The True Cause of G5's Perceived "Failure" is the Struggling Toy Market

[Misty Shadow 7,699]

I'm the only one I know on this site who has consistently commented on how G5's apparent "failings" are not being caused by the franchise's perceived lack of quality but the woes of the toy market as a whole. What Hasbro was doing not too long ago by pulling back on the amount of toys they were having stocked by retailers was a very smart move and I can prove this. Do you want to know what I saw when I strolled through Target today? 

Everything was on clearance...except MLP. Even Pokémon, the highest-selling media franchise of all time, had stuff on clearance. What more proof do you need? Hasbro has not been pulling back on MLP merchandise because of G5's alleged "failings". It's because they have been looking at the fractured state of the toy market and doing their best to make a return on investment in these rough times for both their business and the economy. It can be demonstrably proven that it's not the fault of G5, end of story.

[Iforgotmybrain 4,972]

I've still seen a decent amount of random G5 merch out and about, just no toys, for the most part. Stuff like toothbrushes, the pez dispensers, juice, I think I remember seeing bandaids as well, just random stuff. It does seem like everything that isn't Lego or plushies is struggling to sell like you showed, finance reports of toy companies definitely backs that up too. Feel like it's not going to get any better either.

[Evil Pink One 13,503]

4 hours ago, Misty Shadow said:

I'm the only one I know on this site who has consistently commented on how G5's apparent "failings" are not being caused by the franchise's perceived lack of quality but the woes of the toy market as a whole. What Hasbro was doing not too long ago by pulling back on the amount of toys they were having stocked by retailers was a very smart move and I can prove this. Do you want to know what I saw when I strolled through Target today? 

Everything was on clearance...except MLP. Even Pokémon, the highest-selling media franchise of all time, had stuff on clearance. What more proof do you need? Hasbro has not been pulling back on MLP merchandise because of G5's alleged "failings". It's because they have been looking at the fractured state of the toy market and doing their best to make a return on investment in these rough times for both their business and the economy. It can be demonstrably proven that it's not the fault of G5, end of story.

Dosnt this just prove that the toys dont need the gen 5 series help to sell themselves, hence they not needing the 3d gen 5 and would probably stick to gen5 2d and perhaps if they saw that the gen 5 2d isn't even needed and the whole actual show is not needed to sell the toys itself?

Since mlp is always known to sell

Toys, not needing a deep plot or story to sell toys to children and the previous gen already solidified the mlp franchise that they dont really need the show to be good or working well to sell toys?

[AstraLotus 24]

There is one solution to this problem. Buy our merchandise!

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[Cheerilee 26,569]

It is part of the problem - I think overall the state of media and cartoons is at a low. It's not specifically G5's fault, it's more of Hasbro's fault and the struggling markets at this point in time. 

[Starlight Serenade 2,660]

1 hour ago, PerlsteinProps said:

It is part of the problem - I think overall the state of media and cartoons is at a low. It's not specifically G5's fault, it's more of Hasbro's fault and the struggling markets at this point in time. 

Pretty much.  I've been gone for a while thanks to school, but I've been seeing a lot more of these types of posts here lately - I recommend for others to go find previous threads here where we discussed annual financial statements and more info that is publicly available online to get a more informed look at Hasbro's current situation.

As for the original post:

Sure G5 has it's own issues, but Hasbro has been on a downward trend especially with toys even when G4 was in the middle of airing. G4 revitalized things for a little while, but even that was temporary. Technically speaking- G5's overall social media metrics are higher than G4's and that's what they seem to be looking at. I theorized that they were trying to hit multiple types of media sources for marketing/exposure.  I'll post a screencap from last year with some of the stats. I recall seeing around December 2023 that G5 as a whole had several hundred million to over around a billion social media interactions across all platforms up through the end of 2023. TYT alone had around 200 million views up to May 2023 based on what info they posted up publicly. I wouldn't count that as a "failure" in that regards, but I do agree that the toy segment is just bad in general.

As someone who's actively studying inventory management, "clearance" can mean many things, some basic reasons like the store trying to get rid of excess or unsold merch that they haven't been able to get rid of - it would be better to eat some of costs and sell it at a loss compared to holding it any longer, incurring more holding costs, thus making it a complete loss. That's an issue that many industries are facing at the moment. That and toy prices have increased with inflation. I mean- "38.99" for that mini set?!?!? Jeez.

Regarding pricing strategy from just those pictures alone(also need to keep in mind that the product types there are different too, you can't compare pricing of puzzles, model sets, and dolls)- some companies may not want to have sales all the time as certain items can have a smaller profit margin where having discounts can really cut into their profit. There are seasonal sales too as we are going from spring to summer. There are some federal regulations for sales too that could be affecting them too.

