Do you think the Brony phenomenon is good for the Toyline?

[Violet CLM]

I would appreciate the seeming third-party merchandise boom more if it had more correspondence to who the main characters are supposed to be. Cheerilee is supposed to be sort of the seventh main pony character, but only the McDonalds toys and the official toys (and even those only near the start of the line) reflect that at all. Zecora or Big Mac, or even Spike some of the time? Even the CMC, for that matter? Hah, good luck. Instead everything falls into two camps: all the main six ponies at once (sometimes minus Applejack and/or Rarity) with a pink background, or Rainbow Dash or Drama Pony or DJ Pon-3 with a black background. The show's cast is immense, and most merchandise just doesn't reflect that at all.

Aside: I was around a number of bronies today and was showing off some of the gift set toys, which are a) considered by many to be the highest-quality official toys there are in terms of both accuracy and workmanship, and also b) so old (don't they predate the show?) that a lot of people don't recognize them and instead assume they're customs. I also had brushable Lyra, Feathermay, and Trixie. Who got the most (positive!) attention? Feathermay, the only non-show pony of the lot. Of course, it helps that she's gorgeous.

[Lightning Twirl]

I just wish Hasbro made a wider range of brushable characters that arnt the mane 6. I like the mane 6, but there are so many rereleases of them with small cosmetic differences. :/ They should release Minty and Sweetie Blue!  I understand their focus is on little girls but I think even little girls would love random characters like Sugar Grape,  Minuette,  Bon Bon, and some more colts in brushables!  They should make a new toyline of just background characters similar to the Favorites Collections at TRU but in singles! Id be soooo happy!


I personally love the blindbags, but I think theres... kind of too much? LoL im worried we will get the BB guide coming out in October, and 4 more BB waves are released by then and they wont be in the book! :S If they keep it up, maybe we can expect a volume 2?

[RainbowAlicorn999]

I agree, more brushable characters should be released. I also want to see Minty and Sweetie Blue be released and I think there should be more boy ponies! Big Mac, Soarin', Thunderlane, Dr.Whooves and other boy ponies should come out. We have only one boy pony and it's probably because he was in this whole pink girly princess wedding thing. I want more boy ponies badly.

[Violet CLM]

Another boy pony candidate: since there's a Flower Wishes brushable these days,

[link removed ~ many thanks ~ hathorcat]

[Lightning Twirl]

Golden Grape! :B im actually suprised Shining Armor is the only colt brushable so far, I hoped we'd see Big Mac by now!   My Cheerilee needs her very special somepony! T-T I hope you are listing Hasbro!!

[June]

For me MLP = brushable toy. I have some brony friends and acquaintances who (besides merch) mostly own blind bags for two reasons: they are cheap and have molded manes. I personally dislike them because they are poorly made and have like 5-6 molds for tons of different characters (even Fluttershy doesn't have have her own, but Rainbow Dashes instead!). If Pokemon blind bags with couple of hundred different molds and excellent colouring could work, I don't see why MLP can't have at least double of what it has now. (+ Hasbro should be more creative with their names).

Only brushables I'm satisfied with are Fashion Styles because they seem to be of higher quality. However, all brushables lack in variety of both characters and poses.

I guess bronies have influenced the toy line because Hasbro is currently more interested in selling licences for pony merch and toys to 3rd party companies than making their own classic brushable toys. I haven't noticed much official G4 plushies, aren't most of them fan-made?

I'm not a huge collector who buys ponies all the time so this lack of variety doesn't bother me as much, but I'm also not interested in most of the merch which seems to be popular with bronies. (I consider myself a hybrid between collector and a brony).

[Esbayne]

Another boy pony candidate: since there's a Flower Wishes brushable these days, [link removed ~ many thanks ~ hathorcat]
8O *Gasp* OH I LIKE HIM.

[achab1984]

I have given it a little thought and have to yes and no. Yes cause they toy time and show are still going. They come out with new toys every year. Just wish they would slow down on the blind bag ponies. I do not really collect them. To many and they have to many issues with there paint.
No, cause the prices of ponies have gone way up cause of it. They bash anything that does not go along with the show.

