The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: WaterDraw on May 14, 2018, 05:34:04 PM
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Okay, I think this is a heavily talked about topic, or maybe it was at one point, but here's my spin on it...
Has anyone else noticed a decline in the quality of G4 hair ever since they rebranded with the whole movie? I'm not just talking about the greasy feeling hair, but like, dry and frizzy hair (especially with the pearly sea ponies)? My pearly sea pony Twilight and Rainbow Dash both have super frizzy hair and my pearly sea pony Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy have extremely dry hair (especially Pinkie Pie, her hair is even super straight while the others all had some volume of curl in their hair). I don't know if this is the same for the Rarity or Apple Jack pearly sea ponies or the newer non pearly sea ponies either. I know my Princess Skystar has beautifully silky hair (it is a bit too thin for my liking however...), and most of my normal ponies have the same silky hair quality.
Now, there are some exceptions. I got the friendship festival Twilight, Tempest Shadow, and Spike pack and while Twilight and Spike are okay, Tempest's tail is weirdly dry and almost frizzy. I also got the friendship festival exclusive pack from Toys "R" Us, and my Maude's hair is all dented and choppy (If you want a picture I can upload one), and her tail is weirdly thin and long. This stumps me because all the ponies in that set had absolutely silky, full hair that just felt so soft and amazing and yet Maude's is super weird.
The worst offender of all, however, has to be my Starlight Glimmer.
This Starlight Glimmer is the one that came with the snap on fashions outfits. From THE MOMENT I took her out of the package, her hair has been a complete and utter frizzy mess. So frizzy, it just stands backwards like she just got blown super hard by the wind or something. I tried fixing it today with some conditioning, but that hasn't helped at all which is a shame because she was the first of the new relaunch ponies I got.
If anyone has any information at all, can you please tell me? Thank you!
P.S. You might've saw my post about not being active during the summer, well no need to fear because I have gotten to keep my computer for extra courses I am taking for school.
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I've noticed. I don't collect G4 anymore but my friend does and she showed me the hair on her new ones and complained about it (justifiably, ofc). It was nothing like the hair on my G4s, which are all earlier releases. It's quite disappointing! We tried to straight-iron one of hers (and also used lots of conditioner on it) and it still didn't really solve the problem. It's not nearly so nice as it used to be!
Also it seemed to be a little more prone to melting? So I'm not sure I'd actually recommend straight ironing it.
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I certainly have seen this a lot, I am really getting disappointed.
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I also am interested it knowing what's going on with hair quality. If I had the time I'd like to take a systematic approach and compare year by year of G4 and color by color. And then measure the hair itself... I wonder if there's a objective way to measure hair quality? Can you weigh it? or shine a laser in it or something? Tensile rigidity?
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I noticed that my All About Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops developed frizz really quickly. :/ I ended up having to trim her mane a tiny bit, it got so bad. What’s odd is that I hadn’t even done much with her... she just got jostled around with some plushies for a while, and I guess that did it?
Anyway, that’s never happened with any of my other ponies, G1-G4. Now I’m concerned.
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This whole generation seems to have poorer quality hair period. I notice the tails seem to suffer the worst. I've gotten thin, dry, greasy, frizzy and unmanageable hair. I own a handful of ponies who have legitimately nice hair and 2 of them are merponies.
Sapphire Shores FS-Thick and silky, but a bit unmanageable.
Sapphire Joy Pearly-Silky but greasy and hard to manage. Had to braid it.
Rainbowdash MS-Dry, ratty, thin, unmanageable. Finally had to braid it.
Soarin AA-Nice and soft. Nice tail thickness too.
Songbird Serenade 2 pack with Twerlot Sporkle-Nice mane, dry tail. Conditioner helped. Sporkle had nicer hair then she did.
Diamond Mint WC-Standard, but a bit hard to manage.
Lira Heartstrings-Baggy pony-Standard. A bit hard to manage.
Pretzel-Greasy.
Baggy Rarity-Dry. Conditioning helped a bit.
Starlight Glimmer Pearly-Thick and silky. Bit hard to manage.
Princess Luna SB?-Thick tail, thin mane. Bit hard to manage.
Princess Celestia WC-Thin but silky.
Princess Gold Lily-Standard. Bit hard to manage.
Princess Sterling-Silky.
Princess Skystar-Silky but thin.
Mer-Rainbowdash-Thick and lush.
Mer-Fluttershy-Thick, lush and silky.
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Hmm, so judging from what you guys have said this seems to be common. Maybe it's something due to budget cuts? I know not all of my earlier G4s had perfect hair, but it was at least better than this.
I think it's a similar situation to Monster Highs possibly. I can't say for certain since I don't have the sales statistics, but MLP doesn't seem to be as popular as it once was and before the rebrand they seemed to have a lot more gimmicks than usual.
