Is there any reason why the G4 molds/designs got changed?

[Chi]

I received the G4 firefly look-a-like from the seller on China today and it looks like her mane was easily drenched and washed, but her tail is definitely hydrophobic. It looks exactly the same, I used the same soap on both, but I couldn't get her tail wet.
We have more of this hair in future lines, yay....
At least she's gorgeous and worth the buy to me...

[Galactica]

Unfortunately it will simply be that the supplying manufacturer has changed something in order to become more cost effective or more productive. However the moulds are probably just due to when they were cast; moulds are replaced after a certain amount of time or perhaps if a different production process is being made. So the different heads is probably nothing more than that unfortunately. Its worth bearing in mind making something cheaper is not necessarily the fault of the manufacturer or Hasbro, it could be retailers stating how much they are willing to pay per unit and leaving the supplier with no option but finding a cheaper make option.

If it is retailers, I wonder if it's a sign that the brand not moving off the shelves like people here have said.  The sales we see on Hasbro's income statement isn't to the end users.  It's to retailers who turn around and sell it to the end users.  Stores are buying ponies because they think they'll sell.  However, stores might be seeing pony stuff not moving as quickly and want to pay less so they can mark up more to compensate for poor sales and have more room for clearance to try to move inventory out.

Its probably also partly that retailers typically expect a lower per unit cost as the years pass. Thats pretty standard in most industries unfortunately. Toys are almost becoming FMCG nowadays; a sector they never came near in the past. This usually means popularity of the line depreciates and therefore there has to be increased incentives for retailers to carry a line - sometimes this is done with cheaper price point exclusives or sometimes its just a cheaper unit price. In general and by rule of thumb, the lines popularity probably is decreasing and selling fewer units - thats just the nature of a sector which is heavily influenced by what is current and popular as well as having a high churn and short target age market. Decreasing sales over time is why sectors like the toy industry are to heavily reliant on continued "new" and "reimagined" releases, multiple generations essentially.

I think this is true- so depressing! It means that with every year of FIM that the line carries on, they will probably get more and more cheaply made...

I wish they would cut corners with the packaging and leave the hair alone (which was WAAAAAY too thin to start with- especially the ludicrous tail)

[Al-1701]

Unfortunately it will simply be that the supplying manufacturer has changed something in order to become more cost effective or more productive. However the moulds are probably just due to when they were cast; moulds are replaced after a certain amount of time or perhaps if a different production process is being made. So the different heads is probably nothing more than that unfortunately. Its worth bearing in mind making something cheaper is not necessarily the fault of the manufacturer or Hasbro, it could be retailers stating how much they are willing to pay per unit and leaving the supplier with no option but finding a cheaper make option.

If it is retailers, I wonder if it's a sign that the brand not moving off the shelves like people here have said.  The sales we see on Hasbro's income statement isn't to the end users.  It's to retailers who turn around and sell it to the end users.  Stores are buying ponies because they think they'll sell.  However, stores might be seeing pony stuff not moving as quickly and want to pay less so they can mark up more to compensate for poor sales and have more room for clearance to try to move inventory out.

Its probably also partly that retailers typically expect a lower per unit cost as the years pass. Thats pretty standard in most industries unfortunately. Toys are almost becoming FMCG nowadays; a sector they never came near in the past. This usually means popularity of the line depreciates and therefore there has to be increased incentives for retailers to carry a line - sometimes this is done with cheaper price point exclusives or sometimes its just a cheaper unit price. In general and by rule of thumb, the lines popularity probably is decreasing and selling fewer units - thats just the nature of a sector which is heavily influenced by what is current and popular as well as having a high churn and short target age market. Decreasing sales over time is why sectors like the toy industry are to heavily reliant on continued "new" and "reimagined" releases, multiple generations essentially.

Which is why I don't understand collapsing the brand to the Mane 6 and the Princesses.  G4 has past the market penetration phase of its life cycle, so new customers are those entering the market for the first time.  And you have to worry about the hand-me-down factor where parents will give younger siblings their older siblings toys instead of buying them the same characters.  New characters in each wave bringing back old customers as well as new.  Some will fall off of course, but a new bunch of pony characters will bring back more returning customers than a another version of Pinkie Pie.

[Galactica]

Which is why I don't understand collapsing the brand to the Mane 6 and the Princesses.  G4 has past the market penetration phase of its life cycle, so new customers are those entering the market for the first time.  And you have to worry about the hand-me-down factor where parents will give younger siblings their older siblings toys instead of buying them the same characters.  New characters in each wave bringing back old customers as well as new.  Some will fall off of course, but a new bunch of pony characters will bring back more returning customers than a another version of Pinkie Pie.

Actually- I do understand that bit.  When I ask my nieces and nephew which ponies they want or give them a choice (for example I let them all pick a funko mini- or select a pony from my hoard to play with) they always ALWAYS go for the main 6 characters- and the Princess characters.  They are ages 5, 7 and 11.  Maybe SOME kids like background characters, but not any of the ones I've talked to (I was trying to convince them to be excited about Spitfire- they weren't buying it)

[Al-1701]

Well, Spitfire is a self-serving jerk now, so I wouldn't want her either.

I think kids who already have the mane 6 and princesses already would be more open to getting a new character even they don't appear on the show at all.

