Sassette has always intrigued me. Perhaps it has something to do with the theory that Sassette was created after people complained that Smurfette was the only female character in the cartoon series. If this was true, then who came up with the idea of Sassette was it Peyo or someone else?
As most Smurf fans know Sassette is everything Smurfette is not. Sassette is a tomboy who likes to climb trees and is well known for wearing her pink overalls and her hair in pigtails. Where Smurfette is well known for her wearing white frilly dresses and having her long golden blonde hair perfectly styled.
Sassette first appeared in the cartoon series, around Season 5 that aired in September 1985. The story goes that one day, the Smurflings; Snappy, Slouchy and Nat find Smurfette crying as she wants somebody she can share things with, a fellow female smurf.
Around 1988 a comic book was published about The Smurflings. I am yet to find out if this story was published earlier by Peyo. If not it would be one of the few stories where it was written for the cartoon show than as a comic.
In the same year Schleich announced the arrival of a new series of smurfs which included the Smurflings. If the story is true, Peyo was not happy with the colours on the some of the original production pieces and changes had to be made.
One of these pieces was to do with the colour Sassette’s hair. In the cartoon series her hair is shown as orange but the first Sassette made by Schleich had bright red hair. This was then later changed to brownish red hair.
In 1990 Applause produced their version of Sassette which shows her with light orange hair and no freckles. For some smurf fans this was more like the version seen in the cartoon series.
Depending on what type of smurf fan you are, may determine if you are a fan of Sassette or not. As I am probably one of the few collectors out there who did not read the comics or the cartoon series as a child, I just think it is great to have so many different versions of Sassette to collect.
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B