SDCC 2018 Exclusives Revealed

[lovesbabysquirmy]

*siiiiiiiiiigh*  More ponies for me NOT to collect...

[Leave a Whisper]

*siiiiiiiiiigh*  More ponies for me NOT to collect...

At least you'll save money for something else you need or want.

[kissthethunder]

I've sat on these ponies for a while now to see if my opinion of them might improve but to be honest, it feels cheap. For a store release I would have been excited for these. I really like the 80's vibe, but for a SDCC exclusive it feels lazy. Just some accessories on three main six characters. The different eye shape for Dash is neat and so is the crimped hair on Twilight but again, it's just not impressive to me.

[Wardah]

I've sat on these ponies for a while now to see if my opinion of them might improve but to be honest, it feels cheap. For a store release I would have been excited for these. I really like the 80's vibe, but for a SDCC exclusive it feels lazy. Just some accessories on three main six characters. The different eye shape for Dash is neat and so is the crimped hair on Twilight but again, it's just not impressive to me.

And funny thing is there's upcoming store releases that I think would have made better SDCC exclusives (tho I'm glad they are not as it means I can get them easily). Those Best Gift Ever sets seem more SDCC worthy than this.

[Zapper]

I can't get over the cheapness, sorry. They could have done an 80s fashion style Cheerilee with painted on braces, crimped hair, extra hair pieces, accs and real clothes like the first FS ponies. That would have been 80s themed and a little less cheap and would have pleased fans.

I agree a Jem crossover would have been great, too.
Shoppies/Moose did an 80s style popstar last year that looked really fun and was compared to Jem a couple of times. She came in a boombox.

Hasbro could have easily done something like that. It's like they just dont want to do new things with G4 anymore.

[LadyMoondancer]

Daybreaker would have been an awesome exclusive, and also pretty easy.  Just some new paint apps and new hair colors for Celestia.  Hasbro is truly a mystery.

[Teddy]

Wow, those are pretty disappointing. I mean, they're kind of cute, but look more like something to pick up at Walmart. Not grand enough to be the exclusives at SDCC. Sad.

[Leave a Whisper]

I can't get over the cheapness, sorry. They could have done an 80s fashion style Cheerilee with painted on braces, crimped hair, extra hair pieces, accs and real clothes like the first FS ponies. That would have been 80s themed and a little less cheap and would have pleased fans.

I agree a Jem crossover would have been great, too.
Shoppies/Moose did an 80s style popstar last year that looked really fun and was compared to Jem a couple of times. She came in a boombox.

Hasbro could have easily done something like that. It's like they just dont want to do new things with G4 anymore.

Hasbro seems to have lost the creativity to do something new with MLP period. The only one left who does well in diversity, multi-gen throwbacks and the like are Transformers. I wonder if that will be the only brand standing someday? Jem's reboot, that didn't even get dolls, new or old for the kiddies was a failure, Joe hardly gets anything and though I hear M.A.S.K is getting a movie, it's likely that they'll only make a half-hearted merchandise attempt.

[LadyMoondancer]

I honestly don't think G.I. Joe or M.A.S.K. deserve a reboot.  G.I. Joe hit the peak of its popularity during the Cold War; I don't think it is sustainable when we are / were engaged in a 'hot war' where we are seeing soldiers returning missing limbs.  Makes it too real.  G.I. Joe could not even sustain its own IDW comic book.  (So they shoved the Joes into the Transformers comic book, to ride the coat-tails of the more popular Transformers and . . . not fit in well at all.)

M.A.S.K. was always a third-string brand, a lame G.I. Joe / Transformers imitator.  Don't get me wrong, it had some awesome toys!  I had the red car as a kid.  I didn't know what it was from and had my two inch high mouse toy ride around in it.  But in terms of marketing, it was Kenner's sad attempt to steal some of Hasbro's Joe / TF market.  Hasbro eventually swallowed up Kenner, so now Hasbro does own M.A.S.K.  But it's still one of those "Oh yeah . . . that was a thing I guess??" brands, like Visionaries or Little Pretties.  M.A.S.K.'s peers are not Transformers, they are Go-Bots.  Edit:  Which, hilariously, Hasbro ALSO owns these days.

