Playful Ponies

The Playful Ponies are medium-sized toys, larger than the surprise bags and smaller than the Fashion Style ponies and plush toys.

Playful Ponies
This group of Ponies is what Hasbro considers its "basic" line for Friendship is Magic toys. Each includes a smaller pony mold with brushable hair, a saddle or wagon, an animal companion, and comb. The first "wave" of toys was released in November 2011.

The second wave was delayed from February due to the unfortunate disasters in Japan. Also due to the disasters in Japan, its release in Asia was delayed until end of July 2011, a week after Wave 4 was released in Asia. It is a refresh of the previous wave Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy cycled out to make room for two new characters, Cheerilee and Lily Blossom.

The third wave included Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Cupcake (called Sugarcup in some preliminary packaging), LuLu Luck, Dewdrop Dazzle, and Blossomforth.

The fourth wave was released on July 2011 in Asia and Europe, and on October 2011 in North America. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are cycled back into production, along with six new ponies: Feathermay, Flitterheart, Snowcatcher, Twinkleshine, Honeybuzz, and Plumsweet.

Future ponies
These ponies have been confirmed to be appearing in the future in that pictures of them have already appeared on collector sites and that some of them are already popping up on eBay, though their official launch dates are still unknown. They may or may not be part of the upcoming fifth wave.
 * Sweetie Blue (?) (Blue Earth Pony) 656-1563-large.jpg
 * Minty(?) (Mint Green Earth Pony)
 * Unknown pony with single gem cutie mark
 * Unknown pony with single cherry pie cutie mark

Promotional Packs, February 2011
These two two-packs were released in Europe. There is, as of yet, no word if the two-packs are scheduled to arrive in North America or if the two exclusive ponies will be made available as singles.
 * Daisy Dreams (Violet Earth Pony) with Fluttershy
 * Rainbow Flash (Pink Unicorn) with Rainbow Dash

Other Promotional Sets

 * Valentine's Pinkie Pie (Includes stickers and additional heart cutie marks, February 2011)
 * Spring Time Fluttershy (Includes new flower accessories and additional flower cutie marks, April 2011)
 * Royal Ball at Canterlot Castle: Target Canterlot Exclusive. Includes the mane 6 with tinsel hair and dress, plus Spike wearing a bowtie.
 * Princess Celestia & Princess Luna: Target Canterlot Exclusive. Includes Princess Luna figure with Fully Sculpted Princess Celestia figure.
 * Celebration at Canterlot Castle: Target Canterlot Exclusive. A Starbeam Twinkle figure is shipped with the Shine Bright Twilight Sparkle.
 * Canterlot Castle: Target Canterlot Exclusive. A Pinkie Pie figure is shipped with the Shine Bright Luna.

Future promotional sets

 * Vacation ponies: Spotted on Taobao, these ponies are basically the six main ponies figures paired up with a briefcase and various vacation-themed accessories.

Story Packs
Story Packs are playsets for the basic pony line. Each story pack includes at least one pony, one large playset piece, and numerous accessories.

Possible future Story Packs were spotted on TaoBao by MLPArena member banditpony. Their release date is unknown. This wave appears to have two sets that focus on Cheerilee:
 * Ponie School Pals & Cheerilee: Includes Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Cheerilee. Either it is a purely figure-only set, or the currently known box is a prototype packaging- it does not come with accessories. Uses the infamous backdrop of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' rock opera as it's boxart.
 * Afternoon Picnic with Cheerilee: Includes Cheerilee, three animal friends, picnic basket, fruits, wagon, picnic table, baby seat and parasol.

Other future sets:


 * Sweet Slumbers with Applejack and Star Dreams: Features Applejack and Star Dreams, A bed, A teddy bear, a bowl of snacks, a book, a side table and a picture frame.
 * Royal Pony Pals: Include Twilight Sparkle, Spike and a brushable hair Princess Celestia.

Vehicle sets
The vehicle sets are basically a subset of the story packs. The gimmick of these sets are that they can connect together to form a parade of vehicles, and can be pulled by Pinkie Pie's R/C Car.
 * Pinkie Pie's Remote Controlled Car. Includes Pinkie Pie, remote control car and remote control. Remote controls plays music and sounds when used. R/C Car can be connected to the front of Applejack's Farm Truck and Rarity's Royal Gem Carriage to pull the parade of vehicles.
 * Applejack's Farm Truck. Apparently only recently launched in the US but already available outside the US for some time. Includes Applejack, Truck, basket with two apples, ribbon, saddle, handkerchief and rope. Farm truck can be connected to Rarity's Royal Gem Carriage to form a parade of vehicles, and can be connected to Pinkie Pie's remote control car so that the car can be used to pull the truck.
 * Rarity's Royal Gem Carriage. Includes Rarity, comb, ribbon, bow, one animal friend, and large carriage. In Europe, this also included the figure Star Swirl as a special bonus. Gem Carriage can be connected with Applejack's Farm Truck to form a parade of vehicles, and can be connected to Pinkie Pie's remote control car so that the car can be used to pull the carriage.

Future vehicle sets
The following vehicle sets have been spotted on Taobao, and is cataloged at StrawberryReef. Due to the design (these were meant to run on tracks), they are incompatible with the existing Vehicle sets.
 * Pinkie Pie's Friendship Express Train: Includes battery-operated train, wagon, Pinkie Pie and tracks. Anything else is unknown as the box is opaque as opposed to the other sets.
 * Sweetie Belle's Ice Cream Train Car: Includes Sweetie Belle, Train Car, snacks accessories and two animal friends. Connects to Friendship Express Train.

Ride Along
These toys consist of a basic figure, scooter, animal companion, and basket of goodies. It is believed that the European release of the Rainbow Dash ride along toy will come with a Skywishes bonus figure, due a recent appearance of a bonus set on Taobao. On further inspection of the image the package appears to be for the European market (European packages have the age rating printed in a simple pink circle further down on the package, while North American packaging has the age rating printed in a rectangle at the very top of the packaging).