**UNDER CONSTRUCTION**
Last updated 10-2-06
Takara Ponies
Please keep in mind that all of my information is based on my small personal collection, what little there is available on the internet, heresay from other collectors and the scans from a 1985 Takara Catalog (courtesy of Pranceatron). I am not an expert on these ponies and made this site in effort to unite collectors in sharing information about these ponies. If you have any facts about these products that you feel you can contribute PLEASE contact me :) Also, I can not read Japanese. If you are able to read and translate Japanese to English very well, please EMAIL me as I would like to get English translations for the catalog pages to put on my site.
Takara is a company based in Japan that, among other things, works in conjunction with Hasbro and produces Hasbro products for the Japanese market. In the mid 1980's they even went as far as to release the beloved My Little Pony line in Japan...but in a very different form. To many My Little Pony collectors, these Japanese Takara ponies seem too bizarre to be real, but they really are a liscensed Hasbro product. While very little is still known about these ponies as they seemed to have not been a well received product in the 80's (and therefore are not easily found), I am making this little page as an attempt to help others to understand more about these wonderful, and under appreciated, My Little Ponies.
Adult Takara Ponies
MORE PICTURES BELOW
All of my information about the adult Takara ponies comes from the one I have in my possession and the information I have collected from other collectors. I purchased my adult Takara pony from a girl on eBay who grew up in Japan where she purchased it as a child. She relocated to the United States and the pony came with her. All of the clothing is original to the pony. At the moment I believe it is possible that Takara only produced My Little Pony toys in the year 1985 as according to mlpsweetberry from www.pink-aisle.com the Takara catalogs from 1986 and 1987 do not have My Little pony toys in them. If anyone has a 1984 catalog please let me know whether the ponies are in it ;)
SIZE: Takara adult ponies are 5 inches tall from the bottom of the foot to the tip of the ear when in the standing position. The head is 3 inches long from the tip of the nose to the back of the head, and they are 3 inches wide at the widest point (from hand to hand).
BODY CONSTRUCTION: There are NO company marks of any kind (company name or date) on the adult Takara pony's body, they are on the clothing though. The adult Takara pony is a very well made, high quality, plastic toy. The plastic is smooth and evenly colored and is quite thick and sturdy. It does not have the feel of a cheap plastic fakie at all. The arms, leg and head are fully poseable and can be moved 360 degrees. Oddly enough, the white muzzle can also be moved 360 degrees as it is a seperate piece of white plastic that is connected to the face in the same manner as the head is to the body. The white muzzle has a small hole on the underside that I am assuming is meant to represent a mouth. The small round eyes are not painted on, but actually mounted into the head. The hands have no finger detail but do have a thumb positioned in a way that it could hold a small accessory. The feet have no toe details but have a shape that indicates that the leg has a foot.
MANE AND TAIL: The mane and tail are made of a thick high quality feeling hair. It is very shiny and silky and I believe it to be the same nylon as the original My Little Pony toys, but with a thicker strand. The mane is sewn into the head like a traditional MLP toy, but has three rows of hair going from between the ears on top of the head down to the base of the neck. There are also three rows of hair rooted in front of the ears across the forehead to form the bangs which are shorter in length than the rest of the mane. The tail is rooted onto the behind in two even rows, one above the other, directly between the legs and parallel to the bottoms of the feet when in a standing position. All of the hair plugs are straight and evenly spaced. Like normal MLP's they have the small lines going down the back of the head to mark where the hair should be rooted in the factory. The mane and tail hair are approximately 4 inches long and the bangs are approximately 2 inches long.
COLOR and PAINT: The only painted surfaces on the adult Takara MLP's are located on the face. They eyes, which are attached to the pony's face, are made of a dark brown plastic and have one painted white highlight dot on them. The eyebrows are also brown and are painted on. The pony's also have delicate pink cheek blush painted on like the USA 80's ponies. There are no symbols on the Takara ponies like one would expect a My Little Pony to have. Adult Takara pony's bodies come in several colors, though only 2 are shown in the 1985 Takara catalog: light pink and yellow. It is assumed they are available in other colors as a white one was found by a collector in Finland. The hair colors that appear to have been available include, lavender, light green, pink and blue.
CLOTHING: The clothing on my Takara pony is all original and consists of a dress and two rollerskates. The skates are exactly the same as the rollerskates that were sold in USA MLP accessory packs in the 1980's. They are constructed of white fuzzy fabric with a black plastic bottom with pink wheels. They fasten in the back with velcro. The dress is a simple sleeveless one piece outfit. It is made of a purple fabric with a pattern of small multicolored hearts. There is a white velvety collar sewn onto the neck of the dress and a small yellow velvety necktie is actually glued onto the front of the dress under the collar. It is very stable as it is glued along the entire back of the tie. The dress fastens in the back with velcro. There is a tag sewn into the inside of the dress that has some Japanese text and the TAKARA CO, LTD copywrite logo. Again, if you can read Japanese text let me know as I would like the tag translated.
CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE
Pink Takara Pony owned by Me, White Takara pic courtesy of Vertti.
Yellow MIB Takara owned by Mlpsweetberry of www.pink-aisle.com, Pink MIB pony origin unkown, email me if it's your pic. The MIB Takara Pony Wear was found on a Japanese auction site recently (thanks Angelus!)
1985 Takara Catalog scans courtesy of Pranceatron (www.pranceatron.com)
From research I have found that the average yen to dollar exchange rate in 1985 was 238 yen to one US Dollar. From this you can see that the average adult Takara pony cost around $9. The baby Takara ponies pictured in the scans are a confusing mystery as there are plentiful cheap fakie bootlegs of them on the secondary market today. If you have a Takara baby pony that you KNOW is real (ie: you have it MIB or know it's history) please let me know as information is needed about them.
DO NOT TAKE THESE PICTURES UNLESS YOU HAVE PERMISSION FROM ME OR THE ORIGINAL OWNERS PLEASE.
