Is anyone else really bored with G4?

[Firehooves]

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I haven't purchased a G4 toy in ages.  I try to buy ones I don't have, but seriously, I love Rarity and Cadence but I can only have so many before I have to quit.  If there was a big difference in each toy, like pose or some sort of gimmick, I would feel better about it, but as it stands, I just can't see shelling out $5+ for toys I already have.  I want variety!  Where is my Big Mac brushable??   

The show is becoming hit and miss for me as well.  I really didn't care for season 3, and season 4 is average with a couple of episodes I really enjoyed and a couple of episodes I really don't like.  I am gravitating towards the first two seasons, but more than ever I am going back to the G1 cartoons.

Bravo to you! I'm about ready to give up, and just stick to my G1 rereuns.. aaand I might give that filly funtasia show a try when it starts later this year

[StarDapple]

Bravo to you! I'm about ready to give up, and just stick to my G1 rereuns.. aaand I might give that filly funtasia show a try when it starts later this year

What is this Filly Funtasia?  I've not heard of it!

[Twilight Pink]

Bravo to you! I'm about ready to give up, and just stick to my G1 rereuns.. aaand I might give that filly funtasia show a try when it starts later this year

What is this Filly Funtasia?  I've not heard of it!

They're little flocked pony figurines :3
It's Germany's equivalent to MLP
http://www.filly.com/
http://fillyfuntasia.com/
Also called Filly Princess
http://www.fillyprincess.com/us/download/

[RainbowAlicorn999]

What especially bothers me is that bronies, collectors and little kids all want new characters and they will not produce them. It also bothers me how easy they could be made. There are so many that could be made up or made very easily. They could take Fluttershy's yellow plastic, Applejack's mold, Pinkie Pie's hair and Twilight's hair to make a Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops. They could produce so many more stallions or ATLEAST unicorn stallions with Shining Armor's mold too. These new characters would sell just as good and if not more than the repeats. Little kids don't want duplicates. They won't be confused either if the pony looks a little different, and the parents will refuse to keep buying the same pony over and over again. If they don't want to give up their little game with the repeats, then they should also give us new characters in the brushable line every wave too.

[Al-1701]

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I haven't purchased a G4 toy in ages.  I try to buy ones I don't have, but seriously, I love Rarity and Cadence but I can only have so many before I have to quit.  If there was a big difference in each toy, like pose or some sort of gimmick, I would feel better about it, but as it stands, I just can't see shelling out $5+ for toys I already have.  I want variety!  Where is my Big Mac brushable??   

The show is becoming hit and miss for me as well.  I really didn't care for season 3, and season 4 is average with a couple of episodes I really enjoyed and a couple of episodes I really don't like.  I am gravitating towards the first two seasons, but more than ever I am going back to the G1 cartoons.

Bravo to you! I'm about ready to give up, and just stick to my G1 rereuns.. aaand I might give that filly funtasia show a try when it starts later this year

I watch the new episodes just to keep up with the series.  However, I'm more ready to punch up one of the better G1 episodes and watch it than watch an episode of Friendship is Magic.  The actual stories of G1 are more engrossing while Friendship is Magic has becoming more and more about the jokes which once you've seen them all makes watching the episode again less engaging.

That's why I would love to see a companion series come out.  We need some fresh blood both to diversify the toyline and reach a larger audience.

[hathorcat]

Do you mean G3 collapsed in on itself because of the core characters? So a lot of collectors fell a little out of love with the line? Financially the line was reasonably consistent throughout all years so it came more to a natural end than a self destructive one.

Out of curiosity, do you happen to know if the sales drop in the last year, especially when the G3,5 were introduced? And I mean only about the brushable ponies, not the Ponyville lines - I base it mostly on my own observation, but I assumed that with the Core 7 the sales did drop and the revamping of the characters was to also cut some costs - the same pony pose for the late G3's / early Core 7 ponies at least was that for me. Then the only Core-7 manufacturing and the new design seemed like bad idea financially - at least in my area those sets wouldn't sell well at all. The Ponyvilles were successful, but the brushables are still on sale in some places.   

