As several TV news outlets around the internet have reported, it looks like Hasbro has completely rebuilt the way it integrates it's Hasbro Studios work with it's usual toy market. With such a huge focus on movies and shows thanks to The Hub and their various big budget movie IP's, a modification to make the transition from film to retailer smoother was inevitable.
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But what does this mean for Pony? It could go multiple routes.
On one hand, a tighter knit Hasbro could mean quicker response times to the fandom as a whole. There have been quite a few instances, primarily on the convention and news site scene, where Hasbro had to stop everything and take a breather. While nothing is completely confirmed directly from within the company, many working with Hasbro felt like they were dealing with multiple outlets all giving conflicting information (Including us!). A unified location to draw confirmation on guest announcements for conventions or Hasbro involvement for everything else will definitely be a boon for making things move a bit quicker on the community level.
On the other, we may be seeing a bit more focus on toy selling from Friendship is Magic. Obviously the original goal of the series was always to pump out mass amounts of Pinkie Pie's and alicorn princesses to little girls, but with higher focus on merchandise tie-ins, we may be seeing a bit more of it in seasons to come. With unconfirmed two week old rumors bombarding our submit boxes, it's obvious that people are already pretty worried. This could be a good thing though! We might see higher quality merch, and that is always a plus in my book.
Luckily we have the awesome team over at DHX to help nullify the product placement with quality animation and storytelling. Hell, they made Cadence work, and she was the biggest pretty pink princess we have seen from the show yet!
So what do you all think? Is heavier integration good?
