Would fans prefer if Hasbro returned to their roots?

[ManaMinori 4,143]

By which, I mean, their formula that they gave to the toyline of generation 1- releasing a wide variety of pony characters in a "gotta collect em all" style, rather than sticking to their g4 pattern of re-releasing 6 ponies with new gimmicks every few months. There's a TON of unreleased g4 characters who never have and will never get to be in toy form, after all. Would you guys buy a wider variety of characters, if their toys were made? Do you think the target audience would?

[Nye 1,652]

7 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

By which, I mean, their formula that they gave to the toyline of generation 1- releasing a wide variety of pony characters in a "gotta collect em all" style, rather than sticking to their g4 pattern of re-releasing 6 ponies with new gimmicks every few months. There's a TON of unreleased g4 characters who never have and will never get to be in toy form, after all. Would you guys buy a wider variety of characters, if their toys were made? Do you think the target audience would?

Of course we should have more ponies to collect, I don’t need 40 Raritys. I’d buy more stuff if there were more options, and I am sure kids would feel the same way.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Nye

[Dabmanz 2,128]

32 minutes ago, Nye said:

Of course we should have more ponies to collect, I don’t need 40 Raritys. I’d buy more stuff if there were more options, and I am sure kids would feel the same way.

Yeah there are a lot of background ponies with potential to be marketed.

[Denim&Venöm 16,446]

The only problem I see is difficulty marketing. That diverse of a line up. They tried that with the G3 series and it wound up being a looseley connected series of episodes, shorts and a movie before core 7 reboot, the G3.5 re-reboot and then the new born cuties catyclism. 

I don't really see how you can have an ongoing series with developed characters if the focus keeps changing to the latest toy line. 

[Fhaolan 4,468]

They should go all the way to their roots! I mean, who doesn't want leftover upholstery fabric?

Yeah, that's how the company started; 'textile remnants'. They'd take the leftover ends of bolts of fabric and resell them. Not exactly a big business model now-a-days.

Honestly though, it's a toss-up. If they go 'collect them all' then they would have a serious temptation to having the media releases also being disjointed and far more toyetic than we've gotten used to. Like @Denim&Venom says the G3 'series' was like that. It's a matter of where the focus is to be: the toys or the media, and to be fair to Hasbro the toys are their core business. Though there are rumors that the media income has significantly overtaken the toy sales at this point. Whether that's because the toy quality has declined, or the toy market itself is shrinking, that's up for debate. (Mainly because I don't have a source of numbers right now for facts.)

[ManaMinori 4,143]

26 minutes ago, Fhaolan said:

They should go all the way to their roots! I mean, who doesn't want leftover upholstery fabric?

Yeah, that's how the company started; 'textile remnants'. They'd take the leftover ends of bolts of fabric and resell them. Not exactly a big business model now-a-days.

Honestly though, it's a toss-up. If they go 'collect them all' then they would have a serious temptation to having the media releases also being disjointed and far more toyetic than we've gotten used to. Like @Denim&Venom says the G3 'series' was like that. It's a matter of where the focus is to be: the toys or the media, and to be fair to Hasbro the toys are their core business. Though there are rumors that the media income has significantly overtaken the toy sales at this point. Whether that's because the toy quality has declined, or the toy market itself is shrinking, that's up for debate. (Mainly because I don't have a source of numbers right now for facts.)

their priority- as a toy company- should be the toys. The show is just to market them, no matter what any fan of the current generation says.  Hasbro made a killing off of g1 ponies, which were full of variety and less 'repeat character with gimmick # 2625, and it WORKED for them. They still had a tv show, but it was mostly episodic, and again- it worked, because the toys and product placement were the main focus. No fan or kid wants to buy 6,000 of the same pony 6 group, which is what Hasbro is doing in this current gen, for the wrong  reason of aiming at "first time purchasers". .

[Lord Valtasar 12,685]

while a wider variety of toys would be appreciated by those who collect em all, the vast majority would still only buy the main characters, making the rest a waste of resources, lets not kid ourselves, how many people would actually buy a minuette or a silver spoon figure, some will, and be ecstatic about it, but the numbers  aren't in their favor. G1 may have done that successfully, but it is not the 80s anymore. and G4 success can't really be questioned either, though i'm not so sure about the toy line, the franchise as a whole sure makes them profit enough to not change it dramatically

[Fhaolan 4,468]

1 hour ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

their priority- as a toy company- should be the toys. The show is just to market them, no matter what any fan of the current generation says.  Hasbro made a killing off of g1 ponies, which were full of variety and less 'repeat character with gimmick # 2625, and it WORKED for them. They still had a tv show, but it was mostly episodic, and again- it worked, because the toys and product placement were the main focus. No fan or kid wants to buy 6,000 of the same pony 6 group, which is what Hasbro is doing in this current gen, for the wrong  reason of aiming at "first time purchasers". .

My point of 'their roots' being in textile remnants is that the focus of the company has changed considerably. They went from remnants to making pencil cases out of those remnants, to plastic pencil cases and school supplies, to plastic toys, to 'collectible' plastic toys, and now they've bought out a variety of game companies plus divesting themselves of nearly all their actual manufacturing facilities. Like any reasonable company, they followed the money and changed what they sold depending on what the markets bore.

With the media and tie-ins making supposedly making so much money relative to the toy lines with G4, I wouldn't fault Hasbro for following the money again and changing the MLP focus, having the toys be just one product in the entire MLP IP 'franchise'.

