In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

If I look back and think about it, I don't feel that G4 did that well in my region because the TV channel that was licensed to show FiM, it is an expensive cable channel.  Lots of kids don't have access.  And the toys were just thrown into girl's hands because they needed a girl's toyline on the shelves.  There are a million other things for girls to choose from and Hasbro went with a very specific marketing plan that has been a failure in some ways and a great success in others.  Girls are interested in other things besides babydoll play, animal care, and fashion dolls these days. 

Right now everyone is fighting for market space in MULTIMEDIA.... Disney now owns Star Wars and Mickey and Marvel. Mattel's sales are down 27% from last year, so they are ramping up the TV animation.  Hasbro Studios is pushing these MLP movies with a re-alignment to G5, etc.   MLP just might not be a long-term IP that they can have success with, unless they find a way to appeal to all its fans without being hyperfocused on a Y7 animated TV series.  we talk about how with G1, many of us didn't have access to the TV show as kids, we just played with our ponies. 

[LadyMoondancer]

That's true, I was barely aware the TV show existed as a kid.  I watched it maybe once (and remember--you couldn't see a complete story in one episode, you'd just see 15 minutes of one, lol.)

I feel like they do kind of need the TV show (or webisodes or some media) now though.  Because toys follow fads and right now the fads are:

- tiny things (usually food) with cute faces!  Like Shopkins.
- surprise blind bag dolls!  Not just small cheap blind bags but the expensive ones like Hairdorables, L.O.L. Surprise, etc.
- things that are blind bags BUT ALSO covered in goo!  (. . . okay.)

Missing from that list:  ponies.  And I don't think it's as easy as "if you make a quality pony toy OF COURSE kids will love it."  I mean, I believe if you give a child a quality pony toy as a gift they'll be happy.  But if the CHILD gets to pick, there is no guarantee they'll pick a pony over a Shopkin.  There are even Shopkins ponies, so if the kid already loves Shopkins, why wouldn't they pick the toy that has a Shopkin AND a pony in the box?

Being a legacy toy helps MLP because parents recognize it and feel nostalgic about it. But it also hurts them because ponies as a concept are not "new", and I don't think you can really get that level of hype going without being new.  So to deal with this, Hasbro created a TV show to make kids fall in love with the characters, and then they wanted toys of the characters.  I would love to see the quality of the MLP toys improved, but I'm not sure quality is enough.  I think they really do need some form of media to survive in a competitive toy market filled with tiny plastic groceries with faces.

[Ponyfan]

That's a good point. I forgot that in the US FIM airs on a specialty kids also that not all kids have access to. I got lucky that the channel package that includes Discovery Family had another channel that my family was wiling to pay extra for.


I also agree that bling bag/blind box toys are really popular in the toy aisles as well as Nom Noms and Shopkins.



Ponyfan

[banditpony]

FiM was also available through netflix and dvd though. So families who can't pay for cable, still had more affordable access to the show-- just not "as it aired", which isn't really a big deal.

[Taffeta]

FiM was also available through netflix and dvd though. So families who can't pay for cable, still had more affordable access to the show-- just not "as it aired", which isn't really a big deal.

In the UK pretty much all G1 access to the animation was also via vhs, and I don't think it had an impact. And aren't there some early pony releases with DVDs? That said I think that with G4 being so dependent on the show probably did mean that kind of thing mattered. Didn't G4/doesn't G4 also have some web related presence? I seem to remember the very first episodes had quite good online streaming? Or something of that nature.

Over here I think FIM aired on tinypop which is a channel available on freeview (I had it at my old London apartment) but not available on the online tv streaming network. It's also available on cable and digital, satellite etc, and some series of it are on netflix as well. I think it probably is accessible, but maybe the issue is you need to have an interest first to go to the bother of finding it in these places, rather than just stumbling across it randomly.

[Carrehz]

IIRC FiM started off airing in the UK on Boomerang, but they only aired the first season? And then it vanished for a while until Tiny Pop picked it up. I think. I don't watch the show so that's just what I've gathered happened.

Ragamuffin, that image.. wow. I mean, I knew there were a lot of main 6 releases, but I never realized quite how many before. O_O It really puts it into perspective.

[BubbleTea]

I went to rite aid today and they only had 2 ponies: toilet sparkle with the clip-on cape and rainbow power Fluttershy (yeah the one from forever ago). I got fluttershy but her hair is AWFUL. Who's idea was it to give a pony fully tinsel sections in her mane? It's kinda ok now that I braided it but MAN is that stuff bad 

Anyway mlp moves off the shelves in my area kinda ok if it's not overpriced. Also mildly ugly ponies like mural DJ-PON3 took a million years to sell out. There might still be some at shopko.

[Strawberry Swirl]

Things seem to stock better the closer you get to the Twin Cities IMO. I'm thinking it did alright here, but to be honest I'm not sure anybody really cares so much for the toys this time around. I just don't see what would keep kids interested. I already know why we aren't.

[allymer]

i kinda like it. i've been collecting for most of my life and they had more selections of peg/uni - sea ponies... lame attempt at breezies and more diversity than G2/G3 and for the first time in 30 years we got a cinema movie and BOYS ponies so i guess in my opinion this generation played out kinda good and fair - i had many exciting moment as a collector with this generation and not to forget the TV show- the Cartoon was great funny and went on long.

im always happy with Hasbro , as long as the keep making ponies im here to enjoy it.

[Zapper]

I went to rite aid today and they only had 2 ponies: toilet sparkle with the clip-on cape and rainbow power Fluttershy (yeah the one from forever ago).

TOILET Sparkle? 

[invaderhorizongreen]

It sounds like everyone else has had better luck?

My area still has the Pearlies, hairbows, and ribbon sets. We are pretty behind, and nobody is moving off the shelf.

We still have pearly ones at dollar genral, and my wall mart pony section is tiny and nothing ever moves.

[Taffeta]

I went to rite aid today and they only had 2 ponies: toilet sparkle with the clip-on cape and rainbow power Fluttershy (yeah the one from forever ago).

TOILET Sparkle? 

Best way to make the smallest room shine.

[Leave a Whisper]

Toilet Sparkle.

[lonewolf]

I went to rite aid today and they only had 2 ponies: toilet sparkle with the clip-on cape and rainbow power Fluttershy (yeah the one from forever ago).

TOILET Sparkle? 

OK I have to know which version of Twilight got that nickname (aside from the book/movie franchise).

[BubbleTea]

I went to rite aid today and they only had 2 ponies: toilet sparkle with the clip-on cape and rainbow power Fluttershy (yeah the one from forever ago).

TOILET Sparkle? 

OK I have to know which version of Twilight got that nickname (aside from the book/movie franchise).

In case it helps I was taking about this one
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Also I decided to look up toilet sparkle (just to see if i really am all that original) and I found this: https://www.deviantart.com/hawkstone/art/Toilet-Sparkle-410002632

not disappointed