Did G5 flop?

[Taffeta]

Reading through this I was struck with the wondering - to what extent has Basic Fun's retro line sabotaged G5's publicity train? I know the target markets are technically different, but with everyone tightening finances, and with so much G1 retro stuff around (not just ponies, also clothing, bags, other marketing deals with other organisations...) has G5 been overshadowed? Has there actually been a publicity campaign for G5? #

Hasbro have never understood the collector market, so the reality of collectors not automatically throwing money at G5 isn't surprising. The lack of variety is a factor. The fact the ponies are expensive, not great quality, and erm...not especially cute? Is another one. I can't comment on the animation beyond the movie, but that felt like a weird political pitch which regurgitated the concepts of FIM...

I understand wanting rid of the brony nastiness. So that may be part of the marketing strategy. And as said, Hasbro are known for being more tuned in with boys' toys as well (whatever that means)...but the fact the original MLP episodes (g1) were written by someone who wrote for transformers should be a lesson learned.

Problem is Hasbro aren't and haven't really looked back before G4 to understand how to reinvent My Little Pony. There are so many things you could do with the pony concept right now, which isn't being done. The friendship junk has been flogged to death, and it was an unhealthy message anyway...there's no really defined 'mane six' to build a narrative around, so no reason for kids to care about the ponies on shelves. They all have silly names, but not silly in a way a kid would find funny. Sunny is a very overused colour scheme in G3/G4 MLP, which doesn't help (orange is also a brave choice for a MC, though it would be so much nicer if orange with blue...or something other than that pink).

The attempts at the 'retro' ponies (G4 in fakie poor imitation G1 'style'), the what is it set - rainbow? with the Minty and Pinkie Pie and co in G5 style in a 'set of g3-4-5' something... suggests complete dissonance from anything pre G3. It just feels like G5 is haphazard, not well marketed, and...well...kids aren't stupid.

Add to that the competition from other toy lines and *splat*.

Has it failed yet? Not officially. Is it like what happened with G2? Not in the slightest. G2 had a market, did that without an animated series, ran successfully in a fairly independently organised European sale network for years after the US Hasbro pulled the plug. That independence of regional identity died with G3, when that moved to core characters. G5 doesn't have that option. If it fails in the US it fails universally.

[Leave a Whisper]

I think BF is probably making a bulk of the money.

[MJNSEIFER]

In my opinion, no.

For a non-objective stand point, it's far too early - at worst it's only flopped if they give up now (assuming the sales aren't working, because I have no idea - I will admit, I barely know what the G5 toys are doing, and I get that's the be all and end all of My Little Pony) from an objective stand point, it's doing absolutely fine - Make Your Mark alone is beautifully written, and feels like something I grew up with, like My Little Pony should, and I honestly feel if they stick with these ponies, they'll continue to have something beautiful (I'm not saying they can't do a G1 and have new mane cast though - it would be a shame in my opinion, because I am so nostalgic for the current G5 cast right now, though.) I also know that Make Your Mark has ended, but there is a chance that the CGI G5 could continue under a new name.

I also don't think it's really relevant if something "flops" or not - a lot of now acclaimed movies were likely flops when they first premiered, it means nothing, in my opinion. I will also say that I have seen a lot of positivity (from bronies and MLP fans in general) towards G5 - there are flaws pointed out, some even the opposite of each other (some think G5 takes forever to have a storyline, yet I've seen one person, say that the Little Ponies don't take the time to have fun) - there are some G4 purists who don't like it, but they are G4 purists, that should tell you all you need to know. People are allowed not to like it themselves of course, but I love it.

Regarding the A New Generation cast: This is just me, but I didn't even know they were celebrities - I recognized two of them from Disney, and one from YouTube, but I honestly didn't know they were a higher "Letter-List" than the usual voice actresses - basically, all celebrities are the same to me, in a good way, like they're all equally famous, and deserve their spotlight - I know it doesn't work like that, and I realize now that the whole "A-list, C-list, etc." thing has nothing to do with how much I or anybody likes them, but is what type of celebrity they are (say, movie celebrity vs. game show host), but yeah, I didn't know they were that "big".

