Toys a disservice to FIM

[ThunderShock1 24]

Look, I know that MLP mainly exists just to sell toys.

 

But who here thinks that the toys actually do the show a disservice?

 

They're hardly ever accurate, they introduce concepts that aren't even referenced in the show, and they even create controversy from time to time.  (Pink Celestia, really?)

 

And don't even get me started on EQG!  That is the biggest piece of executive meddling from Hasbro I've seen since I joined the fandom.

 

Thoughts?

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

Hasbro is a toy selling company that existed since Mattel.

 

Of course their toys aren't going to be accurate as they have to produce for the many people who want it.

 

I don't mind, but I think they could do a bit better.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,599]

I am indifferent. I still buy a decent amount of the toys. Sure, they don't look insanely accurate, at all in some cases, but it isn't something that bothers me. Some of them do look good, some of the brushables and whatnot don't. Do they do the a show a disservice? Some of them do, some of them don't. That probably won't exactly change from the direct Hasbro front. Also, I will admit that the EqG dolls are not that good at all and the box art...Holy f*ck, it is horrible. That is a real disservice especially, because I thought the film was good and in many ways faithful to FiM.

 

In terms of the pony toys overall, in my opinion, they aren't bad.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Kyoshi

[GrimCW 658]

Heh as is the course with Hasbro on its "for girls" lineup for some reason..

Ever notice how boys "action figures" are considerably more accurate than the girls dolls?

Even back in the 80's the Transformers and GI Joe lines were always far more accurate than anything the girls lines of toys had gotten.

[QuirkyUsername 1,576]

I haven't bought any of the toys but from what I've seen they are all pretty awful. If you want accuracy its better to just have something fanmade and commissioned. I'm sure some people might disagree and like the toys despite how inaccurate they can be but I can't see myself buying any

[Scootalove 10,689]

The toys don't exactly give the show justice but, the toys look horrendous. Some toys are a fanservice while others are a disservice, but let's face it that the marketing for Hasbro is toys even if they look terrible.

[GrimCW 658]

I haven't bought any of the toys but from what I've seen they are all pretty awful. If you want accuracy its better to just have something fanmade and commissioned. I'm sure some people might disagree and like the toys despite how inaccurate they can be but I can't see myself buying any

 

Actually I only collect the Funko Pop ones normally. And they're pretty accurate in most ways. Except they have RD's hair on both sides of her neck rather than just one as it should've been.

But the CC exclusive Vinyl Scratch was pretty good too, and the Build a Bear plushies are flipping AWESOME, and insanely accurate with hair.... Kinda threw me for a loop noticing that!

I'm a stickler for accuracy, and won't touch the hair dolls at all (well.. I did get the Vinyl scratch one out of my dedication to that character alone)

But the only thing Hasbro does right is the little mini $.25 cent ones they sell for $4 a pop in grab bag thingies...

 

Edit: missed the decimal

Edited August 29, 2013 by GrimCW

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

This thread appears to be related to the My Little Pony franchise and/or the Bronydom in general. Thus, it has been sentenced to Sugarcube Corner.

 

This is an automatically generated message, by the way.

[Shanks 10,816]

To me if they are at least close than they are doing the show some justice, but alot of these toys don't even get the colors right. Since when has Celestia been pink? And the Equestria Girls dolls look like Bratz dolls strung out on heroin, there are a couple of toys and plushies that are decent but there are more of them that are bleh than there probably should be. I don't think it should be that expensive to make toys that look at least close to how they do in the show and they would probably sell more of them as well.

[Radiance64 7,053]

If you mean the brushables and EqG dolls, then yeah I agree, pretty bad stuff.

But the minifigure/blind bag ponies are pretty good even though they can chip pretty easily, and the plushies they've been releasing lately are very nice. And those vinyl figures are just excelent.

In other words, some are bad but others are great, problem is Hasbro needs to be more consistent with their toy quality I guess.

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

I got about 30 blindbag ponies on my shelves, 3 store-bought plushies, a McDonalds toy of Fluttershy and 2 brushables, and even if not all of them are completely show accurate they are still pretty sweet and look adorable. While I am still waiting for that set with a actually accurate Fluttershy blindbag and that annoys me to bits that she is modeled after Rainbow in the actual bags, I quite like the toys and they make for great decorations.

[Flutter's lover <3 8,206]

Even if a lot of the toys arn't that show accurate Hasbro puts out, they're still decent and look good on a shelf. I've got 2 brushable FLuttershy's one I got new and one I got in a bag of G4 ponies at Value Village. I'm going to eventually restyle their mane and tail...so she looks more like herself.

 

The McDonalds toys aren't horrible....I got a 2011 Pinkie Pie, Twily and Flutters as well as a 2012 Flutters and Dashie, the cutie mark isn't all that great but the mane is pretty good on them...as are the eyes and body...and the 2012 ones have a hook so you can hang them on your backpack or whatever,which is kinda cool.

 

The Blind bags? are cool, and you can do quite a bitwith them...if you've got a bit of craftyness to you, you can turn them into things....they're pretty show accurate as well...other than some of the recolors and Fluttershy....

 

Overall, I'll still buy merch here and there, but I usually don't buy it new....I try to find it at thrift shops or eBay cheap.

