Old Mystery: Retro ReRelease- Hasbro's Poll?

[WingsOfMasquerade]

Looking to clear up a rumor/mystery/see if it actually happened:

Supposedly...
When the Retro ReRelease (first six & rainbow ponies) ponies were being planned by Hasbro they posted up a poll somewhere on the internet so the fans could vote or give opinions or something on these sets/the planned ponies. It was on their site, or...somewhere and had options like "what would you pay?" and other questions. I've read about people mentioning it but never heard from anyone who actually voted on it. I didn't know about it *at all* and I was online then/doing ponies then/etc.

Did a official Hasbro poll for the retro re releases exist?
What were the questions?
What else about the poll do you know?
Was there an old Arena thread about it?

It would have been in the times of the old Arena (like all that's archived now) so searching it doesn't work. But, I figure with all the really attentive people here who were also 'in the community' at the time, at least SOMEbody can prove/remember if this poll was a real thing.
*I mean, we all know it didn't really help because we didn't get 'g1 style bubble card packaging', etc. but I'm still super curious if this poll was a real thing, and if so, what was it about?

[LadyMoondancer]

Yes, it existed.     The poll itself was off-site (I think it was hosted by SurveyMonkey or something) but there were threads on the Arena discussing it.  It happened sometime in or before 2006 because I found this reference to it.

Also, I believe they said something about releasing the original six as collector something or others in the hasbro poll. But then that was just a feel out of collectors.

I don't know if anyone saved all the poll questions, but I hope so! 

I think some of the questions were things like:  Would you buy retro releases of the Collector ponies, how many ponies do you own, how much merchandise do you own, and how much would you pay for a retro release of the Collector ponies.

Hasbro definitely already had the Collector ponies in mind, because I remember in the "Other Comments" box at the end I said I'd rather have Year 2 retros instead.

Edit:  I found when it was released!  Around August 2006.

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link 4

For G4 collectors who feel like their favorite generation is dumped on too much, you can see that G3 was hardly universally popular either, LOL.  I forgot how many people didn't like G3 and hated its (lack of) quality control and its overuse of pink.  I think every current generation suffers from "damn kids, get off my lawn!" syndrome.

[LadyMoondancer]

Bumping because I feel pretty happy that I managed to track down this information. 

[Foxtale]

Lol good sleuthing skills. I appreciated this trip down memory lane from 10 years ago O.O

I dont think i realized how to use emojis because the comment I made I sound like a butt when that's not what I meant lol.

[Taffeta]

I don't remember this poll, I guess I was out of the community at the time. But Hasbro didn't release them everywhere, anyway. I remember that they were only in the US at the time they came out, which is why I still don't have any of the sets. I have seen them in person since, and don't really mind that I don't, but I remember it annoying me that it was so much of a geographical lottery.

It's always so interesting to look back on old stuff. Especially since Hasbro so quickly move on.

I seem to remember G3 were popular to begin with as they replaced G2, but after a while they began to pall on collectors because there were no boys and stuff.

[WingsOfMasquerade]

This is excellent detective work!
Thank you so much for finding this fascinating info. It's so great to be able to have a look at what was going on then, opinions of the times, and what the company had wanted to know too.

I ask because...
Now-a-days when you hear people talk about those 'collectible re-releases' everyone solidly states the problems they blame for the relative failure of them. (Though I don't think anyone had 1 conclusive proof answer of 'what did it exactly')
Like:
They were too expensive
They weren't in nostalgic packaging
You couldn't buy just 1 at a time
They used a slightly different mold with tiny eyes
The colors were 'wrong' (as in, they don't match the original colors)
They chose ponies most collectors already owned in very good condition/ones which were still easy to acquire originals of
The feel was different/cheap thin tails & whatever else

I had wanted to have a look if any questions regarding such things HAD been in the poll.
Did people report they'd spend a certain amount, then shut their wallet and whine when the toys arrived?
Did they WANT to/give the impression that the polled-folks could "Choose" the ponies produced?
Did they mis-match everything (colors) on purpose?
HAD they polled on packaging / the WAY a consumer would want to consume the toy? (1 at a time/bubble card/sets/mail order subs/etc)

Obviously the 'cheapness' factor wouldn't be known until it was well too late & no one would confess.

So: If the poll had the right questions & Hasbro had listened to it, would it have HAD the ability to erase the complaints?
That's what I was curious about with this investigation.

Get off my lawn-ism:
During G3 nobody had any idea how bad it would get, so in hindsight the complaining at that time looks "silly".
But now, looking back at the diversity of G3 from the time when EVERY SINGLE brushable is literally the same exact pony, just with a different color that gen looks like paradise. G4 had 2 poses, and 3 sizes. Even when you know that Bumblesweet & Sunset Sweetie are literally the same pony with a different symbol (g3s). Coming off of sets of ponies like G1 had that used color & theme, and many different 'species' of ponies (Sea, flutter, wing, mermaid, shs, newborn, baby, peekaboo,big brother, teeny tiny, secret surprise etc) going into the hubbub of g3 even I stopped buying them new at one point.
But, G4 has what G3 didn't, a cool show with tons of interesting characters just begging for toys of, that only now several years into it...are we beginning to see. Each generation has it's flaws, but hopefully if it can go on long enough & receive enough input, the flaws can be minimized away.

[LadyMoondancer]

I think it was simply put as:  "How much would you spend for the six Collector ponies?"  (As a set.)  With slightly different wording, probably.  They didn't really ask much beyond that IIRC.  But there was a "free-for-all" question at the end that was something like "share any other thoughts you have" or "what else would you like to see"--something like that.

Hasbro also asked how much people would pay for a 9" retro pony figure (or statue, I don't remember which but some of the post in the threads mention that question.)  However, the 9" retro pony figure never got made.

[BethMcBeth]

Wow, I actually remember the poll. In fact I think it was from when I did more lurking rather than posting much on the forums lol. I remember typing in $19.99 for the price point of the ponies too! !!!! Which was what they went for at my local grocery store so I thought that was awesome. Sadly I never got the rainbow ponies they never made it there. T_T

[lovesbabysquirmy]

It is so incredibly painful to see how whiny we were all those years ago! 

And no, I don't think Hasbro could have made this a success because they already weren't willing to invest in what we wanted.  They could not provide a quality toy in the way we remembered, with the new toy laws, for the price point we wanted.  And they couldn't risk single-packing them and having so much extra left over.  They didn't have the same hair!  They didn't have the same colours for the dyes. 

And they certainly couldn't produce 6 ponies in each themed set every quarter or so, because by this time, retail stores and their buyers made decisions about what products they were going to stock, instead of Hasbro showing retailers, "here is what we are shipping to you.  find a way to advertise it."

Good grief, if I had known back then what I do now...  I would have acquired an TAF baby army via Ebay.  It was just so much more inconvenient to shop on Ebay back then, versus going to your local store and buying all the G3s you didn't already have.