[Khoufu 43]

The mane 6 can interact with lots of different characters  (they already do) and make more toys of them. Easy peasy. Blindbags are pretty popular, they could easily make more character toys, even ones not seen in screen much if ever.

[Steve Piranha 28,740]

12 hours ago, Lord Valtasar said:

while a wider variety of toys would be appreciated by those who collect em all, the vast majority would still only buy the main characters, making the rest a waste of resources, lets not kid ourselves, how many people would actually buy a minuette or a silver spoon figure, some will, and be ecstatic about it, but the numbers  aren't in their favor. G1 may have done that successfully, but it is not the 80s anymore. and G4 success can't really be questioned either, though i'm not so sure about the toy line, the franchise as a whole sure makes them profit enough to not change it dramatically

For real, while I’d love for more variety of characters like past gens, and how it was at first G4, it’s not really marketable. You could argue that the show could focus more on side characters, but people don’t buy toys as before

[ManaMinori 4,143]

On 9/14/2018 at 9:16 PM, Steve Piranha said:

For real, while I’d love for more variety of characters like past gens, and how it was at first G4, it’s not really marketable. You could argue that the show could focus more on side characters, but people don’t buy toys as before

if that were really true, then there would no need to push toy products at all. But yet, there are still toy fairs, there are still turnovers of aisles with new products every few months. Toys are still being made. So long as they do, there should be more variety.

[Steve Piranha 28,740]

42 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

if that were really true, then there would no need to push toy products at all. But yet, there are still toy fairs, there are still turnovers of aisles with new products every few months. Toys are still being made. So long as they do, there should be more variety.

Yeah, but we are in an era where mobile games provide enough distraction for kids, and is overall more practical. Sure we still got toys, but they used to be the dominant way to entertain kids

Edited October 7, 2018 by Steve Piranha

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

If anything, sticking as close to their roots as they are is holding them back, IMO. Toy grabbing isn't what it used to be, and the demand for higher quality figures is much greater. Hasbro still hasn't even learned how to sell MLP stuff to adults. A lot more kids aren't cool with the exact same 3D figure for EVERY Pony, just with varying colors and cutie marks. And they're not just competing with other toy action figure companies, they're competing with even more diversity in the form of virtual avatars across thousands of different games, with mix & match options for hair, clothes, skin color, and super powers. Virtual reality is only going to take this to an even further extreme and sooner or later we'll probably be much less concerned about toys and more concerned about protecting Equestia from the IOI corporation.

Edited October 9, 2018 by bornAgainEquestrian

[Khoufu 43]

Yall saying Hasbro should focus even less on non main characters.... do you realize how many "collect em (all)" toys are still being sold? Like Hatchimals and Littlest Petshop? 

[rainbowdashacademy 114]

Wait until rainbooming next year Hasbro is bringing us the francize that Bandai use to bring now Power Rangers is going to be home to Hasbro with all new BEAST MORPHERS POWER RANGER TOYS and I think Hasbro could make the zords better than the horrible repeats of Ninja Steel clones of itself. Yes Hasbro should stick to their roots ?

[rainbowdashacademy 114]

Why because look how long we've got a original Queen Chrysalis figure canon to the show hopefully we finally get a posable  Discord and Flutterbat toy someday!

[chaosprincess 1,064]

Unsure if this thread is still going, but thought I would put my thoughts in on the subject.

Now we must think of it from a generation change point of view toys are just not as big as they use to be kids today are more focused on electronics then toys whenever I go into toy sections of stores the shelves are barely emptied unlike back in the 80s and other times when toy shelves would empty pretty fast due to toys were the main entertainment for children so of course looking at the comparisons of time toys are just slowly dying out being replaced with electronics I mean I see small children with phones which to me is sad and yes I know children do go outside and still play with toys, but its hard not seeing a child with some form of electronic in hand so with that in mind Hasbro has of course taking notes on the changes of time and are manly focusing on app games, the show and not really the toyline since toys just don't sell like they use to and we must keep in mind that they figured the toys would just be thrown away so duplicating the toys would be a good way to get money if parents chose to replace said toy.

Now as for returning to their roots I find in a way since more older gen fans have been appearing they have started to make an attempt at returning to it with bringing some of the older gen ponies into the toyline very few I might add to try to generate a very small variety change, but we must remember they don't want to waste much resource on it knowing the money might not come in for it so they see it as a it's easier to save money and resources if the same character/toy is duplicated they wouldn't lose much from it and in the end Hasbro is a business and will move with the changes of time even if it means they change the way they market things or how they go about making/selling items.

I personally would love it if they gave variety to their toyline, but in the end Hasbro is a large business and will not bend backwards to create toys that people want of characters or variety it just wouldn't benefit them nor bring in the money even if fans of any gen think otherwise Hasbro is a large business and will always have one thing in mind the profits so if the profits just aren't there their not going to waste to much money or resources on creating variety of toys I mean the figures today are poorly made due to just like any business they pump them out and see how much profit they can make and the mane 6 is the profit focus so they keep with that since the mane 6 is the most recognizable of the fandom so people see them, know them and therefore buy them.

So in the end variety just won't be there like the older gens since the mane 6 bring in the money.

Sidenote: I loved the variety of the different sets of the older gens growing up it would have been nice to see Hasbro bring that variety back and it's sad that Hasbro keeps producing the mane 6, but with time comes change.

Edited March 15, 2020 by chaosprincess

[Splashee 28,537]

I don't know if Hasbro did already. A few G1 toys have been released. Their new approach of advertising toys on Youtube failed with new COPPA rules, so I don't know what they will do next. They might have to change some fundamentals, and that might change their business and methods used.