I think I'm losing heat on the G4s...

[rtattles]

Lack of new brushable poses is my number on frustration.  Especially when they made like fifteen animal friends in unique poses.  REALLY?

I actually wish Hasbro would bite the bullet, charge $1 or $2 more per pony, and ramp up quality control.

Funny you mention that LM, because I did notice my niece was a lot more interested in playing with the animals than the ponies themselves!!!!! In a way, the whole design on playability is kind of a fail because now the ponies are considered complementary in play rather than the other way round. If that was the intention of Hasbro to begin with, then isn't that kind of odd that the ponies aren't at the center of the whole design of the toyline?

I don't know about paying more, because in Singapore, we're already paying PREMIUM for EVERYTHING MLP. We're paying $39.95 for something that would have been BOGO in other countries. Also try $60 for the TRU blindbag ponies you guys got a year ago with the Core 6 plus Gardenia Glow, Coconut Cream ...etc. $25 for a mini playset. $27 for a Fashion Styling. If we're splashing so much money here, I feel Hasbro can at least put some effort at printing symbols on both sides of the pony's flank.

How bout we'll pay $1 or $2 more for them to remake G1s? lol I really want them back and I don't mind paying a dollar or two more for a G1 single, that is provided they are made OK. The retro releases were considered NOT okay - the poorly replicated mold, the feel, the hair, and omg the ribbons were super stingy length. They really need someone who know WTH is happening rather than someone who thought they knew. Ah well....

[Dragonflitter]

And you know, i can deal with the idea that the show characters need to be in stores at all times. But the way Hasbro deals with it is so lazy and so cheap. Having to re-release a character doesn't mean you have to keep releasing it in the same pose over and over. Neither does it mean you have to slap a main character in every set out there.

I agree! I totally will not argue that the Mane 6 needs to be in stores all the time. I understand that the G4 line hinges on the popularity of the cartoon, and kids who see the show for the first time need to be able to collect their fave charas. But you're right, Hasbro is treating this so lazily.

They shrunk the size of the brushables to use less materials. They don't develop hardly any new molds/poses. They recycle accessory molds (and even charas) from the G3 line. They put the same -exact- toy in multiple sets, instead of doing a new cutie mark or new pose like when G3 repeated a character. The quality control is arguably worse than any other gen. They shift their focus to the very cheap and easy to produce blind bag-size plastic figures. Their playsets are mostly CARDBOARD for crying out loud!

I don't think in any other generation has the collector community ever criticized Hasbro for being so cheap and lazy as they are being with these toys. Yeah we complained when the G3's only got cutie marks on one side, but this... this is like they cut every single corner they possibly could in producing this line. It's highly disappointing for those of us who have devoted decades to these toys.

Lack of new brushable poses is my number on frustration.  Especially when they made like fifteen animal friends in unique poses.  REALLY?

You know, when I first started collecting G4's back in early 2011, I saw the brushables and I was actually impressed! I actually looked at the box in the store and thought 'Wow, the animal friends are all unique (or almost all unique) and they're actually painted with some nice detail!' Hasbro actually took the time to think what kids would like with the brushables! What do we have to go with the brushables with the current wave? Accessories that we've all seen before, many are from the G3 Ponyville line, and a cardboard 'invitation' taped to the back of the box that will be bent/ripped/lost/thrown out as soon as the child opens the box.

Hasbro, you are being so lazy! :\

[HollowZero]

I've stopped collecting G4 and couldn't be happier. They just feel like a waste of time. I have one blindbag, and 8 brushables. I haven't had the urge to get any more, the static poses and constant main six re-releasing just gives me Core 7 vibes, and I hated that. :\

[reanna-mator]

Mm, I guess I can see that. I definitely feel frustration over constant reissues. And of course, the lack of different poses and general diversity. I'm still enjoying collecting them, though.

I love the cartoon, though, and if anything the cartoon keeps my love of collecting the toys going when the toys alone gets a little monotonous.

