Has Hasbro's Focus Changed?

[Pinecone]

I think they'd get a lot of positive response if they made a boy mold and brought out Big Macintosh. Then they could repaint him.

[Sunset]

They do have a boy mold in the playful size.  It can't be that hard to remove the horn from the Shining Armor mold, can it?  I agree that they would make a lot of money on a Big Mac.  He is after all an actual recurring character with a speaking role (so to speak) and family connections to one of the mane 6 and one of the CC.  We see him more often than Luna for sure.  Little girls will actually recognize him as opposed to some of the more obscure background ponies.

[BerryPunch]

There are still a lot of characters left that Bronies would totally love to get their hands on, even in brushable form. You saw how popular Trixie and Lyra were. Golden Harvest/Carrot Top, Minuette/Colgate, Sweety Drops/Bon  Bon, and Big Mac are just to name a few fan favorites.

*drools at brushables of those.*

Don't forget Berry Punch and Octavia!!!

[HollowZero]

Regarding the retro sets, they were really terrible in quality.  TERRIBLE.  Thin hair, hard plastic, "wrong" colors, and the symbols scratched or wiped off really easily.  (Maybe because of the hard plastic?)

My sets were amazing. Yes, they were hard plastic, but it didn't bother me (I love TE's and they're hard as rocks anyway) the hair was great, and there was no problem with the symbols. I loved the fact I could finally own a bright white Starshine with no flaws whatsoever. I think "terrible" is a tad overdramatic in describing them.

Because we told them we'd buy repro ponies for $5.  They made two sets and priced them at $15 for 3 ponies.  Then we promptly complained bitterly about every single thing - the mold, the colors, the plastic, the symbols, the hair... and refused to buy them.  They lingered in stock for months in stores and then made their way through secondary retailers like TJ Maxx, Big Lots,  etc.  We still didn't buy them!

No wonder Hasbro doesn't pay attention to our ideas anymore!  :-p  Men said, "Hasbro, make us t-shirts in men's fit" and they faithfully shop at Hot Topic and We Love Fine and buy the all shirts available.  I really, honestly, don't hold any blame to Hasbro over this... I would have made the same executive decision myself.  :-p

This! Exactly this. I recall the extremely bitter and nearly hateful posts about the retro sets, while I just sat back in awe. Hasbro made something for us (for once) and all people would do, is complain. The loudest voices are the only ones heard.

This may even be why Hasbro is shifting focus from brushables to well, everything else. I see a lot of collectors complaining about various things with them.

[DoctorMowinckel]

I still never dreamed that when the new MLP show came out a couple years ago that in the future they would be catering to bronies and primarily male fans. :/  Nothing wrong with men liking the show, but I never thought MLP would take this turn. It makes me angry to think about.

I was doing some thinking and wanted to add on some more to this statement of mine.

I just want to get it out there that I have NO problem with male fans of the show nor male collectors. What I DO have an issue with is the sexism that starts when a fanbase goes primarily male. Disrespect to female fans, guys claiming it's only cool because men like it, selfishness in expecting the sh ow to cater to them, and disregard for the show's original roots (ex: hating on G3s and G1s).

I was very active in the anime community for years. I used to be very into anime. I still have a collection of about 900 anime DVDs. But I never watch it anymore. I haven't watched anime in about two years. I got sick of all the creepers in the fandom, sexism, etc. Like guys would watch a show that has a lot of what you'd call "fanservice" for women and complain about it when most anime shows out there are catered to men. So when ONE show does it, they whine and moan. This is what I fear the FiM show is spawning.
I also used to be active on sites for video games. Same thing there. Sarcasm towards female players, bashing any female-pandered game, etc.

Please don't bash me for this. It's just my feelings. I've never been one for cosplay. I think there IS a time and place for it, and I have seen some cute pony cosplay. I am going to my first pony convention in July. My brothers and maybe my parents will accompany me and even pay their own cover charge to get in. I already dread the spectacles they'll see. I mean, JERRY SPRINGER had a special with bronies. A big guy dressed in a pink tutu and a girl dressed as Rainbow Dash doing skits on the show. I know this convention is going to have tons of this crap. To me it borders on creepy. I am hoping for a convention with a bunch of fans/collectors getting together and chatting, buying, selling, and trading. But my brother is SUPER excited to see some of the hardcore fans and dudes dressed up as ponies. They say it will be great facebook fodder. They are threatening to become bronies and dress up as unicorns. LOL.
Cosplayers, please don't hate me. I used to think it was cool until I met some people that don't know the difference between cosplay and reality. Took a Japanese class in college and most of them were anime fans. I don't think it's cool to come to class with cat ears. I felt embarrassed walking in there. Maybe I'm too uptight?

*sigh* I don't like being negative. I loved the MLP community because it's a great community to embrace the femininity of liking colorful ponies (and a great place for men who love ponies to embrace to too!). But the new fans, the bronies, have made my enjoyment of the G4s dwindle. I feel as a collector who has been into ponies for 15 years is being pushed out of my own fandom. Maybe I am strange for feeling this way but ponies are a large part of my life, as they are for many of us. Many members here spend time every day on this forum so they know what I mean. It's bad when you are the ones who supported MLP for so long and now that a new group has come in and taken over, it's all for them.

I started talking about this same thing over a year ago; http://doctormowinckel.tumblr.com/post/8703583063/the-term-brony

This woman had the misfortune of being exposed to the worst of the 'brony' community; [link removed as per site rules ~ many thanks ~ hathorcat]

I distance myself from that side of the community. I collect ponies and play with their hair. The show isn't even secondary, it's tertiary. For me, it's styling, collecting, then the show. If it goes kaput, I won't bat an eye. I'll still be playin' with pony hair.

