Sometimes I feel like Hasbro doesn't/didn't care about My Little Pony as much as

[MJNSEIFER]

...their other franchises.

This isn't meant to be a hate thread, I have a lot of respect towards Hasbro for the My Little Pony franchise in general, but their are times when I look at how MLP was promoted even as early as G1 which is when it had the most promotion (even G4 doesn't seem to get promoted very much, despite it's following) they didn't seem to really push it that much as they could have done.

MLP was planned to be a franchise for girls and boys, but Hasbro only showed girls in the adverts.  Now, I don't mind that girls had their own toyline, because I don't seperate things for girls and boys any way, but I feel that they should have respected Bonnie's views and made it an "everyone's" franchise.  Note: This isn't some way of avoiding the fact that I am a fan of a "girl's thing" it's just that I have never viewed MLP as either in your face girly, or in your face boyish, it just looks like a genderless thing to me.

That's G1 when it actually had the most support from Hasbro, yet in G2 onwards they seemed to stop caring as much.  The G2 and G3 toys are as adorable as the G1's are (and the G3 show is awesome, G2 didn't get one) yet G2 was poorly promoted, and a lot of countries didn't know what it was (so I've heard) G3 did better, but was hardly promoted as well, and then they reduce the whole toyline to just seven ponies?  Many Hasbro haters give them nicknames like "Ha$bro" and "Cashbro" implying that they're Shinra like, and only care about money.  If that's true (it's not) then they aren't that good at it; how does only having seven ponies make the toyline better?

G4, I really don't think they really wanted it to last past the first season.  Again, the creator of it (this time Lauren) wanted the show to appeal to a broad audience (which it did), but when the first toy was released it was not only a minor-ish character, but the color was wrong, and she was out of character. I'm not really complaining, (I actually found the Pink Celestia inspiring), but if you base a toyline on a show (which is a kind of departure for MLP, because it's usually the opposite) your fans expect you to be show accurate.  It's like how in the show it is constantly confirmed that cutie marks are on both sides, not one like in the toyline.

This really isn't a hate thread even though it sounds like one, it's just that everything else that Hasbro makes seems to get promoted every single day, yet MLP seems to just be in the background all the time.  Do Hasbro even like it?                       

[Dragonflitter]

MLP was planned to be a franchise for girls and boys, but Hasbro only showed girls in the adverts.               

Where do you get this information? MLP has and always will be a girl's toy line, as far as I'm aware. Yes a lot of boys now like MLP, and some did in the past, but MLP is a girls toy.

I'm not trying to be sexist, I'm not saying boys can't play with them or that it's wrong for boys to like MLP. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that the company, Hasbro, specifically designs them for young girls, all their marketing is aimed at young girls, and this has been so since the 80's when they first came out.

I would disagree with you that the MLP line is not being marketed, though I think you're right in that some of their toy lines are marketed much more. Transformers and Nerf just bring in TONS more revenue to Hasbro than MLP does. But I've seen endcap displays in both Walmart and Target, and occasionally TRU, that are showing off MLP toys exclusively, and that's not just something the store does on a whim. Hasbro has to pay them big bucks to display the MLP toys so prominently. Remember last year when they had all those MLP posters on display for free? That takes money too.

Hasbro is definitely pushing the MLP line, especially now that they can license out their characters to other companies and make money off merchandise that bronies (aka adults) will buy. But I don't think MLP will ever be the focus of Hasbro, it just can't compete with other lines that sell to a much much wider demographic.

[Lightning Twirl]

I understand you! I what really makes me sad is I feel like Hasbro is being lazy by re-releasing the mane 6 with minor cosmetic differences! I understand main characters sell in toys, but look at how successful G1 was with all the variety! I want different characters, Hasbro! They need to make some kind of fan survey to pitch new toyline ideas and we can let them know make big macintosh and background ponies as toys! x'D I demand sea ponies and scented ponies! Like look at how many different kinds of G1 there are! There are a lot, right? I feel like G4 doesnt even compare as far as variety....Well I guess it is the overall quality of the G4 toyline too... I personally like that they are smaller so I can have more pony on my shelf, but they do feel cheaply made as if there isnt as much love in the pony after its made T-T I still love G4 however...

[partypony566]

I am 100% certain that mlp has always been aimed at little girls

What I will say is that the quality control of G4 ponies is absolutely shocking.

[Rosencrantz]

I am 100% certain that mlp has always been aimed at little girls

What I will say is that the quality control of G4 ponies is absolutely shocking.

Weird, this is the post I was gonna make. You stole my brainwaves

[partypony566]

I am 100% certain that mlp has always been aimed at little girls

What I will say is that the quality control of G4 ponies is absolutely shocking.

Weird, this is the post I was gonna make. You stole my brainwaves

I has powers

Post Merge: June 22, 2013, 12:44:46 PM

MLP was planned to be a franchise for girls and boys, but Hasbro only showed girls in the adverts.               

Where do you get this information? MLP has and always will be a girl's toy line, as far as I'm aware. Yes a lot of boys now like MLP, and some did in the past, but MLP is a girls toy.

I'm not trying to be sexist, I'm not saying boys can't play with them or that it's wrong for boys to like MLP. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that the company, Hasbro, specifically designs them for young girls, all their marketing is aimed at young girls, and this has been so since the 80's when they first came out.