[NovelNerd]

I love the show, but the toys are boring.  The toys, while cute, are not pony-like enough, IMO.  I think it was a mistake to follow the show designs so closely.  The show designs work in part because they are animated, the characters gallop and rear and move like ponies.  But the toys are static, they do not have that advantage.  They should've made them horsier to compensate.

I'm agreeing with this! I only have a few G4s actually, and I'll admit the show is pretty interesting. My main issue has been how they really don't look very much like a pony to me, so I lost interest really quickly.  I only have some of the brushables and then a few blind bags a friend bought me.

[scarletjul]

* sigh*. I'm bored, too.

I'm tired of seeing the same 6 ponies, the same handful of poses and the same q.c. issues over and over and over again.  I realize the idea is to streamline the set and connect to new fans but MLP was never Barbie and it doesn't work like Barbie.  You might be gaining new fans but you're going to lose the ones who ave their favorite characters already and want them to have new friends.  At the very least, they could do what the g1 and g3s did and release the same characters on new poses/styles: TAF, so soft, princess, glittery bodies (not just tinsel in their hair) so at least there was some variety.

And is it just me or were there slightly more new ponies last year around this time?  I guess the wave this time last year (Feathermay/Flitterheart, etc.) timed out to show up later than the Lyra/Trixie wave?  Or am I just misremembering?

[Honeycomb]

One thing that makes me wonder whether it's wise to spend (much) money on G4 is how they will survive the next let's say 10 years. What will the plastic look like? Head and body mismatches are already normal today! This means it's going to be much worse as time goes by. What's the point of buying a collectible that is going to decay very quickly.

[ShortyBoo]

I'm getting less and less interested in the G4 line (still adore the show, though) and I think it's the lack of anything really new coming out. I mean, I liked the blind bags in the beginning, but now I feel like they've kind of overdone it with the amount of them. I've run out of space for them and I've only completed the first four waves (minus like 4-5 ponies, mostly from wave 2) so I have no idea where I'd put any more. I still have quite a bit of room for more G4 brushables and maybe a few more styling size, but the problem is the only ones I still need either come in expensive sets with other ponies or playsets I don't need (Lemon Tart, Cadence & Shining Armor from the castle, etc) or they're simply not easy to find, like Star Dreams. With the FS ponies, the only ones I don't have are Celestia, Cadence & Shining Armor. I'll get Celestia once she's white (if it ever happens) and I'll probably pick up Cadence & Shining Armor once they're on clearance.

But as far as what's going to be out soon, it's mostly just the main six being released over and over again. It's starting to feel like the bore 7 again. I mean, besides Ploomette, have we even seen any more new brushables? I wish they'd release Minty. Every year I hold out hope that she'll be the holiday pony, only to be disappointed. And I would have loved to have Sweetie Blue. I think at this point, the only way I'll get excited for the line again is if we start seeing a bunch of new ponies as singles. I don't know what the problem is. I mean, they have so many really good designs in the blind bags that could be made into full sized ponies. I'd also love to see new poses. But if nothing else, I at least want unicorns with round eyes. I'm tired of every single unicorn having Rarity or Twilight's eyes. They should go ahead and invest in a round eyed unicorn head mold. I bet if they did that, they'd sell a lot more.

I actually haven't bought any MLP items since I got Lyra, Trixie & co., but I guess it's a good thing since it gives me more money to spend on Monster High, which I recently got into. So unless things change, Mattel will end up getting all the money I've been giving to Hasbro.

[Dragonflitter]

But if nothing else, I at least want unicorns with round eyes. I'm tired of every single unicorn having Rarity or Twilight's eyes. They should go ahead and invest in a round eyed unicorn head mold.

This! But you know what I would be happy with? If Hasbro invested a little bit of money in the molds for unique eyes before the characters are released!! So far I've seen three examples of ponies with eye paint that does NOT match the mold shape for the eye impressions. When have you seen this in any other toy company? I would expect it of a prototype but not a final product!

