Should The MLP Card Game Have Had It's Own Show?

[Denim&Venöm 19,094]

So there have been plenty of shows, mostly anime, that are based on card games. Yu-Gi-Oh, Card Fight Vanguard, Bakugan, Digimon Season 3. 

But with the release of the MLP: CCG in 2013, should Hasbro have tried to promote it with it's own TV spinoff? 

Perhaps in the place of Equestria Girls? Picture it. A show in the style of Equestria Girls where the humans play the MLP: CCG, but the cast learn that the game is based off the denizens and events of a very real Equestria. 

Would a card game cartoon have helped expand the MLP fanbase and bring more succsess to the game? Or would it just have been a one season flop? 

 

 

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

I don't know much about some of those shows, but the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG was based on the anime and manga, not the other way around. The anime wouldn't have been nearly as successful if the TCG came first, as the characters wouldn't have had the goals and personalities established to carry the narrative. Despite all the inconsistencies between the way duels were played out and the actual strategy to the game, the writers prioritized story over advertising. The game would continue to sell regardless. 

FIM itself may be one huge toy commercial, but its success comes from making the characters likable and presenting good morals. If they wanted to promote the CCG with a spinoff, it'd be a guaranteed flop. Humans would just be engaging in card battles with no real motivation or sense of direction, which is an immediate turn-off for casual audiences. And people with enough experience playing the game would get annoyed by seeing cards used in ways they weren't intended to be used. It'd be like any movie in the last thirty years where kids were playing a popular video game, but they'd say things that made it obvious the writers didn't know what the shit they were doing. Like the recent Jumanji movie; you're gonna "dodge and uppercut" in Street Fighter V with Zangief? Really?

[Megas 27,695]

I summon my Twilight Sparkle in Attack Mode and attack your life points directly!

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

I think it would have been a one-season flop, I honestly think that something like a card-battle based spin-off show would have been too expensive and wouldn't have pulled enough viewers from Hasbro's intended demographic for them to consider making future seasons for the spin-off. I just can't really picture Hasbro devoting much time into making the characters seem real and the plots interesting because again, it would only be a spin-off, they would probably have their main focus still be on the main show, where it already has an established audience. 

[Dynamo Pad 11,356]

I think it would have been pretty cool if the card game had it's own spin off show. However, I don't think it would last very long. It depends if they would be using the humane 7 from Equestria Girls, or a whole new cast of characters. It would be pretty cool if the card game would expand the lore of Equestria, but only if there were things that we didn't know before from the main MLP series. I could see the card game become a mixture between Vanguard and Chaotic. Maybe at some point the characters could go to Equestria and meet the pony characters in person. Then any sort of conflicts that threaten the world would also tie into the fate of Equestria on card battles. If there were different conflicts, or going over past events from the main series. Then, the show would have to differentiate on what is canon and non-canon, so as to not confuse it's audience. Even if the show wouldn't last very long, I still feel like it would be a pretty interesting show to watch.  

[EpicEnergy 23,219]

That would be cool! I'd definitely watch it!

[Splashee 28,564]

A Pokemon/Digimon/Yo-Gi-Go-Ha-Blah show? Nah, I don't think that would have been anything for me to watch