Oh I found the screencap finally from around September 2023:

 

Edited June 14 by Starlight Serenade

[Misty Shadow 7,699]

I got a better shot of the MLP toys today. 

I noticed that the old shot made it look like there still could have been more MLP stuff on the right being obscured, especially with a misplaced Misty toy being partially visible, so I took another shot today. Still no MLP-related toys in the clearance aisle, this is exactly why not that many of them are being stocked, like I've said. 

8 hours ago, Starlight Serenade said:

Pretty much.  I've been gone for a while thanks to school, but I've been seeing a lot more of these types of posts here lately - I recommend for others to go find previous threads here where we discussed annual financial statements and more info that is publicly available online to get a more informed look at Hasbro's current situation.

As for the original post:

Sure G5 has it's own issues, but Hasbro has been on a downward trend especially with toys even when G4 was in the middle of airing. G4 revitalized things for a little while, but even that was temporary. Technically speaking- G5's overall social media metrics are higher than G4's and that's what they seem to be looking at. I theorized that they were trying to hit multiple types of media sources for marketing/exposure.  I'll post a screencap from last year with some of the stats. I recall seeing around December 2023 that G5 as a whole had several hundred million to over around a billion social media interactions across all platforms up through the end of 2023. TYT alone had around 200 million views up to May 2023 based on what info they posted up publicly. I wouldn't count that as a "failure" in that regards, but I do agree that the toy segment is just bad in general.

As someone who's actively studying inventory management, "clearance" can mean many things, some basic reasons like the store trying to get rid of excess or unsold merch that they haven't been able to get rid of - it would be better to eat some of costs and sell it at a loss compared to holding it any longer, incurring more holding costs, thus making it a complete loss. That's an issue that many industries are facing at the moment. That and toy prices have increased with inflation. I mean- "38.99" for that mini set?!?!? Jeez.

Regarding pricing strategy from just those pictures alone(also need to keep in mind that the product types there are different too, you can't compare pricing of puzzles, model sets, and dolls)- some companies may not want to have sales all the time as certain items can have a smaller profit margin where having discounts can really cut into their profit. There are seasonal sales too as we are going from spring to summer. There are some federal regulations for sales too that could be affecting them too.

Oh I found the screencap finally from around September 2023:

 

And yeah, I've brought this up in the past too. MLP's popularity has been trending down since 2016. Despite that, the G5 shows have had no issues with bringing in viewership. Tell Your Tale's views have been more consistent than ever since the debut of Season 2. 

[Starlight Serenade 2,660]

1 hour ago, Misty Shadow said:

I got a better shot of the MLP toys today. 

I noticed that the old shot made it look like there still could have been more MLP stuff on the right being obscured, especially with a misplaced Misty toy being partially visible, so I took another shot today. Still no MLP-related toys in the clearance aisle, this is exactly why not that many of them are being stocked, like I've said. 

And yeah, I've brought this up in the past too. MLP's popularity has been trending down since 2016. Despite that, the G5 shows have had no issues with bringing in viewership. Tell Your Tale's views have been more consistent than ever since the debut of Season 2. 

Thank you for taking a better shot!

I wanted to put out that info earlier as there are some people who don't understand how inventory and sales work and instantly assume that everything has gone to Tartarus if the shelves still have items. It looks like they restocked some?

Based on the photo- It looks like three of those box sets have been selling well as there is just one of each left and only the "shine collection" (far right) seems to be fully stocked after they restocked it. That shows me that sales are going well for most mlp products there if people are still buying sets without any discounts.

Just to reiterate again for those that aren't aware of the situation - Hasbro has been having issues for a long time with their toy department in general.  I just recalled that my local news station here in LA put an ad segment where Hasbro was offering signing bonuses for people to join their toy departments as they are taking a beating.

 

[Goat-kun 2,527]

The power of one, the power of two, the power of ... money! G5 is failing?! Put a chick in it and you know, the thing. Anyhow, while I have prognosticated that the toy market would collapse, my vision has been somewhat clouded by optimism. It is not just the toy industry. The entire western entertainment industry is gonna go, and rightfully so. I for one welcome the new Asian overlords.

 

That said, G5 is not going to fail because of the usual suspects. Its failure is more or less due to natural causes. Pony in a shrinking habitat ain't gonna survive this mass extinction.

[Cash In 22,053]

Just a friendly reminder to keep things on topic. I've hidden a couple of replies, as the conversation has been deviating from the topic at hand.

Thank you!