DHX hit with major data breach (beware of spoilers)

[Al-1701]

Hasbro kicked Mattel off their throne because Disney took the Disney Princess Line from Mattel and handed it to Hasbro.  That was the difference.  I was actually studying marketing when that was announced and my teacher basic said investors were humming "Let it go" as they sold Mattel stock to buy Hasbro.

I still think this is going to come back to bite Hasbro.  Children would probably be more receptive to a new cast.  They would be "their" ponies while the Mane 6 would be the ponies of their older siblings and cousins.  Doing this runs the risk of competing against garage sales where you can get the same ponies, since they will start with a basic set.  This isn't like Transformers where Optimus Prime transforms into a different kind of semi tractor (or fire engine).

[Zapper]

Neither MH nor EqG are Disney products. EqG was a blatant MH rip-off to steal away their customer base and they did so with Mane Six repeats. MH's high level of detail, quality, creativity and collectability couldn't keep up with same-faced pony people. Even though there were less characters and sculpts.

I didn't study marketing but I make products for children. I'm at the source. Toy franchises are riddled with character repeats because they sell. Even lines with high rate of character diversity like Shoppies by Moose or Hasbro's own Transformers have best selling characters they repeat again and again. MLP right now sells itself by way of characters to identify with and it worked out for them, beating the diverse competition in the same age bracket and above at the time.

Just look at their stats. MLP is one of their strongest brands right now while Mattel is struggling with MH and even Barbie isn't raking in the numbers they hoped for. After Mattel declined the offer by Hasbro to buy them out their stock suddenly did a nosedive and they lost investors. It's because right now people are trusting in Hasbro's formula and their stats prove this.

To get them to change people would have to stop buying their products. But that would probably alert them that MLP in general doesn't sell anymore because the entire concept right now focuses on telling stories with a core cast and not with an ensemble of interchangeables that just happen to have different designs (like Shoppies or early G3).
If people stopped buying the core cast they might change it up. But for now they have the numbers to back them up, so we should probably start looking at this franchise realistically and not base it on personal anecdotes of seeing toys that don't move.

In my country I rarely see a pony shelf that's bigger than the Barbie shelf. That doesn't mean MLP is moving less products. Not with all the liscenses that also only produce Mane Six and the occasional Brony fave. Next up we're going to get Japanese anime Mane Six high-end collectible figurines for ages 14+
Where is Mattel's answer? They would have never done this in the first place. Hasbro is just really good right now at selling the same character over and over again. I don't like it, I just see that it works out for them so I am keeping my expectations really low for any kind of character diversity in G5. That's all I'm saying.

[Leave a Whisper]

I think Hasbro is holding serve right now.  That's the primary strategy.  They're depending on consumer goods right now which can carry what's left of G4 to its conclusion.  And, frankly, Hasbro has become a rather lazy company.  Developing new characters would mean work, and they figure they can get away with this.  We will see if that's the case.

The big two toy companies (Mattel and Hasbro) have become INCREDIBLY lazy in the last few years.

Pretty much.

[Leave a Whisper]

Anything new so far?

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

Anything new so far?

Not that I'm aware of!

[LadyMoondancer]

I didn't study marketing but I make products for children. I'm at the source. Toy franchises are riddled with character repeats because they sell.

This reminds me . . . I watched the Pokemon movie "I Choose You" recently, which was a reimagining of the start of Ash's journey, and my reaction to seeing two fresh NEW characters travelling with Ash was . . .

"Where the hell are Brock and Misty?" 

[Wardah]

Neither MH nor EqG are Disney products. EqG was a blatant MH rip-off to steal away their customer base and they did so with Mane Six repeats. MH's high level of detail, quality, creativity and collectability couldn't keep up with same-faced pony people. Even though there were less characters and sculpts.

Equestria Girls has never managed MH levels of success. That's why Hasbro keeps trying to reinvent it. If anything Hasbro had the rights to took from MH's success it would be Descendants. Descendants is really popular with the target audience MH was seeking.

Hasbro had Descendants before Disney decided to give the Princess brand to Hasbro. They were satisfied with their work on the Decendants brand and felt they could do better than Mattel. Funny thing is I'm still sure the body sculpts were developed for the Jem reboot but when it failed spectacularly they recycled them into in Descendants dolls.

[Leave a Whisper]

So anymore news about this?

[LadyMoondancer]

Interesting sidenote about Mattel vs Hasbro, I have a friend who did contract work for Hasbro setting up store displays (you know how sometimes you'll see someone from Coke or Pepsi or whoever setting up a display but they don't actually work for the store?) and apparently Mattel is awful to work alongside, as they will simply disassemble "competing" displays . . . like literally take them down and dump them in a back room.  Or they'll spread out their display way beyond the space that was set aside for it.

The sense I got was that Mattel is difficult to work with in general and acts rather entitled.

[Leave a Whisper]

Interesting sidenote about Mattel vs Hasbro, I have a friend who did contract work for Hasbro setting up store displays (you know how sometimes you'll see someone from Coke or Pepsi or whoever setting up a display but they don't actually work for the store?) and apparently Mattel is awful to work alongside, as they will simply disassemble "competing" displays . . . like literally take them down and dump them in a back room.  Or they'll spread out their display way beyond the space that was set aside for it.

The sense I got was that Mattel is difficult to work with in general and acts rather entitled.

Wow. That's petty.

[Sweet Daes]

Interesting sidenote about Mattel vs Hasbro, I have a friend who did contract work for Hasbro setting up store displays (you know how sometimes you'll see someone from Coke or Pepsi or whoever setting up a display but they don't actually work for the store?) and apparently Mattel is awful to work alongside, as they will simply disassemble "competing" displays . . . like literally take them down and dump them in a back room.  Or they'll spread out their display way beyond the space that was set aside for it.

The sense I got was that Mattel is difficult to work with in general and acts rather entitled.

Wow. That's petty.

Petty and all-together rude, not to mention something that may get stores in trouble if they have a contractual obligation with that competing company to leave the display up for [X] amount of time.

If they have a history of that I am surprise that store chains haven't nailed them for defacement, defilement or interference with sales, but this is me assuming that there are contracts involved.

[Leave a Whisper]

How big do you think these G5s will be? I'm hoping Flutter or G3 sized.

[LadyMoondancer]

Yeah, I'm not sure if it's a "too big to fail" thing with Mattel or what, but the store was definitely aware of it as they were the ones warning the Hasbro employees about it.  She (my friend) said she thought they were exaggerating until she saw it happening.   She said she was glad that Mattel and Hasbro didn't end up merging, lol.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

How big do you think these G5s will be? I'm hoping Flutter or G3 sized.

If they do give them similar proportions to the art they seemed to be leaning toward in the leaks, I would imagine to pull it off they'd have to be larger than G4s for sure. Maybe they could be about the size of G2s?

[Leave a Whisper]

Yeah, I'm not sure if it's a "too big to fail" thing with Mattel or what, but the store was definitely aware of it as they were the ones warning the Hasbro employees about it.  She (my friend) said she thought they were exaggerating until she saw it happening.   She said she was glad that Mattel and Hasbro didn't end up merging, lol.

I'm glad too.

Post Merge: June 22, 2018, 08:21:52 AM

How big do you think these G5s will be? I'm hoping Flutter or G3 sized.

If they do give them similar proportions to the art they seemed to be leaning toward in the leaks, I would imagine to pull it off they'd have to be larger than G4s for sure. Maybe they could be about the size of G2s?

I don't know how tall G2s are?