Monday, January 19, 2009

Toy Fair 2009 Preview Creates Controversy Among Collectors


Scans from a 2009 Toy Fair preview guide have surfaced online and its discovery brings with it mixed reactions from My Little Pony collectors. The article states that both Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony will have "strong reinventions".

The preview guide article states:
"My Little Pony will also be getting an update and the introduction of a new range, the Newborn Cuties, which are a similar version of the popular Newborn range. The main figures are set to be more distinctive, with slimmer frames, larger eyes and more defined feet. For the second half of the year the whole range will be brought together with a new packaging style."

While the majority of collectors seem to be dissatisfied with this this new direction, there are a handful that remain optimistic. Time will tell if this is, in fact, the right move for My Little Pony.

Bee-Chan (a member of the MLP collector forum, www.MLPArena.com) attempted to make sense of the radical changes in store for the My Little Pony line. She posted the following to a forum discussion:

"Hasbro is doing what they think they must in order to just stay a-float. They are a business, they make what they know is going to sell. Who says they have to listen to the collectors, who are a very small portion of their income.I'm not saying we have to LIKE what Hasbro is putting out, but understand that they are a BUSINESS, they have to cater to their target audience, and as much as we might like to think we are, we are NOT that target audience. If they only targeted us, they'd be out of business in a heartbeat, because let's face it, we're still a SMALL fandom."

With several collectors vowing to boycott future My Little Pony purchases, emotions are high and discussion is lengthy about the proposed changes.

Click HERE to follow the discussion started by Sweetcakes on the MLPArena.

In case you are curious, I haven't taken a side on this issue at present. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say in the future, but right now I'm trying to let everything sink in.

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