Chuck E. Cheese Baby Pony (1989)
Right Side
The Chuck E. Cheese Baby Pony was a Chuck E. Cheese branded My Little Pony Baby Pony toy available at the prize counter from 1989 to an unknown date.
Design
The pony used the 1984 Baby Pony mold from the Play & Care Sets line.[1] The body used the standard Dark Pink color, and the hair with a blue color. The eyes were painted green, and the rump design (later colloquially referred to as a Cutie Mark)(2)(3) was white line art of a standard Chuck E. Cheese artwork with white text below it reading ‘Chuck E. Cheese’- taken from the Pizza Time Theatre logo. The pony came in a plastic My Little Pony branded bag with no other accessories. This is similar to the Mail Order Ponies that were available which came in unlabeled plastic bags, causing later confusion that the CEC pony was also mail order.[4]
Degradation
Like most of the Generation 1 ponies, a metal washer was used to hold the tail in place. Over time this washer can rust and degrade, covering the interiors and staining around the tail hole. This requires the head to be unglued, the inside cleaned, the tail washed, the washer replaced with a non-degradable alternative such as a zip tie or a knot, and the head sealed back.
References
- http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Category:Play_and_Care_Sets
- https://archive.org/details/my-little-pony-model-sheet-master-file-page-167/My%20Little%20Pony%20model%20sheet%20master%20file_Page_160.jpg
- https://www.mlptp.net/index.php?threads/the-term-cutie-mark.112921/
- http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/G1_Birthflower_Ponies
Left Side
Original Packaging
Right Side
Top Side
Design (Cutie Mark)
Original Packaging
Bottom Labels
I happen to have this item from a Christmas present so might as well review. Its a great time capsule of the era- yet also such a strange merch item with the giant logo and the not very CEC-esque coloring.
Thankfully nothing was cheapened out on for it being an in-store exclusive. The only thing to watch out for nowadays are the usual issues with G1 ponies. There’s the rusted washer holding the tail together, though that can be swapped out, cleaned, and replaced with a zip tie pretty easily. Also mold can leech into the vinyl if it wasn’t stored properly, which can spread to other vinyl figures of the era.
Mine showed up in excellent condition so I’ve had no issues, just watch out for the eBay prices on these things. Mine I think was $60? But a lot of the listings can jump to $100+. This horse is not worth that much so just wait for a good sale. You can get most ponies in entire batches for like $10-20 from this era so even its current price is a bit overkill.