Spotlight on Spain Piggy Ponies by LadyGuinevere

Minty courtesy of GYPSYWILDFLOWER - thanks!

One of the more curious additions to the My Little Pony universe can be found in the form of what have affectionately been named ‘Piggy Ponies’. These strangely adorable ponies are unique in the world of variants and often provoke a love them or hate them response.

For a long time, they were thought to be bizarre fakies based on the early collector pose issue, simply because they looked nothing like any other MLP we knew about. Many got left behind at car boot sales because of this! However, then came the discovery of a number of Piggy Ponies mint on card, thus proving that they actually were licensed. Shelti was the first collector in the US community to own a MOC Piggy pony. The name ‘Piggy Ponies’ is partly a throwback to the time when they were more a source of amusement, and it relates to the unusual shape of their body, which makes them look chubby, and their little hooves.

What makes them so special?

Pretty much everything! Piggy ponies are the only adult ponies to have ‘beddy-bye eye’, similar to the babies of the normal issue. Most have painted eyeliner and eyelashes as well as the “real” eyelashes. They have a very different body shape from any other pony, which is much more squishy compared to a regular pony.

Thanks to Ahrian for Snuzzle, Escarchita for Lemondrop's eye and leaper for Cotton Candy's eye

Piggy ponies have completely smooth flat feet with no markings on them. Their hooves are a distinct shape.

Thanks to leaper for both pictures of the feet

Piggy ponies have quite long hair, which is generally silky and the strands are thicker compared to regular pony hair. They are prone to loosing the hair at the bottom of their manes.

While some of the piggy ponies are clearly based on existing collector pose ponies (e.g. Cotton Candy and Snuzzle), others simply borrow the colour scheme (e.g. orange pony with yellow hair and red fireworks symbol/Rayito) or symbol (e.g. pale blue pony with yellow hair, but Bluebell’s symbol/Cielete), while others seem to bear even less resemblance to any known pony (e.g. white pony with blue hair and blue clouds symbol/Algodoncete).

Thanks to leaper for Algodoncete

Mi Pequeño Pony: What ponies are there?

There were two releases of the piggy ponies, one by Breker and another by MB/Milton Bradley.

Brekar Ponies: 6 characters resembling the “original six”

Azul Celeste (blue hair) translates as “Sky Blue”
Melocoton (orange butterflies) translates as “Peach”
Menta (silver hair) translates as “Mint”
Rosado (sugar cube symbols) translates as “Pinkish or Rosy” (thank you Perikoala)
Perla translates as “Pearl” (as in the jewel)
Orchidea (lilac body)

Picture by Escarchita

MB Ponies: 12 characters, some based on the original six and some are unique.

Fresita (hot pink body, white hair, apple or strawberry type symbol) from Fresa, which is Spanish for strawberry.

Algodoncete (white body, blue hair, cloud type symbol) translates as "Little Cotton", the ete at the end an affectionate suffix, so "Fluffy Clouds" could be another translation (thank you Perikoala)

Rayito (orange body, yellow hair, star burst type symbol) translates as Little Bolt/Ray (thank you Perikoala)

Blossom (pink body, blue hair, flower type symbol)
Cielete (blue/grey body, yellow hair, star symbol) translates as Celestial
Perla (peach body, white hair, spot or hoop symbol) translates as “Pearl” (as in the jewel)
Pinky (pink, pink hair and spot symbol)
Butterscotch (yellow with golden hair and blue butterfly symbols)
Manzanita (green with clover symbol and golden brown hair) name translates as “Little Apple” however, in Botany the term Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus Arctostaphylos.
Orchidea (pink body, lilac hair and flower symbol)
Loly Pop (grey with pink hair and pink hearts symbol)
Suspiro (yellow with lilac hair and drop symbols) name has several translations; “sigh” as into to emit a long, deep audible breath expressing sadness, relief, tiredness, or similar, meringue or with no direct translation as a colloquial phrase roughly meaning “in an instant” such as the “in the blink of an eye” or “in a flash”

Each of the above named MB ponies has *at least* two variants. The variations could be as follows: the symbols may be reversed, at an angel, larger or smaller, thicker or thinner or have a larger or lesser number of components.

Thanks to leaper for the MOC pic of Cielete

Backcard picture by EtoileBleue

Where were they sold?

Piggy ponies seem to have been sold only in Spain, however, there are reasonable numbers to be found across Europe, perhaps due to Spain’s popularity as a holiday destination. This limited release has however resulted in them being hard to find on the secondary market, even in Spain, and they can command a high price.

How were they sold?

They were sold on cards that on the front appear to be very similar to those used in other countries for some of the early ponies.

The one exception to this is the Piggy Pony resembling Peachy, who was sold with early issues of the Spanish Grooming Parlour or Establo de Belleza (translates as Beauty Stable, thank you Perikoala)

Piggy Pony Wear or Conjuntos Para Vestir

There were four outfits sold specifically for the piggy ponies, there were;
Disco resembles “Pageant Queen”
Gala Real “Best or Finest Clothes resembles “Royal Pony”
Patinaje “Skating” resembles “Great Skates”
Dulces Suenos “Sweet Dreams” resembles “Sweet Dreams”.

What is unique is the shoes were specially designed for the feet of Piggy Ponies.

Many thanks to Escarchita for the pictures of the shoes!

Trivia

- There are two unknown piggies; one resembles Azul Celeste, but has a darker blue body and hair. The second resembles Perla (pale pink body and white hair) and has white symbols matching Orchidea.
- The factory was based in Valencia
- Piggy Ponies were first made in 1983
- Piggy ponies are the only adults released to have ‘beddy-bye eyes’.
- All piggy ponies came with a plain comb and a ribbon, much like the early collector pose ponies elsewhere

My special thanks to Escarchita and DreamBeauty for their help with information, and to leaper, GYPSYWILDFLOWER, Escarchita, Ahrian and EtoileBleue for the generous use of their wonderful pictures!

The Nirvana Spotlights were kindly written and donated to the MLParena by members. Please respect the Nirvana Spotlights and the MLParena and do not take pictures or information for use on eBay, personal sales or webpages.

A big thank you got Shelti who saved each of the spotlights. This spotlight was first published on 19 May 2006.