More and more commercialism in these holidays

[ManaMinori 4,149]

Does anyone find it funny that with each passing 'holiday special', there's even more emphasis on gift-giving than the one before it? Hearth's Warming eve had none whatsoever, and its message was just about coming together and resolving differences, then with "Hearthswarmers", emphasis on all the pretty shines and bells and whistles came into play. "Hearth's warming club" went back to the moral of Hearth's warming eve, which I was grateful for (even though I'm not a fan of holiday specials, period), But with "Best Gift Ever", emphasis on gifts and consumerism goes all out, being the focus for the entirety of all but the last 5 minutes of the special.

 

I find it horribly contradictory and just plain mean spirited that one of the subplots in this was AJ getting her holiday jollies by disrupting Flim and Flam's business, when they weren't doing anything wrong, and the whole friggin focus of this special is commercialism. (Really, Hasbro? and we're not supposed to get mad that YOU do the same exact thing, selling kids cheaply priced toys (g1's quality was a lot better compared to the crap you make for g4 now), and don't expect anyone to call you out for your bs?)

“quit buying cheaply made yet overpriced dolls” yet Hasbro’s big thing this year is releasing blind boxes with gimmicks we’ve seen before and re-releasing the same brushable gimmicks we’ve seen before with reused accessories. Hmm.....

 

[MangoFoalix 25,058]

32 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Does anyone find it funny that with each passing 'holiday special', there's even more emphasis on gift-giving than the one before it? Hearth's Warming eve had none whatsoever, and its message was just about coming together and resolving differences, then with "Hearthswarmers", emphasis on all the pretty shines and bells and whistles came into play. "Hearth's warming club" went back to the moral of Hearth's warming eve, which I was grateful for (even though I'm not a fan of holiday specials, period), But with "Best Gift Ever", emphasis on gifts and consumerism goes all out, being the focus for the entirety of all but the last 5 minutes of the special.

 

I find it horribly contradictory and just plain mean spirited that one of the subplots in this was AJ getting her holiday jollies by disrupting Flim and Flam's business, when they weren't doing anything wrong, and the whole friggin focus of this special is commercialism. (Really, Hasbro? and we're not supposed to get mad that YOU do the same exact thing, selling kids cheaply priced toys (g1's quality was a lot better compared to the crap you make for g4 now), and don't expect anyone to call you out for your bs?)

“quit buying cheaply made yet overpriced dolls” yet Hasbro’s big thing this year is releasing blind boxes with gimmicks we’ve seen before and re-releasing the same brushable gimmicks we’ve seen before with reused accessories. Hmm.....

 

This is where I have to disagree with you. Flim and Flam were doing something wrong. They were running a scam. Selling shitty products that are overpriced and highly profiting off of it. They are in the wrong because they pray on ignorant ponies. Also, I have to disagree with you here too. You do realize the show IS a huge marketing advertisement for the toyline. It has been and always will be.

[ManaMinori 4,149]

17 minutes ago, TwilySparky said:

This is where I have to disagree with you. Flim and Flam were doing something wrong. They were running a scam. Selling shitty products that are overpriced and highly profiting off of it. They are in the wrong because they pray on ignorant ponies. Also, I have to disagree with you here too. You do realize the show IS a huge marketing advertisement for the toyline. It has been and always will be.

it's exactly what Hasbro does, themselves, so how are Flim and Flam in the wrong, if Hasbro isn't?

the stuff F&F made was hoof-made, which was something later promoted (when it was given to Rarity by Spike) as  positive, just as long as the thought counted. They brothers obviously put enough thought into it to make it appealing to consumers, for them to want to buy them, no matter how shoddy they were. Because they DID sell.

[gingerninja666 487]

Where does Hearthswarming Tail come in this?

[RDDash 19,246]

Their (Flim and Flam) disguises was so painfully obvious that I kept wondering if half of those ponies were blind. Their shenanigans were mostly harmless to me, but at the same time I am starting to wonder why are they still doing it. You would think that ponies would actually caught on if they would try to scam ponies multiple times in the row but unfortunately ponies are just too trusting.