We want Minty!!!

[Pleyone]

Come on! Only 20 to go! 

[babylicketysplit]

seriously want minty!!!

[Spike]

So many people have liked it after I advertised it on popular pages

[Evening_Moonstone]

I'm bumping the Minty thread with something interesting.

I went to go see The Hobbit last night.  Fantastic film, by the way (if a bit slow-moving in parts).  The main characters are mostly dwarves and a hobbit (who are smaller than human-sized).  They ride ponies rather than horses. 

In one scene, a character is rescuing some ponies that were caught by trolls.  He's listing off the names, and I swear one was named "Minty". My husband and I just looked at each other at that point.  "Did he just say MINTY?"

So if you go see the movie, listen for yourself!  Maybe I've just got Minty on the brain, but I swear her name was mentioned in the film!  (Maybe one of the writers was an MLP fan, or it was just coincidence.)

[StarDapple]

I will be going to see the Hobbit tonight, I will keep an ear out for Minty!

[CottonTALE]

I really want a Minty, there are so many purple and pink ponies but only one green one released (that would be Lyra) it would help to balance the use of colour with the playful ponies.

I emailed Hasbro, and they said the same thing "We have no plans to release minty" I even told them that there are so many people who want her, that the prototype sells for hundreds of dollars on eBay. Imagine how much revenue there would be from releasing it.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Keep at it, everyone!    Has anyone else sent in a snail mail letter yet? 

[Flitter]

I will be going to see the Hobbit tonight, I will keep an ear out for Minty!

I'm supposed to go see it tonight as well. I'll totally be listening for it too! 

[Galactica]

Okay- 

 if you are truly motivated to get Minty- I honestly think a more successful strategy would be to pester the Marts (Walmart, Target, K-Mart, TRU) to ORDER and/or request Minty.   Send emails, letters, ect. to corporate- preferably the buyer for girls toys if you can figure out who that person is... (difficult but not impossible- I often use Linked-in to find people I can't find on google)

Let me explain-  Hasbro doesn't get to decide what is in the stores-  Hasbro comes up with the ideas for toys-  has ponies made into marketing samples (prototypes really) -  and then they meet with buyers from the Marts- who order what they think will sell.   (Even Toyfair isn't just wandering around anymore- almost all orders are done through private appointment).

The fact that a slew of Minty ponies appeared on Taobao at some point almost certainly means that Hasbro they had a marketing sample run made- which means they probably pitched this pony (along with many others) to the Marts- and the pony was not picked up.   


Anyway-  don't mean to come off as know-it-ally- but honestly would love to have Minty myself and was trying to attack the problem with an eye to how things really work.... 

To get you started-  here is a link to a senior buyer for toys- located in Walmart.  Of course, it occurs to me that pleas for ponies might be more effective if directed towards the buyer in your region/state-
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=40656111&authType=OUT_OF_NETWORK&authToken=MTvH&locale=en_US&srchid=7ff90744-5cc5-4ee8-b12f-3d3abdb25dd0-0&srchindex=3&srchtotal=244&goback=%2Efps_PBCK_buyer+walmart+toys_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*2_*1_Y_*1_*1_*1_false_1_R_*1_*51_*1_*51_true_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&pvs=ps&trk=pp_profile_name_link


Ahh--- here is the e-commerce buyer for Walmart  http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=17020860&pid=40656111&authType=name&authToken=bI98&goback=%2Efps_PBCK_buyer+walmart+toys_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*2_*1_Y_*1_*1_*1_false_1_R_*1_*51_*1_*51_true_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&trk=pbmap

Here is a senior buyer for toys in the Arkansas region-
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=20498218&pid=40656111&authType=name&authToken=nFjI&goback=%2Efps_PBCK_buyer+walmart+toys_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*2_*1_Y_*1_*1_*1_false_1_R_*1_*51_*1_*51_true_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&trk=pbmap


Check out this lady's profile- sounds like TRU has a lot of power over what toys are made and how....