I also forgot to mention the Luna I got with Pinkie in the friendship festival pack. While I can't recall pinkie that much since I didn't care too much about her, Luna had extremely short and thin mane and tail. It was silky-ish, kinda greasy, but super short. (also I just want to take a second here to say I hate the new Luna/Cadence mold, especially the heads)
This doesn't have much to do with the hair but more-so the overall quality of the newer G4s, but I've also noticed a lot more issues with the plastic around the tail. More extra or cracked plastic.
So my conclusion is that the rebrand is sort of a last-ditch effort to squeeze some money out of MLP before they rebrand yet again with G5. The budget has been reduced and as a result the overall quality has decreased.
What do you guys think of that theory?
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I haven’t run into any greasiness in my G4/4.5s yet. I have had issues with dryness, though... Out of curiosity, does the greasy hair wash out, or is it more of a gluey thing?
I’ll be surprised if they rebrand in the immediate future. I think Hasbro will try to coast off of the movie for a couple more years at least... Then, who knows? They struck popularity gold with G4, so I’m sure they’ll do their best to squeeze every penny out of it. In fact, I’m a little scared that when they DO make G5, they’ll try too hard to keep it similar to G4. :/
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i’m not sure if it’s “actual” grease, rather isn’t it just slippery and slick? like they made it out of beach ball plastic?
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i’m not sure if it’s “actual” grease, rather isn’t it just slippery and slick? like they made it out of beach ball plastic?
Yeah it's not actual grease, but it feels like greasy human hair. I'm not sure what they do that makes it like that, but it usually occurs on the ones that have thinner hair plugs.
It could be glue or something sopping into the hair like on barbies, but it doesn't feel like when a barbie's hair gets the icky glue in it.
I'd have to find one of my ponies with greasy hair to test out the washing out method...which honestly I just might do.
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i’m not sure if it’s “actual” grease, rather isn’t it just slippery and slick? like they made it out of beach ball plastic?
I have no idea what it actually is, but it is so gross.Hmm, so judging from what you guys have said this seems to be common. Maybe it's something due to budget cuts? I know not all of my earlier G4s had perfect hair, but it was at least better than this.
I think it's a similar situation to Monster Highs possibly. I can't say for certain since I don't have the sales statistics, but MLP doesn't seem to be as popular as it once was and before the rebrand they seemed to have a lot more gimmicks than usual.
I also forgot to mention the Luna I got with Pinkie in the friendship festival pack. While I can't recall pinkie that much since I didn't care too much about her, Luna had extremely short and thin mane and tail. It was silky-ish, kinda greasy, but super short. (also I just want to take a second here to say I hate the new Luna/Cadence mold, especially the heads)
This doesn't have much to do with the hair but more-so the overall quality of the newer G4s, but I've also noticed a lot more issues with the plastic around the tail. More extra or cracked plastic.
So my conclusion is that the rebrand is sort of a last-ditch effort to squeeze some money out of MLP before they rebrand yet again with G5. The budget has been reduced and as a result the overall quality has decreased.
What do you guys think of that theory?
It's due to Hasbro cheaping out and pushing as much samey crud as possible for a quick profit period. The plastic aint that great either. I guess all of their quality stuff is going into their Masterpiece Transformers. I don't think we'll ever have it as good G1/G3 again. *sigh* How the mighty have fallen.
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Sometimes the tails really do have horrible hair, but I've found a product that helps at least get it manageable. It's called "Cos-Spray". It's a cosplay wig detangler! You spray it on the hair, comb through gently, and for the really frizzy tails? Curl it up tight with some tinfoil and blow dry for a bit. You don't need to wash it; you can leave the spray in. It's not harmful to plastic, since it's specifically made for nylon wigs, it actually smells quite nice, and it works magic at getting all the knots out and making the hair at least feel a bit better.
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Hmm...I haven’t gotten this kind of stuff yet, but I haven’t bought many of the new toys either. My only new movie crushable is a seapony pinkie pie. Her hair is nice and soft to me. But I have heard tales like this of less than par hair. I too would like to know what hasbros doing. A rebrand seems likely, and budget cuts. But It’s not an excuse, just a possible explanation.
As for the greasy hair, I have no idea. My best bet? The machine that plugs the hair might have been oiled prior to that batch, or the hair has been treated with something. But I’m no plastic expert, so don’t look at me like I know what I’m blathering on about.
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Sometimes the tails really do have horrible hair, but I've found a product that helps at least get it manageable. It's called "Cos-Spray". It's a cosplay wig detangler! You spray it on the hair, comb through gently, and for the really frizzy tails? Curl it up tight with some tinfoil and blow dry for a bit. You don't need to wash it; you can leave the spray in. It's not harmful to plastic, since it's specifically made for nylon wigs, it actually smells quite nice, and it works magic at getting all the knots out and making the hair at least feel a bit better.
Thank you Aitsuki. That seems like a wonderful discovery you made. :)
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It's quality control, or the complete lack thereof.