Couldn't have put it better myself

[Aurora]

I feel like it has always been a girl's line, but I also agree 100% that they are being lazy. The very fact that there is no Minty in the stores yet is the only evidence I need. Even when a new character is made in the same old mold, even when it's in a $50 pack with some ponies that we already own, we are all excited to see her/them. We might not want to rush out and buy it, but we are excited to see new toys. The show is full of characters, make us some toys!

[hathorcat]

Yeah...umm...for me what Dragonflitter said...

Nothing says boys cant and dont play or want MLP of course, but it has always [in every generation including up to G4] been marketed as a girls toy line. Girls lines dont tend to do as well as boys toys line; even the super popular G4 is not the lead seller for Hasbro if you combine both boy and girl lines so of course it does not get the same marketing support as bigger and more leading/profitable brands.

[CupcakeLoverXx]

I remember seeing a video with Bonnie Zacherle (creator) and she had some prototypes of the G1 ponies which were normal horse colours and she said MLP was originally going to be aimed at both genders but after they decided to make them pastel colours and such the aim moved towards girls.

I have to agree with the G4 quality control issues,as much as I love my G4 ponies,I think all of them have little dents in from either the factory or packaging. Also,the material used for their manes and tails is terrible compared to the older gens. I have a Twilight brushable who's hair was greasy,frizzy and partially knotted straight out of the box! I managed to tame it with washing and styling but ponies really shouldn't be like that when they are brand new. My childhood G3's which have been played with are in better condition!

I also think ponies don't get enough publicity in countries other than the USA. Here in the UK we do get the toys,but it's just the same sort of the stuff,brushables,blindbags and the odd playset. They only seem to have small sections in toy shops,Friendship is Magic isn't aired here and I heard Equestria Girls isn't coming here either. No wonder ponies aren't very popular here (except with collectors/bronies of course!)

Nothing against Hasbro,but they could do better

[MJNSEIFER]

I remember seeing a video with Bonnie Zacherle (creator) and she had some prototypes of the G1 ponies which were normal horse colours and she said MLP was originally going to be aimed at both genders but after they decided to make them pastel colours and such the aim moved towards girls.

That's probably what I was thinking of.  Either way, I don't mind if it was aimed at girls, I know that if it was, it doesn't stop boys watching it.  I know that G3 was aimed at just girls because of a line in the show, but even it doesn't seem girly to me, just genderless.

I don't mind if it is a girls show though, because I have never really been able to diferenciate between a girls show and a boys show if I'm honest.  I deeply appologise if ofended anyone.

I am also sorry that I can't directly reply to anyone else as I will have to leave the computer soon, I will also be a way for two weeks once I close down.  Hence the rush job of this reply.

[brightberry]

I'm sure they do care whether or not a line can make them more money if they invest more in it.  But I have a feeling that cost analysis and market analysis has shown that there is a peak to advertising and quality before it starts to cost them more money than its worth. 

For example, say you make $1,000 from selling with only $50 worth of advertising.   Then, say you spend $100 on advertising but you only sell $1,020 worth of merchandise.  At that point you are no longer making your maximum profit. The market is reaching its peak because there are only so many people who are interested in your product and more advertising isn't going to convert more people into children and Bronies.  Those people are pretty much untouchable no matter how much you advertise.  Do you see what I mean?

[RainbowAlicorn999]

I agree about not caring that much. There can be hundreds of different molds for the LPS down to every little show accurate detail and look at all the boy ponies we have.

[ponybanker]

I wish they would make some more "friends" outside of the core 6. They are kind of repeating what they did with G3's which is why so many people lost interest. Recycle G1s and G3s if they are tapped for idea, people would eat em up.

[MiRaja]

At least Michael Bay hasn't screwed up your fandom. . .yet.  Knock on wood.   

Yes, I'm a gal, and I played with MLP AND Transformers and I was far more of a Transformers fan until the last five years which has been nothing but wank wank wank and more wank.  The movies are awful and there is nothing about them aimed for the real fans, they are just marketed to getting as many people in the theaters as possible by dumbing it down and filling it with explosions and sexing it up with women who are more robotic than the robots on screen, both in their acting and their. . . 'enhancements.'  I mean, I guess that's business, but what a sell out. . .

And then don't get me started on the TF toys.  There are HUGE issues with a lot of them, and I'm speaking from the TFA and TFU lines, I've yet to buy any TFP, but I know they're not any better.  Then the convention. . .  $500+ to attend if you actually want to do anything.  I went to Botcon Orlando and opted not to do one of the packages because they were insanely expensive, thinking general admission would least let me into a panel.  Nope.  General Admission was basically one big toy room. 

Yes Hasblow may spend more money on its other franchises, but at least the MLP still has some integrity to it, that's really all I can tell, and it sounds like the big Pony convention is worth going to if you're a big fan and such.

[StarFaerie]

Hasbro spend a heap on advertising MLP. They spend it on their TV series, which is just there to advertise the toys to their target market, little girls, who don't really care generally if a pony is show accurate or often what the quality of their toy is. My god-daughter was delighted with Celestia even with the wrong colour.

You say that you think G4 wasn't meant to last beyond the first season, but to Hasbro, the TV series and seasons and so on are just an advertising tool. To them G4 is the toy line, which they will have meant to last for some time, seasons of the TV show will only keep being made while it sells their toys.