Can MLP stand on the same stage?

[ManaMinori 4,149]

Pokemon, Yugioh, and even Diimon are doig pretty big things to attract interest in their franchises right now. Pokemon has just been machibe gunning all these events pokemon monthly ditributions, super bowl commercials, new games with cool mechanjcs (mega evolution, burst heart evolution, new region, pokemon, etc), YUGIOH hitting hard with a "Dark Side of Dimensions" movie in 2017, bringing back their originl cast, and Digimon has made a series of shorts doing the same with their original g1 cast.

 

All 3 are massive franchises, but MLP has been around much longer and still hasn't come close to the 90's franchises of sucess. T to me, it seems like Hasbro isn't trying to hit hard enough (expecially for their own anniversaries) to get the pony frnchise on the same stage of sucess that Digimon, Pokemon, and Yugioh have,

 

Should pony be as popular as these other players?

Is pony getting there (we have comics, TCG, toys, an animated series like Pokemon, Yugioh, and Digimon), or is the MLP franchise failing to pick up the slack?

What do you guys think Hasbro needs to do to its MLP franchise as a whole to compete with these heavy hitting competitors?

[Moony the Cat 3,707]

I think, Mlp does pretty decent.

And since Hasbro has already a highly successful franchise in Transformers and gets a lot of Money anyway, Mlp doesnt really need to explode in popularity.

Hasbro is successful anyway and i think Mlp already has a kinda big Fandom and a lot of things to it.

[Jeric 46,884]

*looks at world wide revenue on MLP and checks one mentioned property.

 

I'm just going say your posturing is wrong NM and call it a day. Pony is outperforming at least one of those properties ... by a lot.

[Concerned Bystander 2,905]

I can't speak for any other country, but in the UK MLP is far bigger than Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon is practically unheard of.  Pokemon is still pretty big of course, but going by the amount of shelf space in toyshops MLP is at least equal to it, although in terms of actual revenue Pokemon would probably be ahead due to the video games and CCG lines.

[ManaMinori 4,149]

I think, Mlp does pretty decent.

And since Hasbro has already a highly successful franchise in Transformers and gets a lot of Money anyway, Mlp doesnt really need to explode in popularity.

Hasbro is successful anyway and i think Mlp already has a kinda big Fandom and a lot of things to it.

so they can't have more than one super sucessful franchise?

I know FiM is popular, but it pales in comparison to the examples I pointed out. And that's the goal of any company

*looks at world wide revenue on MLP and checks one mentioned property.

I'm just going say your posturing is wrong NM and call it a day. Pony is outperforming at least one of those properties ... by a lot.

it may be outperforming Digimon, but Digimon is still hiting harder by actually giving a flying flutterpny about its anniversaries, unlike MLP

 

it's important to draw back old fans, which is why all 3 examples have or are doing this

(Even Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura are revamping for old, original fans). MLP is not

[Moony the Cat 3,707]

so they can't have more than one super sucessful franchise?

I know FiM is popular, but it pales in comparison to the examples I pointed out. And that's the goal of any company

Why try very very hard to be successful, if you are successful already anyway? If i would have a best selling franchise and another franchise is also successful, but a little smaller...i would be totally fine. I couldnt be more happy.

 

Why trying to make everything as successful as possible if you have success anyway? As long as People like it, everything is fine. Not every franchise has to make the exact same amount of Money to be classified as successful.

And often, if Companys try to get everything as successful as possible, they often rush to many things at once and lose their control.

 

I also hate how Dc Comics is now announcing Spinoffs everywhere...every one of the Suicide Squad Members apparently could get a Spinoff, do they not want to wait first if one of their Movies is gonna be successful before announcing like over 10 Movies at once?

It all seems way to rush, just because Marvel makes so many.

 

I hate that mentality of " They are doing better than us, quick, we have to beat them ! "

You not only rush things and lose your control but the end goal is, to get even more Money from people, even if they are already enough.

Some Companys just seem to be greedy and it doesnt really make them look good.

If you are successful, that should be enough or not?

Edited June 3, 2016 by Supergirl Rarity

[Jeric 46,884]

so they can't have more than one super sucessful franchise?

