My Pretty Pony: The Original My Little Pony
My Pretty Pony, released in 1981 by toy company Hasbro, was a 25 centimeter (10 inch) brown horse with a brush-able tail and mane. A lever under the horse’s chin would make the tail and ears move and the left eye winks. The horse came with grooming accessories like a cowboy hat, a comb, a checkered belt, and ribbons to decorate its hair. A year later, Hasbro released a pink My Pretty Pony, with dark pink heart on its flank. The horse wasn’t a runaway success, but Hasbro saw potential in a smaller version of the pink Pony. A scaled down version of My Pretty Pony relaunched in 1983 as “My Little Pony.” The original line consisted of six smaller and different colored ponies, still with comb-able hair. Each pony had a personality trait on their flank and would, over the next thirty years, become a pop culture phenomenon.