Hasbro has demonstrated they don't care to spend anything on QC for the G4 line, probably because the cost per unit is so low. Suppliers with no oversight and factories with no monitoring are going to pump out sub-par stuff, and I can't really blame them given how the working conditions aren't exactly up to western standards.
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i’m not sure if it’s “actual” grease, rather isn’t it just slippery and slick? like they made it out of beach ball plastic?
I think that sometimes it's actual grease that I have been able to get out with conditioner. People have theorized that is has something to do with the hair rooting or production process. Other times, it seems like it's just the type or quality of the hair.
I feel that G4 hair quality went down around 2013 for whatever reason. Packaging, molds, and paint also all declined. Some of the new G4.5/reboot seemed to have a little better hair quality at first, but they never got back to the thickness and softness of the early releases.
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This whole generation seems to have poorer quality hair period. I notice the tails seem to suffer the worst. I've gotten thin, dry, greasy, frizzy and unmanageable hair. I own a handful of ponies who have legitimately nice hair and 2 of them are merponies.
This. There have been complaints about the quality of G4 hair going back to nearly the beginning of the line (I've found threads dating from early 2012 mentioning it). It does seem to be happening more and more frequently lately, but the ones I've had that stand out have been the Rarity that came with the "Book"tique which had incredibly frizzy hair straight out of the box and a couple of the Rainbow Power Fluttershys that came with a Breezie which had waxy feeling tails that no amount of washing and conditioning would fix.
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My older g4's are fine I guess, but my newer pearly cherry berry has hair issues too. Oh well, I can fix that I think, plus she wasn't that expensive.
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Nearly all of my newer G4s have dry, frizzy, or greasy hair. I've noticed that the ponis that come in playsets or 2-packs have somewhat nicer hair, but even then it's still hit and miss. My Haven Bay has very greasy hair, and my hippogriff Skystar has dry and frizzy hair. But my Luna and Pinkie Pie sea has silky, beautiful hair! I hope this hair quality doesn't continue into G5.
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I have had problems with bad rail quality since 2013 with Sunset Shimmer. The bad mane quality started with the pearly brushables though and just got worse with the reboot. The worst one is the land and sea pinkie pie (one with fabric sea pony tail) her hair falls out when brushed and she is missing a hair plug already.
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Nearly all of my newer G4s have dry, frizzy, or greasy hair. I've noticed that the ponis that come in playsets or 2-packs have somewhat nicer hair, but even then it's still hit and miss. My Haven Bay has very greasy hair, and my hippogriff Skystar has dry and frizzy hair. But my Luna and Pinkie Pie sea has silky, beautiful hair! I hope this hair quality doesn't continue into G5.
I hope not either, but I aint holdin my breath.
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Almost all of my G4.5 ponies have had really bad hair. I got lucky on a few and their hair is really nice, but I'd say 90% of them just have dry, frizzy, straw-like feeling hair. That's why I mostly stopped with collecting 4.5 ponies and just get them for customs. Hopefully with the big 6" set coming out with the mane 6 and princesses the hair quality issue will be somewhat resolved. I don't want a big Luna with garbage hair :pout:
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Almost all of my G4.5s and later G4s (such as pearly ponies) have terrible, frizzy hair. With the only exceptions being the 12 ponies from the TRU Friendship Festival pack, and the ponies that came with the Walmart release of Seaquestria. But all of the single and 2-pack G4.5s had frizzy hair right out of the box.
The hair on the new Equestria Girls dolls is very nice, however.
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It's quality control, or the complete lack thereof.
Hasbro has demonstrated they don't care to spend anything on QC for the G4 line, probably because the cost per unit is so low. Suppliers with no oversight and factories with no monitoring are going to pump out sub-par stuff, and I can't really blame them given how the working conditions aren't exactly up to western standards.
THIS SO MUCH.
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It's quality control, or the complete lack thereof.
Hasbro has demonstrated they don't care to spend anything on QC for the G4 line, probably because the cost per unit is so low. Suppliers with no oversight and factories with no monitoring are going to pump out sub-par stuff, and I can't really blame them given how the working conditions aren't exactly up to western standards.
This is what I have noticed, even to the extent of hair not being properly glued into the head so it comes out in locks when brushed :\
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I'm not sure if it's a steady decline in quality. To me it feels more like it goes up and down almost at random. Like Twist (Twist-a-loo) was quite early in the line, yet had some of the worst hair. Her tail is actually a different type of hair, and a slightly different shade of hair, than her mane!
To me the pearly ponies' hair seems quite nice, I don't know if it's because I don't style my ponies as much as some people or what.
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I have had problems with bad rail quality since 2013 with Sunset Shimmer. The bad mane quality started with the pearly brushables though and just got worse with the reboot. The worst one is the land and sea pinkie pie (one with fabric sea pony tail) her hair falls out when brushed and she is missing a hair plug already.
