The MLP Arena

Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Ragamuffin on November 26, 2021, 08:56:01 PM

Title: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Ragamuffin 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Wardah 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Taffeta 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: mopthebunny 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: BlackCurtains 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: invaderhorizongreen 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: honor_h 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Ponybookworm 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

Oh the joys of living in a small village!!!

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Leave a Whisper 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: SunPony 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. 

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Ponyfan 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.


Ponyfan

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: lovesbabysquirmy on November 27, 2021, 09:23:47 AM

i have hardly gone out for toys so IDK

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: SweetNightmare 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: BerylBreeze 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.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: lowpolyzoe 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:

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Strawberry Swirl on November 28, 2021, 02:08:34 PM

I really want to blame Covid for a lot of the shelf warming issues, but I also think it's hard to tell when you're in an area without a lot of young people. I think people might prefer online shopping these days to traditional but I do like to think G5 will pick up a little bit more in the coming years. Post Covid and if they really do make a regular series like FiM.

It is a shame though that the pony sections of all the Walmarts I've been to are so small...even tinier in Target! I don't really know how much of it is due to Hasbro not making a lot of stuff or if retailers are hesitant to stock much of it. I guess we might just have to see.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Carrehz on November 29, 2021, 04:45:44 PM

I live in a one-horse town (all of my "local" toy shops are a good 15 mins away *minimum*) so keep that in mind... Also I don't know any kids nor do I really pay attention to them while I'm out, but I don't recall ever really seeing any kids in the pony aisles when I've been there. Again, that might just be me not noticing them, but I do remember seeing kids looking at MHs, Barbies, Sylvanians... Ponies? Nope. I assume kids DID like them but I don't have any personal anecdotes there or whatever.

G4 - distribution seemed good at the start of the line, but I wasn't really paying that much attention to them at that time x) didn't start collecting G4 really until around the wedding singles (Trixie, Lyra etc), so up to that point I'd just notice them in passing while looking at other toys, or just glance at them to see if any caught my eye, etc etc.

mid-G4 up to the movie - generally well distributed, blind bags were a pain in the butt to find once they started splitting the waves into two (one half of the wave tended to hang around for ages, finding both halves was annoyingly difficult), never saw the last couple of blind bag waves at all (go fig - I really wanted those!!).

store-exclusive sets tended to NOT appear over here. i.e. the big set with Haven Bay, the TRU exclusive sets with the cool chars like Chrysalis, Lyrica, etc. (I think I heard the TRU multipacks DID show up at some specialist shop, but I never saw them in person. If they did then that shop was nowhere near me, lol.)

FiM Collection Apple family sets shelfwarmed for years and ended up at pretty much every discount shop in the country. I recall the Power Ponies shelfwarmed quite a bit and ended up bouncing between shops, too, but not quite as badly as the Apples. They definitely ordered waaaaaaayyy too many of those. (I suspect it might have been a case of them just being made too late? They were all based on eps that were years old by that point... makes me wonder if they'd have sold better if they'd been released when they were actually "relevant". Didn't matter to me since I don't watch FiM and was just happy to see more characters, but I do wonder if that played a part in them not selling well...)

The other FiM Collection sets.. IIRC the one after that (Pinkie, Maud, Gummy etc) got normal distribution and did not shelfwarm. Nightmare Night never showed up over here. (the bat pony knight might have shown up in TK Maxx because I do seem to recall buying him in a shop... but I had to get Ditzy and Luna online, so definitely most of them didn't show up here) Rarity set showed up at Toys R Us only I think (and not too long before TRU shut down, either).. believe the Canterlot ones only showed up in discount shops once or twice.. never saw the 2018 ones.

Equestria Girls - great distro for the original line, don't remember any problems there at all really. some of the later dolls only showed up at one or two shops very briefly, but _in general_ the line was well-distributed, as I recall. The reboot dolls I think only showed up at Smyths Toys and I recall them shelfwarming for quite a while. Minis were middling, some showed up, some didn't.

Agree w/ Guardians of Harmony shelfwarming over here and some of them just not showing up at all.

