The MLP Arena

Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Ragamuffin on February 11, 2019, 12:04:52 PM

Title: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ragamuffin on February 11, 2019, 12:04:52 PM

Making this post as sort of a poll to see how G4 as a toyline is doing in other places of the world, especially in comparison to previous generations. It's easy to complain about Pinkie Pie but this is a little different. We all know FiM is... or was... a phenomenon, of course that made money, but this is about the toys specifically.

I've made a lot of posts on my blog about my "Pony-Finding" Adventures. Or I guess, my "Walking-Into-Target-and-Going-Into-the-Pony-Isle-to-Find-Nothing,-Turning-Around-And-Leaving-In-The-Span-of-5-Minutes" Adventures. Ponies just do NOT sell here. We hardly get any new releases. Last year I didn't see any of the Best Gift Ever or School of Friendship ponies (I ended up buying Sandbar off Amazon for $30 instead of $15 -_-). I never saw Hippogriff Skystar or Baby Sea Ponies anywhere (I found Bubble Splash at Best Buy of all places while looking for a game). I never saw any Friendship is Magic Collection playsets or ponies outside of the Apple Family stuff, which was put on clearance very quickly. Never saw Guardians of Harmony (except for Cheese Sandwich who was always on clearance), Toys R Us never got Ponymaina, I haven't seen Equestria Girl Minis since 2016, no one got Songbird Serenade or Tempest Shadow, I didn't see the early reboot/G4.5 ponies (like the set with Celestia, Fluttershy, and Philomena for example), and I can continue on and on about what I've never seen in person.

Target has a very small selection of ponies. Walmart is even smaller. Before the movie came out, they still had Cutie Mark Magic and pearly ponies they weren't able to get rid of. Now they have Raritys and Cappers they're not able to get rid of. One Walmart here doesn't have a pony section, it's just a small basket full of pearly ponies and FiM Collection Apple Family ponies.

Does anyone else find it impossible to find G4 stuff? Has stock always been this bad? I remember during G3, whenever you walked in, there was always good selection of ponies to choose from, and they always had something new. If there was a pony in the pamphlet you wanted, you'd be able to easily find her. Even with early G4s, I remember them changing things up often enough, they'd get in the playful ponies, the wedding ponies, the Crystal Empire and the Rainbow Power ponies... and then during Cutie Mark Magic and Explore Equestria, they just kind of... gave up? The Basic Fun ponies move along well I think, the Rainbows are usually snatched up, and the Collectors move a bit slower. But the G4s just won't move! There's never anybody even looking at ponies. There's usually two or three people in other aisles, and the toys in the other aisles usually have some indication of things actually selling (Woodzeez extremely are popular here... that, or they never stock them. Shopkins shelves look bare a lot of the time too, of course), but ponies are just collecting dust!

Do you see people buy ponies often? I think I've seen people looking at ponies twice from the past couple of years. I don't see little girls in public care about MLP either, they're more about LOL dolls or whatever, Fingerlings, and Shopkins. I've actually seen more children carry around EQGs or watch EQG on a tablet than MLP...

People on Tumblr have said similar things, where they can't find what they want because no one stocks it. Is this an issue worldwide? Do you think people are still interested? Is there a lack of interest due to oversaturation, or something else? From your experience, were other generations this bad?

I've tried googling numbers, but can only find MLP as a franchise rather than just the toys by themselves. I know they made big money off the movie, and FiM is still popular to this day, but the toy departments tell a totally different story.

Spoiler

A conspiracy theory to finish off: Do you think that sales determined them to reboot G4 into G4.5? I heard they rebooted the toys solely for the movie, but why do that when you could just reuse the old molds? It would have been just fine I think. Or maybe that was just speculation, did they ever give a reason to reboot? I heard some things about "to make the ponies more 'show-accurate'", but why did they do it so late in the generation instead of doing it when FiM was more relevant in the early 2010s? To me it just feels like they did it to try to get people to buy ponies again, because in my opinion 2015-2016 were the worst years for G4. I know it sparked my interest in them again, at least for a minute. While I already own 7 Twilight Sparkles, I don't own one in this ~new mold~!

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful was G4?
Post by: Leave a Whisper on February 11, 2019, 12:06:40 PM

Fairly successful. It lasted for quite a while and made Hasbro quite a bit of dough. As much as I dislike it, I'm not petty or dishonest enough to deny that.

However, the toyline shrinking and putting out the same crap over and over means the pony section has shrunk drastically. Haven't even seen the range of School of Friendship ponies at my local Walmart or Target. Wish Hasbro would get it through their heads not to do a Bore Core/Main Six thing again.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4?
Post by: lovesbabysquirmy on February 11, 2019, 12:18:29 PM

some things sell, some things sit forever.  it really depends...

