Gusty (Classic)

Caden Dickinson
May 20
6 min read

Updated: Jul 25

CHARACTER(S): Gusty

YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 1984

PLACE OF PRODUCTION: Hong Kong

MANUFACTURING COMPANY: Hasbro

TYPICAL PRICE ONLINE: $15 - $25 USD

OTHER COMMENTS/INFO:

French name: Bourrasque
German name: Leckermäulchen

Release Info

Released in the US in Year Three (1983-1984) as part of the Unicorn Series
- She was part of the second wave of Unicorns, which along with Skyflier also consisted of Powder, Sparkler, Skyflier, and re-releases of Glory & Moondancer
She had a So Soft release in 1985 - with a Europe exclusive Non So Soft release, which was the same as her classic brushable, except without the glittery cutie mark
She had a re-release by Basic Fun for MLP's 35th Anniversary

Other Info

She came with a pink comb and pink ribbon
She was the first pony to use this pose; It is sometimes nicknamed the Gusty pose
She has several Nirvana variants
There is a Baby Gusty!

Media:

Appears in the G1 MLP TV Show & the G1 Movie
- Fun fact: She is voiced by Nancy Cartwright, who plays Bart from the Simpsons. This was before the Simpsons came out, and she used the same voice for Gusty as the one she later used to play Bart
She is a major character in the TV show, who appears quite often
She also appears in the UK comics

Personality: Gusty is headstrong and at times impatient. She can be grouchy and rude sometimes, but she means well - She loves her friends, she just doesn't always have the best filter for commentary. Her favorite thing in the world is autumn weather - She loves the falling of the leaves! Her unicorn power is summoning gusts of wind from her horn.

In the UK comics, Gusty is portrayed differently - She is one of the Ponyland nurses, along with Cotton Candy, and she is caring, gentle, and kind towards the other ponies.

Her US Backcard writes: Way up in the trees, the leaves had put on their autumn coats and Gusty was thrilled. "I love fall colors - orange, red and yellow!" Dancing happily. Gusty whirled through the colorful treetops. Suddenly a wild wind whistled through the sky and the leaves were yanked from their trees. They fluttered down and lay lifeless on the ground. "Back up there! Go back up!" Taking a deep breath, Gusty puckered her lips and blew on the leaves. At Gusty's magical command, the leaves happily swirled around and returned to their home.

Her UK Backcard writes: Gusty is happiest in the autumn when the leaves turn beautiful shades of red, yellow, orange and brown. With her unicorn magic, she can make the leaves burst with spectacular colour, even in the heat of Summertime. If a leaf accidentally falls from a tree, Gusty is always glad to return it to its happy home.

Her Scandinavian Backcard writes: Way up in the trees, the leaves had put on their autumn coats and Gusty was thrilled. “I love autumn colours – orange, red and yellow!” she sang. Suddenly a wild wind whistled through the sky scattering all the leaves. Taking a deep breath, Gusty puckered her lips and blew on them. At her magical command the leaves happily swirled around and returned to their home on the trees.

Image sources:

My Little Wiki
Toy Sisters
Etsy - PureSalvation
eBay - Eighties Toy Heaven

NSS Gusty:

Essentially a Gusty variant, but not really a Nirvana. I'm putting her in this post rather than her own, because she's an NSS variant of a pony who already had an unflocked release
The UK did not get a release of the Unicorn Series for either wave, despite some other countries in Europe getting it... So NSS Gusty was sort of a second chance for UK fans who wanted a Gusty brushable!
Not all the American So Soft Ponies got UK NSS releases - The ones that did, though, were all ponies who starred in My Little Pony: The Movie. The NSS ponies were marketed as "Movie Star" ponies, rather than being directly linked to the So Soft series, though it's clear that they are unflocked variants of So Soft ponies
- Movie Star is more of a nickname it appears, not the actual official name of the set, which didn't seem to have a series name in the UK - The nickname is just because of the move-based marketing the set had
NSS Gusty was released in the UK in 1987, following her So Soft release in the US in 1986
While the Movie Star Series is mostly associated with the UK, other countries got NSS ponies marketed in this style as well - Belgium and France
Her eyes are more green-toned than the original Gusty brushable (matching up with So Soft Gusty, of course)

Image sources:

Fable Pony Gusty

Nicknamed "Fable Ponies", the Pegasus and Unicorn ponies were combined into one series sold on the same style of backcard in Scandinavia, Germany, Norway, Australia & South Africa. These are not NSS ponies, because they have the original glittery cutie mark
- The "Fable Pony" name comes from the marketing surrounding the ponies, as well as the German tagline for the series "Fabelponies" - Most of these countries seem to have not included a tagline/series name, but they all use the same backcard art
Her eyes are more green-tinted than the original US Gusty release, closer to those of the So Soft and NSS Gusty brushables - Making her sort of a combo of both
This Gusty is considered a noteworthy variant, but not a Nirvana. Despite being sold in other countries, she is most well known for her association with Scandinavia, and typically referred to as "Scandinavian Gusty"

Image sources:

Reverse Gusty (Sometimes shortened to RG, or nicknamed 'Rusty')

Reverse Gusty has red hair with a green streak, instead of the other way around
Not much is known about her. She is believed to be a factory error of a Scandinavian Gusty, but I'm not sure how much evidence there is for this idea
- Her eyes appear to be green & her cutie mark is glittery, so this is probably the reasoning, which seems pretty solid
There has been a history of hoax custom Reverse Gustys
It seems there are few reverse Gustys out there, and they have sold in the $600 range, and even the $1000 range! They are very coveted by collectors, and it seems many people have a close eye on which ones are real or not and how many there are
The first Reverse Gusty discovered by the MLP collecting community was supposedly found at a Carboot sale in the UK. People were suspicious of her authenticity, especially when a second one showed up.
- The story is that a collector who worked in a laboratory got ahold of the Carboot-sale RG, and tested the glue in her mane plugs to see if it matched that of a regular MLP - It did, meaning she was likely the real deal.
- Eventually, a collector got ahold of the second RG who was willing to send her to in to that first person for testing. This time, the glue was found to be from a standard super glue brand that could be bought easily at stores - Confirming her as a fake.
- Quote, MLP Arena "godessofpeep": The reason the tests were needed was because the first wave of fakes were obvious rehairs if you looked at the inside of the head. Hasbro's manufacturing methods are very distinctive, and the usual methods customizers use to rehair ponies don't look like manufactured hairplugs. However, once word got around on the fakes, people started popping heads off and checking, so the fakes weren't fooling people anymore. Eventually one scammer figured out a way to replicate Hasbro manufactured plugs, and that's when the testing needed to be done.
- Currently, there are believed to be at least two real Reverse Gustys, possibly more