Did G5 flop?

[DracoKat]

I liked the cartoons- once I got used to the odd looking ponies that look nothing like MLP IMO. The storyline was cute.
The toys felt cold and not fun. They had no personality to them, I can see why kids aren't grabbing them off the shelves. I've found so many of them in thrift stores too, many still in packaging.

I feel like maybe if they made the mane 5 look more like g4's, more like horses like g1/3's, they'd have better luck? And a bigger variety of characters other than the same 6-7 over and over.

[cowboyopossum]

I think the faces look way too human. They're also skinny still, not like actual horses, but I think g4 started that trend.

[TheClassCalico]

Myself, I like the skinnier bodies, though I wouldn't mind a little more bulk. However, those humanoid faces, and especially those eyebrows are very much not my taste. I prefer my horses to actually look like horses, and since G3.5, they've looked too human.

Concerning children growing up quickly, I grew up in the 2000s, and I'd get bored of some toys earlier and others later. I wouldn't at all be surprised if children are bored of their toys faster more often, with the shift towards technology; at the same time, some of it may just be a matter of not caring about their old toys and instead moving towards new toys. I have definitely noticed an increase in the popularity of craft toys, as mentioned here earlier. I don't really see crafts as more "mature" exactly, but rather more interactive.

I think that it is a blend of children simply becoming bored with their old toys and also a shift towards more interactive toys and devices. Children are also probably growing up faster to a degree as well due to their exposure to the "adult" internet (such as the original YouTube) at a younger age. This last point probably affected me to a lesser degree as well, as I was regularly using services such as YouTube and watching content not technically intended for my age when I was 11+, and I know that this is also true for a lot of people within my age group.

[Ponyfan]

This is what the MLP section looks like at Target.

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Ponyfan

[cowboyopossum]

It's the same for me. I never got that minifigure set, way too much imo...

[Leave a Whisper]

I checked out DD's Discounts, alas no ponies. 

Post Merge: March 20, 2024, 05:48:55 PM

This is what the MLP section looks like at Target.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login



Ponyfan

At least you've got Misty

[Taffeta]

Has Misty even been seen in the UK? Like, at all? Ever? Anywhere??

I know she's been on Amazon, at least I think so, but regarding store shelves, it's literally just Sunny here.

There are some small figure Izzys around, possibly the same ones as when they were first released as I never see this display go down any. But any other characters...forget it.

I did see Opaline? in the county town. Also a couple of other things. Notwithstanding this isn't the most connected part of the country, it was still dire. During G1, even if I didn't have access to stores with them in, I found most G1 ponies available here at local carboot sales - so distribution must have been vaguely functional even if not in my immediate vicinity.

And even when I did go shopping for ponies, there was always choice. Even if the pony I wanted wasn't there, there were always at least ten or eleven DIFFERENT ONES on the shelf for me to pick from. Even in the smallest shop displays. John Menzies? Yep. Boots? Yep.

It's sad to say that shops like those, which are not toy stores, had much better pony displays in G1 than actual designated toy stores now do in G5.

Menzies doesn't exist anymore, afaik, but while Boots occasionally had G4 ponies, I haven't seen G5 there.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

[off topic but I adore the names of stores in the UK, they just are... cute!  no offense meant!]

[Lady Frostbite]

[off topic but I adore the names of stores in the UK, they just are... cute!  no offense meant!]

Loooool, Boots is a chemist (pharmacy) for the most part but does have some toys, mostly around Christmas.

Menzies ... there is a name I haven't heard in a long, long time ... they're long dead as a shop, only the distribution arm exists. WH Smith filled the niche they left, but more expensive and worse in my opinion.

I see SOME ponies in the major supermarkets like Tesco and Asda, Smyths I'm usually distracted looking for POP!s, Pokemon, FNAF or MH so I can't tell you how big the section is but not very large, certainly smaller than the shelf space given to LOL (how is this line still going???? HOW???????). I've not been to The Entertainer for a while, I'll have a look next time I'm there. Not much in B&Ms either.

[Taffeta]

[off topic but I adore the names of stores in the UK, they just are... cute!  no offense meant!]

Hee, none taken Boots is a really old company, actually. Menzies and WH Smiths are named after people/families who founded them (as Lady Frostbite said, Menzies is long since defunct as a store). We've had a lot of stores like that. Sainsburys is another (JJ Sainsburys I think?). I suspect Wilkinsons (later Wilkos) was that way too...

According to Google, Boots was also originally named after a Mr Boot who founded in the 1840s.

I have quite a few old pony packages which have boots price labels on them. I didn't mention BHS (British Home Stores, also now defunct), but my first ever pony came from there (my mother remembers choosing her in the store in Birmingham, they were all up a pillar, apparently, and she thought they looked so pretty. It was rainbow pony Windy, I can imagine that display caught the eye given how new MLP was. I don't think Mum had ever seen them before...this would've been late 1984.)

As a Brit, the word mart in shop names is a bit weird to me as we don't use it (market, yes, mart, not really). When I was in Japan, I kept seeing FamilyMart stores everywhere and it was a bit jolting Asda used to be Walmart but I don't think it is anymore.

Japan also has a lot of 7/11 stores and a handful of Circle K (the latter has long since triggered Bill & Ted jokes with my sister and I, since she found them in Korea as well).

...Enough for the OT Moving back on topic.

The display in our Entertainer has not changed for literally over a year.

We don't have a toymaster franchise in this area anymore, so I don't know if they have any better. They do better on BasicFun than Entertainer/Smyths/etc stores.