I know FiM is popular, but it pales in comparison to the examples I pointed out. And that's the goal of any company

it may be outperforming Digimon, but Digimon is still hiting harder by actually giving a flying flutterpny about its anniversaries, unlike MLP

 

it's important to draw back old fans, which is why all 3 examples have or are doing this

(Even Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura are revamping for old, original fans). MLP is not

You said it [MLP] pales in comparison to the other examples. Your words, not mine. You have one that is valid -- Pokemon.

 

I'm giving you an opportunity here to revise your language and focus it away from the world of retail presence, dead stock, dynamic clustering, attach rates, per caps, ad buys, revenue, and revenue streams. Focus your energy on the subjective like 'fan focus' ...

 

This isn't a discussion of ideology with shades of grey. You bring up bad business analysis ... I'll either own this thread or bore you all to a coma.

 

Perhaps I am mistaken and you aren't talking about corporate merchandising and revenue. If I am, please clarify.

[The MegaBrony 219]

Prepare the high-quality, retro-style video games.

[ManaMinori 4,149]

You said it [MLP] pales in comparison to the other examples. Your words, not mine. You have one that is valid -- Pokemon.

I'm giving you an opportunity here to revise your language and focus it away from the world of retail presence, dead stock, dynamic clustering, attach rates, per caps, ad buys, revenue, and revenue streams. Focus your energy on the subjective like 'fan focus' ...

This isn't a discussion of ideology with shades of grey. You bring up bad business analysis ... I'll either own this thread or bore you all to a coma.

Perhaps I am mistaken and you aren't talking about corporate merchandising and revenue. If I am, please clarify.

while merchandising and ad revenue is important to success, there's more to it than that to get to where Pokemon and the others ar re, I think. One trend I notice (in Pokemon especially) is continually trying to reconnect with their original fans and the love that helped make the franchise such a sucess. Without love given by fans, a franchise will die, no matter how much money a comany puts into it. But on the flip side, the compny needs to show that love back to its supporters to get to the state that they are

 

Every game is reminiscent of the original -same elemental starter types, same bird or rodent types in starting routes, same 8 gyms, same elite 4 all from the formula that the original fans are used to. Same Ash and Pikachu from the early years, in the anime. For the orignal fans to jump back and go "hey, nostalgia".

Almost every gen has hidden callbacks to g1, for the fans

 

Yugioh has done the same, but to a somewhat lesser extent. They care about their original fanbase and have shown love by reintroducing YAMI in GX, references to g1 in 5D's, etc. And hit their franchise 20th anniversary hard with a complete g1 movie.

 

Yeah, it takes money and merch to do it all, but it takes love from the fans, and reciprocated love, in turn, from the company, to get to where Pokemon and Yugioh are.

Bronies have shown love 24/7 for the ponies, but it's not really being reciprocated as much. Some fanservice in episodes can't realy compare to what the bigger players are doing.

[Moony the Cat 3,707]

Wait a minute, i thought most Bronies hate the older Gens or simply dont like them?

So i think, its the Bronys fault, that G4 doesnt have that much references to the old Shows.

 

Maybe, if the Majority of G4 Fans wouldnt consist of Bronys, maybe we would get more older gen references, but Bronys mostly dont care about the old Stuff, so...i dont know.

And the Kids that watch the Show, probably never heard of the older ones or dont care either.

And the amount of Fans of the old Gens, seems to be a little small, compared to this other Franchises you mentioned.

[ManaMinori 4,149]

Wait a minute, i thought most Bronies hate the older Gens or simply dont like them?

So i think, its the Bronys fault, that G4 doesnt have that much references to the old Shows.

 

Maybe, if the Majority of G4 Fans wouldnt consist of Bronys, maybe we would get more older gen references, but Bronys mostly dont care about the old Stuff, so...i dont know.

And the Kids that watch the Show, probably never heard of the older ones or dont care either.

And the amount of Fans of the old Gens, seems to be a little small, compared to this other Franchises you mentioned.

so what if BRONIES hate past gens? Do fans of the newer gens of YUGIOH or POKEMON have to like past gens, for all the past callbacks, events, etc to have happenned?