Now Jem I think could be rebooted effectively if they leaned into the 80s vibe.  Why is "Stranger Things" such a success?  Partly because it's just a really good story.  But I also think the setting is a big factor.  For people who remember the 80s it is nostalgic and for people who are too young to remember it, it is fascinating.  Unfortunately the recent Jem movie was just not very good in any aspect.  At all.  It was basically "The Justin Bieber Story" with a blond girl's head pasted over Justin Bieber's.  (And it wasn't even a GOOD Justin Bieber biography.  That fetch-quest, oi . . .)

[Leave a Whisper]

I honestly don't think G.I. Joe or M.A.S.K. deserve a reboot.  G.I. Joe hit the peak of its popularity during the Cold War; I don't think it is sustainable when we are / were engaged in a 'hot war' where we are seeing soldiers returning missing limbs.  Makes it too real.  G.I. Joe could not even sustain its own IDW comic book.  (So they shoved the Joes into the Transformers comic book, to ride the coat-tails of the more popular Transformers and . . . not fit in well at all.)

M.A.S.K. was always a third-string brand, a lame G.I. Joe / Transformers imitator.  Don't get me wrong, it had some awesome toys!  I had the red car as a kid.  I didn't know what it was from and had my two inch high mouse toy ride around in it.  But in terms of marketing, it was Kenner's sad attempt to steal some of Hasbro's Joe / TF market.  Hasbro eventually swallowed up Kenner, so now Hasbro does own M.A.S.K.  But it's still one of those "Oh yeah . . . that was a thing I guess??" brands, like Visionaries or Little Pretties.  M.A.S.K.'s peers are not Transformers, they are Go-Bots.  Edit:  Which, hilariously, Hasbro ALSO owns these days.

Now Jem I think could be rebooted effectively if they leaned into the 80s vibe.  Why is "Stranger Things" such a success?  Partly because it's just a really good story.  But I also think the setting is a big factor.  For people who remember the 80s it is nostalgic and for people who are too young to remember it, it is fascinating.  Unfortunately the recent Jem movie was just not very good in any aspect.  At all.  It was basically "The Justin Bieber Story" with a blond girl's head pasted over Justin Bieber's.  (And it wasn't even a GOOD Justin Bieber biography.  That fetch-quest, oi . . .)

They're getting the Fast and Furious director to do it, so I've heard. Which hopefully means it won't suck. MASK is a pretty fun cartoon. Now bring back COPS, Fairy Tail Birds, a proper Jem and Moondreamers Hasbro.

[Taffeta]

I am probably a minority here but I want them to leave Jem alone in the bubble she existed in back in the 1980s. I don't want a pseudo-80s reboot with modern animation and modern slick. We already live in a time where a holographic entity like Synergy (albeit not the whole package) is possible - we have theoretical AI and we also have completely holographic performers. The temptation to change it up to reflect that would be huge.

Jem was also a failed toy line. The series was a success and a cult hit, but the toys failed and the animation was cancelled because Jem the doll wasn't selling as well as it could. Partly because of the doll proportions and partly because Mattel launched the Rockers...also because of cost, and then other spurious complaints from the usual whiny brigade of parents who think their kids will be corrupted if they see a doll in a miniskirt and fishnets...

But Jem the toyline launched in around 1985-6 and had been cancelled before the 1988 release came into stores. There are essentially 2 years of releases of Jem, total. A LOT of Jem stuff survives in package from both years. At one point MIB Misfits were coming out of Holland in such numbers that people bought them by the crate and opened them up and there are still a lot of MIB MIsfits out there (I do not endorse deboxing, I must add, just that it happened and didn't even dent the market). Why would Hasbro want to reboot that when it has other lines that are much more successful and lasted far longer? The reason some MIB Jem stuff is expensive isn't necessarily because it's that rare, so much as a few very rich and stupid Jem collectors bid them up to stupid prices. In many cases this was so they could debox a pair of gloves (people paying $200 for a MIB fashion so they could display both versions of it) and thus the prices went crazy for 2nd year flips in particular.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jem. I just want her to be left alone, I guess. The IT dolls were great, and I wouldn't object to retro dolls and fashions at a cheaper price point for kids now to recognise some kind of anniversary (I guess 2020 would be 35 years for Jem), but no to a new animation, no to any new canon.

