Are Bronies the main reason why MLP is still running?

[joecal97 340]

Even if we are, as long a the show is still awesome I'll watch it, doesn't matter why it's running, the longer the better!

[Ardhacandra 133]

Yeah, we also shouldn't forget that the succes of the show is because of the creators, not the market. It's because the creators did such a good job with the writing and design that there are bronies in the first place.

[Chimero 9]

The reason they changed the show so much in our favor is because an audience like us needs it. The little girls don't give a crap about the slightly heavier plots and character. They don't see the references put in it. They watch it because they're technicolor ponies. Now if a show like that has the option to change the show in a certain way, while still being enjoyable enough for their target age you'd be stupid not to do it. It's just a way of getting more people to watch your show. 

Friendship is magic would still be running even if it weren't for bronies. But I do have the feeling we inspire them to make it more substantial. With that I mean they have to actually make something good, Because we won't watch 10+ minute tea-parties.

My view is, bronies weren't essential for the show's succes. Yet we're definately responsable for its developement, and because of that we may have gotten ourselves that one extra season. Maybe.

[GrimCW 658]

Lots of talk about the success they were having marketing to young girls, nothing about older dudes.

 

Hasbro has often gone out of their way to avoid mention of the brony fandom in the past, and has even to some extent insulted it. They don't want to acknowledge it also because from a marketing standpoint toward children, that would look bad to some really old people (I.E. the rich investors) and parents. As if the company willingly feeds to pedophiles and child molesters. While not true, the barest concept of this is something they fear.

It gives them a sense of plausible deniability so long as they don't outright mention the older fan base, let alone the male part of it.

 

 

 

I'm not saying we are the reason the show is alive, but it might be reason the reason why it will survive.

 

 

It's def the reason the comics exist. The references and many of the jokes (for that matter language used in some) is well beyond the base age range, and general female child stereotype, would even grasp.

Hell.. dog tags? card games?!  While easily enjoyed by many a female, these aren't things hasbro is known for spewing out of its girls toy lines, as they still try to follow the cutesy and extreme pink ideas that were used back in the 70's-80's a little too much... They need to grow up more than people say we do... 

Let alone TBH are these things ever seen marketed toward girls in any format... Dog tags are usually associated with military, and military is tied to guy things.. card games are commonly attached to nerds, and as such the stereotypical nerd is usually male... 

Oh.. and finding Pony merch in the MENS section of stores like target now... yeah.. they can't deny that we're here anymore

 

heh.. yeah the brony fandom has definitely had MASSIVE impact on the sales and licensing of the series though

And sales = more show

No matter how its broken down, someone in hasbro has to know this, and is wisely licensing the IP out.

 

and I only use "stereotype" as a description here since in general companies usually follow some very straight forward marketing ploys. More along the prescribed gender lines than their nielson group testing would actually show too.

Edited March 10, 2014 by GrimCW

[GXPBlast 597]

Brony money makes the show go around IMOP. 14 million strong worldwide and growing. Brony power *Brohoofs everyone*

[KarentheUnicorn 218]

Yes it seems without us it would go around as quick as the other gens but no it's still running because everypony loves it 

 

Actually, G1 lasted about 10 years inside the USA. G1 started around 1982/3, 81 if you consider the original giant My Pretty Pony as a MLP, which most collectors do since it was designed by hasbro and the person who invented MLP, G1 inside the USA ended around 91-92. Outside the USA I think g1 MLP were being produced up to hum...1995 I think. As far as toylines goes, G1 is the longest running so far in the MLP brand.

[GXPBlast 597]

Even if we are, as long a the show is still awesome I'll watch it, doesn't matter why it's running, the longer the better!

 

Yep and the fandom will continue to grow in the millions and bronycons will get that much larger with ponies everywhere. 

[GXPBlast 597]

Yeah, we also shouldn't forget that the succes of the show is because of the creators, not the market. It's because the creators did such a good job with the writing and design that there are bronies in the first place.

