Pony Merch Seems To Be Disappering From Hot Topic Stores

[GXPBlast 597]

Walmart actually has a decent toy selection. Just saiyan.

 

 

Problem is, its more geared towards little girls and the whole isle is all pink. Hot topic uses neutral colors for the adult audience both male and female. Also, I feel very awkward going into the pink section at Target and Walmart. Most of the stuff there is plushies, toy sets and other girly themed things toward the show.

 

I mean compare the two, which would you rather be seen in or looking at?

 

 

Edited September 8, 2015 by GXPBlast

[Ponyboat 62]

Uuuuh I think it's funny when people give me looks in the pink isles. I also used to move the blind bag figures to the little clear spot on the bag so I could just get the pony I wanted and it garnered a lot of attention.

[Megas 27,580]

Probably because people prefer getting their pony merch online. We still have tons of fans that are very much closet bronies. You can find more brony merch on HT's online shop

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Probably because it's gotten a bit old (MLP:FIM is almost 5 years old) and newer, more marketable fandoms are starting to pop up. You've gotta remember that Hot Topic is a business and I guess MLP isn't profitable enough to sell in stores.

right, right, as compared to Pokemon and Sailor moon, which they stil sell, which is nearly 20 years old, right?

[Magic Rasin 180]

right, right, as compared to Pokemon and Sailor moon, which they stil sell, which is nearly 20 years old, right?

 

 People watched those shows when they were kids, so it makes sense to sell them as nostalgia bait to teens/young adults. MLP:FIM hasn't been around long enough to have the same effect on people, thus why I listed the reasons in my previous comment.

[Trixie Heartstrings 434]

 

 

Also, I feel very awkward going into the pink section at Target and Walmart.

I don't know if you heard or not, but Target is going to stop separating toys by gender, so that means no more pink section or blue section(but the toys themselves are still in pink boxes).

On my birthday I went to the mall, and I wanted to go to Hot Topic to look for pony merch, but one of my parents looked instead, and there wasn't any pony merch in there. There is a local comic book store near my that has some t-shirts. There's also a store called f.y.e. that has some pony toys and shirts that's not far from my other home.

[alpinefroggy 451]

I don't know if you heard or not, but Target is going to stop separating toys by gender, so that means no more pink section or blue section(but the toys themselves are still in pink boxes).

On my birthday I went to the mall, and I wanted to go to Hot Topic to look for pony merch, but one of my parents looked instead, and there wasn't any pony merch in there. There is a local comic book store near my that has some t-shirts. There's also a store called f.y.e. that has some pony toys and shirts that's not far from my other home.

 

 

Its still awkward because you are a grown guy or gal in a toy aisle buying a toy meant for a little girl.  As opposed to hot topic which is just merch and merch for bronies.  I walked into hot topic and the lady behind the deck was very helpful with getting the merch I wanted.  Or I walked into target and got the wth are you buying from the cashier and people.  Very different feel, very different stigma

[Scootaloo Is Best Filly 578]

I have noticed this too, a little. But, I buy most of my shirts and stuff on either Red bubble/ we love fine / or eBay. I still think red bubble or at least we love fine should have it's own store. I think it would be HUGE.

Its still awkward because you are a grown guy or gal in a toy aisle buying a toy meant for a little girl. As opposed to hot topic which is just merch and merch for bronies. I walked into hot topic and the lady behind the deck was very helpful with getting the merch I wanted. Or I walked into target and got the wth are you buying from the cashier and people. Very different feel, very different stigma

If it makes you feel awkward the old "it's a birthday present for my little niece/sister " excuse will probably work every time.

[GeekySonic 1,150]

We're lucky to even have Hot Topic stores in North Dakota. They're only in big cities, and even there, they have a pretty limited selection. Only once in my life have I ever seen pony merch at Hot Topic.

[alpinefroggy 451]

I have noticed this too, a little. But, I buy most of my shirts and stuff on either Red bubble/ we love fine / or eBay. I still think red bubble or at least we love fine should have it's own store. I think it would be HUGE.

 

If it makes you feel awkward the old "it's a birthday present for my little niece/sister " excuse will probably work every time.