My thing is that I am happy they are still making ponies. I hope they do not stop for a long time. I love to see new stuff in the stores

[Eaglefeather]

I agree, avenue1984. They may make more blind bags because they have proven themselves to be more popular than the brushables. I used to try to collect all of them, but new series were released at rapid paces; it was just too fast. And, the prices started climbing. Otherwise they are a little cheaper than the brushables.
I'm glad there have been so many pony items to enjoy. But the thing that bothers me is when bronies raise a stink about imperfections, like Fluttershy's mane. 

[U2QueenBee]

I don't know how much of it is Bronies in particular as (what I've perceived, at least) as the 'explosion' of collectible toys in general.  You go to any toy store or supermarket or comic shop now and there are so many displays selling all kinds of small, collectible toys, normally in blind bag format - Lego minifigs, Toy Robot vinyls, ponies, Moshi monsters, etc.  Then you get larger figures like the Funko vinyls, which also seem to be aimed at adults.  There's a big market for adult or crossover kid/adult toys at the moment I think, and Lego and MLP both have the advantage of getting nostalgia buyers as well as just kids (my interest in ponies and Lego both go back nearly 30 years, for example.)  The low(ish) price point and small size also makes them more of an impulse buy at the checkout, an 'oh look, I'll throw that in my cart because what's a couple of bucks?' which a larger, pricier boxed toy won't manage.  I've certainly been guilty of picking up Lego minifigs on this basis (even if I always end up with ugly/boring ones!)

I also agree that the lack of brushables is an annoying holdover from late G3/G3.5 with the 'core seven' thing, rather than something caused by Bronies.  As far as plush goes, the sheer number of people making high-quality custom plush going for huge bucks on ebay, etsy, Deviantart and so on must surely tip Hasbro off that there is a big market for pony plush.  There was even a Kickstarter a while back which was essentially just a group order to a Chinese company for Princess Luna beanies and was, quite frankly, a blatant copyright infringement.  I believe it was pulled on those grounds, but clearly, Hasbro must be aware that plenty of folks would love to buy them.

The main thing I always think about the Brony phenomenon is how in the 'old days' we collectors often felt sort of mocked or marginalised for our hobby, we wouldn't share it with everyone because 'lol old ladies collecting little girl toys, lame' - there was even a member whose (awesome) collection got mocked really cruelly on Craigslist if I recall.  Now suddenly the teen and young adult demographic (and a lot more men) are interested, and it's 'cooler.'  I know I'm just a bitter old lady but the way I see it, either it was still 'cool' before, or it still isn't 'cool' now.

Aaaand, now I sound like a hipster ("I liked ponies before they sold out, man!") so I'll stop.

[popyduggan]

I think it is because they demand different characters than Hasbro was willing to give them. Also, we're getting more stuff than before.

With that said, seeing the same motley crew(Drama Pony, dash, dj, lyra, octavia, whooves) on brony merch is sort of "as bad" as the mane 6 overexposure, where new or old characters are overshadowed by the demand for these cliques.

[RAMChYLD]

Coming out of my hiatus (well, lurking) to reply to this. For complicated reasons I have to keep off the grid, and will go back to a hiatus/lurk mode after this. Although It's most probably I'll be in deep after I make this post...

The reason this happened is because Hasbro created their own network, which was in direct competition with Disney. They couldn't be fighting disney for ratings in the US, and giving them their shows to have them win in the rest of the world, giving them more funding to boost their US programming, and killing the hub in ratings. So they moved their shows over to boomerang, a channel that the hub is not in direct competition with in the US. It was purely good business sense, to do anything else was suicide!

So denying several countries that SSC toys were top sellers prior the new show is good business sense? Giving the rights to the show to an entity who is partnered with your rival is good business sense? Denying several countries that the show previously airs in and enjoys the toys flying off the shelf well is good business sense? Competing with a company who you're holding toy rights to, good business sense? I'm sorry, it's sounds more like ill-conceived, shortsighted and bumbling decisions than good business sense.

