G4 is awfully cheap...

[bagheera86]

I don't think it's due to the economy.  G3s were also $5 each.  I think Hasbro is just focusing on that price range.  The thing is, that changes the type of toy MLP is.  When I was a kid my family was not poor but not that well-off, so I would only get ponies at Christmas or birthdays, pretty much.  Getting any pony was a Big. Huge. Deal.   They were, as I said, about $10 each in today's money (or sometimes more if they were loaded with accessories.)

Now they are $5 each and that does put them in more of an impulse-purchase category.  I can kind of understand why Hasbro just slops them out.  I still don't think it's good for the brand as a whole, though.

I'm payint $10 for them, give or take D:

[Esbayne]

I must luck out because I haven't had a pony with a mistmatched head yet. O.o Although I do have Applebloom and her neck is like a millimeter too big for her body. I didn't care too much about that, easily covered by her mane. And a couple of my ponies have stringy, greasy feeling hair. -That- I don't like.

I will say though, there are a lot of pretty crappy looking ponies being put out. That Twilight Sparkle with the moveable legs, the "design your own" Rainbow Dash, pink Celestias, all that. Do not like.
At least they finally did change Celestia to white. Wish they'd fix the rest.

[Starly]

Not like G1 was perfect.

[Esbayne]

Not like G1 was perfect.

G1 wasn't perfect, but it didn't have quite so many errors. There were screwups for all the generations, the occasional error happens and can't be helped, but -this- many?

And as for my post above about the really hideous and odd ponies being released, I guess there were some pretty weird ones for the rest of the generations, too. I mean G1 even had that one pregnant pony and those Teeny Pony ones that looked like they ran into a wall and squished their faces...

[HollowZero]

Not like G1 was perfect.

Compared to G4, may as well be. G4 are already turning colors and they're what, 2 years old? While we have plenty of 25+ year old ponies that are still in pristine condition.

[silverskimmer]

I have to agree. As much as I love G4 and the characters the toys are often terribly disappointing. If I was a kid and I got some of the ones I have I would be so upset.
dry hair, smudged markings. I love them, but the quality is just so bad.

[Al-1701]

I haven't bought the toys, but I have to agree with everything said here.  G4 does look cheap at every level.

I love the backcard art to G1.  Talk about beautiful with real effort and talent put into illustrating them.  The vector art of a single pony they make today looks uninspired by comparison.

As an accountant, this really makes me mad.  It was drilled into our heads quality control is one the last places you cut corners because money spent on quality control goes the farthest in not just reducing costs in other areas (returns, rejects, retooling, etc.) but preserves your brand.  I guess they figure kids won't care.

Do they still include the pets and things to carry them?  They could ditch them and put that money towards better quality control.

Personally, I think they should make a "Collector's Style" which would be the cream of the pony crop.  They would be more expensive, but they would be of top quality with illustrated packaging.  They would be there for the collectors and the special pony a kid gets on their birthday or for Christmas.

[sd_dreamcrystal]

Do they still include the pets and things to carry them?  They could ditch them and put that money towards better quality control.

Some of them do, the latest wave has more along the lines of wedding accessories (I don't know about the Crystal Empire's latest ones... I didn't get a good look at them and they are not in HTS yet except for the Crystal Motion ponies... which do have pets) I don't know if the quality control for the ponies themselves would be better if you remove pets and accessories out of the equation

[Bergamot]

Vector art can be made to look just like watercolor or any other media. This method of creating artwork is widely used on the industry because it yields images that can be scaled up to any size without becoming muddy or losing information.

The G4 line uses bold colors and crisp, heavy line work because that's what the show looks like. Unlike with previous generations, the show has a heavy hand in driving the franchise this time around. Monster High has a similar aesthetic for it's box art, tying the toys in with their web content and cartoons.

I do not dislike the packaging style given the circumstances, though I do wish that the MLP library of artwork was wider and less clumsy on the whole. The first wave of G4 pony box art was a series of very clumsy interpretations of Lauren Faust's original pitch art. These sketches did vary from the final TV show style, but much of their "offness" seems to come from poor interpretation due to hurried work.

[banditpony]

I again, seem to be on the opposite side of the fence.

The odd thing about all of this, is I consider myself to be a picky person. And I while sometimes I do scour what I look at before I buy it, I don't seem to have all these issues that other people complain about. I am perfectly fine with the quality of ponies that I own (No glue in mane, no large mismatch issues, no paint rubs, no dents, no dirt). And I am fine with the price point. Oh, except my Dewdrop dazzle is pretty meh with the mismatch (which I can understand because of the different batches of color/plastic).