My pearly sea pony Twilight came with a plug in the front missing, yet the rest of her hair seems correctly plugged in. Maybe some sea ponies just have bad luck.
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I have had problems with bad rail quality since 2013 with Sunset Shimmer. The bad mane quality started with the pearly brushables though and just got worse with the reboot. The worst one is the land and sea pinkie pie (one with fabric sea pony tail) her hair falls out when brushed and she is missing a hair plug already.
My pearly sea pony Twilight came with a plug in the front missing, yet the rest of her hair seems correctly plugged in. Maybe some sea ponies just have bad luck.
I have the pearly sea pony Rainbow Dash, and her mane is rooted unevenly... As in, some of the hair is only like an inch long, while other parts are 3-4 inches. I gave one of the short plugs a gentle tug, to see if it was caught in something... and the whole tuft fell out in my hand. :P Yeah... QC isn’t what it used to be.
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I think the "reboot" ponies have an overall extremely sharp decline in quality - both in the body plastic, and in the hair. The hair hasn't been great since G2s left the stores, but it's been adequate for the most part. G3s have a problem with that disintegrating pink, and there are several ponies that have easily frizzing hair, but it was mostly ok. G4s always had some problems, even more than G3s, but it was mostly adequate as well.
I remember when the G4s first came out, someone posted a size comparison shot between all generations of MLP. The person who made the photo was incensed that the new G4s were about the same size as the McDonald's ponies. I have space issues, so tiny ponies are never a problem with me! As long as they're decent quality, small is fine. They may have been small, but they were still considerably better than the McDonald's ponies. You could just look at them and see the difference, and it was even more pronounced when you held them. Now, they seem to be getting closer and closer to fast food toy quality. The type of plastic used for the bodies is getting closer, the molds have been redesigned to make them even cheaper to make, and the hair is getting closer to that very low standard as well.
MLP is quickly becoming fast food toy quality at retail doll/action figure prices.
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I think the "reboot" ponies have an overall extremely sharp decline in quality - both in the body plastic, and in the hair. The hair hasn't been great since G2s left the stores, but it's been adequate for the most part. G3s have a problem with that disintegrating pink, and there are several ponies that have easily frizzing hair, but it was mostly ok. G4s always had some problems, even more than G3s, but it was mostly adequate as well.
I remember when the G4s first came out, someone posted a size comparison shot between all generations of MLP. The person who made the photo was incensed that the new G4s were about the same size as the McDonald's ponies. I have space issues, so tiny ponies are never a problem with me! As long as they're decent quality, small is fine. They may have been small, but they were still considerably better than the McDonald's ponies. You could just look at them and see the difference, and it was even more pronounced when you held them. Now, they seem to be getting closer and closer to fast food toy quality. The type of plastic used for the bodies is getting closer, the molds have been redesigned to make them even cheaper to make, and the hair is getting closer to that very low standard as well.
MLP is quickly becoming fast food toy quality at retail doll/action figure prices.
I gotta agree with this. The size was okay so long as it was still of decent quality but I just can't justify the price versus the quality of what we've been given. The pony toys we're getting now seem more like the stuff we might have gotten in happy meals in 2003
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Sometimes the tails really do have horrible hair, but I've found a product that helps at least get it manageable. It's called "Cos-Spray". It's a cosplay wig detangler! You spray it on the hair, comb through gently, and for the really frizzy tails? Curl it up tight with some tinfoil and blow dry for a bit. You don't need to wash it; you can leave the spray in. It's not harmful to plastic, since it's specifically made for nylon wigs, it actually smells quite nice, and it works magic at getting all the knots out and making the hair at least feel a bit better.
Thank you Aitsuki. That seems like a wonderful discovery you made. :)
Yeah. I'm trying to find it online, or the little shop or something, but I can't. I bought it at a convention, and I'm sure similar products will work; apparently, silicone sprays are great for wigs, so it should work for pony hair too.
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Sometimes the tails really do have horrible hair, but I've found a product that helps at least get it manageable. It's called "Cos-Spray". It's a cosplay wig detangler! You spray it on the hair, comb through gently, and for the really frizzy tails? Curl it up tight with some tinfoil and blow dry for a bit. You don't need to wash it; you can leave the spray in. It's not harmful to plastic, since it's specifically made for nylon wigs, it actually smells quite nice, and it works magic at getting all the knots out and making the hair at least feel a bit better.
Thank you Aitsuki. That seems like a wonderful discovery you made. :)
Yeah. I'm trying to find it online, or the little shop or something, but I can't. I bought it at a convention, and I'm sure similar products will work; apparently, silicone sprays are great for wigs, so it should work for pony hair too.
That's interesting about silicone sprays. A lot of detangler sprays are silicone -based - you have to be quite careful with them with real hair (human or horse) as they tend to make real hair brittle.
