Nearly Non Existent Pony Section

[sd_dreamcrystal]

The Walmart I go to has had no ponies since... October? Maybe September? I just know it was a good while before Holiday stuff.

I haven't checked the other Walmart nor Target yet but I have a feeling at least the other Walmart will not have much in the way of ponies.

[Snapdragon]

Wow... I'd heard some rumblings about MTG, but I never knew just how bad it was, Goddessofpeep. Thank you for the info! But also: very yikes, to all of that.

I knew (from The Toys That Made Us special) that Hasbro was/is almost exclusively a 'boys toy' company, and TBH I feel like MLP in the 80s succeeded somehow despite that delusional mindset. I know we got MLP:FiM getting as popular as it did because it tried to appeal to 'everyone' (and I won't address the debacle that the fandom descended into LOL), but I can see how easily Hasbro has dropped any significant effort from the G5 line. They're finally doing something for the G1 anniversary stuff, but it feels more like it's because nostalgia is such a big craze right now, and not out of any internal interest to do more for MLP, LOL. I do worry that MLP will be one of their first lines to sacrifice when it comes to trying to save the sinking ship, but we'll have to wait and see, I guess.

Still, like someone else mentioned, it's so sad to see the downright meteoric rise of Mattel right now, and look at MLP and wonder what a Mattel MLP line would be like, LOL. Although Barbie quality has been on a downward trend for years (overpriced collector dolls, falsely inflated market price, etc. etc.) there's no denying that they have a massive line of playline toys available at any given time, in almost any store you go to.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I knew (from The Toys That Made Us special) that Hasbro was/is almost exclusively a 'boys toy' company, and TBH I feel like MLP in the 80s succeeded somehow despite that delusional mindset.

Hasbro was rolling in enough money from GI Joe and the "boy toys" to have a girls' side of the company.  And basically they existed to be a competition to whatever Mattel was doing at the time.  That's why they bought other companies to bring them under the Hasbro umbrella.

it's exactly what MGA is doing with Mattel right now

[KarentheUnicorn]

The toys for MLP they're producing right now are, well...I can't be the only one who things they're gaudy and ugly. Sorry if it offends anyone who likes them but they just look so non-pony like to me. The shape of the head, the way the body meets with the neck/head, the weird shape and just overall aesthetic. The colors are very harsh and, some of the color combos are terrible together. I'm not sure when they're going to stop putting orange and harsh pink together but I hope it's soon.

The horrible unhuggable hard plastic and frankenstein mish mash of body parts that do weird functions is just off putting for me as an adult, I'm not sure what it is for little kids. I have no children to know if kids like these ponies. I guess the small barely visible section is stores gives a hint to that.

Ponies were supposed to be lovable, cuddly and cute. If I wanted to hug a clunky looking robot I'd buy a transformer...

 

[Taffeta]

The sad thing about this is also the deterioration of customer service.

Spoiler

In 1995 I had an ongoing correspondance with a lovely lady at Hasbro UK's customer service department. She's the one who provided me with the list of ponies Hasbro had a record for in the UK (it is incomplete but must have  been typed up from catalogues by her or someone else in the office!) and a couple of photocopies. I was also able to buy a couple of ponies direct from them at the end of the line. She was a nice person who responded like a person.

...Flash forward to the most recent releases and when I emailed customer services in the UK again to ask about the BF ponies. The response really didn't answer my question, and when it did, they were all dismissive like, this is nothing to do with us, go ask BF.

...Then of course the BF ponies took off and suddenly Hasbro were trying to do retro, except I'm sorry, their idea of retro (releasing the M6 in moulds that aren't really G1ish at all and putting a bunch on the site about the collector ponies being the original M6, which is garbage)...it didn't really work for me.

G4 was run into the ground by a multitude of poor quality, repetitive releases which appeared at carboot sales while still in stores.

G5's three big mistakes were a: staying in Equestria because it meant G4 crossover sales junk, even though G4 was worn to the bone, b: the designs for the ponies/their faces and c: the lack of character variety. All things which made G1 important and special have now been lost. G5 is not offensive but it isn't groundbreaking. I don't like MH's reboot much either, but it's better handled than G5 in my opinion, just with regard to variety, media, target audience etc. (And this is in spite of how angry I am about Ghoulia, which is saying something).