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4?
Post by: TheBeatlesPkmnFan42 on February 11, 2019, 12:20:11 PM

It's doing alright here, I think. I live in western Washington. Stores are alright at getting new toys in for the bigger toy reset periods, but when it comes to second waves of things that come out when it's not a time of year for the whole toy aisles to reset, things can get skipped. Like Walmart's gotten the recent resets' stuff in such as the Mane 6 singles in those plastic packages, the new 2000s Polly Pocket-esque Equestria Girls, etc, but entirely skipped over the second wave of the sparkle TAF singles, as did all the other stores around me I think... Target's the same way, basically. The Best Gift Ever line though had abysmal distribution here. Not once did I see any Best Gift Ever ponies at the regular stores for ponies such as Walmart or Target. Instead, I found the Mane 6 set at Fred Meyer (Kroger owned store chain here), and the blindbags at the Safeway I work at, didn't see them anywhere else, and I never found the Cadance and Shining Armor set for the line anywhere.

So Walmart and Target get new stuff in for the bigger toy isle resets, but not really so much for the things that are released at other times of the year.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4?
Post by: brightberry on February 11, 2019, 12:22:33 PM

I would say it's been successful.  But even Barbie needs to be rebooted once in awhile.  Kids grow up. Trends change.  I don't expect G4 to last forever.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4?
Post by: banditpony on February 11, 2019, 02:35:45 PM

Of course it was successful -- and just because it's at the end of it's lifespan, has no reflection on if it was successful or not. G1s sat at stores at the end of their lifespan too. :shrug: I bought Bunny Hop in the summer of 93. She's the only pony I remember picking up in the stores.. and i remember there was somewhat of a selection to choose from. I think I got my petites around 93-94 as well.

I don't think G4.5 is a conspiracy. It's pretty obvious that a reboot was needed to freshen up the line. Not because someone needs another twilight sparkle, but to try to appeal to kids that are currently in the target range.

The toys and the brand intertwine. But TBH, if the toys did not still make *stores* money, there's no way they would still be in the toy aisles. And especially at the end of a run, not all stores are going to carry all ponies. There's different demographics.

A 8+ year run is really great.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ragamuffin on February 11, 2019, 03:10:38 PM

Quote from: banditpony on February 11, 2019, 02:35:45 PM

Of course it was successful -- and just because it's at the end of it's lifespan, has no reflection on if it was successful or not. G1s sat at stores at the end of their lifespan too. :shrug: I bought Bunny Hop in the summer of 93. She's the only pony I remember picking up in the stores.. and i remember there was somewhat of a selection to choose from. I think I got my petites around 93-94 as well.

Around here, it's been this slow since 2014. I haven't seen ponies move off shelves since the wedding stuff came out in 2012.

It sounds like everyone else has had better luck?

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Safflower on February 11, 2019, 03:20:33 PM

Quote from: Ragamuffin on February 11, 2019, 03:10:38 PM

It sounds like everyone else has had better luck?

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: banditpony on February 11, 2019, 03:22:08 PM

Quote from: Ragamuffin on February 11, 2019, 03:10:38 PM

Quote from: banditpony on February 11, 2019, 02:35:45 PM

Of course it was successful -- and just because it's at the end of it's lifespan, has no reflection on if it was successful or not. G1s sat at stores at the end of their lifespan too. :shrug: I bought Bunny Hop in the summer of 93. She's the only pony I remember picking up in the stores.. and i remember there was somewhat of a selection to choose from. I think I got my petites around 93-94 as well.

Around here, it's been this slow since 2014. I haven't seen ponies move off shelves since the wedding stuff came out in 2012.

It sounds like everyone else has had better luck?

Then it's probably more of a reflection of your area. If ponies didn't move since 2014-- they wouldn't be on *any* store shelf.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Stormness_1 on February 11, 2019, 03:22:54 PM

Ponies always went like hotcakes in the early days of G4, but things have slowed down, since well before the reboot and the movie, and honestly, the movie didn't really do much for sales here either. There wasn't all that many showings, the closest one to me was an hour away, and I'm in a capital city - we had none here, in my city at all, just one in a shopping centre cinema on the south coast. So I waited and bought it on DVD, and by then, the hype was long gone, and the toys were everywhere, just not moving terribly fast. Christmas helped, as did some clearance sales, and there are still a few dregs in stores now, but not much. Just those glitter ponies, a few hippogriff babies, the singing ponies, and the cutie mark crew blind bags. and that's where stores haven't dropped them completely. Leftover stock is turning up in cheap shops, that's where I'm usually seeing the hippogriff babies, and they're not moving there either. MLP is pretty much dead in my area, the only new stock in forever is the cutie mark crew stuff.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: LadyMoondancer on February 11, 2019, 03:38:48 PM

To us, collectors, it may seem like Hasbro producing 40 Twilight Sparkles (it's probably way more than that, lol) means they are trying to convince or trick kids into buying 40 Twilight Sparkles.  What it really means is Hasbro is always keep a convenient Twilight Sparkle on hand for the NEW child viewers who do not have ANY pony toys yet.  It doesn't matter if the kid who was six when FIM started already has Twilight Sparkle because they are now 15.

