Why did Hasbro end the show?

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

I always felt the show ended because some of the crews contracts ran out and they were running low on ideas. As for the toys Hasbro hadn't really released many good toys since the MLP movie IMHO so Hasbro kinda ruined their own sales by missing opportunities to be more show accurate. If I were Hasbro I would have made a whole bunch of new toys out of the future Mane 6 from "The Last Problem" and a bunch of toys of Student 6. 

[Latecomer 438]

Just now, StitchandMLPlover said:

I always felt the show ended because some of the crews contracts ran out and they were running low on ideas. As for the toys Hasbro hadn't really released many good toys since the MLP movie IMHO so Hasbro kinda ruined their own sales by missing opportunities to be more show accurate. If I were Hasbro I would have made a whole bunch of new toys out of the future Mane 6 from "The Last Problem" and a bunch of toys of Student 6. 

Student 6 are tricky to fit under the pony brand (since most of them aren't) and while fully-ascended Twilight works, i don't see old mares being a big seller.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

1 minute ago, Latecomer said:

Student 6 are tricky to fit under the pony brand (since most of them aren't) and while fully-ascended Twilight works, i don't see old mares being a big seller.

I meant more like a bunch of toys of Pinkie's Foul Little Cheese, Grown cake twins, Grown Flurryheart. As for Student 6 just market them with other ponies and school themed stuff like maybe 2 packs where you get Ocellious and Twilight. Smolder and RD etc. Tall Alicorn Twilight is definitely a missed opportunity. 

[Latecomer 438]

4 minutes ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

I meant more like a bunch of toys of Pinkie's Foul Little Cheese, Grown cake twins, Grown Flurryheart. As for Student 6 just market them with other ponies and school themed stuff like maybe 2 packs where you get Ocellious and Twilight. Smolder and RD etc. Tall Alicorn Twilight is definitely a missed opportunity. 

Yeah, but the show has always been strangely half-connected to the toy side. (Really, the way Western "toy commerical shows" do it can seem pretty half-assed when you're used to the Japanese sort.)

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

On 11/3/2019 at 5:20 PM, Latecomer said:

Yeah, but the show has always been strangely half-connected to the toy side. (Really, the way Western "toy commerical shows" do it can seem pretty half-assed when you're used to the Japanese sort.)

So Japanese toys stay more cannon to the shows they were created for?? Is MLP toys more canon in Japan?

Edited November 5, 2019 by StitchandMLPlover

[Latecomer 438]

1 hour ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

So Japanese toys stay more cannon to the shows they were created for?? Is MLP toys more canon in Japan?

Nah, Japanese MLP toys were pretty wierd.

And it's more that the shows stay canon to the toys - their job is to show them off, and story is something that also happens sometimes. (Sometimes very well.)

[CaliforniaSpeedKing 12]

I know I am a couple years late to this thread but an answer to a question like this would likely consider careful thought. I suspect that the reason the show ended is for one of three reasons or all of them:

1. The show just wasn't as popular as it once was among it's targeted demographic, children. They probably thought for this reason, that it would be impractical to keep the show going after nine years of it airing and probably knew video games were the new means of entertainment.

2. A lot of the main characters have already reached their goals as someone else who commented already said. So them dragging the show on afterwards would probably not only be pointless but would probably result in burnout and seasonal rot like the Simpsons.

3. Finally, 85% of the people who watched the show are probably grown adults now, especially since the targeted age demographic is 4 to 10 years old. Most of them are likely teenagers or adults by this point and would likely enjoy different shows or web series. 

 

These are the three reasons why I personally think MLP ended, these may not be a full list of them but this should give you an idea as to why the show ended at the very least. What you do with this information is entirely up to you.

[Splashee 28,537]

In retrospect, ending the show to replace it with G5 hasn’t paid off for Hasbro. FiM is still as popular for a new generation of fans as it was back in the day. I am saying this without including the internet phenomena that were the Bronies, since FiM was popular even without the Bronies.

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

They ended it because G4's popularity was beginning to trend downwards, simple as that. Some people are still watching FiM and making fanart of it, but those people do not represent the majority of the demographic putting money into Hasbro's pockets. 

[EpicEnergy 22,082]

It was likely something involving money. Perhaps the show wasn't generating sufficient money anymore, or perhaps Hasbro thought that they could obtain more money through ending G4 and making G5.

[ToastedScone 382]

With the exception of G2 (which was ended early), MLP generally always reboots after ten or so years. That gives time for kids to grow up with the brand and make as much money off of a specific generation of kids as possible--but if they kept the same ponies forever, it would feel "old" to new generations of kids and would likely be alienating as there would be so much content to consume to feel like a "real fan". Reboots are necessary after a while for toy lines (Monster High is going through it right now, too--see that ten or so year pattern again? No, I am not counting Monster High G2 lol) so it can feel fresh and be inviting to a new generation.

TLDR, the show needed to end so the franchise and toys didn't become too alienating for the newer generation of pony fans. Change is necessary, sadly 

 

[Props Valroa 26,046]

It went on for too long - and when something goes on for too long, it loses profitability. 

[nataalya 38]

I don't think that longevity affects profitability or not. It's all about quality. There are  so many longer things that are gaining popularity. And they are twice or three times longer than FiM. The problem with FiM is that the best ideas have been finished. We often saw the same problems in the next seasons. Mane6 achieved a lot of their aspirations and dreams. A lot of issues from earlier seasons have been explained in the newer ones. I don't know how G4 could be continued. Personally, I really enjoyed the adventure episodes (Daring Doo, The Movie etc). But it was interesting to me probably because I knew the herd already. Whatever there were still many places and characters to develop.

I don't see any big differeces between new generation and G4... technology has appeared, the animation is done in 3d - but I don't know if it's necessary -  and that's all. G5 had an excellent start. It's a pity that someone put glue on the soles and everything is progressing so slowly. It certainly doesn't help. The hype has already dropped a lot. We'll see what Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 bring. I just hope they will be longer and they will interest people as much or more.

People are very flexible. Today's declines do not mean that something should end or it will end in proportion to these declines. The main thing in this case is not to do the same. And unfortunately G5 does. I don't see good reasons to end G4 if G5 does the same things but with different characters. Nobody should then expect better results... from sales or viewership. This applies to recent FiM seasons as well as current MyM Chapters. The fact that the last seasons were watched by fewer people does not mean that potentially the next ones would be even less attended.


I don't think the generation from G4 would fall for sure. People who grew up on this are adults today, their children will surely play with the "old" generation for a looong long time. And the argument - that we live today in the age of the telephone and the Internet - is banal.

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by nataalya

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

It's been said, but there are two big reasons.

1. Hasbro's a toy company and reboots their generations every decade or so. 2019 marked the near-end of Generation 4's life cycle, so it was time to start fresh.
2. The show had been going on for a long time, while sustaining quality throughout. It can only go so long, though, before they run out of ideas. Season 9 marked the end at just the right time.