The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: True on February 06, 2012, 01:02:31 AM
-
The Animation or the toy?
I know there was "my pretty pony" but then switched to "my little pony" did it switch because someone decided to adapt it to a new animated series? or was it just a whim and the animations came later?
its 4am and I cant sleep lol
-
the toy came first unlike transformers which was about the seme time i think xaflamex
-
I think the toy was first!
-
Pretty certain it was the toy first...which was unusual since either the show is first or it's a simultaneous release.
-
The toys....it was the toys...
It wasnt until 1984 that the US Federal Trade Commission actually deregulated children's television - which essentially lifted the ban on cartoon/tv shows being directly linked to or for the primary purpose of selling toys. He Man and the Masters of the Universe and Transformers cartoons and toys were developed in time for and with the theory of being toy marketing cartoons and they both hit the shelves and tv screens within a short period after the deregulation was in place.
Hence as MLP was about pre 1984, then the line was toys first and cartoon later...
-
Yup, toys first.
Looking back I wonder why they never really used the original "mane" ponies in the cartoons...
-
I think they invented the cartoon to market the toys better (pretty sure the he-man cartoon started for this reason too).
-
I didn't know the G1 MLP cartoon existed until 3 years ago! It was on the channel I didn't watch in my house in the 80s so I hadn't seen it.
-
Well, Cotton Candy was in the first cartoon special.
-
The toy :) .
I think they didn't have the all of the first main ponies in the cartoon because the series of shows was always made to hype new ponies rather than ones already common place. It's worth noting in Catrina they had nearly all of their babies, so they must still be around somewhere :) .
-
I didn't know either, so that's cool.
-
Yeah, the movie/shows were used to promote the toys, which is why one of my friends calls it "My Little Pony: Quest for the Next Product Line"
-
The toy :) .
I think they didn't have the all of the first main ponies in the cartoon because the series of shows was always made to hype new ponies rather than ones already common place. It's worth noting in Catrina they had nearly all of their babies, so they must still be around somewhere :) .
I'm still trying to work out why Baby Buttons featured in Crunch the Rock Dog...assuming it was an animation foul up is so boring somehow XD
At least MLP were more subtle than Jem - the "Glitter and Gold" episode is a not so cleverly hidden medium for showcasing every new outfit and theme for the existing characters...to the point the episode was named after the newest version of Jem ><.
Hasbro were shameless...
-
Toys were first.
-
Yup. Toys came first!
-
The toys did, but just to throw in a little info about the Transformers...they were actually a whole toy line before their cartoon too. Hasbro bought an existing toy line from a Japanese company, they were then slightly redesigned and repackaged as Transformers by Hasbro and then they got a show to advertise them.
Gobots had a similar deal. The main baddie Cykill, was actually the hero in the line, before they were renamed and repackaged.
Wheras He-man got in trouble for trying to air toy commercials while the cartoon was on. Because He-man's cartoon was made solely to sell toys, it was deemed to much advertising to bombard kids with.
And we only have Jem as a cartoon, because Hasbro commissioned a cartoon based around their dolls. When doll sales waned, Jem the show got the axe.
It's the way toy companies do things, Hasbro is particularly good at it though.
I am a massive, massive toy nerd. Sorry for the wall of info guys! xD
-
the egg ^^
-
Now was it the same for all later generations of My Little Pony, or were there exceptions? I keep getting the impression that Generation 4 was made to look good in animation first, and then the toys are just approximations of those cartoon designs.
-
I don't know, but I remember seeing Lauren Faust's concepts long before I'd ever heard about G4...in fact, I didn't realize who's deviantArt gallery I was looking at at the time, and the pictures came across as just an artist's interpretation of a few G1s, so I assume the animation style, if not the whole concept for G4, came before the toys.
-
I don't know, but I remember seeing Lauren Faust's concepts long before I'd ever heard about G4...in fact, I didn't realize who's deviantArt gallery I was looking at at the time, and the pictures came across as just an artist's interpretation of a few G1s, so I assume the animation style, if not the whole concept for G4, came before the toys.
Lauren Faust's designs may have influenced the design of the G4 toy but be assured, Hasbro only made the show in order to further boost sales of the My Little Pony brand. This is why I found it strange the couple of times that I've seen complaints about "another brushable" pony. The entire brand was and is based on little ponies with hair a little girl can brush and style herself. If the toys weren't selling, Hasbro would probably cancel FiM just like those other shows mentioned.
-
Oh, I'm not disagreeing that the show is to promote the toys; certainly even with the newest generation the idea of toys comes first. But I do suspect the style and the characters were decided before the design for the toys was, unlike G1, where there were toys for a few years, and then a show was made based on those characters and concepts.
-
Agreed. Though a case could be made that it was more of a collaberation considering that Applejack and Pinkiepie were preexisting toys. For that matter, if what I have read online is true, then Lauren Faust's designs where based on pre-existing G1 characters which were in turn based on pre-existing toys.
hmmm, I'm starting to see that the chicken/egg analogy is very accurate.