Ponderings about Hasbro

[Tuffysmom]

I have been thinking about Hasbro and came up with some questions. I am kind of thinking out loud, but if anyone has the answers, I would love to know!

They must have more money than anyone!

1) Does anyone know how they came up with My little (pretty) Pony? Was there just one person who thought of it?

2) Who names the ponies and where do they come up with the names?

3) Although I understand at least partially, why do the discontinue things so quick? Something that sticks out in my mind is the Crystal Rainbow Palace. It seems like it was barely out and then gone. So many little girls still want it!

Ok, that's it for now...wish I knew someone that works there!

 

[Technofilly]

The Crystal Rainbow Palace is gone?! D; I knew I should have bought it when I had the money. But I had no room to put it. I remember all the furniture sets they had for it too. I wanted to buy them all. Now it's all Core 7 junk. Blech.

 

[Tuffysmom]

The Crystal Rainbow Palace is gone?! D; I knew I should have bought it when I had the money. But I had no room to put it. I remember all the furniture sets they had for it too. I wanted to buy them all. Now it's all Core 7 junk. Blech.

Yea, it's gone. I scoured the internet and I have only seen them on Ebay and Amazon for insane prices. I did find one here without furniture, but that bedroom set is hard to come by!

 

[bestinthewest]

Not sure if I'll be much use in answering your questions.....but I think we owe a huge thankyou to the creator of My Little Pretty Pony!! Thats where it all started :wink:

I'd love to have the job of coming up with the ponies names. I'm sure its a whole bunch of people and then things have to be voted on.

As far as things being discontinued so quickly, it could be due to supply and demand. Hasbro seems to know a thing or two about that!

 

[lev_21n01]

I'm not sure about the supply and demand theory. Sure, give a small supply drives up the demand but it really only works for them when they are the only ones supplying. Since ebay is generally second hand items, Hasbro makes no money off the higher demand prices seen there, only the original purchase. The best way Hasbro could make money with that is if they shipped only a few castle every month or so and uped the prices a bit.

Unless I'm reading you wrong and you are pointing out that they are terrible with the supply and demand concept. Then you can just ignore me


Personally I wish I did know a few people there too so I could smack them around a bit and be all "what the heck were you all smoking, Core 7! No bad, no doughnuts for you!" You would think with their practices in the MLP line that the marketing staff would have all been sacked by now.

 

[Cardinal Melody]

Bonnie Zacherie was the original creator/designer for the MLP line. They were originally designed to have realistic colors (the two prototypes shown to us at the Hasbro tour were black with black hair and the other a painted pony with brown and redish hair) The wife of one of the big wigs in Hasbro at the time, suggested that the ponies should be smaller and more colorful. They became a huge hit soon after. Just as a side note: She really didn't have much to do with the line soon after (moved on to other projects) so the more fanciful ponies like seaponies, flutters, etc. were not her invention.

Let's see... I don't know if there is an especific process for deciding the names but it was told to us that one big deciding factor is how well they translate to and/or are pronounced in other languages. That's why Cherry Blossom was changed to Cherilee later on. They had problems with the french version of the name I believe?

I dunno about Crystal Castle. It just could be a situation were it didn't sell well enough and was discontinued.

Hope that helped.

I have been thinking about Hasbro and came up with some questions. I am kind of thinking out loud, but if anyone has the answers, I would love to know!

They must have more money than anyone!

1) Does anyone know how they came up with My little (pretty) Pony? Was there just one person who thought of it?

2) Who names the ponies and where do they come up with the names?

3) Although I understand at least partially, why do the discontinue things so quick? Something that sticks out in my mind is the Crystal Rainbow Palace. It seems like it was barely out and then gone. So many little girls still want it!

Ok, that's it for now...wish I knew someone that works there!

 

[Tuffysmom]

Bonnie Zacherie was the original creator/designer for the MLP line. They were originally designed to have realistic colors (the two prototypes shown to us at the Hasbro tour were black with black hair and the other a painted pony with brown and redish hair) The wife of one of the big wigs in Hasbro at the time, suggested that the ponies should be smaller and more colorful. They became a huge hit soon after. Just as a side note: She really didn't have much to do with the line soon after (moved on to other projects) so the more fanciful ponies like seaponies, flutters, etc. were not her invention.

Let's see... I don't know if there is an especific process for deciding the names but it was told to us that one big deciding factor is how well they translate to and/or are pronounced in other languages. That's why Cherry Blossom was changed to Cherilee later on. They had problems with the french version of the name I believe?

I dunno about Crystal Castle. It just could be a situation were it didn't sell well enough and was discontinued.

Hope that helped.

That is a lot of great info, thank you! That is really interesting about the names translating into other languages. Before I came to start really looking into collecting, I had no idea that MLP was so popular in other countries. I wonder if Bonnie or any of the other people around back then ever thought it would be what it is today!

 

[Tuffysmom]

I'm not sure about the supply and demand theory. Sure, give a small supply drives up the demand but it really only works for them when they are the only ones supplying. Since ebay is generally second hand items, Hasbro makes no money off the higher demand prices seen there, only the original purchase. The best way Hasbro could make money with that is if they shipped only a few castle every month or so and uped the prices a bit.

Unless I'm reading you wrong and you are pointing out that they are terrible with the supply and demand concept. Then you can just ignore me


Personally I wish I did know a few people there too so I could smack them around a bit and be all "what the heck were you all smoking, Core 7! No bad, no doughnuts for you!" You would think with their practices in the MLP line that the marketing staff would have all been sacked by now.

LOL on the smaking around some Hasbro folks!

Another MN person! I love it!

 

[Cardinal Melody]

I don't think they had a clue it would be so popular.

 

[Playful Heart]

The Crystal Rainbow Palace is gone?! D; I knew I should have bought it when I had the money. But I had no room to put it. I remember all the furniture sets they had for it too. I wanted to buy them all. Now it's all Core 7 junk. Blech.

Keep your eyes peeled on Craigslist. That's how I scored the ENTIRE castle and all the extra furniture sets back in January. Plus I got like...150 ponies with the lot too, so that was a good day. I've seen them pop up from time to time in my area, so just be patient and one will appear for you!