Will the Current "Retro Hype" Affect G5, or MLP's Future?

[Zapper]

I think it's laughable how the M6 are just the same six characters sold in different forms. It needs to stop at one point. The M6 will never be the Sailor Senshi or the Power Rangers.

It would be cool if some of the retro trend would touch G5 in that they would step away from focusing on one set of characters, or as Hasbro calls it "the squad". What sells these toys are their colors, let's be real. That's why Twilight, RD and Pinkie got the focus when it came to merch. It was the tried and true (and tired) "Purple Blue Pink" scheme that plaques so many girl toys.
So if they made new characters but they'd be PBP you bet they would sell. They don't need to be Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. That's my personal opinion based on experiences.

I think kids gave a damn about the characters on the show, I truly did. But these kids have now grown out of it and new kids won't know Rainbow is supposed to be the sporty one just like kids didn't know G3 Rainbow was the fabulous one when FiM first came out.
Only us oldheads were amused that she was suddenly the polar opposite of her G3 incarnation.
You could have a pink unicorn with rainbow hair in G5 and it would sell like hotcakes. Only FiM fans would cry that "RD is the only one with rainbow haiiiir!!!"

Tl;dR: I doubt that the connection to the M6 is as strong as Hasbro wishes. At least when it comes to new target audiences and not FiM fanatics.

PS: since I am on the MLP Tales train right now, Tales really started that Core Seven thing and I can see why Hasbro has been trying to make it happen again with G3 (and then EqG). They even added Starlight to the M6 in FiM so they could be seven. Hasbro could be adding a seventh core character for G5. That could be the retro inspired part about the new gen

[Leave a Whisper]

I don’t know whether it will effect G5 or not.  I suspect that this is just a place holder line in between G4 and what ever is coming down the pipeline.

Something awful is coming down the line. Of this I have no doubt. Hasbro is making a complete mess, except this time, I'm not sure its phoenix will ever rise again as anything more then a shell of its former self

I'm excited for G5 for the potential it could have, but I just can't imagine it being big. I think it will either do "okay" or under-perform.

What potential? Another 5-8 years of the same 6 ponies shoved down consumers throats? They're shelf-sitters and any rare non m6 pony gets snatched up fast. I'm certain kids are a little tired of it too.

If G5 is the Mishmash style, I will of course buy my kid and myself any new characters we fancy. But I suspect Hasbro is shooting the cannon at their own deck and cheering.

[Taffeta]

The advantage with seven as a number is that they can belatedly call in lame rainbow comments along the way.

Starlight is also more interesting than all of the M6 put together, rather like Sunset is in EqG, where there is also already a M7.

I've said it before but I've seen kids go through whole displays looking for ponies other than M6. When the pearlies came out, the shelf sitters were Dash and Twilight. The others went very fast.

I also remember one girl with her mother looking at ponies and it didn't seem like they would buy any. I was with my sister and I had found a Soarin and was showing it to her as an example of a boy pony. I put it back on the rack and within 10 seconds this little girl had swooped on him in excitement. He went home with her.

The shop was full of M6 ponies. She didn't even look at them.

Kids do not and did not ever want the same pony over and over. At carboot sales when I find M6 ponies, they're not usually in multiples at one place. They have one of each pony, or just one pony, total. Interestingly the BAB plushes also appear a lot there lately. But the M6 plushes don't get bought up so much as the others...you see kids clutching non M6 BAB but often the M6 ones stay there.

I think the kids love the show and the characters, probably. Maybe there are certain favourites that they might want a second pony with a particular gimmick or style. I can understand that. But the sheer number of them vs other ponies is offputting. It doesn't make for a long term line. I just don't know if Hasbro have realised this yet because (at least here), the ponies go to stores but the unsold ones get clearanced, they don't go back to Hasbro. And to get the non-m6 stuff, they're cunningly mixed in with M6 stuff, and stores can't pick which boxes they get, so in the end, they get the problem of selling M6 to a clientele that don't want them.

I have seen kids buy pony stuff here. The only time I've ever seen a kid actively excited about a M6 character was a tiny girl with a huge BAB Twilight Sparkle plush around Christmas one year. Maybe the area is an exception or maybe the kids already got past the M6 phase. But that's still how it is.

On balance, it seems healthier to me (and more current) to go back to the old collect them all mentality. Other lines with the blind bags and stuff are really encouraging kids to buy several in order to collect them all and complete the set. Trading cards are and have always been like that, too. For ponies not to be is a bit weird, since it seems contrary to current trends as well as to how MLP were in the past.

G1 is full of 'collect them all' language. I think that's an idea that can still be capitalised on now. I don't think throwaway toys are as good an idea as Hasbro seem to think.

[Ragamuffin]

G1 is full of 'collect them all' language. I think that's an idea that can still be capitalised on now. I don't think throwaway toys are as good an idea as Hasbro seem to think.

Oh, definitely. I'd bring up Shopkins, but those aren't as popular as they used to be. "Blind bag" toys in general are super popular, for the surprise element of course, but also you have so much variety. You could potentially get something new every time. If you don't like what they're offering, sit and wait until the next wave, where there's probably something new. You don't have that luxury with Cutie Mark Crew, where 75% of the line is taken up by Mane 6. Literally. I counted. There's 24 in a wave, and each of the Mane 6 usually get their EQG form, their pony form, and their seapony form. And there are, what, 5 waves now? And it's all taken up by Mane 6.

[Taffeta]

G1 is full of 'collect them all' language. I think that's an idea that can still be capitalised on now. I don't think throwaway toys are as good an idea as Hasbro seem to think.

