Long-time readers of Louder Yay may recall that I used to review merchandise from time to time. That's fallen away almost completely in the last few years, but I'm going to do something about that very soon! At some point next week, I will be reviewing a piece of merch – and what's more, it will be G5 merch. It's not actually mine! I was kindly lent it for the review by a friend, who will of course be credited. I'm not going to give any clues as to exactly which piece of merch it is, so it'll be a surprise when the post goes up. But it will definitely appear next week!
Walking past Matalan this morning I noticed a brand new poster advertising "TOYS!" (non-specific), along with a bunch of brand logos. Interestingly (or not), one of them was the pink/purple G4 logo! I will venture in at lunchtime and see what if any Pony is present!
ReplyDeleteHa, you think that's weird – I popped by Smyths in town last weekend, and while they did have G5 Pony perch on the shelves (the usual stuff, the individual small ones for the Mane 5, a few of the larger Pipp's, and many of the larger Sunny's), the outside STILL had a 2017 movie-themed branding on an inside window. It was bizarre it was still there in April 2019 (one of my earliest blogs over on Fimfiction), though not inexplicable, stores can be slow to take down these things. Even given the pandemic, this is past bizarre six ways to Sunday!
DeleteNext to that, Matalan having a G4 logo mixed in (given a few bits of G5 mercy still use that logo in some form) isn't that weird at all.
Oh, and I'm quite curious for the mercy review. Goes without saying!
mercy review
Delete'mercy'? Autocorrect is weird for not recognising 'merch'…
@The Cloptimist: I had this amusing mental image of a poster saying "TOYS (non-specific)" for just a moment...
Delete@Mike: Don't get too excited. It's not a piece of merch you don't already know about. But it is coming!
...Well, Matalan did have precisely one item of Pony merch for sale - or, more accurately, a huge pile of the same item of merch.
ReplyDelete(drum roll...)
The action figure play set of Boyle.
(drummer slinks off stage, embarrassed)
You know, Boyle! Everyone's favourite pirate parrot character from the G4 movie, that you absolutely didn't have to look up just now or anything! Classic Boyle!
Uh, so, yeah, if anyone wants a Boyle playset (66% off! £5 instead of £15!),then, um, I can hook you up?
For what it's worth, I remember Boyle quite easily. Though mostly because the 2017 film was my first MLP experience and my gateway into the show and fandom, so I absorbed much about it. Boyle was actually my favourite of the four bit-part pirates, though that's basically purely on design.
DeleteAnyway, a huge pile of 66% discounted Boyle figures? Yeah, not the biggest surprise. The 2017 film's tactic of celebrity-voiced guest star characters did not pay off either in drawing in more box office receipts, or in providing march-friendly characters. As nearly as I can recall, most merch for the film stuck to the Mane 7, with alternate forms for variety (mostly the sea ponies, though there were some pirate outfits too not in the actual flick). Weirdly, I think Songbird Serenade was the most-merchandised of the new characters, being the only 'cute pony', though there was some of Skystar, mostly with the Mane 6 seaponies. Everybody else was mostly confined to the smaller action toy lines like Guardians, given they were less cuddly, meaner characters, which are harder sells with the brand's target audience. Hard to imagine a girl demanding their parent for a Grubber after leaving the cinema!