Can you hold in your excitement...more of the main 6

[Lorelei Redfern]

also i'e noticd a bunch of them are the same.. i mean for eample..  you have a rarity with a   luggage and a naimal... if  you lose that luggage or   that animal.. you dont  know what rairty  that is? it could be brushaable  luggae  whatever.. and most of the time  they  ace the same way..  and yeah no kid i know wants thesame pony over nad over htey  want  variety. the glommer wings are awesome. yes its rd butits different its varirety..  i'm not sure  tinsel is enough of a variety  factor.. but i htink that hasbro thinks that theycan ust spit out the same ponys.. but there not moving. i think habro has gotten lazy. and doesnt wnat to give out  good mlp toys anymroe..they juat wnt to  mass produce things..  but i know my wallmart here has tons of ane 6. nad nothing else and they wont  gt anyhting else untill all of the mane 6 ar gone.

now yes thigns liek the decoate a lfuttershy and ainbow dash are cool. there mane 6 but at the same time there diffenret  enough to offere variety.  hats just my htoughts.  there not  like  every other thing.

[Rainbow Dash]

There are ways to keep the main characters on the shelf while maintaining variety as well.  This is where Hasbro is failing.

Solution #1: Alternate waves so you have a wave of the Mane 6 followed by a wave of completely new characters.  Repeat.

Solution #2: Each wave should be comprised of half of the Mane 6 and three new characters, alternating the three Mane 6 in each time.

The second is the best option for keeping variety on the pegs but either option is better than an entire wave of the Mane 6 followed by a wave of four Mane 6 and two new characters, followed by two solid waves of Mane 6, followed by 4 new characters and two Mane 6...

On top of that, most of the playsets come with one of the Mane 6.  Sometimes they'll throw in an extra bonus pony to make the collectors scramble for the set because it adds some much needed variety to the line.

It's been said in this thread a few times already, but it bears repeating- kids only need one each of the Mane 6.  Once they have all six of them, what are their parents supposed to buy them next?  I noticed the Lulamoon/Heartstrings/Sunny Rays wave has been well-stocked lately (especially at K-Mart!) but I've seen them at Target also.  I suppose they expected a great deal of interest in two of those characters, because I've seen their wave far more times than I saw any of the previous waves show up.

A lot of us would like to see Minty.  I think a number of us would like to see a lot of previous generation ponies done in G4 style, and a bunch of new characters too.  I know I would.

I've considered branching out into G3s.  The prices are low, there's a lot of variety, and I feel confident I could build a decent-sized herd easily and on a budget.  The problem is there's so much variety, and they're a lot bigger than the ponies I started collecting, so they really don't fit into my collection as it currently stands.  It would be perfect (for me, anyways) to be able to walk into a store and buy a brand new G4 Minty, Wysteria, Starsong, Kimono, Thistle Whistle, etc.  I wouldn't mind adding some G4 style G1s like Firefly, Surprise, Ember, etc. to my herd either, but since those trademarks have supposedly expired I don't hold much hope of that happening.  But G3 is only a few years ago- these trademarks should still be valid (especially since we just saw the Walmart exclusive blind bag set with Waterfire among other G3s).  Even if they aren't, I really doubt that any other toy companies have snapped up names like Razaroo and Toola Roola so it would be a simple matter of renewing them.

There's a way to cater to kids and collectors alike- and Hasbro does a decent enough job catering to Transformers collectors while keeping the line fresh for kids too, so I don't see why they can't do the same for MLP too.

[Pinecone]

The rare occasion I've found a non-mane 6, she is sold pretty quickly.

[Lorelei Redfern]

is it just me or are the  more intresting sought after things  international only?  i grt a feeling those magic motion might be   internal exclusive  only.

[StoryDreamer]

I think there were two important differences, though. With G2 and G3 (well, until the very end of G3 when it was ALL Core 7), they re-released the older favorites with a new twist, but still mixed in a lot of new characters in each line

We don't talk about those Dark Days.

If they want to re-release the mane 6 over and over, package them with a new non-mane 6 pony. I'll be happy.

[Lon-san]

Am I the only one thinking that the G4 line is circling the drain? I started to follow that up with a frowny face, but actually, I would love a new gen if it meant NEW PONIES!

I worry that G5 wouldn't be as good. A repeat of G3.5 or something.

