Did G5 flop?

[Taffeta]

Ah, thank you Then the idea of Tales being the future of MLP and Friends ponyland makes sense.

...Going back to G5, that photo I posted of the Entertainer last Saturday? I kid you not, NOTHING G5 has even moved.

[Ringlets]

I'd say flop for sure. The thing is  ..well in my case I'd never stopped loving ponies since G1 and always got the new gens (even if it took me a while to accept G2 and G3.5    ) . I've always been a bit of a pony addict (understatement!! )  but G5 was sooo bad it put me off right away, I've taken a long pony hiatus (  )  and to this day I haven't been able to even make myself try out buying even one single G5. They're just  too *shudder* weird for me?  they creep me out (sorry to anyone reading this who loves them   )  and of course the quality and variety had gone downhill before the end of G4.
 I rarely see anything G5 where I live now, just the same old ones that have been shelf warming for ages and only a few when they were first released really.  I'm sure there are plenty of other people who had the same feelings about them as I did and started to spend money on other collections instead as well. The Basic Fun G1 are the only "new" ponies I've bought in years 
Hasbro really messed up IMHO.

[Moonbreeze]

Short answer: yes.

It was pretty difficult to follow up on the succes of G4 anyway. But I don't see as much ponies here on the shelves for G5. Even the non-toy stores that had a ton of G4 merch, like stickers and small board games, have very little to none right now.

[Taffeta]

Been having a really interesting conversation about G5 with a G4 pony fan friend of mine on another site, and she was complaining how G5 reinvented some canon concepts from G4. I think we both agreed (coming from a G1 and a G4 perspective) that G5's biggest issue was being locked into Equestria, rather than being something new.

[eiskrempony]

So i think g5 is a flop,i talk yesterday to hasbro germany and they tell me the  only pony Set that will be out in germany this year is the Set with the dragon and sunny starscout and in most stores ponys are sell for a very cheap price.

It is very sad that hasbro is not Strong enough to keep the ponys what they where in the past.

[DreamvalleyMLP]

So i think g5 is a flop,i talk yesterday to hasbro germany and they tell me the  only pony Set that will be out in germany this year is the Set with the dragon and sunny starscout and in most stores ponys are sell for a very cheap price.

It is very sad that hasbro is not Strong enough to keep the ponys what they where in the past.

Remarklable, isn't it. It used to be one of their flagship brands, even outsold Barbie for a while in the 80s, and now it's on par with McDonald's toys.

[gabumon]

I liked the ponies I saw of G5 and didn’t mind the changes except for lack of variety (but G4 had that issue) ... but they’ve basically disappeared locally.
I don’t mind I guess it gives me a breather from checking the stories all the time and now I can fill out gaps from other gens.

[lalalei2001]

Aww, it makes me sad it's doing so poorly. They have video games and everything, but if the toys aren't selling and the shows aren't generating interest...

[MJNSEIFER]

The shows are generating interest - I'm seeing a lot of praise and fanart online (though I assume it is largely the brony fandom, though I hope the target audience  are getting their fill - especially Make Your Mark - that show screams "something to grow up with" in my opinion.) The problem is, Hasbro aren't bothering to promote it, as far as I can see.

Maybe it's different outside of the UK, but I haven't seen any promotion for either the toys or the cartoon - I don't know what their problem with the cartoon is (but, I don't think Hasbro have known what to do with the toys since G3.5) but I think with the show, it's because they think everybody is streaming, they don't need to promote it (like "everybody has Netflix" (which isn't the case), so they don't need to advertise it (but they do.)

[DreamvalleyMLP]

The shows are generating interest - I'm seeing a lot of praise and fanart online (though I assume it is largely the brony fandom, though I hope the target audience  are getting their fill - especially Make Your Mark - that show screams "something to grow up with" in my opinion.) The problem is, Hasbro aren't bothering to promote it, as far as I can see.

But see, it doesn't quite matter whether the show is successful or not, if that's all there is. A show, any show, is meant to sell something; products, toys, ad space, etc... But in the case MYM, there is nothing to sell except for the super basic stuff that collects dust on the shelves.

[Taffeta]

The shows are generating interest - I'm seeing a lot of praise and fanart online (though I assume it is largely the brony fandom, though I hope the target audience  are getting their fill - especially Make Your Mark - that show screams "something to grow up with" in my opinion.) The problem is, Hasbro aren't bothering to promote it, as far as I can see.

But see, it doesn't quite matter whether the show is successful or not, if that's all there is. A show, any show, is meant to sell something; products, toys, ad space, etc... But in the case MYM, there is nothing to sell except for the super basic stuff that collects dust on the shelves.

This.

Ironically, it was almost better when US companies were allowed to use their TV shows to promote their toy line. At least then there was some cohesion between what was on screen and what was on shelves. There is such a massive disconnect now that it's hard to see how to resolve it.

Bronies making fan content around G5 is no more useful to Hasbro than us making custom G1 ponies. None of it gives them revenue, so yes, they need to promote it more. There are no actual products aside some very basic toys and some limited merchandise.

There's quite probably more g1 merch out right now than there is for G5. That, quite honestly, is shameful for an 'active' pony line.

Hasbro are making money from the G1 and G4 licences, though...so maybe don't care as much about G5 as they should. They still haven't broken away from G4, and until they do, G5 is never going to stand a chance of its own promotion.

[MJNSEIFER]

But in the case MYM, there is nothing to sell except for the super basic stuff that collects dust on the shelves.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. Do you mean that the toys aren't "playable" in anyway, like for kids to just play with them as toys? The few G5 toys I have seen in shops are pretty big, so I guess they wouldn't be easy to just play with like the smaller toys, so I get what you mean if that's the case.

[Harmonie]

I was in a store called Old Time Pottery with my mom the other day and I was kinda surprised that in their small toy section they actually had quite a few G5 toys. More than I typically see in grocery stores nowadays.

Alas, Pottery Barn isn't what I think of when I'm going out to look for toys. lol

[Leave a Whisper]

Dream Valley hit it right on target.

[DreamvalleyMLP]

But in the case MYM, there is nothing to sell except for the super basic stuff that collects dust on the shelves.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. Do you mean that the toys aren't "playable" in anyway, like for kids to just play with them as toys? The few G5 toys I have seen in shops are pretty big, so I guess they wouldn't be easy to just play with like the smaller toys, so I get what you mean if that's the case.

What I meant was that the toyline is extremely lackluster and basic in design, limited in range and also very overpriced for what you get imo. If these products don't sell, then it's safe to say that the driving marketing force (namely the tv show) lost its purpose.
The show may hold the interest of a certain audience, but if that audience doesn't take the next step to shell out money for the related products, it Missed its Mark, pun intended.

EDIT: But maybe we are wrong, because we have a different take on what "G5" constitutes. The people that were around before G4 think of the toyline as the main element of a generation, backed up by a show. I think it is safe to say that G4 started out with that same approach but maybe evolved away from that: IP popularity (through a show) first, then toys. And that mindset may have been carried over into G5, for Hasbro and the G4+ fans at least, while us longterm fans still keep the focus on the toys.
Hasbro's recent self definition as an "IP, games, toys-company in that order" certainly corroborates that.
I hope I made my point come across clear enough; english is still my 3rd language