As far as collectors go (both bronies and collectors in general), they don't make up a big market.  So Hasbro primarily has kids in mind when they design / plan.  I mean, sometimes they throw us (or the bronies) a bone, but their main focus is kids. Collectors might not care about "Fluttershy who has a skirt that then turns her into a sea pony" but kids might, especially if they just saw the movie.

I do feel the franchise is on a downward slope, but I don't really think it's due to any one specific thing--new molds or whatever--I think it's just a natural lifecycle.  The toys have sold well where I am.  (It also depends on the individual store, though.  Like there's a Rite Aid that has had the same pearly Starlight Glimmer forever.)  Like bandit said, eight years is a great run.

Hasbro got a new head of the Girls Department or the MLP Department a few years ago (I can't remember which) and I think that is the reason for the new direction with the molds.  I don't think there's any "conspiracy", I think the new lady just looked at the line and said "Why the heck are all these ponies in the same standing-there pose?"  (And I mean . . . fair.  I'd been asking that for years, lol.)

Hasbro would never try to purposely drive down toy sales to have an "excuse" to reboot.  They don't need an excuse, they can reboot whenever they want.  There've been, like, three Transformers reboots during MLP FIM's lifespan.

Edit:  I've never personally seen someone buying MLP FIM ponies, but I've also never seen someone personally buying the retro ponies.  But I can see the evidence of them moving--different ponies each time I visit.  I also find tons of G4 ponies at the thrift store, obviously someone bought all those Mane Six toys to begin with so . . .

Also, "the FIM toys sell well" doesn't necessarily translate to "the store orders everything".  My stores don't order everything, but that doesn't mean ponies don't sell well.  "Wave 2" toys--of any toyline--tend to be harder to find.  The reason is that stores will wait until they're totally cleared out of Wave 1 before Wave 2.  And sometimes by the time they've sold all the Wave 1 toys . . . Wave 2 is no longer available.  The 2nd set of G4 baby sea ponies never showed up at my Target, even though ponies sell very well there . . . (This is probably also why Year 3 G1 sea ponies are so hard to find.  "Why should we order more adult sea ponies, we still have 20 Sealights and Seawinkles in the back.")  Sometimes shelf space is an issue too.  My Target has very short shelves for their toy section--it's rather small compared to the average Target--and the sets they skip tend to be the larger boxed ones.  Like I haven't seen the Sandbar set at all.  But they did have the Rarity and Capper set and I think the Pinkie Pie (?) and Princess Skystar set.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Taffeta on February 11, 2019, 03:50:53 PM

In the UK version of this story, I suspect you'll get different experiences based on region as I've heard very different accounts from people all over the country (you wouldn't think it considering how small the UK is compared to the US, but there you go).

The earliest wave I ever saw was the release with Lily Blossom as well as the mane 6, and that was in Finland. I never saw them in the UK until after that. I only ever saw the set with Feather May etc once in Harrods in London, which is a specialist store, never anywhere else. So I think early distribution was slow. I also never saw Dewdrop Dazzle in the UK. Mine came from Lille. I have heard that Starswirl's carriage and the other Euros may have been in some places here, but again, I got the ones I have of them from Lille on that same trip.

The midpoint of G4 seemed to be doing ok. The distribution of some lines was a bit wobbly though. We had Buttonbelle and her set but it took a while to get here. We had a lot of Rainbow Power I and II, including Holly Dash, but her wave were on shelves here briefly and sold out MAJORLY fast. We had the ones with the patterns up their legs - Flower Wishes etc - for a while too. Also some of the masquerade ones on card.

At the time of pearly waves, we had wave 1 and 2 quite regularly. I think some Entertainers may still have odd ones of wave 1. Wave 3 appeared in my area of North London when I lived there for one week, then I never saw them again. That was probably when things started to go funky.

Water Cuties. We had Rarity and the blue one I forget the name of at the time they should be out, but then much later had AJ and Flower Wishes and had them ad nauseum. We had them in Euro packaging and then in Canadian packaging. Some stores still have them.

