...G5...

[DoctorMowinckel]

 

G4 will die out because of the lack of diversity in the toy line,

G4 is two years old. G3 didn't see babies till year three, and didn't see Pegs till year four! They've got plenty of time to diversify the heck out of the times. And heck, we've got alicorns, pegs, fashion styles, playsets, talking alicorns! So Softs, oh man, there are so many ponies in G4! More poses would be nice. Seriously. All of my G4s have the same pose. I'd like to see that diversified, other than that, I'm satisfied with the diversity in the line.

I hope they steer away from the all-girls approach and make it gender neutral; as much boy ponies in the line, as girl ponies. A blue, yellow, purple logo. Either that, or a return to G3 "lovely updated"...

Who says it's 'for girls'? That's societal gender stereotyping. Who says K'Nex and Lego are for boys? If you want ponies, buy ponies, give a big ol' middle finger to this society that says 'boys should play with this and act likes, and girls should play with this and act like this'. Wanna do something for gender equality? Buy ponies 'cause you like ponies, despite your mismatched chromosomes. Screw anyone who says you shouldn't.

I think we can all agree that G4 will last for as long as the show does.  Whether that is 1 to 3 more years, I don't know, but I don't see it lasting longer than that.  I can't think of a cartoon that wasn't more strictly adult oriented that last more than 3-4 years.

I stay on top of TV and animation, and honestly, FiM already has enough episodes to be run in syndication forever. Dexter's Laboratory had I think like 70 (wiki says 78) episodes, Powerpuff Girls had the same number, Batman Beyond, which is one of the best animated shows to be on TV in the past 20 years had 52 episodes, Batman The Animated Series, which was amazing, had like 90 episodes. Friendship is Magic has 52 episodes in the bag, and another 13 in production. That's 65 episodes. For a kids TV show, that is an obnoxiously good run. In the world of animated TV, syndication is just as important as premiers. With the target demographic for FiM, you can run 65 episodes in syndication forever. When a new episode of a TV show premiers, kids will watch it five times in a row the day it airs. They'll watch reruns, they'll beat it into the ground. Hub and Hasbro have to weigh the value of making more episodes for money, versus just syndicating it. Right now, with 65 episodes, they'd still be making money if they just syndicated those 65 episodes.

 

Neither do i see the toyline end because the show ends. The toyline has existed without a show just fine and i imagine the show being on rerun for some time. It's far too early to talk about G5.

Yup, see my previous paragraph. It's all about money. If they're running the show in syndication, it's still marketing the toys. Hasbro is set with My Little Pony. G4 isn't going anywhere, they're still laying the groundwork for the toyline. That foundation won't be finished till production of the show stops, and G4 will start to wane when they stop syndicating the show, after that, it'll probably be a slow burn till G5 comes out.

 

I think G4 still has a while left, even if the show loses steam. I agree that the brony crowd will die out with the show, and I don't know if bronies are boosting sales as much as it may seem anyway so I doubt it will hurt Hasbro much if it happens. I see a lot of folks complain that the toys aren't show accurate, after all.

Hopefully Hasbro feels that MLP is worth continuing into a fifth generation, and I'd love to see what the next redesign is.

I reckon they'll keep making ponies. It's been going on long enough. Even when the FiM fandom declines, Hasbro will likely have more fans than they did with G3, so I highly, highly doubt it's going anywhere. And while the 'brony' crowd is noisy as sin, they're not as big as they think. If you follow other fandoms (Korra peeps, step up), you begin to understand how self contained the 'brony' movement is. They hang out with, talk to each other, and surround themselves with that community. So to them, it's everyone, because they hang out in those environments. I've never once seen anyone else perusing the pony sections at stores. I've always been the only one. Never seen anyone wearing any pony paraphernailia, G4 or otherwise. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that big. Hasbro knows this, they market for it, they plan for it. Honestly, the only thing the 'bronies' have impacted for Hasbro is licensing rights to places like We Love Fine.

 

My dream would be a more adventure-based series like G1 with a lot of diversity.  Pokemon (as an example) was really successful because it was full of adventure and more gender-neutral, but since MLP started as a girls' line, I do not mind so much if it remains that way (it would be a big leap).

That would be awesome! Like, a serialized G4 series where each episode is relative to the last. I would dig that.



 

[sd_dreamcrystal]

The only thing I would hope is that as far as diversity they need to do more poses... yes they have 2 pose types in the brushables (not counting the princesses) and 4 poses in the blind bags (not counting boys and the princesses, and grouping the Pegasus rearing pose with the Earth rearing pose because they are the same pose). That's the one thing this line lacks really.. I can stand that there are no newer species in ponies because.. well we'll just have to see later

[Al-1701]

One problem they might have is the show is focused on six ponies.  From the perspective of the show, this is brilliant as they can really delve into the characters.  However, in terms of selling ponies, it's kind of limiting.  It might be a good idea to make a spinoff focusing on another group of ponies in a different part of Equestria.  Perhaps something more adventure oriented.

G4 is at the point where G1 really took off in terms of diversity.  If they do the same with G4 and introduce new species and styles of ponies, they could probably keep it going for the next decade perhaps make a few shows taking place in Equestria.

