Why do the mlp toys suck.

[Lankman 86]

I know there are good my little pony toys out there but some of them are terrible, like celestia's toy says stereotypical girly things like "I like the way you did my hair" same thing with nightmare moon.

 

The blind bags are also pretty bad like fluttershy looks like rainbow dash recolored and some of the other ponies in the blind bags look like recolors and the toys that talk don't have the original voice.

 

I think it's just me that dislikes the toys but the vinyl figures look very good but they are not made by Hasbro.

 

the equestria girls toys are pretty creepy and look nothing like the ones in the movie.

 

sorry if I have offended anyone but that's how I feel.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Well, they are aimed for little girls so...can't get away from that. If you want great plushies and all of that, you're gonna have to turn to the fandom itself. 

[Sir Fluffernutter 433]

I feel that this video is relevant:

 

 

Anyway, it's mainly because most MLP toys are directed towards young girls. And a lot of young girls' toys tend to be... below par, to put it simply. Not to mention, Hasbro's marketing side doesn't really seem to care all that much about quality, as long as a profit is made :/

[Nulln 754]

The only ones I get are the plushies.  There's some terrific beanie baby plushes I found at a craft store.  I didn't get them though, because money.

[boiteporte 591]

One thing I have noticed, though, is that the "official" toys look nothing like the ponies in the series.

They are targeted at a young audience, but still....

 

If I have to say, I think, they look more like the previous generations of mlp.

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

The Funko ones are actually quite good.

[The JLmle 5,474]

I um, actually like my Hasbro 3" brushable ponies a lot (braces for backlash)

[Everleaf 541]

Funko are amazing but Hasbro's had been targeted to the younger fans as funko is more to the bronies...

[FlyBunny 57]

Where are you buying your toys from?

@lankman this question is for you.

[Armin 168]

The target audience - Little girls - don't really give a damn about what their toys look like as long as they look a bit like their favourite pony.

I like the toys as they are anyway. They're cute. They don't suck, they're not aimed at older women or men.

[Lankman 86]

well if you like it you like it, not stopping you.

[Jeric 46,835]

The target audience - Little girls - don't really give a damn about what their toys look like as long as they look a bit like their favourite pony.

I like the toys as they are anyway. They're cute. They don't suck, they're not aimed at older women or men.

 

There is a lot of truth to this. I was a huge Transformers fan in the 80's and loved the toys. Even Ironhide ... you want to know how show accurate he was?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, imagination rules over accuracy. It didn't matter to me that he looked like ass. He was Ironhide and only second to Optimus Prime in kickassery. Now that I'm an adult, that old Ironhide looks like I tried to make a Lego figure ... while I was sick with the flu ... and blind.

 

Hasbro's MLP line is not even that close to bad. Funko and Welovefine make decent Brony targeted merchandise, and 4DE looks like they make decent plushies.

[boiteporte 591]

Funko, they're OK, but not a lot of choice on the online store.

[baba_booey 4,299]

The mini-figures are good (Even though I only have a crystal Fluttershy), the plushes are OK but the rest are terrible, in my onion-opinion.

[Dattebayo 2,850]

Because little girls aren't stickers for quality, and Hasbro knows this.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

Because they are for the most part consumerist throwaway trash. Meant to be bought, last long enough that parents don't sue over how cheap they are to how much they paid, but bought again in a couple of months so that Hasbro always has a steady source of revenue.

But 4DE makes some fine show accurate plushies, and funko makes good vinyl figurines, just don't be rough on them.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,857]

I kind of like Hasbro's toys, but then again I'm not horribly picky and have to get my hands on anything that has Rarity on it I love her so much

I will say that Funko and 4DE both produce higher quality items than Hasbro does, but I'm waiting for Funko to make a Rarity figurine, if that will ever happen :okiedokielokie: Gotta say, as much as I love these brushables I have at my computer desk, the Funko ones look a lot better and I'd have to get a Rarity one of those as soon as I could As for a Rarity 4DE plushie, they're releasing one in the fall, so I plan to order and get some sort of speedy delivery I have the money all ready to go - they just need to give the green light to begin ordering or pre-ordering, if they do that

 

 

[Dowlphin 459]

The target audience - Little girls - don't really give a damn about what their toys look like as long as they look a bit like their favourite pony.

I like the toys as they are anyway. They're cute. They don't suck, they're not aimed at older women or men.

I hate this common misconception. Adults treat children like they're dumb, and that makes adults look dumb.