Hmmmm - think I've got a small quantity of frizzed-up MLP donor hair, I'll have to experiment........
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I think the "reboot" ponies have an overall extremely sharp decline in quality - both in the body plastic, and in the hair. The hair hasn't been great since G2s left the stores, but it's been adequate for the most part. G3s have a problem with that disintegrating pink, and there are several ponies that have easily frizzing hair, but it was mostly ok. G4s always had some problems, even more than G3s, but it was mostly adequate as well.
I remember when the G4s first came out, someone posted a size comparison shot between all generations of MLP. The person who made the photo was incensed that the new G4s were about the same size as the McDonald's ponies. I have space issues, so tiny ponies are never a problem with me! As long as they're decent quality, small is fine. They may have been small, but they were still considerably better than the McDonald's ponies. You could just look at them and see the difference, and it was even more pronounced when you held them. Now, they seem to be getting closer and closer to fast food toy quality. The type of plastic used for the bodies is getting closer, the molds have been redesigned to make them even cheaper to make, and the hair is getting closer to that very low standard as well.
MLP is quickly becoming fast food toy quality at retail doll/action figure prices.
That's for sure.
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I think the "reboot" ponies have an overall extremely sharp decline in quality - both in the body plastic, and in the hair. The hair hasn't been great since G2s left the stores, but it's been adequate for the most part. G3s have a problem with that disintegrating pink, and there are several ponies that have easily frizzing hair, but it was mostly ok. G4s always had some problems, even more than G3s, but it was mostly adequate as well.
I remember when the G4s first came out, someone posted a size comparison shot between all generations of MLP. The person who made the photo was incensed that the new G4s were about the same size as the McDonald's ponies. I have space issues, so tiny ponies are never a problem with me! As long as they're decent quality, small is fine. They may have been small, but they were still considerably better than the McDonald's ponies. You could just look at them and see the difference, and it was even more pronounced when you held them. Now, they seem to be getting closer and closer to fast food toy quality. The type of plastic used for the bodies is getting closer, the molds have been redesigned to make them even cheaper to make, and the hair is getting closer to that very low standard as well.
MLP is quickly becoming fast food toy quality at retail doll/action figure prices.
Well what do you expect for a $5 pony? There is an old saying "you get what you pay for".
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I think the "reboot" ponies have an overall extremely sharp decline in quality - both in the body plastic, and in the hair. The hair hasn't been great since G2s left the stores, but it's been adequate for the most part. G3s have a problem with that disintegrating pink, and there are several ponies that have easily frizzing hair, but it was mostly ok. G4s always had some problems, even more than G3s, but it was mostly adequate as well.
I remember when the G4s first came out, someone posted a size comparison shot between all generations of MLP. The person who made the photo was incensed that the new G4s were about the same size as the McDonald's ponies. I have space issues, so tiny ponies are never a problem with me! As long as they're decent quality, small is fine. They may have been small, but they were still considerably better than the McDonald's ponies. You could just look at them and see the difference, and it was even more pronounced when you held them. Now, they seem to be getting closer and closer to fast food toy quality. The type of plastic used for the bodies is getting closer, the molds have been redesigned to make them even cheaper to make, and the hair is getting closer to that very low standard as well.
MLP is quickly becoming fast food toy quality at retail doll/action figure prices.
Well what do you expect for a $5 pony? There is an old saying "you get what you pay for".
Funny. We've had $5 ponies for 30 years and the quality is way better then this.
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I've noticed since the pearly pony release, and I even thought that it was due to the pearly material of the body that the hair quality dropped.
Funny. We've had $5 ponies for 30 years and the quality is way better then this.
You're right, although one could argue that the cost is the major factor, I've seen fakies and dollar store dolls with better hair...
I might just stick to thrift store G4.5's unless they release someone I ABSOLUTELY have to have. At least the Cutie Mark Crew will get my new pony fix.
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It’s been a while since I’ve seen a straight up $5 pony. Some of the most basic singles that don’t come with any accessories might be in that price range, and the discount chains can have ponies for that price(when they have ponies), but most “brushable” ponies are in the $7-$14 range over here because of the accessories. The accessories they come with aren’t that great either, certainly not worth what they cost. For that price, the ponies should be significantly better than what you can get at McDonald’s. They don’t even come with a meal! :p
What bothers me most about the newest incarnation is how they went away from the hollow, squishy vinyl plastic of the last 35 years to this solid, cheap plastic. The skinny legs just get to me. They look so cheap! They cheaped out on the hair too, so they really are a few steps away from fast food toys.
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A lot of the backcards I have from the US record a price tag of less than $5 for some of the G1s :P I know it was the 1980s, but just saying.
In the UK original retail for a basic pony was between £2.49 and £2.99. I got Windy when I did because she was pretty and she was cheap, a perfect combination for my Mum as she had a tight budget that year thanks to a mixture of things happening in the family in '84.