The all about sets - I believe we had set 1, but only briefly. We had wave 2 for a long time. I never saw wave 3 or 4 in the UK. I got Tempest from Tel Aviv airport and my parents bought me Songbird - she is on a US card so I know she wasn't found here.

G4 ground to a halt with the movie stuff. It's still there and not moving particularly fast. Mostly because it's all mane 6 stuff. Mane 6 ponies don't sell well here, except the odd one here and there. I have seen kids looking for AJ. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie particularly shelf-sit. THe baby sea ponies sold well to begin with but then everyone had them - but they do come out occasionally on discount and sell quickly even now. The skystar sets with musical shells sold fast, Pinkie still shelf sits in places.

For me it's a complete fallacy that the kids want the mane six on reboot. I think it's fine to release a few of each character over the course of things to attract the new kids watching, but ten or so releases every year is too much and that is reflected by the fact you can see the shelves here picked clean of anything not mane 6, with the mane 6 characters left here to rot. Yes, mane 6 do sell, because otherwise they wouldn't do it. But it's impossible to say that kids prefer this system as they get so little chance to buy other characters. I've watched the kids go through the whole rack to find the particular non mane 6 character they want, and I've seen a girl get super excited to see Soarin in among all the Rainbow Dashes.

We have had very little if any new stuff since the movie. We haven't had some of the later movie stuff, including the green boy pony and capper's set and only JUST got a set with Tempest Shadow in in Entertainer. The ultimate equestria set was on sale in Argos but I never saw it till it was sold out on clearance, so I don't know when it came in stock.

In conclusion - the UK started slow, was ok in the middle if kind of regionally patchy, and then slowed right up in the last couple of years to the current point now.

In terms of EQG dolls, there are still old style Rainbow Rocks & Friendship Games dolls in stores around me. I never saw Everfree dolls in stores. The first wave of reboot EQG dolls came out here but I haven't seen the second. I've not seen the latest minis since the sushi stall came out.

Blind bags stopped at the hallowe'en set for some reason and the Cutie Mark Crew appear to have had wave 1 and then stopped.

G4 is essentially dead here. THe same stuff has been on shelves for a long time and G4 turns up regularly in carboot sales and charity shops. I assume the show is still airing on Tiny Pop, but I no longer have the channel, so can't be sure...

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Mewtwofan1 on February 11, 2019, 03:55:26 PM

     G4 is doing okay here. We get new releases every so often. Not immediately, but not too long. Though a few things have been, and have stated on he shelves for a while. I have noticed a significant decrease in stock though. The end is nigh!

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: tailrustedtealeaf on February 11, 2019, 05:15:12 PM

My Target doesn't keep stuff in stock enough to provide a great answer for you.  :P They sold alright enough, but it's clear that they weren't as popular as Shopkins and stuff. When Five Below gets pony stuff in it's only in for a few weeks before they're out, and it's usually the same thing shelf-sitting.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: achab1984 on February 11, 2019, 05:42:41 PM

They are still selling here, but there is not much new anymore. 

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ragamuffin on February 11, 2019, 07:20:41 PM

Quote from: Taffeta on February 11, 2019, 03:50:53 PM

For me it's a complete fallacy that the kids want the mane six on reboot. I think it's fine to release a few of each character over the course of things to attract the new kids watching, but ten or so releases every year is too much and that is reflected by the fact you can see the shelves here picked clean of anything not mane 6, with the mane 6 characters left here to rot. Yes, mane 6 do sell, because otherwise they wouldn't do it. But it's impossible to say that kids prefer this system as they get so little chance to buy other characters. I've watched the kids go through the whole rack to find the particular non mane 6 character they want, and I've seen a girl get super excited to see Soarin in among all the Rainbow Dashes.

I agree. As a kid I wasn't big on repeats, and the ones I had came in sets of other ponies. I think they should keep Mane6 in production and on shelves for whoever's new to the series and wants their favourite character, but it's redundant to have the same ponies over and over for a decade. If I grew up with MLP today, I wouldn't have any interest in collecting them like I did with G2s and G3s. I say that as someone who focuses on toys, if I was a kid I don't think would've had access to watch FiM, so I would have no attachment to the characters.

Quote from: LadyMoondancer on February 11, 2019, 03:38:48 PM

Hasbro got a new head of the Girls Department or the MLP Department a few years ago (I can't remember which) and I think that is the reason for the new direction with the molds.  I don't think there's any "conspiracy", I think the new lady just looked at the line and said "Why the heck are all these ponies in the same standing-there pose?"  (And I mean . . . fair.  I'd been asking that for years, lol.)

Hasbro would never try to purposely drive down toy sales to have an "excuse" to reboot.  They don't need an excuse, they can reboot whenever they want.  There've been, like, three Transformers reboots during MLP FIM's lifespan.

