How much should a pony cost?

[Al-1701]

It probably doesn't help that the show and what's on the market seems more geared towards bronies than collectors or even little kids.  You have all these characters that can only be bought in expensive sets that include several of the main characters you probably already have plenty of.  I remember the whole Minty issue.  Everyone wanted Minty and they got her in an expensive set with like four of the main six and a princess.

[Wardah]

Nothing that Hasbro has on the shelves seems geared towards bronies. However it does seem like they are willing to coast by on the easier licensing bucks (and most companies that make licence merchandise are deeply entrenched in geek culture) because it's like free money without having to develop anything. Meanwhile they can put the bare minimum of effort in the stuff on the shelves.

[Al-1701]

But that brings up the question of what do they do when FiM has run its course and they need to introduce a new generation of ponies?  All these third party license holders are not going to just make merchandise of new characters with no customer base to count on.

[ghouldilocks]

Nothing that Hasbro has on the shelves seems geared towards bronies.

Spoiler

However it does seem like they are willing to coast by on the easier licensing bucks (and most companies that make licence merchandise are deeply entrenched in geek culture) because it's like free money without having to develop anything. Meanwhile they can put the bare minimum of effort in the stuff on the shelves.

I'd argue that the $80 Power Ponies set seems like it's intended more for the brony market than anyone else - most parents aren't going to have that kind of money to drop on a collector-series style set. And a lot of the collector community (myself included) have grown tired of seeing almost nothing but the Mane 6 over and over. I'd have been more interested in a set of the actual Power Ponies (as in the characters from Spike's comic, maybe even with a copy of the comic book included in the boxed set), or individual Power Ponies with a one-shot comic book featuring each character.

I might get the Mane 6 Power Ponies at some point, since it's something "different" at least, but it won't break my heart if I don't have them, either.

[Al-1701]

And to expand on what I was saying (which also pays into how much a pony should cost).  My Little Pony's success will always start with the toys.  Television shows cannot be counted on to make money, so the toys are where the profits must be made.  Licensing will only come into play after the generation and its characters have gained popularity so third parties will see merchandise as a profitable venture.

So, when it comes time to make Generation 5, Hasbro needs to make toys first with media for support and licensing coming later when it's established.

[LadyMoondancer]

But that brings up the question of what do they do when FiM has run its course and they need to introduce a new generation of ponies?  All these third party license holders are not going to just make merchandise of new characters with no customer base to count on.

They'll probably reuse at least some of the characters for the next generation.   Basically they've already done this with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who were from G3.

[BlushingBlue]

As long as Hasbro still has a significant stake in the Discovery Family channel, I don't see them changing course with G5 and making a toy line that doesn't have a heavy reliance on its TV tie-in. And I agree that it's likely we'll see a good number of "recycled" characters again. Whether or not they would actually be successful in catching another bottleful of lightning, Hasbro has a lot of sunk costs in their current set up, so I would be very surprised if it were otherwise.

But, going back to the subject of prices, I do wonder what future gens have in store if Hasbro continues to keep a "normal" pony in the $5 range. If $5 in 1985 got you 2-3 times the size/quality compared to $5 today, will standard ponies another 30 years down the line look like the blindbag ponies of today? Prices for G4s seem pretty fair to me, relatively speaking, but I can't imagine ever forking over $5 for something teeny tiny with little paint and no hair.

[S.o.a.r.]

Since the start of MLP back in the 1980's, the brand has expanded around the world and sold countless of ponies and access. Like all popular brands, the demand makes the prices go higher. I think for the most part it boils down to demand, although in this case obviously also inflation considering the amount of time that has passed since the very first pony. And the current trend seems to be to make everything smaller...

[ponyqueen]

But, going back to the subject of prices, I do wonder what future gens have in store if Hasbro continues to keep a "normal" pony in the $5 range. If $5 in 1985 got you 2-3 times the size/quality compared to $5 today, will standard ponies another 30 years down the line look like the blindbag ponies of today? Prices for G4s seem pretty fair to me, relatively speaking, but I can't imagine ever forking over $5 for something teeny tiny with little paint and no hair.

