Equestria Girls

[Zombelina]

I agree, LadyMoondancer (although there's quite a few boots and miniskirts in the first MH line too ) I feel like Monster High is aimed at a slightly older audience than the Equestria Girls, though? (Although I know MH has lots of under-8ish fans too, of course.) Have we seen anything that says what EG's target age group is? To me it seems like it'll closer to the Lalaloopsy age group, a bit older, but not as old as MH. Maybe similar to Disney Fairies' audience?

Ya know, I love MH, and if these dolls are anything like MH in terms of being ball-jointed and having new characters, I may be interested. But I don't these to be THE new MLP, ya know? I want ponies to still be made.....new characters mainly. But I cannot lie.....I think they will make pretty dolls if done right. But I don't want this to be  the only MLP line left.

I don't think it will be (I hope it won't be)... I bet there'll always be demand for cute pony toys

[Wardah]

If they can pull it off, this is a really smart move imo.

Fashion dolls are a market in which Hasbro currently has nothing to offer. They have nothing to compete with the likes of Monster High and Bratz, the former of which is doing pretty well in a world where toys are rapidly losing the fight against video games and electronics. Not only that, but they are geared towards a slightly older target. Little girls who fell in love with these six characters have a higher chance of staying loyal to the brand as they move from brushable ponies to collectible dolls. They won't have to lose these friends they have come to know, just see them in a new way--and, at that age, a way they will be able to relate to more--and Hasbro can keep their business for a few more years.
 

Well, Hasbro could always try rebooting "Jem", and give it a slight makeover to make it more modern. Hasbro still has rights to "Jem", right? If so, I don't see why they shouldn't give it a try - Transformers, G.I. Joe and MLP are a great proof that you can take a franchise that's almost thirty years old and still make it popular. So what's stopping them from doing just that with "Jem"? It would work out better than Equestria Girls.

But, whatever...

Because FiM is "in" and already has a strong fanbase with the younger/teenage crowd. I don't think Gem has that. (I never watched Gem myself but...isn't it like very, very eighties?)

While the original Jem is rather dated going from the reruns they were airing on the Hub, the basic concept isn't. I mean what about a girl who is secretly a pop star couldn't work now? They might have to age her down since it seems cartoons about adult characters aren't popular anymore but her age was never an important part of who she was. Hannah Montana had a similar premise to what I think a modern remake of Jem would probably be like.

[Babushka]

This is taking the Last Unicorn theme to the extreme. I guess the ponies are going to run into Schmendrick and in a terrifying fight with the Red Bull Schmendrick turns the main 6 into humans and sends them to earth or...something like that (hehe).

Be still my heart. If Schmendrick appears again in any form . . .

Erm.



Personally, I'm kind 'meh' on the idea. I think FiM is cute, but I don't collect the toys and watch the show rather passively. I'm a little disappointed about the complaints with the dresses. I'm of the impression that it is okay for girls to wear dresses, or not to. It seems silly to think, "oh a tomboy like AJ would never wear dresses!" Heck, I knew a few 4H girls who rocked jean skirts and boots while mucking out pig stalls. Also, a well-written show set in a high school could be a fresh breath of air compared to what we assume might happen.

All this said, if Hasbro wanted to get into the creative doll department, I would prefer a Jem reboot. After all, nearly all of the tween girl shows seem to be about not-so-secret rockstars, so why not Jem?

[Honeycomb]

DO NOT WANT. 

Definitely not. Horrifying.

[Lorelei Redfern]

DO NOT WANT. 

Definitely not. Horrifying.

this.

but i will say  that  agian  if people liek and buy them  go for it. i wont  be.   
in my hoenst opionion i just thinkt hat this is  hasbros way of jumpingont he  monster high bandwagon. they  look too MH to me. (nothing agiasn tMH) but heonstly THIS  is the 30th anniversy? MEH!
its like  oh  girls like monster  dolls liets give them pony  dolls hat look  like teen girls.. 

that is NOT a pony toy that is a doll and if that  is  how my littl epony turns out along ith blind bags yeah aftr a few more purchases..  i'm done..

[egyptiondragon]

i will give it a chance

[Loa]

I'd like to see them in person!

[Salli]

I'd like to see them in person!

Yah, I think most of our conversation here is pretty pointless until we have show and dolls in hand.

[DancingPhoenix]

*glances at G1's on shelf* I love you, just the way you are.

[sleepyowl]

I can't make any judgements on the show or the toys, but the concept art... I don't really like it at all. I just don't find it very cute and I'm not into their outfits. I don't like them having pony wings and ears but then not having horns.

If this is all there is for the 30th anniversary, that's pretty disappointing to me.

[Clipper]

going a bit off topic, but JEM was put back on HUB as a test for hasbro to see if it was still sucessful. Hasbro does have plans to make a new JEM line and TV show. Unless "Equestria Girls" is replacing it?  I will ask my friend who works for Hasbro.

If they can pull it off, this is a really smart move imo.