But with the way things are mass produced in today's world, you aren't going to find high quality for $5. *shrug*

I personally LIKE the vector art. I find nothing wrong with the art, besides the fact they recolor it. But then I don't care, because I never cared about box/card art.

I agree with Bergamot, with the wish that the library for the art was larger and less clumsy.

[NoDivision]

If the economy was better right now, do you think G4s would have better quality or be about the same?

The same, a lot of what you guys are seeing existed in each of the previous generations, more so G3 then G1 or 2. 
Mis matched heads - check
Marks from packing - check
Stray dirt marks - check
Glue in the mane - check
Poorly done eyes or flaws to symbols - check

So nothing new.  Try to remember the price point these are being sold at, plus they are aimed as today's children which are expected to move on to new toys faster then say the '80' child was.  We have become a very disposable society (which saddens me) and therefore things are not always made as well.

Would you be willing to pay say $20 to $25 dollars a piece for a normal pony?  Well that is what you are in a way asking for.  Yes I know Zecora was up there and she had a ton of flaws, but again she is aimed more at the toy market then the collector market and originally was only $10. 

Would it be nice if the quality control was better, yes, will it happen, not likely.

This is exactly my thinking as well. Ponies have always had flaws because toys (which are aimed at children and meant to be played with) are not made with the strict quality control that collectors expect. As time goes on, since Hasbro wants to keep the ponies around the same price point, inflation means that you will inevitably get less for your money. A pony that cost $5 in the early 80s would cost $11-12 now. So rather than making the ponies more expensive, Hasbro has chosen to keep the toys affordable and accesible for kids, which is what ponies have always been intended for.

Compared to other toys in the same price range, I think today's ponies are actually pretty great value for money.

[LadyGuinevere]

Personally, I think they should make a "Collector's Style" which would be the cream of the pony crop.  They would be more expensive, but they would be of top quality with illustrated packaging.  They would be there for the collectors and the special pony a kid gets on their birthday or for Christmas.

I think they tested that sort of thing with one of the G3 Comiccon ponies, where they 'graded' them or something and then put them at an extortionate price on the website because of it. I don't think anyone was really bothered by it it be honest.

The quality control can be poor frequently,  but I don't see this changing any time soon either G3 definitely suffered from similar issues. G1 and G2 less so, but few of  us were adults during G1, so it may be just we didn''t notice, and it was still there. I know a number of Greek and Argie ponies actually get damaged by the cards they were on.

It is a shame, but most kids probably don't notice, and it's likely just down to cost. RRP hasn't changed a lot since the 80s (G1 were £3.99-£6.49 in the UK, I forget G2, G3 were £3.99-4.99 and G4 are £4.99). Value for money has probably improved, even with the flaws.

In the future, I expect that those prone to specific flaws will command a higher price when they don't have them, a bit like with G1 (fading pink hair, fading symbols, head/body mismatch, eye misprints etc), but only time will tell

[CottonTALE]

In regards to pricing of the ponies, a singular playful pony costs 5-7 bucks depending on where you shop for them. The other sets are more expensive like the FS are $21 or so, the Wedding castle is close to $40 and the favourites pack is almost $50 (and not even available in the stores I go to) so it's very expensive for those that don't have alot of money (My fiancee and I are both college students... So we need to budget how much we can spend on our collections)

[Diamond]

I don't think it's due to the economy.  G3s were also $5 each.  I think Hasbro is just focusing on that price range.  The thing is, that changes the type of toy MLP is.  When I was a kid my family was not poor but not that well-off, so I would only get ponies at Christmas or birthdays, pretty much.  Getting any pony was a Big. Huge. Deal.   They were, as I said, about $10 each in today's money (or sometimes more if they were loaded with accessories.)

Now they are $5 each and that does put them in more of an impulse-purchase category.  I can kind of understand why Hasbro just slops them out.  I still don't think it's good for the brand as a whole, though.

Yes they are selling them for a similar price, BUT everything else has gone up, so they have to skimp someplace to stay at that price point.

[LadyMoondancer]

G1 was not perfect, no, but it exuded quality and, IMO, that is one of the reasons it succeeded. 

I would not have been able to explain what the difference was between "real ponies" (Hasbro My Little Ponies) and fakies when I was a child.  But I knew there WAS a difference and I MUCH preferred Hasbro's ponies.  I think that goes back to quality.  Quality of the toys and quality of their presentation.

G3 did indeed use vectors.