How is Coco PomEl Toy SO Different From Box Photo? (W/pic)

[WingsOfMasquerade]

How does this happen?
So, in a fabulous trade here at the Arena...
I received Coco PommEl, the pose able brushable. I wanted the character since day 1, of course, so this was great. But then, I got to looking at the box & the photo "of the toy" and now, I'm like 'wait a minute'.

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The character in the show has short hair.
Ok, so short hair is no fun, we can't expect the toy to have it. That's perfectly reasonable.

But then look at the photo!
The toy is hardly like that toy in the picture!

Symbol in totally different spot! (on hip vs on leg)...kinda wish they left it there it's bigger
Hoof heart...ok you can pretend it's on the other leg...but still if the symbol is 1 sided
BANGS! Where's the bangs?
Hair completely unruly (yes I did try to brush it down) when the character is known for super straight hair.
The eye is different too, the art & the box pic have the lashes lower than the toy, which changes the expression

Individually, they're sort of nitpicky, but they added up to quite a few. My biggest peeve has to be the bangs.
I guess it just seems lazy to me. Like "this toy is supposed to be somewhat like the character *throws toy down* are you happy now geez its close enough just deal with it and give us more money"

[SpaceButtPonies]

I really dislike how Hasbro made these articulated figures. They look so odd and misproportioned. The cutie mark placement drives me bonkers. I really hope they come out with a regular brushable of her, cause I have no plans on getting those.

[LadyMoondancer]

She looks way cuter with bangs.  The backcard picture looks like she has nice quality hair, too.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I guess it just seems lazy to me. Like "this toy is supposed to be somewhat like the character *throws toy down* are you happy now geez its close enough just deal with it and give us more money"

Uhhmmmmmm yes it was intentionally lazy.  Only Hasbro would never say, "lazy", they would say, "designed interchangeably".  All they have to do is switch the hair in the machines when they change the body colour. 

"hey look let's make it pink!  We got another Pinkie Pie!"  "Great job Bob!  You've saved us $.04 per manufactured item!" 

The artist was paid for the pretty vector work they did - that was the only value in the G4 toy.... the plastic isn't even worth the plastic...

[reanna-mator]

Wow, I never noticed that. I like her just fine, and I appreciate the articulated toys so I can have a little variety in my collection's poses, but it is so hard to make them look right. And I understand that. It is odd though that the bangs and cutie mark placement is so off. Must have used a prototype pic for the box, maybe? :/

[Dragonflitter]

They tried bangs when they first released the G4's back in 2010, and quickly changed to get rid of them. Only the first few characters were released with bangs and their later releases weren't. Maybe it was something the machines couldn't produce fast enough.... or it was too expensive to keep in practice.

It's very common for the box art/box photo to not match the final product. Heck a few years ago there was a PINK Princess Celestia toy with a WHITE Celestia photoed on the box! Since no white Celestia had been released at the time, collectors were quite annoyed!

The cutie mark on the leg seriously bothers me, and that's one of the main reasons I won't buy the articulated ponies. Just looks too weird on the leg! But I think the upcoming articulated pony series has a different hind leg design, so the cutie mark looks a little better placed.

[zombienixon]

I think the odd cutie mark placement and shape of the leg are due to the fact that if they added a haunch to the rear leg to make it look more correct, it likely would have hindered the range of motion.

As for the lack of bangs? I don't think the regular sized brushables have had bangs for about 3-4 years now. Possibly to avoid having to make 2 more different head molds (for unicorns and earth ponies/pegasi). There may have also been difficulties with production. I don't know of any older gen ponies that had bangs.

Uhhmmmmmm yes it was intentionally lazy.  Only Hasbro would never say, "lazy", they would say, "designed interchangeably".  All they have to do is switch the hair in the machines when they change the body colour. 

All MLPs are like that. Take a pose, make it in various hair and body colors with unique symbols.

[Dragonflitter]

I don't know of any older gen ponies that had bangs.

If you mean gens other than G4, then you missed all of G1 and G2 lol. Most of them had bangs (or 'forelocks' as we called them then!) Which was just the first few hairplugs were trimmed to be shorter than the rest of the mane.