Regarding Hasbro not "letting go of G4": For one thing, it doesn't need to - all generations should be remembered and celebrated (if not, still used), all the way back to G1, and for the other, I think G5 stands on it's own perfectly. Yes, it is written as a sequel to G5 (albeit, a sequel to its own canon of G5 - and yes, it is it's own canon, I can go into detail on this), but it ultimately stand out on it's own, and is it's own thing, just like any other generation. I was unsure about it being its own sequel to G4 at first, and part of me still feels that linking generations should be left to fanon (or they could not link at all, it's up to you, that is the beauty of fanon) but ultimately, I feel they did it fine, as G5 ultimately stands on it's own hooves, and the link to G4 seems to be more of a starting off point, and some heart-warming nostalgia (they refer to G1 as well.)

So yeah, even if it does "flop" it doesn't matter, because I will always love G5, and so will it's fans, and I can tell there are a lot of us - like all generations of My Little Pony, it will be remembered forever, in my opinion.

[Queen Sophie]

My Walmart got rid of their pony section guess cause it just wasn’t selling well that and kids are really not into toys that much nowadays
Also I feel like there is more retro ponies being released than g5 ponies lately!
Also I was at target I wanted to get the main cast with Misty but for some reason it’s like $30! Geez?
I’m ready for g6, media is second best for me, toys are number one thing I care about

[Leave a Whisper]

My Walmart got rid of their pony section guess cause it just wasn’t selling well that and kids are really not into toys that much nowadays
Also I feel like there is more retro ponies being released than g5 ponies lately!
Also I was at target I wanted to get the main cast with Misty but for some reason it’s like $30! Geez?
I’m ready for g6, media is second best for me, toys are number one thing I care about

I'm not. Because then we'll be getting the Mane One. And we'll only ever get one pony sold to us 12 billion times. 

[Carrehz]

Reading through this I was struck with the wondering - to what extent has Basic Fun's retro line sabotaged G5's publicity train? I know the target markets are technically different, but with everyone tightening finances, and with so much G1 retro stuff around (not just ponies, also clothing, bags, other marketing deals with other organisations...) has G5 been overshadowed? Has there actually been a publicity campaign for G5?

This is a good point... there is a fair amount of retro stuff around these days, not just the BF toys but also clothes etc. I guess there's G5 merch around too, but I don't recall seeing as much merch for it as I did back in G4's heyday? There's the Egmont magazine here in the UK (and I assume the other countries that sell it) but that's continued on from G4, it's not new...

ARE Hasbro really advertising G5? Paw Patrol and Bluey were mentioned before... I already said how you can't escape Bluey toys over here, I see it all over the internet.. and when the Paw Patrol movie was in cinemas - couldn't go five minutes without seeing an ad for it! It was all over the cinemas! But I've never really seen stuff like that for G5?

Has it failed yet? Not officially. Is it like what happened with G2? Not in the slightest. G2 had a market, did that without an animated series, ran successfully in a fairly independently organised European sale network for years after the US Hasbro pulled the plug. That independence of regional identity died with G3, when that moved to core characters. G5 doesn't have that option. If it fails in the US it fails universally.

Mm, I don't know if I agree completely with this. Other toy lines have died down in the US and continued on in other countries - Enchantimals is a good example of this - so I don't think a US failure would definitely equal the death knell for G5. That said, I agree that I can't see anything like the variety, etc that G2 had after it went to Euro-only releases, happening again... if that makes sense. like, I could see G5 wrapping up in the US and then limping on for a while longer elsewhere, but I don't think the line would suddenly reinvent itself or whatever.

[Beth3346]

yeah Paw Patrol and Bluey are everywhere. i even know what they are and i don't have kids and i don't care all that much about pop culture these days. my little pony seems to be more of a nostalgia thing these days. who knows though. these kinds of product lines can increase and decrease in popularity.

[Taffeta]

Mm, I don't know if I agree completely with this. Other toy lines have died down in the US and continued on in other countries - Enchantimals is a good example of this - so I don't think a US failure would definitely equal the death knell for G5. That said, I agree that I can't see anything like the variety, etc that G2 had after it went to Euro-only releases, happening again... if that makes sense. like, I could see G5 wrapping up in the US and then limping on for a while longer elsewhere, but I don't think the line would suddenly reinvent itself or whatever.

