Until the auction that finished on ebay, I wasn't aware of this one of a kind prototype set.
The auction that ended on ebay was for the art time pony. I have referenced threads and apparently they are actual prototypes that were found at a car boot sale..

Aren't they neat?

I found this website about them.
www.aikarin.com/mlp/sc...types.html

Here is the link to the ebay auction
www.ebay.com/itm/27086...500wt_1157

Awww, I didn't realise one was up for sale! They are awesomely curious things. I remember when they were found originally by someone in the UK, though I forget who it was.

There are also two painted seaside babies, that belong to a friend of mine. She got them in a lot with a bunch of other ponies, and they are most curious! The bases don't seem to match any known ponies and the artwork is very well done, but the symbols/colours aren't quite the same as the final versions (as though they were a tester)

Those are pretty interesting.
I like how they're all shiny :3

Wow, I didn't even know these existed...

Cool! Thanks for sharing!

Wow! I didn't know one was up for sale! I love them.

I remember reading someone found some like them, but they were made out of clay? I think the Music Time had a chip out of her ear..

LG I would love to see pics of your friends Seaside babies! Could you ask them to take some possibly?

There was a Starlight baby prototype like this as well floating around - Baby Gusty I think

I remember the last time these were up for auction...its nice to see at least one of them again!

Wow, that's really cool.

sorry that i'm asking BUT: i have never seen schooltime ponies for real so: whats the difference between the "normal" ones?

The prototypes were airbrushed over regular ponies, with handpainted symbols and eyes I beleive, and slight colour variations in their symbols Their hair was also longer and thicker.

They are very cool!

Their symbols are put on backwards (or reversed) The ebay auction compares a normal art time to the prototype art time. Her body is a light pink versus a deep pink and she has distinctly printed eyes and freckles and she has a forelock where the normal version does not.

Can we see pictures of the starlight baby prototype, the seaside babies, and the ceramic schooltime ponies that were found? they sound very interesting

ah i see!

and why do you know that these aren't well done customs?

According to all the documentation on them they were found 10 years ago in a car boot sale. Their manes are factory weaved (and quite thick making it next to impossible to hand duplicate) and from the well known community members that have analyzed them over the years, the conclusion is that they are not customs.

makes sense congrats to your new special ponies!

I have a stored picture of Baby Gusty but its not mine to share unfortunately - I am sure it was Lancer who had the Baby Gusty however...wasnt she found at a car boot sale or similar? I am sure she ll pop along with pictures if she spots this thread.

The freckles on these are what sometimes convince me that they are genuine and they are the same ponies as used in photo shoots for promotional material or, probably in this case, the image on the backcards of the School time ponies. The freckles are almost "over done" on these unlike real School time ponies - the tendency to exaggerate features is pretty common in order to make them stand out in photo shoots....but then the one part that sometimes makes me wonder is the presence of a neck seam as this implies the ponies are painted over existing ponies out of a standard mould, I am sure the Baby Gusty that was found is a resin of some kind so she has no neckline as she isnt made from a mould...

At the end of the day Hasbro could have created these as they saw fit and with whatever product production had around at the time - maybe some prototypes were cast completely new, maybe some were over-painted on existing ponies.

Phew and thats my waffling over....