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Author Topic: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?  (Read 1699 times)

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Offline Ragamuffin

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Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« on: November 26, 2021, 08:56:01 PM »
Wondering what everyone's pony aisles are looking like ATM.

I was thinking about making a post like this for a while, because it seems like G5s have weird availability. Decided to make it today because they aren't selling well in my area. They were selling decently before the movie came out, and now they haven't moved any it seems. I go to Walmart twice a week and check every time, and nothing ever moves. Today, Black Friday, the shelves looked totally normal, how they always look! It doesn't look like anyone bought ANY ponies! Spirit toys were picked over and every Care Bear-related item was sold out, except for Wish Bear. MLP? Not a dent. Plenty of plushes, plenty of castles, plenty of styling Zipps, Pipps, and Sunnys, a couple of styling head Izzys.

Not G5, but my friend found the Amazon-exclusive Mane 6 seapony sets at a store, but they couldn't sell them, so they resorted to cutting the box open and selling each individual pony for $1 or so each, they had tons and tons and tons of Explore Equestria ponies too. This was about a month ago, but they're probably still there.

What's the deal with MLP nowadays? Why doesn't it sell, why doesn't anyone care about it? Back during the G4 days I never saw little girls carry around ponies nor saw them in the pony aisle, they didn't care about ponies the way they did with Shopkins. When Toys R Us was closing here, they had huge bins full of Seaquestria castles they couldn't sell. Target had a single Songbird Serenade plush they couldn't sell for over 2 years. I never saw any FiM Collection sets after the Apple Family themed sets because they couldn't sell them. The clearance bins were full of Apple Family ponies for a long time. No one could sell the Capper and Rarity sets, I never saw anyone buy the Power Ponies sets, no one wanted the pirate ponies, Five Below had an entire wall dedicated to a certain release of Princess Celestia. Even local listings like Facebook Marketplace, whenever I try to look up MLP stuff, there aren't a lot of offerings-- you can't sell ponies if you never bought them to begin with!

I'll probably update here with how the pony aisle is holding up whenever I go to Walmart. Not necessarily something for the "Out Now and Coming Soon" thread, just... updates as to whether things are moving.

One positive I can say, when G5 stuff *was* selling, Zipp was more popular. :biggrin: Her and Pipp's plushes were selling and every time I went into Walmart there were less and less. Sometimes I would see a misplaced Pipp on the other side of the store, and I even saw a girl in the checkout line with one. :) Sunny and Izzy are another story, they weren't really selling.
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Offline Wardah

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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2021, 10:54:27 PM »
People can't buy what they can't find. There's certain MLP sets I wanted that weren't on Target or Walmart's sites and I'm sure weren't in those stores either. I was able to find two of them on Amazon and another was only spotted in a chain that exists only in the midwestern states. Honestly the G5 sets on Amazon have been frequently going out of stock. I wouldn't be surprised if with the pandemic a lot of parents switched to buying toys online since taking kids into stores isn't fun.
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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2021, 11:49:48 PM »
I can't comment on G5 because I have literally not been to a shop that sells toys since G5 came out, not in person.

But regarding previous gens, they did all sell here and pretty well as far as I remember.

G1 had patchy distribution in some areas, although I know from the carbooting years that we actually had a really wide range here in this area. I suspect some of it was TRU, which I never went to as a child, not accessible.

G2 did okay as far as I recall, but my memory of that is a bit hazy.

G3 sold very well here. Carbooting also backs that up.

G4 depended a lot on the characters. For example, mane 6 from sets often shelf sat, different characters from sets vanished really fast. This was especially true with the rainbow power and the pearly set. Entertainer still has some G4 stuff but it's all GOH or M6. GOH didn't seem to move very fast here at all. But individual ponies, especially ones that weren't the M6, they went really fast.

It was also really common to see kids clutching ponies when out, wearing pony clothing, hugging pony BAB while they were available (we have a BAB in town) and so on. I haven't carbooted in this area much since G4 so can't comment on it that way.

Down in London I can only speak for G4 and the retros, the latter of which sold very well, the former of which again depended a lot on the characters. But distribution especially in South London of G4 was kind of out of date in some of the stores. Which was a direct contrast to the retros.