I'm not mad about the obsession with segregating species and then bringing them together, either, it's cliche and hackneyed. I never bought into G1's fixation with de-magicking earth ponies in US media releases, since in the UK ponies had magic regardless of their species and I liked that better. The factfile states Magic Star is the most magical pony of all of them, so yeah.

 Maybe because I grew up with it, but I feel like it's not very progressive, having a world in which x type of pony can only do x. It's not quite as strangling as 'your cutie mark destiny', but it isn't great.

Reality isn't like that. I will never understand why Earth ponies should not have magic as an option by default.

So yeah, back to local stores. It's not very hopeful. Even looking at your pics, Carrehz, there's not a massive amount of variety.

Unpopular opinion, too, but I am ok with MLP ending with G5. I feel like we already had 2 generations too many, given the chaos of G4 and then this. MLP doesn't need to be constantly trampled down by repetitive overselling of the same characters. If MLP disappeared completely, well, so what? Those of us who grew up with G1 survived that and we're still surviving it. Will it really make a huge difference if ponies stop being sold? The ones most of us grew up with (G1 or G3 included) haven't been on shelves for years but we're still here for them...

[kestral_kitsune]

my local walmart hasn't had a pony section in ??? 2 years i believe we might have had a shelf of them but taht was it.

[goddessofpeep]

I personally thought Hasbro should have killed MLP at the end of G4, and then brought it back in a few years with a lot of fanfare. Ponies had technically been on shelves somewhere since 1997(in some places G2 and G3 had overlapped). Everyone was exhausted.   

The G4 line had some serious baggage, and giving it a few years would probably clear out the most toxic elements of the whole brony thing as they found something else to befoul.  The end of a line is almost always preceded by wave after wave of crap releases, and by the time Hasbro finally pulls the plug, there is no excitement from any segment of their customer base.  Everyone is bored, and rebooting into that just makes the next generation feel like a crappy extension of the previous dying line. It would also give Hasbro time to work on the next line so it’s actually…good, and it would give time to build some hype and excitement for the new line.

But stupid and greedy won the day, and I’m betting that the thought process was along the lines of “the bronies aren’t buying as much, let’s push out something new ASAP so we can pump more money out of them”. 

The G5 line came out too close to G4, and it inherited the apathy that came with years of disappointing releases, and the toxic fanbase issues of the G4s.  It was probably rushed, so it wasn’t really well thought out.  It kept the bad quality toys, boring repetitive characters, and overall issues from the G4s.  It started out poorly, and with the other issues the company as whole are dealing with, it really never had a chance. The pandemic and the closure of TRU didn’t do it any favors either. But a well run company would be able to turn it around. 

Hasbro was doing crazy well for a while. They were the number one toy maker in the world. It wasn’t even close.  They had their own cable network (The HUB). They had a huge movie franchise(Transformers). They had several high value toy lines. MTG was a money printing machine.  They had it all, and flushed it down the toilet.

It always boggles my mind that the people who make these decisions get millions and millions of dollars to do this. They even go to school for it!  These people have degrees in business!  They still seem to lack even the most basic understanding of their customers or the product.  Or they just ignore them in favor of squeaking a few extra dollars for the quarter’s bottom line. No thought for tomorrow or next year, just squeeze a few extra bucks for the shareholders and to get that sweet, sweet executive bonus for the year.

[Koudoawaia]

I honestly thought it was weird new G4 merchandise was coming out after G5 started.

[Kitcatepic]

I went to the mall today and checked out a toystore I don't remember the name of on top of the typical g5 stuff they had the movie set with rarity and capper and some of the articulated ponies from explore equstria I don't know how they have this old stock but it was cool to see

[Koudoawaia]

That's pretty cool even if it is weird all this time later. I have the Rarity and Capper set^^

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I personally thought Hasbro should have killed MLP at the end of G4, and then brought it back in a few years with a lot of fanfare. Ponies had technically been on shelves somewhere since 1997(in some places G2 and G3 had overlapped). Everyone was exhausted.   

