Did G5 flop?

[Tropical_Sunset]

It's hard for me to think of G5 as anything but a flop. There was some hype with the G5 movie and an ok amount of merch at first but I haven't seen pony sections in stores for...a while now. There were several later G5 releases I had to get online because physical stores just didn't want to stock them. And that was on the very rare occasion I even wanted to buy a G5 toy to begin with.

MLP to me will always be collectable brushable ponies made in a variety of colors and characters. G5 just didn't have that. I used to buy random MLP toys all the time when G3 was out, to give as gifts to friends and family. I'd be buying even more nowadays now that I have kids and kids' friends' birthday parties to attend but... There's just nothing to buy. If the kids like MLP, odds are they already own the 4.5 G5 main characters already. I'm not into buying the same characters over and over, it's boring as heck. Not only that' the quality of the brushable pony hair is just gross now.
Hasbro killed MLP's collectability, and thus my interest.

I'm happy for the retro releases. That's it.

[Zapper]

>>> Twilight Mode on - seek Shelter <<<

Maybe a bit of an inflammatory remark but do you think Hasbro even cares about MLP to a point they would reboot it again into a sixth gen? At this point I don't. I see a lot of new G4 merch popping up and getting popular on the Asian market. More G4 brand deals and a bit of G1 nostalgia. As of right now it looks like G5 will die to make way for nostalgia bait, mostly G4, and this is how MLP will be kept alive and milked.

I still think connecting G5 to G4 was a mistake. They tried to attract old and new fangroups alike and it folded real quick. The best that came out of G5 was right at the beginning with the new theatrical release. The movie had the most money put into and had lots of marketing. Afterwards it quickly went downhill.

If they ever attempt a Gen 6 I hope it will stand on its own again and not be tied to previous MLP stories. Save for keeping a couple names, of course, for branding reasons. If you go into the old G5 speculation threads, some of the users here had amazing ideas. Maybe Hasbro should have just lurked here 

For Hasbro every Show they have create was mostly an Addvertisement for their Toys, MLP, Transformers, GI Joe and more.
Other Companys do the same or do you think Matel has made Barbie Movies just because its a nice Story?

Wow! Interesting, never heard of that! Barbie is a toy? MLP are toys? I thought they were my best friends!!!

[Taffeta]

As someone who grew up watching G1 and G3 (Not while it aired, I had Dvds to watch them) I simply didn't have access to the rest of G1 canon. I live in the US, for me, the backcards and animation was my "canon". I'm sure this issue, a lack of resources, applies to other fans and other fandoms.

The animation mostly contradicts the backcards, where the ponies with backcard stories are in the animation. Although the comics do add their own flair, the characterisations of some ponies, like Magic Star and Shady, are closer in the comics to the American backcards (even though they're for the SS ponies) than anything in the animation. Of course some sets in the UK have their own backcard stories and some ponies are very unique in the UK canon, like Baby Lucky. But mostly 'backcard' and 'animation' are not the same pony canon and there's more 'backcard' canon in comics than in the animated series. This is why to me it's not 'THE' canon, just 'a' canon

There are some recordings on YT where someone has read the comic stories (some of them) in the style of the UK story cassettes. There are a lot of comics, though, and I doubt anyone will ever digitise them completely, especially not given that some are quite expensive and rare to track down :/

I am not a fan of FIM, though I do like some of the G4 figures and designs. The animated series makes me cringe for a lot of reasons, although I accept it exists and is its own canon. But honestly, it's Lauren's canon not anything to do with G1. This is fine, too. Not judging that. But for example, Surprise. Surprise has the Pinkie Pie moment I think in End of Flutter Valley? One of the episodes she is buzzing around all over the place. But that's So Soft Surprise and it's not even consistent with how Surprise is portrayed in Escape from Catrina (I think it's that one?) And in the comic, there's this lovely story about her being surprised for her own birthday party. I believe her backcard story talks about her helping out others...not jumping out from behind bushes or throwing parties. That's not her personality, so when people go "Surprise is G1 Pinkie Pie", I get twitchy xD.

Same applies for most all the other M6, who are their own selves, but not anything really like the G1 counterparts.

This is sort of off topic now though. It's just evidence of how G4 has coloured how My Little Pony is perceived (like, right now so many "g1" collectors refer to G1 symbols as cutie marks as well, which is so annoying) and how difficult it's been for G5 to break that mould. Even if it had been set in a different world. But Hasbro didn't give it that space, so it's basically dead before it begins.

[cola]

That's a pretty good point about G5- it didn't really get a chance to do much new. I think it's fine to retread old ground of course, and there's stuff worth repeating or re-exploring. About continuity...Yeah, I don't think any of the more serious older fans liked it.

I feel G5 is different enough where it has it's own continuity, a lot of it's criticisms (about it's FIM roots) I've heard just aren't very worth exploring. This is more of a FIM/Brony issue for me, again all of it coming down to taste. A lot of the criticism it receives about it's story just boils down to originality and continuity discrepancies. So, I see FIM and/or Bronies complain or theorize a lot about what happened to Twilight or fixate on Opaline's origins as a villain.

Many of them are valid and fair points, but in context of G5 and in the story that it is telling, FIM is so far removed that these talking points do not need exploring or elaboration. The story being told does not focus on these points, FIM's events and what happened in between is intentionally vague to keep people interested in FIM invested in the show to tie it back to the previous toyline and story. MYM and TYT doesn't really need to answer these questions, since the shows don't fixate on them. And a spoiler for those still catching up 

Spoiler

The Twilight plot changes it's relevance after we know Opaline is out for revenge. We know what she's trying to warn them about. For me, it was a pretty early plot point. It stops being about Twilight, and is more about Opaline.

The criticism I want to see more of is about the execution, the story beats, the characters and their development, and the morals shown. I don't personally need to know what happened to Equestria to enjoy the show. When I peel back the continuity related criticisms, it does come down to "Why would they tie these two shows together, if they aren't that important to one another or if they don't hold much relevance?" I feel the "cheapening effect" and this side of the argument still. I come to the same conclusion, with different reasoning. I feel ultimately anyone could watch and understand G5 without the need of FIM, that's pretty much the crux of my argument.

^^^ All nerd words for saying "g5 is errrm different!!!", very unserious i promise. The worst part of this embarrassing tangent for me is that I don't mind if the continuity changes. I just like ponies

I still think G5 would have alienated G4 fans even if it had really solid continuity with FIM, it's just the nature of G5 following up that major success. Part of me thanks G5 for pushing away some of the more unsightly fans, but I think that would have happened over time naturally anyways.

About the G4 comparisons to G1 and "getting twitchy" I feel similarly I don't take it personally though, I just let them do their thing. It doesn't bother me anymore, even if I disagree over the silly pony shows. It'd be nice to have a re-release of all the UK comics (and G2...and G3), so we could explore more of pony lore and stories.

[Leave a Whisper]

They didn't even have price tag stickers. The mlp section has been taken over by wild manes and some cute new animal dollhouse brand called friendship heights.