A small rant about quality control

[pukunui]

Hi folks,

It's Father's Day here in New Zealand and my lovely daughters gave me Sunny Rays and Lyra as gifts. I was quite excited, until I took them out of their boxes and saw that their head and body colors are noticeably mismatched. Although some of my G4s match up perfectly, most of them have a slight mismatch that really isn't all that noticeable. It really bugs me, though, when the mismatch is quite obvious even at a glance.

What's upsetting is that I contacted Hasbro about this last year when I purchased a Dewdrop Dazzle with a really bad mismatch, and they told me that they weren't aware of the problem (yeah right!) but would take steps to rectify it. They then sent me an "Afternoon Picnic with Cheerilee" set by way of an apology.

However, it looks like they've completely ignored the issue (and I'm sure I'm not the only one to complain about it) and went on producing their toys in exactly the same way, since they're still having the problem.

I know that it's because the heads are made out of different plastic to the bodies and therefore absorb the dye differently or something, but both my Cheerilee and my Lily Blossom match up perfectly, so I know that it is possible to get the colors right. So why does Hasbro keep on making ponies with heads and bodies that don't match color-wise? Laziness? Sloppiness? Cheapness?

I know that some people probably don't care. My daughters certainly don't. But for me, once I notice the color mismatch, that's more or less all I see from then on whenever I look at the pony. I can't unsee it.



That's all.

Cheers,
Jonathan


p.s. You can be sure that, despite the flaws in their coloring, I will be taking photos of my new ponies in the near future, so keep an eye out for them!

[Vintergatan]

First off, your daughters are such darlings

I personally don't collect G4s and to be honest, quality control (or fail if you will) is one of the major reasons! But what upsets me more is that they seem to be keeping up with it!! There have been many members on here that complained directly to hasbro due to colour missmatch, dents in plastic, smudges and dirt, you name it, and it's just baffling that they aren't doing anything about it!

I want to say that I don't understand it, but I used to work as customer support for a company that absolutely didn't care about the quality of their service (made my job so fun as you can imagine)! Apparently, when a company has so many customers, they can afford to not care much about the odd one that´s unsatisfied as most still keep coming back or something. I don't get it, but I remember our boss just kept ignoring *our* pleas to step up the game so I'm guessing Hasbro is opting to just go with business as usual as it´s cheaper for them.

[StarlightGaze]

I have 6 playful Twilight Sparkles and not a single one of their bodies and heads match! Some are worse than others.

[saply]

More importantly, why are the heads and bodies two different plastics? Obviously both types accept belt-printing with equal success, and the Fashion Styles have the same material throughout, so what could they possibly have to save in using that softer plastic for the bodies? :/

Sorry your Father's Day presents weren't as great as they could have been. I hope you have a good day in spite of it. Your daughters sound like sweethearts.

[hathorcat]

Thats an adorable gift from your girls - congrats

I know its frustrating to be disappointed in the line and that it would be much nicer for perfection to reign in Hasbro factories. We are all entitled to moan to fellow collectors and to Hasbro and if the issues continue to annoy us.

But at the same time, these toys are $5 each - that puts them in the "cheap" and "affordable" toy bracket. To be pocket money prices they need to be made cheaply. Cheap manufacture brings quality issues and poor finishing. It really is the age old "you get what you pay for". The target market of these toys are little girls - they will largely be not bothered about minor colour mismatches - so no doubt for Hasbro, as much as they would like to fix it, perhaps the investment to do so is not economically viable at factory level. 

Therefore for me while it is annoying it is also largely understandable.

[Starly]

My Lyra, Trixie, Sunny, and Cherry has perfect matching heads and bodies.

Honestly, it doesn't bother me at all even when they don't match. :/

[ZennaBug]

I'm sorry you got some ponies that were sub-par.    Hasbro has been selling ponies with mismatched heads and other problems since the first ponies were released.  Sometimes you get lucky and get a perfect pony, sometimes they aren't so great.  Unfortunately, that is part of having a "cheap" toy.  I often take ribbon and glut on some little rhinestones to make little choker necklaces for my ponies.  If you put them over the neck seam, it makes the mismatch much less noticeable.  I just made one for my Seashell, I'll have to take pics eventually.