The G4 line had some serious baggage, and giving it a few years would probably clear out the most toxic elements of the whole brony thing as they found something else to befoul.  The end of a line is almost always preceded by wave after wave of crap releases, and by the time Hasbro finally pulls the plug, there is no excitement from any segment of their customer base.  Everyone is bored, and rebooting into that just makes the next generation feel like a crappy extension of the previous dying line. It would also give Hasbro time to work on the next line so it’s actually…good, and it would give time to build some hype and excitement for the new line.

But stupid and greedy won the day, and I’m betting that the thought process was along the lines of “the bronies aren’t buying as much, let’s push out something new ASAP so we can pump more money out of them”. 

The G5 line came out too close to G4, and it inherited the apathy that came with years of disappointing releases, and the toxic fanbase issues of the G4s.  It was probably rushed, so it wasn’t really well thought out.  It kept the bad quality toys, boring repetitive characters, and overall issues from the G4s.  It started out poorly, and with the other issues the company as whole are dealing with, it really never had a chance. The pandemic and the closure of TRU didn’t do it any favors either. But a well run company would be able to turn it around. 

Hasbro was doing crazy well for a while. They were the number one toy maker in the world. It wasn’t even close.  They had their own cable network (The HUB). They had a huge movie franchise(Transformers). They had several high value toy lines. MTG was a money printing machine.  They had it all, and flushed it down the toilet.

It always boggles my mind that the people who make these decisions get millions and millions of dollars to do this. They even go to school for it!  These people have degrees in business!  They still seem to lack even the most basic understanding of their customers or the product.  Or they just ignore them in favor of squeaking a few extra dollars for the quarter’s bottom line. No thought for tomorrow or next year, just squeeze a few extra bucks for the shareholders and to get that sweet, sweet executive bonus for the year.

Yeah, I definitely think they needed to take a break between G4 and G5. MLP really hasn't had a real break ever since G2 began. There was a hiatus between G1 ending and G2 beginning, but ever since G2 started, there has more or less been a constant production of MLP toys. Sure, here in the US there was a gap between G2 ad G3 since G2 performed so poorly here that they stopped selling them, but of course they still continued to be produced regardless, and just were limited to Europe for the remaining time. But G2s were releasing all the way up through 2003 when then G3 replaced that. G3 led straight into G4 with G3.5 being between those. G4 led into the gap generation of G4.5 with the cat-ponies, and then G5 right after... we really needed a break haha. Non-stop ponies ever since 1997.

With how massive and successful G4 was, and with the whole erm, brony thing, a break to give the franchise a complete reset would have been nice. Similar to the break between G1 and G2...

[Carrehz]

So yeah, back to local stores. It's not very hopeful. Even looking at your pics, Carrehz, there's not a massive amount of variety.

Honestly, the most variety I've seen in the last few years has been in Forbidden Planets with a good stock of Basic Funs :/ I really wish more shops would stock those since most of them seem to sell FAST... compared to the endless parade of Sunnys (Sunnies?) and Izzys that warm up the shelves for months on end.....

[SnorkMaiden]

I've not been to a lot of toy stores in recent years, but when I go, it's always the same picture, whether it's in Belgium, Germany or the UK: Large stores will have some MLP stuff, though you always have to search for it and it's often a wild mixture of older and newer items (which can be quite nice, depending on what you're looking for, but it shows that the stores don't care what they put on the shelves). Small stores with limited shelf space tend not to have MLP at all anymore. It's just not a big seller, I suppose.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Hasbro and in particular CEO Chris P. Cocks' stupidity has also lead to sales-killing price-gouging on brands like Transformers that's hurting those brands as well. And I bet the idiot has a golden parachute clause in his contract, too; it would explain why the shareholders haven't fired him in order to stop him from continuing to undercut their value with his idiocy.

Regarding G5... I think starting it up so soon after G4 ended could still have worked.
IF it had been the clean break in narrative and design that it actually needed to be. G4 was exhausted on every level, and retailers and customers alike were exhausted of it and its poorly-balanced assortments.
MLP needed a new setting and a substantial change in aesthetic (like, say, reverting to something more horse-like) that would have actually felt like a new start.
But noooooo, the idiots in charge couldn't bring themselves to fully let go of G4, and so the line basically looks and feels like more of the same thing they were already sick of to retailers.
And wasn't there also a long delay between the movie coming out and the show debuting?