[RockinRarity 1,605]

I hope that people aren't actually putting the brushables and the EqG dolls on the same level of bad...

 

At least the brushables have show-accurate features. The only thing really off is the hair. And that can be fixed. I even went through the trouble of completely rehairing Rainbow Dash because the colors were in the wrong places. Bit the rest of the hair can be styled.

 

EqG is terrible though. Holy hell they're ugly. That's what happens when the toys get made before the character styles get finalized. Sign.

[GrimCW 658]

EqG is terrible though. Holy hell they're ugly. That's what happens when the toys get made before the character styles get finalized. Sign.

 

this by a long shot :pb

Common practice though.

I've got an Enterprise toy that was from the First Contact Star Trek Movie.. ENTIRELY wrong.. found out later it was designed off a VERY early design of the ship. Playmates was given the early designs to work with so they could get the toys out ahead of the movie...

[Blue Moon 6,341]

Well, the toys aren't terrible, but they could definitely use improvements such as making the faces a bit more show-accurate, and getting the manes and colors right. Pink Celestia was rather odd. Currently, I don't think it is doing a disservice to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but it could definitely be better.

[Nulln 755]

My Little Pony toys have been out long before Friendship is Magic, I don't think they really want to change their designs much.  I've noticed that they're looking more and more like the show characters though.  The Equestria Grils dolls I thought actually looked better than the show.  I did find an alicorn Twilight with blue wings though.  lol

[Flutter's lover <3 8,206]

I hope that people aren't actually putting the brushables and the EqG dolls on the same level of bad...

 

At least the brushables have show-accurate features. The only thing really off is the hair. And that can be fixed. I even went through the trouble of completely rehairing Rainbow Dash because the colors were in the wrong places. Bit the rest of the hair can be styled.

 

EqG is terrible though. Holy hell they're ugly. That's what happens when the toys get made before the character styles get finalized. Sign.

 

 

This is why I don't buy the Rainbow Dash brushables...her colours are wrong...the Fashion style I have is missing the blue and purple from her mane, and her tail only has blue and purple. I only have her because she was 50% off at a store that was going out of business. I also picked up Fashion Style Pinkie Pie.

[RockinRarity 1,605]

This is why I don't buy the Rainbow Dash brushables...her colours are wrong...the Fashion style I have is missing the blue and purple from her mane, and her tail only has blue and purple. I only have her because she was 50% off at a store that was going out of business. I also picked up Fashion Style Pinkie Pie.

I didn't want her missing from my collection so I spent an extra ten bucks and several hours over the course of a couple of weeks and made her have show-accurate hair. I broke her neck plug so I had to super glue he head back on, bit her mane is beautiful.

[Flutter's lover <3 8,206]

I didn't want her missing from my collection so I spent an extra ten bucks and several hours over the course of a couple of weeks and made her have show-accurate hair. I broke her neck plug so I had to super glue he head back on, bit her mane is beautiful.

 

Yea...I don't have the patience to do that....cutting and restyling their hair is about as far as I go.

 

I've got tutorials saved somewhere....Just haven't gotten around to doing it.

[Moonlight 7,286]

I honestly kind of like the toys.

 

Some are pretty bad, but I kind of like them.

 

 

I mainly love the Brushables and the Blindbag ponies. I think they're cute and I enjoy brushing their mane+tails... e_e

 

[Broseph 215]

I haven't bought any of the toys (yet), but I don't think they look that bad.
The only problem I have with them is how the toys seem to influence the show (It's obvious that Equestria Girls, Twilicorn and characters like Princess Cadence and Shining Armour were made solely to sell toys).
If the show had more freedom and the the toys were mostly based on ideas from the show, instead of certain things in the show being based on ideas for toys then it would be fine.

It just feels like the greatness of this show could be expressed and shown more often, however it's held back what with it having to sell new toys.

[RallyFlag 4]

Yeah, the toys are a little annoying in that only very rarely are they close to accurate. I got one of the Princess Luna crystal ones recently, but decided I was going to paint it the proper colours. Which are even on the box itself, so how they can't manage to produce a toy with the proper colours is boggling.

 

 

This is the result. Her hooves weren't on the box, hence golden horseshoes. Other than that, I'm quite happy with her now and I can't figure out how it's so hard for Hasbro to actually get the correct colours on their toys.

[GrimCW 658]

. Which are even on the box itself, so how they can't manage to produce a toy with the proper colours is boggling.

 

This is the result. Her hooves weren't on the box, hence golden horseshoes. Other than that, I'm quite happy with her now and I can't figure out how it's so hard for Hasbro to actually get the correct colours on their toys.

 

Usually VERY early concept designs are sent to the toy manufacturers themselves so the prototypes can be made, molded, and prepped for manufacture well before the final version is ever set for the show

The box art seems to come at a much later time, and often uses promo art for the final show.

 

terrible practice IMO but given the changes a show/movie goes through during initial production, and the want/need to have merchandise out at the same time or prior to final release.  Its all in the bucks.

 

HOWEVER... ever notice that boys toys tend to be more accurate, and get tons of rehashes without needing crazy mods to the show?

[Sylentmana 271]

If I were in control of Hasbro I would create a toyline that complemented my show instead of creating a show to sell my cheaply made toys.