G4.5 or G5?

[Leave a Whisper]

G3 was notorious for having QC issues out of the box.  Like when I bought Star Catcher she had huge gouges out of her plastic on her non-display side.

But the worst one I personally experienced was the Spring Basket ponies (Wishawhirl etc) having their tail held in by big ol' clumps of glue, and the glue came a little way out the tail hole.  And the glue had dried into sharp spikes.  Sharp enough that  I ended up bleeding all over my new ponies.  I've often wondered if they got angry letters about that, because it's the only time I've seen a QC issue that was an actual danger.  I bought a bunch of Spring Baskets, BTW (I needed that dark blue hair of Wishawhirl's for customizing, lol) and multiple ponies had the problem, so it wasn't a "one-off" thing.

I never had any issues with our ponies, but I'll take your word on it.

[tulagirl]

I never had any problems with G3 ponies out of the box. I have many many and they are all fine. The only G3 problem I do have is the glittery ponies melted quite fast and ate their own glitter. That is just wrong!!! LOL  I have seen that same glue problem in a few G1's though. lol  So, yea it happens, not sure why they put glue on the tails but that is a MLP Mystery.
I agree about the quality control problems with G4, but I think this is a standard across many toys brands.  In general things are made so cheaply now.  The clothing is not even fabric but a mixture of plastics and glittered paper or flocked plastic products.  I blame the complaining about prices and the lack of money people want to spend on toys that causes this trend.    In 2050 My Little Pony might be a holographic projection of a pony and that is your toy. LOL  In a green society if you don't have an object then you don't have trash. baaaaa

[Taffeta]

In terms of MLP ending or not - saying they never will is fan optimism. Hasbro are capable of doing anything that they consider profitable and we don't know yet where G4 will end. But they will get as much out of this gen as they can, after which, who knows. I don't like the mentality of expecting another generation. We've been pretty spoiled, but there's also no guarantee what comes next will be good. I mean, a lot of good and bad things came because of G4. I think we just have to play each generation by ear and see how it turns out.

I'm a G1 collector and G1 is still alive and not ended in terms of my interest despite being terminated by Hasbro more than 20 years ago. We don't need MLP in the shops for MLP to 'last' or 'continue'. The point I was making was that a toy company does not think like a collector or a fan. Yes, they've made gains out of MLP, but they have also had losses. They cut G2 in the US very fast because people complained about it. They ended G1 in the first place. We cannot guarantee what they are thinking about MLP overall. Our idea of MLP and I hope, the affection for it will go on forever. But I am not assuming anything. If we get it, great. if not, then we don't. Either way until we get to that point, we don't know what to call these newer style of ponies in a way that isn't disputed -which is what my post was really addressing.

[Leave a Whisper]

Oh I don't think it'll go on forever, but it's still pretty profitable for Hasbro.

[LadyMoondancer]

Oh yeah, whether we get anything WE like is up for debate, definitely. Like who knows, maybe the next iteration will be extreme chibi modern LPS style and the ponies will only neigh instead of talking, or who knows what.  Hasbro is mostly interested in what today's kids want, not what collectors (or bronies) want.  There are a lot more MLPs being bought for little kids than for adults.

Hasbro didn't cut G2 short in the US because people complained about it, but because it didn't sell.  Believe me, Transformers Beast Wars (which debuted at the same time as G2 MLP) had a muuuuch bigger fan backlash. But Beast Wars sold well among kids, so it continued on.

[KarentheUnicorn]

I think the whole generation thing is mildly pointless unless you're a outsider. The only other real purpose it serves for long time MLP fans is to know which pony you're talking about if it has the same name. If you're talking about Sundance or Moondancer, it ain't gonna take long for me to know which pony you're talking about if you take out G(putyournumberhere).

So for me the whole generational naming of stuff is really pointless, especially with G4 - It's probably PinkiePie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbowcrash, Fluttershy or the big TS...maybe someone needs G markers on that but it generally feels more like the only people that really need it are the people who've only hung around for a couple years and don't know the difference. Plus the whole G thing started when Hasbro was naming ponies the same thing back before every person on the planet had a digital camera to put pictures on line. Now I can actually SEE a pony I want to buy, at that point, I'm gonna know which Sundance we're talking about...