G4 Movie line and the accompanying Reboot ponies - that's where distribution started to get funky. The basic main 6 brushables were easy to find, the new chars (Soarin, Lyra etc) I don't remember hanging around for too long so they were probably very popular. Sia pony shelfwarmed like crazy, think my Entertainer only just managed to get rid of their stock of her this year. GoH Movie sets (with the pirate birds, etc) are STILL hanging around some Entertainers, those really didn't sell over here. Never saw the Capper set. (Can you guess who was the only movie non-pony char I wanted a toy of? :P) Nor the hippogriffs - had to get those online too.

Baby hippogriffs, I only saw them ONCE, months after I'd broken down and bought them off eBay, at a small "mom n pop"-type local toy shop. No idea where that guy got them. The baby sea ponies I remember only showing up at discount shops, but they were very plentiful in them and stuck around for a while. (Wouldn't say they were shelfwarming)

I'd say distribution for the Movie and Reboot ponies was about 50/50. Obviously some sets do just slip through the cracks, that happens with pretty much every toy line, it had always happened with G4 (well, with MLP full stop!), but at this point, more stuff wasn't appearing in the UK. (Or if it was, it wasn't making it over to my neck of the woods!)

Most of the last few G4 sets just didn't turn up at all.. pony sections started getting smaller and smaller... mostly you'd find newer stuff at TK Maxx or The Entertainer, if you were lucky, once in a blue moon, and usually they'd be missing half the set. (this is why I'm missing some of the Retro Rainbow set.. *pokes sig*) I.e. Sandbar never turned up over here, but I did find him at TK Maxx the other day. *Edit: Just remembered these - the TAF-esque ponies (I forget the actual set name, Cutie Mark something maybe?) never showed up over here at all. Found that set in Zurich though, when I went there back in Feb 2019. But yeah that set skipped the UK entirely.

Also want to add that even the G4 reboot stuff, esp. later releases, that WAS released in the UK, a lot of it did not stick around on the shelves for very long. Especially if it was a non-main 6 set, it was very much a case of "grab it when you see it, or risk missing it".*

G4.5 - God help you if you wanted these. ASDA and Smyths got one wave of the potion ponies (I forget which one) and the Fluttershy/Pinkie dress-up ponies, they shelfwarmed for months. ASDA got wave 2 of the potion blind bags and they've turned up at some GAME stores recently. Entertainer has one wave of the crystally blind bags (I dunno which one) and I think ASDA might have them, or might've had them in the past, not sure? And all three had the Smashin' Fashions singles. they're still shelfwarming at Entertainer (I was looking at them just today) and I believe Smyths still has some of them too. then the only other G4.5 I've seen in shops is the big hairplay Cadance (with horribly pixelly-printed eyes!).

Oh and those EQG mini fashion pack things showed up around this point, I dunno what gen those are part of. The ones with Minty and.. I think Cadance? They hung around for ages. hell I think my Smyths might still have some.. know they still have those tiny lesser-detailed minis on the cards..

The pony shelves at this point were TINY everywhere, a lot of places just didn't carry ponies any more. Don't think Tesco ever got any of this gen in.

G5 - Hard to say since we're still in the early days, plus COVID's messed things up to no end. G5 didn't show up here until months and MONTHS after they first came out in America. Not much variety yet. Pony sections are still itsy-bitsy. Entertainer hasn't got any yet, ASDA and Smyths have them... I was in Hamleys last week (in London) and they had no ponies at all. Now I can honestly say I don't think I ever went to Hamleys in G4's hey-day (if I did, it was too long ago for me to adequately remember!) but I imagine they probably had some ponies back then! Don't think Tesco has these yet but I'm blanking...

Not many different ponies available over here yet. I'm looking at MLPMerch's G5 page right now... we have the scene packs, the big Rainbow Reveal Sunny, the singing Pipp with the fluffy wings, think we have the zipline playset too?? And that's it, I think. That's pretty much the entirety of the pony section now. That and shelfwarming G4.5/EQG minis.

The crossover ponies like Plasmane, D&D ponies, etc (what gen are these considered?) - basically nonexistent over here - only ones I've ever seen in person are the D&D set at Forbidden Planet in London (and they were marked down on clearance when I saw them this summer - just 4 or 5 sets scattered about on a low shelf). Can't speak to whether or not they flew off the shelves since I only saw them that one time (was there on a day trip).