[Lady Frostbite]

Tesco was named after a combination fo the founder (Jack Cohen) and his main supplier at the time, so TES from that supplier and CO from Cohen. Some of the own-brand Tesco stuff is under this original supplier name, it's escaping me at the moment and I'm too proud to look it up. Sainsbury was deffo named after its founder, same with Boots and Wilkinsons.

The last Toymaster I ever saw was almost 20 years ago in a specific city, I'm not sure it's still there but it might be. TRU and other toy shops really piledrove it into the ground. The Entertainer is so weird; they never stocked MH and I think someone on MH arena said it was because someone at head office thought they were demonic? Or maybe too risqué? But they have other franchises in there that are just as dark?? It's a weird mix of toys compared to Smyths or Hamleys. They do seem to change stuff over late compared to Smyths, which is apparently really taking up TRU's mantle. My local Smyths rearranged their displays (which was confusing as I was looking for the Schleich figures after I had done my pick-up of Pokémon POP!s and notice the FNAF display was thin).

Coming back to Tesco, their pony section was small for G5 but it's worth noting that their Rainbow High selecton was also weirdly small as well

[MJNSEIFER]

[off topic but I adore the names of stores in the UK, they just are... cute!  no offense meant!]

It's more than fine. I never thought about it, but... it's cute that you find them cute, if that makes sense. ^_^

[Artemesia's Garden]

I've found so many of them in thrift stores too, many still in packaging.

Ouch!

Post Merge: March 21, 2024, 10:55:51 PM

my mother remembers choosing her in the store in Birmingham, they were all up a pillar, apparently, and she thought they looked so pretty. It was rainbow pony Windy, I can imagine that display caught the eye given how new MLP was. I don't think Mum had ever seen them before...this would've been late 1984.

Your Mother has good taste!  So lucky!

Post Merge: March 21, 2024, 11:18:00 PM

If I was a kid I wouldn't want to share my fandom with grown adults 30+ regardless of gender. But especially not with adults who create so much p*** that "safe search on" still shows it.

I'm sad that G5 couldn't be for girls again without being cheaped out.

I was angry and disgusted by it at the time, but then I saw it just part of the 'next' social problem i.e. harmful media content. Every new generation of teens seem to have more serious problems to deal with and they are worse when they are new because kids (and parents) don't know how to avoid them. I just assumed that it would work itself through and that in the meantime you gave your child a brick and they just had to put up with it. Not so. The social pressure to have an online presence is now so great that it can set a child back if you don't allow them to engage with it, and meanwhile the media companies have not made things much better.

I am also sad. I would not like to offer my child something so lacking in substance that she might identify with her gender. I watched the 2 mini movies on Netflix and quite enjoyed them, but the only character I liked enough to buy a toy was Izzie, so I bought one plush and that was it. It's a nice plush but not even that different from some G4 plushes. 

I don't know yet, but don't think I will allow daughter to engage fully in these toy lines with media and current releases etc. We never did because we didn't have network TV. We saw a couple of MLP movies in the cinema because a friend offered to take us, but that was it. Incidentally, we never had any fixed idea of the characters either because my cousin lived in a different area and got different characters from us in the shops. We had Argos and they had Cash and Carry. So we just had a mixture of toys old and new and used our own imagination. If she wants to collect anthing fully it will have to be stamps maybe it can be rocks. Maybe I'm being too extreme. Will kids even want plastic toys in a few year's time? I know that they worry about the environment a lot more than even 5 years ago.

[Carrehz]

Yeah, Sainsbury = John Sainsbury.

Taffeta - wasn't it you that said Entertainer didn't stock MH because they were too good and Christian to sell demon monster toys? or am I misremembering? I definitely do remember that coming up back on the MH Arena though.

Another factor could be that apparently Entertainer don't sell things unless they can get them for a good price. I was told this by a reliable source in the toy industry - that's why they stopped selling Sylvanian Families for a while - Entertainer were getting them for a good price, and then Epoch took over distribution of SFs worldwide and charged more than Entertainer were willing to pay, so they dropped the line. Epoch eventually put their prices down and so Entertainer started stocking the line again, but they only stock the cheapest items, which is why you'll never see a huge SF section in there.
(I wonder if this is why they stopped selling Pokemon stuff too?)

Toymaster... I don't remember the last time I saw one of those. There's never been one within my usual umm toy hunting radius? one I can easily get to, anyway

I've never seen Misty over here. Opaline I think I've only seen at some GAME stores? Definitely never at Smyths and I don't think I've seen her at Entertainer either.

[Taffeta]

There is a Christian-based element to Entertainer, which is why they don't open Sundays, and yes, I believe they did not stock MH but did stock EAH because of this. They never had an issue with MLP though. It was just the 'monster' side of MH that I guess they didn't go for.

I had a very brief temporary employment with them back in the long ago days, and the whole not working on Sunday was something they made a big deal out of.

I do think any toy store would only go after something that they see as profitable.

I know of lots of toymaster franchise stores in the area where I used to live in south London - but none here in the midlands any more :/ We get forgotten for a lot of things, though, especially since this nonsensical north/south divide narrative started gaining traction. We're not really part of either :/

I didn't think I'd seen Misty, either. I have Opaline, and I think I bought her in Entertainer, but not in my local store. Probably the county town.

@Artie - I'm glad not to be a kid now. I think they have so many difficult things to navigate that we just never had to face. It's hard to predict the future, but hopefully at some point the 'wild west' nature of social media and the internet will come into line and things will settle down in time for when your daughter is old enough to really engage with it all.