Children can appreciate quality and in fact can be quite picky if they're not 'awareness-deficient'.

The usual Hasbro merch is about quantity over quality. It can cause very bad things to happen though, because young children can be very sensitive about things being 'off'.

 

There is a reason why shows like Avatar - The Last Airbender are so popular among kids. It doesn't assume that themes like political intrigue are too much to comprehend or too scary for kids, doesn't patronize kids, and they know to appreciate it.

 

Those lines that the toy figurines are saying can be accurately and age-independently described very concisely: shallow, vapid.

[CT-1138 3,180]

Because Hasbro is a cheapskate company, even by corporate standards. They want the most they can get for as little pay as they can get away with. Therefore, they cut corners with the conception, skimp out on the production line, and spend more money on crappy advertisements than to actually make the toys. They know people will buy them regardless and so long as they're making a profit, they don't see any incentive to improve quality.

 

There's also a much larger budget involved for the Transformers films than for MLP. Transformers involves a massive production crew, with high cost casts, and big budget special effects (and not much else). MLP involves a relatively smaller crew based out of Canada with a cast primarily of Canadian VAs (Tara Strong is the only American VA on the team, I believe). That cuts down even more costs, and may very well be part of the reason why the show is, in many ways, higher quality than Transformers it. DHX runs most of the show, while Hasbro merely does the financing.

 

Finally, the toys themselves: they don't cost much to make in the first place. Every basic figure is just tweaks of the same 3 basic vinyl shell. Transformers toys have a larger budget because of all the different molds and moving parts. Pony toys come with NO moving parts, and the only difference between two figures is the hair and the paint. Not much to a pony toy when you break it down. It's a shame, really, but Hasbro's moved their attention to budgeting Michael Bay's movies than to putting out toys on the quality of what they used to be. A company whose products once were the level of Neca now produce toys on the level of Fisher Price. Even Hasbro considers their own products secondary to the kind of money they can rake in on a cinematic level.

[Dowlphin 459]

@Dinos4Ever

This reminds me of what I once heard, that doing U.S. TV productions in Canada is quite popular because of the lower costs there. They'd e.g. shoot scenes in a Canadian town and do some tweaks here and there to make it look like a U.S. town. All for lowering costs. Maybe that's why DHX is situated in Canada. Because of the smallerr budget for MLP.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Dowlphin

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

Because the companies know that no matter how nad... I mean bad... (how's that for a freudian slip?) the toys are, overly-obsessed bronies will buy them, and that little children who are fans will whine until their parents just give them any old crap to shut them up? Then they can make the toys el cheapo, and therefore make a larger profit.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Sunny Fox

[Cassafrass 249]

Probably because Hasbro doesn't realize just how much money they could make from GOOD MLP merch designed for us older fans (well, I'm 14 and a girl so I'm not toooo much older then the intended audience, but still!) and are cheap and.... yeah, pretty much everything everyone else has said. ^^;

[Dowlphin 459]

Probably because Hasbro doesn't realize just how much money they could make from GOOD MLP merch designed for us older fans (well, I'm 14 and a girl so I'm not toooo much older then the intended audience, but still!) and are cheap and.... yeah, pretty much everything everyone else has said. ^^;

They do sell collectibles and such though, so there is merchandise for bronies.

But yeah, I never understood how - since the TV show is so massively successful and high quality - they can produce the toy figurines in a very different look.

 

And when you see how often they outright screw up, things get even sadder, because those incidents narrow the gap between original merch and 'cheap' imitations.

Also, on a more subtle level, the driving intention behind the making of products will show. Usually I can even spot art that was made in a more conventional marketing context compared to art from the TV show. It's almost like it's written in their faces whether they were made with love and passion.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Dowlphin

[Cassafrass 249]

They do sell collectibles and such though, so there is merchandise for bronies.

But yeah, I never understood how - since the TV show is so massively successful and high quality - they can produce the toy figurines in a very different look.

 

And when you see how often they outright screw up, things get even sadder, because those incidents narrow the gap between original merch and 'cheap' imitations.

Also, on a more subtle level, the driving intention behind the making of products will show. Usually I can even spot art that was made in a more conventional marketing context compared to art from the TV show. It's almost like it's written in their faces whether they were made with love and passion.

This. Everything about this. It's ridiculous! Like... I just don't get it. >.<

[Everleaf 541]

Well they are aimed for younger crowds so it's understandable to sometimes yes I understand they are not much at all like the ponies in the show!