Why won't Hasbro release new ponies?

[Lorelei Redfern]

what annoys me the most aobut hasbro is they wotn  say this is a  inernational release.  or this is a us onyl relase so we have to guess ><
 i get the feeling  Rainbow poer  Aj and Dasiy dreams will never come to the  us.. 

[Galactica]

I actually do think that Hasbro underestimates/undervalues the adult collector market-

I mean companies like Funko have totally cashed in on POP culture "toys" for adults- including ponies!  And it is a very tiny company with a LOT of different interests.  Imagine if Hasbro were even 1/50th as interested in their grown-up collectors (and I don't mean just the bones tossed at the Bronies- which is insulting enough considering that plenty of us have been collecting looooong before that happened) - it really would be nice if Hasbro would sink a few bucks into some market research.  HOW many of its toys are being bought by adults? HOW should it revamp it's strategies accordingly?

[Violet CLM]

HOW many of its toys are being bought by adults?

Probably not very many, given everything I've heard about fair exclusives.

[Rainbowrific Renia]

what annoys me the most aobut hasbro is they wotn  say this is a  inernational release.  or this is a us onyl relase so we have to guess ><
 i get the feeling  Rainbow poer  Aj and Dasiy dreams will never come to the  us..

I kinda don't get the point in international releases, or US only releases, etc.  What's the point?

I dunno, maybe I'm missing something...

[Leave a Whisper]

We can't ignore, either, that even if people collect it, G4 is not a collectable atm. It is a current release toy. But, when G1 was out and a lot of us were kids, it was not a collectable either, it too was a toy.

Lots if us collected them, though, and that childhood collecting grew into adult obsession. The big question is, what will the MLP kids of today grow into? They are the collectors of the future...is G4 strong enough now to be a toy THEY later turn into THEIR collectable based on THEIR nostalgia, or is it only ever going to be something collected by people like us? Not to underestimate that as a force but to me a toy only realky evolves into a collectable if the kids that grew up with it make it one. Otherwise it is just a toy some adults collect.

Post Merge: April 03, 2015, 09:25:24 PM

I think Hasbro are really missing a trick, one if the reasons the G1 ponies stayed popular for so long is because they kept it fresh. The animated movies and series had such a wide range of characters that supported the releases of playsets and ponies rather than limiting the toy appeal to just 6 characters.
If the series was developed mainly on the basis of launching and supporting the toy line then the format is very short sighted. I think they need to work on developing more characters further within the show and then link these to the increase in different characters within the toy line.
Just seems like good business sense all round and beneficial to both hasbro and the consumer alike.

Well said both of you

[Mermaid]

I'd love more ponies! But that's because I collect ponies!

To my understanding, core 7 actually did well, not in our eyes, but in hasbros eyes. Not as well as G4 though. They did a lot of market research and the conclusion is that kids are not playing with toys as long as they were in the past. A child is expected to be loyal to a brand for 1-3 years. That's why brands have multiple lines (Barbie, equestria girls, ect) not saying this is true for every kid, but the mass population market, probably is. But by creating multiple lines they can capture people's money for an added 1-2 more years.

Times are so different now, I look at my nieces, whom I've purchased ponies for, but they only played with then for a year or so, grew out of them, and wanted something more mature or technologically advanced like an iPad. When I was a kid I played with ponies for manyany years, but the Internet wasn't really a household thing, and video games weren't as involved, and tv was not targeted they same way it is today for kids. And we def didn't have iPods snd iPads and selfies haha. It was a time of imagination. I collected ponies through most of my high school days, and that wasn't really all that uncommon to have toys in high school, yet today its a rare sight for that to happen. I remember most of the boys in my high school still collected Star Wars or ninja turtles, it was so common for boys (and girls) to have toys/collectables.

Having the core friends attached to the television show makes having them available on the shelves a necessity. I know it sucks for us collectors, and kids collecting, but for the general population it works. Now I agree, hasbro is missing the collectors market target a bit, but they do throw new ponies out every now and then which breathes life into the line to long time collectors and short time collectors alike!

[Al-1701]

Part of the problem is G4 doesn't really capture the imagination when you look at what we've been saying.  Limited characters, limited poses, nothing but a vague blurb of personality.  I think Hasbro has caught themselves in a self-defeating loop.  They make toys not geared to developing brand loyalty, it doesn't develop brand loyalty, and their research says there's no brand loyalty.

[banditpony]

  They make toys not geared to developing brand loyalty, it doesn't develop brand loyalty, and their research says there's no brand loyalty.

What does their research say? As a whole, because toys are only a snippit of the brand.

[Al-1701]

  They make toys not geared to developing brand loyalty, it doesn't develop brand loyalty, and their research says there's no brand loyalty.

What does their research say? As a whole, because toys are only a snippit of the brand.

I'm not sure what their research says exactly.  But G4 seems run specifically to not keep the attention of a customer for more than a year or two.  There has to be a reason.

And toy are THE brand.  With My Little Pony toys, we don't have anything else.

[banditpony]

merchandise? Say what you want , but that is a part of it .

I get it you dont like the way g4 is run. But why are you making stuff up?