DJ PON3's glasses don't even come close to matching her eye holes, Fashion Style Shining Armor's narrowed eyes don't match his round eye holes, and there's one blind bag character I've seen with narrowed eyes again painted onto round eye impressions.

Does this company seriously just sit in their development room and look at these toys they're designing and think "Kids won't notice if the paint doesn't match up with the mold"? Or do they just think kids won't care? Well DJ PON3 was aimed at collectors, not kids, and why would they think WE wouldn't notice/care?

Oh dear, I'm getting steamed, I think I need to go find a thread about kittens and rainbows and stop getting worked up about things in the G4 toy line. *wanders off*

[RAMChYLD]

Personally, tje exclusives and the rereleases are sickening me a little. I still love the G4 line, but I have to go through someone else to be able to get all the ponies I really want. Hello, Mattel, Canada is ATTACHED to the US, give us stuff!

I think you're talking to the wrong company

Plus,they totally changed the fim cartoon in season 2 and all the characters start over reacting already.

Actually, my problem with season 2 is the move away from the slice-of-life format. It actually makes me sad every time I think about how they're taking this direction. It just doesn't work for me.

I lost interest in the cartoon, but I still like buying the toys.

+1

Also, the lack of availability--it seems like most of the really cool stuff is released as a Target exclusive

Agreed. This is one of the biggest issues I have with G4! If it's not an Europe/Aus-NZ exclusive (The term "International" is misleading- I'm in Malaysia and those exclusives never make it over here either) then it's a TRU/Target/Wal-Mart exclusive. And the problem with that? The latter two isn't widely available outside of the US and the former is run by a franchiser, meaning that they're allowed liberties where TRU toys are concerned.

As for me, the only thing I got tired of where G4 is concerned is the cartoon. I think it's sad that Hasbro took the direction it did for Season 2. I'm still interested in the toys tho.

[LuvlyMelody]

I am sick of going to TRU or Walmart and having 20+ empty blind bags on the shelf? I never saw that with previous pony generations. I think the issue with people burning soo hot for something so fast is they just burn out. About the main six reissues OMG! To get the new Luna I have to get another Rarity! I have at least 10!!! She should be renamed Common and her cutie mark should be changed to her re-release number Common #29.

Also I kinda liked being that guy that collects ponies. Now i`m just lumped in with brony thing. I was ready to scream when I was buying a shirt at hot topic and the girl said "Oh your a brony, I think it`s awesome that boy`s can like ponies now" Like it was against the law before? It makes me not want to buy anything G4 just to separate myself... If only they weren't soo cute!

Argh argh argh this! Before FiM I was a pony collector, now I'm a statistic with bad stigma thanks to errant wingnuts in the fandom, and people assume I'm some kind of furry to boot (NB: furries are fine, their popular representation, and thus the one I get stuck with, is not).

Personally the fun has been sucked out of the G4s by the burning-too-fast crowd, the high money, the buying off taobao (which undermines Hasbro and thus makes them less likely to ship to small retailers, i.e. the guys where I live).. etc. Blind Bags made it here, and luckily I saw no theft occurrences, but episodes like that, and the general scamming, make me so put off.

I still like G4s, but... the fun is gone. I will watch the cartoon and pick up what I can if I can be motivated to do so.

I noticed that too, for guy members who have been here before 2010 or whatever year it was that FiM Came out. You guys are basically like Veterans who had fun and with the know how of what it's like with collecting ponies before the craze, and with a snap of a finger, now you've basically become the "Minority" that is so unfair for long time male collectors. >,<;
For me, the fire in me is slowly dimming. When I first watched the first few episodes of FiM, I thought it was fun, cheerful and everything, and I was foolish to look up what kind of toys they had, and here I am now . When I first saw the main 6 ponies on the shelves when I first got into collecting, I was just so excited to go to a store and see who they had. That was my first few days of collecting, everything was so exciting and all, but after a while it, the excitement slowly dimmed when all I kept seeing were main 6 ponies over and over. While searching for new ponies that would come out kinda got frustrating when the ratio is like 2:6. When I do find the new ponies, it was still exciting at the time. (For example Cheerilee & Lily Blossom) but when it got to the point, every wave was someone new, PLUS the main 6 being re-released, the ratio of finding someone new gets smaller compared to the ratio of main 6 getting higher. and I get less and less excited because it'll always have the Main 6 ponies and never anyone new.