I didn't say they purposely made things bad just so they could reboot it. I meant it like, judging purely from how ponies do here, that maybe G4 wasn't doing well already. It was during this time the stores quit carrying anything new. I guess the movie was the right time to reboot, but it still doesn't make sense to me when they could've continued to use the same old 2010 standing pose. I didn't know there was someone new in charge, maybe she really is the reason behind everything!

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: NightGliderSA on February 12, 2019, 01:01:57 AM

We really do not get much in the way of variety, especially with regards to characters in SA. It is mostly the Mane 6, with just a VERY FEW extras, and they are not in brushable form: mainly to be found in the blind bags. So, funnily enough, they are just sitting there and warming those shelves.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Minty_Magic on February 12, 2019, 01:18:17 AM

G4 started off really strong here. I remember Target and Toys r Us (rip) had whole aisles for my little pony it’s a lot of product and variety. I still remember the first couple years of FiM very fondly because it was so exciting! I’m not sure when things started to stagnate, but by now ponies only have a tiny shelf presence at stores near me.

I noticed the movie toys sitting for an exceptionally long time. Target FINALLY did a reset after the holidays this year, but prior to that I never saw the best gift ever sets or the glitter symbol lines. And I actually wanted glitter Trixie!

I can definitely feel that this is the end, but I think all things considered G4 actually had a pretty solid run. The fact that he line lasted for nearly 10 years with almost no variety is....something. I have a bad feeling the next line is going to be core character based again since it really did work the first run. I mean, even non toy stores like Hot Topic had full fledged my little pony sections for a while, it was a big deal!

A little off topic, but I’m pleased to see the retro lines seem to be doing well! When I go to Target the retro ponies always seem to be moving, and now that more companies are picking up on the retro trend, I’m hoping I’ll have those to be excited about for a while! :) The main line being this dead makes it very easy to decide where to spend my money!

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Sunset on February 12, 2019, 07:02:24 AM

Quote from: Minty_Magic on February 12, 2019, 01:18:17 AM

G4 started off really strong here. I remember Target and Toys r Us (rip) had whole aisles for my little pony it’s a lot of product and variety. I still remember the first couple years of FiM very fondly because it was so exciting! I’m not sure when things started to stagnate, but by now ponies only have a tiny shelf presence at stores near me.

I noticed the movie toys sitting for an exceptionally long time. Target FINALLY did a reset after the holidays this year, but prior to that I never saw the best gift ever sets or the glitter symbol lines. And I actually wanted glitter Trixie!

I can definitely feel that this is the end, but I think all things considered G4 actually had a pretty solid run. The fact that he line lasted for nearly 10 years with almost no variety is....something. I have a bad feeling the next line is going to be core character based again since it really did work the first run. I mean, even non toy stores like Hot Topic had full fledged my little pony sections for a while, it was a big deal!

A little off topic, but I’m pleased to see the retro lines seem to be doing well! When I go to Target the retro ponies always seem to be moving, and now that more companies are picking up on the retro trend, I’m hoping I’ll have those to be excited about for a while! :) The main line being this dead makes it very easy to decide where to spend my money!

I’d say all of that is true in my area, also.  G4 was really big for a while but has been shrinking for the past couple of years.  And non of my stores got in the best gift ever or the school or the two packs with the two new characters I actually wanted  :huh:  Here’s hoping that when the Hasbro website comes back up that they will have some of that stuff listed so that I can get Sandbar.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Strawberrysweets on February 12, 2019, 08:56:05 AM

Cant say G4 was huge hit in Norway.
My nieces are far more intrested in my G1 collection.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Moonbreeze on February 12, 2019, 10:52:59 AM

It started off pretty well. But the lack of new characters made it uninteresting for me.

Show-wise: yeah, pretty cool :)
Toy-wise: No...I've seen the same ponies on the shelves for months. So I have the feeling that it wasn't doing as well as the other gens.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: poniesthatsparkle on February 12, 2019, 11:52:45 AM

G4S are still selling here, but many stores have shrunken their selection as they aren't selling as well was they used to. We still get new releases, but very few. My Target still hasn't gotten the glittery Celestia and Luna. The only new things I've seen there were the Mane 6 singles and wave three of the Cutie Mark Crew.

