Do you think G5 has been shallow?

[Guest]

5 hours ago, CloudMistDragon said:

I had a similar thought on why they ordered more TYT despite the bizarrely fluctuating viewership. MLP's already a commercial show, and every TYT episode is like a mini-commercial for the G5 brand. With the episodes being so cheap to produce, it doesn't really matter whether or not the views are super consistent so long as it's keeping people engaged with G5. As for Hasbro's finances not being too good, they rightly blamed inflation for that. It wasn't MLP's fault, the toy line expansion for G5 would be consistent with what I saw reported on how MLP actually did well last year. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2022/11/23/hasbro-stock-revenue-and-profit-trends-at-the-toy-making-giant/?sh=1d85dc0b3966

"It's also seeing ongoing growth in its Peppa Pig and My Little Pony properties."

Yes, they don't need quality product, but they just need to keep people engaged with their product. This is why their entertainment media releases are very important.

Even Hasbro thinks the same thing- from the link you provided: "Hasbro also states that the demand for entertainment has increased in importance and will play a key role in profitability over the next few quarters.".

Sorry I should clarify what I meant earlier as I was knocking out and I'm just getting up mentally: I mentioned earlier that their release schedule wasn't that great for year to year financials, but I meant in terms that Hasbro didn't capitalize on the initial success on G5 year to year. Inflation is one thing that companies can blame a decline to a certain extent, but look at Hasbro's other subsidies like WOTC and MTG- they released a lot of products and produced record breaking revenue despite inflation and decline in year to year revenue claims. MTG is a card game, but they capitalized on the successes of their releases and is now a billion dollar brand as of recently:

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/magic-the-gathering-game-hasbro-stock-price-one-billion-brand-2023-2

Upon seeing the numbers across the board,  Hasbro should've jumped onto another major project film project or maybe even an actual show. They did not exactly have a plan and it shows with their media. It was a missed opportunity for a plethora of business opportunities across the board for MLP. The entertainment area is an important area for a franchise like MLP. This affects their entire product ecosystem of:  dvds, digital, books, apparel, toy line, games, etc. 

The link you shared does state that the MLP property was consistent and seeing growth, but we have to elaborate on what they had supplementing their property in terms of longevity. TYT released throughout the year and MYM released seasonally which definitely helped keep the brand relevant. In May 2022, they had a video game that came out on several gaming platforms. There was also a re-release of the movie in July 2022 through a Netflix sing-along version that garnered a lot of views. These were key forms of media that help create multiple avenues of growth on top of keeping things like toy sales consistent and room for expansion for other products.

More interesting things about the 1st movie; the movie was originally slated to release in theaters by Paramount pictures, but due to covid, they ended up selling the rights to Netflix while allowing other countries to release it in select theaters:

"Paramount Pictures was originally set to distribute the film, which had been scheduled to open in theaters on Sept. 24, 2021. Hasbro’s entertainment studio Entertainment One produced the movie and sold it to Netflix. It will retain distribution rights in China."

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/paramount-my-little-pony-movie-netflix-1234902328/

Internationally it made $4,068,084 in total box office revenue. Here's a link to that box office break down:

https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/My-Little-Pony-A-New-Generation-(2021)#tab=international

 

OH YEAH! Here's was the short quote and link from Hasbro's 3rd quarter 2022 financials website that I was thinking of last night for the earlier post:

"Family Brands revenue declined 78% primarily due to the delivery of My Little Pony: A New Generation film in third quarter 2021 which did not have a comparable film release this year".

https://investor.hasbro.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hasbro-reports-third-quarter-financial-results

They also mention 3rd quarter declines in some areas due to supply chain logistics and more:  "These results were primarily impacted by the acceleration of Consumer Products shipments by our retailers into the second quarter due to anticipated supply chain challenges, as well as MAGIC: THE GATHERING set releases and entertainment content scheduled for release in the fourth quarter versus the third quarter last year. " , however, as I mentioned earlier, it didn't stop them from capitalizing and making record breaking profits for one of their brands like MTG. They didn't fully capitalize with a major sequel or anything high production, but that did not seem to matter as they kept somewhat consistent growth with their lower quality product with a staggered release schedule. Though with how things developed, they may amp up things which is why they ordered more episodes, specials, and possibly another movie down the line.  

