School of Friendship - New Playset? EDIT: Confirmed!

[Taffeta]

Along with 'how can we insert Monster High into MLP without getting sued by Mattel...'

It's a school. Mattel doesn't have the copyright to the institution of knowledge friendship.

Spoiler

No, but the basic concept of a school where everyone of different species can conveniently come together to learn about all kinds of things is suspiciously similar to the idea of rebooting and creating the new MH school concept. It's obviously not close enough to be the same as MH, which is why I said it the way I did, but Hasbro and Mattel have this ongoing relationship of how they can exploit markets of each other's toys without stepping on the trademarks and so on. A school within the pony context isn't new, but this kind of school is far more similar to the concept of Monster High (and even the way the promo clip was set up) than it has any kind of relationship to the schoolhouse of G1 either as a toy or as a setting for the Tales series.

Mattel also have the EAH school concept of recent years as well. It's not an accident in my opinion that Hasbro want to now extend the reach of their very successful (if lacking in fresh imagination of late) line into that area, because Mattel's products are fading there and there's maybe a gap in the market to exploit.

It's also not an accident in my view that the MLP movie involves ponies turning into sea creatures to save the world. Because Mattel did that with Scarrier Reef and Monster High. Again, different enough not to tread on the corporate toes, but too related in terms of theme and timing to be completely considered accidental.

Toy marketing is all about exploiting gaps left by the rival without compromising their copyright. Mattel did it with Barbie and the Rockers in the eighties and tried to do it with a more recent rock star line when Rainbow Rocks was out. Hasbro are just true to form in their ongoing product rivalry for the same share of the child market.

Yeah but why is that a bad thing?

Where exactly did I say it was a bad thing? I just made an observation about the similarity. O.o.

[Sunset]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the concept of a "school" like imaging being 8 years old or something:

"Yay I'm finally done with school for today! Let's watch some TV"
*the heroes are at school*

Personally I was more a fan of shows where they went exploring and going new places, even in town but having a series that played mainly in school. Nah not my thing...

I agree.  I always tell people why I almost exclusively read fantasy/scifi is cause I live in the real world and I don't feel the need to spend my leisure hours in it, too.  I'd much rather have a more adventure based setup.  I'm ok with the idea of Twilight teaching at a school (it makes lots of sense) just so long as the show doesn't spend all its time there.

[Zapper]

Along with 'how can we insert Monster High into MLP without getting sued by Mattel...'

It's a school. Mattel doesn't have the copyright to the institution of knowledge friendship.

Spoiler

No, but the basic concept of a school where everyone of different species can conveniently come together to learn about all kinds of things is suspiciously similar to the idea of rebooting and creating the new MH school concept. It's obviously not close enough to be the same as MH, which is why I said it the way I did, but Hasbro and Mattel have this ongoing relationship of how they can exploit markets of each other's toys without stepping on the trademarks and so on. A school within the pony context isn't new, but this kind of school is far more similar to the concept of Monster High (and even the way the promo clip was set up) than it has any kind of relationship to the schoolhouse of G1 either as a toy or as a setting for the Tales series.

Mattel also have the EAH school concept of recent years as well. It's not an accident in my opinion that Hasbro want to now extend the reach of their very successful (if lacking in fresh imagination of late) line into that area, because Mattel's products are fading there and there's maybe a gap in the market to exploit.

It's also not an accident in my view that the MLP movie involves ponies turning into sea creatures to save the world. Because Mattel did that with Scarrier Reef and Monster High. Again, different enough not to tread on the corporate toes, but too related in terms of theme and timing to be completely considered accidental.

Toy marketing is all about exploiting gaps left by the rival without compromising their copyright. Mattel did it with Barbie and the Rockers in the eighties and tried to do it with a more recent rock star line when Rainbow Rocks was out. Hasbro are just true to form in their ongoing product rivalry for the same share of the child market.

Yeah but why is that a bad thing?

Where exactly did I say it was a bad thing? I just made an observation about the similarity. O.o.

Just the fact you wrote me an essay made me think the similarity to MH gave you grief somehow

[Taffeta]

Along with 'how can we insert Monster High into MLP without getting sued by Mattel...'

It's a school. Mattel doesn't have the copyright to the institution of knowledge friendship.

Spoiler

No, but the basic concept of a school where everyone of different species can conveniently come together to learn about all kinds of things is suspiciously similar to the idea of rebooting and creating the new MH school concept. It's obviously not close enough to be the same as MH, which is why I said it the way I did, but Hasbro and Mattel have this ongoing relationship of how they can exploit markets of each other's toys without stepping on the trademarks and so on. A school within the pony context isn't new, but this kind of school is far more similar to the concept of Monster High (and even the way the promo clip was set up) than it has any kind of relationship to the schoolhouse of G1 either as a toy or as a setting for the Tales series.

Mattel also have the EAH school concept of recent years as well. It's not an accident in my opinion that Hasbro want to now extend the reach of their very successful (if lacking in fresh imagination of late) line into that area, because Mattel's products are fading there and there's maybe a gap in the market to exploit.

It's also not an accident in my view that the MLP movie involves ponies turning into sea creatures to save the world. Because Mattel did that with Scarrier Reef and Monster High. Again, different enough not to tread on the corporate toes, but too related in terms of theme and timing to be completely considered accidental.