If G4 DID circle the drain, it's their own danm fault. People are buying G4. Kids seem to dig it and it has a bigger adult fan base than any other gen before. Even if not all the adults buy merch, this should still translate to good sales. But they need to balance keeping the mane six fairly available for new fans with keeping the current ones interested. "Eh, chuck them another Pinkie Pie. They'll buy it." isn't going to cut it. Very few people are so loyal that they won't wander away if it gets boring and Hasbro shouldn't forget how much they NEED customers.

More color! New and background characters! I'm not an giant fan of gimmicks but they WOULD help keep things fresh for when they put out more Mane Six. Those translucent ponies? Good start. They haven't done scented ponies, color change, extra long hair or TAFF designs yet this gen. More boys! Colts! Call upon the SEA PONIES! Where's the ponywear??

There are piles and piles of new-to-this-gen ideas hidden in the past and enough cute pony designs among the background ponies on the show to keep G4's toys going for a while. They just need to DO it.

[xkelpiex]

Well said, Lon-san! My thoughts exactly.

[Princess-Sparkles]

Hasbro why???? i have all this money to waste, but you're making it impossible if you keep bringing out the same ponies all over again.

I WANT BIG MAC!!! In a brushable. I'd so take him everywhere with me.

Anyway, I'm not pleased, Hasbro!!

[Desert Rose]

I can't help but notice this is how major companies turn out after a while.

At first (when they really need the costumers) they work hard to bring out lots of interesting stuff and people love the company for the stuff. After a while it changes and people love the stuff because it's from that company. It's happening now with Hasbro and at least in my opinion it has happend with Disney aswell as an example (Many of their new shows are absolutely horrible in my opinion and you wouldn't even know it was Disney who made it if you weren't informed).

In the beginning they made such wonderfull things and we loved them for it. Now, alot of the time, it's just a halfhearted attempt to please the fans to save money and they know the fans will buy into it because it's what they made.
What they fail to realize it seems is that while we are as loyal as we can be there's only so much you're willing to accept. People are gonna start walking away from it and they will loose costumers. Only then will they do something about it.


As for releasing previous generation ponies as G4's - it would be nice with a few, but honestly - in my opinion - it will again be more of the same old stuff that will be horribly boring in the end. I mean I don't even care that much for the G4 prototype Minty because again it's the same old pony that has been made before. So I'm one that's not gonna hope for that.

As others have mentioned, they have so many adorable background characters and they know the fans notice those (hence the Fan Favorite Collection), and I think it would be great if they continued on that path. We would get new (never made before) ponies that collectors would love because it's something new, that kids would love because (again) it's something new and that all the fans of the show would love because they are seen in the show.
So they have every posibility to really get far with this line. However, as I mentioned, I strongly doubt they're gonna do anything about it untill they notice that people are walking away and they loose costumers. Untill then they're gonna keep throwing the mane 6 at us and expect the people to eat it up because it's what they made. And since they haven't changed anything yet I'm pretty sure it's still working for them - unfortunatly.

[Vulpy]

I'm tired of seeing all this Mane 6! It's ruining the G4 line, and it's making me hope a new gen comes out. Didn't Hasbro learn from their mistakes after the failed Core 7? -.-

[frizzycat]

As others have mentioned, they have so many adorable background characters and they know the fans notice those (hence the Fan Favorite Collection), and I think it would be great if they continued on that path. We would get new (never made before) ponies that collectors would love because it's something new, that kids would love because (again) it's something new and that all the fans of the show would love because they are seen in the show.

Yeah, more bg characters would be nice. For all the complaints about the plain colour schemes, making bg ponies would at least be something new and not mane 6. And nothing's stopping Hasbro from improving those bg character designs by adding extra colours to the manes of their toys.

I only collect characters that have turned up in the show, so I'd buy background ponies. I do not need anymore mane 6, thanks.

[ZettaMomo]

Maybe Hasbro will start to see the wrongs of their ways when the core 6 ponies are just sitting on the shelf and no one is buying them because they already have them/want something new.
To be honest I haven't bought a G4 pony in a while because there isn't too many new ponies that interested me and I am disappointed by the quality of the ponies (not sure if that is still a prevalent issue).

But if Hasbro doesn't want to release new G4 ponies that interest me I will just take my money to other toy companies.

[LuvlyMelody]

But if Hasbro doesn't want to release new G4 ponies that interest me I will just take my money to other toy companies.

That's why all my MLP Spending money stopped going to Hasbro and transferred over to Mattel with Monster High.

At first I felt kinda bad a tiny bit to just give up on Hasbro since MLP was what got me started in the first place, but they put it upon themselves to turning lazy, stop making new ponies and make customers lose interest with the constant main 6 ponies.

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" That is all...