[pukunui]

Yeah, I know it's not a new thing, and that I get what I'm paying for (although, that being said, they're not as cheap here ~ NZ$9-13 [US$7-10], depending on the shop). I guess I'm just bummed because Hasbro told me they would do something about it but it's obvious they haven't. I guess they were just trying to shut me up. That's probably why they sent me a more expensive product as a "replacement".

[Bag of Magic Food]

What if everybody who had a problem with a toy wrote a letter?  The company might be forced to do something about it, not just send free stuff every time!

[partypony566]

That is one thing that REALLY annoys me....why and how does a new toy get put out with a head/body color mismatch

[pukunui]

What if everybody who had a problem with a toy wrote a letter?  The company might be forced to do something about it, not just send free stuff every time!

That would be nice. Shall we start a FB group or one of those change.org petitions or something?

That is one thing that REALLY annoys me....why and how does a new toy get put out with a head/body color mismatch

I know, right?!

[KarentheUnicorn]

I got my collector set last week from Toys R Us.

The hair was quite messy inside the box; for something called 'collector' they certainly didn't pay attention to putting the ponies in the box neatly.

Also once I opened it and took the ponies out, every single pony except for Nightmare moon has a dent on the front of the neck. This dent seems to be where the clear plastic holds the pony in the package. I don't like how it looks and I'd have to say using the word 'collector' in reference to this set is a let down considering they didn't put much care into seeing that the ponies stayed in a collector worthy condition.

Also being a original MLP fan, I still have a problem with the symbol (cutie mark) being on one side of the pony. I didn't like it with G3 and I really don't like it with G4 either. It just makes them look cheap to only have the symbol on one side.

[HawaiianRain]

Why IS the head and body two different types of plastic? Did they do this with any other generations out there? Is this something new? The fashion Style line has the same plastic for both body and head so I wonder why they switched it up for the little ones.

[pukunui]

I got my collector set last week from Toys R Us.

The hair was quite messy inside the box; for something called 'collector' they certainly didn't pay attention to putting the ponies in the box neatly.

Also once I opened it and took the ponies out, every single pony except for Nightmare moon has a dent on the front of the neck. This dent seems to be where the clear plastic holds the pony in the package. I don't like how it looks and I'd have to say using the word 'collector' in reference to this set is a let down considering they didn't put much care into seeing that the ponies stayed in a collector worthy condition.

That sucks. I don't get why they included Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in the set (or Trixie, for that matter, since she's also getting a singles release). I would imagine most collectors would have the Mane Six already, especially since they've been rereleased ad nauseum. I think it would've made more sense to have Octavia and maybe Zecora in there instead. Oh well. I'd like Lemon Hearts and DJ Pon-3 but that's it.

Also being a original MLP fan, I still have a problem with the symbol (cutie mark) being on one side of the pony. I didn't like it with G3 and I really don't like it with G4 either. It just makes them look cheap to only have the symbol on one side.

Yeah, I've never understood why they do this either. It's also annoying how the cutie marks don't always match what they look like in the show (Cheerilee's for instance - one big flower plus two tiny ones instead of three that are the same size and color).

Why IS the head and body two different types of plastic? Did they do this with any other generations out there? Is this something new? The fashion Style line has the same plastic for both body and head so I wonder why they switched it up for the little ones.

It's a good question.

[banditpony]

Let's say your complaint did go past the first stage. It would have to go through so many stupid meetings, and all it takes is one big wig who only cares about profit to kill off the whole thing. Not only that, but they would have to research a new way of actually developing the whole toy line. So even if they had 1000 complaints, they wouldn't redesign the production process.

I like to compare the company I work for to Hasbro, because they are actually partners in certain way. Our company has killed off every little bit of quality control... They simply stopped caring. There are a small handful of people who do care, but most of them are bogged down with so much work (because they fired all of QC) that they can barely do anything. I'm one of those people-- I point out issues that will occur during the making of our product, and my bosses not only don't seem to care--- they just don't understand. So when I can, I fix all I can... because I feel it's right. But I know all big companies work that way. It's sad. And it's just kinda how with most companies out there, no matter what their product is. It's an ugly thing.

So in reality you don't know if they ignored your complaint, although they probably did.

Oh. But you know. I really want to add my theory into this thread. I really think since the heads and bodies are not only different batches of plastics and colors, I think that when they age it will become a really disturbing issue. ... but it's only my little theory.