The thrill for hunting is no longer there when every time you search, you leave empty handed or there's no target to hunt after. If the next 2-3 waves had 6 new ponies each wave, and not have the main 6 taking up the slots, that would be better and by the 4th wave they can probably re-release the main 6 again. How I see the re-releases, It's ok to "occasionally" re-release the main 6 every now and then so new children getting into MLP get a chance to get their favorite Main 6 pony, but don't give us a frekken Tsunami of the Main 6 ponies to the point they're just everywhere you go and people drown in them and give up collecting.

If I was a little kid again and and my parents allowed me to collect G4 MLP, I would want to get every pony that comes out that I didn't have so I could go on adventures with them, play with their hair and all that good stuff, but in the eyes of a little kid wanting to find a new character that comes out in the system Hasbro has it going so far, the first question I'd ask is "How come I can't find (name of new pony that just came out or was out for a long while but never found)? All I see is Twilight and her friends and I already have them. @,@;" Simple answer, They're always being re-released.

And holding a Brides Maid Twilight in my hands today, debating if I should buy her, I would ask myself the question my parents would've asked me if I was that little girl who wanted to buy a different release of Twilight. "You already have this one, why do you need another???" and the answer "Because she comes with all these accessories!" would not cut it to convince them back then as it doesn't cut it for me now, which is why the fire in me is slowly dimming. >,<;

Holy OMG I'm sorry for the super long post everyone. 

[ShortyBoo]

I definitely hated how they made DJ P0N-3 without a new mold, which made me not want her. If they wanted to use the same unicorn mold, then they should have just painted the eyes in the correct spots, then made the glasses an accessory that actually covers over the eyes. While a kid may not notice the eye indents that don't match with the fake looking painted on glasses (I would have noticed as a kid) this set was marketed towards adult collectors, who would most certainly notice. I also wish they'd make a proper Fluttershy blind bag mold. At least then there would be one more pegasus mold to use for the blind bags. If they're just going to keep making tons of blind bags, then it's the least they could do.

[cobalte]

I feel the same. Lack of variety, cheap recycled accessories, and lack of availability really stings . Especially with the international mark-up.

[hathorcat]

I think for me it comes down to something simple - right now Hasbro seems to be putting more time, effort and resources into things which are not toys...the cartoon, the licensing, the merchandise [and I include blind bags as merch as for me they are not really traditional MLP toys].

They seem to be striving to cater to 2 extreme markets - bronies through licensing and little girls through the toy line and the latter is loosing out a little as a result. As an adult female collector I feel a little the same way when we saw the Bore 7 - however at the same time I do understand the reasoning behind it.

I completely understand that Hasbro follows the money but I do really hope they get their focus back and remember they are a toy company and not a branding company or a cartoon production company!

[Gingerbread]

I don't think I'm so much bored as frustrated.

When I first saw the new MLP display in Tesco when the G4 line first came out, I was super excited I purchased all the ponies I saw. Which, TBH, wasn't that many. I want all the new ponies but I just can't afford the shipping from the USA. Distribution here is absolutely dire We still have luggage ponies on the shelves! I want the new ponies, I was the Cadence/Luna FS ponies, I want all the stuff that was never released over here.

I totally understand the mane 6 have to be on the shelves at all times. However, Hasbro, what about making more characters too? Stop re-releases and just have lots of different single brushables instead of making everything gimmicky.

I remember seeing rows of different G1, G2 and G3 ponies on shelves, now all I single is an AJ and  TS on the shelf.

Please Hasbro, bring back the magic