Do you think MLP will do more to appeal to bronies and older audiences in the future?

[guardmaster 13]

So I've watched a few episodes of the show, and I'm starting to enjoy it. Still, I've always wondered if the franchise in general going more out of its way to appeal to its fans and older audiences in general. G5 seems to taking some steps to appeal to a wider audience, like for example having a male pony part of the main cast. Still, looking at all the various works in the fandom, I feel that the world of MLP has so much potential to do even more.

Considering how much of a phenomenon G4 was in its heyday, and how strong and active the fandom still seems to be, do you think it may try make a show that mainly appeal to fans as well as older audiences in general, while still being marketable to the franchise's original demographic, especially if G5 is successful enough? What kind of show would you like it to be if that's the case?

I've always dreamed of Hasbro doing a show of that kind that continues the adventures of the G4 cast alongside the G5 cast, (maybe with a new group of ponies under their mentorship in order to give it sort of a fresh start) in an ongoing shared universe. Future generations could each take place in new undiscovered part of Equestria so that they can stand out on their own while still being part of the universe (kind of like how they do regions in Pokemon).  The fact that G5 takes place ages after G4 kind of damages that idea, but It would still to be cool if they could pull it off.

While a reboot of FiM would probably be obvious, my main problem with that idea is that it would undo a whole lot of world building with well-defined characters that would take forever to rebuild. While franchises like Batman and Transformers are used to having animated canons, MLP only really has one definitive take in the fandom's eyes. Sure, G1-G3 exist, but they are nowhere nearly held in as high regard in the fandom in comparison to the various canons in the aforementioned other franchises. Given how the original show isn't that complex in plot and seems to have a lot of filler, a continuation might not be too hard for newcomers to drop in too, especially since the franchise still seems to be trying to keep G4 in memory.

Still, what would you like see Hasbro do to appeal to bronies and wider audiences if they decide to go that route?

[SharpWit 2,844]

Not really since we've never been the target audience. I think the shout outs and cameos we've gotten are only a result of knowing that they'll get a ton of hype even for minimal effort, and because of mutual charitable work.

Perhaps there's hope though, since an awful lot can happen in a thousand year gap, and once G5 has been rolled out for a while, all of the projects that people have wanted to work on relayed to G4 but couldn't because of legal issues can finally get underway?

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,825]

19 minutes ago, SharpWit said:

all of the projects that people have wanted to work on relayed to G4 but couldn't because of legal issues can finally get underway?

That's quite the iffy-iffy thing at best...

I think FiM will continue to hold through the future. As MLPF has been gaining new members, I'd say somewhat. 

[guardmaster 13]

On 2021-11-03 at 4:30 PM, SharpWit said:

Not really since we've never been the target audience. I think the shout outs and cameos we've gotten are only a result of knowing that they'll get a ton of hype even for minimal effort, and because of mutual charitable work.

Perhaps there's hope though, since an awful lot can happen in a thousand year gap, and once G5 has been rolled out for a while, all of the projects that people have wanted to work on relayed to G4 but couldn't because of legal issues can finally get underway?

I understand that we're not really the target audience, but MLP is also still sort of a merchandise driven franchise so wouldn't it make sense for Hasbro to want to expand their audience more after seeing what the franchise can really do? Considering how the G4 cast are pretty much the face of MLP now they probably would want to do more with them in the future with G5 still looks intent to keep them in memory, and FiM still available to stream alongside G5.

[Megas 28,081]

I feel G4 was popular enough for Hasbro to give it some support for a while. They've been making some more expensive collectors items for older fans as of late with the Kotobukiya figures, the Disectables and the Natural Series. Heck they still do things for G1 fans every now and then as well

I can see them eventually doing things like they did for Transformers, like how they have the Studio Series and the Generations lines(Prime Wars/WfC, Legacy) for adult fans while having the toylines for children(Cyberverse, Rescue Bots)

[SharpWit 2,844]

2 hours ago, guardmaster said:

I understand that we're not really the target audience, but MLP is also still sort of a merchandise driven franchise so wouldn't it make sense for Hasbro to want to expand their audience more after seeing what the franchise can really do? Considering how the G4 cast are pretty much the face of MLP now they probably would want to do more with them in the future with G5 still looks intent to keep them in memory, and FiM still available to stream alongside G5.

They want to build off of G4's success, and with a decade's worth of material it'll remain profitable for some time. However this will begin to fade away, so they main focus has to be on bringing in new viewers, not keeping the older ones. This is easiest by creating new faces for a young audience, and the cycle will continue.

[guardmaster 13]

1 hour ago, SharpWit said:

They want to build off of G4's success, and with a decade's worth of material it'll remain profitable for some time. However this will begin to fade away, so they main focus has to be on bringing in new viewers, not keeping the older ones. This is easiest by creating new faces for a young audience, and the cycle will continue.

Many popular and franchises I know with a changing cast tend to go out of their way to milk their roots are much as possible though. Digimon, for example, still promotes Agumon as its mascot even when it airs series that don't even feature him. In addition Adventure Time, a show that had an equally long lifespan, is still getting support with specials and reruns.