Oh, definitely. I'd bring up Shopkins, but those aren't as popular as they used to be. "Blind bag" toys in general are super popular, for the surprise element of course, but also you have so much variety. You could potentially get something new every time. If you don't like what they're offering, sit and wait until the next wave, where there's probably something new. You don't have that luxury with Cutie Mark Crew, where 75% of the line is taken up by Mane 6. Literally. I counted. There's 24 in a wave, and each of the Mane 6 usually get their EQG form, their pony form, and their seapony form. And there are, what, 5 waves now? And it's all taken up by Mane 6.

It's like they have a crutch and are afraid to create 'new'. Which is what worries me about G5.

[LightheartRose]

I'm still new to this game, since I only became a pony collector in adulthood, but I'm interested to see what happens next. Whatever Hasbro does with themselves is going to be judged hard because of the hype surrounding the ponies. FIM was been their cash cow, whatever they do, they should do slowly.

Also, to whomever mentioned the "Transformers BotBots"... what even are these? If this was an attempt to get girls into the franchise, they failed miserably, IMHO. No longer the demographic here, clearly, but if you want girls in, they should've tried making the female characters more available, given Elita-One, Arcee, and some of the other girls action figures comparable to the male characters. Cause these are really kinda dumb.

[LadyMoondancer]

What evidence is there that BotBots aren't popular with girls?  Also, a lot of the BotBots characters are girls.

I don't know which demographic is buying BotBots, but I have to assume they're successful because Hasbro is releasing their third wave of them.

There are also female characters in the more traditional "vehicle to robot line", Windblade is basically co-starring with Bumblebee in Transformers: Cyberverse and half of the Decepticon Seekers are female.

[Zapper]

Botbots is more about the blind bag and chibi craze and less about girls, I think. Allthough I bet more girls want cute blind bags right now than trying to get Unicron made on Hasbro Pulse

I think a big giveaway on who Botbots is for is evident in the character and mold diversity whereas the "girl line" Cutie Mark Crew is mostly just Mane Six repeats. Girls are better off with Botbots than getting five Twilights in a row.

[Taffeta]

What evidence is there that BotBots aren't popular with girls?  Also, a lot of the BotBots characters are girls.

I don't know which demographic is buying BotBots, but I have to assume they're successful because Hasbro is releasing their third wave of them.

There are also female characters in the more traditional "vehicle to robot line", Windblade is basically co-starring with Bumblebee in Transformers: Cyberverse and half of the Decepticon Seekers are female.

I haven't kept up with modern Transformers, but as a kid and a girl I was fine with the original series and never noticed the ratio of male/female characters. Or cared.

[LightheartRose]

These are all very valid points, LOL! I mean, I never got the whole Shopkins thing, maybe I would've been into it when I was a kid, I'm not sure. It is, however, nice to see more female TFs of any kind in the line!

[Zapper]

These are all very valid points, LOL! I mean, I never got the whole Shopkins thing, maybe I would've been into it when I was a kid, I'm not sure. It is, however, nice to see more female TFs of any kind in the line!

What's nice about Botbots is that they actually transform, so the kids really get a tiny Transformer to play with and not just an inaction figure. Never cared about Shopkins myself. And I wouldn't care about Cutie Mark Crew if I wasn't so in love with their look. As a collector line they are just too repetetive.
As a kid I would go insane trying to get the character I wanted instead of a hundred Mane Six incarnations and no kid on the playground would trade Pinkie for Crysalis.

Botbots prove that Hasbro puts diversity into all their lines except for MLP these days

[Leave a Whisper]

I'm still new to this game, since I only became a pony collector in adulthood, but I'm interested to see what happens next. Whatever Hasbro does with themselves is going to be judged hard because of the hype surrounding the ponies. FIM was been their cash cow, whatever they do, they should do slowly.

Also, to whomever mentioned the "Transformers BotBots"... what even are these? If this was an attempt to get girls into the franchise, they failed miserably, IMHO. No longer the demographic here, clearly, but if you want girls in, they should've tried making the female characters more available, given Elita-One, Arcee, and some of the other girls action figures comparable to the male characters. Cause these are really kinda dumb.

Maybe you should do a bit of research around the TF community before you go bad-mouthing Botbots.  They are essentially transforming Shopkins. They've been selling like crazy with boys, girls, kids and adults. They have a healthy mix of male and female characters, and a wide range of everyday objects. And people have been wild about picking them up for their kids and themselves.
My daughter and I are TF fans. She's also a Shopkins fan and we both have a growing pile of them.

They do release female transformers. Fairly recently, we've gotten Slipstream, Slash, Chromia, Windblade, Moonracer, Greenlight and we are due for another Nightbird.

[LightheartRose]

I'm still new to this game, since I only became a pony collector in adulthood, but I'm interested to see what happens next. Whatever Hasbro does with themselves is going to be judged hard because of the hype surrounding the ponies. FIM was been their cash cow, whatever they do, they should do slowly.

Also, to whomever mentioned the "Transformers BotBots"... what even are these? If this was an attempt to get girls into the franchise, they failed miserably, IMHO. No longer the demographic here, clearly, but if you want girls in, they should've tried making the female characters more available, given Elita-One, Arcee, and some of the other girls action figures comparable to the male characters. Cause these are really kinda dumb.

@Leave A Whisper, I'm very sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean to in the least. And I had no clue they'd started making more femmes! The ten year old in me just screamed with joy. This only goes to show me that I, as a toy restorer and seller myself to get on the ball a little more!