Unpopular Pony Opinions

[Taffeta]

Any merchandise that is Mane Six is not new and I don't care who thinks I'm in the wrong. I'm starting to get to the point where I hate this brand. It went from amazing to awful in the space of one generation. Why Hasbro is so bent on killing this once amazing beloved franchise is beyond me?

If G5 is the same as G4 but with frills, the franchise is dead. *shrugs*.

[Leave a Whisper]

Any merchandise that is Mane Six is not new and I don't care who thinks I'm in the wrong. I'm starting to get to the point where I hate this brand. It went from amazing to awful in the space of one generation. Why Hasbro is so bent on killing this once amazing beloved franchise is beyond me?

If G5 is the same as G4 but with frills, the franchise is dead. *shrugs*.

Yes. It would be a shame because that would likely mean the end of the Basic Fun line. It would also be a relief because it would mean the end of this soulless generation.

[bright rabbit 1]

Hate the Dancing Butterfly Pose because they just look wrong

[Ragamuffin]

I don't like the Dancing Butterflies pose either. It's too easy to tip over, and the way she twists her body, her hair ends up covering up her symbol.

[Taffeta]

I don't like the Dancing Butterflies pose either. It's too easy to tip over, and the way she twists her body, her hair ends up covering up her symbol.

I had Dancing Butterflies as a kid (and my friend had Locket). And I always thought how beautiful they both looked to me in that tip toe dancing kind of pose. I guess I can see the problems with the tipping though.  Just those two ponies have such nice designs (and Princess Pearl as well, another one in that pose that I love). It's interesting how the 1987 poses get such divided opinions. I like all of them though

[Ponyfan]

I love the Dancing Butterflies pose.   A lot of my favorite ponies are in that pose. I'm not fond of the Moodancer pose.



Ponyfan

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I like how the Dancing Butterflies poses looks, but I wish it didn't block the ponies' symbols so much if you want to have their hair flow down on their display side. I wish the pose would let me show off their hair color and symbol.

[Wardah]

I actually liked the Mane 6. I'm probably one of the few people who were okay with multiple variations of the Mane 6. My biggest issue was when they would leave out one or two characters for some other random character.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I actually liked the Mane 6. I'm probably one of the few people who were okay with multiple variations of the Mane 6. My biggest issue was when they would leave out one or two characters for some other random character.

The problem is less so that the Mane 6 get multiple variations, and more so that Hasbro takes it about as extreme as they possibly can. I mean yes, they're the main characters of FiM, it's natural they'd get rereleases in the toyline. But we really do not need like five different Pinkie Pies and Twilight Sparkles on the shelves at any given time. I'd much rather have a wider variety of characters to collect rather than a bunch of different versions of any of the Mane 6. One to two versions of any given Mane 6 pony on the shelves at a time is all we need. It makes sense to have these ponies on the shelves at all times for kids who are just getting into MLP who watch FiM and really like its main characters, but to have such an extreme amount of them compared to other ponies is just overkill. I do like the Mane 6, but I'm bored of them because Hasbro's released them so many times (and a lot of rereleases don't even give them interesting gimmicks, many have no gimmicks at all in fact).

[Zapper]

I am starting to get annoyed when people take Hasbro's side and try to ~ explain why they are repeating the Mane Six ad nauseam. The concept of a team of protagonists is not new. Other lines have done it before, including MLP with the Core Seven. I guess we all understand that.

But the issue is that they did not balance it. They made collecting characters about collecting seven characters in slightly different versions like Malibu Stacy and her new hat. You can do that with fashion dolls because different fashions and styles allow for virtually endless combos and looks.
But you can only sell seven ponies so often until customers get bored and move on to LOL, Hairdorables, LPS or another cutesy girly collectible.
If FiM had been based on the toy line alone and not on the cartoon, it wouldn't have had a 9 year run. It would have been like 3.5

You see how often they reboot Transformers. I can't keep up anymore because each year there is a new TF cartoon with a new timeline. They churn out new characters along with old ones all. The. Time.
Hasbro also keeps variety in their LpS line. So we all know they can do it. They just chose not to because their Core Character thing was able to stay alive for 9 years with the success of FiM.
If G5 can't repeat this success they will have to rethink and go back to the roots. Also similar to LpS where the fun cartoon was NOT able to sell the new pet style well enough so they relented and gave the fans the old style back. I kinda miss Blythe in LpS, btw. It was funny to see her get a story and stuff, Hasbro should bring her back, too

[Leave a Whisper]

Take a  Zapper. Terrific post!