G4 carboot presence was very strong but seemed like a quick turnaround from store to being resold. A lot of ponies still in stores showed up there.

I think John Lewis gave up on G4, too. By the time I left London in 2019, the only pony stuff they had in my JL was retro G1. I also never saw anything other than retro G1 ponies in JL in Birmingham.
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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2021, 12:01:03 AM »
I've been out a lot this year to the toy shops (and just shops that sell toys) and I can say that the precious few G5 toys they put out sold extremely quickly - especially the smaller poseable ponies. I can't find them anywhere now.
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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2021, 03:51:39 AM »
I don't know about them selling, but my Walmart has a lot of G5 stuff. I'd say, a good third of one aisle was just pony stuff.
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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2021, 06:52:47 AM »
The only gen five at my work place were the teeny tiny brushable ones can't say I have seen anything else and my dollar general still has late gen 4 ponies.

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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2021, 07:14:59 AM »
I haven't been to any toy shops in the UK recently, but the magazine is available with a free G5 pony. Poundland currently sell G4 style fakies.
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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2021, 07:42:14 AM »
G1, when I was growing up, was available everywhere, from small amounts in local post offices, to huge aisles in city toy shops.

Never bought G2 new, so don't know about them

G3 were available in small town retailers here & there, as well as bigger supermarkets & toy shops. I didn't even have to take a bus to buy some of the Newborn Cuties

G4 I had to take a bus & find either a toy shop or large enough supermarket to find them. Unfortunately all the toy shops were closing around that time as everything centralised. Only the magazine was available locally

Covid has prevented me form checking G5 availability in shops, but I bet it's like, practically none outiside of cities except the magazine. Have not seen a Basic Fun Pony anywhere offline either

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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2021, 08:02:47 AM »
During G3 it was really really good. Sans Birthstone, Birth Flowers and Holidays. I still find em at swapmeets.

 G4 got mostly mane suxx stuff after Toys r Us bit the dust, there were a few other ponies easily available, not counting bbs. Lira, Gold Lily, Sterling, Shining Armor, Diamond Mint, Lily Blossom, Cheerilee, Big Macintosh, Cadance, CMM Bon Bon and Skystar come to mind.

 PL was barely present and I never saw any kid picking them up.

 Loyal Subjects was alright, but the fact that they decided to make some store exclusive made it impossible for anyone to get anything but Sundance,  Firefly and other commons.

Basic Fun was a struggle to find after the first set of Rainbows and first set Earth Ponies, but kids picked them up.

G5 is barely popping up at all. It's just two ponies and they're either the big ones or stuffed toys.  I haven't seen anything else and I'm not catching a bus to Target.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2021, 08:20:02 AM by Leave a Whisper »
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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2021, 09:03:35 AM »
Here Meijer has been pretty well stocked lately with many various G5 and Basic Fun.  Target has almost no ponies at all.  Walmart had a bunch of G5 at firs,t but now much less. 
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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #10 on: November 27, 2021, 09:22:25 AM »
The Pony Life stuff didn't sell well in my area.  In fact a few stores still have the last of those sets still on the shelves.

It took a while for the G5 toys to start selling.  After the movie hit Netflix the toys started moving.  I went to Walmart yesterday and the only pony things they had left  her the plush ponies (those don't seem to sell at all) the large singing Izzy, the castle and Izzy styling head.  All of the large brushables were gone.

Basic Fun ponies did pretty good when Target carried them but they move very slowly at Cracker Barrel.

Target's pony section only has 1 or 2 things and most of it is leftover PL stuff.  I think Target has been having trouble getting some toys in as I've been keeping track of another toy line pretty closely and Target only restocks them a few times a month.