One of my friends muses that since I like hair and am bald, ponies are an outlet for me to play with some lovely locks. I'm not sure they're right, but I'm also not sure that they're wrong.

[DazzleKitty]

Gotta admit that I'm not very picky and I loved the repro sets. I kept them MIB because I adored the retro look of the packing.....it's sooooo G1 and awesome. I really wish they had continued doing stuff like that. It was a nice nod to collectors.

Just my musings.

Gah i am at work right now and the blog is blocked from my work website. I'll have to read it when I get home.

[banditpony]

It's sad the community did not embrace the repros better. o__O; For *me* I saw them in the store by chance, and it's definitely what made me start re-collecting as an adult. And if I wasn't here, I probably would of never known of FiM ... (and then other people in my life wouldn't of known of FiM, because it was me encouraging some of my friends to look into it-- and they enjoy it a lot).

[Lon-san]

There are still a lot of characters left that Bronies would totally love to get their hands on, even in brushable form. You saw how popular Trixie and Lyra were. Golden Harvest/Carrot Top, Minuette/Colgate, Sweety Drops/Bon  Bon, and Big Mac are just to name a few fan favorites.

*drools at brushables of those.*

Don't forget Berry Punch and Octavia!!!

If they produce Octavia, I think it would be more along the lines of the Other Grey Pony. For Bronycon or some sort of exclusive. I don't know if Hasbro would take a chance on a grey pony that doesn't have another, more child-friendly color.

Carrot Top, Bon Bon and Big Mac should have a good chance, I figure. Big Mac for the reasons already discussed but those two girls totally fit with what they are already doing but don't look like anything already done. CT/GH is a nice, sunny looking design and BB/SD has the pink they like to get in there AND candy as her symbol. Kids love candy-themed stuff, right? Or at least Hasbro probably thinks they do which is good enough to her her out there!
(Pretty please, Hasbro My Lyra needs somebody to hang out with and my Cherry Berry needs someone to bounce bad jokes off.)

I don't know what kind of chance Minuette has. I'd love to see her produced but would Hasbro consider her exciting enough? For Berry Punch, we might get Berryshine the unicorn insted.

I started talking about this same thing over a year ago; http://doctormowinckel.tumblr.com/post/8703583063/the-term-brony

This woman had the misfortune of being exposed to the worst of the 'brony' community; [link removed as per site rules ~ many thanks ~ hathorcat]

I distance myself from that side of the community. I collect ponies and play with their hair. The show isn't even secondary, it's tertiary. For me, it's styling, collecting, then the show. If it goes kaput, I won't bat an eye. I'll still be playin' with pony hair.

One of my friends muses that since I like hair and am bald, ponies are an outlet for me to play with some lovely locks. I'm not sure they're right, but I'm also not sure that they're wrong.

That last link. Oh man. What it comes down to is that in every fandom you'll have idiots doing their best to shame everybody. And the people who are poluting it are always the loudest. Sometimes I get the urge to apologize to people that they had to deal with the jerkier members but sometimes I just feel angry. Someone carrying the "brony" name was talking about gross things in the toy aisle so suddenly *I* am a gross person? I am not responsible for their bad behavior.

[BerryPunch]

If the impossible became possible, I would want a normal Vinyl Scratch release in a set with Octavia

[DazzleKitty]

I just read the second link on my phone.

OMG. That's SICK. I'm going to my first pony convention this summer. If I see behavior like that, I don't think I will be able to contain myself. I will want to mouth off and I am afraid I will get myself in trouble.

They sound EXACTLY like anime fans. How did this kind of stuff come the pony community?

[Lon-san]

I just read the second link on my phone.

OMG. That's SICK. I'm going to my first pony convention this summer. If I see behavior like that, I don't think I will be able to contain myself. I will want to mouth off and I am afraid I will get myself in trouble.

They sound EXACTLY like anime fans. How did this kind of stuff come the pony community?

My guess is that it's just because the pony fandom got bigger. The more people,  the more chance of their being rude people.

[Heliodor]

One of my friends muses that since I like hair and am bald, ponies are an outlet for me to play with some lovely locks. I'm not sure they're right, but I'm also not sure that they're wrong.

Just had to say, this made me laugh.

I recall the Tumblr post you linked, too. I remember reading about it when it happened. There was also poor Yamino who was just crucified. Horrible slurs spammed all over her dA, tumblr, etc. I'm sure that fiasco can be searched on Google.

[Pythia]

I dislike the term brony. I know people say "We're not all like that!" and "Don't associate us with the bad ones!" but the term was originally *created* by the bad ones. The term 'brony' was created on some other distinctly unpleasant site, so...yeah.

[slight content edit - SDS]

[Catlein]

One of my friends muses that since I like hair and am bald, ponies are an outlet for me to play with some lovely locks. I'm not sure they're right, but I'm also not sure that they're wrong.

Just had to say, this made me laugh.

I recall the Tumblr post you linked, too. I remember reading about it when it happened. There was also poor Yamino who was just crucified. Horrible slurs spammed all over her dA, tumblr, etc. I'm sure that fiasco can be searched on Google.

The Yamino attack was one of the worst things I've seen come out of a fandom. She was speaking her mind very respectfully on a contentious issue and people called for actual violence against her. Because love and tolerance is what this show is about, right?

[RAMChYLD]

This woman had the misfortune of being exposed to the worst of the 'brony' community; [link removed as per site rules ~ many thanks ~ hathorcat]

Add me to the list of those made who ran into one of those. This was one of the things that pushed me past the edge back in March and caused my breakdown after I voiced my dislike for the pony wedding and they came and barbecued me alive with their profanity and rudeness. I can't believe Hasbro would allow those people to use vulgar words on their Facebook page >.< .