What I meant though is that lacking the diversity in the G3 ponies after introducing hundreds of great designs made collectors upset with Hasbro - and now after the great success of the show and a new wave of fans who give $$ to Hasbro, I'm afraid the same thing is happening. Sure, maybe making collectors frustrated doesn't seem like much. But there are also parents who I guess will doubt that buying a pony which looks almost the same as the one their daughter/son already have is justified, especially with how the economy is nowadays. Add the inflation and it will seem that the pony is a bit more expensive than the similar one they bought 3 years ago... And it's not really theoretical - this comes from a conversation I had with my cousin after my mom joked that he should buy more ponies for his daughter because she loves them. He stated that he maybe would buy a pony for her, if those had been different ponies, not the same looking ones she got from me as a gift. Even if he understands that 'this pony is only different because it has tinsel in the hair', his daughter asks 'is it her twin? why is the name on the box the same as the name of my pony?' - and he cannot justify buying a pony she already has in his eyes, when he can buy cheaper toys like fakies, which look a bit different.

Oh it was a major fail with collectors of course and put so many people off the line but it was not a major fail with Hasbro or with retailers - the G3 lines figures was still strong enough that they carried the line right to the very end and it didn't slump with the core characters [according to a couple of retailers anyway]. But we are such a teeny tiny section of the sales market that even if we all stopped buying ponies off shelves, it would not dent the MLP line at all. G3.5 did seem to have a dramatic downturn but as a line it was a bit of a failed reboot in every way - supported only by limited media and perhaps a little unthought through.

I think a large factor with the change in simplifying down to core characters is to do with the current culture of childhood. You only have to watch sites like ebay where lots filled with "used" G4 toys are already showing up to see how quickly children move on from something nowadays. In the past toys were more treasured and, largely due to their expense, they were something which was not picked up with the weekly shopping but a specific purchase. Nowadays, toys are more focused on being a FMCG rather than a premier product. Its a complete shift in pattern and marketing for the sector has changed with it. Making the assumption that, many [of course not all but in the majority] kids want more things more often and get fed up with things quicker than ever before. Toy companies, when appealing to this temperamental age market [where kids zoom from toddler right into little girl], assume that they only have a childs attention for a short window. They dont have to worry about that little girl seeing Pinkie on the shelf 2 years after she got her first pony...because she has probably moved on to another toy line by then. Its more important to offer lots of different items at different price points with different functions/sets than lots of items at the same price range varying only in colour and design. *grumpy face*

[gabumon]

I think you've summed it up perfectly hathorcat. 

time to savor our G1 and G3 ponies, we likely won't ever get that variety again.

[Firehooves]

Hathorcat is correct, sadly. Adieu, high quality toys that are worth collecting.

[Al-1701]

The thing is, you need to build brand loyalty.  It's still possible to build lifers, but you need diversity to keep kids interested in the brand.  If there are new ponies showing up periodically, kids will be interested long enough to develop a loyalty to the brand and become collectors because they aren't just going through the "horsy" phase but genuinely like My Little Pony.

From how you describe it seems like Hasbro's mindset is "the current environment means we can be cheap" instead of taking up the challenge of making today's children return customers and eventually fans.

[Appledash]

Honestly I love the toys. I don't want the cartoon or the toyline to end. But I can agree that it's getting a little...boring. I just want new characters - that's it, and more creative playsets like they released in the first wave and the traveling wave.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

The G1 lasted more than 10 years. I think the main reason it sort of died out is because most of its customer base just grew up.   I personally got interested in other things after about 7 years of collecting, just as I was turning a teenager.   Younger kids getting into toys had "new" toy lines to be interested in, not their older sister's hand-me-down ponies.   Just a thought anyway.

To be honest, Ashlyne...  I think you nailed it right there.  G1s were a generational thing - pardon the pun.  Every single kid I knew in the '80's and '90's had My Little Ponies - lots of them!  Not only did the older kids baby-sitting us play with them, all ages of siblings played with them, even the toddlers played with them.  By the time the target audience started to get into make-up and music and older teen stuff, there were NEWER and MORE EXCITING toys for our younger siblings and friends to covet than quiet, battery-free, brushable ponies to arrange in a stable.  Nintendo, Sega, designer clothing, Furbies, Discmans/Walkman's, RC vehicles, home computers... 

[Al-1701]

To me, it looks like G1 died due to a lack of vision.  Instead of trying to embrace the new normal, Hasbro let My Little Pony fall by the waist side.  Instead of using television to bring back the sense there's more to the ponies and their world, we got what to me seemed like a pathetic grab at the Babysitters Club's popularity which only reinforced MLP as a bland toyline.  (I know fans of Tales are going to want to burn me in Effigy which is a small town in New York for saying that, but it's what the move says to me.)