In 2010-2013, before I even began collecting, I could tell that ponies were popular everytime I entered the toy isles. There was a large selection and many times they'd sold out. Things have certainly slowed down since then.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: lonewolf on February 13, 2019, 01:25:32 PM

I think it was hugely successful. As for now: I don't get out to stores like Walmart that often, but compared to a couple years ago, the selection is limited, and it seems like it's the same stuff every time. I've stopped buying brushables myself because of how the G4.5's look, but if I see the older ones that WM sold in bags laying around I buy them for possible future customs.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Magicharp on February 13, 2019, 03:39:21 PM

I collected a few G4s before but I lost interest in them and gave them up. They not the type of MLP series I'm most accustomed to. I prefer G1. Nothing else.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ragamuffin on March 01, 2019, 12:30:32 PM

I've been looking through each year and comparing Mane Casts (Mane6 + Celestia, Cadance, and Luna) with non-Mane Casts, and it's pretty bad. And by pretty bad I mean really bad. Really, really, really bad. Just the brushables. No EQG, blind bags, FiM Collection, or GoH.

My math is definitely off because I kept leaving off releases, I kept finding more, and I probably still am missing some from my count. But... is 149 Mane Cast ponies in a single year really necessary? Yes. 149, approximately. Around 136 if you don't count the princesses. 136 for just the Mane 6.

In 2017 there were, at LEAST:

- 24 Pinkie Pies
- 26 Raritys
- 28 Twilight Sparkles
- 16 Applejacks
- 21 Fluttershys
- 21 Rainbow Dashes
- 6 Celestias
- 5 Cadances
- 2 Lunas

Last year there were about 95 total Mane6 releases, 108 if you count the princesses. And from those 95 Mane6 releases, only two new characters were released, Silverstream and Sandbar. There were about ten other releases, including glittery Trixie, glittery Cheerilee, 2 Starlight Glimmers, light-up horn Tempest Shadow, Chrysalis, pearly Shining Armor, that Songbird Serenade with the skirt, and 2 Flurry Hearts.

I can't justify the "what about those who are watching FiM for the first time and want their favourite character" argument when there were over a hundred Mane6 releases in 2017 alone. Even if every single one of those Mane6 ponies sold really well (which I doubt because they either didn't stock them here or they're shelf-warming), there were 28 different Twilight Sparkles, JUST in the brushable variety released (nevermind the plushes, figurines, and other merchandise). Who wants this? There should've been, like... one brushable, one fashion style, one seapony, and one fashion style seapony per pony. That's 4 releases for each of the Mane6, 24 total, compared to the 100+ we got.

Some little girl out there must've wanted a seapony Rainbow Dash after seeing the movie, right? Well lucky for her, there are five different ones! Did she happen to like hippogriff Queen Novo? Well that's too bad! How about one of the seven seapony Pinkie Pies that were released instead? Maybe another little girl watched the show last year, and Ocellus is her favourite pony. Hmm... that's too bad... Ocellus doesn't exist in toy form... she likes Twilight Sparkle, right? Nineteen of those released last year...

Spoiler

EDIT: Here's the graphic I made for 2017 Mane Cast releases if you want something more visual. It's nearly 4,000 pixels wide of just Twilight Sparkle.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Taffeta on March 01, 2019, 12:39:55 PM

Wow, Ragamuffin. That really puts it in some perspective.

Adding to that global distribution - a lot of the sets the US had had in the last year with other characters (land hippogriffs, the exclusive haven bay, Sandbar, etc) didn't get here. We DID have nauseating amounts of wave 2 baby sea ponies and then a reasonable amount of wave 1 (in that order) but we must have had every. single. release. of seapony mane 6. I went into Hamleys last summer (London's big niche toy shop that mostly tourists and rich people shop at because it's fun to visit but expensive) and it was literally a WALL OF PINKIE PIE. In various releases, but that was it. JUST pinkie pie. Most of them in the musical shells.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: TheBeatlesPkmnFan42 on March 01, 2019, 01:10:37 PM

Oh wow, I mean we all knew the amount of Mane 6 vs everyone else is awful, but when you actually write it out. Yikes! And that's just one year? Wonder what it'd look like for all years of G4 so far!

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Zapper on March 01, 2019, 02:02:08 PM

I can't speak on FiM's success in general because I don't have the numbers compared to G3 or G1. The show was of course successful. If not, they would have pulled the plug earlier. In my area MLP started sitting around 2015 and now we don't even get Cutie Mark Crew and especially not the EqG dolls (we didn't even get the posable minis).

However, I think the repetition of M6 was a problem after all. The "there always needs to be a M6 character on the shelf" explanation is fine, but then why did some characters not get toys at all? Even the ones with celeb voices. That's not how you use your animation vehicle.

Example, the pearly wave with new characters came way too late when the crystal ponies weren't relevant anymore. And it contained two Brony faves the adult collectors snatched up. I couldn't find the nurse or the dolphin one for ages until I caved and ordered them from a Chinese seller.
If the Bronies made up such a small portion of sales, why did Hasbro always pander to them even in the playline for girls on top of their already big influence on fan faves? What kid who watches MLP but doesn't follow adult fandom would care for Muffin or the nurse or Octavia Melody who was turned into an EqG doll with extra pony. A casual young fan would have wanted any pony, not specifically the grey boring one that never talks but sometimes is in the background with an instrument. Come on! :lol: And quite naturally, that one was snatched by adults who wanted the exclusive Octavia brushable and tossed the doll in the trash. So dumb.

