My Little Pony Best Gift Ever Toy Line Re-imagined; An opinionated redesign by MLP Life News.6/7/2020 When we think back to Toy Fair 2018, I bet most of us remember the disappointment for what the main line, being School of Friendship, had in store for us. However, Hasbro did introduce a toy line that was decently passable to the fans, entitled "My Little Pony; Best Gift Ever" which would be based on their upcoming holiday special of the same name. Tired of seeing the same mane 6 figures over and over again, fans welcomed the toy line, as it had re-introduced the mane 6, Shining Armor, Princess Cadance & Flurry heart all with pearlescent finishes, that was until they actually got their hands on the figures and realized how low quality they were and how much of an inaccurate representation of the special they were, after it had aired. The line was built up to be a success within the fandom, but ultimately faced a sad demise, being one of the most forgettable My Little Pony toy lines in the history of G4. But why did this happen? What could have been done better? Follow me after the break to find out how I would have done the Best Gift Ever toy line! So, what exactly was done wrong with the toy line? Why was it not well taken by the fans and left to be forgotten?Being the most anticipated thing coming from Toy Fair 2018 for the My Little Pony brand, fans had set their expectations a bit high with this one. They expected a different take on the mane cast, from everything released prior. But that was about the only thing delivered. Once the sets released fans were quick to notice how low quality the figures were. The hair was frizzy, many ponies featured splotches of paint from the eye printing, some of which even had wonky eye printing. This was a common thing not only for the Best Gift Ever toy line, but for any MLP figures produced that year coming from Hasbro. Since then, Hasbro has been working on fixing their quality control. Fans were also left disappointed with the accessories. The big set featuring the mane six promised "6 surprise gifts," which ended up being a few repackaged combs, hair accessories, and sunglasses. Fans already had dozens of these from years past, so it was upsetting to see that their "surprise gifts" were not as special as advertised. Sitting on the edge, the only thing left to happen was for the special to air. And once it did, it was apparent that the toy line did not at all follow the events of the special, nor did it same based on the special at all. Most of the accessories had no tie-in with the special, many important characters and plot points received no acknowledgement anywhere in the toy line, and the representation of the mane 6 being pearly (typically representative of their Crystal Empire or aquatic counterpart appearances) was inaccurate as well. Not to mention Hasbro's poor distribution problem in 2018 left many of the sets difficult to obtain in the first place. These factors led to it being not one of the most hated, but rather one of the most forgettable toy lines, due to its lack of effort. What could've improved this toy line? How could it have been better taken in the long run?It's really hard to say what could've made this toy line better, especially being that everyone has their own opinions and interests, but one thing's for sure, fans were sick of the mane 6 overtaking the toy line. In 2018, over 95% of the toy line was mane 6 products, and that's accounting for nearly 100 toys. Fans were not having it, especially since the My Little Pony brand was built on its variety. However, what is there to do when the special revolves mainly around the mane cast? Hasbro did one thing right to begin with, by not making them the same mane 6 figures that are available everywhere else. You can still have variety within the same set of characters, as long as you re-introduce them with different ideas and different concepts. Like said, Hasbro introduced the mane cast with a pearly finish, which made them distinguishable from all the other figures available, however the pearly finish had already been established to be a Crystal Empire or Seaquestria look for the ponies, and unfortunately as cute as it looks, would not be accurate to the special at all. So, what kind of gimmick should be used? In the special, the ponies don't transform. They don't have any kind of cutie mark magic moments, they're just "normal." And that's what we DON't want, as "normal" defines every other mane 6 figure available on the market at the time, and remember, that's nearly 100 toys. How could we make the fans want characters they already have? After thinking about it, I came up with 2 solutions; Scented or Flocked! MLPMerch, another My Little Pony news source, used to hold weekly polls on their website, and I had remembered that around 2015, they held a poll asking their fans what kinds of gimmicks they'd like to see in the G4 toy line, and one of the popular options was flocked. After remembering this, I then realized that it would make sense too! Ponies normally have fur, so this would be more of a natural take on the mane cast without affecting their accuracy to the special, but not just that, the holiday season typically is associated with warm and fuzzy feelings, and what better way to depict that in a toy line than by fur? But I knew that fans would probably want more to them, so thinking about it, I also realized that scents wouldn't affect their accuracy either since you technically can't smell the screen. And the holiday season does have its fair share of memorable scents which would be a cute addition to the line-up. These would help make the figures feel more gift-like and more Holiday inspired. Now I could get started working on my toy line re-do! What toys will be replaced?Unlike my school of friendship re-imagined post, I'm not necessarily targeting specific sets to be replaced by sets of a similar nature, or cost range, instead I decided that in order to save this toy line, it would need to be redone entirely. Of course, you can't design an entire toy line without a budget. Taking into consideration the cost to manufacture the sets I will be presenting, I will be using the cost of all the toys pictured above as a budget for this line-up. (In essence these are the toys that I will be