What's With All the Pinkies?

[Rhubarbpie]

They got a special discount on pink plastic and hair 

[spottedslug]

LBS- nail... head. Yes, it doesn't matter what collectors think.

My 6 year old and almost 4 year old love pinkie pie... right after rainbow dash, twilight, fluttershy and rarity. Poor applejack just gets no love from my kids.

[WrittenEmber]

You do all realise...that even with all these studies and all the "it used to be the other way around" history lessons that if right now "pink is for boys and blue is for girls" was true...we would just be having this conversation about "Bluey Burst" the blue pony with blue hair and pink and yellow balloon symbols?

Of course! That's what's silly about it all. Little girls love pink, but they don't love it because they are instinctively attracted to pink, they love it because they are surrounded by pink from an early age. When the majority of the stuff offered to them is pink, the likelihood that their favorite toy/character/shirt/whatever will be pink is pretty high, which then reinforces the positive vibes they get from the color pink. As in, "My favorite doll is pink, I like pink! My favorite color is pink, I like this pink doll!" It becomes a cycle.

(Nothing wrong with that, my favorite color really was pink, until I grew to the ripe old age of five and became enamored of Barney and his Rainbow-Colored Polka Dots. Did anybody else have those polka-dot curtains? )

The pink/blue gender code is a concept not unlike when one culture says a wedding dress should be white and a funeral dress should be black, while another says the wedding dress should be red and the funeral dress white. Color association is learned, at least to a certain degree.

I've got nothing against pink at all. Or blue. I'm just pro-colors. All of them!

And as prevalent as the pink/blue thing is, toy manufacturers, marketing companies, and retailers are beginning to broaden their color horizons. Look at Disney princesses. The packaging might be pink as all get out (seriously -- walk down the Disney princess aisle in TRU and you'd think Barbie had snuck in there with her favorite can of pink spray paint), but the princesses themselves sport many different colors, including blue and green, which are generally "boy" colors, alongside the gender-neutral yellow and the classic pinks and purples.

I'm blabbing on, aren't I? Sorry, all! *shuts up*

[achab1984]

Ya it kind of is getting old with all of them. I have stopped buying anything that has PP in it.

[Billibrony]

i like pinkie but she is not my favorite

[hathorcat]

Oh I understand that some people believe it is a learned behaviour, although there are as many studies which will tell you it's not learned and colour preference [such as pink and light for girls and blue and dark for boys] has a deeper significance/genetic imprint than what just being a favourite because we are surrounded by in our youth. I think if we are going to quote and link to studies which suggest learned behaviour we should also consider that there is other scientific thinking on the reason we pick and prefer and are attracted to different colours. Its not as black and white [excuse the pun] as being a forced social behaviour.

What I don't get is why its such a big issue? Especially in a community which is collecting what is - no matter which way you package it or dress it up - a little girls toy. It just seems to be one of those issues which raises its head again and again and we have the good old "lets bash the colour pink and the big bad marketing companies/toy manufacturers for daring to force little girls to want pink toys and little boys to want blue toys".

Yes...this is a pet peeve for me...babble babble too

[WrittenEmber]

Oh, no, it isn't really an issue. I had tons of pink as a kid, and it certainly never hurt me any.

I actually just linked to the Pink and Blue Project as an example of the themes, and because it's kind of amazing to see all that stuff laid out like that.

[SourdoughStomper]

*now wants a Bluey Burst*

[Al-1701]

*now wants a Bluey Burst*

Make it happen Hasbro.  You inverted Bumblebee's colors, do it for Pinkie Pie.

Ironically, I once came up with an G1 OC who was Galaxy's twin brother.  He was the essentially the blue version of her (blue coat/sapphire eyes/Dark blue, blue, white, purple hair) with the constellation of Orion for his symbol.  I guess I bought into the pink/blue divide there.

But Pinkie also gets a lot of exposure on the show which has nothing to do with retailers.  Frankly, I'm more afraid that they're turning her to a self-parody.  As one person pointed out, Season 1 Pinkie wouldn't do things we've seen her do lately.

[Majesty]

As someone said probably because she's pink and as we all know little girls love pink (I'm joking obviously).  I mean, sometimes Pinkie's random moments of comic relief are funny and sometimes they get old, at least for me.

[Vertefae]

I think if there were more characters released it wouldn't feel like such a pinkie pie overload.

[Twilight Pink]

Because the new My Little Pony line is now called 'My Little Pinkie Pie'

[CupidStrikes]

Pretty much everything LBS has mentioned.

There is nothing more to it other than the fact that market research shows pink sells when you are manufacturing and selling girls toys - along with purples and whites. Its no conspiracy and its perhaps not something everyone wants to encourage [gender roles, etc] but its the cold hearted truth that the experts in making and selling toys are toy manufacturers and toy retailers...they know what shifts on shelves and clearly in MLP pink works. Pinkie Pie is about as pink as you can get, therefore she is the popular choice.

I reckon by this point it's likely a vicious cycle - pink is ALL (or the majority) that is available, therefore that is what "sells" best. I didn't like pink much as a kid, especially as gifts from uninformed (lazy) relatives tended to be garishly pink and overly "girly" because I was a girl and therefore that was what I wanted. Shudder.

I could put up with the pink if there was more of a variety. There are plenty of other pink or pinkish ponies - Ploomette, Cheerilee, Cadence, Diamond Rose, BlossomForth, Cherry Pie, Cherry Berry, other background characters whose main colours are pink. But nope. All Pinkie Pie. All the time. I'd mind less if her character didn't seem so watered down to "hyper random pestering you all the time lol" recently from her formerly being way more perceptive and resourceful than everyone thought she was.

[Pheasant]

I've come to the conclusion that Hasbro has hatched a secret plot to use an army of Pinkie Pies to overtake the world.

Forget the zombie apocalypse, its the Pinkiepocalypse you've got to fear now!

[Deep Purple Crystal]

It seems strange that Applejack sells and is released the least.

Pinkie Pie now must be on every single piece of G4 merchandise out there. It's just eerie to look at a section with lots of pony merchandise and see about 20 Pinkies staring at you.