I was commenting specifically on the comparison to the failure of G2 My Little Pony, not toys in general succeeding/not in the US/Europe. I was really saying that the G2 example has nothing in common with the G5 example, in part because Hasbro and MLP were set up differently then from how they are now. In G1 there is a lot of autonomy and G1 continued in other places after the US ended. In G2, the same happened. In G3, it didn't. In fact, the US line got more exclusives than were available overseas, and there wasn't a lag after G3 ended in the US whereby it had an independent identity outside. G4 was very streamlined because of the show. Aside a few store exclusives, there isn't much deviation on what's available where. By the point you get to G5, MLP is an all-or-nothing concept with little room for regional deviation. That's why it's not the same, and why failure in the US is failure everywhere - there's no independent creativity going into the line in the way that existed at the end of the nineties.

We're talking a period of more than 20 years now. It's not surprising that this is the case. I just don't think it matters whether other toy lines have this flexibility, regionally. We're talking specifically MLP, and MLP does not.

@MJSNEIFER, while I don't see people raging and cursing G5 (thankfully), I don't ever see much 'emotion' around it. Emotion is important for anything to last. It's also had a hard time in terms of when it's been launched/operational. Not the best economic climate.

I saw a kid today with a small G4 backpack. I have seen some G5 stuff for kids in shops like primark, and yes, there's the comic...but it does seem very anonymous, here at least.


May I also say that I strongly dislike Hasbro using the G-terms that we defined as a community.

[Harmonie]

I have also noticed how MLP sections are virtually nonexistent in stores.

I'm not much of a fan of G5 myself, but it would be sad to see the franchise end here. (not saying that's likely, but I don't know).

[Leave a Whisper]

Going into the 4th year, barely any presence on shelves. Poor G5 is really tanking, for want of a fair and proper chance.

[MJNSEIFER]

@MJSNEIFER, while I don't see people raging and cursing G5 (thankfully), I don't ever see much 'emotion' around it. Emotion is important for anything to last. It's also had a hard time in terms of when it's been launched/operational. Not the best economic climate.

There's been some hate on Twitter recently (though it's likely "those" type of bronies again - and if any good has come out of it, it's encouraged more G5 fans on that site to speak out, but it's still bad it happened) and as for "emotion", I've seen a lot of it on DeviantArt, but again this is online, so it's probably not the target audience, but the bronies and other older fans, again.

Toyline wise (which is, or should be, the selling point of My Little Pony - even with the shows being as awesome as they are, in my opinion) I'm not sure what they're doing - I used to always see at least one G5 Mane Five pony in Tesco, I'm sure, but now I don't, and I have no idea where G5 even is as a toyline, which is extra strange, because I'm sure I saw it said that Hasbro wanted G5 to have more of a toyline presence than an animated presence (though it would still be animated, which it is), though that could have been word of mouth, as I don't think I saw Hasbro themselves say it, just people talking about it.

Another thing (sorry if people have said this) it doesn't seem to be advertised - I don't see any toyline adverts for My Little Pony or any for the show really (I love Make Your Mark, but I don't think I've ever seen it officially advertised as being on Netflix, outside of possibly YouTube videos (which, you ultimately need to find yourself) you just have to know it's on there. Thinking of it, I rarely see any children's shows on Netflix advertised, if ever - not even on YouTube ads, so it seems like you need to go on Netflix and look around, or be part of the circle talking about that show/movie anyway...

[brightberry]

I liked the first g5 movie.  The toys just don’t speak to me.  It is a little bit sad it didn’t take off.  But, I don’t think it’s the last we’ll hear from My Little Pony.