I think it is hit and miss with G4 pony hair quality. There are some ponies in G1 who also do have hair quality issues, mostly from the 1992 year where there are lots of hair experiments going on, particularly in Europe. G2 has decent hair, generally, but G3 have those few discount ones with breakable hair so...
Slow and gradual decrease in investment to try and maximise profit? We live in the most disposable time period ever - why make something to last when a kid will be bored with it next week? I have already found reboot G4 at the carboot sale and the kid selling them was about 7. I still had my G1 ponies out and played with them till I was ten or eleven...but it was a different world then.
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Slow and gradual decrease in investment to try and maximise profit? We live in the most disposable time period ever - why make something to last when a kid will be bored with it next week? I have already found reboot G4 at the carboot sale and the kid selling them was about 7. I still had my G1 ponies out and played with them till I was ten or eleven...but it was a different world then.
I can't tell you how much I agree with this statement. The supposed economic use of plastic has lasted a long time and now, where people used to be of the mind to fix things when they broke, now it's throw it away and buy a new one. From the over saturation of plastic in the oceans and landfills to how 'cheap' it is to create apparently, I see no real excuse for such a tank in quality aside from the mindset that Taffeta mentioned. Throw away culture.
I'm not a hoarder but I'm also not quick to throw things away. I hold onto things. My daughter doesn't play with her ponies often anymore but I still have them stored away should the nostalgia bug bite her. Some parents will replace things if they break. I will not, so I try to choose quality items for her so they last. Hasbro from the time G33 was out till now has drastically declined in quality so much that I hesitate to buy even ponies I want because I worry about them standing the test of time.
Hasbro is just another greedy corporate giant who's trying to milk a brands good name until people lose interest. Likely then they'll say 'oh, no one wants my little pony anymore, lets scrap it' when the truth is that we want mlp, but they just suck at making them now XD
I wish Bonnie was still around designing ponies.
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Slow and gradual decrease in investment to try and maximise profit? We live in the most disposable time period ever - why make something to last when a kid will be bored with it next week? I have already found reboot G4 at the carboot sale and the kid selling them was about 7. I still had my G1 ponies out and played with them till I was ten or eleven...but it was a different world then.
I can't tell you how much I agree with this statement. The supposed economic use of plastic has lasted a long time and now, where people used to be of the mind to fix things when they broke, now it's throw it away and buy a new one. From the over saturation of plastic in the oceans and landfills to how 'cheap' it is to create apparently, I see no real excuse for such a tank in quality aside from the mindset that Taffeta mentioned. Throw away culture.
I'm not a hoarder but I'm also not quick to throw things away. I hold onto things. My daughter doesn't play with her ponies often anymore but I still have them stored away should the nostalgia bug bite her. Some parents will replace things if they break. I will not, so I try to choose quality items for her so they last. Hasbro from the time G33 was out till now has drastically declined in quality so much that I hesitate to buy even ponies I want because I worry about them standing the test of time.
Hasbro is just another greedy corporate giant who's trying to milk a brands good name until people lose interest. Likely then they'll say 'oh, no one wants my little pony anymore, lets scrap it' when the truth is that we want mlp, but they just suck at making them now XD
I wish Bonnie was still around designing ponies.
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Hasbro is just another greedy corporate giant who's trying to milk a brands good name until people lose interest. Likely then they'll say 'oh, no one wants my little pony anymore, lets scrap it' when the truth is that we want mlp, but they just suck at making them now XD
I wish Bonnie was still around designing ponies.
That's not quite why things are the way they are right now. Hasbro likes money, unsurprisingly. It's in the business of being profitable for its shareholders. That means offering what the market wants, at the price the market will pay, in such a way that it gets a profit. As was pointed out earlier, we're still buying ~5$ ponies some 30 years later, when the value of a dollar is a whole heck of a lot less than back in 1982.
That should ring some alarm bells.
A 5$ toy in the early eighties was low birthday gift price range, and would cost ~13$ today. With a little more than 1/3 of the price, it's no surprise you get only 1/3 the quality, and it's what consumers want. There are outliers, like collectors and quality-minded parents, but the bulk of the market (which is what Hasbro cares about) has voted with their wallet and 5$ cheap quality ponies is what they want to buy. Consumers are extremely price sensitive - that's why you see other companies, particularly food brands, shrinking their sizes rather than increasing the cost.
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Hasbro is just another greedy corporate giant who's trying to milk a brands good name until people lose interest. Likely then they'll say 'oh, no one wants my little pony anymore, lets scrap it' when the truth is that we want mlp, but they just suck at making them now XD
I wish Bonnie was still around designing ponies.
That's not quite why things are the way they are right now. Hasbro likes money, unsurprisingly. It's in the business of being profitable for its shareholders. That means offering what the market wants, at the price the market will pay, in such a way that it gets a profit. As was pointed out earlier, we're still buying ~5$ ponies some 30 years later, when the value of a dollar is a whole heck of a lot less than back in 1982.
