So how come Hasbro hates green?

[Stellaluna]

Green is my favorite color!

I always considered Bright Eyes to be a seafoam green and that's probably why she was my favorite. I also consider Ivy to be in the main group during G2 and same goes for Minty in G4. So that's something. Too bad G2 never got a show. I still wonder what it would've been like.

[Violet CLM]

To be fair, Lyra gets colored noticeably differently between digital images and printed ones.

[Tap Dancer]

I don't think they hate green. They probably figure that most little girls love pink and purple, so they stick with those colors the most.

[Dragonflitter]

Wow some great discussions in this thread, thanks guys! ^_^

I know there are some very famous green ponies, Fizzy and Ivy and Minty and Granny Smith, just to name a few! I was specifically referring to when Hasbro decides to put out a 'core' set of characters, like in the screenshots I provided. Yes we see some green in the side characters for these shows, but never in the 'core' set! This I always thought was very strange.

Also I know some people's tv monitors display colors slightly differently, so some ponies like Bright Eyes do appear to be blue-ish green to some people. (I've never seen her toy in person, is it pretty distinctly pale blue, or a light blue-green?) Sometimes this is in the eye of the beholder, I know.

I would agree that green isn't a 'girly' color like pink and purple, which have always predominated the 'core' line, but then again, are pale blue and white and orange and yellow considered girly? Cuz they all get their chance to shine in each and every core lineup! And yet green...not even once.

After reading all the comments here, several people mentioned how green toys might be more expensive to make. I think this is getting closer to our answer. I remember when I was younger and moving into my own apartment for the first time, I spoke with someone in designing who pointed out the dark green carpets in the apartment and told me that green carpets were the most expensive to make, because of the green dye. For some reason, green dye is more expensive to get right than other colors. It seems that might be one reason Hasbro would shy away from mass producing a green character. (Might even explain why Hasbro dropped Minty from the lineup when they released the Core 7 G3's?)

I also think hathorcat (as always!) has hit upon a genius point: almost all MLP cartoons take place in a nature-filled setting with a lot of green! Even in Ponyville and the MLP Tales town, there's lots of trees and grass used in the background. Choosing contrasting colors for the characters makes them stand out more against green scenery!

[spottedslug]

As a kid green was my least favorite color, and I know I wasn't alone. Perhaps the group within their research has a higher percentage of kids who didn't like green.

[Wardah]

I know it isn't actually ponies but Vinnie from Littlest Pet Shop is green and he is part of the main cast.

[SilverRains]

To be fair, Lyra gets colored noticeably differently between digital images and printed ones.

Green can sometimes be a hard color to print, and bright colors don't work well with CMYK. Poor Lyra happens to be both. When the made the main characters, they took this into account and made sure they printed well. Not so much with the background characters who may never have been in printed work in the first place.

[Goldilocks]

My favourite colour

I don't consider Fizzy and G3 Minty green though, I find them so blueish

I've heard that green-themed characters are often considered "weird" or "wacky" or somesuchthing. Maybe green-dominant characters end up being less marketable for some reason?

I've heard this too. And that green is something people don't choose easily when there are other options available.

Even when I was a kid, I thought it had something to do with the plastic. That green or green coloring was trickier to mold/cast/make. Or that it wouldn't hold up as well as some of the other colors. Just my two cents.

Who knows honestly.

At least in the past green dye was the most difficult colour to make and the green dyes had a tendency to change into either blue or brown easily. Don't know if this has anything to do with today's MLP though. At least some "true green" G1s, for example Sky Rocket, Starglow, Argie rainbow Truly and Argie Rock pony discolour so easily!

[Stormrave]

There has got to be a financial reason.  I don't know if it's that green dye is more expensive, if green doesn't sell as well to the target market, or if it's a concern about ponies changing shades in different media, but there's either a reason, or an old reason that nobody's rethought.

Minty G1 is my favourite pony and Fizzy close behind; and Minty G3 got a lot of exposure, but overall, I think pink/purple followed up by white/blue are easier sells.  There aren't a super ton of orange ponies, either.

[Marigold]

*This is gonna sound silly, but it irks me when people call ponies like Lyra teal when she's very clearly seafoam, and similar cases. Teal is not an encompassing term for anything remotely blue-green. It is a specific color!

And seafoam is a blue-green color.  It bugs me when people say Lyra is green when she is not really green or blue.  I love seafoam. 

The idea that green is not popular with girls is by and large a falsehood.

As a little girl, emerald green was my very favorite color.


I think darks shades of colors are skipped in ponies so true greens, reds, bright oranges, and dark blues are out.  But they have done some light greens, pinks, pale orange, and light blue ponies.  It seems like dark jewel tones in general are not pony colors.  I don't know why there are not more light green or light orange ponies though. 

[Goldilocks]

Yeah I think green might be considered to be more of a background/environment colour and thus maybe also an "everyday" colour compared to pink, purple etc as magical/fairy-tale colours..?

There aren't many "true green" ponies in G1 but there seems to be more deep bright pink or purple ones; Caramel Crunch, Hula Hula, Piña Colada, Satin' n Lace, Melody, Pretty Beat, Sweet Notes, Shady, Up Up Away, Sherbet, Springy, Sunsplasher... 

[Tabbyclaw]

In cartoons and similar media, green is an "evil" color. Especially a glowy green. Green is radiation, and mutating chemicals, and kryptonite. Green is Maleficent, and Shego, and the Wicked Witch of the West. If you were paying close attention to the flashbacks, Cadence's green magical aura was the first hint that she wasn't who everyone thought she was. About the only non-evil cartoon characters who can get away with being green are certain superheroes, and they have to be a bold primary green that wouldn't fit into the color scheme of any MLP incarnation.

-Tabby
the princess with claws

[Dewprincess]

According to my summer students, green is associated with boogers.  At least, that's the word from today's sixth-graders. 

I still love Minty, Fizzy, and Mimic, though, and my mom's favorite pony is Baby Frosting.  We all love our booger ponies!

[scoots2]

Green's also a traditionally unlucky color onstage.  There's all kinds of theories as to why, but I always thought the explanation that it's really hard to light made sense.  Plus it's a really finicky tone, and the fact that we're all used to seeing Lyra in different colors proves it.  I've got a Lyra, though she's still in her blister pack.  She looks pretty green to me.

I'd like to see Minty brought back for something, if only because it would make so many people happy.

[Sky_Rocket_Sammie]

I know from working with clay, that blue or blue green glazes. Are among the hardest to work with, the color is prone to wide variances. As well as being among the most expensive to produce. Because of the cobalt and other colorants added in. To give it the distinct blue and blue-ish colors.

G1 Sky Rocket is green? I've only seen them as an adult and the ones I've seen. Have been various shades of blue.

And of course people see colors differently. From appearance to what it means.