If I was having a conversation with say, Taffeta, more than likely we're not gonna need a lot of fanspeakterms and .5 labels to know what pony talking about where MLP is concerned.

[lostpony]

Rainbow Crash

Well I think there is still ambiguity as to which pony we're talking about when it has the same name and in this case the molds are still the same ponies so having some kind of well-understood label does narrow down the possibilities without having to add a lot of extra words.

However I think it doesn't really matter which label because any of the ones being thrown around here are well understood, but it does provide a pretext to talk about the new ponies vs the old in a context of all ponies before them and we do love to talk about ponies yes?

Oh yes and holographic ponies = no.  I can't fondle them.  It would close the gap between the show and the toys somewhat though....

[KarentheUnicorn]

Rainbow Crash

Well I think there is still ambiguity as to which pony we're talking about when it has the same name and in this case the molds are still the same ponies so having some kind of well-understood label does narrow down the possibilities without having to add a lot of extra words.

However I think it doesn't really matter which label because any of the ones being thrown around here are well understood, but it does provide a pretext to talk about the new ponies vs the old in a context of all ponies before them and we do love to talk about ponies yes?

Oh yes and holographic ponies = no.  I can't fondle them.  It would close the gap between the show and the toys somewhat though....

It usually depends on how you view the MLP brand as a whole.

Friendship is Magic enthusiasts who do not partake of the full history of MLP have/had a tendency to label MLP by the cartoon only. So they would actually call MLP Tales cartoon G2.

So on some level if a person doesn't actually know the history of MLP, they're even going to get the G labels incorrect. I remember actually having a argument with a FIM fan that Tales was not G2 it was part of G1...so there is clearly a difference in even how 'some' in the fandom label the actual generations that has nothing to do with the toy.

So the labels sometimes don't really help the poorly educated.

[lostpony]

Yes I've seen the G2 label misunderstood by FiM fans, and even more so by those who try to analyze the entire MLP topic who don't care or know anything about it. 

The difference between ignorance and being uninformed is the willingness to accept new information, and those who refuse to accept new information are a waste of time to argue with.

It's self-evident that Tales is not G2 because the Tales ponies as toys are distinctly different from the toys that are well-accepted as G2s.  There is no G2 cartoon (clearly resolving which lens Hasbro views its creation through: the toys), and those who misunderstand this issue have an opportunity to learn from having it explained to them...and with the new knowledge maybe discover the joys of the earlier generations.  It's important not to give up on those individuals no matter how infuriating it is to deal with the other kind because the only way to know which are which is to delve into that frustrating area of conversation.

[Taffeta]

I think the whole generation thing is mildly pointless unless you're a outsider. The only other real purpose it serves for long time MLP fans is to know which pony you're talking about if it has the same name. If you're talking about Sundance or Moondancer, it ain't gonna take long for me to know which pony you're talking about if you take out G(putyournumberhere).

Something that is a lot more problematic with the US line than the UK one Even in G2 Sundance in the UK is officially (at first at least) Sunsparkle.

I tend to agree with you though. The G labels are convenient but I think they help more the people who have come in after all the generations have begun to pile up and thus need a way to distinguish them while they get to know what they like and don't like among the old stuff. That whole thing about the animation being the way some fans term lines I've heard before, too. But that goes back to what I was saying above, about disliking newer concepts being imposed on older generations. I use the G labels here a fair bit (which has been annoying now my keyboard doesn't type 1, 2 or 3) but I don't really feel like I need them in terms of my collecting. But I can see that anyone trying to get to grips with collecting MLP from G4 going back would find them useful. I also notice that I tend to use G4 rather than FIM as a label.

Uni, we managed in a world without labels and when people still had to shove their ponies on their scanners to get images. How did we do that again? .

[sd_dreamcrystal]

I use the G labels quite a bit, especially in the case of shared names (Moondancer being a good example here.. with at least 3 generations having a Moondancer. I was trying to find a pony name that has been used in all 4 generations but I cannot think of any on the top of my head xD.. oh and apparently one non-mlp line has a Moon Dancer too lol)

Though with the Moondancer example really as far as toys only 2 generations had a pony toy with that name

[Sunset]

I use the G labels quite a bit, especially in the case of shared names (Moondancer being a good example here.. with at least 3 generations having a Moondancer. I was trying to find a pony name that has been used in all 4 generations but I cannot think of any on the top of my head xD.. oh and apparently one non-mlp line has a Moon Dancer too lol)

Though with the Moondancer example really as far as toys only 2 generations had a pony toy with that name

There is a blind bag coming of Moondancer for G4.  And I still hold out hope for a brushable.

