G1 Names and character reuse question

[Firehooves]

Al right, this is an an old question, but I remember  one of the biggest things everyone was taking about a few years back, was 'Hasbro lost the rights to the G1 characters andd couldn't use them in new shows and toys blah blah blah...

Well, one question I have, if that's true, how the heck did they get away with those G1 Dollymixes in 2010?!? And how is the new collecters edition firefly even here? I smell someone not wating to let go of the G3 characters and concept going into a new generation. 

[Zapper]

Hasbro does have issues with re-using names, but I only ever saw that happening with Transformers. I think poor Shrapnel has a new name for every toy he gets

But when it comes to MLP I think you're not too far off. G4 is more closely linked to G3 than to the original toyline or show and that was very deliberate. But there's something I don't quite get: why is Applejack in there? It's not G3 Applejack. It's literally G1 AJ, just with a new personality.
Why change all the others but let AJ stay? I think that is the reason why "we lost the rights" sounds logical to many a fan.

[LittleSpiffy]

Al right, this is an an old question, but I remember  one of the biggest things everyone was taking about a few years back, was 'Hasbro lost the rights to the G1 characters andd couldn't use them in new shows and toys blah blah blah...

Well, one question I have, if that's true, how the heck did they get away with those G1 Dollymixes in 2010?!? And how is the new collecters edition firefly even here? I smell someone not wating to let go of the G3 characters and concept going into a new generation. 

Hasbro never lost the rights.  Ever.

[Carrehz]

Like others have said, Hasbro didn't lose the rights - that was just a rumour IIRC. Honestly, I'd guess it's just that the G3 characters are "established". Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash likely seem more appealing characters from a marketing point of view than, say, Surprise and Firefly. If that makes sense Others'll prolly be able to explain it better than me.

(Also - Dollymixes and the new 'little Firefly' weren't made by Hasbro, they were licensed - Dollymixes were made by a company called The Little Factory and Firefly was made by Running Press. Dunno if that makes any difference, I just figured I'd point that out :B)

[reanna-mator]

Like others have said, Hasbro didn't lose the rights - that was just a rumour IIRC. Honestly, I'd guess it's just that the G3 characters are "established". Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash likely seem more appealing characters from a marketing point of view than, say, Surprise and Firefly. If that makes sense Others'll prolly be able to explain it better than me.

(Also - Dollymixes and the new 'little Firefly' weren't made by Hasbro, they were licensed - Dollymixes were made by a company called The Little Factory and Firefly was made by Running Press. Dunno if that makes any difference, I just figured I'd point that out :B)

I know the loss of rights thing was a rumor, but I did not know about the licensing issue! That is interesting!

[Carrehz]

Like others have said, Hasbro didn't lose the rights - that was just a rumour IIRC. Honestly, I'd guess it's just that the G3 characters are "established". Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash likely seem more appealing characters from a marketing point of view than, say, Surprise and Firefly. If that makes sense Others'll prolly be able to explain it better than me.

(Also - Dollymixes and the new 'little Firefly' weren't made by Hasbro, they were licensed - Dollymixes were made by a company called The Little Factory and Firefly was made by Running Press. Dunno if that makes any difference, I just figured I'd point that out :B)

I know the loss of rights thing was a rumor, but I did not know about the licensing issue! That is interesting!

Well, I'm just pointing out that the Dollymixes/Firefly and Illustrated Book weren't actually made by Hasbro, I don't know if that makes a difference on which characters they can use and such ;; If that makes sense, aheh. I'm terrible at wording things, sorry.

[reanna-mator]

Like others have said, Hasbro didn't lose the rights - that was just a rumour IIRC. Honestly, I'd guess it's just that the G3 characters are "established". Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash likely seem more appealing characters from a marketing point of view than, say, Surprise and Firefly. If that makes sense Others'll prolly be able to explain it better than me.

(Also - Dollymixes and the new 'little Firefly' weren't made by Hasbro, they were licensed - Dollymixes were made by a company called The Little Factory and Firefly was made by Running Press. Dunno if that makes any difference, I just figured I'd point that out :B)

I know the loss of rights thing was a rumor, but I did not know about the licensing issue! That is interesting!

Well, I'm just pointing out that the Dollymixes/Firefly and Illustrated Book weren't actually made by Hasbro, I don't know if that makes a difference on which characters they can use and such ;; If that makes sense, aheh. I'm terrible at wording things, sorry.

No, I get you. I know that lots of MLP merch is licensed out but in the case of some stuff, like Dollymix, I guess I never thought much about it in terms of copyright.

[MJNSEIFER]

I have seen people here assume that it probably wasn't a loss of copyright, but more that Hasbro didn't want to use G1s, or revisits of G1s in G4, they wanted new ponies (unless I read that wrong).  There is actually a part of me that feels that was the case after all.

I'm not sure where using the G3 names comes into it, but there is a chance that the copyright thing is just what the fans assumed, seeing as it never made total sense at all.  I don't know what Lauren said, but she definitely wanted to use the G1s, and she most likely told the fans what she assumed to be true, but Hasbro probably just "didn't want her to use them" rather than "they weren't allowed themselves".

This is all a total assumption by the way.

PS: Just saw what Carrehz said about the G3 names, and agree that was probably it. 

[ValeofSpring]

This is a bit of a tangent, but one thing that has always driven me crazy about Hasbro's treatment of MLP is their lack of respect/lack of interest in G1 characters.  The early G1s were wonderful characters, but I just don't think Hasbro ever realized their potential.  I hated that they recycled the G1 names for some of the G3s (Cotton Candy, Moondancer, etc), which basically ignored the G1 predecessors.

So I'm not surprised Hasbro didn't want to use the early G1s b/c I've never seen that as a company they realized their value . . . that said, they *had* invested quite heavily in some of the G3s, so I suppose it makes sense that they'd just continue along with them for G4.  At least they threw the original Applejack in--that makes me feel a little better! 

[hathorcat]

I feel I should point to about a dozen threads on this subject in the past

As others have mentioned; they never lost the copyrights or lost the trademarks, they simply made the choice not to renew them or use them on this line.

Unlike with G1 to G2 and G2 to G3, there is no break in production from G3-G3.5-G4. Its a continual line. Therefore it makes most product sense to take names/characters/styles from one like through into the next. G4 has 5 out of 7 of the core 7 after all in one incarnation or another. Their target market remains the same age - so they would be better carrying on names that young children will remember rather than names that 30+ year old children will remember. It helps with branding and consistency and it also helps sell products to retailers [which is the most important part].