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=3030816&authType=OUT_OF_NETWORK&authToken=sLFH&locale=en_US&srchid=b9da0849-cf30-462f-9234-2f071579adb2-0&srchindex=3&srchtotal=5777&goback=%2Efps_PBCK_buyer+toys_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*2_*1_Y_*1_*1_*1_false_1_R_*1_*51_*1_*51_true_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&pvs=ps&trk=pp_profile_name_link


I am not suggesting necessarily that you send them an email through their linked-in account-  (although it is a possibility they would probably delete) -  but you could probably get a snail mail or email to them by searching what corporate office they are associated with- and tracking them down that way

[Winter Bones]

[a very informative post]

Great finds, Galactica! I've heard of EECBs (or Executive Email Carpet Bombs, in which a consumer contacts a higher-up in a company with a complaint instead of stumbling around customer support robots) being quite effective. If we're lucky, mailing the 'mart' buyers will yield similar results. I'm not on LinkedIn myself, but I sure hope someone can track those mailing addresses down.

[kezrob23]

oh wow!! great work definitely a great idea, i am in oz, so if anyone in the us wants to contact this way, go ahead!!!

[Rainbow Dash]

Okay- 

 if you are truly motivated to get Minty- I honestly think a more successful strategy would be to pester the Marts (Walmart, Target, K-Mart, TRU) to ORDER and/or request Minty.   Send emails, letters, ect. to corporate- preferably the buyer for girls toys if you can figure out who that person is... (difficult but not impossible- I often use Linked-in to find people I can't find on google)

Let me explain-  Hasbro doesn't get to decide what is in the stores-  Hasbro comes up with the ideas for toys-  has ponies made into marketing samples (prototypes really) -  and then they meet with buyers from the Marts- who order what they think will sell.   (Even Toyfair isn't just wandering around anymore- almost all orders are done through private appointment).

The fact that a slew of Minty ponies appeared on Taobao at some point almost certainly means that Hasbro they had a marketing sample run made- which means they probably pitched this pony (along with many others) to the Marts- and the pony was not picked up.   


Anyway-  don't mean to come off as know-it-ally- but honestly would love to have Minty myself and was trying to attack the problem with an eye to how things really work....

Actually, from what I've heard from others in the toy industry, this is pretty much spot on, though I don't know if the toy manufacturers propose specific characters to the retailers (that may be a bit of a stretch).  Most retailers are looking for something fresh and exciting instead of 'oh, we're going to have Minty and Ploomette in the next assortment' which is what the collectors want to hear.  The blind bags are the 'fresh and new' and they seem to be selling well, hence why they keep shoving them at us as fast as we can buy them.

Now that you've proposed pursuing the retail angle, I think we should have a course of action, and I recommend the following: pick one retailer to concentrate on and give them a reason to want this as an exclusive.  My suggestion would be to target Toys R Us as they seem to have a better idea of what collectors want (and because toys are pretty much their only business- they need to have something different from Walmart and Target if they want to survive).  Next up we need to have some sort of specific idea of what we want.  Yes, we obviously all want Minty.  But Toys R Us isn't going to be overly impressed with one exclusive brushable character.  They need something to make it worthwhile to them, and I think a set (similar to the Nightmare Moon Fan Favorites set) is in order.  So the question is which would be more popular- a set of six G3 inspired ponies or a set of Christmas themed ponies?  I'm leaning towards the latter (though I really don't want to wait a full year to get Minty!) but I know how popular Waterfire is and perhaps having two beloved previous generation characters could help the set's sales.

When dealing with retail stores it's best to have a firm idea of what you want to accomplish- rather than a number of individual emails or letters I suspect it would be better to have one well-organized attempt with solid backing.  We've got to sell this and make them want it as bad as we do.

[Winter Bones]

True, having a specific idea for a release in mind beyond "just Minty" would make it much easier for us to convince the retailers to release her. How about we brainstorm some ideas of what to ask for on facebook, then set up a poll so everyone can vote for their favourite? Once the group gets a good idea of what kind of set we want and which ponies we want with it specifically, we can include that in the petition then contact the retailers about it. Just my two cents.

[Eily311]

Liked it

[StarDapple]

Just got back from the Hobbit and I really do think that they said Minty!  Either that or Mindy, but both my mom and friend said they thought it was Minty.