Isn't this already happening? The Apple Family line of blind bag sized ponies are now on peg-style cards for $4.99 at Target... sure they have a couple accessories, but it seems only a matter of time before the basic pony is just molded plastic with no brushable hair... for $5. Come to think of it, that's about the price of a Funko mystery mini, which arguably has better quality than the blind bags or basic brushies.

[Wardah]

But, going back to the subject of prices, I do wonder what future gens have in store if Hasbro continues to keep a "normal" pony in the $5 range. If $5 in 1985 got you 2-3 times the size/quality compared to $5 today, will standard ponies another 30 years down the line look like the blindbag ponies of today? Prices for G4s seem pretty fair to me, relatively speaking, but I can't imagine ever forking over $5 for something teeny tiny with little paint and no hair.

Isn't this already happening? The Apple Family line of blind bag sized ponies are now on peg-style cards for $4.99 at Target... sure they have a couple accessories, but it seems only a matter of time before the basic pony is just molded plastic with no brushable hair... for $5. Come to think of it, that's about the price of a Funko mystery mini, which arguably has better quality than the blind bags or basic brushies.

Each of the carded molded hair ponies has a unique mold as well as a removable outfit. The regular blind bags tend to reuse molds so that's why they are cheaper.

[ringwraith10]

I'd pay $11 for a MOC pony produced with the care and production values of G1.   Which means not only the pony itself being high quality, but also a variety of molds, well-thought out sets, and high quality backcard art instead of copy-and-paste vectors.

Considering that the Fashion Style G4s are closer in size to the original ponies, this may be a more direct correlation, price-wise... of course, Fashion Style ponies still don't have very creative artwork on their back cards.

[Al-1701]

And the thing is, since it's going to be printed, how much would non-vector artwork (or just more lively vectors) and an actual backcard story cost per unit?

[hathorcat]

Its so hard to be directly compariable to the lines of the past. The price point on the toys now suits the market. The toy market is a very different place than it was 30 years ago - its much more in the FMCG category than the luxury/premium market it used to command. Toys now are throw aways/pocket money unfortunately rather than the more significant purchases they used to be. I think thats why we see the price differential.

[Baby Sugarberry]

Its so hard to be directly compariable to the lines of the past. The price point on the toys now suits the market. The toy market is a very different place than it was 30 years ago - its much more in the FMCG category than the luxury/premium market it used to command. Toys now are throw aways/pocket money unfortunately rather than the more significant purchases they used to be. I think thats why we see the price differential.

This has been a trend for a very long time, if you look at the history of toys across the ages. Inexpensive, mass manufactured toys are a fairly recent development in the history of humans.

[StarZetRaven]

Norway just upped the prices of regular standard brushables by 30% making the price around 15usd and Norway may be a more expensive country in general but really, that's WAY more than what they're worth and I don't buy ponies anymore and certainly not anything else than the regular brushables because the prices are always horrendous. And it annoys me because they're not worth that much. Stop. Good thing they almost never have anything that interests me.

Another interesting thing is that MLP here stays on the shelves for a long time. They never get featured anywhere (like front or second page in catalogues), there's little demand for them. They only get a small section in the toy aisles. "Not a lot of people are interested in MLP really," a store employee once told me.

Fun fact: I don't think FiM ever aired past season 2 in Norway. I certainly can't find anything on s3 here. I guess it didn't hit off. Which means that in Norway, and other countries where FiM wasn't the smashing hit it was in the states, MLP has to rely on brand recognition and the toys.
The brand recognition is there - I sell g3s I found at flea markets (and fixed up) on Norway's biggest secondhand selling site and it always sells. Norwegians love good clean g3s and 'My Little Pony' is a popular search term on the site.
They don't seem to love small expensive lesser-quality constantly-repeating My Little Pony because when the show isn't popular, there's not much that makes your kid go "I WANT a My Little Pony in particular instead of all the other toys in here"

And if it loses it's good reputation now, that brand recognition which makes people buy MLP now - "I know what it is so my kid probably wants it" - isn't gonna survive.