Honestly, I'm hoping G5 will be successful enough too bring new viewers to watch G4 as well, which when its "ends" may motivate Hasbro to either merge the two settings either as direct continuation of G5 that could air alongside G6, or (more likely) make a show with new group of ponies under the mentorship of the Mane 6 to still make it friendly to other newcomers. FiM, being the long lasting show that it is, isn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. Last thing I want is a complete reboot of FiM, since it would take forever to rebuild its world.

 

[SharpWit 2,844]

2 hours ago, guardmaster said:

Many popular and franchises I know with a changing cast tend to go out of their way to milk their roots are much as possible though. Digimon, for example, still promotes Agumon as its mascot even when it airs series that don't even feature him. In addition Adventure Time, a show that had an equally long lifespan, is still getting support with specials and reruns.

Honestly, I'm hoping G5 will be successful enough too bring new viewers to watch G4 as well, which when its "ends" may motivate Hasbro to either merge the two settings either as direct continuation of G5 that could air alongside G6, or (more likely) make a show with new group of ponies under the mentorship of the Mane 6 to still make it friendly to other newcomers. FiM, being the long lasting show that it is, isn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. Last thing I want is a complete reboot of FiM, since it would take forever to rebuild its world.

 

I'm not so familiar with Digimon, but I would say that their business model is different since their main form of merch is cards right? And that along with the game aspect I think offers a broader appeal.

Adventure time is unique in that it's not a franchise, and it grew with its audience a lot more than most children's shows do. As a result it won't lose its watchability and will ingrained itself as being forever nostalgic.

MLP has prospered similarly to Adventure time, but has to keep the ball rolling like Digimon. Something we need to remember is that our Fandom was entirely unexpected, and very niche. I would expect other projects to have observed this and seek our viewership more strongly than Hasbro will.

[guardmaster 13]

I get your point. I just feel though that it would be natural for Hasbro to try and get MLP to appeal to a wider audience after seeing its fandom and create a shared ongoing universe for MLP since they are doing the same for transformers with their aligned universe. 

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/TransformersAlignedUniverse

I'm a bit frustrated at the possibility that they will completely forego that.

That being said, it does seem like they are taking some steps to attract wider audiences, as I said before. Plus with the collectors items previously mentioned before, they clearly haven't forgotten about it adult fanbase. Critics seem to like the ANG movie much more that the 2017 movie, so if the series itself continues that stride, there's a good chance it might blow up again, and give Hasbro the chance to really go for it.

 

[Ganondorf8 11,695]

Much of it will depend on what Hasbro decides to do with the brand. No doubt they know that the brony fandom is something that ended up benefiting them and that keeping it active will in turn give them what they desire most... Profit and increased business potential. We fans can also do things to help make MLP appealing to others without going overboard as there are those out there who aren't keen on having things thrown in their faces.

[guardmaster 13]

How do you think we can help get MLP back into relevancy? Despite it being called a niche fandom, I still see have more fan works done there that I see with other niche or even more mainstream franchises (even more recent or one-shot concepts like Midnight sparkles and kirins seem to have their vocal fans). Honestly, the one thing that seems to keep such a long-running and influential show from have having an even more vocal fandom is due to some stigma. Do you think the G5 series to also help significantly in some way if it continues the movie's seemingly strong stride?

[guardmaster 13]

On 2021-11-08 at 5:50 PM, Ganondorf8 said:

Much of it will depend on what Hasbro decides to do with the brand. No doubt they know that the brony fandom is something that ended up benefiting them and that keeping it active will in turn give them whatthey desire most... Profit and increased business potential. We fans can also do things to help make MLP appealing to others without going overboard as there are those out there who aren't keen on having things thrown in their faces.

How do you think we can help get MLP back into relevancy? Despite it being called a niche fandom, I still see have more fan works done there that I see with other niche or even more mainstream franchises (even more recent or one-shot concepts like Midnight sparkles and kirins seem to have their vocal fans). Honestly, the one thing that seems to keep such a long-running and influential show from have having an even more vocal fandom is due to some stigma. Do you think the G5 series to also help significantly in some way if it continues the movie's seemingly strong stride?

 

(sorry for the double post. meant to quote you before)

[Ganondorf8 11,695]

14 hours ago, guardmaster said:

How do you think we can help get MLP back into relevancy? Despite it being called a niche fandom, I still see have more fan works done there that I see with other niche or even more mainstream franchises (even more recent or one-shot concepts like Midnight sparkles and kirins seem to have their vocal fans). Honestly, the one thing that seems to keep such a long-running and influential show from have having an even more vocal fandom is due to some stigma. Do you think the G5 series to also help significantly in some way if it continues the movie's seemingly strong stride?

As long as there's very little or better yet, no executive meddling, I think G5 has a shot at being another success for the MLP brand. We won't know this for certain until the series starts but I like to be optimistic about the prospects.