Then again, Friendship is Magic is now preaching the powers of the almighty clique, so maybe it's warping kids minds into think none of the other ponies matter.

[shimmlight]

I received the G4 firefly look-a-like from the seller on China today and it looks like her mane was easily drenched and washed, but her tail is definitely hydrophobic. It looks exactly the same, I used the same soap on both, but I couldn't get her tail wet.
We have more of this hair in future lines, yay....
At least she's gorgeous and worth the buy to me...

Ooh, g4 firefly lookalike? Where can I buy this?

[cutest-curtsey]

If the bodies and the heads are made of the same plastic, maybe they did it to make sure there isn't head/body mismatch? I can't imagine Hasbro caring about that, but maybe! I haven't looked very carefully at the newer pony releases, do their heads and bodies match better?

Not really - I have a Rainbow Power TAF Rarity with a creamy head and white body >.< (stupid yellowish store lighting..._

My AppleJack has a darker orange head D: And I also second the tail problem, after getting dodgy Rarity and AppleJack, I spent forever going though all of the HollyDashes in Toys R Us looking for the best one. Is it really that much to ask not to seal hair in the adhesive? That's a huge gripe I have. G3 did the same thing but it really annoys me.

[hathorcat]

Unfortunately it will simply be that the supplying manufacturer has changed something in order to become more cost effective or more productive. However the moulds are probably just due to when they were cast; moulds are replaced after a certain amount of time or perhaps if a different production process is being made. So the different heads is probably nothing more than that unfortunately. Its worth bearing in mind making something cheaper is not necessarily the fault of the manufacturer or Hasbro, it could be retailers stating how much they are willing to pay per unit and leaving the supplier with no option but finding a cheaper make option.

If it is retailers, I wonder if it's a sign that the brand not moving off the shelves like people here have said.  The sales we see on Hasbro's income statement isn't to the end users.  It's to retailers who turn around and sell it to the end users.  Stores are buying ponies because they think they'll sell.  However, stores might be seeing pony stuff not moving as quickly and want to pay less so they can mark up more to compensate for poor sales and have more room for clearance to try to move inventory out.

Its probably also partly that retailers typically expect a lower per unit cost as the years pass. Thats pretty standard in most industries unfortunately. Toys are almost becoming FMCG nowadays; a sector they never came near in the past. This usually means popularity of the line depreciates and therefore there has to be increased incentives for retailers to carry a line - sometimes this is done with cheaper price point exclusives or sometimes its just a cheaper unit price. In general and by rule of thumb, the lines popularity probably is decreasing and selling fewer units - thats just the nature of a sector which is heavily influenced by what is current and popular as well as having a high churn and short target age market. Decreasing sales over time is why sectors like the toy industry are to heavily reliant on continued "new" and "reimagined" releases, multiple generations essentially.

Which is why I don't understand collapsing the brand to the Mane 6 and the Princesses.  G4 has past the market penetration phase of its life cycle, so new customers are those entering the market for the first time.  And you have to worry about the hand-me-down factor where parents will give younger siblings their older siblings toys instead of buying them the same characters.  New characters in each wave bringing back old customers as well as new.  Some will fall off of course, but a new bunch of pony characters will bring back more returning customers than a another version of Pinkie Pie.

That's the very reason why they keep up with a core line of characters. MLP's $$ making is not from returning customers - its from parents buying up a line thats popular with their kids (and relying on big line drivers which are the expensive items, playsets and deluxe releases) at that time...and then the next set of parents when they come along...and then the next set of parents.

Toys have a short cycle nowadays. Children may not want to play with the same toys for longer than a year. Hasbro rely on a continuing new audience coming to the brand; and those new customers want the toys they see on the show.

[Al-1701]

I'm not saying abandon the core lines.  However, there can be more to the brand.  Toys have shorter cycles because they're repetitive.  Kids that might be looking for the newest releases find they're like the last releases with maybe some cosmetic changes.  They don't make money from returning customers because they don't cater to them at all.  When you build your brand to be a one and done, it's tends to be a one and done.

[CupidStrikes]

I don't see why they can't go back to having the main six plus new characters in each wave, then they please everyone. New customers get the mane six, older customers get the other characters. I think the kids losing interest thing is self-inflicted. If they don't keep the toyline interesting with new characters and designs, of course kids are going to get bored and move on. They could also do more interesting things each wave with the mane six - the most recent Rainbow Power brushables/snow globe ponies/etc.

I bought another white pony (FS Celestia) I wanted to keep MIB and she's grubby  She was the last one and I live nowhere near the retailer she's exclusive to and she was finally a more reasonable £12.99, so it was her or nothing.
I also wonder how profitable the retailer-exclusive thing is here when, unlike Target and Walmart, TRU and Smyths tend to be pretty few and far between and on retail parks so a special journey has to be made to them. Seems pretty audience limiting :/

[Al-1701]

Obviously not every kid who gets ponies is going to come back for more.  However some will, and having something new will make them more likely to want more.  The Transformers' strategy includes regenerating and maintaining brand loyalty with "new" transformers periodically showing up.  Hasbro treats My Little Pony like a disposable brand when it's their flagship girl brand (at least until Disney's Princesses arrive in '16).