DHX hit with major data breach (beware of spoilers)

[Esbayne]

Spoiler

let the nourishing brony tears flow over me.

This. xD
G5, bring it onnnnn, get FiM outta here already!

This would be suuuuch a breath of fresh air.
G4 is just... not my cup of tea at all. I collected a few of the ponies when it first launched, basically tried playing "catch em all" with original characters but after a while they became too obscure and obnoxious to get for what they are, so I stopped, and then the "Mane 6" thing happened and I just disconnected from all of that altogether.  I didn't mind the style at first and thought it was odd but kind of cute and unique, and then it just got really old and generic and boring very fast. Also, the whole crazed fanbase, just... Naaah.
It's honestly barely even MLP in my eyes, and it really tarnished the brand name, -in my opinion.- But I'm not trying to start going off all about G4, that wasn't my intent!

These supposed G5 ponies are lovely- I might actually start collecting ponies again if they, or something similar, happen. I miss collecting ponies quite a lot but once the G4 thing blew up I just kept all my G1/2/3 ponies, my like, twenty G4s, and called it good on getting any more for a very long time. Now I'm a lot more into fantasy/horror/mythology dolls, but ponies will always have a special place with me and I would jump back in at any time for a (good) new gen.

[Galactica]

Isn't the fact that they are calling the art "G5" suspicious though? Who other than collectors and bronies calls the ponies by their generations?

Isn't that a point towards the probable hoax category? 

[LadyMoondancer]

Yeah, that makes me suspicious as well.  Hasbro and its partners have never used the G-whatever label for generations.

As far as they are concerned My Little Pony can be divided into:

- My Little Pony

- this space intentionally left blank (aka G2 MLP which Hasbro has completely forgotten they made)

- the other My Little Pony

- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

[Leave a Whisper]

Isn't the fact that they are calling the art "G5" suspicious though? Who other than collectors and bronies calls the ponies by their generations?

Isn't that a point towards the probable hoax category?

Good point.

[Al-1701]

It could be a possible placeholder until they come up with a proper subtitle.  This is what we're not supposed to see, and the show staff are aware of the Generation numbering used by fans.

[Safflower]

It could be a possible placeholder until they come up with a proper subtitle.  This is what we're not supposed to see, and the show staff are aware of the Generation numbering used by fans.

This was what I was thinking. If they are having trouble coming up with a whole world in less than a year, they most like don't have a name.

[Al-1701]

I predict when MLP gets rebooted, whenever that may be, the Mane Six will comprise at least half the main characters.

Ever since G2, when it seemed like every other released pony with Ivy, Hasbro has wanted to have a core set of recognizable ponies. Now they finally have that, and there is no way they're going to give it up. 

However it's possible there will be new characters introduced with the old characters (the way G4 had two core G3 ponies (revamped Pinkie and Rainbow Dash), but also new characters.)  Which is what I'm hoping for.

I think so too. You can argue that Hasbro has attempted to establish a group of core characters ever since MLP Tales "Seven Characters" (they probably would have kept pushing these characters if the toyline hadn't ended at that point). But not until G4 did they manage to create a group of characters that truly became recognized by the mainstream, similar to Optimus Prime/Megatron/Bumblebee of Transformers. These are the faces of MLP now, even if we'll probably be seeing different interpretations of them for every generation.

Pretty sure I said that eight pages ago. And about the previous generations and core characters. The difference between 7characters and now is nothing to do with the show or toy, it's to do with the opportunity technology offers now to mainstream those images and ideas. Those simply didn't exist in 1992 when the 7 Characters came into being. In spite of that they then took over all of the MLP media from about late 92 to the end of production. The show even aired in the US even though the ponies didn't happen there. I think relatively speaking that's the same thing. G4's popularity with the mane six has nothing to do with the show or characters so much as the platforms on which those can now be made globally recogniseable. We live in a different world.

This is just one of the many reasons I really dislike when people try to take G4 and look back comparatively, because it ends in an anachronism. Each generation was what it was in its own context. I think we can only really say that G2 didn't make an impression because of its failure in the US.

Spoiler

Going back on topic, I have sympathy for all bronies who are not psycho. The ones who attack old generations or simply don't bother to understand the roots of their fandom, it's time they got a clue. If they are real fans, they'll stick with it regardless of whether it ends or not. As I said before, most of us here have survived the end of multiple generations.