Basic Fun distribution - terrible and horribly inconsistent over here. Let's see.

Collector ponies - Forbidden Planet had these briefly, they also had the Pretty Parlour set for a hot minute. Smyths also had the Pretty Parlour for a decent amount of time.
Unicorns/Pegasi wave 1 (Glory, Firefly etc) - think these were about the best distributed of the lot, I recall Entertainer and Smyths had these, like 90% sure John Lewis got them too?
Rainbow wave 1 - Don't think I ever saw these personally, I might be misremembering though. None of them look familiar to me. I definitely don't think we ever got the scented ponies.
Rainbow wave 2 - John Lewis had these and they shelfwarmed for a while. After that, they gave up on stocking ponies entirely. Don't think any of the other shops got them in but could be misremembering.
Earth ponies (Applejack, Bow-Tie etc) - Never saw these. I understand they DID show up at some Toymasters, but I couldn't get to one to see for myself.
Stranger Things Applejack - I caught a glimpse of this one at a Toymaster that I was in for about 0.5 seconds before it shut. x)
All other Basic Fun releases - Never seen them. Haven't seen any in shops for a long time. Most of the ones I did see seemed to shelfwarm.

I will note that the Funko POP G1s, they haven't shown up in a lot of places (Never seen them at any Forbidden Planet; I've only seen them at Entertainer and ASDA, and ASDA only got two in.. I think CC and Butters) BUT they did seem to sell out quickly at ASDA, at least. My Entertainer doesn't seem to be selling them, but they tend to get stuck with POPs, especially "retro" characters, for a LONG time (they still have at least one Helga from Hey Arnold and she was released in 2017!), so they're not exactly a great point of reference x) But yeah, they didn't hang around in ASDA for very long - which granted I don't think ASDA got very many of them in the first place, but they certainly got *some* in and I only bought two, so... someone bought 'em, lol.

I rambled a lot but yeah tl;dr the pony sections are tiny over here and there's like no variety. I dunno how well they're selling.

(Maybe I should have said I live in a one-"pony" town...)

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: LadyMoondancer on December 02, 2021, 06:20:42 PM

My Target has sooo little space allocated to MLP.  It has a spot for the Crystal Adventure sets (the 3" poseables like Zipp Storm with her skateboard) and a spot for BOTH Rainbow Reveal Sunny Starscout (6" brushable) and the larger 3" sets, like Izzy Moonbow with the create-a-critter set.

As in, Rainbow Sunny and the Izzy set have to share the same shelfspace even though they're totally different sets.

Additionally, Target keeps stacking random toys in the MLP spots (apparently stuff they don't have room for elsewhere . . . the rest of the toy aisle also has these sets sprinkled around.)

The G5s that are there do sell pretty fast.  Just, there's not a lot to choose from.

From what I heard, the G5 movie did great on Netflix.  I think it was holding the number one spot in the "kids" category.  Walmart seems to be stocking a lot more of the toys than Target.  I think Target in particular is leery for some reason.

I'd be interested in hearing what Fred Meyer / Kroger is doing for MLP, I haven't been in one recently.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Sweets on December 02, 2021, 06:29:48 PM

I live in the middle of nowhere so there really aren't ponies real near me. Sometimes I can find G4 at the Ollies 20mins from me, I can find find a good selection of G5s at the Walmart 30 mins away. If I'm lucky there will be the retros at the Cracker Barrel 30mins away.
The nearest Target and the other Walmart 45 mins away are really hit and miss on any ponies G4 or G5

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Ragamuffin on December 03, 2021, 03:16:00 PM

I went to HEB the other day, not a lot of pony stuff, but they have some things that Walmart doesn't have.

They have the single brushables of Sunny, Pipp, and Izzy, for $6. Lots and lots of Sunnys, a couple Pipps, and only two Izzys left. Sunny doesn't seem to be very popular. They also had the big 8" Izzy. They have Crystal Adventure Pipp but none of the others... I haven't seen any Crystal Adventures anywhere in any store so that was cool. They had the castle too, and the G1 Mash'ems. Resisted buying those. :P

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Carrehz on January 01, 2022, 11:39:45 AM

Sorry for bumping up a dead topic, I know the moment's kind of passed by now ^^; but this thread got me thinking, so I took some pix of the MLP sections near me over the last couple of weeks (whenever I happened to get to a store; I didn't take the pics all in one day or place).. I'll put them under a spoiler so as to not clog up the thread too much.