The first releases of G4 did bangs that were a little unique, compared to the G1 and G2 forelocks. The first G4's had two little rows of hairplugs going horizontally across the pony forehead, while the rest of the hairplugs went vertically down the back of the head. Twilight, Applejack, RD, Cheerilee, and maybe a couple others. Hasbro quickly changed it after those initial releases, for whatever reason. Probably cost effectiveness.

[achab1984]

I don't care for any of those at all. They just look funny and cheap!

[zombienixon]

I don't know of any older gen ponies that had bangs.

If you mean gens other than G4, then you missed all of G1 and G2 lol. Most of them had bangs (or 'forelocks' as we called them then!) Which was just the first few hairplugs were trimmed to be shorter than the rest of the mane.

The first releases of G4 did bangs that were a little unique, compared to the G1 and G2 forelocks. The first G4's had two little rows of hairplugs going horizontally across the pony forehead, while the rest of the hairplugs went vertically down the back of the head. Twilight, Applejack, RD, Cheerilee, and maybe a couple others. Hasbro quickly changed it after those initial releases, for whatever reason. Probably cost effectiveness.

Right, the very first ones had bangs didn't they?  I can't believe I forgot that.  But, yeah, I was referring to the horizontal orientation of the hair plugs. No idea why they're not doing it for more ponies, I looked my G4 shelf and I found that Photo Finish and Power Ponies AJ both had bangs, so the earth pony/pegasus mold with bangs is still around. And since those molds are already made, the cost of the molds may not be why almost none of them have bangs anymore.

One possibility is that doing some ponies with bangs and some without would require separate production lines for each, due to differing machine setups, and if there are fewer ponies with bangs being made one of those lines would be under-utilized and would limit production capacity.

Either way, it's cost savings that causes things like this to happen.  After all, most retail goods are made to a price, not to a standard.

[Dragonflitter]

OH yes, the Power Ponies! I forgot to check them. They are so odd looking... And also the TRU-exclusive RD dressed as Shadowbolt got the horizontal plugs too. Apparently Hasbro is keeping the mold around for special occasions!

[LadyMoondancer]

The way Hasbro makes the regular brushables, they don't have the tiny holes in their head until the hairing needles (or whatever they're called) poke into the head and insert the hair.    So there isn't a separate mold, really.  They just reconfigure the machinery and that determines whether pony has bangs or not.

Now, I'm not sure if this is true of the poseable ponies . . . they seem to be made of much harder, more brittle plastic.  I'm not sure if the hairing process is the same on them.

[Wardah]

Weren't there some G1s that didn't match the pamphlet? (I'd say backcard but I think those just had pretty watercolor art of the different ponies)

[Juliepants]

There are a couple of G1s with horizontal "bangs" (here in the UK they're called "fringes" lol). For example I have Beautiful Bows, she has a lovely horizontal fringe.

Jules x

[Alipes]

I thought I would weigh in my two cents on these guys, because while I absolutely love them personally, I can understand why so many people don't.  First of all, the box pictures are usually taken of the prototype -- this is pretty standard practice, not just with Hasbro, but with Mattel and other major toy manufacturers as well -- that's why the pictures online tend to be quite different from what you get sometimes.  They're hand painted, rehaired in-house etc. so in the worst case (like some recent G4 releases), the pictures of the ponies on the box end up looking far superior.  The articulated ponies themselves end up being not so nice (especially the hair quality), and overall come across as a very unfinished product.

That being said, if you like crafty stuff, customs, and/or dioramas, these guys are fantastic!  You can do very expressive things with the range of motion that you just can't normally.  Here are a couple of examples:

Here's a picture of my Coco Pommel with a custom I made of G1 Tickle -- Coco is the basic pony, not even any haircuts, but I made her a tie and restyled her hair with some paper roses, and to me she looks much cuter now.

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Here's a custom of G1 Wind Whistler with a full outfit I made for her.  The dress also works well to hide the joints if you're not a big fan of those.

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And here are two other customs that are finished but desperately need hair styling  - G1 Blueberry Baskets with a custom baskets (of blueberries) and my joint-dyeing test subject named Lynette. 

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To me, they feel like they have a lot more personality, but it takes more work than traditional ponies do also.  I can understand why many people don't seem to like them, but I feel like they offer a lot of promise.