Current fans don't have to like it. It should be the company's all for thir original fans to appreciate wh at they're doing, since they're the ones the company would be calling back

You can't segregate gen fans and expect to stand toe to toe with Pokemon anc Yugioh, who are trying to appeal to all their fanbase, not just genwunners or gen seveners, genourers, etc

[Megas 28,146]

I'd say MLP is bigger, at least currently, than either Yu Gi Oh or Digimon. The latter two were big when they first came out, but they haven't been anywhere near their glory days since, at least in America. My Little Pony was popular enough to warrant at least 3 more reboots if it says anything, and the current gen got really big at least here on the internet

[Flutter's lover <3 8,210]

Ponies are doing just fine, from what I can see.  I mean it's got a huge fandom...I don't follow Pokemon, but I see it fairly often on Facebook and such...because almost everyone I know is into Pokemon in some sort of way. Also, I'm pretty excited about Yu-Gi-Oh bringing back the original cast...I stopped watching/playing it when the new stuff came out(GX and whatever was after that) and Yugi was irrelevant. 

 

I believe Ponies can hold their own with these other TV shows/games fandoms.  Though, I'd like to see merch more widely available. I mean,EB Games is getting more into the merch side of things and I've seen very little MLP merch from them. Yet I've seen Marvel,DC, Adventure Time and other TV shows merch.

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

It's not really fair to compare MLP in equal standing to Pokemon, Yugioh, and Digimon, as that's not what it's competing against. The marketing strategies are worlds apart. For one, the three franchises mentioned are all Japanese in origin and have conquered many forms of media whereas MLP is still mainly about the toys and the TV show. It would be more fair to compare MLP to things aimed at a similar demographic (e.g. Monster High, Barbie, etc.) or other Western cartoons (e.g. Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, etc.).

 

But, to be fair, I'll make the comparison here. Clear-cut numbers for the success of these individual franchises are hard to find, but the Hasbro girls' toys' portfolio, of which MLP is a part, is said to be worth $1.02 billion. The Pokemon Company is said to make $1.5 billion. To that, we can surmise that the entirety of Hasbro's girls' division alone (this would include Littlest Pet Shop and others) is worth 68% of the Pokemon license. Hasbro has also been declared number 11 out of the top 150 licensors in the world. Pokemon, by comparison, is number 50 on the same list. To say that is an incredible number for the rights holder of a single franchise is an understatement. Toei Animation is number 85, while Konami, Namco Bandai, and Nintendo, surprisingly, don't even register on that list.

 

By the franchises I named, however, MLP still lags behind. Main rival Mattel is the number 5 licensor on the list and FIM has been in a constant uphill battle for TV ratings in the US market, no thanks to the channels it airs on. Mattel's flagship franchises still outsell MLP and would very likely outsell any of the properties named here.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Wind Chaser

[TheLeastEvil 50]

 The products you listed are very short from being "heavy hitters". Pokemon is actually property of Hasbro and Nintendo [it's Complicated]. MLP outperforms all of those properties (possibly even combined). They may receive more media attention but boy related toys have always had greater strength in that field. MLP is reaching further into other media, but it is an uphill battle for such an established brand.

 

Hasbro has made a lot of risky decisions with their properties, so I'm sure they can stay quite competitive against the big boys: Mattel, Lego, Jakks Pacific.

[El Duderino 881]

MLP is first and foremost a toy franchise. The show is meant to help sell toys. Those other franchises also have a wider audience, or at least are meant to. MLP was not meant to have a wide target audience (little girls are the mane target). The whole "brony" thing was not expected, and I think Hasbro is still mostly trying to stick to their target audience, which doesn't necessarily include bronys. I think that hinders their ability to expand the brand.

 

They seem to be selling to bronies a little more now, but they seem to be cautious about it. They don't want to take a successful formula and change it up. 

[cmarston1 5,964]

I don't really think so.

Comparing MLP to any of these franchises is like comparing apples to oranges.

[HolyCelestia 8]

No, because the show doesnt have a good reputation

[TheAnimatorOfficial 567]

No, because the show doesnt have a good reputation

9.2/10 on TV.com, close to 8/10 on IMDB...

 

The only bad reputation is from a few narcissistic haters but otherwise it's one of the most successful cartoons of this decade.

[Guest]

Honestly, why does it need to be?