Retro rereleases and how to do them right

[Sunset]

Ohh, or what about actually making those celestial ponies.  Does anyone else find it a little crazy that they keep giving out artwork to licensees of a pony set that was never made?

Anyway, I bet those would be a big hit!

[Wardah]

Now if they really wanted collectors drooling at their door, Hasbro would do something like, say, take a pony that never had a non-Nirvana baby version, make both mom and baby, package them up, and boom you have instant market appeal.  Nostalgia plus something new.

THIS!!!  Or do releases of ponies that weren't released in the U.S. or mail orders.  Why not do something unique?

Because the average non-collector isn't going to fondly remember a non-US pony unless they grew up overseas. It needs to have wider appeal than just collectors.

[Sapphire-Light]

Now if they really wanted collectors drooling at their door, Hasbro would do something like, say, take a pony that never had a non-Nirvana baby version, make both mom and baby, package them up, and boom you have instant market appeal.  Nostalgia plus something new.

THIS!!!  Or do releases of ponies that weren't released in the U.S. or mail orders.  Why not do something unique?

Because the average non-collector isn't going to fondly remember a non-US pony unless they grew up overseas. It needs to have wider appeal than just collectors.

Maybe the 7 MLP Tales characters could? I remember that I really wanted them as a child, but never saw them as a toy, I thought they didn't exist

[ponyqueen]

Now if they really wanted collectors drooling at their door, Hasbro would do something like, say, take a pony that never had a non-Nirvana baby version, make both mom and baby, package them up, and boom you have instant market appeal.  Nostalgia plus something new.

THIS!!!  Or do releases of ponies that weren't released in the U.S. or mail orders.  Why not do something unique?

Because the average non-collector isn't going to fondly remember a non-US pony unless they grew up overseas. It needs to have wider appeal than just collectors.

Maybe the 7 MLP Tales characters could? I remember that I really wanted them as a child, but never saw them as a toy, I thought they didn't exist

I'll admit that I don't pine for non-US ponies, except ones like Baby Buttons, Baby Apple Jack, Baby Bowtie... we shoulda got those too!

[Leave a Whisper]

I had no idea the

Now if they really wanted collectors drooling at their door, Hasbro would do something like, say, take a pony that never had a non-Nirvana baby version, make both mom and baby, package them up, and boom you have instant market appeal.  Nostalgia plus something new.

THIS!!!  Or do releases of ponies that weren't released in the U.S. or mail orders.  Why not do something unique?

Because the average non-collector isn't going to fondly remember a non-US pony unless they grew up overseas. It needs to have wider appeal than just collectors.

Alot of people over here didn't realize the Mountain Boys existed and look how popular they are.

As a kid I always wished they had made the Tales ponies. I didn't realize they were made over in Europe. Plus they never made the boys. Alot of people would love to have official merch of Teddy, Lancer and Ace.


People are absolutely in love with Raindrop and Nightlight too.

[Galactica]

Personally, I don't believe there was anything wrong with the packaging, which referenced the g1 art or selling three in a set.  TRU did a similar concept for Strawberry Shortcake around the same time - I think the set contained Strawberry, Orange Blossom and Raspberry Tart - and it sold just fine (and it still seems to sell well on eBay.)

In my opinion, the main problem was the lack of quality.  Those ponies just look don't look as good as the originals, IMHO.  I didn't even mind the brighter colors on them.  But their hair is thin; their bodies are heavy and tip over easily.  When you could literally buy the original pony for about the same price secondhand, most people were going to go out and buy the originals.  In fact, most people already owned the originals, so why buy a semi-duplicate that didn't look quite as good?

I appreciated that Hasbro tried.  I wished that the Rainbow set had a better distribution, because I thought they looked a little better.  But I wished they'd ignored the price point that collectors told them.  Clearly, not all collectors could've answered them (I didn't, because I wasn't on the boards yet) and I was certainly willing to spend more than $5/per pony.  And I wished they'd tried harder.

Yeah, I think they just didn't look good enough.  The colors were off and the hair looked coarser.  You add that to the fact that the ponies actually cost more than the ones on ebay at the time (for the originals), and ... they just didn't sell well.  Also, I think selling in the larger packs was probably not a great idea. I think they would have sold more if they were sold individually...

I do think that vintage looking packaging is a really really good idea-  that is what made that repro SSC so dang appealing... (plus she looked so close to the original).

I had also bought the repro Raggedy Anne for my wife-  but they took some shortcuts with that one, she wasn't wearing her bloomers for one. Who has ever heard of Raggedy Ann without bloomers?  Still, the doll looks really good. 