[ladybastilla]

The show has been too successful in its own right and has potentially shifted the way Hasbro markets the pony line. Instead of just getting to sell toys, it now works for them to focus on a larger quantity of clothing, bedding, stationary... Heck, someone posted a My Little Pony bathroom set the other week. Hasbro isn't losing money--they are taking (logical) advantage of the current success of FiM and adjusting how they get it.

What do I mean? Well, as I said in my initial post, the show was likely conceived as a 'glorified commercial' to sell the toy line. But it has taken off on a much larger scale than anyone likely anticipated. So much so, that the role of the toys vs. the show have potentially switched. (Merchandise being sold by the show's success, rather than the show just making little kids randomly want toys.) FiM also has the distinction of having a much longer lifespan than the G1 cartoon, My Little Pony Tales, or the direct to DVD releases found in G3.

To Hasbro, the show is likely seen as what is making their current brand for MLP successful and the diversity of viewers--something they did not acknowledge until FiM and "Bronies" if I understand what others here have implied--has altered their core sales strategies. When we look back at G3 and the Core 7, what we can see is that it may not have actually been an accident. (Hasbro wanting to focus on a core set of ponies.) With G4, the success of FiM has allowed them to take that 'core' philosophy even further. Which is likely paying off because the show is sophisticated enough in its writing to keep -modern- children interested longer than they would generally be. (Plus adult fans, etc.) I'm with others who have said kids mentalities toward toys have changed. I was talking with my niece about toys and she pretty much went, "Aunt Kat, why do you like toys? I was done with those silly things by the time I was in grade two. They're boring. They don't -do- anything. I've got a Playstation and an iPad."

[banditpony]

The show has been too successful in its own right and has potentially shifted the way Hasbro markets the pony line. Instead of just getting to sell toys, it now works for them to focus on a larger quantity of clothing, bedding, stationary... Heck, someone posted a My Little Pony bathroom set the other week. Hasbro isn't losing money--they are taking (logical) advantage of the current success of FiM and adjusting how they get it.

What do I mean? Well, as I said in my initial post, the show was likely conceived as a 'glorified commercial' to sell the toy line. But it has taken off on a much larger scale than anyone likely anticipated. So much so, that the role of the toys vs. the show have potentially switched. (Merchandise being sold by the show's success, rather than the show just making little kids randomly want toys.) FiM also has the distinction of having a much longer lifespan than the G1 cartoon, My Little Pony Tales, or the direct to DVD releases found in G3.

To Hasbro, the show is likely seen as what is making their current brand for MLP successful and the diversity of viewers--something they did not acknowledge until FiM and "Bronies" if I understand what others here have implied--has altered their core sales strategies. When we look back at G3 and the Core 7, what we can see is that it may not have actually been an accident. (Hasbro wanting to focus on a core set of ponies.) With G4, the success of FiM has allowed them to take that 'core' philosophy even further. Which is likely paying off because the show is sophisticated enough in its writing to keep -modern- children interested longer than they would generally be. (Plus adult fans, etc.) I'm with others who have said kids mentalities toward toys have changed. I was talking with my niece about toys and she pretty much went, "Aunt Kat, why do you like toys? I was done with those silly things by the time I was in grade two. They're boring. They don't -do- anything. I've got a Playstation and an iPad."

I think you nailed it on the head.

[Taffeta]

I won't touch the brony thing with a bargepole because I find that term offensive when applied my way...but lets not forget Hasbro think MLP began in 1983 when we all know it was 1982, so I don't put much stock in their research really. I think it only goes as far as profit these days since I have letters from Hasbro UK in 95 that gave me info but that info had been lost when I wrote to them about G3 some years on. Its evudent from the fact Hasbro also didn't correctly name Princess Amethyst when issuing merchandise here a few years ago, whereas on the list I have from 95, Amethyst is listed with her dragon and everything correctly.

My point is that Hasbro have not built new MLP on the foundations of G1, even if Lauren Faust drew on a lot of G1 to develop the show. They built it on their most recent understanding of MLP, which is the core characters and copyrights and research infirmation they have to hand.

Hasbro no longer hold records relating to G1, I have written to enough of them over the years  and have been told that exact thing. It would be lovely if G4 could be more like G1, but the truth is it can't be. The style of sale for G4 mirrors the style of sale for G3, with a core set, others with little in the way of development as characters, many similar poses, colours, remakes if certain ponies over and over. They are just smaller, so that probably saves on production cost, even if it has not reduced retail cost.

If not for the FIM cartoon, there would not be much to separate them. But, when the cartoon ends, what then?

I also agree with ladybastila's assessment. G4 is the show, and that is as far as Hasbro want to go.

[Al-1701]

When the show ends, or worse goes south, is what worries me.  They've tied the entire MLP brand so much to FiM I fear the former will be severely damaged the latter's inevitable demise.  It's a short-sighted strategy that creates tremendous risk to Hasbro's flagship girls brand for fleeting success now. They need the brand to be more than the show (and Transformers and G.I. Joe are more than their media presence) so it won't die with the show.

[freyjaloh]

I dont buy g4 anymore cos they are always the same, i wish for new ponies that look different


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