I feel awkward and I get looks yes. But at the end of the day I don't care and I continue to walk into the pink aisle and buy what I want unphased Edited September 10, 2015 by alpinefroggy

[RavenholmZombie 1,330]

Hot Topic has been slowly shrinking how much MLP merch they sell. ThinkGeek.com did the same thing

 

It's because they're making more room for newer fandoms. It's the nature of the business they're in.

 

If you want any of the Funko figurines that Hot Topic doesn't sell anymore, I recommend looking at either Amazon or eBay.

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

Would you say that MLP is declining as a fandom?

[Guest]

right, right, as compared to Pokemon and Sailor moon, which they stil sell, which is nearly 20 years old, right?

Actually I have a pretty good explanation of this: Sailor Moon recently did just get a reboot and Pokemon is getting new series and games all the time. So really those franchises aren't really "stale". Hot topic bases their stock on what is selling and what is currently a hot trend (evidence: friend who works there). They will buy stock of what they sell the most of, and this can lead us to believe that brony related stuff is not selling as much as it used to at Hot Topic (which I would believe). There are a couple of possibilities as to why:

 

• Bronies probably buy most of their stuff online nowadays considering the selection online is no longer tiny. 4 years ago the online selection was small, but now sites like welovefine have well over 100+ different shirts to choose from along with other merchandise.
• The fandom is not buying merch as much as it used to. This is also very possible as well. Fan merchandise does give a hit to official stuff.
• For whatever reason not as many bronies live near a Hot Topic anymore.
• Other fanbases are buying more stuff, thus increasing the number of sales necessary to justify carrying more brony merchandise.
• People just got tired of paying for it. The stuff at Hot Topic is relatively expensive for its fairly low quality. As a frequent Hot Topic shopper I can confirm that a lot of their items are very low quality and don't hold together well. While Walmart shirts may not give you the best look, they will survive 10 years without so much as a tear for some reason.

Really the few MLP shirts I have had more or less become casual wear or sleep shirts. I sort of detest the low build quality of Hot Topic and Welovefine. I remember when Whatpumpkin was shutting down, I had a friend who rushed to get me a Homestuck shirt before the manufacturing was placed in the hands of Welovefine. When I got the shirt, you can really feel the difference between Whatpumpkin's work and Welovefine's work. I am hoping that Welovefine got their shit together and started producing better shirts because their early ones were made of really thin material that ripped easily and the designs would chip after only 6 months even if you used the inside-out cold water trick to wash them.

 

 

Hot Topic has been slowly shrinking how much MLP merch they sell. ThinkGeek.com did the same thing

 

 

This may have to do with the fact that ThinkGeek was recently bought by the devil.

[Trixie Heartstrings 434]

Speaking of we love fine, I recently got a "stained glass" messenger bag of the mane 6, and a Pinkie Pie Portal keychain, both were at least $50. I know they have those huge bags I've seen at conventions, and I heard somewhere that you get one if you pay more than $50. I didn't get one of those bags. Do they no longer do this? Did they ever do this? I've seen unboxing videos where people get additional things that they didn't pay for, but the only things I got were the things that were purchased. I want to know where I can get those huge bags. Also, the velcro seemed a bit off on the messenger bag. The softer velcro was in a vertical position, while the harder velcro was in a horizontal position. I'm still happy to have a messenger bag anyway.

[Guest]

Speaking of we love fine, I recently got a "stained glass" messenger bag of the mane 6, and a Pinkie Pie Portal keychain, both were at least $50. I know they have those huge bags I've seen at conventions, and I heard somewhere that you get one if you pay more than $50. I didn't get one of those bags. Do they no longer do this? Did they ever do this? I've seen unboxing videos where people get additional things that they didn't pay for, but the only things I got were the things that were purchased. I want to know where I can get those huge bags. Also, the velcro seemed a bit off on the messenger bag. The softer velcro was in a vertical position, while the harder velcro was in a horizontal position. I'm still happy to have a messenger bag anyway.

Yeah for a while when they started out they gave you a ton of freebies with your stuff, but now it's very rare. Basically the freebies were because they were a new company. They got their first major deals in the late 2010 point with big companies and to get their name out there they did a lot of freebies, however to be perfectly honest with you... I never really felt I got a good experience with them. I remember when the first batches of MLP tees came out, I had a $100 order and it took them close to 5 weeks for it to reach me, and 4 of which it spent in order pending status.

