Are Bronies the main reason why MLP is still running?

[Envy 6,169]

G3-3.5 was their worst and should be ashamed and are even lucky that the series are even still running because of the horrifying things I've seen in those two, even small things can ruin it for someone.

 

One thing you really need to remember: MLP is a toy franchise.

 

G3 was pretty good in terms of the toys department. So that is really not fair to say at all. A lot of long-time MLP fans actually look down upon G4 because of the decline in the quality and variety of the toyline.

[ColtofPersonality 855]

Not to piss on the topic but the large answer is...no.

Hasbro is a mutli-billion dollar industry that capitalizes on the success of toys, clothing and any other merchandize they make/produce. Bronies make a significant of the sales but in the end the show is just and infomercial for their products  disguised as a Cartoon. It's their cash cow and they'll milk it until it grows dry,.then when it does so does G4 and next comes G5. It's a never ending cycle of consumerism to be honest. 

In the end. Hasbro has their hand over the kill-switch and all the letters/death threats/protesting wont matter..it's their IP.

[Jeric 46,854]

Note - my answers were focused on FiM and not the prior generations. Outside of G1 - which was a huge product success for Hasbro - I don't believe you could fairly call the time period between G1 and G4 a benchmark for success. You certainly wouldn't be able to compare their success favorably to G4.

 

 

The question should really be this: Are Bronies the driving force behind the unusual length of financial success when considering the current generation?

 

Applying any of the prior generations to support a counter opinion to this topic is missing the spirit of the question at best, and is disingenuous at worse.

 

Of course Bronies weren't players in the success of the franchise prior to Oct 2010.

 

To DQ's point - the current fan demographic has potentially changed things for Hasbro when the time comes to transition to the future. If G5 has the quality that G4 does - we will continue to be a huge piece of the pie.

[zombienixon 330]

The reason people bring up the previous gens is that the OP was asking if the fandom is the reason MLP (not the show, but the whole brand) is still going.  Even during the worst times (G3.5, the "Core 7" part of G3), you can count on sheer momentum to keep it alive. If the fandom went away overnight, MLP would still survive.  It survived through G2, even though it they barely sold outside of Europe, G3 was fairly strong early on despite having no adult fans outside of collectors, so why would it dependent on adult fans all of a sudden?

 

G1 and G4 are the two best-selling incarnations of MLP, but for different reasons. G4 has little variety in terms of characters, but many, many different toys/merchandise of people's favorite characters.  G1 had huge variety in terms of characters, but most of them never really appeared in tie-in animations. Most of those didn't sell because they were characters people liked, they sold because they were really cute.

 

So if G5 has no tie-in cartoon (unlikely, but they did it for G2) or a dull one like G3, it could still be a big seller if the toys are appealing enough. 

 

But, let's just agree on one thing, here.  Our thoughts on this are going to be based on conjecture.  We don't really have concrete data for the size of the fandom (that 14 million number was an extrapolated figure based on the number who responded to an online survey, if I recall) or the amount of revenue brought in by teen/adult fans.

 

The closest we have to the latter is a survey on EqD (which had a pretty good sample size), and that was for MLP merchandise in general, not just official merchandise.

[ShadOBabe 18,997]

I re-watched some of the early episodes recently, and while cute and vastly more interesting than previous generations, they weren't as gripping or fun as the more recent seasons. They were better fare than a lot of the crap on TV right now, but this show's success comes a lot from the untapped adult market that Hasbro just discovered.

 

I mean think about it.

If you make the show interesting to both kids AND adults, not only do you have the children begging their parents to buy merchandise for them, but you have adult fans that don't need ANYONE'S permission to spend their cash. And adults have a LOT more cash than kids.

[Xeltor23 704]

MLP:FIM took the direction it took because of the bronies. I mean, the battle between Tirek and Twilight, as well as Pinkie's rap, wouldn't exist if the bronies didn't showed up

[FlyBunny 57]

MLP is Hasbro's #1 selling property even more so then star wars. As far as infomercial to sell toys, I do not agree that this generation is only around for this purpose. I honestly believe hasbro is trying to expand its horizons into the entertainment industry. If you look at the financials, Hasbro's toy sales have steadily been declining. I think they finally took a look at what Disney was doing and finally said hey that might not be a bad idea.Either way I don't care, I love this new generation and I think it has an amazing message. I also think they chose one of the most amazing people to rebirth the franchise. 

[hawkflame 3,310]

MLP has been around for 30 years.  I doubt we're the main reason the franchise is still afloat.

 

Would G4 still be around, though if not for Bronies?  I dunno, part of me suspects that they would have begun retooling after the end of season 3, hitting the magic number of 65 episodes.

[Odyssey 5,716]

Yep, I think so. And in my opinion, the fandom's impact is a very good thing for the franchise as a whole.

 

Think about it for a second. Because of the success of MLP:FiM, people of this fandom help further the success more by creating fanworks, from music to animations to artisan crafts. Eventually outsiders would pick up the immense success from the fandom and would see what the fuss is about by watching MLP:FiM, probably becoming fans themselves.

 

Not just that, but the bronies also helped improve the picture of MLP as a franchise. While Hasbro's G4 toys are still rather faulty, this fandom called them out by telling them they could to better, which resulted in things like the Pink Celestia toy becoming white, as well as the introduction of Hot Topic's show-accurate Funko figurines. The higher the quality of a product is, the more people are willing to buy it.

 

Heck, even the quality of the show has improved. According to sources, the show was going to end on Season 3, but thanks to the success as mentioned above, it is going to go for another 5 years. When you compare Season 1 with Season 4, you would easily pick up the amount of improvements, from the visuals to the music to the writing. Not just that, but even viewership is another reason for said improvement, as viewership obviously generates money. When you learn that Twilight's Kingdom has approximately 750,000 viewers, you can tell that Season 5 is going to be another fantastic season.

