If Hasbro relies on the show so much to sell toys, why do they ignore it?

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

I thought I'd seen everything, but this?

 

 

 

Since when were these two ponies? I know kids probably don't give a damn how inconsistent the characters have looked in toy form, but even by a five-year-old's standards, the packaging's disregard for continuity here is just stupid. What's next, an Optimus Prime that transforms into an ice cream truck?

 

That's not a slight against the artist; those pony designs are two of the most beautiful I've ever seen, and honestly, I wouldn't mind if the Dazzlings did become ponies. But why doesn't Hasbro let DHX MAKE them into ponies first before releasing something like this? If you own a brand, and you want to look professional enough to sell it, you gotta know what the hell you're talking about.

Edited May 30, 2015 by Lord-Pomegranate

[cider float 2,536]

Either the toy makers don't watch the show or this:

 

 

Wasn't purty enough for little girls.

[Red Cedar 1,407]

Keep in mind, Hasbro's a big company. The people who make most of the decisions - the board - have their hands on every product Hasbro makes, not just My Little Pony. They decide they want to do something, and then they get someone to do it for them.

In the case of the TV show, they didn't even hire someone in-house to spearhead the reboot, they contracted Lauren Faust, gave her a budget, let her design the initial look of the toys based on her sketches for the characters, and let her assemble a team of writers and co-producers. She herself then contracted out the actual animation to DHX, who then hired storyboarders, designers, animators and voice actors. That's a lot of degrees of separation between the people signing the cheques and the people actually doing the grunt work of making each episode. Faust (and now McCarthy) did the organizing and overseeing, Hasbro's board just said "Eyup" to what she came up with.

Long story short, Hasbro's board, at most, saw the finished product, and enough of the production artwork along the way to base the toy off of. That's about it. The designer of the packaging probably extrapolated a pony design for the front of the box from the look of the toy, movie unseen (and unfinished, by that point) based on little more than the previous Equestria Girls dolls' packages.

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

Either the toy makers don't watch the show or this:

 

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141029082408/mlp/images/4/47/The_Dazzlings'_siren_forms_EG2.png

 

Wasn't purty enough for little girls.

If it's the latter, they should have just had human Sonata and Aria on the box and left it at that.

Edited May 30, 2015 by Lord-Pomegranate

[cider float 2,536]

If it's the latter, they should have just had human Sonata and Aria on the box and left it at that.

Does these boxes have similar designs as the other Equestrian Girl boxes? Like having two ponies in the front? Maybe it's just a recoloring.

[Red Cedar 1,407]

Does these boxes have similar designs as the other Equestrian Girl boxes? Like having two ponies in the front? Maybe it's just a recoloring.

Yes, they do. All the Equestria Girls dolls have a picture of the pony version of the character in the background.

[cider float 2,536]

Anyway just google image searching those make me cringe.

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

All the ones I've seen of the first EQ line were accurate though. Even Sunset Shimmer looked spot-on, and she was still new at the time.

[ManaMinori 4,144]

I liked those designs the first time I laid eyes on them, and have always wanted the Dazzlings in pony forms that looked like that, since. Shame we never got them

[superdogz1999 551]

Well it is due to Hasbro being founded as a toy company. Not only they make MLP toys and stuff like that. They also make Nerf Guns and Toys for other companies such as Disney.

[The Awesome One 1,314]

Well I do not think the little ones would have liked siren toys with big sharp teeth. I only care about the show, they can do whatever they want with the toys.

[Zejgar 25]

Is this a matter of toys not following the show, or the show not following the toys?

[Jeremiah 1,586]

I have been seeing ads to  try and sell EQG related stuff lately...

[chirox the pony 1,334]

Is this a matter of toys not following the show, or the show not following the toys?

Good question, the show is made to sell toys, but the toys were based off the ideas and designs of Faust and her team, hmmm.... 

[Justin_Case001 4,858]

If it will make money, then that's all corporations care about.  They'll crap out whatever crap they think people will buy.

 

 

What's next, an Optimus Prime that transforms into an ice cream truck?

You mean they don't have that already?

[cider float 2,536]

They probably sell a bunch of toys irrelevant to the show like those weird baby ponies.

[Castle Bleck 19,173]

Why do executives have to be so averse to research like that?

[cider float 2,536]

Creativity and business usually don't go together.

 

Why do executives have to be so averse to research like that?

They're probably looking at a bunch of graphs on things irrelevant to the show and just care about what types of toys made most profit than center it on that and get toys made similar in design but few tweaks made different. Just a mad guess don't take my word too seriously.

 

Business has some of the weirdest plans, they do work but it doesn't stop a cascade of annoyance from the fanbase.

Edited May 30, 2015 by cidershield

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,358]

I think this is a case of them using what they see as relavent. All of the Equestria Girls dolls have the pony version of their character on the box as well, I think this was them just keeping with that trend. Considering what creatures the Dazzlings were, that probably wouldn't look as appealing on the box for a 'girls' toy as the cute little ponies look. It's all about marketing.

 

It doesn't really bother me much though. The 'art' for the Equestria Girls characters with these toys were never even close to the actual movies so this is nothing new.

[cider float 2,536]

It's really funny. You would expect there to be awesome products coming from a company made up of thousands of workers but the products is a very meh kind. Just shows how dysfunctional large scale companies are.

[UnknownFry 169]

It is called  minimizing  the cost of production while maximizing profits, and Hasbro makes it marketing decision based on what they consider what the primary demographic wants. So far it seems to be working as sales for My Little Pony and Equestria Girls have been growing.

 

The show may promote the toys, but the toys don't necessarily  promote the show.

Edited May 31, 2015 by UnknownFry

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

Hasbro has always been about the toys first and the media second. All that matters is selling the toys to the target demo, which they believe to not be discerning of quality. In fact, they didn't really care about the show that much at first either, until they found out just how talented the people working on it are when it got popular.

[ArcheoPony 76]

Laziness and cheapness. Just look at their new Jurassic Park toys, the raptors are missing their trademark sickle claws. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-zumMAgo3mQ/maxresdefault.jpg

 

The heck is up with Hasbro's quality control across their various properties...

Edited June 2, 2015 by ArcheoPony

[cider float 2,536]

For some reason they are ponies here as well.

 

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

Hasbro wants the strength of the show to sell the toys, rather than the show just being a commercial for the toys. If the show has freedom to develop naturally, they don't need to work the toys in almost at all.