I actually think it can be pretty random though they tend to be harder plastic more often. I have a massive army of the Gingerbread pose (it's my fave)  as well as the rest of the set of TE's in other poses but only some of mine are rock hard and some are more squishy 

(Gingerbread pose is also Ringlets pose of course. Slightly OT but it was originally a female pose and still is to me, it was only used as a male pose in the UK at the very end of G1 around the mid 90's for Sportstime and the last lot of Daddy ponies. Before the Mountain Boys and Big Brothers there were no adult "male" ponies officially as toys and all the official males had feathered hooves apart from baby Lucky and baby Clipper. The boys have always been hard plastic but the ponies in my fave pose are not all hard, some of my Ringlets army for example are quite soft. Just saying )

I'd say flop for sure. The thing is  ..well in my case I'd never stopped loving ponies since G1 and always got the new gens (even if it took me a while to accept G2 and G3.5    ) . I've always been a bit of a pony addict (understatement!! )  but G5 was sooo bad it put me off right away, I've taken a long pony hiatus (  )  and to this day I haven't been able to even make myself try out buying even one single G5. They're just  too *shudder* weird for me?  they creep me out (sorry to anyone reading this who loves them   )  and of course the quality and variety had gone downhill before the end of G4.
 I rarely see anything G5 where I live now, just the same old ones that have been shelf warming for ages and only a few when they were first released really.  I'm sure there are plenty of other people who had the same feelings about them as I did and started to spend money on other collections instead as well. The Basic Fun G1 are the only "new" ponies I've bought in years 
Hasbro really messed up IMHO.

      YAY!!!!! Setsuna-san!!!!!  welcome!!!!!!!     
                 
 I'm so happy to see you over here at the Arena my friend!!
                           
 and lookie!! I don't have emoji restrictions on here either     

Your costumes are a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!!!!!!!  you know how much I admire you and your sister's talent!!      What a great intro!!!!      you should share your doll pics too! I think everyone here would love to see your customs      check out the dollhouse section as well!  Hope you enjoy it here!! sooooo excited that you've joined us!!
  *big massive hugs* 

I don't think it's selfish to have a pony army - actually I have pony armies in my own collection and they make me happy. I like to see other collectors pony armies too  If you can afford it and it makes you happy and it's not hurting someone else then why not? 
The only times it could become a bit selfish is if someone goes to the shop and buys up the whole lot of one new HTF pony -not because they like armies but just to brag or sell on for profit, or they buy multiples of certain rare older ponies not because they actually like them but just to deliberately try and make others jealous.
 Otherwise I see no problem with armies at all. Some people have specific character armies that aren't all multiples but one of each variant of that character especially when it comes to the more HTF ones, but most pony armies are of common ponies . Other people have a fave pose army (so for example I have a G1 fave pose army - the BnG Ringlets pose - usually called the Gingerbread pose. Not everyone likes it but it's my fave. Most of my ponies in that army are common but some are more rare -but I only have one of the rarer ones in my fave pose army- so for example one Spanish gingerbread, one Brazil Twist- and then I have multiple common ponies )

Sorry I didn't make it through all the thread but.. what the..??!!  (no I wasn't in time to hear the song , but I get the idea     )   ok. If you love this then great  - I'm genuinely happy for you
We're all different though so personally I see this and I'm like "that's the new design for MLP?   "       Nope. Sooo much nope   Sorry

I voted Swirlabout (not keen on the name but I love the actual pony).  I would buy the whole set though - they're all pretty 

Thanks for letting us know I'm glad you got your money back now - hopefully you'll be able to buy the pony from a more reliable seller soon too