 

Yes but since the creators artistic talent attracted so many bronies, our money is big when it comes to the shows continuation. I think brony money far outnumbers that of little kids and their parents as most bronies have some sort of self income such as a job to pay for the seasons and merchandise. I mean I went to hot topic and they had a whole section for brony merchandise and the MLP logo was not super pink and girly as in most stuff you find in the toy store but rather a neutral blue and green color for the more adult majority audience. It seems little kids are the minority of the mlp fanbase now.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

No, I believe the show still would have been successful without us.

 

That's not to say that our enthusiasm (in regards to buying pony merch) hasn't been relevant, but as long as the show does its job and advertise toys and consumers by Hasbros products-there's no real reason I can see that it wouldn't last this long without us.

[Zekromic 1,054]

I don't know if FiM would have lasted as much without us, but it's true that without us, it wouldn't be as well known 

[RockinRarity 1,605]

FiM would have still been a good show if the bronies had not gotten into it. However, it most certainly would NOT exist the way that it does now if the show did not gain an adult following.

 

Take the following into consideration:

 

1. The majority of cartoons these days only have 65 episodes, and that's if the show is successful to children. If the show were a success to children, but the girl toy purchases had not continued to increase, the show would have remained at 65 episodes and our final episode would have been Twilight Sparkle becoming a princess. However, because MLP toy purchases were continuing to increase and the market has expanded and begun to include other kinds of merchandise, they felt it financially worthwhile to continue creating the show.

 

2. Just because Hasbro may not recognize bronies as being the main reason for their increase of MLP purchases, it doesn't mean that it's not the case. Because truth-be-told, is there really a way to know who exactly is purchasing the $5 brushables without looking up everyone's credit card information and doing background checks and Internet searches of every individual buying the toys? All Hasbro really knows is that there has been an increase in MLP purchases, and that girl toys are bigger than ever in their market, so they figure that if they continue down the same path that they have been going down, they will continue to be successful. Besides, they do not want to market the girls' toys specifically to bronies if it means that girls' parents will not buy them anymore, thus losing a fair share of their market/fanbase.

 

3. MLP toys have IMPROVED IN QUALITY ever since the bronies started complaining about stuff like Pinklestia and nightmare-inducing plushies. Girls like it when toys are show-accurate and they look good, believe it or not. But they don't have the voices to complain about that sort of thing. Parents do complain about stuff like that, but their voices don't tend to leave the Amazon review section - they are unlikely to complain about the toys on social media or write emails to Hasbro. And the toys' quality improvement is part of the reason for their growing success.

 

Because of these realities, I think that it's foolish to believe that bronies don't at least play a large part in the show's current success.

[Jeric 46,836]

At this point it appears that the Brony community has had a significant impact on the show continuing. Typically, cartoons with a very targeted demographic and market like MLP:FIM run into a diminishing returns issue in merchandise. Two somewhat connected reasons for this: the original audience ages out of the show, and young children have gatekeepers (parents) who also influence taste evolution in children by discouraging purchase repetition. Basically, the parents of a five year old girl would likely NOT be buying merchandise for the same properties four years later when she is nine. Parents (whether intentionally or not) do try to evolve the tastes of their children by purchasing age appropriate toys and merchandise. Also, the revenue pool of the targeted audience are individuals who do not have their own source of income.

 

Now, enter the teen and adult fans of the show. While are tastes still change in teens and adults, they do not occur as rapidly as what you see from 5-9 or 9-12. The only outside influences would be spouses/significant others. Finally, we have expendable income. I sure as hell do not need to ask my parents for a Vinyl Trixie from welovefine.com. At the worst I have to deal with a sigh from the wife. I have no real gatekeeper I have to convince to buy merchandise. If you went back in time and removed all the money funneled into Hasbro from the adult fans and you have a seismic shift in revenue... and a show that would NOT have a 5th season coming.

 

Now, Hasbro gets this, but they are not leveraging it as much as they could be (but that is another topic that seems to frustrate most of you)

[baltoist 303]

I think more guys than girls  watch it now

[GXPBlast 597]

So far its seems the bronies of MLP forums have spoken. Bronies Money and our influence on the show is what is keepign MLP alive. BRONY POWER!!!!