I do wish Hasbro would try again-  I agree Wardah, if a teeny tiny company like Bridge Direct can manage it, why not a corporate monster like Hasbro ???  TRY AGAIN HASBRO!!!!

[banditpony]

I had no idea the

Now if they really wanted collectors drooling at their door, Hasbro would do something like, say, take a pony that never had a non-Nirvana baby version, make both mom and baby, package them up, and boom you have instant market appeal.  Nostalgia plus something new.

THIS!!!  Or do releases of ponies that weren't released in the U.S. or mail orders.  Why not do something unique?

Because the average non-collector isn't going to fondly remember a non-US pony unless they grew up overseas. It needs to have wider appeal than just collectors.

Alot of people over here didn't realize the Mountain Boys existed and look how popular they are.

As a kid I always wished they had made the Tales ponies. I didn't realize they were made over in Europe. Plus they never made the boys. Alot of people would love to have official merch of Teddy, Lancer and Ace.


People are absolutely in love with Raindrop and Nightlight too.

I think they are popular with collectors, but it would be wise to branch out to non collectors. Take my childhood best friend. She had nearly all the ponies from the first 6 or 7 years. She really loved them. She's a doctor now, with a 4 year old kid. Shes not a collector.

Is she was in the store and saw any number of her favorites as a kid, I bet she would pick one up for her kid. A euro exclusive? She would not relate to that, it wouldn't hit her with nostalgia.

[LadyMoondancer]

Personally I wouldn't be interested in anything involving Tales.  If they made a retro release of them I'd buy a set, to encourage Hasbro to continue making repros, but internally I'd be cringing.

I actually think making babies of existing adults who never had babies is a good idea.  It would be popular with collectors and also popular with people who remember the adult pony from the 80s.  They could package them with accessories (like the original babies had), which are a cheap way to make something expensive seem justifiable.  (Even in the 80s that was the strategy, lol!)

[Baby Sugarberry]

If Hasbro put out a decent quality Mom & Baby Minty set, most of us would be slapping down money so fast, our wallets would have rugburn.  Heck if it had nice accessories, I'd drop 30$ on it without pause.  Ponies were not cheap throwaway toys back in the day - even the least expensive, basic adult was ~an hourly wage's worth of money, and baby ponies were even more.

[tiggerkitn25]

If Hasbro put out a decent quality Mom & Baby Minty set, most of us would be slapping down money so fast, our wallets would have rugburn.  Heck if it had nice accessories, I'd drop 30$ on it without pause.  Ponies were not cheap throwaway toys back in the day - even the least expensive, basic adult was ~an hourly wage's worth of money, and baby ponies were even more.

This!  I would totally buy this!  And probably a second one to take out of the box for my little girl to play with too.

[Broken Irishwoman]

Yes! Can you imagine a non-nirvana Baby Lofty in the Baby Surprise pose? That would be a pony dream come true... Here's your chance Hasbro, shut up and take my money.

[Wardah]

I do wish Hasbro would try again-  I agree Wardah, if a teeny tiny company like Bridge Direct can manage it, why not a corporate monster like Hasbro ???  TRY AGAIN HASBRO!!!!

Tbh I'd rather Hasbro licensed them out. They have too much going on with MLP already to give them the proper attention they deserve.

[FarDreamer]

Because the average non-collector isn't going to fondly remember a non-US pony unless they grew up overseas. It needs to have wider appeal than just collectors.

I'm not sure this is necessarily true.  A friend of mine who collects these says the lines are doing quite well:  http://www.mattycollector.com/store/matty/DisplayHomeOffersPage

I think Hasbro could make some good money doing releases aimed specifically at collectors, online only like these.  For being a toyline aimed at girls, Hasbro certainly ignores the spending power of the female long time collector (and male G1 collectors).

[Wardah]

Because the average non-collector isn't going to fondly remember a non-US pony unless they grew up overseas. It needs to have wider appeal than just collectors.

I'm not sure this is necessarily true.  A friend of mine who collects these says the lines are doing quite well:  http://www.mattycollector.com/store/matty/DisplayHomeOffersPage

I think Hasbro could make some good money doing releases aimed specifically at collectors, online only like these.  For being a toyline aimed at girls, Hasbro certainly ignores the spending power of the female long time collector (and male G1 collectors).

Have you seen the prices on there? While there are some who probably be okay with paying $30 for a single pony, I imagine most people would prefer something more reasonable.

[Baby Sugarberry]

If it's between a quality 30$ pony and a cheap repo like we got before at ~5$ a piece, I'll happily take the 30$ one any day of the week, as long as it's a well made collectible.  Agree that a smaller production run, maybe with a company that's focused more on catering to collector markets would be ideal.  Or online sales, skip the big box store releases since they aren't the target demographic for something like this anyways.