I felt like that before the movie, and I still do. And I am not a fan of the comics, either. I just really want them to leave Jem alone and move on to something new instead.

[Leave a Whisper]

I am probably a minority here but I want them to leave Jem alone in the bubble she existed in back in the 1980s. I don't want a pseudo-80s reboot with modern animation and modern slick. We already live in a time where a holographic entity like Synergy (albeit not the whole package) is possible - we have theoretical AI and we also have completely holographic performers. The temptation to change it up to reflect that would be huge.

Jem was also a failed toy line. The series was a success and a cult hit, but the toys failed and the animation was cancelled because Jem the doll wasn't selling as well as it could. Partly because of the doll proportions and partly because Mattel launched the Rockers...also because of cost, and then other spurious complaints from the usual whiny brigade of parents who think their kids will be corrupted if they see a doll in a miniskirt and fishnets...

But Jem the toyline launched in around 1985-6 and had been cancelled before the 1988 release came into stores. There are essentially 2 years of releases of Jem, total. A LOT of Jem stuff survives in package from both years. At one point MIB Misfits were coming out of Holland in such numbers that people bought them by the crate and opened them up and there are still a lot of MIB MIsfits out there (I do not endorse deboxing, I must add, just that it happened and didn't even dent the market). Why would Hasbro want to reboot that when it has other lines that are much more successful and lasted far longer? The reason some MIB Jem stuff is expensive isn't necessarily because it's that rare, so much as a few very rich and stupid Jem collectors bid them up to stupid prices. In many cases this was so they could debox a pair of gloves (people paying $200 for a MIB fashion so they could display both versions of it) and thus the prices went crazy for 2nd year flips in particular.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jem. I just want her to be left alone, I guess. The IT dolls were great, and I wouldn't object to retro dolls and fashions at a cheaper price point for kids now to recognise some kind of anniversary (I guess 2020 would be 35 years for Jem), but no to a new animation, no to any new canon.

I felt like that before the movie, and I still do. And I am not a fan of the comics, either. I just really want them to leave Jem alone and move on to something new instead.

Oh I meant the dolls.

[achab1984]

Hasbro has lost me a long time ago with these G4 ponies.

[Esbayne]

I've sat on these ponies for a while now to see if my opinion of them might improve but to be honest, it feels cheap. For a store release I would have been excited for these. I really like the 80's vibe, but for a SDCC exclusive it feels lazy. Just some accessories on three main six characters. The different eye shape for Dash is neat and so is the crimped hair on Twilight but again, it's just not impressive to me.

This exactly! Very unimpressive to me. I really don't like the new G4 molds, either.
And this set feels very very cheap and lazy for SDCC. Like others have said this looks like a Walmart exclusive or something.

That being said I do kind of reaaaally want that leather jacket Rainbow Dash has, just because I love leather jackets and the novelty of having an officially released MLP one by Hasbro is pretty funny and cool. I think Sunset Shimmer would rock it pretty well. I don't want to buy the whole set just for that though and since the clothes are the main pieces here I think it may be hard to find someone willing to sell me one.

[Sunset]

I've sat on these ponies for a while now to see if my opinion of them might improve but to be honest, it feels cheap. For a store release I would have been excited for these. I really like the 80's vibe, but for a SDCC exclusive it feels lazy. Just some accessories on three main six characters. The different eye shape for Dash is neat and so is the crimped hair on Twilight but again, it's just not impressive to me.

This exactly! Very unimpressive to me. I really don't like the new G4 molds, either.
And this set feels very very cheap and lazy for SDCC. Like others have said this looks like a Walmart exclusive or something.

That being said I do kind of reaaaally want that leather jacket Rainbow Dash has, just because I love leather jackets and the novelty of having an officially released MLP one by Hasbro is pretty funny and cool. I think Sunset Shimmer would rock it pretty well. I don't want to buy the whole set just for that though and since the clothes are the main pieces here I think it may be hard to find someone willing to sell me one.

Didn't Sunset Shimmer come with something like a leather jacket a few years ago?  In The Walmart exclusive "Through the Mirror" line?