[Pastel 7,627]

Yeah the show might have ended at the season 3 finale without the Brony community.

Edited April 25, 2014 by Blobulle

[Guest]

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Edited December 22, 2016 by plzremoveaccountfdfd

[Rarity Paige Belle 1,853]

So far its seems the bronies of MLP forums have spoken. Bronies Money and our influence on the show is what is keepign MLP alive. BRONY POWER!!!!

I don't know how many times I've said this, but we are NOT keeping the show alive. In fact, it's the Equestria Girls

side of the franchise (especially the dolls) that's bringing in the money for Hasbro!

[GXPBlast 597]

Yeah I think bronies are the main reason it's still going on. Not the entire reason, but most of the part.

 

If there were no bronies anymore, their sales on toys and other merch would be far smaller, and there would be less viewers, of course. There still would be the actual target demographic, but the fanbase would be definitely much smaller.

 

So yes.

 

 

And you defiantly wont be seeing any MLP products being sold in Hot Topic or stores like that since without the brony fanbase, even is the show was still alive, it would have veering in a different direction being more girly or child like for the shows original target demographic.

Edited April 25, 2014 by GXPBlast

[RockinRarity 1,605]

I don't know how many times I've said this, but we are NOT keeping the show alive. In fact, it's the Equestria Girls

side of the franchise (especially the dolls) that's bringing in the money for Hasbro!

 

Have you not read this response yet?

 

At this point it appears that the Brony community has had a significant impact on the show continuing. Typically, cartoons with a very targeted demographic and market like MLP:FIM run into a diminishing returns issue in merchandise. Two somewhat connected reasons for this: the original audience ages out of the show, and young children have gatekeepers (parents) who also influence taste evolution in children by discouraging purchase repetition. Basically, the parents of a five year old girl would likely NOT be buying merchandise for the same properties four years later when she is nine. Parents (whether intentionally or not) do try to evolve the tastes of their children by purchasing age appropriate toys and merchandise. Also, the revenue pool of the targeted audience are individuals who do not have their own source of income.

 

Now, enter the teen and adult fans of the show. While are tastes still change in teens and adults, they do not occur as rapidly as what you see from 5-9 or 9-12. The only outside influences would be spouses/significant others. Finally, we have expendable income. I sure as hell do not need to ask my parents for a Vinyl Trixie from welovefine.com. At the worst I have to deal with a sigh from the wife. I have no real gatekeeper I have to convince to buy merchandise. If you went back in time and removed all the money funneled into Hasbro from the adult fans and you have a seismic shift in revenue... and a show that would NOT have a 5th season coming.

 

Now, Hasbro gets this, but they are not leveraging it as much as they could be (but that is another topic that seems to frustrate most of you)

 

Also, Equestria Girls only exists BECAUSE of bronies. Hasbro saw some of the creative side of the fandom, and saw many many anthropomorphizations of the MLP characters. They decided that because the market for MLP was growing significantly and was becoming successful, they made a spin-off of that successful franchise so that they could better compete with Mattel.

 

Just yesterday, Washington Post talked about the statistics of growth in girl products for this year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/04/23/dont-laugh-but-bronies-may-be-propping-up-one-of-americas-favorite-companies/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

 

Let me tell you something. 10 years ago I was part of the Teen Titans fandom. I LOVE that show, and so did thousands of other people. I spent most of my time during the early days of the show on fanfiction.net and Teen Titans was competing with Avatar: The Last Airbender in the number of fics written about them.

 

But the show only lasted for 65 episodes. And if you have seen the last episode of the show, you do NOT feel satisfied with the ending (thank goodness for the movie, though, even if it was polarizing for fans - at least that gave us a somewhat satisfying ending for some of us). Fans begged and begged for the show to be renewed for another season, but execs said no.

 

But why? I think that after all these years, I may have an idea.

 

Teen Titans may have had a huge fanbase outside of the target demographic of 6-12 year old boys, but that outside demographic was, at least from my experience, mostly comprised of teenage girls. Recently Young Justice was canceled, which also had a large female fanbase, and their execs basically said that they don't want their superhero cartoons to have large female fanbases.