I worry about the overall quality of the media, but considering that Hasbro's target audience is girls ages 4-6, they can pretty much get away with what they are doing and will continue to do so. I don't doubt that.

 

*Sorry if I'm all over the place, the electric company ended up doing maintenance overnight as they were replacing poles and transformers, so that messed me up a bit.

 

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by StarlightNyars

[Rosy Moonlight 369]

I believe that putting G5 in the same continuity as G4 made it look even shallower than it would be if it were its own continuity.

It is like putting a kiddie pool on a cliff by the sea. It makes the kiddie pool look smaller, riskier, and out of place.

[Starset Twinkle 501]

On 12/8/2022 at 2:58 PM, phantompone1148 said:

For me, yes… Sort of.
 

G4 literally had almost anything you could ask for in a kid show. Character development, tons of world building, actually funny humor, etc. G5 on the other hand, not so much so far, there has been very little character development and barely any world building. 
 

I think the reason why G5 has been so shallow imo is because the writers, who were confirmed to be fans of G4 earlier this year, actually wanted to take risks and try new things with it but, the higher ups at Hasbro forced them to play it safe so the franchise can keep its TV-Y rating and to avoid outbursts from certain individuals (SJWs, Karens, overprotective parents). Another thing, I have heard that hasbro barely gives anybody who makes a show out of their IPs much creative control. This was confirmed to happen to the crew of friendship is magic during the last 2 seasons.

I still enjoy TYT/MYM, but compared to G4, yeah, I'd say it is shallower. However, I'd say it's about average (maybe slightly above average), for a kids show. For TYT, it's also very difficult to make character building content particularly deep when your episodes are 5 minutes long. As for MYM, it seems to be more focused on the mystery and lore of the world than character building, though there are a few exceptions like the Pipp/Zipp episode where they get trapped in a cave.

 

With regard to Hasbro, I've watched some interviews with former directors and writers on FiM, who said that they had a fair amount of creative freedom so long as they didn't do things that would be inappropriate for the target demographic. This included obvious things such as not killing characters or using profanity as well as some more random things such as not having characters ever drink from a stemmed glass (because the fear of perception that they were drinking alcohol). I remember a few instances of things Jim Miller, the director of the later seasons stated in an interview. Hasbro specifically asked for and designed Twilight's castle in season 5, the power ponies in season 4, requested a helicopter show up in an episode (random, I know), and the swan boat to show up (used in the Pinkie Pie Manehatten episode). Primarily these things had to do with toy promotion. One major story affecting Hasbro request of in the later seasons was at the end of Season 9, having Fluttershy/Discord & Applejack/Rainbow Dash being in relationships. However, because the writers/creative executives involved at DHX were fairly adept, they were usually able to implement these in such a way that they ended up enhancing the overall world. For example, how they dealt with the aftermath of Twilight getting wings or a castle. Miller did concede the Season 9 relationships decisions was a bit of a tougher sell, since they couldn't develop those ideas, due to the show ending. On the positive side, he discussed being particularly proud of The Perfect Pear (Applejack's parent's episode), because he felt that by the time they had gotten to season 7, the creatives had earned the right to tell a story that involved those kinds of themes. So, if anything, my understanding is that the creatives felt like they were allowed to get away with more as the seasons progressed, so long as they made it work with whatever Hasbro asked for.

 

That being said, Hasbro has started exercising a lot more creative control since they moved the property entirely to their own studios (Allspark/Entertainment One/Boulder Media). This desire for more creative control was a secondary reason for ending FiM (the primary being downward trending viewership/sales) because DHX, now WildBrain, who created FiM were not owned by Hasbro. After FiM ended, Boulder Media (Ireland) & Entertainment One (Canada), created Rainbow Roadtrip, Pony Life, and A New Generation. Hasbro has now sold off Boulder Media, but still uses Entertainment One to produce TYT & MYM. Atomic Cartoons who aren't owned by Hasbro has also worked on them, but only in an "additional animation" kind of role according to my understanding and has little or no role in the creative side. So, I would assume a lot more of the story direction is now dictated by them, rather than merely occasional story cuts and toy adverts, which is why MYM & TYT seem to be significantly more Hasbro influenced than before. I would also assume it's quite difficult for the creatives at Entertainment One to work their own ideas into the overall stories being told, because there is simply far less runtime with regard to the longform episodes. (FiM produced 26 episodes per season, MYM has produced 8 & 2 specials so far).