Season 9 Discussion Thread [Warning: SPOILERS!!!!!]

@Penguin Lagann  
Only in about 3 cases. The other 3 are clearly more dynamic.

@Penguin Lagann  

 

I think, problably, its just an theory… but I think there was a season 10 planned for the future, unfortunately, due the recent low sell of toys, the big failure of the 5th Transformers movie, the pressure to create another GI Joe setting and the low sales of that crossover of IDW, Hasbro noticed that they needed to redone fucking everything and thus thats what also provoked for a 10th season of mlp to be scrapped.

@E-123  
Nah. I think nine is reasonable, since sales of all of their stuff has been on the decline. It’s time for a reboot of their whole lineup. But don’t worry, I think FiM will continue in some form, be it comics or collectors’ items.

@GenericArchangel  
This is just theory of mine. This is based on that very old comment about Hasbro confirming that this Gen would last for ten years, with a new season each year.

@E-123
 
I feel like Hasbro’s toy marketing for G4 ended far before DHX’s contract did. There has been next to no push on newer toys to the point where competitors are getting in on that empty spot in the market for pony and pony-looking toys.

@E-123
 
@Poison Trail
 
On the few new toys thing: I kinda wonder how much of this is “our” fault, given all the media attention this fandom once got. It wasn’t positive attention, Hasbro might be waiting for G5 to try again in the hopes we either go away or at least keep a lower profile.

@GenericArchangel
 
Much the opposite, had it not been for the extraneous community forming around the series, we wouldn’t have seen the “Fan Series” stuff.
 
Whenever those did sell well enough… that’s another matter entirely.
 
Case in point: I highly doubt Hasbro stopped purely because of “us”… but I can see the seemingly failed initiative of branching out towards more deluxe toys being the reason they’re backing off now. Stores are still full of Guardians of Harmony / Fan Series stuff that are almost always on clearance. That had to have hurt.

What’s guardians of harmony?

@Poison Trail  
I’ve never heard of these things, though if Hasbro really wanted to sell to us all they had to do was just make high quality plushies and figurines at a decent price- we’d snap those up.
 
But seriously what things? I’m considering doing my part and buying some merch.

Do you think if we all buy the idw comics they might continue on in their G4 guise for a while?

@Applelight Limited  
Unless G5 is super popular, I think as long as we keep buying them we’re good. For all we know, we might get the odd TV special every so many years because of how insanely popular FiM was. As long as this fandom doesn’t disintegrate- which it won’t- we’ll be set.

@E-123  
The late 2017 leaks proved that S09 was already planned to be the final season.

@Applelight Limited  

 
A collection of MLP toys targered for both girls and boys. The toys are know to be more “action-oriented” and the figures have articulated limbs.

@GenericArchangel
 
Those toys , they’re mostly all discontinued, 2016-2018 was when they were showcased, since then you can find them in bargain/clearance bins. You can get them at a decent price if you do manage to find them.
 
@Applelight Limited
 
An attempt at breaching a “Gender-neutral” market through toys that could be enjoyed by all kids, with a tie-in through the comic series. It ended up cannibalizing space for the other MLP toys since most stores just shoved it all in with the rest in the “Pink Aisle”.
 
Hasbro took risks, and… well, I don’t think they paid off. Que their new strategy being “Fuck it, we’ll just wait till G5”.

@Anonycat  
Which is the exact year where everything dropped down.  
The comment that I mentioned about “10 years of pony” is from before the premiere of Season 3

@E-123  

 
IIRC it was the MLP movie not being a runaway success (apparently it was “only” pretty successful…yeah) that made Hasbro decide for S9 to be the last.

@Applelight Limited  

 
Return of giant Spike and on

@Dustcan  
The leaks proved the movie had a total budget of 50 million and the investors had been told it would make 100 million, for a 50 million profit. Things not going as they were planned made Hasbro cancel the movie sequel and go straight to G5.

Also worth noting that, back in 2014, they said that FiM would last for “5 more years”… And what do you know, this is the last year, 5 years later.

@Dustcan
 
Most sources I’ve found say it had a budget of 6.5 million and made about 60 million.
 
You’d think that making 10 times its budget like that would be great for them.

@Dustcan  
Well, that too can be included.  
We can agree that the mlp movie not being a total success was the last part of the chain reaction.

@Jarkes  
Oh yeah, it was 5 years.

@GenericArchangel  
That would be reassuring. I’m still trying to come to terms with G4 just…ending.
 
@E-123
 
@Poison Trail
 
It’s sad that they seemed to have failed due to mismanagement of the shops.
 
@Jarkes
 
Sadly, when it comes to big companies, it’s never enough. If they made 10 times the budget, they will have wanted to have made 20 times the budget.
 
It still pains me to think that the movie might have killed gen 4, when honestly I think that it did quite well considering that they had been on the go for 7 years by that stage.

I think Sandbar is commentary on how Ponies and Equestria have largely run their course, and have become inert and stagnant. A new threat shows up, it’s defeated with The Power of Friendship, then everyone goes back to what they were doing, unaffected by the preceding events. Ponies are born. They make friends, find out what they’re good at, then do that for 60 years, then they die. So “The Doodads of Friendship and Their Various Users” and “The Quest for Friendship and Self-Actualization” are kind of the extent of Equestria’s stories. There’s no ongoing journey or struggle.
 
If you want a broader story and worldbuilding, you have to look to the other kingdoms. I for one am glad that the writers get to add their own things to the setting instead of just endlessly re-heating someone else’s ideas.