What is your opinion on the MLP toys?

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

I just went to a retail store today (exclusively in Canada) and decided to look through the aisle where they sold toys for girls.

 

I found some MLP toys. Rarity with the wings from "Sonic Rainboom" and Fluttershy with a basket and a brush for her hair.

 

Apparently, Hasbro wants us to fix their manes by ourselves, since in the case, their manes aren't their regular shape... however, the descriptions threw me off. There wasn't anything about Rarity being a dressmaker or whatever. It just said she loved to fly... huh? And in Fluttershy's case, there is no mention of her being good with animals. Instead it just says, "Fluttershy loves gardening", possibly implying gardening is her special talent, not tending for animals.

 

I'll also bring up the fact that the Fluttershy doll came with a BASKET and FLOWERS instead of an animal, say, Angel Bunny.

 

Next thing I looked at was the Celestia figure that was PINK and not white. And guess what, behind the box it came with, you can clearly see that Celestia is WHITE.

 

My god Hasbro, what were you thinking? These weren't done very well, overall. I like the idea of fixing their manes but that's about it. Bad information really hurts their sales because the brony community is growing exponentially.

[Prince Lightning Da Cute 619]

I would buy them but you'd have to be pretty close to me to let me let you see them

[Champion RD92 8,658]

I have a Rainbow Dash toy, but her mane looks nothing like it's supposed to and it's not even really the right colors...

 

I would prefer the toys to be a lot more accurate to the characters in the show

[Aureity 3,055]

Hasbro's hilariously bad at catering to the brony community. I've already lost hope. :

[Arrow 236]

Well, Celestia IS pink, just a very pale one that looks almost like white.

 

I can agree with that it's a bit overdone though.

[SrFrog 927]

Their main demographic is still little girls so I don't see any reasoning for changing their main target group. We do get those new Toys R' us exclusives however.

[HanPolo 150]

I use to dislike the toys, but ive picked a few up off my neice without actualy buying them (I use to tell her I gave them away, but now I dont even bother).

 

And yhea, that whole Pink Celestia thing threw me off completely. Why? Just... Why? Thank god they corrected that mistake...

[Apple Bloom 2,933]

words

 

First of all, that Fluttershy you mention is the Easter Fluttershy. The normal version comes with a bunny. (I believe) Secondly, Hasbro isn't catering to us, not with their current line anyway. MLP toys are designed for little girls so they make them with that demographic in mind. Now this is just my own speculation but I think they made Celestia pink because (apparently) pink toys sell better and the generic descriptions are probably written to go along with the theme of the toy. If it has flowers, for example, the description might be about gardening.

 

They are listening to us though, or they wouldn't be coming out with those new toys like white Celestia and DJ P0N-3. I think right now they are just used to making toys just for kids. I mean, that's all they've ever done.

Edited February 26, 2012 by Duchess Apple Bloom III

[DJ MUFF1N D3RP 322]

I don't think I'll ever buy any of the toys for the simple fact that they look nothing like their show counterparts and from what I have heard and seen, they don't even give them accurate descriptions or accessories. The least they could do is be accurate with the named characters because even little girls would notice the differences.

[whargarbl 7]

I got a mini Rainbow Dash for my birthday from my fiancee and yeah, the toys don't really look like the show counterparts. Not to mention the packaging is awful. Tape and plastic EVERYWHERE.

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

I haven't sought out most of the toys because they're not quite show accurate. The ones I do seek out are the blind bag toys, but I still haven't gotten any of those yet. I did have a Blind Bag Applejack figurine at one point, but I gave her away to someone else who is a much bigger Applejack fan. (Not that I dislike Applejack...he just seemed like he would enjoy having the figurine more.)

 

I do, despite that, have several toys. At an NYE party I won one of those sets of five toys--the one with Pink Celestia, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Spike--in a game of Apples to Apples. At some point when I get the chance I plan on repainting the Celestia figure to be show accurate, color wise.

[Big Bill Hell 123]

It's the same thing with every local retail store i try to get ponies from. They always look horrific. If only toys r us wasn't so far away.

[Twi Rubix 726]

I don't plan on getting the toys myself, but Hasbro really should make them accurate. What I saw one time at a Wal-Mart was a bunch of Recolors of the Mane 6.

[autumnalone 21]

Apparently, Hasbro wants us to fix their manes by ourselves, since in the case, their manes aren't their regular shape...

It's incredibly hard-- possibly even impossible-- to mass-produce perfectly styled nylon hair, and would be economically unrealistic for the toy producers to attempt this. Remember that toy line production has to compromise toy quality and sell-ability with factors such as ease and cost of production!

 

however, the descriptions threw me off. There wasn't anything about Rarity being a dressmaker or whatever. It just said she loved to fly... huh? And in Fluttershy's case, there is no mention of her being good with animals. Instead it just says, "Fluttershy loves gardening", possibly implying gardening is her special talent, not tending for animals.