I'm not mad about the obsession with segregating species and then bringing them together, either, it's cliche and hackneyed.

Indeed.

I never bought into G1's fixation with de-magicking earth ponies in US media releases, since in the UK ponies had magic regardless of their species and I liked that better. The factfile states Magic Star is the most magical pony of all of them, so yeah.

In fairness, "My Little Pony and Friends" toned down everybody's magical capabilities compared to the backcard stories. Individual unicorns don't have much variety to what they can do with their magic in that, and the only special thing pegasi can do is fly (although that did make them the cartoon's favorite since the cartoon loved to travel to various locations).
The show does at least make clear that Earth Ponies are still inherently magical - otherwise, their hair wouldn't have been much use in repairing Porcina's cloak.

Maybe because I grew up with it, but I feel like it's not very progressive, having a world in which x type of pony can only do x. It's not quite as strangling as 'your cutie mark destiny', but it isn't great.

How do you feel about G4 giving pegasi weather magic to go with them flying?

Reality isn't like that. I will never understand why Earth ponies should not have magic as an option by default.

I think a lot of people tend to see them as the "normals" of the setting because they're the closest to IRL horses and don't have obvious supernatural features like wings or horns. Hasbro themselves seem to have felt that way in G3 (and it obviously took arm-twisting to get pegasi and unicorns added to the line at all).

Unpopular opinion, too, but I am ok with MLP ending with G5. I feel like we already had 2 generations too many, given the chaos of G4 and then this. MLP doesn't need to be constantly trampled down by repetitive overselling of the same characters. If MLP disappeared completely, well, so what? Those of us who grew up with G1 survived that and we're still surviving it. Will it really make a huge difference if ponies stop being sold? The ones most of us grew up with (G1 or G3 included) haven't been on shelves for years but we're still here for them...

I mean, it will make it harder to share MLP with future generations if it ends, and probably kill throwback stuff like Basic Fun reissues that make getting G1 stuff more accessible for those who didn't grow up with it.

At this rate, maybe it would be better if Hasbro imploded and Takara-Tomy picked up the pieces.

[Taffeta]

It's not just the G1 animation that demagicks ponies, though. There are a couple of spoken word cassettes - the one with Glory being dragged into a 'magical world' from ponyland is one, although the 'magical world' is basically what most kids over here grew up with as the standard world the ponies lived in. And there's Ember's Dream with the guy in New York. It's a lot more grounded in real than the lore over here was, not just in the animation.

Though it is true about the backcard stories. The irony is that many of those story concepts played out in the UK comics, even when the ponies had different or no backcard story here (eg Shady's magic sunglasses concept comes from the US backcard originally).

In the UK comic stories there were no generic species powers, each pony who had magic had something individual to them, although not every pony had magic...it wasn't split between species, either.

The G4 pegasus ponies having weather magic is generic, just like the unicorns winking in and out in the G1 animation. Though G1 unicorns did sometimes have unique magic, like Gusty and Fizzy, which was nice.

I can see the point about the earth ponies being like 'normal horses' to kids, but they weren't ever presented like that in the stories here, so I guess I never saw them that way. Maybe kids involved in horses did. I had a horse mad friend as a kid but I don't remember her trying to connect the ponies with her riding...just that she liked them because she liked horses and stuff.

In any case, having grown up with magic being spread in a more egalitarian way between the species, I'm always left disappointed by the more pragmatic approach. It's not wrong, I just think it's a shame. I can think of lots of earth and pegasus ponies who had decent tricks that added to stories and occasionally caused confusion. I can think of a few earth ponies who could fly, too. I just don't see the need to put ponies in categories and limit them according to species. It's that idea of knowing your place that I just can't get on board with.

Also, does it matter if future generations don't get to share MLP? Looking at where it is now, is that really something we want to share with the future? Is it really okay for it just to be there for the sake of keeping the brand alive, even when the soul has long since been sucked out of it? Personally, I'm okay with it fading into the past. I've never loved the hype G4 brought into the pony collecting world.