The thing that gets me is that G1 is still here and collected and popular in spite of the fact it's been over more than 20 years. I think that we'll only know what kind of impact G4 really had a generation after it ended. I would hope to see lots of collectors remembering their childhoods and hunting up their favourites, just as we did and just as the generation 3 collectors now are starting to do. If G4 ends and loses the stupid fad fans in the process, so much for the better. So I don't like seeing them suffer per se, but they really need to get over themselves -and it - fast. I saw a few comments when looking for more information on that image and saw someone complaining that Hasbro don't care about the bronies even though they watch the show. The obvious point in that is no, Hasbro don't care about the people who just watch the show. They care about the people who buy their toys, and I guess they're realising now as a company that the bronies might be out there, but a lot of the more manic ones do not buy the toys that the series is there to sell. So no wonder they're wanting to cut ties and redevelop for a new launch (if that is what they are actually doing). They want people to spend money on their products. No point in catering to a group who don't want to do that.

Jem in the 80s had one of the best TV series and it is still a cult classic. But the toy line still failed and the show got cut because of it. Ultimately, whatever the FIM fans want to think, for Hasbro it's not about DVD sales. It's entirely about selling the toys. And if you aren't buying the toys, then the line isn't going to feed your fantasies for the rest of eternity. Life doesn't work like that...

As I said before, I don't mind if G4 ends or if it continues. I am just sick of those six ponies. If Hasbro bring out new characters in the new style, then I'll be interested in looking at them at least. If it's just remashed g4, not interested. Going back to what I said about toys, Mane 6 shelf-sit more than the original characters in a set here in the UK. While it's fact that they tend to put more Pinkie Pies in distribution boxes than any other mane 6 pony, it's mostly Rainbow Dash that shelf-sits here. Hasbro need new ponies to spearhead a new franchise. Keep one or two - maybe AJ as Wardah said, the legacy back to G1 - but let's have something c completely new. Not reworked G1, not G2, G3...or G4. Something new and unique to G5. If indeed that is what is going to happen, rather than what the concept art suggests is actually a G4.5.

Otherwise I agree with everything goddessofpeep said. The thing is, I think the 'shadow' war happened because then we were all a lot younger as G1 people. I think maybe a lot of G4 people are now in that bracket, so it might be angry for a while. But probably not here. We're used to change by now...so whatever is coming,  bring it on. Ultimately, it's the kids that matter most in the equation and always will be. The kids who buy toys.

The Mane 6 are far from the best ponies or even representatives of their archetypes if you ask me.  Looking at the 7 Character ponies, Bright Eyes was a much better intellectual than Twilight Sparkle.  Patch's love of adventure is far more entertaining than Rainbow Dash's quest to be awesome.  Sweetheart is a better soft spoken character than Fluttershy.

And many ponies from the original animation as well as the comic are much better characters than these six.  I'd rather have reserved but brave Wind Whistler who would fly into danger to save a friend than Twilight Sparkle who can't even say indentured servitude is wrong.  Fizzy's naive sweetness is easier to enjoy than Pinkie Pie's lol randomness.

The only advantage they have is the internet and a show creator with a name known to Twenty-somethings.  If My Little Pony is just going to be six ponies over and over, especially these ponies, then the brand has been dealt a severe blow.

[LadyMoondancer]

From Hasbro's perspective it doesn't matter what continuity is "best", what matters is that they have recognizable characters.  Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles always has the same four turtle characters every time it's rebooted.

If Hasbro looked back on MLP Tales and decided "Wow, that was great" then they'd just slightly alter Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, etc, and put them in a Tales-like world.  If they looked at Fizzy and thought, "Wow, best character ever!" then they'd probably reskin her as Pinkie Pie.  Because Fizzy's personality has nothing to do with her being green, having multi-colored hair, or having jewel eyes. And because Hasbro has dumped a whole lot of money into making "pink pony with pink hair and balloons on butt" a part of their core character cast.

Characters are malleable from continuity to continuity.  I think this is something bronies are going to have to grapple with . . . That the personality  given to Twilight Sparkle or whoever is not set in stone to Hasbro, which sees 'characters' more as collections of colors than as collections of personality traits.

An example of this from the Transformers side of things:

Is Bumblebee an old, crotchety Autobot who uses a cane and is bitter about how things fell out after the Cybertronian civil war ended?  Or is he a fresh-faced optimistic young Autobot who is learning how to lead a team for the first time?  The answer is:  he is both, concurrently.  He's the bitter one in the IDW comics and he's the optimist in the recent Robots In Disguise show.  To Hasbro, there is no contradiction here.  Bumblebee can be either of these things, and a million other things besides.

[Wardah]

From Hasbro's perspective it doesn't matter what continuity is "best", what matters is that they have recognizable characters.  Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles always has the same four turtle characters every time it's rebooted.

If Hasbro looked back on MLP Tales and decided "Wow, that was great" then they'd just slightly alter Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, etc, and put them in a Tales-like world.  If they looked at Fizzy and thought, "Wow, best character ever!" then they'd probably reskin her as Pinkie Pie.  Because Fizzy's personality has nothing to do with her being green, having multi-colored hair, or having jewel eyes. And because Hasbro has dumped a whole lot of money into making "pink pony with pink hair and balloons on butt" a part of their core character cast.