[Snapdragon]

I'm not sure 'flopped' is the right word, because I think right now Hasbro is in a bit of a free-fall situation. I didn't realize how bad (or even that it was bad) until I saw Goddessofpeep's explanation in another thread, which I will link here: https://mlparena.com/index.php?topic=405276.msg1909518#msg1909518

But basically, Hasbro messed up their big cash cow line (Magic: The Gathering) which until very recently was basically just printing money for them, and now it's so bad that even their stock tanked, and they got downgraded by Wall Street. Like, it's BAD-bad. So I think right now, Hasbro just isn't focusing much energy (if any) on their other toy lines, especially because they seem to generally consider themselves a "boys toys" company, and thus MLP is more like an afterthought. I have no idea what the internal mechanism is like at Hasbro, and it's hard to believe that they'd just shelve an entire toyline, but I don't think they have the same amount of people devoted to each line as they might have in like, the 80s/90s. And I think if they do have departments, the MLP department is probably just Gary who's been delegated to the janitor's supply closet!

But more accurately, I think if the MLP department said 'okay, here's our budget, we'll need $X millions up front to manufacture the toys', Hasbro's budget might just not have $X millions to spare. I could see MLP being one of their brands being cut for costs - I mean, it's pretty barebones in general, compared to G4, or other lines like Transformers. We didn't even get anniversary-branded products most years, and this year it pretty much fell to Basic Fun.

So with that being said, I don't know if 'flopped' is the right word, but it certainly is/was floundering. I felt like it started off so strong, with the movie and the 'we have to reunite everyone' storyline, and then it petered off into 'friendship problems!' pretty quickly. I appreciate that it's not the same as G4, but I do miss when MLP was more fantastical. The toyline also never got past the same problem of the Bore Five/Six, and although I'm glad they added Misty, it still gets tiresome seeing Sunny Starscout show up in every playset. (Plus, she's orange! Why's she gotta be orange?! And pink too! Aughhh!) The novelty of the toys being jointed was very exciting, but then when your options are 3 stiff Sunny Starscouts, or 3 jointed Sunny Starscouts, I start to care less about the joints.

I mean, take all of this with a grain of salt, I'm still buying whatever I can find. But it's hard not to notice that the MLP section of every store I go to has gotten smaller... and smaller... and often vanishes. My Walmarts don't carry ponies anymore, and neither does my local TRU/Macy's combo, and my local Target has had the same 2-3 items for months. That's not good. (And it makes me miss REAL TRU, because when TRU was still around, they'd ALWAYS have tons of ponies, and a wide variety too!)

[Taffeta]

Another thing (sorry if people have said this) it doesn't seem to be advertised - I don't see any toyline adverts for My Little Pony or any for the show really (I love Make Your Mark, but I don't think I've ever seen it officially advertised as being on Netflix, outside of possibly YouTube videos (which, you ultimately need to find yourself) you just have to know it's on there. Thinking of it, I rarely see any children's shows on Netflix advertised, if ever - not even on YouTube ads, so it seems like you need to go on Netflix and look around, or be part of the circle talking about that show/movie anyway...

This is what I was getting at with regards to it lacking a presence. Though most kids TV these days are on designated channels, which wasn't the case back for G1 and G2. I was still aware of a lot of promotional G4 stuff being around though.

Snapdragon may be right, though, it's just them trying to keep the brand present on a shoestring and it may or may not get a better injection of something later on down the line. A placeholder in the market isn't great but perhaps they consider it better than nothing.

Tesco is one of the supermarkets I can no longer get to that easily, but Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury's are the same story. Asda has more fakies than actual ponies. Re actual toy shops - Smyths has about one version of Sunny and that's it. Again, more fakies and other unicorn related toys. The Entertainer display could be archived as a museum piece as I don't think it's been touched in a year.

I did see a few more things when I went to the county town the other week but not much.

I do think they chose the wrong colour scheme for their MC. Or at the very least they should've changed the packaging colour. Orange +pink + darker pink/purple is kind of hard on the eyes when it's literally all that's available.

To balance that out, I haven't seen BF stuff on shelves in a store here in a year or two. I've only seen them when I've gone down south.

[Leave a Whisper]

I've been hearing that Transformers are being cheaply produced and overpriced too. I stopped buying a couple years ago myself, so I don't know.  Sounds like hasbro is just doing this all around now. Unsure of the quality with their Joes and LPS lines, if still around?