Fake Brazil Prototypes

In the summer of 2023, an individual known as Helena began selling what she claims are dye tested prototypes from the Estrela factory. She began selling them on the Brazilian auction platform, Mercado Livre, and has branched out to eBay, perhaps in an effort to gain more traffic or a new audience. She currently sells under user name helnu_79 and lists these ponies at extremely high prices. No other ponies like this are currently known to exist with any other individual, whether they were a child of an Estrela worker or a Brazilian collector who found them on the thrifting market.

Helena's story is that her grandfather worked for Estrela, a Hasbro-licensed company that produced G1 My Little Pony for the Brazilian market. Her grandfather would bring home bags of toys - not strictly My Little Pony - from the factory and distribute them as gifts to her and her seven cousins for birthdays and holidays. Helena also claims that each child who attended the Estrela Christmas party was sent home with a bag of toys.

These ponies are in many odd colors that were not typical of MLP's pastel color palette. They sometimes have distorted features, as if they did not pass quality control at the factory. Helena claims that she and her cousins received these ponies this way and that she is selling them as is. She has stated that Estrela was performing dye tests on ponies at the factory, and these are the results. She has provided proof in the form of a gold Estrela logo necklace that belonged to her grandmother and a My Little Pony tattoo.

She also stated that Rit dye is not available in Brazil and that she does not believe that Brazilian ponies are capable of being dyed at all. She provided video "proof" of her wiping one of these ponies' symbols off with acetone to show that no dye came off. It is important to note that Rit dye can be ordered into the country from online outlets and that her test is not an accurate measure of whether or not a pony has been altered.

Another community member posted a video in which he cuts into the neck plug of a dyed Cotton Candy pony purchased from Helena. The original pink color is clearly visible below the dye permeation. Hasbro sculptor Kirk Hindman has also mentioned at past MLP events that it would have been cost-prohibitive for a manufacturer to dye prototypes and that it is easier to paint them for production review.