Do you think the Brony phenomenon is good for the Toyline?

[RedKitsune]

I've always been of the belief that Hasbro is mainly interested in money and to do that, they have to please the largest buying audience, children...not bronies. To blame them for killing the brushables is kind of silly in my opinion. Hasbro *thinks* this is what children will buy.

[Yurusumaji]

Honestly I could do without the phenomenon myself, but you can't deny that it has given Hasbro more to think about.  We worked really hard to establish a relationship between Hasbro and collectors when G3 was out and it was starting to come together, but was nowhere near as strong as it is now.  You can't fault them for paying attention to such a huge fan base.  And if you don't like the attention that the fan base is getting then just ignore it.  Take from the current line what you want and don't begrudge others because they're getting what they want too.  It's never going to be perfect for both sides.  Bronies want more show accurate merch and collectors want more characters.  Technically Hasbro is doing both those things, but you're never going to succeed in forcing a corporation to do those things exactly the way you want.  When it comes down to it the line is made for kids first, it will always be made for kids first.  I'm just happy that Hasbro is even taking SOME feedback from the community into consideration, I certainly don't expect them to take it all. 

This isn't the first time we've begged Hasbro to pay more attention to us.  This relationship was in the works far before Bronies ever existed.  It wasn't perfect then, it's not perfect now, and it probably never will be.  No matter what Hasbro does, they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.  They're not going to be able to please everyone all the time.  I'd rather just be happy with what we have than make myself crazy wishing they would do something else.  *shrug*

[brightberry]

I'm not all that fond of any of the toys that seem to be marketed directly towards bronies.  I don't care for the favorites as they have a cheap, drab repaint feel.  Funkos are ok, but still seem a bit... cheap.  I love the blind bags, but very often they have paint issues too.  It just seems other popular toy lines have more care and detail put into them.  Can't blame Bronies.  But I don't feel as eager to buy everything mlp these days.  There are some things I really want.  But generally not the stuff marketed towards bronies... unless I'm buying for a brony.  

[Rosencrantz]

Speaking as an addicted blind bag collector, if they ARE responsible for the popularity of them, I am happy they showed up. I've got quite the army decorating my room. But I suspect the blind bag phenom is more related to how popular that type of toy release format is these days.

EDIT:  Thought I'd share the current selection of favourites keeping me company

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[Silver_mirror46]

You can't blame "Bronies" for the lack of variety in brushables. Hasbro was pulling that crap with G3 way before G4 was even a thought. As for the blind bags I wonder if we would still have to import them (and the LPS ones too) if they hadn't been asking for them to bring them here.

I agree, anyone remembers the last releases of the G3? Does "core seven" ring a bell? Hasbro wants to stick with the toyline trends to increase their sales

I think it's a good thing, Hasbro has never listened to the older fans and collectors as much as it does now, their main target might not be the older collectors who have followed the line before G4 but hey, we got Nightmare Moon, Whitelestia, Ditzy, DJ Pon-3, we're getting a Queen Chrysallis doll, and the merch (many of us might not seem to care much about though)

I know we would all wish they make older gen remakes, Minty pony and that we beg them for variety but as everyone has been saying here... Hasbro has a target with far more priority than the bronies and is doing the best to satisfy them, even if it means we get a hundred releases for Twilight or Pinkie Pie

[brightberry]

Speaking as an addicted blind bag collector, if they ARE responsible for the popularity of them, I am happy they showed up. I've got quite the army decorating my room. But I suspect the blind bag phenom is more related to how popular that type of toy release format is these days.

It's true... I don't know how much bronies had to do with blind bags as there are bb for just about every kind of toy out there.   I really do love blind bags.

[Saiko]

Thanks to bronies we have:
 * White Celestia (and more likely than not, Luna)
 * Characters from the show in brushable form
 * Characters from the show in blind bag form
 * Huge assortment of merchandise
 * Comic
 * Vinyl solid-haired collection

This is bad how? It's not the bronies' fault that there is a lack of original brushable characters. That's entirely Hasbro. Maybe if we really want more unique characters, we'll have to push Hasbro just as hard as the bronies have for what they wanted.