Toy marketing is all about exploiting gaps left by the rival without compromising their copyright. Mattel did it with Barbie and the Rockers in the eighties and tried to do it with a more recent rock star line when Rainbow Rocks was out. Hasbro are just true to form in their ongoing product rivalry for the same share of the child market.

Yeah but why is that a bad thing?

Where exactly did I say it was a bad thing? I just made an observation about the similarity. O.o.

Just the fact you wrote me an essay made me think the similarity to MH gave you grief somehow

I'm a PhD student Writing essays is what I do
I was just observing the continuing relationship between Mattel and Hasbro over each other's creative ideas.
I won't pretend I wouldn't rather both were more original overall instead of poaching each other's ground, but this seems to be how toy companies set up...

In terms of 'bad things', for me anything involving regurgitating the mane 6 over and over again is a bad thing..otherwise *shrug*.

[LadyMoondancer]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the concept of a "school" like imaging being 8 years old or something:

"Yay I'm finally done with school for today! Let's watch some TV"
*the heroes are at school*

Personally I was more a fan of shows where they went exploring and going new places, even in town but having a series that played mainly in school. Nah not my thing...

I agree.  I always tell people why I almost exclusively read fantasy/scifi is cause I live in the real world and I don't feel the need to spend my leisure hours in it, too.  I'd much rather have a more adventure based setup.  I'm ok with the idea of Twilight teaching at a school (it makes lots of sense) just so long as the show doesn't spend all its time there.

I feel the same.  But for some reason high school is a source of endless fascination for some tweens, so we get High School The Musicial, Monster High, Ever After High, etc.

Even my roommate, who is in her late 20s, loves "high school AUs" for her fandoms and stuff . . . I don't get it.

That said, I've always thought that Twilight Sparkle's ideal job would be being a teacher (which was one reason I was so disappointed when she became a princess instead) so I am okay with her teaching at a school.  It fits her character perfectly.

[Wardah]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the concept of a "school" like imaging being 8 years old or something:

"Yay I'm finally done with school for today! Let's watch some TV"
*the heroes are at school*

Personally I was more a fan of shows where they went exploring and going new places, even in town but having a series that played mainly in school. Nah not my thing...

I agree.  I always tell people why I almost exclusively read fantasy/scifi is cause I live in the real world and I don't feel the need to spend my leisure hours in it, too.  I'd much rather have a more adventure based setup.  I'm ok with the idea of Twilight teaching at a school (it makes lots of sense) just so long as the show doesn't spend all its time there.

I feel the same.  But for some reason high school is a source of endless fascination for some tweens, so we get High School The Musicial, Monster High, Ever After High, etc.

Even my roommate, who is in her late 20s, loves "high school AUs" for her fandoms and stuff . . . I don't get it.

It seems most the people who like High School Settings are not in the actual High School age range. They are either younger and see it as aspirational or older and nostalgic because sometimes being an adult is worse.

[Taffeta]

I used to read a lot of school stories as a kid, but I hated school and really wouldn't ever go back. I think that in a fictional setting you can see all the things happen to other people but you yourself are safe from the nastier side of it. As a kid who was bullied, I guess I took refuge in other people's happier school lives as a distraction from my own. Although I admit I didn't always want to watch school stuff, some of my favourite books were things like the Demon Headmaster (later a TV series) which utterly summed up my feelings about school...I HAD a demon headmaster in primary school, and I was definitely one of the kids who couldn't be hypnotised because I never knew how to do all the things everyone else seemed to know automatically (where to put things, how to measure things, where to line up). I was always in trouble and picked on by this teacher in particular so I totally resonated with a story about kids being oppressed by a psychotic headmaster determined to make the entire school follow his control.

[Majesty]

So is this going to be like Hogwarts where Twilight is a teacher teaching students magic or it it going to be like the school for the gifted youngsters from X-Men?

I think I'm done with FIM though officially.  I think once the movie hit theaters everything will change for future FIM episodes.  I have the first two seasons on DVD and I think that's enough for me to reminisce.

I still prefer G1 and G3 anyway.

[Shaz]

So is this going to be like Hogwarts where Twilight is a teacher teaching students magic or it it going to be like the school for the gifted youngsters from X-Men?

Nothing so exciting, I'm afraid. It's a school for Twilight and friends to teach other races about the values of friendship. At least there's some cute new characters to look at. Maybe they'll even get released as toys!

[TornadoTwist]

Called it!

https://www.mlpmerch.com/2018/02/two-season-8-related-playsets-spotted.html

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

Called it!

https://www.mlpmerch.com/2018/02/two-season-8-related-playsets-spotted.html

What cute looking playsets! I don't know if I'll get the main school one due to how big it seems to be, I'd have to do a ton of reorganizing if I were to get it, but I'll likely get the smaller Pinkie one, as its accessories look so cute!

[LadyMoondancer]

Wowwww, super cute playset!  I have resisted all the G4 castles, but I am tempted by this . . .

[Taffeta]

The hoof activation thing makes me remember the petites and their horseshoe key powers...

[Pinkie21]

I’d be fine with this if there weren’t a bunch of different species coming together.  I understand G1 had different species, but they were just...there.  They didn’t try to shove  a social message in our faces  I know this show is gonna do.

[otocolobus_manul]

Yes! FINALLY, a big G4 playset thats not a castle! We haven't had that since the first carousel boutique!