 

I'll also bring up the fact that the Fluttershy doll came with a BASKET and FLOWERS instead of an animal, say, Angel Bunny.

 

Next thing I looked at was the Celestia figure that was PINK and not white. And guess what, behind the box it came with, you can clearly see that Celestia is WHITE.

 

The descriptions on the back of the boxes vary from release to release, as to the accessories. They probably mentioned flight on the Glimmer Wings Rarity because that's the draw of the Glimmer Wings toy-- the wings, and the flying action! The original Fluttershy releases came with Angel bunny and a wagon, or, in the larger set, a nursery tree with a bunch of animals. You're referring to the Easter special Fluttershy right now, I think, which is a different case completely!

 

As for Pinklestia: she's long been a problem with bronies, and with me too. The issue comes down to this: bronies are not the target demographic of MLP toys. They aren't ever going to be the main consumers of 'em either, because little girls outnumber bronies! Unfortunately, market research tells Hasbro that a pink pony might sell better than a white one-- thus Pinklestia. Luckily for us, Toys R Us is coming out with a Whitelestia release soon.

 

My god Hasbro, what were you thinking? These weren't done very well, overall. I like the idea of fixing their manes but that's about it. Bad information really hurts their sales because the brony community is growing exponentially.

In conclusion: yeah, you do bring up valid points about the inaccuracies of the toys, but just remember that bronies never have been and probably never will be the top priority of Hasbro. Though the fandom is growing, yes, it's still a matter of numbers. The My Little Pony line has always focused on walking a curious line between playability and collectability, and unfortunately that means that we're unlikely to see highest quality, collector-style items coming our way.

 

...Unless you count the recently announced Toys R Us line, which features Zecora, Whitelestia, Nightmare Moon, Trixie, and DJ-P0N3. And Lyra's confirmed to be in the wedding line.

[Radiance64 7,053]

Wish they had plastic, correct hair

[RockinRarity 1,605]

I just restyle the manes. It's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

 

Rainbow Dash's mane is the worst because the color scheme is off. I intend on buying new nylon hair from dollyhair.com at some point and just rehairing her completely. So she's the only one of the mane 6 I haven't restyled yet. But yeah, everyone else was fairly simple.

 

As for the recolors, I used to hate them. Now I think they're cute. I bought Snowcatcher because she came with a kitty, and I used the kitty to make Opalescence. I purposefully bought a Fluttershy with Angel the bunny from Hasbro's shop because I couldn't find her with Angel anywhere else. I also purposefully bought the Ride Along with Rainbow Dash so that I could get the turtle, and I gave the scooter to Scootaloo. I dunno what I'm going to do about Owlicious but he's not top priority - I got Twilight with Spike and a brushable pink Celestia who I painted white. I might make a Gummy out of polymer clay, since I doubt that Gummy will ever be a toy.

 

You're right, Hasbro doesn't make completely show-accurate toys, and it's a little bothersome. But there are ways to get over that. You just have to be good with your hands, or have a friend who is.

 

Buying the toys supports Hasbro financially, and if you love MLP, why not buy the products?

[ErBoi 501]

Personally, despite being both a brony and a toy collector, I have no interest in buying any of the toys for this show. I'm very picky about articulation and the MLP toys kinda...don't have any. I mean, some of them can turn their head...not really intrigued by that though.

[Nah 3,182]

I bet ya Hasbro doesn't even watch the show! They just pop out random, stereotype, girly toys and make a profit, heck I think the ones buying the ponies that aren't bronies or pegasisters (The target Demographics) Don't even watch the show!

 

Rant over, if you acted TL;DR on me, Hasbro sucks at toys now!

[Inactive01 5,299]

Me when looking at toys: Did Hasbro forget that there's no more G3/G3.5 anymore?

[Jadefire 2,797]

I know it's easy to forget this sometimes, but My Little Pony is ultimately a toy franchise aimed at little girls, whose demographic is far larger than the brony fandom. They won't make a heck of a lot more money by making the toys show-accurate, and so they won't make the effort to do so.

 

Thankfully they're starting to get a little better about it, though, with the Toys-R-Us exclusive toys that are a little bit more catered towards bronies. Hopefully the trend will get better in the future.

[RagingTwilight 101]

I've been very reluctant to buy any of the toys. I think if I did though, I'd want the blind bag Twilight Sparkle...and maybe Big Macintosh. I dunno why, but the toys just seem way too girly, save for the blind bag ponies, since they're nothing more than figurines. I still haven't gathered up the courage to go buy them.

