FALSE. RUMOR: Disney Shopping around for Hasbro

[cobalte]

I don't find it to be that weird. Disney does have some ties with Hasbro. The rights to the production of Marvel character toys at the moment lies with Hasbro. Also, Disney had the rights to Hasbro's library of shows in the 90s, including My Little Pony Tales. So it only makes sense.

On the other hand, the rights to Disney Junior toys currently is with Mattel (Fisher-Price). Buying Hasbro will severely damage Disney's tie with Mattel.

So yeah, I'd just take it with a grain of salt given that Disney does have deals with Hasbro rival Mattel. Buying Hasbro would be a bad idea.

This is why I don't think it will happen. Disney has licensing deals with Mattel, in fact I believe Mattel makes their Disney Princess dolls. Why would they suddenly buy Hasbro?

[RandomPony]

I don't know! Why would Disney what to buy a toy company??? They deal mostly with movies and T.V Series.... If this is true it sounds like Disney's becoming rather desperate.

[Luxrayx]

Oh, um.
?
..
I'm not sure how i feel.

[appletini]

I don't know! Why would Disney what to buy a toy company??? They deal mostly with movies and T.V Series.... If this is true it sounds like Disney's becoming rather desperate.

I agree with you, they don't touch toy creation outside of their own original lines. (I.E. their princess films and mickey mouse) It's all completely unfounded and based off of the shock from the Lucasfilms buyout. It's a subject that's come up before and I remember discussing the rumor of a Disney buyout back in the lull between season one and two and when news of season 3 being shorter meant the end of FIM.

As for speculation on what it would mean I have very mixed feelings. I don't think I'd continue to be a fan of the show if that did happen. Disney is just too controlling and imo would utterly kill the brony movement or even worse try and force it to act a certain way, instead of allowing it to grow and change naturally according to the fans.

No, I think if Disney were to buyout My Little Pony anything they'd buy the rights to produce the show alone. Which means the single possible pro for me with them taking over would be gone. The toys and their quality would remain the same and within Hasbro's care.  (Which isn't saying they're bad quality now just that everything can improve.)

[StarlightGaze]

I'm mostly worried that it will be a competitive licensing nightmare... I know a lot of potential things that have been canceled because a company bought them out and it wouldn't have worked out because of competition. Like for example, there was going to be a Black & White game for the Nintendo DS, but Microsoft bought Lionhead Studios so it never happened, and now Lionhead Studios is going under anyway.

[popyduggan]

I don't think they'd know what to do with Hasbfo. They'd probably just keep fumbling it until they sell off the IPs like they did with Power Rangers(NS,DT,&SPD are hilariously bad).

[gabumon]

I don't think they'd know what to do with Hasbfo. They'd probably just keep fumbling it until they sell off the IPs like they did with Power Rangers(NS,DT,&SPD are hilariously bad).

I'm curious, I don't usually follow Power Rangers... did Disney really own them?  what happened in the end?

[Ivy]

I don't think they'd know what to do with Hasbfo. They'd probably just keep fumbling it until they sell off the IPs like they did with Power Rangers(NS,DT,&SPD are hilariously bad).

I'm curious, I don't usually follow Power Rangers... did Disney really own them?  what happened in the end?

Yeah Disney got them as part of the ABC/Fox deal - they sold them back to Saban in the end.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/business/media/13saban.html

[dxgirly]

Disney doesn't even make their own toys. All the toys based on their characters are made by other companies, mostly Mattel and Jakks Pacific. If they did somehow gain the rights for MLP things probably would not change too much on the toy side of things. Hasbro would probably make sure they at least keep the toy rights to the properties. It is a little worrisome on the fandom end but considering they also own Marvel and haven't really hammered down on that fandom I am not that afraid.

I totally agree with this.

[xeevee]

it feels apocalyptic to me though...   disney owning everything Hasbro/Marvel/Star Wars related.  would they be a monopoly?

But imagine the cross overs. 

I can't really see it happening right now considering how strong mlp is going.  But honestly, if it did, it wouldn't bother me.  It's not like Hasbro is a small mum and pop company.  And yeah, it would be neat seeing more cross over merch.

[momo_no_hime]

There's a little bit of premature freaking out going on. Seriously, I highly doubt that Disney would buy them out. It doesn't make much sense as far as their marketing is concerned. (Especially with their ties with Mattel.)

Even then, I'm personally not that worried about it. I doubt that they would get rid of MLP, and who knows, maybe they would make some GOOD changes. For all the complaining about what Hasbro is doing wrong in other threads there sure are a lot of people willing to defend them on this one.

Also, for those worried about customs if the deal did go through: I believe that you would be protected, by law, under the umbrella of satire. I could be way off base, but I think you could claim that you modifying and selling ponies is an art form and you're making a satire of MLP. Again, I could be totally wrong (not a legal expert!), but I think that would work. Can't say the same for plushies/fursuits/etc.