replacing). If you can't read the picture, it basically states that I will be replacing sets from the school of friendship toy line as well, just to have the budget to expand the Best Gift Ever toy line, because it's pretty sad how small the toy selection was for quite a big special. Don't worry though, I'm replacing the toys that shouldn't have existed to begin with, not because they themselves are bad, but rather because they're just blatant repackages that nobody needed. Just melt their plastic already Hasbro. Use the plastic wherever else it's needed. Repackages are not worth it, especially not when they're put out every single year for 4 years after their initial release. Enough Blabbering, Let's Start!Fluttershy ($4.99): "Fluttershy shops for Rainbow Dash's holiday gift! She brings her pet Angel Bunny along for advice!" Applejack ($4.99): "Applejack shops for Spike the Dragons holiday gift! She wears her scarf and hat to keep warm in the wintery weather!" Rainbow Dash ($4.99): "Rainbow Dash hunts for Fluttershy's holiday gift! Will the Winterchilla be a good holiday gift, or will it be a total disaster?" You can't have holidays without stocking stuffers, and although the blind bags technically did achieve that, I think it's safe to assume that most children would not want a collectible mini figure over a toy with actual play feature. It's also important to have a "budget" line, so that people of smaller incomes aren't excluded from joining in the magic. For the single line-up, i decided to do Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Each pony is flocked and features a holiday scent suitable for their character. They also include 2+ accessories each, including removable holiday garments. Rainbow Dash even includes an exclusive winterchilla figure! Rarity & Pistachio Winter Fashions ($13.99): "When Rarity ventures off to the Acorn Orchards to retrieve Applejack's gift, she realizes that it should belong to somepony else!" Rarity meeting Pistachio was one of the most heartwarming scenes in the special, being that Pistachio was a very misunderstood individual, who felt out of place, so for Rarity to be there in support of him was so cute. I definitely needed to have a set featuring the two! I also thought that at this price point, it would be cute to add an incentive for kids to definitely want to buy these sets, that being slime! Kids nowadays are obsessed with slime, and being that the story ended with a giant slimey pudding monster, I thought it would be a cute take on the story! Gift Givers of the Grove Collection ($16.99): "Meet Aurora, Bori & Alice, the Gift Givers of the Grove! These Reindeer know the Best Gift Ever!" The biggest mistake that the original toy line had done was the exclusion of the brand new Reindeer characters; Aurora, Bori & Alice. I mean come on, pink, blue, pastel colored reindeer? Hasbro totally missed a marketable opportunity since we know they kind of have a tendency of sticking to gender stereotypes. These characters were essential to Pinkie Pie's story plot in the special, being the one's that gave her the "Best Gift Ever," and the one's she'd spent most of the special in search of. Flim & Flam's Holiday Sham ($18.99): "Flim & Flam are up to no good this holiday season. Are you able to unwrap their holiday sham?" And while we're on the topic of important characters, there are two brothers who had played a big role in Applejack and Fluttershy's share of the story. Flim & Flam set up a stand at Rainbow Falls to sell people a cheaply made hearthswarmer doll by claiming that it was the "must have gift of the season." The brothers were featured as blind bags, but they played a big enough role to be produced as brushables in the main line. Best Gift Ever Sparkle Family Collection ($25.99): "Twilight Sparkle is shocked to find that her family is visiting for the holidays! With so much to do, how will she ever find time for them?" Being important to Twilight Sparkle's part of the story, I knew I couldn't exclude the royal family, despite being some of the few characters fans are not excited to see anymore in the toy line. For this, I decided to spruce them up as well by giving them the flocked texture. I also decided to include Spike, since Hasbro left him out, despite having his own major parts in the story. He was an important enough character to include, so it's quite shocking that he wasn't included to begin with. To make him different from his other releases, I gave him a glittery finish, symbolic of the scene where he explains that he "fell asleep on somepony's present" and woke up covered in glitter and ribbons. Pinkie Pie's Gift Giving Adventure RC Polar Bear ($29.99): "Pinkie Pie takes her Polar Bear friend to find the Gift Givers of the Grove! She can ride the polar bear!" Pinkie Pie's Gift Giving Adventure Hot Air Balloon (Exclusive - $29.99): "Pinkie Pie ventures off to find the Gift Givers of the grove, but first she stops at Yak Yakistan in her hot air balloon!" If you used to follow my Instagram account (@Sketched.Crow), you'd probably seen that I made an edit of a Best Gift Ever themed twinkling balloon, that was going to be the "big playset" for my re-imagined toy line. However, rewatching the special, I realized that the hot air balloon technically didn't make an appearance, but we did see pinkie travelling by polar bear. I decided that the RC polar bear was a must, but I really liked the design of the balloon and that in essence, we still know Pinkie travels to yak yakistan with it, so I decided instead of cutting it out, to just make it a limited edition store exclusive variant of the RC polar bear set. THAT'S THE ENDOh how I was tempted to continue making even more sets for this line, especially since this selection still seems a tad small in comparison to other lineups, however it's necessary to keep in mind that this is just a special, and Hasbro would still be producing a bunch of other toys based on both the TV show and the special. We'd need to draw the line somewhere, and if either the TV show or the special had to have the lesser amount of toys, it would be the special.
Thank you so much for reading, and let me know what you would have done differently with the lineup in the comments below!
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