 

While I don't think it's the main reason, I do think that the fandom is important to G4.

[Vocaloid_IA 95]

Bronies/Pegasisters are every age, which means, 6 year olds who watch the show are Bronies and Pegasisters (If they enjoy it) I shall explain that quickly. "Whovian" is the nickname of a fan of Doctor Who. So Bronies/Pegasisters is the name of a fan of My Little Pony. Which basically explains the question, translated, "Are FANS the main reason why MLP is still running?" Yes, but if you want me to answer with the thought of older Bronies/Pegasisters like adults and etc, then okie. YES. Because, Bronies/Pegasisters (The adult/teenager ones) make the fandom so HUGE! without those Bronies/Pegasisters we wouldn't have MLP Animations, Music, Art, and Fan-Fictions. Without those Bronies/Pegasisters, MLP would have never gotten to how far it is today.

[takai 1,060]

I think the Bronies and the quality of writing and animation of the show go hand in hand. The show is without a doubt, high quality. But with the tremendous support from the fandom, mainly bronies, I think the show has ascended to a level that without the Bronies, would've never reached.

[GXPBlast 597]

I think the Bronies and the quality of writing and animation of the show go hand in hand. The show is without a doubt, high quality. But with the tremendous support from the fandom, mainly bronies, I think the show has ascended to a level that without the Bronies, would've never reached.

 

Bronies influenced the development of many stuff in the show. I mean we got the 100th episode and Alicorn Big Mac in a recent episode.

Edited October 8, 2015 by GXPBlast

[Limeblossom 482]

Yes, they do keep the show alive. They keep it relevant, make more people interesting in the series and also buy their toys and make fanwork. If there was no big brony fanbase, chances that season 3 would've launched was very little.

[ManyANewDay_36 178]

I definitely think so. I mean, without bronies, I think the show would have ended at about season 3, or if it had continued, the episodes wouldn't have been as good as they are now. Episodes like Slice of Life show just how much influence bronies have had on the show.

 

 

When I went to see the first Equestria Girls in the theater, there were literally, like, maybe five little girls and the rest of the theater was packed with teens and adults wearing MLP sweatshirts. I've never felt more at home.

[Sectus 246]

The people selling these toys belong to a company. If their sales go down, they'll stop spending money producing the show. The fan following the show gets is irrelevant to its continuation. Seeking continuity in the show by simply being a fan is not enough; you have to purchase their products if you want it to resume.

[zombienixon 330]

The people selling these toys belong to a company. If their sales go down, they'll stop spending money producing the show. The fan following the show gets is irrelevant to its continuation. Seeking continuity in the show by simply being a fan is not enough; you have to purchase their products if you want it to resume.

 

Shh, don't say that, you're ruining a perfectly good echo chamber in here.

[cider float 2,538]

Not necessarily, especially after they sewed a heck lot of brony projects.

If they sued them and won they are making money. 

[Solid 1,327]

If they sued them and won they are making money.

Looks like my old post is back from the dead to haunt me haha. I've realized that my old post was very much like a red herring, not really a relating argument as a reason. How Hasbro C&D has little to do with this topic. Back then apparently I did not know how to edit posts ._.

 

That aside, my answer as of right now is: not the only main reason, but one of the main reasons. I cannot prove with statistics but I believe the majority of the audience purchasing the mercha and watching the shows are still the young fellas. However, bronies are a pretty vocal group nowadays (for example, Bronycon), so it would make sense that Hasbro continues to run MLP with the fandom promoting and supporting it.

Edited October 9, 2015 by Solid Scorpion

[Galen 1,354]

The people selling these toys belong to a company. If their sales go down, they'll stop spending money producing the show. The fan following the show gets is irrelevant to its continuation. Seeking continuity in the show by simply being a fan is not enough; you have to purchase their products if you want it to resume.

 

The amount of money circulating in bronycons, which in my experience is entirely frequented by bronies, is already a good indication of how much money the older fans spend on merchandise. By extension, bronies have played a significant part in the series' continuation.

[MinunShy_Kay 53]

I'm pretty sure that the bronies are a huge part of MLP:FIM's success. Of course there are children who love MLP but lets be honest with ourselves, they wouldn't be making half as much money if it wasn't for the bronies.  So, in conclusion, I do not believe that the success of the show rides solely on the bronies but they are a huge part of the show's popularity

[Black Sabbath 2,486]

Nope, a huge part of the fandom watch the show for free online and most don't buy a lot of the toys.

[Envy 6,169]

Nope, a huge part of the fandom watch the show for free online and most don't buy a lot of the toys.

 

That's the cold hard truth, right there.

[zombienixon 330]

The amount of money circulating in bronycons, which in my experience is entirely frequented by bronies, is already a good indication of how much money the older fans spend on merchandise. By extension, bronies have played a significant part in the series' continuation.

 

The merchandise they sell at brony conventions makes no money for Hasbro, though, so it doesn't really do anything to help the series go on. It may indicate how much they spend, but it also shows what kind of merchandise they're buying, and it's not the stuff you see in the toy aisle, which is the main money maker for Hasbro.

 

There are enough older fans to have official merchandise marketed towards them, true, but it's more of a sideline.

[cider float 2,538]

I'm the reason why MLP is still running.

[Empty Room 512]

I'm fairly certain that they helped cultivate the show. From what I remember, the producers didn't think the show would get a second season, but the amount of people in the fanbase, mainly via Equestria Daily, got the show its popularity.