[KarentheUnicorn]

Uni, we managed in a world without labels and when people still had to shove their ponies on their scanners to get images. How did we do that again? .

haha! ye old scanned flat ponies...ah the good old days.

How did we do it? Hum, probably what made it easier is there were not say, 50 different BowTie that look exactly alike as there are with a pony like Pinkie Pie. There were very clear defined sets with a certain number of ponies (usually 6). There were not a bunch of other companies (Funko) making actual MLP like ponies, that Hasbro licensed out to where you had to figure out...jez how much of this crap do I actually need in my life of the same exact pony.

I wouldn't call it easier back then in the 80's...heck it took me a long time to have to wait for the internet so I could get the rest of the adult sea ponies. Once ponies were no longer in stores, good luck on finding them. You were usually SOL unless you happened to find one at someone's yard sale years later and good luck on finding it in good condition. There was no ebay or internet where collectors could mass together.

I think it was perhaps simpler to collect back in the original MLP days. The line itself felt far more streamline than it does now, as in you knew what you were getting and there wasn't a billion other products produced by numerous companies, let alone hasbro with its various different stuff like Equestria Girls now, Chibi Equestria Girls, now pony 'action figures' and whatever else they're producing. Frankly I think they're overproducing it out way to much where it's becoming overload...

At this pony it just feels like it is too much stuff and I honestly don't want all of it :/ I've even almost come to the point where again I'm actually considering unloading a lot of the newerstuff and selling it.

But back to the point...how did we do it? We I think are probably as obsessed with the toy as some of the newer fans are obsessed with the Friendship is Magic cartoon. Not the weird bits where you have to cover your eyes and run from web searches. I think it was more like when we saw that backcard the first time and saw all the beautiful ponies, hasbro did a good job on telling us we needed to collect them all.

Hasbro has become more about pushing a bunch of junk...lets just make a lot of 'stuff'. But back in the day and when you look at the original line of MLP and how they were marketed. It really was more about 'collecting' ponies. It really was a collection opposed to a toy that kids will play with for 10 minutes and get bored with it.

In terms of longevity and success, the original line seems more lasting in my opinion. Whereas a lot of the different lines that have come after don't feel that way to me. Especially the newest MLP line, FIM just feels like a lot more stuff, but it doesn't feel quite like the original toy to me.

I don't know if that makes sense but meh, I haven't had breakfast yet, am probably rambling.

[Taffeta]

G1 was definitely marketed as a collection, because they really did push the collect them all mentality and in the UK at least the packaging in the early 90s all said "classic collection" or "baby collection" on them as well. I think maybe there's a lot to that as well. Plus I suppose G3 and G4 are necessary terms for ponies like Dash and Pinkie who cross generations but are a little different in each incarnation.

I joined ebay to buy an adult sea pony (y3) as it was the first one I ever saw ever. They were in the factfile but I didn't think they really existed after no luck at carboot sales finding any other than the UK 3. But there she was, Sea Breeze in her beautiful stuck-on-a-scanner style.

Makes me think that technology and sheer amount of stuff (not just in terms of actual product but media relating to product) has exploded so much more with the later generations that terminology and labels have become more needed, as you say. It's a way to keep some control of what is clearly hard to keep track of. Ironically it's more difficult to keep track of all the G4 stuff because you don't have (often) inserts or backcards advertising all the line available. People have to rely much more on sites like MLPMerch or forums like this for their infomation about what is out or coming out, or social media stuff from Hasbro's toy fair booths which in the distant past would never have been transmitted like it is now.

I guess labels became necessary with the transferance of how we get our information from the point where the toy company created an information network via packages, stories and inserts to inform kids to a point where the fans are having to piece together all the bits themselves.

[Leave a Whisper]

Well said KarentheUnicorn . Especially about Hasbro pushing junk.