Fashion dolls are a market in which Hasbro currently has nothing to offer. They have nothing to compete with the likes of Monster High and Bratz, the former of which is doing pretty well in a world where toys are rapidly losing the fight against video games and electronics. Not only that, but they are geared towards a slightly older target. Little girls who fell in love with these six characters have a higher chance of staying loyal to the brand as they move from brushable ponies to collectible dolls. They won't have to lose these friends they have come to know, just see them in a new way--and, at that age, a way they will be able to relate to more--and Hasbro can keep their business for a few more years.
 

Well, Hasbro could always try rebooting "Jem", and give it a slight makeover to make it more modern. Hasbro still has rights to "Jem", right? If so, I don't see why they shouldn't give it a try - Transformers, G.I. Joe and MLP are a great proof that you can take a franchise that's almost thirty years old and still make it popular. So what's stopping them from doing just that with "Jem"? It would work out better than Equestria Girls.

But, whatever...

Because FiM is "in" and already has a strong fanbase with the younger/teenage crowd. I don't think Gem has that. (I never watched Gem myself but...isn't it like very, very eighties?)

[Moonracer]

I'm pretty sure that with Faust's influence, this whole thing would've worked out much, much, MUCH better.

I'm pretty sure if Lauren had a say, this trainwreck would have never made it off the drawing board.

Nothing personal, you guys, but this Faust worship needs to stop. This brand is owned by Hasbro and Hasbro decides what happens to the brand. Faust successfully revamped what has already been there to begin with, she didn't come up with the idea of MLP on her own and then got ripped off by Hasbro. Also, she left on her own, she wasn't kicked out or anything.

Why not just wait and see what this new franchise will be abaout instead of declaring it a massive fail just because it was obviously designed to compete with other toy company's material.
Why do you think Hasbro keeps on re-inventing MLP instead of letting it die off? To make money. Pushing the brand into a new territory was inevitable.

First of all, I don't think you have to tell me all these things about Faust and her role in the history of the MLP franchise - I already know those things, I've been doing some reading on that and I follow quite a few critical MLP blogs on Tumblr so I'm well aware of the situation. Plus, I know that Faust isn't responsible for the creation of MLP as a whole (Bonnie Zacherle is).

Secondly, my line was taken out of context: in my post I stated that it would be good if they had Lauren Faust as a creative consultant. I mostly said that because, after all, Hasbro's making humanoid versions of the Mane 6 based on Faust's character designs and it's obvious they're still sticking to her style.

Yeah, Faust doesn't work on the show anymore but they could at least commission her to make some humanoid character designs for the Mane 6. I hate to repeat myself again, but if Faust could make these three look awesome:

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Then chances are she'd do pretty much the same for the Mane 6. And again, this isn't to say that I think of Lauren Faust as some sort of omnipotent uber-deity of sorts, no. I'm saying this because I think she's one of the very few people who're willing to apply diversity into their character designs - and we could always use some of that, rather than being stuck with the same-faced clones.

Again, the EG designs aren't THAT terrible. They just feel kinda lazy and uninspired... I mean, I've seen better human!verse ponies at the  Diversity-Is-Magic club on deviantart.

Also when it comes to keeping the property fresh and up to date: it's somewhat commendable that Hasbro's trying to do that. But I'm not sure that creating EG is the right way to do it. True, the designs are cute and all, but this somewhat defies the whole purpose of MLP. Because, after all, what is My Little Pony? A bunch of colorful miniature brushable ponies. Come to think of it, MLPs are technically dolls, or at least they have very doll-like characteristics: you can brush their hair and stylize it, you can play with them in playsets resembling doll houses, and you can even dress them up thanks to pony wear. So... yeah.

[Al-1701]

I'm glad other people here thought that they should have brought back JEM and the Holograms to accomplish what it looks like they're trying to accomplish with Equestria Girls.

My stance on the whole thing is this.  If you think the best way to pitch My Little Pony to a new audience is to make them not ponies, then maybe you shouldn't be pitching the brand to this new audience.

Also, many brands have dug their graves by trying to imitate other brands.  If their intent is to compete with Monster High, they have to clear a lot of hurdles to draw customers away from that brand.  I don't think it this failing will hurt My Little Pony as a whole, but Hasbro is gambling a lot on this.

The thing is, Hasbro has a strangle hold on science fiction and fantasy toys in the United States and their damn good at it.  If they want to expand the appeal of the pony brand, why not do what they're good at?

Maybe do what they did with Rescue Bots for Transformers (or the opposite actually.)  Transformers Prime is a dark and violent show clearly meant for ages 10 and up.  Well, that cuts off a big chunk of the customer base.  They make Rescue Bots where the Transformers aren't fighting each other but rather rescuing people.  You now have a kid friendly show to compliment Prime.

I've said this elsewhere, but a better idea would have been to make another My Little Pony series that was a high fantasy adventure series.  Follow a just as likeable cast of different ponies who go on adventures to explore mysteries and fight bad guys.  I'm not saying make it Prime level of dark and violent, but a little more edge to it than Friendship is Magic.  Not every teenage girl is interested in the high school scene, and many like fantasy and adventure.  Cater to that untapped interest rather than trying to push into what is already being done.

[RAMChYLD]

Honestly, this is madness. This line is about ponies, not humans. Hasbro... you lost me. Sorry.

[popyduggan]

Watch your back Monster High...jk.