 

But why?

 

Because women are FAR less likely to collect merchandise.

 

Yes, women DO collect merchandise, and I'm not saying that they don't. I collect MLP stuff - brushables, trading cards, the CCGs, the comics, etc. The issue is that teenage girls in particular don't have a LOT of money, and whatever money they do have, they are more likely to spend it on clothes and beauty products. Guys don't typically buy much more beyond the basics in regards to clothing and toiletries, so they have a little bit more extra money. So they can spend their money on merchandise without breaking the bank.

 

My point is that, I don't think very many people were buying the toys. Not that Teen Titans' financial success completely depended on toy purchases since Warner Bros. and Hasbro have different priorities, but I'm guessing that merchandise matters more than we think for just about any cartoon aimed at children.

 

I do admit that this isn't coming from any particular study or analysis, but it's something that I have been thinking about for a very long time, and I don't think that I'm pulling any of this out of my ass. As grateful as I am that MLP is continuing for at least another 5 years, something that I would have LOVED to see Teen Titans do, it still bothers me that the show didn't continue for as long as I think that it could have. True they did reboot it, using the same characters and the same voice actors for the characters, but they lowered their animation budget and the show is pretty much completely slap-stick - which tells me that they didn't think that it was worth the financial investment to pick up where the show left off.

 

The truth is, I really wish that the Teen Titans fandom was as public and talked with their money as much as the brony fandom today does for MLP. Because I know that it is making a difference.

[Shenron00 366]

While bronies probably do make a majority of the mlp fans (keyword: probably), we are NOT the only reason mlp is still here. There should be a choice in the poll that states something like what I just said. Sorry to burst any bubbles, I'm just saying (no, I'm NOT going to make that "just saiyan" joke again).

Edited April 26, 2014 by Shenron00

[Dattebayo 2,850]

While bronies probably do make a majority of the mlp fans (keyword: probably), we are NOT the only reason mlp is still here. There should be a choice in the poll that states something like what I just said. Sorry to burst any bubbles, I'm just saying (no, I'm NOT going to make that "just saiyan" joke again).

Do you honestly believe that this show would've lasted this long without a committed fan base such as ours?

I mean, really, truly?

 

Because I've seen shows of the same caliber as FIM only last 2 or 3 seasons.

[Shenron00 366]

Do you honestly believe that this show would've lasted this long without a committed fan base such as ours?

I mean, really, truly?

 

Because I've seen shows of the same caliber as FIM only last 2 or 3 seasons.

I probably should have also said that the words "only reason" were keywords. While we are a pretty big reason, were not the ONLY reason. That was the point of my post, so I'm sorry if you slightly misunderstood it. I don't exactly have a "silver toungue".

[Dattebayo 2,850]

I probably should have also said that the words "only reason" were keywords. While we are a pretty big reason, were not the ONLY reason. That was the point of my post, so I'm sorry if you slightly misunderstood it. I don't exactly have a "silver toungue".

Nah, is k.

 

We might not be the ONLY reason...but we're a very big, important one.

 

Y'see...

Little girls (and children, fir that matter) are frivolous.

They will like something and then quickly abandon it for something shinier.

 

More grown up people are less so, and are more likely to stick with something they like.

Hasbro knows this, and kooks at US with dollar signs for eyes.

I'm just saiyan.

 

LOOK

LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

[Shenron00 366]

I'm just saiyan.

 

LOOK

LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

Kukukuku. Guilty is charged!

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

Do you honestly believe that this show would've lasted this long without a committed fan base such as ours?

I mean, really, truly?

 

Because I've seen shows of the same caliber as FIM only last 2 or 3 seasons.

And a lot of those shows had very committed fanbases too.

 

The strength of this show is that they inadvertently hit the sweet spot of bringing in 2 out of 4 major demographics, which is the Holy Grail of the entertainment industry.

 

Those other shows didn't succeed, because they were dependent on one demographic, such as nerdy dudes. (Firefly, anyone?)

 

I still think it's mainly the the little girls who are pulling the most weight as far as it's success, though. But that's good for us, because it allows a show we like to survive longer.