The truth is, I've been thinking of ideas for another show, and I would like to actually pitch them to Hasbro.  It's too bad I don't have the connections.  Damn you networking!

[Vintergatan]

I hope they steer away from the all-girls approach and make it gender neutral; as much boy ponies in the line, as girl ponies.

Amen to that!

I too hope that G5 will be what G3 was to G2 (yeah, i´m not too big on G4s) and return MLP to a more horse-like state ^^

[sd_dreamcrystal]

One problem they might have is the show is focused on six ponies.  From the perspective of the show, this is brilliant as they can really delve into the characters.  However, in terms of selling ponies, it's kind of limiting.  It might be a good idea to make a spinoff focusing on another group of ponies in a different part of Equestria.  Perhaps something more adventure oriented.

I believe in original concept, Faust did want it to have a more adventure feel to it but I think Hasbro didn't want to go with that route for some reason. The closest thing we had to 'adventure' was the two part episodes of each season... sort of. I still for one feel that the show doesn't really follow the adventure that the G1 show had at times... I didn't get to watch too many of the original first gen episodes (not the pony tails episodes) but from some of them I've seen.. yeah there we need a bit more adventure in G4 xD

[TwistedWindSox]

I agree with most of what has been said. I think the toy line will last a couple years after the show ends, and then they'll probably re-vamp it.
I am hoping that it will follow the same pattern of G1->G2->G3. I hope G5 will be a sort of "throw-back" to the older designs, like G3 was to G1.

[gabumon]

Or maybe they'll throw in a 4.5 line where the current line is "chibi"-ized with huge noggins! And tiny bodies!

[Appleseed]

  G1 and G3 were the most successful lines, and given just how MASSIVE the following for G4 has been, I can pretty much guarantee it'll last another good five years or so.

[hyenacub]

Or maybe they'll throw in a 4.5 line where the current line is "chibi"-ized with huge noggins! And tiny bodies!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  lol  I hope not!

[TickledPink]

I am enjoying g4 too much to think about g5. As long as they don't go the "make everything into a baby" route,  I'm good.

[Opalescence]

Hehe. I suggested as well recently that G4 would have a limited life span and that the bronies would disappear with the show. I'm sure you can guess what kind of reaction I got

Probably the same I get whenever I suggest that bronies would face their extinction event once the show aka their source of memes meets it untimely end.
The 13 episode season might actually be a hint to that. But better to let it die in dignity while it's still (somewhat) good before it turns into a Simpsons-like zombie show.
There are signs that the writers don't really know where to take it anymore anyway.

The toyline might survive a tiny bit longer though, but I guess it'll be the usual fare as of now but with some other ultimately superfluous addon.

 Besides, knowing how much the community accomplishes, I wouldn't be too surprised if they held a successful fundraiser to keep the show going!

Do you have any idea how much making a single episode would cost, let alone a full 26 episode season?
Sure bronies accomplished some great fundraising for charity before (one of the few aspects that make nostalgic about having been one) but boy they love to overestimate the powers of their herdmind.


As for how I'd imagine G5?
Perhaps more horselike again? Or seaponies as someone mention before?
But then again, the design won't matter if the show and its characters lack appeal.

[Rainbow-Starlight]

Do you have any idea how much making a single episode would cost, let alone a full 26 episode season?
Sure bronies accomplished some great fundraising for charity before (one of the few aspects that make nostalgic about having been one) but boy they love to overestimate the powers of their herdmind.

I mean that they could help, not fund the whole show themselves. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of bronies made  some sort of campaign/fundraiser thing to help out the show. Regardless if it works or not it would show how dedicated the fans are; too dedicated to just dump the show after it ends. There are high quality fan creations that I'm sure would continue to be made. Already bronies make their own animations that have good quality, not quite show quality, but still very good. If the show ends you can be sure that groups dedicated to  making fan episodes that continue where the series left off will pop up.

[Juri]

I would like to see more colourful boy ponies with brushable hair! .. but what they would actually look like??? its a mystery!

[Bag of Magic Food]

My mind is a blank when it comes to new designs, but I had this idea that with the critical acclaim of Friendship Is Magic, Hasbro will decide that the next My Little Pony cartoon needs to be even more "hip" in its writing, and with the lingering nostalgia for Generation 1, the new series ought to be some sort of send-up of the 1980's My Little Pony world in the style of Adventure Time.  I mean, we already got a jokey, self-aware Spike, but could you imagine Megan coming back like that?

[Al-1701]

I believe in original concept, Faust did want it to have a more adventure feel to it but I think Hasbro didn't want to go with that route for some reason. The closest thing we had to 'adventure' was the two part episodes of each season... sort of. I still for one feel that the show doesn't really follow the adventure that the G1 show had at times... I didn't get to watch too many of the original first gen episodes (not the pony tails episodes) but from some of them I've seen.. yeah there we need a bit more adventure in G4 xD

Don't forget, at the time, MLP as a media franchise was circling the drain.  The Newborn Cuties shorts were worse than some sprite animations out there.  So, Hasbro was playing it safe.  Now that it's a hit, they might be more willing to be ambitious.