I've seen a few people now saying that Hasbro is very happy with G5 in how well it reaches the target audience. (Which is to say, not us.) Even to the extent that it's done better than G4 in that regard. If that's so, then I do wonder why the selection of G5 toys – here in the UK, at least – is so underwhelming. Okay, G4 didn't dash out of the blocks either; in spring 2012 when I joined the MLP fandom it was still hard to get much on this side of the Atlantic. Even so, when even toy shops in the UK have a couple of small shelves of G5 if you're lucky, you do have to wonder...
Considering those reports where Hasbro claims that TYT has pushed toy sales and basket sizze/retention above even FiM, I feel we can safely assume that it's all a bunch of baloney, achieved by twisting some truths so they're not presenting an outright untruth, to make their dire financial situation (they just sold eOne for $500m after buying it for $4b four years ago – back to oursourcing all their shows as they did during the FiM era). And, as you note, the massive shortage of G5 toys on store shelves, many of them being on bargain bins when they do show up, makes this claim even more suspect. That, and MYM folding in November, with TYT evidently not going to continue beyond their 2024 plans, kept just to mitigate losses on a budget that can't help but turn a small profit for a little while longer.
ReplyDeleteI tell you, two years ago right as A New Generation came out, whatever of its quality, I'd have never guessed it would be such a commercial underperformer as to be wrapping up not even two years later. Not off the hot, decade-long success of G4. What a turbulent time for the franchise, eh? Least those who stayed in the fandom have kept it self-sustaining!