due to fading.

Starshine (Pegasus) is white with rainbow hair and a yellow sun or star symbol.  Her wings are completely white (they do not have painted on colors). Her eyes are periwinkle with white eyelids. Version1: Closed-mouth version, has a purple streak in her hair; pictured right. Version 2: Open-mouthed version, has a pink streak in her hair, pictured left. The two versions have different streak colors, one purple and one pink; this is not due to fading.

Windy (unicorn) is purple with rainbow hair and purple swirling wind as her symbol. She has a purple horn, aqua blue eyes, and purple eyelids. She is an open-mouthed version and has a pink streak in her hair (no purple).

 


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