Pony quality.

[Sonata]

Hello ! I have a question about the G4s.


I haven't yet gotten any G4s and I don't think I'll get many actually. Right now, I only want to get Easter/Spring Fluttershy and Fashion Style Pinkie Pie (I think she looks the cutest and instead of looking weird with shoes, she looks adorably cute !!) but one thing is pulling me off of wanting to get more G4s: the quality.


I look at them in the box and I wonder how their quality is. They don't look as good as ponies of the previous generations, so I ask to those who own some: how are they in terms of quality overall? How is the difference between a normal G4 and a Fashion Style one? How is the hair and the plastic in terms of durability?


Thanks in advance ! And I really want a FS Pinkie Pie 

[Opalescence]

The hair, atleast for the ponies I bought, tended to have annoyingly high amounts of glue stuck to it. My very first pony, Rarity, had  most of her hair string (when it's wound up in the box) pretty much fused solid from the glue.
A newbie to the whole pony thing as I was, I didn't notice. Actually I didn't look out for something like that.


The plastic itself is probably not a problem, unless you buy a white pony. Smears tend to stick to them a lot harder than colored ponies. Atleast from my experience.


As far as I can tell, Hasbro still puts a lot more effort into quality control for their brushables than they do for the blindbags, but that's probably not saying much.

[cesprins]

Pinkie pie is super cute as a FS, I also think she's the only pony that looks good in her total dressed up look. A good choice if you're just looking to get one.

I find the g4 plastic to be fine, what my major gripe is head/body color mismatch from different batches of plastic.

[StoryDreamer]

Quality control is poor, unfortunately that happens when you have a massive company, with multiple overseers in different places, and multiple factories. They do seem to care when consumers address it AND the prices are low/ponies are easy to find, so I'm not complaining.

[True]

like everyone has already mentioned about quality, i dont want to just repeat everyone xD. However I think the FS G4s, at least in my experience, tend to be better, possibly its just the bigger size or maybe iv just gotten lucky I dunno. I really love the FS ones though xD

[NoDivision]

The Fashion styles are definitely better quality. But I don't think you should be scared off by people complaints about the normal size ponies. It's not like every single pony comes out of the box ruined. I've never had any major issues with any of the G4s.

[bladed]

Yeah, there is the funny factory error like Pony eyes (all the fs RDs here have misplaced eyes making them look like they have eyebags) but other than that they are fine. Oh, DO NOT. I REPEAT. DO NOT. STORE THEM. IN. DARKNESS.
It makes their mismatch worse. Also, FS wings have the same problem as the head/body, but its not as visible.

[hathorcat]

I think for the thousands and thousands and thousands of each G4 that is produced, we do only see a handful of people on here having issues. And even earlier gens had hair problems, mismatched heads/bodies...the nature of cheap consumer items is that not everything manufactured will be perfect.


The key is probably be prepared for the odd random issue but that the majority of the time you should be happy with what you have purchased! Other than some head/body mismatch [Feathermay anyone???] I havent had any complaints with G4 quality.

Yes, in comparison to G1 and G2, G4 is lower quality and therefore probably has a higher percentage of problems than these earlier lines. But lower quality is the balance for lower manufacturing costs and therefore lower selling prices. Working on the standard 5 to 1 theory - i.e. if it costs $1 to make a pony, I can charge $5 for it. If it were instead to cost HB $2 to make a pony of a better quality I know I wouldnt be too happy that prices may then be $10 per pony simply to ensure that a few more in the line dont have some minor issues. Yes, thats a super simplistic way of putting it but I was just trying to explain my thoughts...

[Malicieuse]

The plastic itself is probably not a problem, unless you buy a white pony. Smears tend to stick to them a lot harder than colored ponies. Atleast from my experience.


As far as I can tell, Hasbro still puts a lot more effort into quality control for their brushables than they do for the blindbags, but that's probably not saying much.

Isn't that just because they are white? And erm, blind bag ponies are also pretty cheap. I'm not sure what you expect.

[Calico_Star]

I think the quality is pretty bad, but I guess how bad it is depends on how picky you are. When I buy them from the store, I have to go through every single pony to pick out the "lesser of evils," so to speak. (For example, do I want to settle for the Ploomette that has a scratch in her DS eye or go with the one with good eyes that has a corner of her symbol rubbed?) Sometimes I desperately want to buy a pony, but end up not getting any just because I can't find a decent-looking one. But I'll admit that as a collector of all generations, I do really look over my G4s before I buy them. I know others aren't as picky about eye scratches or whatnot.

Flaws I've seen on brand new G4s include bad head-body mismatches, eye and symbol scratches or smudges, dents/cuts/holes in the plastic, glue in the hair, globs of glue stuck to the body, weird stains in the plastic, misaligned eyes, and dirt. So yeah, I think the quality leaves something to be desired. The "low" price (which seems perfectly fair to me, but people keep referring to it as low despite the fact that it's about the same as a G3, which was about 3 times the pony with not nearly as many problems ...) is no excuse for Hasbro to sacrifice quality.

[Sonata]

In all honesty, I think toys in general nowadays are pretty bad quality. I went to Disney Store a couple of weeks back and I happened to take a look at some Lion King action figures. They looked TERRIBLE. I have LK figures from the 90s and those are BY FAR better quality, even considering how much I played with them and they STILL look great after all that. So I think it's a virus that all toys seem to have nowadays... It's a shame, really. Looking around toys stores nowadays makes me feel so meeeeeh.

[Varkolak]

the only problem i've had with g4's is head and body color mis match, (and you can usually tell when you look at them at the store) and my snowcatcher has a tiny piece missing from her ear.

i also had a horrible HORRIBLE rainbow dash, i bought her for bait purposes though. but she came out with 2 cutie marks (the imprint of another one, not full color though), paint on her wing, and her head was so lose it would spin around when i shook her. had i inspected better when i bought her, i'd have noticed. but i bought her to use as a bait anyway, so it didn't really matter. i've not had a single problem with fashion style ponies yet, and i got one of each! they seem to have better colors. even twilight and her head/body color problem. it seems to be better on the fashion styles.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

As collectors, I am sure we notice the flaws much more readily than the little  kids they are targeted and marketed to.    But yeah... inspect your G4s carefully before buying, because "quality control" meant something entirely different in the G1s than the G4s.

[lemontwist]

G4 quality is really hit and miss, and when it's "miss" it's MISS, lol. But the good news is Hasbro is really good with sending replacements if they still have the item in production/stock, or sending something of equal value. Or else you'd probably find someone willing to trade easily, like a customizer looking for bait who has a mintier one they don't want to tear apart lol.

My easter Fluttershy had head/body mismatch, her body was almost a greyish yellow, blech! She has a factory smudge on her wing and little dots in her NDS leg pastic. She's saying bye-bye tomorrow and going to a new home. But so far my fashion style ponies are almost perfect, save for a dot of misplaced glitter glue on Luna's forehead. The plastic is sturdy and the hair is plush in the mane but the tail is wimpy. But the hair is nice and soft!

[appleponygal]

I agree, th eponies aren't that high in quality now.I think quality control has gone down in general now, it's 'cos everything is mass-produced so much. The quality control isn't there sadly. Things aren't made to last no more, the same thing applies to electrical items, clothes, you name it.