[Falconaitae]

As I see it, they have now:
-Brushables, which are strictly tied to the show
-Blind Bags, which are meant as a collectible item for kids (cheap, diverse)
-Licensed merchandise, targeted at adult fans
so it is exactly the same, as it was in G 3.5, minus adult fan merchandise.

Sure thing, that without Bronies, there wouldn't be Funko figures, and maybe the "Fan Favourite" sets would look different, if they would even exist.
Still, it's hard to say. Generally Bronies do not buy a lot of brushables, but when they do, they mainly buy FiM characters. Question is, if they buy enough, to influence Hasbro's bottom line more, than it is influenced by their target group, aka little kids. Honestly, I doubt it. Putting it in perspective, Hasbro is just continuing their strategy from G3.5, so I quess, it somehow works for them.

As for decrease of quality in comparision to older generations, well this is how corporations work, bad money drives out good... or something like that.

Thankfully, this has been discredited by a couple of the main script writers.
Meghan Mcathy, a writer for the Friendship is Magic series posted on twitter 'Spoiler Alert: I'm the only Meghan in Season 4.
And M.A Larson, another writer, posted up amusing Tweets in which he said he had no clue what Equestria girls is. (Read from the bottom up!)

Thanks Celestia!

[Malicieuse]

I do believe the bronies had a positive impact on the MLP franchise as a whole. MLP is doing well.
However, most bronies are interested in merch and not so much the toyline. The toyline is only deemed good when it is show accurate. And what are we seeing today? More merch than toys and more new blindbags than new brushables.
Not to mention no more characters designed by toy designers.

The G4 line started out with a nice selection of new characters. Now we hardly get any new characters and they all are based on some random background pony from the show.
I know there are some people going "but we are getting all these cool TRU ponies"!
That would be nice if it wasn't for the fact that most countries on this planet are never going to see these sets. Right now, the only new character that will actually be released here is that sun cutiemark pony. Pretty saddening.

So while i think the brony community had a positive impact on MLP as a whole (lotsa money), i do think they had a negative impact on the toyline. I feel G4 is the most boring toyline since G3.5.

[Pinkie21]

If I look at this from the perspective of someone who doesn't collect ponies and doesn't care about ponies, but can look objectively at the facts and figures, I would say that, yes, the brony phenomenon has made a positive impact on MLP.  Hasbro has made a bunch of $$$ off blind bags and the more "show-accurate" toys.  However, subjectively speaking, I don't think the phenomenon has been positive.  Lack of actual My Little Ponies, and the fact I see the exclusivity as something like the G2's...  But, yeah, objectively-speaking, I think it's been a positive impact on Hasbro's finances.

[KarentheUnicorn]

I disagree that the new fans alone made hasbro create white celestia, there are a lot of people who complained about Celestia being pink instead of white who are not brony's.

I mean ya know if newbies want to take all the credit for that, fine, but a lot of us long time ponypeople complained about dull pink celestia. I remember complaining when I first saw her.

I remember at the Fair people asked the hasbro representatives why she was pink instead of white.

So they knew the collectors didn't like pink Celestia.

[brightberry]

I thought Celestia was white because Cadence was pink and now fills that role?  I guess they could have continued to make her pink. 

[StarlightGaze]

I don't think we'd have as many plushies coming out now if it weren't for Bronies. They've been begging for plushies for so long.

[Malicieuse]

I don't think we'd have as many plushies coming out now if it weren't for Bronies. They've been begging for plushies for so long.

I disagree on that one. G3 had lots of different plushes. (More than G4.)
So i don't think we only got bronies to thank for that.

[HavACrumpet452]

The bronys don't even know what blind bag ponies are G3 characters. Technically they aren't developing a whole lot of original ponies, they're taking from G3's. G3's rarely had any reminders of past generations.

I don't think bronies are good for ponies in general, especially the past generations. They drive up prices on once common ponies because people think they can make money off of them and they also drive people to customize good vintage ponies all the more often.

However, is it good in a fact that it keeps Hasbro making ponies, yes.