It's like the tie-ins to the show only worked occasionally when Hasbro ruled there should be a royal wedding or a baby (still creeped out how that corresponded with Prince William's and Kate Middleton's life... does Hasbro believe girls are into the Great British crown?) :P Or a winged Twilight Sparkle. Let's face it, those were the biggest successes because they perfectly synched with the show.
Years later when they did the themed blind bags and I saw all the Nightmare Night stuff, I got real sad because they could have released those years ago back when I still gave a crap about Luna. I hope a few kids saw a rerun and remembered what that stuff was all about :lol:

Post Merge: March 01, 2019, 02:12:24 PM

Quote from: Ragamuffin on March 01, 2019, 12:30:32 PM

- 16 Applejacks

Poor AJ. I wonder if her problem was being a cowgirl/farmer or was it just the color orange? I remember when everyone was like "where is Applejack?" It led to my highest ebay pony sale ever (Fashionstyle AJ) so I can't complain :lol:

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: LadyMoondancer on March 01, 2019, 03:18:36 PM

16 Applejacks . . . RIP Applejack!  (But I also sold a FS one . . . for over $70 . . . so I can't complain.)

I saw an amazing lot of ponies on Craigslist about two months back and I wish I'd saved pictures of it.  It was a dad selling his daughter's ponies because she'd outgrown them.  She had a pretty big pony collection, which included EQG and actual ponies.  I think there were between 30 to 60 ponies, can't exactly remember.

A huge portion of these were Mane Six plus a smattering of others (the yellow alicorn, Trixie in EQG and pony form, Octavia EQG, Sunset Shimmer, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, a few others).  The funny thing was there was NOT an even distribution of Mane Six.  There were maybe two Applejacks, LOTS of Rainbow Dashes, a fair amount of Rarities, a few Fluttershys, more Twilight Sparkles than there were stars in the sky . . . and one Pinkie Pie, lol.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ponyfan on March 02, 2019, 06:21:57 AM

Did someone mention Wave 1 and 2 baby sea ponies? :)  Maybe Lilly and Sea Poppy should start doing silly pictures again.


I think the movie releases were the last "big" releases we will see from G4 MLP. Although I loved the movie and bought many of the movie releases there were problems with the distrubution in my area. I think there were too many Mane 6 sea ponies and not enough other none Mane 6 characters released. I think 2 Pinkie sea ponies would have been fine (the pearly and the musical shell) and we also had the Land and Sea sea ponies witih the tail skirts that covered their back legs.

I never saw the Wave 2 Baby Sea ponies, the baby Hippogriffs or Captain Celanao where I live. One Walmart still has the Mane 6 pirate set and was overstocked on the green bird pirate. It took me almost a year to find All About Tempest Shadow 

My stores only stocked the first wave of glitterey ponies and skipped to the excess plastic packaged ponies.


The 2nd set of pearly G4 ponies had bad distrubution also and most of those ended up at stores like Big Lots . I think Hasbro messed up by only releasing Queen Novo in a big playset and only 2 of the students.


Ponyfan

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: lovesbabysquirmy on March 02, 2019, 09:32:35 AM

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

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: LadyMoondancer on March 02, 2019, 10:05:03 AM

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

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

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

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

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ponyfan on March 02, 2019, 11:17:08 AM

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


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



Ponyfan

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: banditpony on March 02, 2019, 05:07:06 PM

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Taffeta on March 03, 2019, 04:56:53 AM

Quote from: banditpony on March 02, 2019, 05:07:06 PM

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

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

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Carrehz on March 03, 2019, 07:03:34 AM

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

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: BubbleTea on March 03, 2019, 08:08:17 PM

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

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Strawberry Swirl on March 03, 2019, 08:14:10 PM

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: allymer on March 04, 2019, 03:23:42 AM

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

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Zapper on March 04, 2019, 04:02:54 AM

Quote from: BubbleTea on March 03, 2019, 08:08:17 PM

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

TOILET Sparkle?  :snicker:

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: invaderhorizongreen on March 04, 2019, 09:22:30 AM

Quote from: Safflower on February 11, 2019, 03:20:33 PM

Quote from: Ragamuffin on February 11, 2019, 03:10:38 PM

It sounds like everyone else has had better luck?