For the records, since SSC went to Boomerang, the toys has stopped flying off the shelves over here. We still see Hasbro toys from the first wave from three years ago lingering at TRU and Metrojaya. Other outlets that previously carried SSC in bulk have shrunk the amount of shelf space for the toy or have outright stopped carrying SSC. Cherry Jam and "HuckleBeiber Pie" stuff are a no-show. Whose fault is it then? Time Warner for putting it on Boomerang (which no Pay TV providers in Malaysia carry)? The one stuck-up pay TV provider who refuses to carry the channel? Or all the Pay TV providers in the country? Or the screwed up pro-monopoly law of the country that allows a Pay TV Provider to monopolize a channel and prevent rivals from carrying channels they already have, and said stuck-up provider is abusing that right by getting the license to Boomerang and then sitting on it with the excuse of not having enough satellite bandwidth to carry the channel and the false promise of putting the channel on once they can launch their next satellite in the next few years? Or Hasbro themselves for such a suicidal plan?

If you ask me, the correct thing for AG to do would be to withdraw the master license from Hasbro and give it back to Bandai. And intervene with the show rights somehow to make it go back to Disney.

[ravengusty]

I don't own a single blind bag...I don't come across them in the shops I go in, if I did I might pick one up, I don't feel the urge to pick any up off ebay. Hasbro are imo going down the puppy in my pocket route with blind bags making them cheap for kiddies to spend their pocket money on or harass mummy and daddy when they're in the supermarket.
I can't say whether Bronies have influenced Hasbro or not, it's possible they have judging from the comments I've read so far. But Hasbro's biggest audience will always be kids because that's where they make their serious money.
I myself mostly collect G1, i'm mildly interested in the G4 brushables, I have a couple of G3 (i downsized my G3s seriously and sold my G4s when I needed some cash). I've never been interested in the G2's. Merchandise is interesting I suppose, back in the day there was G1 wallpaper. G1 have done cups, bed linen, flasks, lunch boxes and such so there has been merch before. I don't really look for merch myself though i did see a pinkie pie mug on ebay which I may buy at some point.
Hasbro want to make money so they'll go after their target audience but they may be taking more notice of collectors now than previously. I just hope they consider all collectors whether they be the toy collectors or merch collectors.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Or the screwed up pro-monopoly law of the country

DING DING DING!  Your most important answer to your question!    It's the answer that has the most influence.  If there wasn't a law favoring monopoly, would a competitor come in?   Of course they would!  And sadly I think your facts illustrated something teribly sad - it appears to me that the whole mess with the SSC release in your country was screwed up from the beginning, as the market in the country is a monopoly and that doesn't promote the same kind of business model.  It becomes slightly less compatible in fact.  No matter what, as long as there is a monopoly, any company is going to look at the market and see that this country's market has no room for competition, no fair market, and certainly no way to break into the existing market.   

Monopolies do not make good business sense. 

ANNNNNNND to answer the OP:

I think the new market of MLP becoming the "trendy label to be" at the moment has given Hasbro an injection of cash they need to make profit.  They have higher operational costs than some of the other toy companies.  So yeeeeees?

But for collectors?  NOOOOOO!  NO NO NO NO NO

*throws temper tantrum musical number*

Seriously... like I need to fight the crazy thrift store lady who searches everything on her phone any *more*.  Now I have to elbow around the punk tweens who are just as likely to rip open the bags and steal than pay and the tobacco-reeking hunting jacket antique mall guy and all the parents/grandparents/family members and the resellers and then all those uneducated sellers who think Cotton Candy must be worth $$$ because she's vintage.    Or the general rise in prices because buyers got impatient and bought things for higher prices so sellers listed for even higher next time. 

I don't mind those of you who have decided to become My Little Pony Collectors (Welcome!  *hugs*) and be educated and reasonable but so many people who are into MLP just because it's the new trendy thing just .... *sigh* 

I'm being immature, but I just want to go back to my thrift store hunting and my garage sales and find children's brushable horse toys for $0.25-$3.00 each...  *sniffle sniffle*  I don't want to go through a marathon race just to obtain my hobby - it makes me RELAX.  Making it a highly competitive hobby enables far too many of my irresponsible financial behaviors, so it's a delicate balance. 

*jumps into pile of ponies and stays there*

[Majesty]

Yes and no.  It's good for Hasbro because of the money they get from the new fans.  However, it's not good for people who collect brushables.  Everyone is getting blind bags now in stores that used to never sell MLP.  Bronies love blind bags so that's what stores are selling.  Not everyone who likes blind bags are bronies though, I realize that.

But like someone else mentioned, without the brony phenomenon I don't think MLP would stay on shelves for very long.