That should ring some alarm bells.
A 5$ toy in the early eighties was low birthday gift price range, and would cost ~13$ today. With a little more than 1/3 of the price, it's no surprise you get only 1/3 the quality, and it's what consumers want. There are outliers, like collectors and quality-minded parents, but the bulk of the market (which is what Hasbro cares about) has voted with their wallet and 5$ cheap quality ponies is what they want to buy. Consumers are extremely price sensitive - that's why you see other companies, particularly food brands, shrinking their sizes rather than increasing the cost.
There's absolutely no arguing that. I often don't pipe up in conversations unless I feel I can bring new thoughts to the table. My post wasn't meant to say anything else wasn't at work, but rather something else that hadn't been thoroughly discussed as of yet.
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There are outliers, like collectors and quality-minded parents
I wouldn't say MLP collectors are outliers at all. A lot of collectors want MLPs to be $5 forever, yet also be of as good of quality as in the 80s. As a community we are notoriously cheap, probably because G1 MLPs were so popular and indestructible back in the day that most of them are easily found secondhand for a cheap price. (More supply than demand.) But just because someone is selling their childhood Cotton Candy secondhand for $5 doesn't mean that Hasbro can make a profit selling a pony of similar size and quality for $5 in the modern day.
Like you were saying, people have to pick their poison. Cheap ponies made from cheaper materials, or better quality ponies that are more expensive. I would love to see Hasbro raise the prices on ponies and make them of better material, especially the hair. (As far as size goes, I don't mind either way. You can fit more small ponies on shelf, so . . . ) I agree, though, that consumers are very price sensitive so it might not fly. Still, with MLP FIM being as popular as it is, I think they could get away with it.
I mean, they do offer ponies at a variety of price points, but often the more pricey ponies are physically bigger (like the singing Princess Skystar toy or the Fashion Styling ponies), which I don't like because then they are out of proportion to the other pony toys.
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There are outliers, like collectors and quality-minded parents
I wouldn't say MLP collectors are outliers at all. A lot of collectors want MLPs to be $5 forever, yet also be of as good of quality as in the 80s. As a community we are notoriously cheap, probably because G1 MLPs were so popular and indestructible back in the day that most of them are easily found secondhand for a cheap price. (More supply than demand.) But just because someone is selling their childhood Cotton Candy secondhand for $5 doesn't mean that Hasbro can make a profit selling a pony of similar size and quality for $5 in the modern day.
Like you were saying, people have to pick their poison. Cheap ponies made from cheaper materials, or better quality ponies that are more expensive. I would love to see Hasbro raise the prices on ponies and make them of better material, especially the hair. (As far as size goes, I don't mind either way. You can fit more small ponies on shelf, so . . . ) I agree, though, that consumers are very price sensitive so it might not fly. Still, with MLP FIM being as popular as it is, I think they could get away with it.
I mean, they do offer ponies at a variety of price points, but often the more pricey ponies are physically bigger (like the singing Princess Skystar toy or the Fashion Styling ponies), which I don't like because then they are out of proportion to the other pony toys.
Cheap? Cheap?! Are you callin us a bunch of baby birds?
:silly:
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for me modern Hasbro is redeemed by the fact they sell ponies at multiple sizes and price points. as far as i’m concerned Fashion Style size at $15 each are the modern “Real MLP”. the $5-$9 brushables are basically mini ponies, (not quite blind bag ponyville but close). ive bought my fair share, but the bigger fashion style size is what i compare to vintage MLP. as been said i think inflation and oil costs may have been what makes a modern $15 pony equal.
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for me modern Hasbro is redeemed by the fact they sell ponies at multiple sizes and price points. as far as i’m concerned Fashion Style size at $15 each are the modern “Real MLP”. the $5-$9 brushables are basically mini ponies, (not quite blind bag ponyville but close). ive bought my fair share, but the bigger fashion style size is what i compare to vintage MLP. as been said i think inflation and oil costs may have been what makes a modern $15 pony equal.
I couldn’t agree with this more. When G4 started, I was immediately drawn to the Fashion Style ponies because they were close in size to G1. I do wish they would produce more characters in FS size, but that’s my only complaint.
Going by what we see on modern store shelves, it pays to offer a range of prices to suit different budgets. Pretty much all brands do this: Transformers have “Leader”, “Voyager”, “Deluxe”, and “Legends” figures (among others); Barbie has deluxe and slimbox dolls with varying levels of quality and articulation; LPS now offers a range of sizes... MLP is pretty much doing the same thing.