And G4 has a lack of vision already.

[StarDapple]

Bravo to you! I'm about ready to give up, and just stick to my G1 rereuns.. aaand I might give that filly funtasia show a try when it starts later this year

What is this Filly Funtasia?  I've not heard of it!

They're little flocked pony figurines :3
It's Germany's equivalent to MLP
http://www.filly.com/
http://fillyfuntasia.com/
Also called Filly Princess
http://www.fillyprincess.com/us/download/

I don't think I would be interested in the toyline, but I will definitely give the show a watch.

Back on topic, I do feel that G4 has been running out of steam.  If it were any other gen that didn't have the backing of a subgroup like the bronies, I honestly feel that G4 would have ended itself after the season 3 finale.  It was a logical way to end a series and then move on to something else.  I'm not sure how long FiM will go on, but with a season 5 just recently announced, obviously Hasbro thinks they can draw it out for a while longer.  I think FiM is going to be one of those shows/toylines that just fades out when it should have quit when it was ahead.

[hathorcat]

The thing is, you need to build brand loyalty.  It's still possible to build lifers, but you need diversity to keep kids interested in the brand.  If there are new ponies showing up periodically, kids will be interested long enough to develop a loyalty to the brand and become collectors because they aren't just going through the "horsy" phase but genuinely like My Little Pony.

From how you describe it seems like Hasbro's mindset is "the current environment means we can be cheap" instead of taking up the challenge of making today's children return customers and eventually fans.

Yes you need brand loyalty - especially if you are a new line. However when you are a leading and established brand - which everyone knows and a product which everyone buying a gift for a little girl is going to consider - loyalty factors a little lower on the marketing spectrum. Some brands are fortunate to move to a place which means they become synonymous with a product or with a concept, MLP is one of those brands. Ask average Joe on the street who makes a "pastel coloured toy pony". Most of them are going to answer "MLP" even though there are lots of toy companies who produce the same concept of item. Hasbro are fortunate to be in that position. When you have a brand that is so well known you focus on blanket awareness and dominance. You want every single person to know about MLP - it becomes about volume rather than repeat.

Its not Hasbros fault [or anything other than a changing world] to blame. But kids will not be interested in a brand for as long as they were in the 80s and earlier. Things move too quickly. They dont expect that little 4 year old to want ponies in 2 years time, she may have moved on to something else. So while she moves on, they need to pick up that next little 4 year old and attract her attention. Hence the importance of repeat characters always being available. Unfortunately Hasbro are a commercial company - they dont want a challenge, they just want to make money.

[Al-1701]

Yes you need brand loyalty - especially if you are a new line. However when you are a leading and established brand - which everyone knows and a product which everyone buying a gift for a little girl is going to consider - loyalty factors a little lower on the marketing spectrum. Some brands are fortunate to move to a place which means they become synonymous with a product or with a concept, MLP is one of those brands. Ask average Joe on the street who makes a "pastel coloured toy pony". Most of them are going to answer "MLP" even though there are lots of toy companies who produce the same concept of item. Hasbro are fortunate to be in that position. When you have a brand that is so well known you focus on blanket awareness and dominance. You want every single person to know about MLP - it becomes about volume rather than repeat.

Its not Hasbros fault [or anything other than a changing world] to blame. But kids will not be interested in a brand for as long as they were in the 80s and earlier. Things move too quickly. They dont expect that little 4 year old to want ponies in 2 years time, she may have moved on to something else. So while she moves on, they need to pick up that next little 4 year old and attract her attention. Hence the importance of repeat characters always being available. Unfortunately Hasbro are a commercial company - they dont want a challenge, they just want to make money.

The problem is what's driving MLP right now is that G1 and G3 lasted for a long time and kept the attention of their customers for a significant portion of their formative years and turned them into a fan of the brand even when they stopped spending money on ponies.  Now they have little kids and are passing their interest in pony down to them.

What happens in twenty-five years when the 4 year old girls Hasbro figures they only needed to indulge for a year or two start having their kids?  Will they share their love of MLP with their kids?  No.  They'll barely remember it and probably for all the wrong reasons like the fact it was just the same six ponies over and over again.

It's cheaper in the long run to invest in keeping customers attention to keep the wave going than to let the wave crash and have to start over.  However, when it comes to MLP, Hasbro doesn't think in the long term backwards or forwards.  I could probably run the division better than schmuck running it right now and I'm an accounting student.