Spoiler

Smyths Toys:
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(the overturned box in the middle of the photo is another one of those big fakie sets, I'm pretty sure. I checked and they didn't have any of the EQG Minty sets left from what I could see, just the Cadance/Twilight set.)

The Entertainer:
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Note "plastic baggie" Cheerilee on the far right; I think they had some more of that set elsewhere in the shop too. they've rearranged things since I took this pic, but they still have pretty much the same amount of ponies.

Home Bargains:
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I came in midway through a shelf restock IIRC, so not a lot of ponies out... I also spotted these that hadn't been put out on the shelves yet:
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Tesco:
No ponies at all in the toy section proper, not even any blind bags. Only MLP things I could find were the Egmont magazine, and this old Fluttershy in the arts and crafts section:
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She's been shelfwarming for a couple of years now, I think.

ASDA:
No ponies whatsoever in any of the ASDAs I've been into in the past few weeks - no section for them either so it's not just that they'd all sold out. they might've had some of the POP G1s left though, I didn't think to check.

Sainsburys:
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Still stuck on G4.5; haven't seen any G5s in here yet.

So Smyths has pretty much the best selection, still not much more than the others though. I guess it makes sense a dedicated toy shop'd have more stock than the supermarkets, though ASDA and Tesco did usually have a decent selection of ponies in the G4 days.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Ragamuffin on January 01, 2022, 12:16:52 PM

Can't speak for mods but I for one appreciate the bump! I like seeing how ponies are doing in an area... of course, that's why I made this topic. :P

As for me, MLP hasn't sold much over the holidays. They sold out of anything Zipp-related and they sold the Sing and Skate Sunnys. Everything else is shelf warming...

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Loa on January 01, 2022, 01:43:40 PM

They are in the usual places here - Farmers, Toyworld and the Warehouse. Only the G5 range.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: LadyMoondancer on January 01, 2022, 02:54:34 PM

I can't remember if I already mentioned their weird thing where my Target gets the 3" poseable of ONLY Zipp Storm?

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There were eight of them!  But they did actually sell out pretty quickly, like within a week or a week & a half . . . Which I think is pretty good considering they must have gone to all different families.

I just don't get why they only get Zipp.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Ponybookworm on January 01, 2022, 06:52:58 PM

Quick edit: G5 are available a few miles from where I live. A small selection but any is better than none

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Wardah on January 01, 2022, 10:52:44 PM

I still think the way parents have buy toys has changed a lot in recent years. I saw a few posts on social media that make the joke about the Amazon person being Santa. And tbh it makes sense. Both parents often work (if there even are still two) and shopping with kids seems to be a huge pain. If it's not too cold I'll take a walk outside and a lot of houses in the area had many packages on their porches in the days leading up to Christmas.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: Star Catcher on January 19, 2022, 06:31:20 AM

I am genuinely surprised how limited the release of G5 was in my country.
The selection is small, both in stores and online.

I miss the G3 days when we had a huge selection and even exclusives.
At the end of G4 we had the same toys sitting on the shelves forever and maybe that is another reason G5 is not getting picked up as much by stores.

Title: Re: Pony Availability in Your Area/Does MLP Sell?
Post by: LadyMoondancer on January 19, 2022, 08:04:23 AM

Quote from: LadyMoondancer on January 01, 2022, 02:54:34 PM

I can't remember if I already mentioned their weird thing where my Target gets the 3" poseable of ONLY Zipp Storm?

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


There were eight of them!  But they did actually sell out pretty quickly, like within a week or a week & a half . . . Which I think is pretty good considering they must have gone to all different families.

I just don't get why they only get Zipp.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


AGAIN!!! 

And I had a visit in between these two sets of pics and the shelves were bare, so they aren't the same ponies shelfwarming, they just literally get nothing but Zipp apparently??