Spotlight on UK Happy Tails by LadyGuinevere
Perhaps one of the more unusual inclusions in the Nirvana forum are the Happy Tail variants. Only found in the UK, though made in China, they appear to be more like factory seconds than variants in their own right. Frequently, they also appear as a mish-mash of ponies as heads and bodies were mixed and matched. This particular spotlight will take a look at all the Happy Tail variants, whether it be only a head or body or the whole thing. This does mean that there will be some crossover with the variant princess spotlight, since the Happy Tails sometimes borrowed body parts from their royal counterparts.
The existence of Happy Tail variants was first noted by Taffeta and Reaperfox in the late 1990s, both UK members of the MLP community. At this time, much less was known about variants and their distribution. The one in Taffeta’s possession was christened ‘Bobbie’ (note the ‘ie’ rather than the ‘y’ or ‘i’ often used), and the name kind of stuck, even though she was never sold under this name. ‘Bobbie’ is still used to refer to the Tall Tails variants. The other early ones known about were named ‘Princess Woosie’ and ‘Hex’. Princess Woosie comes from the fact that she has lavender Woosie’s body and Princess Amethyst’s head (from the German version no less!), while Hex is a nickname from Reaperfox that can still be found in some circles for the Squeezer variant(s).
NB. The tail was already gone in the Romper one!
Although some are ‘whole ponies’ as it were, others do have mismatched heads/bodies, which always seem to belong to princess ponies, either first or second edition. Generally, it is a Happy Tails body and a Princess head, like with Princess Woosie or Princess Tabby, however there also exists a Princess Moondust body with a Tall Tales head. This particular pony doesn’t look like one of the Happy Tails variants, until you squeeze her head and realise it is very definitely squishy!
Princess Tabby and Princess MoonBob pictures used with kind permission of pinkkittywinks
Princess Woosie perhaps deserves a special mention. Although a variant in her own right, she is actually a variant of a variant of a variant. *counts on fingers * Or something. She is originally based off Lavender Woosie, a US issue variant who is unusual enough in herself! Although she does not normally come under the Nirvana heading, she is a legitimate variant. She was sold in the same box as the normal green Woosie, but is much harder to find. The head on Princess Woosie is from a Princess Sparkle/Amethyst, with a pale pink mane and silver tinsel. The tail is white and has tri-coloured tinsel. This is the most common version of Princess Woosie, however, there is also one with a glow in the dark mane, though the tail is teal. The only other MLP with glow in the dark hair are a couple of other princess variants, which will be covered in another spotlight.
Lavender Woosie used with kind permission of pinkkittywinks and Princess Woosie #1 used with kind permission of BridgetsMum
The glow in the dark hair is very similar in consistency and colour to Moondreamer hair, which were also made by Hasbro. This would tie in with the theory that Hasbro used leftover parts to create the Happy Tail and Princess variants (more detail on that later).
Apologies for the pic above – I only have one Moondreamer! I did attempt to take one of them glowing in the dark, but it didn’t work very well.
There is also a fair variety of hair colours on the Happy Tails variants generally. Bobbie is a very good example of this. Although she is usually found with pink (or faded to white) hair, there also exist versions with blue hair, which are much rarer. Mane and tail colours do not always match (sometimes are very different), and the tails have a tendency to be quite thin at times.
Happy tails variants can also be found both with or without symbols.
Romper and Hex pictures used with kind permission of pinkkittywinks
What ponies are there?
Five of the Happy Tail ponies have variants in one form or another, a number are listed below:
Tall Tales – ‘Bobbie’ – Bobbie with pink/white hair and no symbol; Bobbie with pink hair and pink symbol; Bobbie with blue hair, Princess Moonbob (Princess Moondust’s body and Bobbie’s head). Bobbie also goes by the name Syntax Error, which was the name given to her by community member ReaperFox, who found her pony in a Princess box with odd mismatched accessories in the South East of England.
Squeezer – ‘Hex’ – Hex with pink hair, no symbols; Hex with white hair, blue tail and yellow symbol; Hex with white hair, dark blue tail and no symbol
Tabby – ‘Princess Tabby’ – Tabby’s body and Princess Ruby/Primrose’s head with white hair and blue/gold tinsel, no symbol
Woosie – ‘Princess Woosie’ – Lavender Woosie’s body and Amethyst’s head with coral mane and white tail, both with tinsel, pink symbol; Lavender Woosie’s body and Amethyst’s head with glow in the dark mane and teal tail, pink symbol; Lavender Woosie’s body and Amethyst’s head with coral mane with tinsel and pink tail, pink symbol; Lavender Woosie’s body and Amethyst’s head with blue/green mane with tinsel and greenish tail; Lavender Woosie (yellow hair and pink symbol, has mechanism).
Romper – Romper with pink hair and symbol
Princess Romper - Romper with German Princess Pearls tail (yellow with silver tinsel)
Cost-A-Lot - Romper no symbols The name Cost-A-Lot was given to her by community member DaisyD, who had this pony as a child. Her Mum thought the pony was a waste of money as it "was not a real pony"!
I have yet to see any variants of Tossles, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any out there. The Princess Woosies and Bobbies tend to be the most common variations, though they are also the most recognisable.
Where were they sold?
These gals are only to be found in the UK. Any that appear elsewhere have been bought in the UK and then taken there.
The only really reliable information on what shops they were sold in comes from Reaperfox, who bought hers as a child in a factory seconds/rejects store in Southampton in the 1980s. In is reasonable to assume that others were sold like this, and perhaps all.
My own personal theory on the reason why they appear is that Hasbro UK bought up all the odds and ends of ponies left at the factories for cheap, and stuck them together as best they could, which would account for the number of mismatched ponies, and also the wide variety in hair colours. Those with and without symbols would have come from different parts of the process. All the Happy Tails variants would have been rejects by virtue of having no tail mechanism – perhaps it was before they realised the hole would need to be larger or something. They might not have the mechanism, but they were still valid ponies! This is supported by what we know about the packaging. *since this spotlight was written a MIB Bobbie has been found.
How were they sold?
Again, there isn’t an awful lot of information about how they were sold. Reaperfox recalls hers being bought in legitimate Hasbro boxes, with unusual pamphlets showing ponies that were never sold in the UK. This information is corroborated by the existence of an MIB variant princess, a set of ponies whose existence seems tied to that of the Happy Tail variants. This princess variant is a Princess Amber, but she was sold in Princess Sparkle’s box, and came with a bushwoolie, which were not sold in the UK through standard channels. Also note that the box was American as well. It seems most likely that Hasbro used whatever was left over from the packaging of ordinary ponies, thereby leaving scope for both correct and incorrect boxes.
MIB Princess picture taken from the original auction won by BabyKittenCandy
It is also possible, though by no means confirmed, that some were sold in plastic bags, like the excess MO ponies were over here. These were sold off cheap as well (see the price sticker on the below picture stating £1.50). At this point in time, however, this suggestion is mere conjecture and we have no information to either confirm or deny.
Trivia
- Woosie has at least five known variants (including one with a mechanism)
- One Tall Tales/Bobbie was found MIB in a Princess box, she has no mane, three brushes (oh the, irony) and a princess hat.
- Taffeta was also responsible for the naming of Greek Ladybird Pony.
My extra special thanks go to pinkkittywinks, Reaperfox, Taffeta and BridgetsMum for their brilliant assistance with both information and pics.
Links
Taffeta's guide to G1 pony history in the UK : The My Little Pony Scrapbook
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 14 February 2007.