When will G4 end? And how we will know it?

[daffodil101]

I can't shake the mental image of G4 ending in some fiery apocalypse, with collectors and bronies desperately grabbing the last merchandise off the shelves (of course the shelves are on fire) while a child from the next isle over raises an eyebrow at us and buys the newest Monster High doll.

  hahaha love it.  this is an apocalypse I wanna see!

[Sprinklecupcake]

I feel like EQG will replace the G4 ponies like, as someone stated above, a G4.5 genetation. Im noticing it right before my eyes, seems like theres more EQG dolls made besides the pony toys. *sigh* I want EQG to end.... and Hasbro to revive the first two years of G4 where we had a better variety of pony characters.

[SoaringSentinel]

I don't want G4 to end but it feels like we've already passed the halfway point. I've noticed that the enthusiasm for MLP isn't as high as it was during season 2 and 3. but who knows.

[HelloGoodbye]

I remember when G3 lapsed into G3.5.  I was sad about the switch to the core 7, but I also hoped that I was just a "phase" and new characters would be introduced again.  Then G3.5 started to appear.  I remember thinking at first that they were potentially "little sister" type ponies for the regular G3s due to the younger looking proportions, but then the regular ones were gone altogether.  In many ways I did like the G3.5s.  I thought they were pretty cute, and I have always liked the Newborn Cuties because I think they are totally adorable, but I was really sad that the G3s had drifted away.

The way I learned about G4 was when I was watching the Hub when it first started because they were showing an anime called Deltora Quest, and I saw Rainbow Dash during a commercial break.  I remember freaking out because I just knew it was a My Little Pony, and a quick internet search confirmed this.  And then I saw images of that gift set online, too.  For a while I was disappointed though because I thought that all the new ponies would only have molded hair, so I was so glad when I stumbled upon an Applejack brushable in Walmart shortly thereafter!

[Leave a Whisper]

I can't shake the mental image of G4 ending in some fiery apocalypse, with collectors and bronies desperately grabbing the last merchandise off the shelves (of course the shelves are on fire) while a child from the next isle over raises an eyebrow at us and buys the newest Monster High doll.

But seriously though, I think G4 is going to end a bit differently than the other generations.  My reasoning is twofold: the bigger emphasis on the TV show and sheer amount of adult fans.  The toyline will probably last shortly without the TV show.  If you ask me, we're probably on the last one or two seasons, so there isn't too much more of that, but I've been wrong before.  However, because of the adult fans that G4 has garnered, there will be a lot more resistance to having the line end, so we'll probably be seeing resistance to the series ending never seen before.  No matter what though, I think the end will be veeeery interesting this time around.

LOL Does that come complete with a Bay-style Explosion?

The cartoon's cancellation means there will be mass brony outrage for sure. Just look at how "well" that portion of the fandom handled changes that have happened with the show. A certain pegasus getting redubbeb, Princess Cadance, Twilight having a brother, Twilight becoming a princess, Equestria Girls.  It's just Drama, drama, and MORE drama. No changes can happen to the show's Status Quo without a whole lot of fans getting angry and crying that it will ruin their precious Friendship is Magic. This happens a lot with any fandom that has multiple iterations but it's been especially bad when so much whining about changes happens just in reference to a single generation of ponies. Transofrmers fans like to refer to it as RUINED FOREVER.

And indeed it will be very interesting. I don't want FIM to end soon or anything but I am genuinely curious as to how it will inevitably go down.

They'll just hafta deal with it. All shows and toys end their production run at some point and its not like they can't buy box sets. Its funny how older fans tend to throw more of a fit while kids barely seem to notice and roll onto the next thing isn't it?

[roselalonde]

I agree that it will be a more subtle process, but I also think we'll see the warning signs earlier when other collectors start finding the newer gen ponies in their areas sooner.

[prancingstag]

No doubt there will be a big bang when the FiM show ends, as that is what the newer and more vocal fans are focused on, and therefore what the media that reports on the MLP fanbase is focused on. Either it will get a planned ending and the grievance period will last from the first announcement for months afterwards, orrr it will just be mysteriously not renewed and the crying about 'what could have been' will last for years and years and years.

The toyline has worked alongside but independently of the television show in pretty much all previous generations, but given the nature of the community this time around, I think a large percentage of the buying power will drop off if/when the show does. Less interest and lower profits will probably signal to Hasbro to start easing off, and the MLP toy releases will probably become less and less numerous until one year we just don't hear anything at all. The big signal would probably be having no displays at the Toy Fair, and/or no special SDCC/Fair pony for the year. Of course, they could go the other direction and right in the middle of seemingly normal releases just go "BAM, here's the NEW My Little Pony!" and throw a new gen or half-gen at us.

Tapping in to my Tarot cards and crystal ball and the line on my palm and the alignment of the stars You'll know the new generation by... celebration. The first year of G3 was allll about celebration. Everything was labelled by it - celebration glitter ponies, celebration rainbow ponies, birthday celebration, picnic celebration, moonlight celebration, celebration castle.  The first full year of G4 was 2011, and the first special line we had was the Canterlot series, which involved a big celebration at the castle and sets and figures based around dressing up and partying with ponies. If there's anything Hasbro want you to do with the few and rare changes they institute, it's celebrate and be happy and buy the new shiny object please thank you.

[Darker]

A couple of years, maybe a decade. We can't really give an exact number, some Bronies are kinda realizing that the show wasn't that great to begin with and they're leaving it.

[Galactica]

The crazed obsessions seem to be dying down, but I'm sure there will be many who cling for many years.

[Silver_mirror46]

I'm guessing the toys will slowly die out when the show ends and so does the FIM fandom

[Salli]

I can't shake the mental image of G4 ending in some fiery apocalypse, with collectors and bronies desperately grabbing the last merchandise off the shelves (of course the shelves are on fire) while a child from the next isle over raises an eyebrow at us and buys the newest Monster High doll.

No, the child will walk right past the battle, glued to their iPhone screen with glazed eyes.

The sad thing is that I don't really feel like g4 really got going, if that makes sense. I mean, they don't release regular lines. We've already collected them all and so have the kids. In the 80's we'd go to the store and there was never a time when I looked at the shelves and thought "Oh darn, nothing new." I check my Walmart once a week and 90% of the time I walk right through the pony section without buying anything. And I WANT to buy things. I can afford to buy things. There's nothing to buy. (I refuse to buy 200 versions of Pinkie Pie. I think I have 7 as it is.) I feel like Hasbro missed out on untold millions (billions?) of dollars these past 2 years at least. If they'd've had a line in place full of ponies the kids and collectors wouldn't have gotten so bored and reverted to doll lines. I do both dolls and ponies, but ponies are priority #1. I bet I've spent hundreds on dolls that I would have spent on ponies.

I like the g4 line and love the show but I hope that they are more organized/optimistic/creative when they do release a g5 line.