[Arashi Takamine 123]

I like the Brushables better then the blind bags but I'll likely buy both...The Brushables are more tolerable of the re-colors for characters since I can just style the hair to my liking and preference and think up a character. I'm looking forward to making show-esque hair styles for mine when I obtain them. (I'm bald but I love styling hair I use to spend hours when I was younger styling my American Girl doll's hair over and over. When I get my hands on a Fluttershy she's getting her hair braided and trimmed a bit a few times...I admit I'll have a lot of fun with them.)

[SailorCardKnight 85]

Every time a brony complains about the lack of show accuracy for the toys and forget they are toys for little girls, I just wanna bang my head into my desk repeatedly.

 

As others have said: we are not the target audience, the hair isn't styled nor are the toys perfect as a way to cut production costs, the text doesn't match because they are going with the theme of the packaging. Then you have those new born mutant toys, which are obviously left over from the last MLP generation (once again, a way to cut production costs).

 

Theres also another thing as to why the toys aren't show accurate. The show is made to sell the toys, NOT the toys are made to promote the show. If Hasbro was doing this, then yes, we would be seeing show accurate toys. Hasbro is also following the same business model that they have always done for the MLP line since the 80s. The difference this time is that now they have gained an unexpected following.

 

Keep in mind Hasbro has always marketed to kids, so they have no idea how to market to bronies. These toys are also planned very far in advance, so we aren't going to see more toys that bronies would like overnight. The stuff on the store selves now they most likely planned a year or a year and a half ago, long before the brony craze caught on. The up coming TRS toys are Hasbro's way of saying that they do care about us and they are trying to please us in the best way they currently know how. Plus, they are testing the waters with them being "exclusives" and all, waiting to see just how much we would be willing to spend. If they sell well, I'm sure they will come up with more stuff for bronies.

 

As for my personal opinion on the toys? I'm cool with the fact they aren't perfect (some of the stuff they have some out with are kinda cute, i'm thinking of getting the RC car for my niece), except for Pinkelestia, she bugs the hell out of me. Even if I was still a kid the fact that she is pink instead of white like the show would bug me, and your hearing this from someone who was nuts about the color pink when she was a kid! Luna kinda bothers me too, as they simply reused a mold from the regular brushables and is more purple than blue, and blindbag Fluttershy's hair, but thats tolerable compared to Pinkelestia.

 

The Brushables are more tolerable of the re-colors for characters since I can just style the hair to my liking and preference and think up a character.

 

I also like the recolors of the brushables for the same reasons, which is why I decided to get a few. Its so nice to have some ponies where the lack of accuracy won't bug me and I can do whatever I want with them. I have a Dewdrop Dazzle where I went and restyled her hair. Turned out cute.

[Arashi Takamine 123]

Every time a brony complains about the lack of show accuracy for the toys and forget they are toys for little girls, I just wanna bang my head into my desk repeatedly.

 

As others have said: we are not the target audience, the hair isn't styled nor are the toys perfect as a way to cut production costs, the text doesn't match because they are going with the theme of the packaging. Then you have those new born mutant toys, which are obviously left over from the last MLP generation (once again, a way to cut production costs).

 

Theres also another thing as to why the toys aren't show accurate. The show is made to sell the toys, NOT the toys are made to promote the show. If Hasbro was doing this, then yes, we would be seeing show accurate toys. Hasbro is also following the same business model that they have always done for the MLP line since the 80s. The difference this time is that now they have gained an unexpected following.

 

Keep in mind Hasbro has always marketed to kids, so they have no idea how to market to bronies. These toys are also planned very far in advance, so we aren't going to see more toys that bronies would like overnight. The stuff on the store selves now they most likely planned a year or a year and a half ago, long before the brony craze caught on. The up coming TRS toys are Hasbro's way of saying that they do care about us and they are trying to please us in the best way they currently know how. Plus, they are testing the waters with them being "exclusives" and all, waiting to see just how much we would be willing to spend. If they sell well, I'm sure they will come up with more stuff for bronies.

 

As for my personal opinion on the toys? I'm cool with the fact they aren't perfect (some of the stuff they have some out with are kinda cute, i'm thinking of getting the RC car for my niece), except for Pinkelestia, she bugs the hell out of me. Even if I was still a kid the fact that she is pink instead of white like the show would bug me, and your hearing this from someone who was nuts about the color pink when she was a kid! Luna kinda bothers me too, as they simply reused a mold from the regular brushables and is more purple than blue, and blindbag Fluttershy's hair, but thats tolerable compared to Pinkelestia.

 

 

I also like the recolors of the brushables for the same reasons, which is why I decided to get a few. Its so nice to have some ponies where the lack of accuracy won't bug me and I can do whatever I want with them. I have a Dewdrop Dazzle where I went and restyled her hair. Turned out cute.

 

Ooh I'd love to see a pic of her if you got one. ^^

[Shankveld 4,949]

I actually think they are adorable

beggars can't be choosers ~