Characters are malleable from continuity to continuity.  I think this is something bronies are going to have to grapple with . . . That the personality  given to Twilight Sparkle or whoever is not set in stone to Hasbro, which sees 'characters' more as collections of colors than as collections of personality traits.

An example of this from the Transformers side of things:

Is Bumblebee an old, crotchety Autobot who uses a cane and is bitter about how things fell out after the Cybertronian civil war ended?  Or is he a fresh-faced optimistic young Autobot who is learning how to lead a team for the first time?  The answer is:  he is both, concurrently.  He's the bitter one in the IDW comics and he's the optimist in the recent Robots In Disguise show.  To Hasbro, there is no contradiction here.  Bumblebee can be either of these things, and a million other things besides.

A great example of this is Rainbow Dash G3 vs G4.

[Al-1701]

I just hope they do something about the shade of pink Pinkie Pie is.  Seriously, her shade makes me think of stomach medicine.  There's a saturation bar there for a reason.

And can we do the RCW rainbow with Rainbow Dash next time?  ROYGBV is too 20th century.  I would also change the coat color to white to really set off the mane and tail.  Seriously, Starshine (in mint condition) is the most beautiful rainbow-haired pony ever.

There's also the worry I have that the "stench" of the G4 character will remain with the ponies if they just use the same characters, especially if it's the same staff.  They're planning to change Applejack, but that's probably because they've realized the G4 character is a dry well who's almost impossible to write for (and shackled to one of Lauren Faust's dumbest ideas for the show).  However, the others, especially Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle, probably have the allure of just making the same character.  Add to this the fact they're expected to switch everything over in a year, and that allure must be even stronger.

Yet, that would just be Transformers G2 all over again, something that failed to garnered new interest while alienating existing fans.

And we need more green ponies with multi-colored hair and gem eyes.  The group color scheme has a massive lack of green.

[Dreamer]

And can we do the RCW rainbow with Rainbow Dash next time?  ROYGBV is too 20th century.  I would also change the coat color to white to really set off the mane and tail.  Seriously, Starshine (in mint condition) is the most beautiful rainbow-haired pony ever.

What we need is more rainbow-haired ponies, period. By the way, what's RCW?

[Al-1701]

And can we do the RCW rainbow with Rainbow Dash next time?  ROYGBV is too 20th century.  I would also change the coat color to white to really set off the mane and tail.  Seriously, Starshine (in mint condition) is the most beautiful rainbow-haired pony ever.

What we need is more rainbow-haired ponies, period. By the way, what's RCW?

Real Color Wheel, where the primary colors are red, green, and blue and the secondary colors are yellow, cyan, and magenta.  It reflects how light and pigment actually behave.

[Lady Frostbite]

Spoiler

If what I've found is accurate, I honestly like the designs! It took several looks for me to realise Fluttershy was changed to a unicorn ... I'm confused about that change, a pegasus works good for her name. What's the hubub about Applejack? She's still an Earth pony? Or is in the traditionally male Clydesdale-style legs that's setting it off?

Leaked eps; I only bothered to watch bits and bobs since I don't follow the show, I am still annoyed that Chrysalis is portrayed as a cold uncaring ruler (servants always fail you in the end) since, well, her own line about needing to feed her subjects kinda set her up as an antagonist that was doing the right thing but that right thing simply comes at the expense of everyone else. She should have been a real hive Queen and done everything for her subjects and cared in her own way about them, this is just dumb to me.

[Carrehz]

I don't get all the hubbub over these supposed 'redesigns' depicting some of them as different pony types o.O It's not like it hasn't happened before in the change to G3/G4 (i.e. Rainbow Dash sprouting wings, Waterfire being an earth pony in G3 and a unicorn in G4..).

Isn't the fact that they are calling the art "G5" suspicious though? Who other than collectors and bronies calls the ponies by their generations?

Isn't that a point towards the probable hoax category?

I thought that was a bit off, too. It could just be a placeholder name, but it just seems a bit, hmm, suspicious to me. :S A bit too on-the-nose I guess you'd say.

[Jocelyn]

Spoiler

It's not that they want to kill AJ because she's too hard to write for, they want to kill her because of her association with anything "country, farm or hick" (taken from the email...) I don't think Hasbro cares in any meaningful capacity that the writers have more of a challenge accommodating a story around her character. My guess is they don't feel a farm pony is appealing anymore, especially since they're throwing around the idea of turning her into a scrappy, tough urban girl who has to act harder because she's small. It feels like they're trying to respond to the current climate, and they want a champion of the underdog-type. AJ is my favorite, so it makes me sad that apparently she's too farm-y and horsey, which is silly. But the idea of her being a tough city pony is interesting, it's just hard to see at this point. Interested to see where she goes...