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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #11 on: November 27, 2021, 09:23:47 AM »
i have hardly gone out for toys so IDK
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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #12 on: November 27, 2021, 09:25:02 AM »
I live in Poland

When it comes to availability of all the gens

G1 - since I wasn't around when it was at the stores I'm unsure how widely available they were, they rarely pop up here second hand so I assume they must have been available here but probably not as widely available as some other countries (I also did get a G1 Italian Skyflyer when I was a kid from a further family member so I feel like it must mean that they bought it at some Polish store in the 80's)
G1 Basic Fun - Basic Fun ponies are not sold here but I did find some from resellers for a reasonable price (I assume that those might have been rejects and that's how those sellers got them)

G2 - I think they were pretty much available in all toy stores, I did remember picking g2 ponies back in like 2002 or 2003 in a small toy store, and I even remember seeing some in I think 2004 when I was buying my g3 Butterscotch (it was a playset so I didn't have enough money to buy it myself)

G3 - same as G2 I think, I think most toy stores had them, I actually have only a couple memories of going to stores and seeing them even though it was the main generation that I saw when growing up (and buying them/asking my parents to get some for me)

G4 - widely available online and in stores, I do remember looking for any pony to buy for my sister (I'm unsure when though, maybe 2011 or 2012?) and I couldn't find any, it was a transitional phase from G3.5 to G4 and I could only find one G4 travel Pinkie Pie at the toy store (Smyk which is the most popular toy store/children clothing store chain in Poland) I do think that from 2012 till very recently you could easily find them everywhere, that would include the reboot and Pony Life (I've seen reboot and G4.5 in Carrefour about two weeks ago)

G5 - it's very hard to find them anywhere rn, probably due to the current issues with supply chains, it looks like stores were supposed to get them by now but well, they just didn't came in yet, Smyk (store that I mentioned before) had none available (at least the ones that I've been to) the only store that carried them was Carrefour, it only has the castle set, Crystal Adventure Sunny, Zipp and Pipp, Singing Star Pipp and Sing 'N Skate Sunny, they did advertise more ponies (like Crystal Adventure Hitch) but they didn't have any of them yet, I hope that will see more of them soon once the issues with shipping get resolved

Also I'm unsure how kids react do the G4 and G5, my younger sister really liked G4 but I think the main issue was the oversaturation - too many of the same ponies, basically after buying the mane six you were kinda done with buying more, so probably most kids stopped at this point and just sometimes got the extra characters if they were available
Hopefully they do take this to heart and make more character toys as the line progresses, I feel like the kids do enjoy the new generation (I saw people buy online the sets that are not available here and are sold by resellers that get items in USA and sell here for higher price so I feel like it says something)
I did saw one little girl when I was visiting the store that was very interested in new My Little Pony toys and kept asking her dad about them (he said that maybe Santa would get some for her so she kept asking how to spell My Little Pony so she could write it in the letter to Santa, I though it was cute)

Of course those are my personal experiences, I do live in a small village so I didn't come to toy stores too often when I was younger and now I mostly shop online, I'm also too young to be able to see G1's in stores so maybe an older person living in a city might have a different experience.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2021, 09:41:02 AM by SweetNightmare »
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Offline BerylBreeze

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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #13 on: November 28, 2021, 04:21:26 AM »
It's a mixed bag around here since the pandemic since toy sections are a lot more unkempt. with varying levels of overflowing and empty depending on brands.

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Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
« Reply #14 on: November 28, 2021, 11:36:48 AM »
I wasn't paying attention to anything before G4.5 unfortunately but here in NZ shops have been closed or restricted since around the movie came out due to lockdown, I went into the mall two weeks ago and I saw quite a lot of leftover G4.5 stuff like a dozen Twilight smashin fashions (none of Sunset Shimmer or Dash, oddly, and the other sets didn't make it here) and the large budget styling G4.5 brushables mixed in with the rainbow reveal Sunny and the big movie friends and the posable crystal adventure sets.

I haven't seen any signifcant leftovers of G4 things so maybe the shelves were cleared to make room for G5 but at Farmers they had a Rarity and Capper Dapperpaws set just sitting there for ages at the bottom shelf as well as the weird Sia pony set but that's it, so I don't really know if that's just what was left of what sold, or?

I went to Toyworld two weeks ago to see if they had anything on special and found they had a boatload of the G4.5 dress-up brushables they must've been trying to clear because they were all 50% off and some more specific G5 things like the favourites together set.

So, don't actually know how well G5 is selling but places carrying G4.5 are seemingly struggling to get rid of them which is a little sad because they're nice toys, I think. The Christmas rush might change things  :think:

 

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