 

I remember emailing them several times and they were very impatient with me and annoyed that I kept emailing, but when you make me pay for 3 day shipping and make me wait so long that's not cool. Then when I finally got the shirts I was kind of annoyed by their misleading sizes. For starters some of their shirts seem to run smaller than others, and one of my shirts was just the wrong size altogether. And of course the quality of the material is rubbish. Falls apart within 6-8 months pretty crap for $25 shirts. I also was stiffed on my freebies that I was promised as well but they made sure to load my box with freakin' stickers with their company logo on them.

 

Basically thought now that Welovefine has such a huge hold on pop culture merchandise and a name for themselves they don't really care about giving freebies away anymore.

[ShadOBabe 18,997]

My Hot Topic has plenty of pony merch. Just spread throughout the store.

[GXPBlast 597]

Its still awkward because you are a grown guy or gal in a toy aisle buying a toy meant for a little girl.  As opposed to hot topic which is just merch and merch for bronies.  I walked into hot topic and the lady behind the deck was very helpful with getting the merch I wanted.  Or I walked into target and got the wth are you buying from the cashier and people.  Very different feel, very different stigma

 

 

This exactly, at hot topic people are more willing to help you and its less of a negative stigma, plus all of the neutral color stuff that they have, while even at Target with removing the "boy and girl signs" still have pink aisles being a grown man or woman looks creepy and sets up alarms for the employees and parents in the store. Plus getting the looks is just plain uncomfortable and can be hard for bronies who are in the closet abit or just entering the fandom .

Edited September 11, 2015 by GXPBlast

[Guest]

 

 

This exactly, at hot topic people are more willing to help you and its less of a negative stigma

 

 

Well usually the people who work there are not exactly the "common crowd" so they're usually not in a position to judge. Hot Topic is generally a very safe place for everyone. The only people they don't really treat well there are people who come in acting disrespectful.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

This exactly, at hot topic people are more willing to help you and its less of a negative stigma, plus all of the neutral color stuff that they have, while even at Target with removing the "boy and girl signs" still have pink aisles being a grown man or woman looks creepy and sets up alarms for the employees and parents in the store. Plus getting the looks is just plain uncomfortable and can be hard for bronies who are in the closet abit or just entering the fandom .

"being a grown man or woman looks crepy and sets up alarms"

Omg, just....no

Because parents, aunts, uncles, etc go in the toy aisles to buy stuff for their brats, right?

I can't tell you how many times I've seen adults in the toy aisles. Invalid argument

[Dainbow Rash 80]

I've been noticing this too the last few times I went. I can't find the Pop Vinyls at the store near me anymore. (They still have the regular vinyls). The T-Shirts and Plushes have also disappeared.

 

MLP isn't really a 'hot topic' anymore

Hopefully the 2017 movie can change that. I needz moar ponies! Edited September 12, 2015 by I-Iz-A-Person

[Scarecrow 44]

Eh I guess I really havent payed attention to it.

[GXPBlast 597]

Just came back form Hot Topic since they just had a huge restock.

 

Sadly there is less pony stuff. Infact there is only one pony item.

 

The only t-shirt they had is no longer offered.

 

The only pony merch thing they had in the store was four Shining Armor funco figures.

 

The rest of the store is filled with anime, Pokemon, adventure time, and other popular shows but yet they restock the shelves with that stuff and offer less pony merch.

 

I asked a couple of the employees who work there and have been just as shocked as me and had told me they have had many bronies come in asking when they are getting some brony merch at least four times a day. They said its obviously still popular but told me to continue checking when they restock every week. But they said not to keep my hopes up because with each restock there is less pony merch. They dont think its fair that the higher ups are doing this. Besides the funco figures any pony merch they do have sells out very quickly so they commented on how its not a "fading out" thing. pony merch is very popular. They joked with me saying maybe Hot Topic higher some new people who have a stigma against bronies. I had a chuckle at this myself. 

Edited September 24, 2015 by GXPBlast

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

You should check in Hastings..... It's almost like the merch is migrating from Hot Topic to Hastings... Crazy stuff.

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

I saw Scoots, Apple Bloom and Shining Armor vinyl figurines last time I've checked 

[Trixie Heartstrings 434]

Yesterday I was hoping the check the Hot Topic closest to me, but I found out some other news that I'm optimistic about. It turns out the Hot Topic was closed because the store was remodeling. I'm hoping that will result in more room for ponies.