[DreamLight]

Ponyville as a world in the kingdom hearts games

Though from a collector's standpoint it would be awesome to have Disney make the produces as a fan of MLP as a whole, not so much. Then again they own marvel and there hasn't been much change in it I mean they had their first same sex marriage over the summer. (then again figures of Billy and Teddy a cannon gay couple in my favorite comics are much less common then those of their teammates even though Billy seems to be the most popular character)

[Marigold]

it feels apocalyptic to me though...   disney owning everything Hasbro/Marvel/Star Wars related.  would they be a monopoly?

Disney is taking over the world.  They are taking over all popular things especially if kids like them or if it is related to fairy tales.  They are even doing a movie musical of Into the Woods which was one of the few remaining widely known non-Disney fairytale musicals.  I think Disney wants to snuff out any other popular things by making them Disneyfied. 

I hate Disney. 

Mind you, I also love Disney, but I hate that the Disney version of things always becomes "the" version of things that most people know and assume is the original.  Yes, Disney does do things good, but I wish people didn't accept everything they did as the "standard".  Sigh.

For example, I love Tangled, but now that Tangled is out everyone thinks Rapunzel has to be like Disney's Rapunzel.  Any time someone writes about something that is not Disney's version of Rapunzel they now have to explain that the version they are talking about is not like Disney and is more like the original story.  I liked it better when everyone knew of Rapunzel as the girl in the tower who could look like anything you wanted her to look like.  You could use your imagination.  All the Disney movies set a standard into your head and you don't get to dream up your princess or prince anymore.  My Beauty before Beauty and the Beast had long very curly brown hair.  My Little Mermaid had black long hair and blue eyes.  My Pocahontas was a little girl with braids.  My Jane was blonde with shorter hair.  My Rapunzel had one long braided rope of hair for the witch/prince to climb.  Now when you hear Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Tarzan, and Rapunzel you first thought is most likely of the Disney version. 

They are now making a version of The Snow Queen (Frozen) which will likely replace everyones original ideas of the story and characters once it comes out.  So when you hear "Snow Queen" your old image will most likely be taken over by Disney's new version too. 

I rant. 

[Malicieuse]

it feels apocalyptic to me though...   disney owning everything Hasbro/Marvel/Star Wars related.  would they be a monopoly?

Disney is taking over the world.  They are taking over all popular things especially if kids like them or if it is related to fairy tales.  They are even doing a movie musical of Into the Woods which was one of the few remaining widely known non-Disney fairytale musicals.  I think Disney wants to snuff out any other popular things by making them Disneyfied. 

I hate Disney. 

Mind you, I also love Disney, but I hate that the Disney version of things always becomes "the" version of things that most people know and assume is the original.  Yes, Disney does do things good, but I wish people didn't accept everything they did as the "standard".  Sigh.

For example, I love Tangled, but now that Tangled is out everyone thinks Rapunzel has to be like Disney's Rapunzel.  Any time someone writes about something that is not Disney's version of Rapunzel they now have to explain that the version they are talking about is not like Disney and is more like the original story.  I liked it better when everyone knew of Rapunzel as the girl in the tower who could look like anything you wanted her to look like.  You could use your imagination.  All the Disney movies set a standard into your head and you don't get to dream up your princess or prince anymore.  My Beauty before Beauty and the Beast had long very curly brown hair.  My Little Mermaid had black long hair and blue eyes.  My Pocahontas was a little girl with braids.  My Jane was blonde with shorter hair.  My Rapunzel had one long braided rope of hair for the witch/prince to climb.  Now when you hear Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Tarzan, and Rapunzel you first thought is most likely of the Disney version. 

They are now making a version of The Snow Queen (Frozen) which will likely replace everyones original ideas of the story and characters once it comes out.  So when you hear "Snow Queen" your old image will most likely be taken over by Disney's new version too. 

I rant. 

You can't really blame that on Disney though. I mean, you can't say Disney isn't allowed to make iconic characters.
If people can't see beyond the Disney characters, than that is their problem really. I think most people with a bit of common sense know that Disney didn't create these fairytales.

[hathorcat]

Personally I am a huge Disney fan

Yes, Disney have ties to Mattel but they also have ties to Hasbro as people have already mentioned in this thread. In fact because oddly Disney are not a toy company most Disney products are licensed through 3rd party companies including Mattel and Hasbro. It would be odd for them to suddenly get into the toy making business...but it would not be the first time a company like Disney purchased another multinational simply to gain access to an incredibly valuable line...i.e. Transformers.

If this happens which as others have said is a big if and a very long way in the future if it was to happen, I don't know if you would see much of a difference to be honest. The purpose behind Disney buying out Hasbro would be for the rights to lines like Transformers - thats Hasbro's moneymaker. It would probably just become Disney Hasbro with all the lines continuing to be licensed out [remember Hasbro dont actually produce their own toys any more - they use 3rd party companies anyway].

The massive downside? Again as already mentioned you can wave good bye to pretty much any MLP based anything which isnt officially Hasbro/Disney made...on intellectual property Disney take no prisoners.

*shrug* we will just have to see how it goes! And as Ivy says should this even come about who knows if and what generation MLP would even be on.