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

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Taffeta on March 04, 2019, 12:07:39 PM

Quote from: Zapper on March 04, 2019, 04:02:54 AM

Quote from: BubbleTea on March 03, 2019, 08:08:17 PM

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

TOILET Sparkle?  :snicker:

:lol:

Best way to make the smallest room shine.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Leave a Whisper on March 04, 2019, 12:12:52 PM

Toilet Sparkle. :snicker:

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: lonewolf on March 04, 2019, 05:42:59 PM

Quote from: Zapper on March 04, 2019, 04:02:54 AM

Quote from: BubbleTea on March 03, 2019, 08:08:17 PM

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

TOILET Sparkle?  :snicker:

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

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: BubbleTea on March 04, 2019, 08:41:12 PM

Quote from: lonewolf on March 04, 2019, 05:42:59 PM

Quote from: Zapper on March 04, 2019, 04:02:54 AM

Quote from: BubbleTea on March 03, 2019, 08:08:17 PM

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

TOILET Sparkle?  :snicker:

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

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


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

not disappointed

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ragamuffin on March 04, 2019, 09:34:08 PM

Quote from: BubbleTea on March 04, 2019, 08:41:12 PM

Quote from: lonewolf on March 04, 2019, 05:42:59 PM

Quote from: Zapper on March 04, 2019, 04:02:54 AM

Quote from: BubbleTea on March 03, 2019, 08:08:17 PM

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

TOILET Sparkle?  :snicker:

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

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


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

not disappointed

Tbh the clip-on dresses themed after the Gala aren't terrible. Not great, but better than this:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


No eye shines this time around, huh Hasbro? (Compare with the two they're supposed to have, and the one Hasbro started doing around Crystal Empire.) Hope this is some sort of budget pony. Remember in 2010 when fashion styles came with multiple accessories and fabric clothes? Don't fashion styles cost like, $10?

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: LadyMoondancer on March 04, 2019, 10:46:47 PM

The clip-on 2-halves dresses also were specifically designed to go with that Rarity boutique playset where kids could "swoop" the pony through the playset and they would "magically" get dressed, which is a really fun play concept.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: allymer on March 05, 2019, 04:58:17 AM

Quote from: BubbleTea on March 04, 2019, 08:41:12 PM

Quote from: lonewolf on March 04, 2019, 05:42:59 PM

Quote from: Zapper on March 04, 2019, 04:02:54 AM

Quote from: BubbleTea on March 03, 2019, 08:08:17 PM

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

TOILET Sparkle?  :snicker:

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

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


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

not disappointed

LOL for real

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ringlets on March 05, 2019, 05:14:18 AM

Toilet Sparkle?!  :lmao:  :lmao:  :lmao:  :lmao:  :lmao:

Yes G4 was successful , very successful to start with, not so much now but I suppose that's to be expected. I reckon Hasbro made a decent amount from them over the years :awake: At least we got some diversity - and boys! :heart:   
G4 did really well in my part of the UK in the first 3 or 4 years and I got a lot of the early ones, but we haven't had anything new for ages.  Got a few reboot/movie ponies , then nothing again. :shrug:
Unless you look in some discount stores - then you can sometimes find mane 6 on sale - usually the first type, occasionally the reboot.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: lovesbabysquirmy on March 05, 2019, 03:56:17 PM

Is this how we end up with Toilet Sparkle the Glittery Pooping Unicorn Pegasus? 

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: CindyPony on March 06, 2019, 03:45:18 AM

The distribution problems that marked older generations seem to have plagued G4 as well, near as i can tell.

For the movie we had good stuff at Walmart and there were some big playsets that were gone quick, but sincd then very few things have happened since, finally the new mold stuff came out and i got the $10 pearly fs Celestia with the cheaply done glittery wings.

The toy sections have definitely shrunk and for me, pony hunting means the thrift store where once in a while i get a G3, and occasionally an older G4 item shows up at Ross.

Post Merge: March 06, 2019, 04:00:48 AM

Quote from: LadyMoondancer on March 04, 2019, 10:46:47 PM

t where kids could "swoop" the pony through the playset and they would "magically" get dressed

Yes, "kids", that's right...that one was near me when i didnt have money for it, so i (ehem i mean kids) didnt get to swoop any ponies into spring clip dresses.

Title: Re: In Your Opinion, How Successful Was G4 During Its Run?
Post by: Ponyfan on March 06, 2019, 05:42:32 AM

I've noticed pharmacy/drug stores are often really behind on toys so I'm not sure if seeing really old ponies there is a good indicator of how well the line is doing overall. Last time I looked for ponies at a drug store I found a Cutie Mark Magic Sweetie Drops :lol: and my Kmart store had a mask Sunset Shimer and G3 coloring books and party invitations.


Ponyfan