Seashell (Classic, Italian, French)
- Caden Dickinson
- Apr 24
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 10
CHARACTER(S): Seashell
Italian name: Ondina
Argentinian name: Carey
RELEASE YEAR: Year 2 (late 1983-early 1984) - Hoof says 1983
French variant is copyrighted 1985
PLACE OF PRODUCTION: Hong Kong
MANUFACTURING COMPANY: Hasbro
TYPICAL PRICE ONLINE: ?
OTHER COMMENTS/INFO:
Release Info
Seashell was released in Year Two (late 1983-early 1984) as part of the second ever set of Earth Ponies
The other ponies in this set were Applejack, Bow Tie, Blossom, Bubbles, and Cotton Candy
Had a full re-release by Basic Fun for MLP's 35th Anniversary
Seashell has only three known Nirvanas - French, Italian, and South African
She does have two Italian variants, though, so could technically be said to have four Nirvanas
General Info
She was sold with a pink brush and pink ribbon
She has a particularly unique pose - The sitting pose
The only other pony with a general US release in this pose is Bubbles, who was also released in the second Earth Pony Set
All other ponies in this pose are Nirvanas
She also has horse-like fur markings (a white diamond on her nose), something that most MLPs did not have
Media:
Seashell appears in the UK G1 MLP Comics
Seashell appears in Generation 5
Personality: Seashell loves the beach (as can be expected). She spends most of her time there, talking to the seaponies. In the comics specifically, she was also friends with a Mermaid named Miranda.
Her US Backcard reads: Seashell was at the beach chasing the waves and rolling in the deep sand dunes. She bent down to lick the salt off her hoofs and, before she knew it, one of her Sea Pony friends had clamped on to her beautiful mane. "Why are you hanging on my mane, Sea Pony?" Seashell asked. "I want to go for a ride," replied her friend, "a real pony ride." "If you asked politely, I'd be happy to give you a ride," Seashell said. But the Sea Pony said nothing and clamped down even harder. Shaking her head in dismay, Seashell gave her a ride she'd never forget!
Her UK Backcard reads: Seashell loves the ocean. She spends hours chasing the waves, rolling in the sand dunes, and playing with all her seaside friends. She also loves to body surf on the giant waves.
Her French-Canadian Backcard reads: Seashell étair à la plage, chassant les vague, roulant dans les dunes de sable profondes. Elle se pencha afin de lécher le sel sur sabots et, bien avant qu’elle ne s’en aperçoive, une de ses amies de la mer se cramponna à sa belle crinière. Pourquoi t’aggripes-tu à ma crinière, Poney de mer > lui demanda Seashell. Je veux faire un tour lui répondit son amie, un vrai tour de poney Seashell rétorqua: Si ti le demandes poliment, il me fera plaisir de te faire faire une balade. Malgrê cela, le Poney de mer ne dit rien et s’agrippa encore plus fort à la tête avec désarroi, Seashell lui fit faire une balade qu’elle n’est pas prète d’oublier!
Image sources:
Variants
It seems that the Hong-Kong manufactured Seashell always has the facial markings, but that the UK and possibly other European countries primarily got the Italian-made variants, neither of which had the facial marking. Instead, they would either have no markings (2nd variant), or white freckles (1st variant).
The French Seashell Nirvana does have the facial marking, but it's unclear if she was sold outside of France at all.
Because the French and Italian Nirvanas are so similar to the original, they are included in this post. The South African Seashell Nirvana gets her own post.
Italian Nirvana (variant 1)
This was the earlier-released Italian variant. She has white freckles instead of her spot
In Italy, this variant was released in the unique Italian dome-packaging. Outside of Italy, she was released on the regular-style cards.
Below shows a release of her packaged on a card with the American and French names for MLP. This was released in Holland, and possibly elsewhere
Another version featured below is from Denmark
Image sources:
Italian Nirvana (variant 2)
This variant has no facial markings of any kind, including freckles
A smaller, less noticeable difference from the original, is that this Seashell has the head mold of a Collector's Pose pony. This is most noticeable in the ear shape, which points backwards more.
Her cutie mark and hair colors also appear to be a slightly darker shade of green
Image sources:
French Nirvana
She has the same facial pattern as the standard variant
She is a more bright, blue-toned shade of purple, similar to the re-release
Hoof copyrights her mold as being secured in 1985, as opposed to 1983 like the Standard/Hong Kong version
Image sources:
Discoloration:
I have spotted, a few times, Seashell discolored with a brown or yellow tint, or even fully to a near-yellow whitish color. Full body discoloration, usually with undamaged hair and eyes. I can only assume this is a case of really bad sunfading. It is similar to the color you'd expect from acne cream damage, and certainty not the color you'd expect from sunfaded purple, but it is consistently her entire body, so it's safe to say that when incredibly faded, Seashell probably discolors to yellow/brown/beige. Seashell has a very unique color, so it's hard to get much data on this. The only other pony that seems to have the same fur color as her would be Thundercloud. I have spotted some browning Thunderclouds, and even more excitingly, a fully white one.
Image sources:
In My Collection!
(Warning: I'm about to tell a story that involves toys getting damaged, if that makes you squeamish you might want to skip this one... Don't worry, she was okay in the end!)
I got her from an antique store near my house at the time, when I was in middle school. I remember I went with a friend, and we brought Seashell to her house, and then were alarmed to find that when shook, seashell made a rattling noise. A paranoid child with very diagnosed Autism and not-so-diagnosed OCD, I became instantly convinced that there was a severed finger inside of her, and that I needed to take her head off to quell my fear of this. I was confused to find that, after poorly cutting along her neck with a kitchen knife just enough to flip it up to see inside, that what was clinking around in there was a rusty old metal washer
Nowadays, I know the reason for this - the washer is put inside ponies in order to secure the tail inside the hollow body of the horse, and to weigh down ponies in poses that tip over easily (such as the collectors pose). From what I remember, this washer was no longer attached to her tail, and I know we never put it back in. Her tail still stays in fine now, which is a relief. So sorry to Seashell, I'm sure this was stressful for her. But now she is living happily with my other ponies on my pony shelf, and I put a bow around her neck to make her partially-unattached head more secure. I never glued it back down because it hadn't been fully unattached. Thank goodness - She did not need glue damage on top of all that.
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