HELP Funko & Hot Topic discontinued our ponies! #savethefunkoponies

[Rainbowrific Renia]

o_0 This is surprising! I've always seen the Funko MLP sales to be crazy. Especially with the chase figures. Is there a chance they are just going to focus on the minis from now on? It seems like the production costs on those might be lower.

Minis are done as well as far as I know. in hoping they would at least release NMM and QC at SDCC... We can only hope... Another thing that may have happened is Hasbro decided to cut ties and didn't want to compete with Funko with their new GOH line..

I highly doubt the new GoH line has anything to do with this. The pony vinyls were still licensed by Hasbro, and they'd be making money regardless. I'm thinking it's more that the last few releases of vinyl ponies weren't big sellers, and the production costs greatly outweighed the money that was actually being made from sales.

[MilkyTaroMochi]

In my area, I think the last wave I saw that really sold was the CelestiaLuna or ShiningCadance (whichever one came out last). I know the CMCs kinda sat around for a while, and definitely the MaudCheese wave sat around longer than that. I know one of my Walmarts still has some of the big funko ponies that came out from those earlier waves.

In a way, I think the figures having a Chase variant kinda worked against them, at least later on. Along with that "six month wait".

[HoustonCollector72]

Shared link all over the FB mlp groups .

wow is sad to see a line end like this, I was sure we will be getting NMM and QC since we saw their Protos and we got their Minis as well.
 

[SaveThePonies]

LOL you stole my name hehehe

[Pinkie21]

Eh, my wallet, limited space, and my pony-aversed boyfriend are actually happy that Funko stopped the ponies. 

[zombienixon]

Is that for the full-sized Funkos or does that include the minis as well?

[klein]

I wish they would have at least finished releasing the mane six as pops, I want an Applejack pop!

I will sign the petition but I know locally they have just been sitting on the shelf unfortunately I don't think we ever got Celestia and Luna in the store (ordered online) but we still have regular and blue flu Discord, the cutie mark crusaders and Maud Pie and Cheese Sandwich just at Hot Topic. I found Octavia both regular and chase versions at Barnes and Nobles on clearance for $4 each this past weekend, I know TRU has had Spitfire and Bonbon sitting for years unsold here.

Maybe they will at least do them as SDCC exclusives? Or maybe try chatting up Amazon as they previously sold some Funko pony exclusives.

[Nebula Light]

I hope the minis are alright too...those are my favorite, and I still have many I want to buy. I have not been able to find many, have yet to check the book stores though.
At my HT, there are plenty of larger figures. I...am not a fan of pops. I only find a few pony ones cute. 

[WingsOfMasquerade]

This is such a bummer!
They were really getting into having exciting characters too...it's the worst time for this announcement. I guess I just don't understand Funko, like people have said before on this thread.

Why did they choose certain characters to make first?
Why not go for the ones that would be really hot sellers?
Like, MAUD...really? Before Nightmare Moon? Before Chrysalis or even Sunset Shimmer?

Not that Maud is bad!
She's not! She's not my favorite character, but her design is nice enough. The HT figure looks fine, and I'll eventually try to get her. However, it doesn't make any sense to favor her over Nightmare Moon or Luna who is in a lot more episodes and who has a lot more fans both kid and adult. Same thing with Dr. Whooves. I know Whooves was a superminor background character so that release was totally brony-driven (only way to explain why he got out before Big Mac) but who exactly was clamoring for more Maud merch right now/in the past/when her ep aired? It's like they were paying 100% of attention to the fans at the start (@W$%# pony, Whooves, Pinkie, Lyra) and then totally stopped, becoming clueless somehow.

If their designs were faltering, why not a poll for who would you buy?
Maud or Sunset?
Cheese or Nightmare Moon?
Sweetiebelle or Chrysalis?
Applebloom or Sombra?
Scootaloo or Zecora?
(And show art of how they wanted it to look for both, so you wouldn't misrepresent...)
I also hated the sculpts on their Cutie Mark Crusaders. Insectiod little things that didn't look enough like the characters from the show to make me consider getting them. Ever. (Like that DAP Scootaloo where she has a baby head and an adult body and looks like one of Discord's failed experiments because cheap$$) Cheese I thought was funny & cool to see him in the show and all, but the character design to me just isn't that collectible/want him staring from my shelf.

I hope this petition and action works!
It's a good idea, and I would LOVE to see Zecora, NMM, rerelease Celestia/Luna (I wanted them most of all and never got) Chrysalis, and Sunset Shimmer. There are so many exciting characters yet to choose.

[Noxxbunny]

If it was because of sales reasons, I am not too surprised. I know the last two waves were basically shelf-sitting at my HT stores, especially the MaudCheese wave.

Same. The HT nearest me has totally gotten rid of all the ponies except some stray Mauds that are shelf-warming. It's all Funko Pops now.

Really? They aren't sitting on the shelves here! My local Hot Topic doesn't have any of the large figures any more, they sold out a while ago. As for the mini boxes, I see them in my local TRU, Walmart (occasionally), Target, Hot Topic and Books-a-Million. They sell out frequently and get new boxes in pretty regularly. That's why I'm so surprised!

Sad that the line is retired, whatever the reason.

I guess it really depends on the region. The Maud and Cheese wave here didn't seem popular. At least Maud really wasn't. I haven't seen a Cheese around in a long time. When I go into HT and Barnes and Noble now, it's always Maud, Twilight, Trixie, and Big Mac that are around. They just aren't selling here for some reason.

[Lucky_Ladybug]

I'm skeptical about the effectiveness of petitions, but I signed. I certainly wish you well with your efforts! I see you're promoting it on Twitter (?) with the hashtag? That's definitely a good start! Are you promoting it on other popular sites as well, such as Facebook and Tumblr? There are lots of Pony fans there.

[Trinity]

I do not collect the Funko ponies, but I signed anyway because I enjoy seeing them. ^_^

If their designs were faltering, why not a poll for who would you buy?
Maud or Sunset?
Cheese or Nightmare Moon?
Sweetiebelle or Chrysalis?
Applebloom or Sombra?
Scootaloo or Zecora?
(And show art of how they wanted it to look for both, so you wouldn't misrepresent...)

Awesome idea.

[Catlein]

I think the pony craze among adults is slowing down from the heyday, and Hot Topic cycles through their pop culture bits quite often. I'm not surprised that Funko started to see dropping sales and decided to discontinue the line, particularly given the fact that their main retailer decided not to carry them anymore.

I'm sorry to see them go though! I really loved the mystery minis

[LadyMoondancer]

Wow, I hope they continue making them.  I was thinking of getting Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon, the prototypes look stunning.

[TornadoTwist]

I signed it. I think we can share this petition on our MLPMerch social media pages.