What’s a shame is that they’re now letting quality control slip for the “basics”, while keeping prices the same. :/
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It’s been a while since I’ve seen a straight up $5 pony. Some of the most basic singles that don’t come with any accessories might be in that price range, and the discount chains can have ponies for that price(when they have ponies), but most “brushable” ponies are in the $7-$14 range over here because of the accessories. The accessories they come with aren’t that great either, certainly not worth what they cost. For that price, the ponies should be significantly better than what you can get at McDonald’s. They don’t even come with a meal! :p
What bothers me most about the newest incarnation is how they went away from the hollow, squishy vinyl plastic of the last 35 years to this solid, cheap plastic. The skinny legs just get to me. They look so cheap! They cheaped out on the hair too, so they really are a few steps away from fast food toys.
I remember last weekend I found one of the first Twilight's released at the beginning of G4 and compared her to the newer G4.5 Twilight, and the skinniness actually shocked me. :shocked: I also noticed that with the old, squishier plastic there were way less obvious seams then there are now with the awful, plastic-y reboot.
Also, has anyone else had issues with their G4.5s wobbling around? It seems that some legs aren't even and I tend to have wobbly ponies. Like, for the pose they used for DJ PON-3 in the friendship festival Toys "R" Us pack, the front leg that's standing straight is much shorter than the other legs. Also the packaging for this set was just poor in general as it was hard to get the ponies out and the way their legs were spaced out made it so some of their legs are super far apart, therefore warping the ponies. But I'm just ranting at this point. ^^;
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It’s been a while since I’ve seen a straight up $5 pony. Some of the most basic singles that don’t come with any accessories might be in that price range, and the discount chains can have ponies for that price(when they have ponies), but most “brushable” ponies are in the $7-$14 range over here because of the accessories. The accessories they come with aren’t that great either, certainly not worth what they cost. For that price, the ponies should be significantly better than what you can get at McDonald’s. They don’t even come with a meal! :p
What bothers me most about the newest incarnation is how they went away from the hollow, squishy vinyl plastic of the last 35 years to this solid, cheap plastic. The skinny legs just get to me. They look so cheap! They cheaped out on the hair too, so they really are a few steps away from fast food toys.
I remember last weekend I found one of the first Twilight's released at the beginning of G4 and compared her to the newer G4.5 Twilight, and the skinniness actually shocked me. :shocked: I also noticed that with the old, squishier plastic there were way less obvious seams then there are now with the awful, plastic-y reboot.
Also, has anyone else had issues with their G4.5s wobbling around? It seems that some legs aren't even and I tend to have wobbly ponies. Like, for the pose they used for DJ PON-3 in the friendship festival Toys "R" Us pack, the front leg that's standing straight is much shorter than the other legs. Also the packaging for this set was just poor in general as it was hard to get the ponies out and the way their legs were spaced out made it so some of their legs are super far apart, therefore warping the ponies. But I'm just ranting at this point. ^^;
I only have a pegasus and a few merponies. Skystar is the only one who is not entirely stable.
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The quality isn't always great on the FS ponies either. Photo Finish and Royal Ribbon also retailed here at £22 which is at least $30 if not more. I bought both when they were clearanced to a much lower price. Royal Ribbon's hair is fine but Photo Finish's tail looks like half of it was lopped off before she even made it into the box and I had to wash and condition it - her mane is still pretty flyaway.
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My new style Twilight FS has dry hair - I haven't tried to do anything to it yet, but I'm afraid it will go frizzy when I do. I don't recall any of the earlier FS styles having problems though I did check my Photo Finish and her hair does feel slightly greasy. I also noticed that they've been reducing the amount of hair on them. The early ones have four rows of plugs, the more recent ones (Royal Ribbon, Photo Finish, etc.) have three, and the new style have only two. There may be a few that break that pattern, but it does seem to be the general trend.
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The quality isn't always great on the FS ponies either. Photo Finish and Royal Ribbon also retailed here at £22 which is at least $30 if not more. I bought both when they were clearanced to a much lower price. Royal Ribbon's hair is fine but Photo Finish's tail looks like half of it was lopped off before she even made it into the box and I had to wash and condition it - her mane is still pretty flyaway.
That's insane.
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The quality isn't always great on the FS ponies either. Photo Finish and Royal Ribbon also retailed here at £22 which is at least $30 if not more. I bought both when they were clearanced to a much lower price. Royal Ribbon's hair is fine but Photo Finish's tail looks like half of it was lopped off before she even made it into the box and I had to wash and condition it - her mane is still pretty flyaway.
Just when you think Hasbeen *cough* I mean hasbro cant sink any lower.
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The quality isn't always great on the FS ponies either. Photo Finish and Royal Ribbon also retailed here at £22 which is at least $30 if not more. I bought both when they were clearanced to a much lower price. Royal Ribbon's hair is fine but Photo Finish's tail looks like half of it was lopped off before she even made it into the box and I had to wash and condition it - her mane is still pretty flyaway.
Just when you think Hasbeen *cough* I mean hasbro cant sink any lower.
It's their pleasure to prove us wrong.