I’m with you on the G5 stuff. Even so, the following are my faves: Sunny Starscout, Izzy Moonbow, Pipp Petals, Misty Brightdawn, and the Pippsqueak Trio.

Speaking of the latter, I love this picture of the Pippsqueak Trio playing with the CMC!

TL;DR version – the show costs a lot of money for Hasbro to produce, but IDW is already at a loss because they pay Hasbro permission to make comics. So IDW relies on more quality work to sell and make ends meet, much less a profit, with significantly tighter budget.

.

.

Corporate meddling combined with cost of investment. The show is not licensed out in the same way the comics are.

In a media production like a TV show or movie, the boss at the top of the food chain is the producer. The producer is an investor either with a company or just a very rich media investor who makes sure everyone is paid to make their vision on something. In this case, Hasbro as a toy manufacturer and owner of several IPs has it’s own production subsidiary. This puts it in direct link to Hasbro bigwigs who have to fork over some or all the money to create the show, the baseline for the budget. Of course this means the show costs Hasbro money to produce. Simple enough.

The writers and lead concept artists collaborate with the producer(s) to create the content. The producer(s) have the final say-so, and are responsible for script rewrites or bids. This is where Lauren Faust came in.

Then they find a director to put it all together. People get this mixed up all the time but the truth is the producer is the director’s boss. (And for some reason, the director always seems to be the scapegoat of any failure, even if corporate meddling made the director’s work a nightmare). Sometimes a producer will also work as a director, and it’s almost never a good idea to have that same person also be the main script writer; that’s too much power (see George Lucas and his prequels or Adam Sandler in his later movies).

So now the question becomes… where is Hasbro actually making money off of the show? Distribution rights is one way, but that can vary and is contractually negotiable. Discovery and Netflix pay Hasbro the right to air episodes, from which they expect to make money due to viewership by consumers wanting to see the show’s material.

But the real money-maker for Hasbro is in the cheap, mass-produced toys, because production and design of them, something their company is inherently meant to do, is extremely cheap by comparison.

So the goal generally becomes Hasbro wanting to use the show to sell their toys… something we bronies don’t add a great deal of revenue to (I mean, we do buy some of that stuff, but we spend a lot more paying each other in commissions, acquiring fan-made collectibles, and convention-going). At that point, the quality of the show is dependent upon the animation and writing team dedicated to it, and giving us material worthy of a fandom (and it’s obvious they do, look how many guests cons would get)… Hasbro the billionaire company doesn’t care that much.

.

But there’s another way Hasbro makes money: merchandising.

Video games, Happy Meals, t-shirts, school backbacks, etc. Companies pay Hasbro for the licensing rights (permission) to use their IP (like MLP) to sell products. When bronydom was all the rage early on, Hasbro capitalized on that with this, so yes we were making them money that way, but it seems the hype and enthusiasm died down (while production costs became more expensive even when quality improved).

This is where the comics sit.
The comics are a form licensed merchandising. IDW pays Hasbro money for the permission to create comics as a product just like Hot Topic or Funko paid Hasbro to make collectible items.

As such, those producing the comics are already working from a negative deficit due to the investment with Hasbro. It’s possible Hasbro give them a break or a really good deal in exchange for royalty percentage, but I seriously doubt that. Overall, this means the comics must strive for more quality storytelling where possible to make sales, and why they insert so many references that few or no children will understand, and they’re willing to push the envelope in areas like shipping fuel or more mature topics.

Incidentally, this is how franchising in food industry makes money. Someone pays the food chain restaurant corporation money for permission to use their own money to build/buy a location to sell their brand. Literally some of the only differences between them and a mom-pop shop restaurant is payroll department, training, and HR come from a big company that tells them what to buy to maintain standards worthy of the brand. It’s why the ice cream machine at McDonald’s is always “broken”: the owner can’t afford to buy a new one or parts and repairs to update the old one to new company standards.

@Chopsticks
Are you sure? Because I feel like my standards for what I want out of the comics are possibly too strict compared to everybody’s else expectations. But why does the show’s writing have to suffer in place of the comics?

@Chopsticks
Definitely not, the comics are more for us than them. But in that case, it’s the only thing that would impress us since the show was holding back. Or perhaps this was intentional to appeal to the kids?

@Red-Supernova
That was my fear from the beginning when the concept art was first leaked.

It makes sense that Hasbro would want to cheapen production in favor of reaping money where it really counts: their toy line. A franchise has to fight tooth and nail to get licensing unless it skyrockets in popularity (in which case companies go to the franchise owner and bid on contracts) or the franchise already has contract agreements.

They got a fan of the show in high level concept art, and I believe the team is doing their best with what they got. But Hasbro holds all the reigns. I think some of what we’re getting is an attempted compromise between quality effort, story, detail, and cheap production.

.

IDW knows what’s up. Unlike the cheap toys Hasbro pumps out, the comics are highly collectible and enjoyable pieces of quality story the fandom goes for (at least, the dedicated fans who are interested in the comics). So they know they’re banking more from us. I imagine not a lot of little kids are actually picking up and reading those things.

@Background Pony #8FEA
I sorta agree about the stories. It feels like that push to go back to G3/G3.5 stories was on purpose to make people like me less interested in ponies because Hasbro wants to cash in on G4’s success but without us bronies backing things up. Its a real shame because I see the potential in the main characters.

These six would get along really well if they did meet

@Background Pony #8FEA
With the few believe they enjoy art of G5 but stories can get a bit boring when if writers go back to G4 when if fan art portrays the pipsqueak trio meeting the CMC.

I like the art of G5 but the stories of G5 are boring.

Storywise it’s like they went back to the stories of G3 and G3.5.

But instead of boys, school and the ice-cream bar it’s now Family, the beauty salon and Sunny’s smoothy stand.

The Crusader 6