[Carrehz]

Oh, LPS is a good comparison. They tried the "core set of characters" thing with that line, too - but IMO they actually did it *well* with LPS. The same couple of characters recurred for a while but they never overtook the line. Granted they kind of gave up on them after a while (I've never seen the LPS cartoon, but I get the impression they were hoping it would be "the next FiM" but it never really took off, not to the extent Hasbro were likely hoping for, anyway), but still.

But the issue is that they did not balance it. They made collecting characters about collecting seven characters in slightly different versions like Malibu Stacy and her new hat. You can do that with fashion dolls because different fashions and styles allow for virtually endless combos and looks.

This, too. Monster High pulled off the "core characters" thing partly because they varied it (sure there were the main chars, but you didn't usually have ALL of them in one line unless it was one of the big lines - and those usually had just as many new characters and/or non-mains) and partly because, as you pointed out, fashion dolls lend themselves towards multiple re-releases much more than ponies do.

That aside though... if Hasbro had done new sets like this (for example):

Mane 6
Mane 6
New character
New character

...I wouldn't really have much of a problem with that. The problem is that 9 out of 10 sets just have all/most of the M6 and maybe one new character if you're lucky. And usually that new character is packaged with one of the M6. @___@;

[Zapper]

Oh, LPS is a good comparison. They tried the "core set of characters" thing with that line, too - but IMO they actually did it *well* with LPS. The same couple of characters recurred for a while but they never overtook the line. Granted they kind of gave up on them after a while (I've never seen the LPS cartoon, but I get the impression they were hoping it would be "the next FiM" but it never really took off, not to the extent Hasbro were likely hoping for, anyway), but still.

Oh, I have a lot of feelings about this. They definitely wanted to hop onto the Brony train with LPS. When the show was announced the creators did a statement on how they tried to make the show less girly so boys could enjoy it, too. Because nothing is worse than a girly show about a girl franchise.

They also supported when fans tried to label themselves "petters" or even "pet shop boys"
They really thought they could get a grown adult male fandom with a main character like Blythe, whom lots of dudes can't connect to because she is a teenage girl with a stick body and a creepy head and not a shapely little anime pony with bedroom eyes

However, I can recommend the cartoon. It is cute and has a very Muppet Babies feeling to it. There are lots of songs in different styles (and homages). Plus it's just as much about Blythe as it is about LPS and it has self-reflective humor (my fave part was when they would point out how large their heads are)
It's way funnier than FiM because they never tried to pander to "petters", they made up funny situations based on the characters (lots of quirky characters to choose from).
I sometimes rewatch an episode to fall asleep to because it was just an overall pleasant little kids cartoon and not too preachy.

[Wardah]

(and a lot of rereleases don't even give them interesting gimmicks, many have no gimmicks at all in fact).

Tbh I was mostly talking about single packed releases. The single releases had multiple great gimmicks (and a few I didn't quite care for but they were still different). There have been winged, light up, tinsel hair, rainbow tinsel hair, TAF, water and glitter filled, pearly, seahorses, scenes on their side, ribbons in their hair. As much as I am okay with the Mane 6 it annoyed me when they packed new ponies with a Mane 6 pony because they were never as interesting as the single releases. If I was behind the toy line everything would be either single releases or complete sets. No 2 packs or anything like that.

[Doedeardarling]

I really wanted to like the first tooth baby ponies, because I love Quackers, and wish adult Bouncy was that soft shade of yellow underneath the flock, and the idea and the accessories and everything, but they are just somehow wrong, and I don't know why. Maybe they should be a bit bigger, since they have more adult propotions than baby ponies. They just don't look right next to other ponies.